USA > Ohio > Richland County > A centennial biographical history of Richland county, Ohio > Part 58
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Olin M. Farber completed a fourteen-year course in the Bellville public schools and graduated with the honors of his class June 3, 1887. He was an industrious youth and outside of school hours and during his vacations his time was spent clerking in his father's store, working on a farm of his father's, or toiling all summer long in the hot sun in a brick yard. His fa- ther gave him and each of his sons all possible encouragement along the lines of education, and in the fall of 1887 he entered the University at Wooster, Ohio, and after spending three years there he went to the Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, at which institution he graduated in the classical course, June 18, 1891. He received honors from both universities, not for making the highest grades in text-book lore, although he was among the foremost of his class in this respect, but by being selected to represent the university, or his class, or his literary society, on public occasions and contests. He went in for the broader culture of the university by making special use of the library, taking extra studies, doing college newspaper work, and being active in field athletics. He became a ready debater and was awarded the junior oratorical prize open to contest for the members of his class at Wooster. At Cornell he was awarded the Woodford prize for oratory open to members of the senior class. At graduation he was, on recommendation of the faculty, elected to the professorship of English literature in Carthage College, at Carthage, Illinois. He occupied this chair for one year and re- signed to accept a more lucrative one as the superintendent of the public schools at Litchfield, Michigan. He resigned this position and spent the sum- mer of 1893 in the law office of Powell, Owens, Ricketts & Black, Columbus, Ohio, where he entered upon the study of his long cherished profession, In the fall of that year he entered the law office of Douglass & Douglass, in Mansfield, Ohio, where he diligently pursued his studies until March 8,
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1894, when he was admitted to the bar at Columbus, Ohio. He retained a connection with this term until May 15, 1897, when he entered into part- nership with H. L. Bowers, under the firm name of Farber & Bowers, which continued until December 1, 1899, when Mr. Bowers retired from the prac- tice. Since then Mr. Farber has enjoyed a lucrative and growing practice, with offices in the Dickson building. He has been chancellor commander of Madison Lodge, No. 26, Knights of Pythias, is a member of the K. O. T. M., M. W. of A., of the Three Link Club and of the First Presbyterian church. He is prominent socially.
In politics Mr. Farber is a sterling Democrat and prominent in the the councils of his party. Since his admission to the bar he has taken an active interest in campaign work, and on March 2, 1901, was rewarded by being nominated for the office of city solicitor, receiving more votes than his opponents taken together. He was elected by the handsome majority of three hundred and twenty-four over his opponent, James M. Reed, an attorney of established reputation, and entered upon the duties of the office May 7, 190I.
ALBERT MILLIGAN.
Albert Milligan is successfully engaged in farming on section 10, Mon- roe township. He deserves great credit for what he has accomplished, as he started in life a poor boy and has worked his way upward unaided. His labors have not been intermittent, but have been continuous and have been guided by sound judgment. Industry always forms the foundation for success, and such has been the case with Mr. Milligan, who to-day is num- bered among the substantial residents of Richland county.
He was born in Ashland county July 7, 1834, his parents being Jonas and Margaret (Swinesford) Milligan. The father was born in Pennsylvania and when a young man came to Ohio. After some years spent as a farm hand in Ashland county he purchased ten acres of land on Honey creek, near Hayesville, and there he and his wife located. In connection with the subject of this review he afterward purchased two hundred and ten acres of land near Perryville and thereon made his home until his death, which occurred when he was seventy-one years of age. 3 He married Margaret Swinesford and they became the parents of five children, of whom four are living, namely: Martha A., the widow of William Woodhull, of Green township, Ashland county; Albert, of this review; George Wash- ington, a farmer of Mifflin township; and Jonas, who cultivates a tract of land near Crestline, Richland county.
