USA > Ohio > Crawford County > A centennial biographical history of Crawford County, Ohio > Part 77
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OWEN OHL.
The man whose name is above is one of the old and honored citizens of Texas township. Crawford county, Ohio, and is a native of the Wyoming Val- ley in Pennsylvania, having been born in Luzerne county, February 28, 1833, a son of Philip and Mary ( Kless ) Ohl, who had six children, named as fol- lows: Joshua, John, Owen, Abraham, Caroline and Elizabeth, of whom the subject of this sketch is the only one now living. Philip Ohl served his coun- try as a soldier in the war of 1812 and became a man of local prominence at his old home in Pennsylvania. In 1851 he moved with his family from Penn- sylvania to Ohio, and located in Texas township, Crawford county, on the farm now owned by his son Owen. He bought eighty acres of land, on which was a small clearing and a log house. He made improvements and re- mained there continuously until 1876, when he died, at the age of eighty-three years.
Owen Ohl lived on his father's home farm until 1869, when he removed to Lykens township, where he bought eighty acres of land, on which he lived seven years. After that he lived for four years on a farm owned by his father-in-law, Robert Dewalt, and then returned to his father's old homestead. He has been successful in a material way and has acquired two hundred acres of land, one hundred and twenty acres of which he divided among his chil- dren in 1901, retaining only his old homestead. In politics he is a Democrat and he and his wife and children are communicants of the German Reformed church.
Mr. Ohl was married May 11, 1861, to Miss Isabelle Dewalt, daughter of Robert Dewalt, of Lykens township, and they have had seven children, the following data concerning whom will be of interest in this connection. Their son Robert lives in Wyandot county, Ohio. Their daughter Mary is
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the wife of P. A. Frankenfield, of Texas township, Crawford county. Their son Richard E. is a farmer in Seneca county, Ohio. Their daughter Laura E. is the wife of Albert Braldie, of Seneca county, Ohio. Their son William is a well-known citizen of Texas township. Their son Albert is a member of their household. Their daughter Ida is the wife of Willard Moore, of Texas township.
Mr. and Mrs. Ohl are passing the declining years of their lives quietly and calmly, with few bitter memories and with many pleasant thoughts of their past years, for their lives have been blameless and their worldly success has been won by most worthy means. Their charity has not been stinted and they have many times proven themselves friends to those in need. Their example has been a good one to their children and to all who know them and they are justly held in high esteem by a wide circle of acquaintances.
OBADIAH BANKS.
The family of Banks, which produced the well-known resident of Texas township, Crawford county, Ohio, whose name is the caption of this article, is the same old colonial family of which the late General Nathaniel P. Banks, warrior and statesman, was a representative. Obadialı Banks comes of a good old New York family and was born in Cayuga county, that state, No- vember 29, 1834. His father, Rhesa Banks, was born in Connecticut and married Lucinda Mead, who bore him seven children, of whom the subject of this sketch was the first in order of birth. Ursula and Marion, twins, were next in order of birth and they are both dead. The next born was Sybil, who has also passed away. Their fifth child, Celestia, married Martin Welsh The next in order of nativity was Ellen, who is the wife of C. Jump, of Benton, Crawford county, Ohio. Their youngest child, David, lives in Texas town- ship, Crawford county. In the course of events Mr. and Mrs. Banks removed with their children to Crawford county, Ohio, and settled in Texas township, where Mr. Banks bought one hundred and sixty acres of land, which he de- veloped into a good farm and on which he spent the remainder of his life, dy- ing in 1885, at the age of seventy-five years. His wife died ten years earlier. He was a man of prominence in the township and was influential in public affairs and for a time he ably filled the office of township trustee.
In 1854, when his parents located in Texas township, Obadiah Banks was twenty years old. He remained with his father, assisting him in the man- agement of his farm until June, 1864, when he married Miss Jane Mulsog,
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by whom he has two children, Eva, who married C. H. Miller, who is a school teacher at Bucyrus, Ohio, and Truman, who is a member of his father's house- hold.
