USA > Ohio > Hancock County > A centennial biographical history of Hancock County, Ohio > Part 37
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In 1872, at Johnstown, Pennsylvania, he was united in marriage with Miss Vina C., daughter of Jacob Mainhart, and this union has resulted in the birth of one daughter, Miss Verna V., who remains at home with her parents. Mr. Wanamaker's political affiliations have always been Demo- cratic, though he has neither sought nor cared for office of any kind. His fraternal connections are with the Odd Fellows and encampment and lodge No. 85, Knights of Pythias. His religious beliefs are in line with those of the Lutheran church, of which he has been an adherent for some years.
THOMAS F. GILLESPIE.
There could be no more fitting tribute to an ex-soldier than to make him a justice of the peace. Mr. Gillespie, upon whom has been conferred that honor, is descended from Revolutionary stock, and though all the signs of war have long since disappeared the strain of fearlessness and courage in the Gillespie family has not weakened in any way.
William Gillespie, the great-grandfather of our subject, was a soldier of the war of Independence and had a son Thomas, for whom the subject of this sketch was named. The latter's father was the Reverend John Gillespie, born in 1826 and died in Defiance county, Ohio, at about sixty-eight years of age.
Thomas F. Gillespie's career has been long and useful. He was born on a farm in Allen county in 1847, and there lived until he was fourteen years old, when his parents moved to Putnam county. On January 6, 1863, when he was but fifteen and one-half years of age, he enlisted in the Seventh Inde- pendent Company of Ohio Sharpshooters, attached to the Tenth Regiment, Ohio Volunteer Infantry, Army of Tennessee, and which company acted as body guard to General Rosecrans. Young Gillespie went as a private and served eighteen months, when he was transferred to the Fourteenth United States Regulars (Infantry) and served until he was mustered out, which took place at the mouth of the Columbia river, on the Pacific coast, January 6, 1866. Mr. Gillespie was at the battle of Chickamauga, Missionary Ridge, Weldon Railroad, Virginia, between Petersburg and Richmond, at which
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latter place he was severely wounded in the left hand, and was obliged to be away from his regiment until April, 1865.
On receiving his discharge he went to Putnam county and farmed for a year, when he decided to go to Defiance, where he learned cabinet making, and remained three years working at his trade. He then moved to Lima, Ohio, and for three years was employed in the car works of the Cincinnati, Hamil- ton & Dayton Railroad. He afterwards lived in Paulding county two years, working at the carpenter's trade, and moved from there to Dupont, where he established himself in the undertaking and cabinet-making business, in which he continued for three years. He moved back to Paulding where he farmed until 1894, when he moved to Findlay. In 1900 he was elected justice of the peace, he having previously served in that capacity at Dupont. He has held this office since his first election.
Our subject was first married in 1867 to Emma L. Boutelle, who died in 1873, leaving four children, as follows: Charles A .; Albert L .; Guilford L .; and Jennie, wife of Charles H. Terry. Mr. Gillespie was again married, in 1878 to Emma C. Pease, and they have five children: Nettie; Leona, widow of Harry Farquhar; Cloyd; Phoebe L. and Myrtle E.
As a loyal patriot Mr. Gillespie is a member of G. A. R., Stoker Post, No. 54, and also of the Union Veterans. His fraternal associations are with the Masons and Knights of Pythias. He is a strong Republican of the old school, and is an active member of the Church of God of Findlay.
JESSE SHILLING.
The eminent position which Hancock county has attained as a leading one in the state is in a large measure due to the class of citizens which make up so large a proportion of her agricultural population. Among those who have succeeded and become substantial pillars of the county through their own well directed and intelligent efforts is Jesse Shilling, who has owned property here for many years. He was born in Mahoning county, Ohio, on the 12th of November, 1830. His father. Adam Shilling, was a native of Germany, but when fourteen years of age he left his little home across the sea and came to the United States, locating with his mother in Pennsylvania. Subse- quently he took up his abode in Mahoning county, Ohio, and in Burlington township, that county, he was united in marriage to Elizabeth Mown. She was born in Mahoning county, but was reared in Trumbull county, Ohio. In 1852 Mr. and Mrs. Shilling came to Hancock county, taking up their abode on a farm in Orange township, two and a half miles northeast of our subject's
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present homestead, and there these worthy old pioneers spent the remainder of their days, the father passing away at the age of seventy-four years, while the mother reached the seventy-fifth milestone on the journey of life. They were the parents of ten children, nine of whom grew to years of maturity. Adam Shilling, the father, was a worthy member of the Lutheran Reformed church, and in his political affiliations was a Republican.