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Albert Milligan received but limited educational privileges, for at an early age he began to earn his own livelihood, working as a farm hand for two dollars and a half per month. He possessed a resolute spirit and strong determination, and these qualities have served as stepping-stones on which he has risen in life. In 1859 he was united in marriage to Miss Anna B. Culler, a daughter of Michael Culler, near Mifflin, Ohio, and she has proved to him a faithful companion and helpmate on life's journey. They began their domestic life on the farm where they yet reside, and as the years have passed Mr. Milligan's income has increased and he has made judicious investments in real estate until he now owns six hundred and twenty-four acres of valuable land. He devotes his attention to general farming, raising the cereals best adapted to this climate. His fields are well tilled and are divided by carefully repaired fences. The buildings are in good condition and all the accessories and improvements of a model farm are found upon his place.
Mr. Milligan votes with the Democratic party and has membership relations with Mohawk Grange of the Patrons of Husbandry. His wife is a member of the Lutheran church. Mr. Milligan is justly numbered among the representative men of his county. His life is an illustration of what may be accomplished when one has the will to do. Indolence and idleness have never formed any part of his nature, and his energy has enabled him to rise from humble surroundings to a position of affluence.
JOHN CHRISTIAN ACKERMAN.
The subject of this review, one of the highly esteemed citizens of Mans- field, is a native of Germany, born in Wurtemberg, in 1846, and is a son of Jacob and Magdalene (Marpas) Ackerman. Reared in his native land, he acquired a good practical education in its public schools and there learned the cabinetmaker's trade. On coming to the new world in 1866 he first located in Canton, Ohio, where he was employed in a furniture establish- ment for five years, and then removed to New Cumberland, Tuscarawas county, where he was interested in the furniture and undertaking business for about nine years, and also served as a township clerk, taking an active and prominent part in Democratic politics. In 1879 he came to Mansfield and has resided in the same house ever since. On locating here he entered the employ of the Aultman-Taylor Company in their pattern department, and has remained with them, an honored and trusted employe, up to the present time. He was married, in 1871, to Miss Mary Lerch, by whom he
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had three children: William, who married Miss Ada Nagle and lives in Mansfield ; Lena, the wife of William Snyder, of the same place ; and Charles, who married Miss Laura Copeland and also resides in Mansfield. Mrs. Ackerman died in the spring of 1879, and in the fall of that year he was married to Mrs. Rose Adams. Mrs. Ackerman's first husband was John Adams, by whom she had two daughters, Villa and Zora, who were grad- uates of the Mansfield high school and live with Mr. and Mrs. Ackerman.
Mr. Ackerman is a popular and influential citizen of his community, and has served two terms in the city council of Mansfield, being elected to that office in 1886 and 1889. In 1893 he was elected a member of the school board, was re-elected in 1894, 1896, 1898 and 1900, and since April, 1900, has served as the president of the same, being re-elected in 1901. He has always taken an active and commendable interest in educational affairs, and for the last five years has been a member of the teachers' committee. Fraternally he is a member of the Masonic order, and religiously a mem- ber of the Methodist church. He is highly respected and esteemed by all who know him, and his friends are many throughout the county.
SAMUEL ANDREWS.
A man's life and labors make him known to his fellow citizens, and Samuel Andrews needs no introduction to the men and women of Monroe township, Richland county, Ohio, but a man's life and works entitle him to the remembrance of mankind in the generations after he has passed away from the active field of human endeavor, and it is to record the chief incidents in his busy and useful career that this brief biographical sketch has been prepared and is presented in this connection.
Samuel Andrews was born on the farm on which he now lives July 29, 1840, a son of James and Lovina (Carrick) Andrews. His father was a native of Jefferson county, Ohio, married there and in 1823 located in Monroe township, Richland county, on the farm now owned and occupied by the subject of this sketch, which had been purchased from the government by Colonel John Andrews, his father, who had served his country in the battles of the war of 1812, who was born in Adams county, Pennsylvania, and who died in Richland county, Ohio. Few improvements had been made on the place when James Andrews took up his home on it. He built a log cabin for a temporary residence and later provided his family with a more comfortable home and made a good farm, on which he died in 1850, aged fifty-four years. James and Lovina (Carrick) Andrews had children
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as follows, mentioned in the order of their nativity: John G., who lives at Freeport, Michigan; James, who died in 1898; William, who died in 1892; Mary J., who lives at Beaver Dam, Indiana; David, a sergeant in the One Hundred and Twentieth Regiment, Ohio Volunteer Infantry, in the war of the Rebellion, who died at Vicksburg; Joseph, who served in the Civil war in the Sixty-fourth Regiment, Ohio Volunteer Infantry, and now lives at Atchison, Kansas; and Samuel.
