Commemorative biographical record of the counties of Sandusky and Ottawa, Ohio, containing biographical sketches of prominent and representative citizens, Part 1

Author: J.H. Beers & Co
Publication date: 1896
Publisher: Chicago, J.H. Beers & co.
Number of Pages: 1040

USA > Ohio > Sandusky County > Commemorative biographical record of the counties of Sandusky and Ottawa, Ohio, containing biographical sketches of prominent and representative citizens > Part 1
USA > Ohio > Ottawa County > Commemorative biographical record of the counties of Sandusky and Ottawa, Ohio, containing biographical sketches of prominent and representative citizens > Part 1

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ALLEN COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY

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Commemorative biographical record of the counties of Sandusky and Ottawa. Ohio

COMMEMORATIVE

BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD

OF THE COUNTIES OF

SANDUSKY AND OTTAWA,

OHIO,

CONTAINING

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHIES OF PROMINENT AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS, AND OF MANY OF THE EARLY SETTLED FAMILIES.

ILLUSTRATED=

CHICAGO: J. H. BEERS & CO. 1896.

Allen County Public Library 900 Webster Street PO Box 2270 Fort Wayne, IN 46801-2270

FROM THE PRESS OF WILSON, HUMPHRYES & CO., FOURTH ST., LOGANSPORT, IND.

1231514

PREFACE.

T HE importance of placing in book form biographical history of representative citizens-both for its immediate worth and for its value to coming generations -is admitted by all thinking people; and within the past decade there has been a growing interest in this commendable means of perpetuating biography and family genealogy.

That the public is entitled to the privileges afforded by a work of this nature · needs no assertion at our hands; for one of our greatest Americans has said that the history of any country resolves itself into the biographies of its stout, earnest and representative citizens. This medium, then, serves more than a single purpose: while it perpetuates biography and family genealogy, it records history, much of which would be preserved in no other way.

In presenting the COMMEMORATIVE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD to its patrons, the publishers have to acknowledge, with gratitude, the encouragement and support their enterprise has received, and the willing assistance rendered in enabling them to sur- mount the many unforeseen obstacles to be met with in the production of a work of this character. In nearly every instance the material composing the sketches was gathered from those immediately interested, and then submitted in type-written form for correction and revision. The volume, which is one of generous amplitude, is placed in the hands of the public with the belief that it will be found a valuable addi- tion to the library, as well as an invaluable contribution to the historical literature of the State of Ohio.

THE PUBLISHERS.

POR Buckland

BIOGRAPHICAL.

ENERAL RALPH P. BUCKLAND. Lead- 6 ers of men in all ages have not only pos- sessed rare natural and acquired abili- ties, but in almost every instance they have been launched into the stream of life under circum- stances peculiarly favorable for their de- velopment, and have had to pass through severe trials and discipline preparatory to their life work, aptly illustrating that " There's a divinity that shapes our ends," or "There is a God in history."

As a highly worthy example of Ameri- can leaders who have left their indelible impress upon the pages of United States history we present the subject of this sketch. His ancestry, his natural en- dowments, his education, his environ- ment and achievements, both in civil and military life, resembling in some respects those of his illustrious contemporaries, Lincoln and Grant, furnish valuable ob- ject lessons to young Americans, and are eminently worthy of a place in the local biographical record of the people of a his- toric locality.

The ancestor from whom are descend- ed the Buckland families in Sandusky county, Ohio, was a citizen of Hartford, Conn., in Colonial times, and was of En- glish descent. His son, Stephen Buck-

land, of East Hartford, grandfather of our subject, was a captain-lieutenant in Bige- low's Artillery Company, raised in Con- necticut during the Revolutionary war. This was an independent company, re- cruited early in 1776, and was attached to the Northern Department, where it ap- pears to have been accepted as a Conti- nental company. It was stationed dur- ing the summer and fall at Ticonderoga and vicinity. Stephen Buckland was commissioned captain-lieutenant of this company January 23, 1776, and was pro- moted November 9 to Maj. Steven's Con- tinental Artillery. He was afterward a captain in Col. John Crane's Third Regi- ment of Continental Artillery, commis- sioned January 1, 1777, and was detached with his company to serve with Gates against Burgoyne. He was subsequently stationed at various points, and was at Farmington in the winter of 1777-78. He was furloughed by Gen. Washington for five weeks, from October 30, 1778, and was on command at Fort Arnold, West Point, in 1779. He afterward be- came captain of a privateer which was captured on the second day of April, 1782, by the British brig "Perseverance, " Ross, commander, and was with his officers confined in the "Old Jersey" prison ship, where he died on the 7th of May, of the same year. His remains are prob- ably now, with other martyrs of the prison ships, buried in Fort Green, Brook-

COMMEMORATIVE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

lyn, N. Y., near Washington Place, in that city. He had married a Miss Mary Olmsted, who was born September 27, 1774, and their children were Mary; Hannah; Stephen, who died in infancy; another child, also called Stephen, who also died in infancy; Betsey, and Ralph.

