USA > Ohio > Hancock County > A centennial biographical history of Hancock County, Ohio > Part 43
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Mr. Kelley is a prominent member of the Roman Catholic church, and has its interests thoroughly at heart, as is evidenced by the fact that he is also a member of the Knights of Columbus. He thoroughly believes in the principles of democracy, and carries his belief into his political and business life. In the spring election of 1902 he was elected a member of the city council by an overwhelming majority, receiving a greater majority than his Republican opponent did votes.
NORMAN SALTSMAN.
Prominent among the representative citizens of Hancock county, who have by honest toil and industry succeeded in acquiring a handsome com- petence and are now able to spend the sunset of life in quiet and retirement, is the gentleman whose name appears above, his home being in Washington township, a short distance west of the city of Fostoria. He was born in Montgomery county, New York, in the town of Mohawk, July 20, 1834, and is the son of Frederick I. and Mary ( Kiltz) Saltsman, both of whom were natives of New York state. The parents of Mr. Saltsman died quite early in life in their native state. Their family numbered nine children, only two of whom are now living. The maternal grandfather, Peter Kiltz, was an honored soldier in the Revolutionary war. Norman Saltsman was reared and educated in his native township and grew up under the sturdy and in- vigorating discipline of the farm amid pioneer scenes. At the age of nine- teen he learned the carpenter trade, which he followed up to 1862. In 1859 he moved to Fostoria, Seneca county, near which village, in 1862, he pur- chased eighty-five acres of land in Hancock county, on a portion of which he now resides, having at various times parted with the remainder. In 1899 he became interested in the Fostoria Oil and Gas Company, of which organiza- tion he has been president for a period of twelve years. He is well thought of in his immediate community, and was trustee of the township in 1882. He erected the beautiful home in which he now resides in 1875. Mr. Salts- man was one of the "boys in blue" at the time when the dogs of war were let loose, from 1861 to 1865. He enlisted as a private soldier in Company G, One Hundred and Eighty-ninth Regiment, Ohio Volunteer Infantry, which became a part of the army of the Cumberland. He served in this organization for a period and was promoted for efficient service to the office of corporal. He was honorably discharged September 28, 1865, and on his return to civil life again took up his former pursuits. As has been stated before, Mr. Saltsman has been very successful in a material way in life. He
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is engaged in the real-estate business, in which he is regarded as being one of the best authorities and safest counselors in Hancock county. He is at present director of the Commercial Bank and Savings Company, of Fostoria, Ohio. He chose for a life companion Mrs. Jerusha Brundage, the mar- riage occurring January 14, 1858, at Buffalo, New York. No children have been born to the marriage. Mrs. Saltsman was born in Waterloo, Seneca county, New York, April 3, 1825, the daughter of John and Elizabeth Davis, who were born in Queens county, New York, the father of English and Scotch and the mother of Scotch descent. There were ten children in the family, but Mrs. Saltsman is the only survivor. In political belief Mr. Salts- man is a simon pure Republican, taking an active part in advancing the in- terests and policies of that party. He and his wife are both members of the M. E. Church, and are citizens whose position in the community assures them a welcome mention in this volume.
M. A. ADAMS.
The family of this name is well known in Hancock county for its general intelligence and good qualities of citizenship. They are of Irish extraction and descended from William and Sara Adams. Of the latter's family was Paul Adams, Sr., born in 1758, who was twice married, first to Sara Bogart, born January 6, 1744, and secondly to Abigail Parkhurst, born May 14, 1774. The latter died on the sixth of November, 1843, and her husband in 1834. Of the family of Paul Adams, Sr .. and his second wife, Abigail Parkhurst, was Paul Adams, Jr., a native of Pennsylvania, born April 28, 18II. He was educated for the ministry of the Presbyterian church, but by some disturbing factor his attention was turned to the teaching. profession. His superior educational advantages so equipped him for his chosen profes- sion that he made an excellent teacher. He was also somewhat of a linguist. having command of four languages. He taught twenty years in Pennsyl- vania in the earlier part of his life, and also after he came to Ohio. He mar- ried Miss Margaret Diehl, who was born in Columbia county, Pennsylvania, June 6, 1808. The union was blessed with nine children, five of whom are now living. In 1835 the family removed from Pennsylvania to Richland county, Ohio, where Mr. Adams taught school, and latter entered eighty acres of land in Hancock county, to which he had removed in 1841 with his family. He went at once to clearing the land of its timber, and constructed for his family a log house which stood until the spring of 1902 as evidence of his handiwork. He continued this labor until the date of his death, Jan-
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uary 28, 1850. Paul Adams, Jr., was a man of greater mental than physical strength and his constitution gave way early under the severe pressure of pioneer life. After his premature decease his wife and son, the subject of this sketch, worked heroically to keep the family at home. She with her wheel and loom spun and wove cloth for garments for her children, while the different members of the family headed by our subject did the necessary work on the farm. They were thus able to keep the members of the family to- gether until they were able to do for themselves. After this the mother in 1860 married David Dorsey, a member of an old pioneer family, whose son, Allen, by a former wife, was the first white male child born in Cass township. Paul Adams, Jr., was a man of influence in his adopted county. He was town- ship treasurer for seven years, and was nominated by the Democrats for auditor of the county, but did not receive enough votes to elect. His wife, Margaret D. Adams, ceased from her earthly toils December 14. 1891.