Samuel Andrews was reared on his father's farm and educated in the district schools. Like some of his brothers above mentioned, he risked his life in defense of the Union in the great war with the south. October 9, 1861, he enlisted as a private in the Sixth Ohio Battery for three years or during the war. He was mustered into the service at Mansfield, Ohio, and went in turn to Louisville, Columbia and Jamestown, Kentucky. At the last mentioned place he helped to guard the approaches to the Cumberland river. From Jamestown he went to Nashville, Tennessee, and thence to Corinth, where he was at the time of the evacuation. He went thence to Huntsville, Alabama, and then to Stephenson, in the same state, and from there back to Louisville, Kentucky, and there he was taken ill and was taken to Cincinnati, Ohio, where he was discharged from the service on account of disability, November 2, 1862. He at once returned home and assumed the management of the Andrews homestead, which became his in 1874, when he bought the interest of the other heirs of his father in the same.
Mr. Andrews was married, June 9, 1864, to Miss Amanda Wiles, sister of Rev. Mr. Wiles, a minister of the gospel well and favorably known in this vicinity. Mr. and Mrs. Andrews have had children named as follows : Cary S., of Shelby, Ohio; Minnie; Alta, the wife of Frank Inks; Lovina; Lloyd; Herman, who is dead; and another child who died in infancy. In politics Mr. Andrews is a stanch Republican, a consistent voter and worker for the prevalence of the principles of his party, but not an office-seeker and not in the accepted sense of the term an active politician. He ranks with the leading general farmers of his township and is the owner of one hundred and fifty-six acres of good land, one hundred and thirty-five acres of which is under cultivation. He keeps alive the memory of the days when he was a soldier by membership of Swigert Post, Grand Army of the Repub- lic, of which he is one of the honored past commanders, and he is a devoted and generously helpful member of the Lutheran church, upon the services of which he and his family are attendants. In all things he is a good and useful citizen, public-spirited to an unusual degree and with the welfare of his township and county close to his heart.
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WESLEY R. McDERMUT.
Among the many worthy and prominent farmers of Richland county, Ohio, there is none more deserving of a place in this work than the well known citizen whose name appears above. Wesley R. McDermut was born in Mifflin township February 20, 1831, a son of Mark and Sarah (Hanley) McDermut. His father was a native of Mercer county, Pennsylvania, and came to Ohio in the fall of 1814 and located in Mifflin township, on land which he purchased from the government on the easy terms in vogue at that time. He built a log cabin on the land, and in 1815 his father, a Revo- tionary soldier, who lived to be more than a hundred years old, came from Pennsylvania, bringing his family, and they found a home on the place. This patriot pioneer was a Mason, and was in all ways a prominent and influential citizen.
Mark and Sarah (Hanley) McDermut had seven sons and two daugh- ters, five of whom are now living. Wesley R. McDermut, the immediate subject of this sketch, was their fourth son in order of birth. He was reared on the old family homestead in Mifflin township and remained there until he was twenty-three years old. He then went to Davis county, Iowa, where he worked for two years. He was next employed for a time in another part of Iowa and then went to a point near Iowa City, remaining there two years. On the expiration of that time he returned to Richland county, Ohio, and married Miss Lydia A. Chew, and they had three children. The two living are: James, who married a daughter of William and Harriet Rod- man and lives on the old family homestead; and Sarah, who married O. H. McFarland and lives upon a farm above Lucas. Ida May died in infancy.
For three years after marriage Mr. McDermut lived on a rented farm, until he bought eighty acres in Blooming Grove township, where he lived for three years. He then sold his place there, and returning to Monroe town- ship purchased his wife's grandfather's eighty-acre farm, on which he lived from 1864 until 1882, when he moved to the farm which has since been the family home. This place has an area of one hundred and twenty acres and Mr. McDermut owns enough other land to make an aggregate acreage of two hundred and thirty. He is recognized as a successful general farmer and makes a specialty of Poland China hogs and shorthorn cattle. Although starting in poverty he never was sued on any account he ever contracted.