Ralph Buckland, born July 28, 1781, son of Stephen, came in the year 1811 to Portage county, Ohio, where he served in the capacity of land agent and sur- veyor. In 1812 he removed his family in a one-horse sleigh from their home in Massachusetts to Ravenna, Ohio. His wife's maiden name was Ann Kent. Some few years after his death Mrs. Buckland married Dr. Luther Hanchett, who then had four children by a former marriage; six more children were born to them. Ralph Buckland served as a volunteer in Hull's army during the war of 1812. He was second sergeant in Capt. John Camp- bell's company, which began its march on the 4th of July, 1812, to join the regi- ment commanded by Col. Lewis Cass, at Detroit. After great suffering and hard- ship, because of the character of the country traversed, they finally reached the river Raisin, and were surrendered by Gen. Hull on the 16th day of August, as prisoners of war. Mr. Buckland returned to his home in Ravenna, "prisoner on parole," and died May 23, 1813. His children were: An infant daughter who died on the way west, and was buried at Albany, N. Y. ; Ralph Pomeroy, our sub- joct; and Stephen, who for nearly forty years was a leading druggist at Fremont, Ohio.

Ralph Pomeroy Buckland was born at Leyden, Mass., January 20, 1812. Dur- ing his early life he lived with his step- father and family on a farm, but the greater part of the time previous to the age of eighteen he lived with and labored for a farmer uncle in Mantua, excepting two years when he worked in a woolen factory at Kendall, Ohio, and one year which he spent as clerk in a store. In

the winter he attended the country schools, and in the summer of 1830 at- tended an academy at Tallmadge, Ohio, where he commenced the study of Latin. In the fall of 1831 he embarked, at Akron, Ohio, on board a flat-boat loaded with a cargo of cheese, to be transported through the Ohio canal, down the Mus- kingum, Ohio and Mississippi rivers to Natchez, Miss. At Louisville he secured a deck passage on the " Daniel Boone," and worked his way by carrying wood on board. At Natchez he found employ- ment, and secured the confidence of his employers so far that at the end of a few months they put him in charge of two flat- boats lashed together and loaded with I 200 barrels of flour for the New Orleans market. On this trip he served his turn with the rest of the crew as company cook. The voyage was successfully com- pleted, and at the solicitation of his em- ployers he remained in New Orleans, in charge of their commission house. Here, for a time, he was under the influence of companions who indulged in drinking, gambling and other vices, and was con- firmed in his resolution to avoid the evils by the sudden death of a fellow clerk, a victim of dissipation. He saved his money, and spent his time in the study of the Latin and French languages, and in reviewing common-school branches.

In June, 1834, Mr. Buckland started for Ohio, on a visit to his mother, leaving New Orleans with the fixed idea of return- ing and making that city his future home. He had been offered several first-rate situations, but on arriving home his moth- er induced him to remain in the North. After spending one year at Kenyon Col- lege, he began the study of law in the office of Gregory Powers, at Middlebury, now a part of Akron, Ohio, and completed it with Whitlessy & Newton, at Canfield; being admitted to practice in the spring of 1837. During the winter of the pre- vious year he had spent several months pursuing his studies in the office of George

COMMEMORATIVE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

B. Way, who was then editor of the Toledo Blade, and in whose temporary absence he acted for a few weeks as editor pro tem. Immediately after Mr. Buck- land's admission to the bar, with only about fifty dollars in his pocket, loaned him by his uncle, Alson Kent, he started in quest of a favorable location for an at- torney. The failure of the wild-cat banks was what settled him in Lower Sandusky, for on arriving here he had not good money enough to pay a week's board, and was obliged to stop. He was kindly trusted by Thomas L. Hawkins for a sign, opened a law office, and soon se- cured enough business to pay for his ex- penses, which were kept down to the lowest possible point. At this date he was not only without means, but still owed three hundred dollars for his ex- penses incurred while a student, and for a few necessary law books; but he was confident of ultimate success, for eight months after opening up his law office in Lower Sandusky he went to Canfield, Ohio, and married Charlotte Boughton, returning with her the following spring. Being strictly economical, their expenses during their first year of married life did not exceed $300. His credit was good and his business steadily increased, so that at the end of three or four years he had all he could attend to. He was at that time slender in build and troubled with dyspepsia, but out-door exercise, gained in traveling on horseback to the courts of adjoining counties, during term time, cured him and gradually increased his weight and physical strength. In 1846 Rutherford B. Hayes became a partner with Mr. Buckland in the practice of law, and the partnership continued until Mr. Hayes removed to Cincinnati, three years later. He afterward had as- sociated with him Hon. Homer Everett, under the firm name of Buckland & Everett, and still later James H. Fowler, the firm name becoming Buckland, Everett & Fowler, succeeded by R. P. &