Soon after he was married Mr. Banks located on his present farm, which has been his home since that time, except for three years. He owns eighty acres of well improved land, which he is cultivating profitably and is regarded as one of the well-to-do farmers of the township. He has always taken a deep interest in the causes of education and temperance and is a member of the Prohibition party. That he is not without considerable influence in local affairs will be understood when the fact is considered that he has held the office of constable six years and has for four years been township trustee of Texas township. He is a member of the Methodist Episcopal church and has always contributed liberally toward the maintenance of Christian worship in his neighborhood. All in all he is a man of much public spirit, who is ready at all times to assist any measures which he deems likely to further the general interests of his fellow citizens.
ANDREW FRANKENFIELD.
Reference has been frequently made in this work to the good influence of Pennsylvania blood upon the settlement and development of the great middle west. Of such ancestry is Andrew Frankenfield, of Texas township, Crawford county, Ohio, who was born in Northampton county, Pennsylvania, April 6, 1820, and was there reared to a practical knowledge of farming and educated in the common schools. In due time he married Rebecca Besulma, who bore him five sons and five daughters, of whom seven are living.
In 1851 Mr. Frankenfield removed to Crawford county, Ohio, where he bought five acres of land, on which he erected a cabin and a log blacksmith shop. Later he bought fifty acres of heavily timbered land, which he grad- ually cleared and put under cultivation and on which he lived for twenty-five years, farming and doing carpenter work as there was a demand for his serv- ices. At the expiration of that time he located on a farm in Seneca county, Ohio, where he lived until 1868, when he removed to his present farm of one hundred and seventeen acres in Texas township. Crawford county, Ohio, where he has given his attention to general farming with much success.
Politically Mr. Frankenfield affiffiliates with the Democratic party and his influence in local public matters is recognized. At the same time he is not in the ordinary sense of the term a practical politician and he has never sought
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nor accepted office. He is a communicant of the Presbyterian church and has for many years been a liberal contributor toward the support of its various interests. He began life poor and is a self-made man, whose success has been won most worthily and who is highly regarded by all who know him.
E. LAMBERT.
It is always a pleasure to the writer and it should edify the reader to peruse and consider any adequate sketch of the career of a man who has made his way to worldly success without the aid of influential friends and in spite of many discouragements, a man who, with the single idea of achieving vic- tory, pushes obstacles from his path and, making himself superior to circum- stances, presses forward to the goal which he seeks. Such a man is the sub- ject of this sketch, who, though a farmer in a rural community, more fittingly represents the possibilities of legitimate American enterprise than a Gould or a Morgan.
Mr. Lambert comes of that sturdy old Pennsylvania stock which lias given strength and activity to enterprise and impetus to education and en- lightenment in all parts of our great west, and was born in Northampton county, in the Keystone state, February 2, 1819. He was reared on a farm and became early familiar with hard work and only the most meager educational advantages were available to him. . At the age of nineteen he began to work at the blacksmith's trade. In 1843 he removed from Pennsylvania to Sum- merville, New Jersey, and worked there as a blacksmith for seven years. From Summerville he went to Ohio, and locating in Lykens township, Craw- ford county, opened a blacksmith shop there, which he conducted successfully for four years, when he traded it for another shop at Benton, in the same county, where he carried on blacksmithing until 1864.
In the year last mentioned Mr. Lambert retired from blacksmithing and bought the eighty-acre farm in Todd township, Crawford county, Ohio, on which he has since lived and the acreage of which he has since increased until it embraces one hundred and seventy-eight acres. The writer wishes to impress upon the mind of the reader the fact that Mr. Lambert has acquired this fine property by his own unaided efforts, by many years of hard toil, dur- ing which he has dealt with all with whom he has come in contact with the most scrupulous honesty. These facts are known to all who know Mr. Lam- bert and they should go far to discourage a belief which has taken root in the minds of many young persons that the easy way and the trickey way is the
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only sure way to financial success. Such a man exerts upon the community at large an influence more potent for good than that of a dozen millionaires, who have made their money by grinding the faces of the poor and are flaunting it brazenly before an outraged world.
Mr. Lambert is a Democrat in politics and has held the office of super- visor of his township, which he filled most ably and to the entire satisfaction of all concerned, but he has been without political aspirations and has believed and acted religiously upon the belief that one man who does his duty thor- oughly as it comes to his hands from day to day, is more useful than any ten men who go about advising others what they should do, especially men who are actuated by the professional politician's hope of profiting by the labor of others. Mr. Lambert is now eighty-two years old and he attributes his healthy longevity to an active and regular life and to the fact that he has never used tobacco or liquor in any form.