Politically Mr. McDermut is a Democrat, and he is a public-spirited man who takes a deep interest in all public questions, national and local. He
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has served his fellow townsmen as township trustee for two years, and his interest in educational affairs has influenced him to perform the duties of school director for twenty years.
ISAAC N. THOMPSON.
Isaac N. Thompson was born in Monroe township, Richland county, on the 18th of December, 1837, his parents being William and Margaret (Raitt) Thompson. His father was a native of Adams county, Pennsyl- vania, born March 20, 1793. He served in the war of 1812, and when eight- een years of age he accompanied his parents on their removal to Belmont county, Ohio, where he attained his majority, and was married, wedding Miss Margaret Raitt, a native of Scotland, who came to America with her parents, David and Lillis Raitt, when she was a child of only two summers. The family located on the dividing line between Belmont and Guernsey coun- ties, Ohio, where Mrs. Thompson grew to womanhood and was married. Soon after their marriage the young couple took up their abode in Richland county, where Mr. Thompson purchased a quarter section of land,-the farm upon which Amos Hunter now resides. The place was in its primitive con- dition, but he at once began to clear away the timber and soon acre after acre was placed under the plow. As opportunities offered he added to his land possessions until he became an extensive land-owner, owning lands in both Richland and Ashland counties. He made his home on the farm on which he settled, in Monroe township, until his death, and in his business affairs met with very gratifying success. He was a man of indefatigable energy, strong determination and excellent executive ability, and in this way gained a handsome competence. Not only did he follow agricultural pursuits, but for many years he operated a sawmill.
In early life he gave his political support to the Democracy, but becoming convinced that its principles were not calculated to promote the welfare of the nation, he allied himself with the Free-soil party, and when the Re- publican party was formed he joined its ranks. He was a strong anti- slavery man, heartily endorsing abolition principles. Of the United Pres- byterian church he was an active member, and served as an elder and trustee for many years. One of nature's nobleman, he commanded the respect, con- fidence and admiration of all with whom he came in contact, and at his death, which occurred on the 13th of October, 1877, the community mourned the loss of one of its valued citizens. By his marriage to Margaret Raitt, he had eleven children, of whom all grew to mature age, but only four are now living, namely : William, a farmer of Benton county, Iowa; James V.,
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Hadassah et
Thompson
Isaac N. Thompson
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a retired farmer of Lucas, Ohio; Maria, who resides with her brother in Iowa; and Isaac N.
The influences of a good home aided in shaping the character of Isaac N. Thompson. He remained with his parents during his youth, and in the common schools pursued his early education, after which he entered Monroe Seminary. He was also a student in a private seminary conducted at Lucas by Professor Strickler, and at the age of eighteen he began teaching, follow- ing that profession during the winter season, while in the summer months he worked upon the farm.
After the inauguration of the Civil war he patriotically responded to the country's call for aid, and on the 15th of October, 1861, joined the "boys in blue," Company E, Sixty-fourth Ohio Volunteer Infantry. He took part in the siege of Corinth and the battles of Chickamauga, Missionary Ridge, Pulaski, Columbia, and was in the memorable Franklin-Nashville campaign. when General Thomas with his forces routed Hood's army, with a loss to the enemy of twenty-five thousand men in killed, wounded and missing. During those forty days of fighting and marching the weather became worse and worse, the winter being unusually severe for that latitude. There were cold, freezing nights, followed by days of rain and snow. The coun- try was poor and thinly settled, and had been stripped of forage and pro- visions by the march of contending armies; the rations were short and at times none at all. The men of both armies suffered severely from cold and want of food. After three years of faithful service Mr. Thompson was mustered out on the 10th of December, 1864, at Nashville.