Mr. M. A. Adams, who forms the immediate subject of this review, was born in Montour county, Pennsylvania, July 7, 1833. Coming to this county at an early age, he was educated in the common schools and showed such profi- ciency that he aspired to a college course. This, however, became impossible, because of the early death of his father and the necessity for his services on the farm. He, however, received enough education to follow teaching for several years during the winter months. His first purchase of land was in 1858, and consisted of a modest tract of twelve acres. To this small holding he added at various times until he is now in possession of a farm of one hundred and sixty acres, upon which there is a flowing gas well. As Mr. Adams looks out over his broad acres he has the satisfaction of knowing that his own labor has brought the farm to its high state of cultivation, it being 110W one of the best in the county. Underlying this farm there are some seventeen miles of tile, which give him an almost unbroken area for crop purposes. Mr. Adams practices the most up-to-date methods on his farm, and hence is looked upon as a very progressive agriculturist. For example he has produced for the past several decades twenty-five bushels of wheat to the acre, a record which cannot be surpassed in Hancock county. During his adult life he has ever given his time freely to the matters that would benefit the community at large, has served as a member of the board of edu- cation for fifteen years and as justice of the peace of his township for three years. He celebrated his marriage with Miss Cordelia Dorsey, October 15, 1863. This lady was the daughter of David and Rose Dorsey, and is also a native of Hancock county, where she was born January 13, 1842. Their family consisted of the following children: Margaret R., Clara A., de-
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ceased, Sara E., Viola, deceased, Nathan S., Nellie and Ada. Mr. and Mrs. Adams are esteemed members of the Methodist Episcopal church, the former having been for a long period a class leader and trustee in that organization.
It is something to live; it is more so to live that society shall be the better or our having had existence. Mr. and Mrs. Adams and their family are held in the highest repute by all who know them, and are most worthy members of their community.
WILLIAM A. LEAR.
Among the many industries of Findlay that of William A. Lear, who deals in wall paper, picture frames and house decorating materials, is well known and patronized.
Mr. Lear is of Pennsylvania stock, having been born in Minersville, Pennsylvania, in 1846. When he was four years old his parents sought new fortunes in Ohio, making their home in Delaware. Mr. Lear lived in Dela- ware, with the exception of his war service, and two years on the plains, until 1880, so that he looks on Delaware almost as his native town, for it was there he received his education and laid the foundation of his subsequent business career. At an early age he began to learn the trade of paper hang- ing and house painting, but in April, 1861, when the war broke out, he en- listed in Company I, Fourth Regiment, Ohio Volunteer Infantry, but being under fifteen years of age, his father came to his camp within a week after he had enlisted, and got him out. But the boy's desire to go to war would not be conquered, and he again enlisted in the fall of 1861, at Delaware, in Company C, Twentieth Regiment, Ohio Volunteer Infantry. His father, however, was obdurate, and much against the son's will again got him out of the army. He determined, however, as soon as he was old enough that nothing should keep him from it, and in June, 1862, enlisted for the third time, in Company F, Ninety-sixth Regiment, Ohio Volunteer Infantry, serv- ing as a private until the end of the war. He was in a number of important battles, among which were Haynes Bluff, Mississippi; Arkansas Post, Ark- ansas; the Siege of Vicksburg; the Grand Coteau, Louisiana, where he was captured November 3, 1863. and sent to Alexandria, Louisiana, and there held for fifty-one days. Mr. Lear tells of the terrible life of the soldiers in this place; they were fed on nothing but sugar cane, which was thrown to them like corn to cattle. He was paroled from this prison December 25, 1863. and declared exchanged by congress in May, 1864. The next battle in which he took part was at Fort Gaines. Alabama, after which followed those
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of Fort Morgan, Alabama, the Spanish Fort, and the surrender of Mobile. He was slightly wounded in the left leg by a piece of shell at Arkansas Post, though he was never sick or reported unfit for duty. He was mustered out in Mobile, Alabama, July 7, 1865, and received his discharge papers at Co- lumbus, Olio, August 1, 1865.