Mr. Lambert was married in 1845, to Miss Margaret Kunnsman, who has borne him six children. Mary, AAdam, Samuel, Emma, David and Saralı, of whom all except David and Sarah are living.
DANIEL BECK.
The record of a life well spent and useful is always interesting and edify- ing and it is to be regretted that the brevity necessary to the plan of this work does not admit of the introduction of all details of the life of such men as the late Daniel Beck, of Jefferson township, Crawford county, Ohio.
Daniel Beck, who is descended from good Pennsylvania ancestry, was born in Westmoreland county, Pennsylvania, in 1818, and lived there until 1830, attending school and assisting about the home work. In the year last mentioned, in company with his father and other members of his family, he went to Crawford county, Ohio, where Adam Beck, the father, built a grist- mill within the borders of Jefferson township, and took up land and engaged in farming. Daniel grew to manhood as his father's assistant in his agricult- ural and other enterprises and remained with him until 1845, when, at the age of twenty-seven, he married. Then under an independent arrangement he took charge of his father's farm, on which he lived until 1855. In 1857 he located on the farm which became known as his homestead and on which he died November 30. 1892. In politics he was a Republican and he exerted a recognized influence upon public affairs.
In 1845 Mr. Beck married Nancy Lareiner, who was born in Perry county,
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Ohio, February 5, 1821. Their son Robert W. is dead. Their son Joseph lives in Indiana. Their sons William and Shannon and their daughter Louisa are dead. Their daughter Margaret is living in Morrow county, Ohio. Mrs. Beck, who survives her husband, is the daughter of Robert Lareiner, a na- tive of Ireland, who at the age of six years was brought to America by his parents, who settled in Pennsylvania. Later Robert and one of his brothers went to Fairfield county, Ohio, making the journey out from Pennsylvania on foot. Mrs. Beck's first recollections of home are of a floorless log cabin, and she states that she never had anything to do with a stove until after her marriage. The Beck homestead, now under her control, consists of eighty acres of rich and well cultivated land, which is a valuable agricultural prop- erty. Mrs. Beck is one of a family of twelve children and the only one now living.
SAMUEL S. FREESE.
The family of Freese has long been well known in Pennsylvania, where the name has become identified with success and agricultural and mechanical pursuits, in financial and commercial circles, in the professions and in politics. Wherever representatives of the family have gone, following the westward course of the empire, they have not only planted well, cultivated thoroughly and reaped abundantly, but have been so upright in their dealings with their fellow men and so public-spirited in their relations to their fellow citizens that everywhere the name has become a synonym for good citizenship. There may have been men named Frees who have fallen short of realizing this description, but such have never been known in Crawford county, Ohio, where the family has been well represented by Samuel Freese, of Jefferson township, and by others.
Samuel S. Freese was born at Lancaster, Lancaster county, Pennsyl- vania, October 8, 1820, one of the five children of Jolin J. and Susan ( Eldis) Freese, and he is the only one of them now living. The others were named William, Elizabeth, Susan and Adam. In 1823, when the subject of this sketch was about three years old, he was taken by his parents to Holmes county, Ohio, where the family lived until 1831, when they removed to Crawford county. John J. Freese bought eighty acres of land in Jefferson township, on which some improvements had been made and a one-room log house had been erected. Mr. Freese died at Galion, Ohio.
Samuel Freese was brought up to farm work and received a meager edu-
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cation in the subscription school taught in a log school house near his pioneer home. He has a vivid recollection of early days in Crawford county and re- members the now flourishing city of Galion at a period in its history when it consisted of only a few scattered log cabins. He remained on the farm, as- sisting his father, until 1848, when, at the age of twenty-eight years, he married Lena Eberly and moved on his present farm, on which there then stood a small log house, which has since given place to a substantial modern resi- dence. He proved himself to be a man of exceptional business capacity and became the owner of more than five hundred acres of land, three hundred acres of which he has divided among his children. His home farm of two hundred acres he devotes to general farming and stock-raising.
Samuel and Lena ( Eberly) Freese have children named John, Caroline, Eliza and William.