Jesse Shilling, the third child and eldest son in order of birth in the above family, accompanied his parents on their removal to Hancock county in 1852, and prior to his removal to this locality he was engaged in agricul- tural pursuits in the county of his nativity. Farming has been his life-long occupation, and in 1850 he located on his present valuable homestead in Orange township, but at the time of purchase the land was still in its primi- tive condition. He has cleared it of its dense growth of timber, has placed bis fields under a fine state of cultivation, and his place of one hundred and twenty acres is now one of the valuable ones of his community.
The marriage of Mr. Shilling was celebrated in 1856, when Elizabeth Main became his wife. She, too, is a native of the old Buckeye state, for her birth occurred in Delaware county, Ohio, and by her marriage she has become the mother of one daughter, Lucinda Jane, who is now the wife of George Kinnell, of Bluffton, Ohio. A life-long supporter of Republican principles, Mr. Shilling cast his first presidential vote for Lincoln in 1860, and has ever since been a stalwart supporter of the grand old party. He is well and favorably known throughout Hancock county, where he has hosts of friends.
PERRY VAN HORN.
The Van Horns, as the name would seem to indicate, were originally from Holland, but emigrated at an early period in the history of the United States and found lodgment in Pennsylvania. In 1833 Charles and Sarah Van Horn joined the tide of migration to Ohio and located in Hancock county, where they entered one hundred and sixty acres of land in Amanda township and subsequently increased their holdings to the extent of four hundred additional acres. Along with them from the east came their son Robert, who was born in Bucks county, Pennsylvania, in 1829, and was five years of age at the time of the removal. As Robert grew up he proved to be an obedient and industrious boy, eventually became prosperous and rose to a position of influence in his community. He married Evaline Frazer, a na- tive of Cumberland county, Pennsylvania, who came with her parents to Ohio about the time of the arrival of the Van Horns. This lady died in 1884,
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but Robert Van Horn is still living in Hancock county, at the age of seventy- three years. Of their ten children nine grew to maturity and eight survive as substantial citizens of different communities.
Among this number is Perry Van Horn, who was born on his father's farm in Jackson township, Hancock county, Ohio, July 2, 1862. He was reared on the old homestead, received the usual training, and when of suit- able age began to farm on his own account. In 1884 he made his first pur- chase of real estate, consisting of eighty acres, to which he later joined an ad- ditional one hundred and eighty-two and a half acres. By a subsequent sale of sixty-two and a half acres his estate was reduced to the two hundred acres which constitute his home place in Jackson township. His farm is well im- proved, lacking nothing to make it a desirable country seat, and is devoted to general agriculture, including the usual amount and variety of stock. Mr. Van Horn contents himself with raising the standard crops and animals, does not attempt anything in the line of "fancy farming" and the general result of his operations has been a steady growth toward prosperity.
In 1884 Mr. Van Horn married Gertrude Smith, who was born in Cumberland county, Pennsylvania, in 1865, her parents being William and Mary Smith. The result of this union is an only son, named Grant, born in 1886 and now a student in the school at Findlay.