At the close of the war he returned to Delaware, where he took up the trade he had laid down while serving his country. He contracted for paper hanging and painting in Delaware until 1867, when he went west and spent the next two years on the plains. He again returned to Delaware, and re- mained there until 1880, working at his trade. In 1880 he took advantage of an opening in Cleveland and ran a restaurant there for six years; in 1886 he came to Findlay, and returned to his profession, opening up a wall paper store and adding other lines as his business increased.
Mr. Lear has been twice married, his first wife having been Mary F. Parks, who died December 27, 1880, leaving four children : Harry C., born September 20, 1869; Virginia V., wife of Willis Stover of Findlay; Etta M., born February 29, 1876, died September 18, 1894; Charles W., born August 26, 1878. Mr. Lear's second wife was Eliza W. Mechling, to whom he was married in Cleveland in 1883. They have no children.
There is no man in Findlay better versed in Masonry than Mr. Lear, for he holds the thirty-second degree ; he is also past grand master of F. & A. M. Lodge No. 227 at Findlay ; past high priest of Chapter No. 58; past thrice illustrious master of Findlay Council No. 50; past eminent commander of Findlay Commandery No. 49, Knights Templar; past chancellor of Findlay Lodge No. 85, Knights of Pythias. Mr. Lear is a strong Republican and gives his earnest support to the policies of his party. He is a member of the Howard Methodist Episcopal church, and was cemetery trustee of Findlay for four years.
JOHN BEARD.
It takes a strong soul, a courageous nature to leave the comforts of a civilized home for the privations and hardships of the frontier. When Joel Beard came to Hancock county, in 1827, he brought with him a family of three generations. The region was still a vast wilderness, and, though the Indians were still numerous but friendly, these early pioneers suffered many and severe hardships. Game was fortunately plentiful, for they were often compelled to go without the foods of civilization. Once they had neither bread nor salt for a period of six months. Deer and turkey roamed
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through the forest, and the skill of the Kentucky marksman many a time saved these brave frontiersmen from starvation. Clothing, too, was scarce; the skins of the roebuck replaced the cottons and woolens of ordinary usage. John, the younger, wore a buckskin suit for seven years. But industry and perseverance can make even the wilderness habitable. The father planted flax and the mother spun the fibre and wove it into cloth; the coat of skin was laid aside. When further development permitted attention to animal husbandry a flock of sheep cropped the herbage in the clearing and John was clad in woolens.
Upon coming to Hancock county the two elder members of the Beard family, John and Joel, each entered eighty acres of land in Marion town- ship from the government, cleared it and built a log hut in which Joel lived until his death. Joel later added forty acres to his holding and brought the whole under cultivation. Both were natives of Kentucky. They were men of sterling qualities, able to cope with the difficulties that beset the path of the frontiersman. Both have passed away, but both will go down in the hitsory of this community as thoroughly good men.
John had fought in the war of 1812 against Great Britain, and many were the nights that he held his neighbors spellbound, listening to the tales of wild adventure as they sat about the open fire. He was a member of the United Brethren church. Neither his wife Rebecca nor any of their ten children are now living. Joel was born in 1799. He married Mrs. Catherine Potter, a widow, by whom he had six children. Five of these are living, namely : John, Mary, Emma E., Clarissa and Alexander. His wife Cath- erine died in 1852. The following year he married Solona Hartman, who bore him five children, of whom four survive. None of them reside in this county. Joel lived until 1885, and Solona, his second wife, died in 1897.