ADAM ASHCROFT.
The subject of this sketch is the son of parents who were pioneers in what is now Crawford county, Ohio, and was born within the limits of Jeffer- son township at so early a date that he might well claim pioneership for him- self. He comes of the old Pennsylvania family of Ashcroft and his father was Newton Ashcroft, a son of Adam Ashcroft, in honor of whom the present Adam Ashcroft was named and who was himself an early settler in Crawford county. Adam Ashcroft came out from Pennsylvania in 1828 accompanied by his son Newton and other members of his family and settled in Jeffer- son township, where he bought the farm which is now the property and home of his grandson, the second Adam Ashcroft. It consisted of one hundred and sixty acres of land, on which there had been a small clearing, in the midst of which stood a lonely little log cabin. Adam Ashcroft, who was a surveyor and school teacher, became prominent in the county and being a member of the church, with a gift for prayer and speech, he did effective work among the early settlers as an exhorter and an evangelist. He was a very industrious man and worked on his woodland farm early and late, chopping down trees, logging, grubbing and burning out stumps and in all necessary ways preparing for cultivation, and when he died at the age of ninety-two years, it was a farm of which he had long been proud.
Adam Ashcroft, grandson of Adam Ashcroft and son of Newton Ash- croft, was born in 1834 and passed his youth on the farm and in obtaining a practical education in local subscription schools, an ambition in which he was
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encouraged by his mother, who before her marriage to Newton Ashcroft, was Miss Mary Hershener. Of the seven children of Newton and Mary ( Hershener) Ashcroft, three of whom were sons and four of whom were daughters, the subject of this sketch and his sisters survive. Elizabeth is the widow of Samuel Trosh. Mary is the wife of John Creider. Catherine is the wife of John Johnson. Lydia is the wife of Johnson Davis. John and Henry are dead. Newton Ashcroft, who is a carpenter and stone cutter by trade, was a constant resident of Jefferson township, from his advent there in 1828, until his death in 1892, at the age of nnety-two. His wife died at the age of eighty-eight years. Their son Adam, who now owns one hundred and eleven acres of his grandfather's original homestead, has lived on the place all his life, except during two years and he took charge of the place in 1858. He owns two other pieces of land of twenty-five and thirteen acres, respec- tively. At the age of twenty-one he began working at the carpenter's trade, at which he was employed four years.
In 1858 Mr. Ashcroft married Lydia Crieder, who has borne him four children, as follows: Homer, who lives in Wells county, Indiana ; Alice, who is the wife of Richard Hiltner, of Jefferson township; Edith, who is the wife of Harry Smith, of Jefferson township; and Pearl, who is the wife of William De Gray, of Jefferson township. Since he married Mr. Ashcroft has given his attention entirely to farming, in which he has been very successful. Po- litically he is a Republican, devoted to the principles and measures of his party and, while he is not without influence in local affairs, he is neither a practical politician nor an office seeker, but he is a man of recognized public spirit. He is a member of the Methodist Episcopal church and is a liberal supporter of Christian worship in his township.
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CHARLES M. HILBORN.
Charles M. Hilborn is one of the successful and progressive farmers of Bucyrus township, and is also a well-known and highly respected citizen. Mr. Hilborn is a native of Crawford county, having been born in Todd township, September 9. 1863, and is a descendant on both paternal and maternal sides from pioneer settlers of this county and of Richland county. Grandfather Hil- born was one of the earliest settlers of Richland county, while Grandfather Joseph Reinhart came to Todd township, Crawford county, when it was but a wilderness. The father and mother of our subject were Samuel L. and Mary
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( Reinhart) Hilborn, the former of whom was born in Richland county and the latter in Lancaster county, Pennsylvania.
Charles M. Hilborn, of this biography, is the second child in a family of ten children born to his parents, and was reared on his father's farm, where he remained until attaining his majority. His education was pursued in the common schools, and he grew to manhood a fine type of the agricultural regions of one of the best counties in the state of Ohio.