W. C. DAMAN.
Among those who devote their attention to the business of farming and stock raising in Big Lick township, Hancock county, is the above named gentleman, who successfully operates a farm of one hundred and twenty-five acres. The family of which he is an honored and worthy representative are of German ancestry. His father, John C. Daman, and his mother, Katherine Westerman, were natives of the fatherland, where they were married and subsequently emigrated to this country in 1830. Here they located in the old Buckeye state, chosing Columbiana county as their home and where they re- mained up to 1839, that being the date of their removal to Big Lick township. This was in the earlier history of the county, when much of the farming land was in its primitive state, and the carving out of a farm meant long hours of unremitting toil. They purchased forty acres to which they added until it was increased to sixty-five acres, and passed their lives in its cultivation. It is worthy to note that John C. Daman was a man who met every responsibility in life with credit. In the old country he had been a soldier in the German army, and had served out his time in his country's service. He took part in
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many of the campaigns conducted by the German army, and carried upon his body the scars of wounds received, and showed the marks of the hardships through which he had passed in the various campaigns. So severe had been the service that his constitution became impaired, and the latter part of his life was passed in very indifferent health. He died in 1848. The wife lived for a number of years after, her death having occurred in 1873. The family con- sisted of eight children, only two of whom are now living, Justice Daman, residing now in the county of Gratiot, Michigan, and W. C. Daman, of whom we are pleased to write. This gentleman was born in Columbiana county, Ohio, in 1836, the date being December 31. He passed the period of his boyhood in the grinding toil of farm life in that early day, but it had for one of its rewards the construction of a physical frame that has carried him suc- cessfully through his subsequent career. Arriving at manhood he resolved to devote his life to the pursuit of agriculture, and purchasing the farm upon which he now resides, in 1858, he began the construction of his home. He has at various times added to the original purchase, both in land and im- provements, and is at present in possession of a farm which is looked upon as a model one in Hancock county. Marriage came to Mr. Daman in 1864, his first wife having been Angeline Measel, by whom he had two children : Flora and Warren W. The second lady's maiden name was Ellen McEwen, and two of her children are now living, Celestia and Charles W., while one is deceased. By his third wife, whose maiden name was Lou Sleymaker, he be- came the father of a son named Frank. The present wife of Mr. Daman was Mrs. Phoebe Edwards, whom he married in 1885. To this union has been born Bessie, deceased, Edith, Frances E., and John D.
Mr. and Mrs. Daman are highly respected residents of the township, and are active and prominent members of the Methodist Episcopal church, in which organization he is a trustee and steward. They are numbered among Hancock county's best citizens, and as such the author of this volume present them to its readers.
DR. JOSEPH R. McLEOD.
Findlay has always kept pace with the foremost towns of Ohio in profes- sional as well as business affairs, and that it has been selected as the home of some of the best medical men of the state is but an evidence that the people of Findlay demand a high class of services from this branch of scientific men.
Dr. Joseph McLeod is of Scotch ancestry. His grandfather, Captain John McLeod, was born in London, England, in 1780, but came to America in his
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early manhood, seeking a home in the new country. He was for a time cap- tain of a volunteer company in Philadelphia, during the war of 1812. Our subject's father was also John McLeod, who was born in Philadelphia, Penn- sylvania, in 1809. He came to Ohio in his early manhood, where he lived until 1865, when he removed to Missouri, where he lived to a good old age and died in 1898. Dr. McLeod was united in marriage in 1862 in Findlay to Mary E., daughter of Captain Samuel Howard, and they now have three children living, as follows: Charles D., born July 25, 1863, who followed luis father's profession and practices medicine at Chatfield, this state; Samuel Howard, born in 1870, who lives at Findlay and is in the employ of the United States postal authorities; Bessie B., who is the wife of William P. Wisley, of Findlay, the president of the People's Ice and Coal Company.
The subject's life and experiences form an interesting chapter in the records of Findlay and are here given. He was born on a farm in Delaware county, Ohio, in 1833, though he was taken by his parents when one year old to Amanda township, in Hancock county. He lived for many years on a farm and attended the country schools, completing this part of his education at the Ohio Wesleyan University at Delaware. He returned to Hancock county and taught school from the age of seventeen to twenty-nine years, having begun the study of medicine at home. The study of law attracted him equally, and he was admitted to the bar in 1863, having graduated in law in that year from the law department of the Cincinnati College. He located in Findlay in 1863 and practiced there for one year, at the end of which time his country claimed him, and he enlisted in Company I, One Hundred and Sixty-first Ohio Volunteer Infantry, as a private. He was at once made cor- poral and served in that capacity four months. On being mustered out he re- turned to Findlay, though he did not elect to take up his residence there at that time. In the spring of 1865 he went to Shelbyville, Missouri, to try new fields, where he went into the practice of law. In 1876, desiring to further pursue the course of medical study he went to Keokuk, Iowa, to attend two courses at the College of Physicians and Surgeons, from which college he received his diploma in 1877. Believing Hancock county to be a good field in which to locate, he returned to the county which had so long been his home and located at Mt. Cory, where he practiced for three years. He later moved to Benton Ridge in the same county, where he lived and practiced his pro- fession for eight years, and on the first of January, 1889, came to Findlay, where he has since lived and built up an enviable practice.