H. S. Buckland, R. P. & H. S. Buck- land & Zeigler, and Buckland & Buck- land.

From his youth R. P. Buckland took an active interest in politics, and was a strong partisan, outspoken in his views. He was mayor of the village of Lower Sandusky (now Fremont), in 1843-45, and held other positions of public trust. He was a delegate to the Philadelphia Convention in 1843 which nominated Gen. Zachary Taylor for the Presidency. Upon the organization of the party he became a Republican, and never wavered from his principles. In 1855 he was elected to the Ohio Senate as a Republican, and was re-elected in 1857, serving four years. He was the author of the law for the adoption of children, which was passed during his service in the Senate.

Mr. Buckland's nature was intensely patriotic under the molding influences of his father and grandfather, who had been soldiers of the American Republic. Hence, at the outbreak of the Rebellion, in 1861, he threw his whole soul into the struggle. His military record is a matter of history. Gen. Hayes said of him: " He was the best soldier of his age in the vol- unteer service." In October, 1861, he was appointed lieutenant-colonel by Gov. William Dennison, of Ohio, and given authority to raise a regiment for the three- years' service. In three short months the glorious Seventy-second Regiment, which he organized, was ready for the field. On January 10, 1862, he was mustered into the United States service as colonel of the Sev- enty-second Regiment, O. V. I., and two weeks later left with his regiment for Camp Chase, Columbus, Ohio. In Feb- ruary he was ordered to report with his command to Gen. W. T. Sherman, at Paducah, Ky., and here the regiment was assigned to the Fourth Brigade, First Division, Army of the Tennessee, and Col. Buckland placed in command of the brigade. At the battle of Shiloh, the first week in April, 1862, the Colonel won en-

COMMEMORATIVE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

during fame as an heroic soldier and com- mander, and his brigade covered itself with glory. Buckland was not surprised at Shiloh, but was expecting an attack. His brigade and the Seventy-second Regi- ment were at the keypoint of the fight, on the extreme right of the attack, and withstood the fierce onset of the enemy on the morning of the 6th. When the brigade did fall back, it was done in per- fect order, contesting every foot of the ground. On the 7th Buckland's brigade participated in the advance that swept the enemy from the field, and at night they rested in advance of the position they oc- cupied on the 6th. Gen. Sherman al- ways accorded to Gen. Buckland the high- est praise for his bravery and coolness at Shiloh, and the splendid services rendered by his brigade. Had some other man been where Buckland was, the final out- come of the battle might have been far different.

That Gen. Grant appreciated and recognized the military skill of Gen. R. P. Buckland is shown by his letter to Gen. Sherman, on November 10, 1862, in re- lation to operations in western Tennes- see and northern Mississippi. He writes: "I will not be able to send you any gen- eral officers, unless possibly one to take command of the forces that will be left at Memphis. Stuart and Buckland will both command brigades or even divisions as well as if they held the commissions which they should and I hope will hold."* In battle Gen. Buckland was cool and fearless, but not reckless. He looked well to the comfort and health of his men on all occasions, and this made him loved and respected by the soldiers. On November 29, 1862, he was promoted to the rank of brigadier-general, for his bravery at Shiloh, and on January 26, 1864, Gen. Sherman placed Gen. Buck- land in command of the District of Mem- phis, where his administrative abilities

*War of the Rebellion, Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, Series 1, Volume XVII, Part 11, page 336.

were exemplified and his integrity o. character clearly manifested. Here he promptly repelled an attack of Gen. For- rest, and put him to flight. While serv- ing in the army, in the fall of 1864, Gen. Buckland was elected to Congress. He remained in command of the District of Memphis for the balance of the year, on January 6, 1865, tendered his resignation at Washington to the Secretary of War, and was duly mustered out of the service. On August 3, 1866, he was commissioned brevet-major-general, U. S. V., to rank from May 13, 1865, for meritorious serv- ice in the army.