After leaving the parental roof Mr. Hilborn spent the first summer in operating a threshing machine, and was so successful in this line that he has made that a business for every season since, three years of this time being a partner in the threshing business. His occupation has been exclusively that of a farmer, and since 1890 he has operated a fine farm in this township, where he has become prominent in Democratic politics. During 1896-97 he was the efficient assessor of Bucyrus township, and in 1900 he was almost success- ful in his candidacy for trustee, having gained the confidence of the public by his excellent management of the business connected with his former office.
Mr. Hilborn was married in 1888 to Miss Catherine Hirtz, who was born in Holmes township, Crawford county, and he has six children living. Mr. Hilborn and family belong to the highly esteemed and respected residents of the township.
BENJAMIN A. SINN.
The agricultural interests of Crawford county, Ohio, are in the hands of experienced and capable men, whose fertile fields and attractive surround- ings testify to their efficiency in their chosen line of effort.
Among the thriving agriculturists of Bucyrus township is the leading citizen, Benjamin A. Sinn, whose birth took place in a log cabin, on the farm now owned by Jonathan Carmean, in this township, on September 23, 1832. His parents were George and Sarah ( Hawk) Sinn, who reared a family of ten children. George Sinn was a native of Pennsylvania and came with his wife to Crawford county, Ohio, in 1826, where they were among the pioneers. He successfully operated a grist and sawmill in this county, and about 1856 purchased a farm on section 4 in Bucyrus township, upon which he lived for many years. His death occurred in 1870, his wife surviving for six years. Mr. Sinn was a man of character and prominence, well and favorably known throughout the county, and thrice acceptably filled the position of county auditor, in addition holding other offices of honor and trust.
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Benjamin Sinn, of this biography, was reared on the farm, but the major portion of his time was employed in the mill, where he became thoroughly in- structed as a miller, both in grinding and sawing. In 1857 he decided to see something of the country, starting westward, and after a period spent in Iowa reached Denver, Colorado. At that time the present flourishing and beau- tiful city was but a collection of log cabins, and mining was the principal in- dustry, the greater part of the population having been attracted thither for that purpose. Mr. Sinn also became interested in mining, but after a year of trial, with but indifferent success, he turned his face homeward, passing through the state of Misouri.
Upon reaching Ohio Mr. Sinn took charge of a gristmill at Sycamore, Ohio, where he remained for one year, and then went into the operation of a sawmill at Glenville, where he continued for eight years, passing the succeed- ing five years upon a farm. The following ten years were spent by Mr. Sinn in the successful operation of a sawmill in Fulton county, Ohio. It was not until 1882 that he decided to settle down to an agricultural life on his present farm, which he purchased from his father, but since that time lie has shown such marked ability in his chosen line that his success as a farmer and also as a stock-raiser is well known through the locality. Mr. Sinn still continues to look after his stock and farming interests, but not so actively as formerly. A lifelong Democrat, he has taken a deep interest in township affairs, and was an efficient trustee of the same in 1867-8. He enjoys the esteem and respect of the community and is considered one of the representative men of Bucyrus township.
LEO WHITE.
Leo White, a young and successful farmer and stock-raiser of Dallas township, Crawford county, is a son of Willard T. White, a retired farmer, residing in Bucyrus, Ohio. The White family is numbered among the oldest in the county. Going back in the history of the ancestry, it is found to be of Virginia stock. Charles White, the paternal great-grandfather of Leo White, was born and reared in the Old Dominion and was about sixteen years of lage when the Revolutionary war began. His name appears on the muster roll of militia. He was in active military service several years during the struggle of the colonies for American independence, being for a portion of that period under the immediate command of General Washington. He served also as one of the "minute (men." When his father died he inherited as a portion of
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his estate several slaves, and being reared amid slavery conditions he was not at first opposed to the system. Through inheritance and purchase he became in time the owner of a large number of slaves. He removed to Fayette county, Kentucky, and while there he liberated his bondsmen. He had fought for lib- erty in the war of the Revolution and could not believe it right to hold his fellow men in bondage or reconcile it with the principles of eternal justice. Becoming disgusted with the iniquitous system, he liberated his negroes, thir- teen in number, and soon afterward removed to Ross county, Ohio, taking up his abode there about 1812. He followed farming with fair success in that county, where he continued to reside until his death, which occurred in 1856, when he had attained the advanced age of ninety-six years. He had three sons, namely : Samuel, George and Charles W., and the first two served in the American army during the war of 1812.
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