Dr. McLeod is of that strong order of Masons which has a large chap- ter in Findlay ; his other fraternal association is with the Odd Fellows. His
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wide study of the law was recognized at the time he resided in Shelbyville in a substantial manner, he having held the office of presiding judge of the county court for six years during his residence there. He gave up the prac- tice of law on account of ill health and took up the practice of medicine.
GEORGE H. SMITH.
When the tide of emigration was setting in strongly from Germany to the United States about the middle of the last century, Ohio was fortunate in securing many of the best of that very desirable population. They settled in great numbers at Cincinnati, Cleveland, Columbus and other cities of the state whose rapid growth was largely due to this diffusion of German blood, ac- companied by the thrift and industry so characteristic of that race. Many of these people, however, went inland and settled on farms where they applied those qualities of economy and good judgment which never fail to bring suc- cess to their possessors in whatever pursuit they may engage. Among those who came from the fatherland at the period mentioned were Henry and Al- bertina (Tagler) Smith, who arrived in Seneca county, Ohio, about 1854, and located at Fostoria. They were poor in this world's goods, bringing with them little more than was sufficient to pay expenses, but to use an American expression, they soon "caught on" as farmers in a small way on rented land. Henry Smith was practical in his methods, strict in his notions of right and wrong, a good judge of men, and withal a hard working and painstaking man. These qualities enabled him to save a little money, and when, in 1868, he removed to Hancock county he was able to purchase forty acres of timber land in Pleasant township. This he cleared and cultivated with his usual energy, subsequently sold to advantage and bought a larger farm in Blanch- ard township, consisting of eighty acres. Here he spent the remainder of his days, improving his property and constantly adding to its value by his thorough system of farming and when the final summons came was able to leave something to his children. He and his good wife were members of the Lutheran church, exemplary in their conduct, upright in their lives and respected by all as neighbors and friends. They passed away within two years of each other, the wife dying in 1896 and the husband in 1898. The family consisted of seven children, of whom six are still living: Sarah, Will- iam, Eliza, George H., John and Della.
George H. Smith, with whom this biography is principally concernedl. was born in Seneca county, Ohio, October 9, 1862, and was consequently about six years old when his parents removed to Pleasant township. He
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grew up and received his primary education after the settlement in Hancock county, and was trained by his father to work on the farm. In the course of time he became the owner of the homestead in Blanchard township, where as boy and man he lias resided since 1872. This place he has managed with the same industry and care that characterized his excellent father, and as a gen- eral farmer and stockraiser he has held his own with others of his class in that part of the county. As a plain, unpretentious man of good habits and moral life he enjoys and fully deserves the confidence of his fellow-citizens.
In 1887 Mr. Smith was united in marriage with Miss Della, daughter of John and Sarah Fry, which union has proven congenial and pleasant in every way. Their children, four in number, are thus recorded in the family register : Charles F., born May 8, 1889; Grace M., born March 17, 1891 ; Olive N., born October 10, 1898; and Mabel R., born May 30, 1901. Mrs. Smith is a native of Blanchard township, her birth having occurred August 29, 1867, and is a devoted member of the United -Brethren church, of which her husband is a trustee and has long been a leader and earnest worker.
THOMAS M. MITCHELL.