John Beard, the grandson, was born in Fairfield county in 1825. He worked on his father's farm until the time of his marriage at the age of twenty-four. In 1852 he made his first purchase of land. It comprised eighty acres in Hancock county. After working it a few years, however, he disposed of this and bought his present farm of eighty acres, which is without doubt one of the finest farms on Blanchard road. Besides being a practical and progressive farmer, Mr. Beard is well up in current events. He has a keen insight into political affairs, and sides with the Republican party. He holds the confidence of the community whom he has served as supervisor on the county board. Mr. Beard did not see active military service during the Civil war. He was enrolled as member of Company
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H of the Fifty-seventh Ohio Volunteer Infantry Regiment, but supplied a substitute.
In marrying Hannah A. George on February 17, 1853, Mr. Beard allied himself with one of the oldest families of Hancock county. She was born March II, 1832, as the daughter of Peter and Mary Ann George. The father, long and widely known as the "Land Hunter," was a native of Penn- sylvania, born there on October 13, 1799. He had moved to Pickaway county, this state, and as early as 1823 visited this county, though it was not until 1826 that he settled here permanently. He entered land in Lib- erty and Amanda townships, and at the time of his death owned three hun- dred and seven acres in the heart of Amanda township. He acted as guide to those who had come west for new lands, and helped them decide on loca- tions and settlements. He was known to be strictly honorable and upright in his dealings with all, and has been well termed one of nature's noble- men. He raised a family of nine children; two of these lost their lives in the cause of national union and all but a few have passed away.
The Beard and George families are probably the oldest and best known in Hancock county.
ABRAHAM W. SCOTHORN.
Abraham W. Scothorn is extensively engaged in agricultural pursuits. Success in any calling is an indication of close application, industry and faithfulness, qualities which are numbered among the leading characteristics of our subject, and the greatest reward of the successful man is his con- sciousness of having acted well his part. This Mr. Scothorn has done, and to-day he stands among the highly respected citizens of his community. He was born in Reid township. Seneca county, Ohio, October 4, 1834. His father, Samuel Scothorn, was a native of the old Dominion state, but at the early age of twelve years he came with his parents to Ohio, locating in Frank- lin county, on the present site of Columbus, and his father in an early day planted corn on a part of the land on which that city now stands. At the age of eighteen years the son Samuel left the old home farm and learned the tan- ner's trade, following the same in Seneca county until reaching his twenty- first year. Removing thence to a farm in the woods, he there established a tannery and conducted the same for many years, druing which time he did much work for the Indians. While residing on that place Mr. Scot- horn kept a record of the game killed in the vicinity, and within a period of five years it amounted to two hundred and fifty deer and five hundred wild
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Mrand Mrs A V Scotham
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turkeys. The mother of our subject, who bore the maiden name of Mary Smith, was a native of Franklin county, Ohio, and her death occurred when her son Abraham was but four years of age. She became the mother of six children. After her deathı the father was twice married, becoming the father of two children by this second marriage, while his third union was blessed with three children.
Abraham W. Scothorn, the sixth child in order of birth of his father's first marriage, was reared and educated in the county of his nativity, and after reaching his twenty-first year he left the old home place and came to Hancock county, his first work here being in the Bishop sawmill, south of Findlay, where he was employed for about four years. During the succeed- ing six years he conducted a farm belonging to Mr. Bishop, and in 1870 came to his present farm in Orange township, on which he has erected commodi- ous and substantial buildings, built fences and placed his fields under an ex- cellent state of cultivation, thus making his place one of the valuable home- steads of the township. On his farm of eighty acres are located eight oil wells, and he has also given a farm to each of his sons. In his political affilia- tions Mr. Scothorn is a stalwart supporter of Democratic principles, and for five years was the efficient clerk of Orange township, while for three years was its trustee and was elected to the position of treasurer, but did not qual- ify. In 1890 he was elected to the office of land appraiser, and in all his public duties he has been true to the trusts reposed in him.