· With a creditable military record Mr. Thompson at once returned to his home, and soon afterward was united in marriage to Miss Alice Welsh, a native of Ireland, who came to America with her mother, Mary (Dundon) Welsh, when she was two years of age. Her father, Dennis Welsh, died on the Emerald Isle. Mr. and Mrs. Thompson began their domestic life on a farm of one hundred and twenty acres in Washington township, which he had acquired prior to his enlistment in the army. After residing there for three years he removed to Perrysville and engaged in the grocery business. Later he disposed of his store and established a furniture business, which he conducted until 1892, when he removed to his present home on section 30. Monroe township, where he has since resided. He has one hundred and fourteen acres in the home farm, which is under a high state of cultivation and yields to him a golden return for the care and labor which he bestows upon it. His business career has been one of marked activity, in which his earnest labor and unceasing effort have brought to him creditable success.
In his political views Mr. Thompson is a stalwart Republican. He studies
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closely the issues of the day and does all in his power to promote the growth and insure the success of the party. He has served as a delegate to various state and county conventions, yet has never been an aspirant to office, pre- ferring that his attention shall be given to his business affairs. He and wife are members of the Baptist church and for many years he has served as one of its deacons. He is also a member of the Ohio State Baptist Con- vention. Mrs. Thompson is one of the two charter members of the Perrysville Baptist church. Mr. Thompson also belongs to Lodge No. 558 of the Royal Arcanum, of Perrysville, has passed through all its chairs and for some years was one of its state officers.
He entered upon his business career empty handed and may well be termed the architect of his own fortunes. He has builded wisely and well, for upon a foundation of energy, perseverance and resolute purpose he has erected a superstructure of financial success.
Comrade Thompson and wife now enjoy prosperity, peace and happiness in their beautiful country home. There are classical associations connected with their residence, it having been for a number of years the home of the late Rev. Richard Gailey when he was the principal of the Monroe Seminary, a prosperous educational institution in its day. Then, too, the locality-the charming little valley-inspires sentimental contentment-a desire for rural domesticity ; and this worthy couple, whose hospitable doors are always open to their friends, live happily together in each other's love.
SAMUEL WILSON.
When we investigate the causes of success we find that they lie in the individual and are not to be found in some outside environment or influ- ence ; opportunities very similar encompass all individuals and it is the man whose innate ability and desire to advance enables him to improve these that thus works his way upward. Such a man is Mr. Wilson, his home being on section 2, Monroe township.
Mr. Wilson first opened his eyes to the light of day on Christmas day of 1844, his birthplace being in Vermilion township, Ashland county. His grandfather was born in Pennsylvania and was there reared to farm life. Throughout an active business career he carried on agricultural pursuits, becoming one of the enterprising farmers of Ohio at a period when this state was being opened up to civilization. He married Margaret Wilson, a native of Scotland, who came to America with her mother during her early girlhood. The grandparents were both of Calvinistic faith, being active and
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earnest members of the United Presbyterian church. His father, Robert Wilson, was born in Washington county, Pennsylvania, in May, 1816. When only four years of age he came to Ohio with his parents, who located in Vermilion township, Ashland county, upon a farm of one hundred and sixty acres, where they spent their remaining days. His grandfather was not a very robust man and Robert Wilson early assumed the management of the farm, taking control when only twenty years of age. About 1850 he pur- chased the place from the other heirs and to its further cultivation and improvement continued to devote his energies. He ultimately became the owner of four hundred acres of valuable land. He was reared in the Dem- ocratic faith, but studied closely the issues and questions of the day, and when the Republican party was formed became one of its loyal adherents. Of the United Presbyterian church he was an active member and for many years he served as one of its officers. Robert Wilson married Miss Martha J. Robinson, who was born in Holmes county, Ohio, in 1814. Her parents, James and Christine (Hannalı) Robinson, were both natives of Pennsylvania, and the latter died in Holmes county, Ohio. The former came to Rich- land county in 1861 and purchased the farm upon which Samuel Wilson now resides. His death occurred on that place in 1871. Robert Wilson, the father of our subject, passed away in February, 1892. By his marriage he had seven children, of whom four are living, namely: John, a farmer of Vermillion township, Ashland county ; Samuel, of this review; Sarah M., wife of Samuel Mowery, an architect and carpenter and builder of Mans- field, Ohio; and William, who carries on agricultural pursuits in Mifflin township, Ashland county.
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