One of the most important industries developed in Ohio in recent years is that connected with the working of the oil district, and Thomas M. Mitchell is a well known representative of this line of activity, being an oil producer of Findlay, Ohio. He is numbered among Hancock county's native sons, for his birth occurred in Portage township, in the year 1869, his parents being Jacob and Emiline (Cusac) Mitchell, the former a successful farmer still living in the county. The paternal grandfather was George Mitchell, who died in 1892 at the age of ninety-one years. Thomas M. Mitchell was edu- cated in his native township and remained there until 1900, when he took up his abode in Findlay. Three years previously, however, he had aband- oned farming, which had hitherto been his occupation, and turned his at- tention to oil producing, buying a lease of thirteen and now he and his brother own thirty oil wells in Hancock county, many of which are excellent pro- ducers. The firm is enjoying a good business, the oil which they place upon the market bringing to them a substantial annual income.
In the year 1898, in Portage township, Mr. Mitchell was united in mar- riage to Christina Moorhead, a daughter of W. M. Moorhead, and their home has been blessed with one interesting daughter, Nora Mabel. Mrs. Mitchell's father was a son of Josiah and Sarah Moorhead, and a success- ful farmer of Hancock county. Both Mr. and Mrs. Mitchell have many
J. M. Mitchell # Wife.
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warm friends throughout this portion of the state and are held in high re- gard. In his political views Mr. Mitchell is a Democrat, and while he keeps well informed on the issues of the day and believes firmly in the principles of his party, he has never sought or desired office, preferring to give his at- tention to his business affairs, which are so capably conducted that his labors have already brought to him a good return.
PHILIPP SCHWINN.
That sturdy element of our population which has come from Germany has long been well represented in Ohio, and has been greatly instrumental in the development of leading interests of the commonwealth. One of the best known sons of the fatherland in Hancock county is Philipp Schwinn, a prom- inent agriculturist of Union township. His birth occurred in Germany, and in that country his parents, Philipp and Margaret Schwinn, also had their nativity. In 1842 they bade farewell to their native land and sailed for the United States, taking up their abode in Union township, Hancock county, Ohio, where they purchased a farm of eighty acres. At the time of the purchase only forty acres of the place had been cleared, but with the assistance of his sons the father was soon able to clear and improve the entire tract, and this became one of the most productive farms of the locality. In his native country Mr. Schwinn was a baker, and also took much pleasure in raising the material from which this commodity is made. He was success- ful in his business affairs, but his prosperity was the result of earnest and persistent effort in the line of honorable and manly dealing. The chil- dren born unto Mr. and Mrs. Schwinn were seven in number, six of whom grew to years of maturity, and four are now residents of Hancock county. The mother died ere the removal of the family to America, passing away in Germany in 1842, and the father survived until 1883, when he, too, passed into eternal rest.
Philipp Schwinn, the subject of this memoir, received his early mental training in the district schools of Union township, Hancock county, and after his school days were over and before reaching his majority he made the long and arduous journey to the Golden state, believing that he might there obtain the necessary means with which to purchase a farm. Five years were spent on the Pacific slope, during one year of which time he worked in the gold mines, while for the following four he was engaged in mercantile pursuits. His hopes of obtaining wealth in the far off state of California were fully real- ized, for after an absence of only five years he was able to return to Hancock
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county with twenty-five hundred dollars. Arriving here in 1867, he soon purchased his present farm, which was then wild and unimproved, but he went to work with a determination to succeed and soon his swampy wilder- ness was converted into one of the most fertile and productive farms of the locality. The homestead consists of one hundred acres, where he is engaged in general farming, and all of the improvements on this valuable tract stand as monuments to his thrift and excellent business ability.
In 1883 occurred the marraige of Mr. Schwinn and Miss Mamie Wild. The lady was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on the 25th of June, 1854, and is a daughter of Adam and Barbara Wild. By her marriage she has become the mother of four children,-Adam, Mary, William and Elmer. Both Mr. and Mrs. Schwinn are worthy members of the Lutheran church, and in his fraternal relations the former is affiliated with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, holding membership in Rawson Lodge, in which he is a past grand. He is a man of strong mentality, of splendid business ability and is frank and genial in manner. His business associates find him reliable and trustworthy, and he is an enterprising and successful farmer. He has seven producing oil wells on his farm.
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