After an honorable career in Congress during the reconstruction of the Southern States, Mr. Buckland returned to Fre- mont, Ohio, where he resumed his law practice. During recent years his sons, Horace S. and George, were associated with him in the law firm of Buckland & Buckland, and relieved their father of the arduous work of the profession. Gen. Buckland's legal career was marked by the same thorough integrity, ability and success that characterized him in his en- tire walk through life. To his example and influence the city of Fremont is in- debted for much of its material prosperity in the matter of public improvements. He erected the first substantial three- story brick building in that city, now known as Masonic Block. In 1853 he built the residence he ever after occupied, and it was at that time the finest dwelling in northern Ohio. Subsequently he built the three-story block at the corner of Front and State streets. He took an active part in securing railroads and man- ufactories for the city, and always stood in the front rank of citizens who worked for the upbuilding of Fremont.

Gen. Buckland was a charter member of Eugene Rawson Post No. 32, G. A. R., Fremont, Ohio, and was its first com- mander. He was a companion of the Loyal Legion, and a member of the S. A. J. Snyder Command, Union Veteran's

3 1833 02346 267 1

COMMEMORATIVE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

Union; also belonging to the Society of the Army of the Tennessee, and to other army societies. He was the life presi- dent of the Society of the Seventy-second Regiment O. V. I., and was for a time president of the Sandusky County Pio- neer and Historical Society. He was for forty-five years a member of Croghan Lodge, I. O. O. F., and for many years had been junior warden in and an active member of St. Paul's Episcopal Church, Fremont. Thus for more than half a century he had been a conspicuous figure in Fremont and northern Ohio. He was a pioneer settler, a distinguished lawyer, a gallant soldier, an eminent member of the Ohio State and the National Legisla- tures, and an enterprising and public-spir- ited citizen. He was an educated and courteous Christian gentleman, and his name and his accomplishments are indel- ibly stamped on the history of the city of Fremont and of the Nation. He will never be forgotten. His death occurred on Friday, May 27, 1892, when he was at the venerable age of more than eighty years. From the announcement of his death until after his funeral many flags floated at half-mast all over the city, and nearly all the business houses were closed. At his funeral the spacious residence, the grounds and the adjoining streets were thronged with people anxious to pay the last tribute of respect to the departed. The funeral discourse was delivered by Rev. S. C. Aves, pastor of the Episcopal Church, Norwalk, Ohio, and was touch- ingly eloquent and sympathetic. At the close ex-President Hayes paid a fitting tribute to his life-long friend in a brief, concise and masterly manner. At the tomb, in Oak Wood Cemetery, the Grand Army of the Republic conducted its im- pressive burial service. Closely following this event many worthy tributes of re- spect were paid by the various societies of the city, among which were the Fre- mont Bar Association, the Union Veter- an's Union, the Sons of Veterans, the

Independent Order of Odd Fellows, the city council of Fremont, and St. Paul's Episcopal Church.

The children of Gen. R. P. and Charlotte Buckland were: Ralph Bough- ton Buckland, who died at Fremont, Ohio, in 1880; Ann Kent Buckland, wife of Charles M. Dillon; Alson Kent Buck- land and Thomas Stilwell Buckland, both of whom died in infancy; Caroline Nichols Buckland, who died at Memphis, Tenn., at the age of sixteen; Mary Buckland, who died at the age of six; Horace Step- hen Buckland, attorney at law, just elected Judge of the Court of Common Pleas for the second sub-division for the Fourth Judicial District of Ohio (he mar- ried Miss Elizabeth Catherine Bauman, of Fremont) [a more extended account of Judge H. S. Buckland is found elsewhere in this volume]; and George Buckland, an attorney at law, of Cincinnati, Ohio, who married Grace Huntington, daughter of J. C. Huntington, of Cincinnati. The General's grandchildren are the children of his daughter, Mrs. C. M. Dillon, viz .: George Buckland Dillon, who died in in- fancy; Mary Buckland Dillon; Ralph Put- nam Dillon, a graduate of the Case School, Cleveland, Ohio; Kent Howard Dillon, a student of the same school; Charlotte Elizabeth Dillon, a student at the Lake Erie Seminary, Painesville, Ohio; Edward Boughton and Edwin Dil- lon (twins), who died in infancy, and Charles Buckland Dillon.

Gen. Buckland's son, Ralph Bough- ton Buckland, was a man of more than usual force of character. At the break- ing out of the war he enlisted in Capt. Tillotson's Company of the Eighth O. V. I., ninety-day-men, and went with that company to Cincinnati. Upon his return his father would not permit him to re-en- list, but required him to remain at home to look after the family and his varied in- terests there, which Ralph did nobly un- til the close of the war, when he went South to look after plantations which his

COMMEMORATIVE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

father had purchased. The venture not proving profitable, the plantations were sold and he returned to the homestead in the North, where he died in 1880. He never married.