The marriage of Mr. Scothorn was celebrated on the 14th of October, 1860, when Eliza A. Walters became his wife. She is a native daughter of Hancock county, her birth having occurred in Eagle township, and by her marriage she has become the mother of three children, namely: Florence R., wife of George Rote, of Van Wert county, Ohio; Walter W., who mar- ried Flora Porchort and resides in Michigan; and Herman H., who married Ella Henry, and they make their home in Eagle township. Hancock county. Mr. and Mrs. Scothorn also have five grandchildren-Floyd Rote, Burr, Lower, William A. Scothorn and one not named. This worthy couple enjoy the friendship of many with whom they have come in contact, for their many sterling characteristics have ever commanded the respect and regard of those with whom they have been associated. They have labored together earnestly, the work of the one supplementing and rounding out the work of the other, and their attractive home is a fitting monument to their labors. Mrs. Scothorn's father, Lower M. Walters, was born in Virginia and came to Eagle township, Hancock county, about 1834. His wife, Ruth Sharp, was born in Franklin county, Ohio. The father lived to be about seventy-nine years old and the
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mother eighty-two. They were the parents of five children, three daughters and two sons, of whom the only two now living are Dr. Walters, of Ada, and Mrs. Scothorn, who was the youngest of the family.
SOLOMON SNIDER.
Prominently known as one of the representatives of a pioneer family of Hancock county, is Solomon Snider, who also deserves mention in this vol- ume by reason of his own excellent qualities as a loyal citizen. He is a farmer of prominence and influence in Big Lick township, where he resides on an excellent farm of one hundred and eighty-three acres, and upon which there is in active operation eight producing oil wells. A number of others are in course of drilling.
Mr. Solomon Snider first opened his eyes to the light in the village of Findlay, March 8, 1839. His father was Samuel Snider, the maiden name . of his mother having been Katherine Spangler. He grew to manhood in Findlay township, where he was given the advantage of a good common- school education. Like his ancestors before him he chose for his vocation in life the free and independent existence of a farmer, in which pursuit he has been very generally successful.
March 27, 1858, dates an epoch in the life of Mr. Snider, he having on that day been joined in marriage to Miss Ruth, daughter of Daniel and Jane Davis. For a period of three years they resided in Findlay township. and in 1861 removed to their present location in Big Lick town- ship. Here he was engaged on his farm at the inception of the Civil war, and although with a growing family dependent upon him, he put aside all considerations of a personal character, for he felt that his duty was to his country. He enlisted in Company G, One Hundred and Eighteenth Ohio Volunteer Infantry, as a private soldier, and went to the front. The strange climate into which Mr. Snider was required to march under an August sun, proved too much for his rather precarious constitution and he succumbed to a sunstroke which incapacitated him for further usefulness. After four months of distressing sickness he was discharged on account of disability, the whole episode being one which Mr. Snider regrets to the present day. He, however, has always taken a great interest in the military life of the country, and is at present an honored and worthy member of Stoker Post of the G. A. R. The children that were born to Mr. and Mrs. Snider were Louis A., Oc- tober 24, 1860; Eva L., April 20, 1864; Samuel E., September 20, 1865; Edgar M., June 4. 1872; Olive E., June 28, 1878.
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Mrs. Snider is a member of one of the pioneer families of Hancock county, where she was born August 5, 1838. Her father, Daniel Davis, was a native of the state of Maryland, born in 1811. He was a mechanic by edu- cation, training and nature, being a man of very fine inventive faculty. He removed to this county in 1834, where he married in September of 1836. The family that he reared consisted of ten children, six of whom are now living : Ruth, Rachel, Henry, Mary, Jane and John. Mr. Davis died in the year 1849, at a comparatively early age, while his wife continued to survive him until J884, she dying at the advanced age of seventy-two.
Returning again to the history of the Snider family we note that Sam- uel Snider, the father of our subject, was born in 1812 in Perry county, Ohio. His wife, Katherine Spangler, was a native of Fairfield county, Ohio, born in 1813. They married in Fairfield county, and subsequently removed to Hancock where they located in Findlay township. Here Samuel entered one hundred and sixty acres of government land, all of which was in its native condition, and which he cleared. He endured the same hardships and sur- mounted the multiplied difficulties of which that early time was fraught. He was a good practical farmer in his day. In religious temperament he was extremely pious, being a member of the Lutheran church. He voted with the Republican party. He was a man of genial personality, made many friends, and by his consistent and upright dealings with them, was enabled to keep their friendship. He was sociable and hospitable in the extreme. He con- tinued to reside on the original farm to the time of his death, which occurred in 1884, his wife surviving him three years. The family consisted of nine chil- dren ; Isabelle, deceased; Louise, deceased; Solomon; Mary, deceased; Will- iam, George, Immanuel, Rebecca and Emma.
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