Caroline Nichols Buckland died of con- gestive fever, at Memphis, Tenn., May 21, 1864. She had gone down to Mem- phis in company with her mother and little brother George, to visit her father, who was then in command of the District of Memphis. A few days before the time for their return North, Carrie was taken suddenly ill with the dread disease, and died after an illness of only three days. On Sunday evening, after services at the house, Carrie began her last journey, sur- rounded by the Seventy-second Regiment O. V. I., which by its own request acted as escort. She was only fifteen years and eight months old, and was probably the only young girl who had a military fu- neral during the war of the Rebellion. She was brought home, and now lies buried in Oak Wood Cemetery, Fremont, Ohio. The following lines were pub- lished in the Memphis Bulletin at the time of her death:

LINES ON THE DEATH OF MISS CARRIE BUCKLAND. How still she lies amid the flowers, And night itself seems dead; The city sleeps; no sound we hear Save the lone sentry's tread.

The slender fingers slightly clasp Pale flowers, sweet and white ; All pure and lovely as yon moon Of cold and silver light.

The soft. luxuriant, pale brown hair Waves in the evening wind; Yet in that marble, changeless face No wave of life we find.

The fair face looks like peaceful sleep, The lips full as in life;

Yet the red blood has ceased to flow- Ceased has life's busy strife.

A broken lily-bud ; no eye Of earth may ever see

How gloriously it blooms above, Flower of Eternity.

Were death but an unchanging sleep, low sad would be this night;

But there's a land beyond the grave -- A home of living light. Memphis, June 18, 1864.

The Memphis Bulletin said of her: "Three weeks ago she arrived with her mother from Ohio. With all the attrac- tions of her sixteen summers about her, an amiability that won every heart, a fascination of manner whose gentle influ- ence, wherever she appeared, awakened interest and admiration, and a kind and genial sympathy that captured affection, she was everywhere a favorite, and her company was sought and valued wherever she became known.

"Fresh as the spring whose charms at the moment deck every hill and meadow, she enjoyed her advent to new scenes, welcomed with youthful zest the appreciative regard of the new circle amid which she was introduced, and rejoiced once more to join her honored and happy sire, himself proud of the sweet blossom Providence had vouchsafed as the treas- ure of his life-when death plucked the flower in the very youth of its loveliness, and stamped the fleeting charm with the impress of immortality."

0 SCAR J. DONCYSON, of Fre- mont, Sandusky county, is a na- tive of the same, having been born March 14, 1862, a son of Chris- tian and Marie Magdalen (Engler) Doncy- son. The German spelling of the name was Danzeison.

Christian Doncyson was a native of Dentzlingen, Baden, Germany, born De- cember 11, 1812, son of Bernhardt and Anna (Hugin) Doncyson, who were also natives of Baden. His mother died in Dentzlingen in 1813, during the Napo- leonic war, and in 1815 his father married, for his second wife, Miss Christina Stribin. Christian Doncyson was educated in the public schools, and at the age of fourteen became a member of the Evangelical Protestant Church. He learned the trade of baker, at which he labored two years, and then worked in a brewery at Emmen- dingen, at the age of twenty-one com-

COMMEMORATIVE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

mencing to serve in the Second Regiment of Baden Dragoons at Mannheim. After thirteen months' service he was honor- ably discharged, at the request of his father, who had decided to emigrate to America.

The Doncyson family left their home in Baden June 30, 1834, and after a tedi- ous journey of nineteen days arrived at Havre, where they took passage for America. The company consisted of Bernhardt Doncyson and wife, their sons John and Christian, George Engler and wife, and their children-Marie Magdalen (afterward wife of Judge Doncyson), Mrs. Christian Shively, Mrs. Catherine Ochs, George Engler, Andrew Engler, Henry Engler and Mrs. Rosina Longenbach. After a voyage of thirty-seven days they reached New York, from which city they proceeded by canal-boat to Buffalo, thence on the steamer "Harrison" to Portland (now Sandusky City), and by boat to Lower Sandusky. Bernhardt Doncyson bought eighty acres of wild land in Sandusky township, near the mouth of Little Mud creek, where he followed farming about twenty-three years. His death occurred February 1, 1867, and that of his wife in July, 1867.

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Commemorative biographical record of the counties of Sandusky and Ottawa, Ohio, containing biographical sketches of prominent and representative citizens, Part 1

Author: J.H. Beers & Co Publication date: 1896 Publisher: Chicago, J.H. Beers & co. Number of Pages: 1040

Author: J.H. Beers & Co
Publication date: 1896
Publisher: Chicago, J.H. Beers & co.
Number of Pages: 1040