USA > Ohio > Allen County > A portrait and biographical record of Allen and Van Wert counties, Ohio, v. 2 > Part 13
USA > Ohio > Van Wert County > A portrait and biographical record of Allen and Van Wert counties, Ohio, v. 2 > Part 13
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BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY
ATHANIEL F. HATTERY, a pro- gressive young farmer, is a native of Hoaglin township, Van Wert county, Ohio, where he still keeps his resi- dence, and was born April 29, 1866. His great-grandfather, Thomas Hattery, was a boy when he came from France with his father, who settled in Delaware county, Pa. Andrew Hattery, grandfather of subject, was born in Delaware county, Pa., and was married, in Somerset county, to Rachael Smith, who bore the following children, but not in the order named: James, Eaton, John, Joseph, An- drew, Thomas, Edward, Josiah, Lydia, Rachael and Nathaniel. From Somerset county, Pa., the grandparents moved to Brooke county, Va., and ten years later came to Ohio and entered land in Carroll county, where they resided until 1842, when they came to Van Wert county and settled in Hoaglin township, where their days were ended in the Presby- terian faith. Of their children, Nathaniel Hattery, the father of our subject, was born in 1822 in Brooke county, Va. (now W. Va.), and when he came to Van Wert county, Ohio, with his parents, there were but nine families in Hoaglin township. Here he entered land and hewed out of the wilderness a farm which finally contained 220 acres. January 22, 1853, he married Ellen Acheson, and had born to him the following children, named in the order of birth: Elizabeth J., Thomas F., John E. and Clara (deceased), Mary E., Hermia, John A. (deceased), Margaret E. and Nathaniel F. The father of this family was a very promi- nent man in the township, and for six years served as township trustee, two years as town- ship clerk, and four years as township treas- urer. In politics he was first a whig, and later a republican; in religion he and wife were Presbyterians, and very regular in their church attendance, and both were highly esteemed by their neighbors. Mrs. Hattery was called
home August 10, 1876, and Mr. Hattery fol- lowed her March 12, 1882.
Nathaniel F. Hattery, our subject, has been an agriculturist from his earliest days, and most emphatically a progressive one. He has himself cleared up his farm of forty-five acres, which is a model of neatness and thrifty care. It is improved with a good dwelling, a barn of appropriate dimensions, and is well ditched and highly cultivated. September 6. 1888. Mr. Hattery married Lydia C. Harvey, daughter of Samuel B. and Martha Carr Harvey, of Hoaglin township, and four chil- dren have come to bless the household, viz: Arthur L., Walter, Hila O., and an infant not yet named. In politics, Mr. Hattery is strongly republican, and is an ardent advocate of the cause of public education; he is liberal in his aid to all religious denominations, is a member of the Hoaglin grange, No. 400, and socially he and wife bear a high reputation.
HILIP HOVERMAN, a well-known fariner and manufacturer of lumber and drain tile, is a native of Van Wert county, Ohio, born October 18, 1858. His father was born in Germany, October 8. 1820, and there married his first wife, and af- terward immigrated to the United States, set- tling in New York. After the death of his wife, which occurred in the aforesaid state. the elder Mr. Hoverman moved to Marion county, Ohio, where he engaged in farming. and where he married his second wife, Eliza- beth Hoffman, mother of the subject of this sketch. Mr. and Mrs. Hoverman resided in the county of Marion until 1856, at which time they moved to Van Wert county, Jocat- ing in Liberty township, where Mr. Hoverman was engaged in farming the remainder of his days; his widow still resides on the home farm, but lives a part of the time with her son.
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Rodney Graham
293-294
295
OF VAN WERT COUNTY.
Philip Hoverman was born in Van Wert county. Ohio, October IS, 1858. Reared a fariner, his early life was one of great indus- try, and he found means to obtain a fair En- glish education, embracing the branches usu- ally taught in the district schools. In addition to agricultural pursuits Mr. Hoverman followed the carpenter's vocation for a period of fifteen years, and in 1891 engaged in the manufac- ture of lumber and draining tile, purchasing at the same time a small farm, upon which his mill and factory stand. In a financial sense he has met with success, and, by strict atten- tion to his various enterprises, has succeeded in accumulating a comfortable competence, which represents the labor of his own hand. In addition to the mill which he first pur- chased, he is operating at this time a saw-mill in Ohio City, and has recently bought a large amount of standing timber in Van Wert county. Mr. Hoverman is a local politician of the dem- 'ocratic party, as were also his ancestors before him, and at this time he is filling his second term as township trustee. He married Caro- line Emrich, daughter of Henry and Catherine (Huffman) Emrich, and has a family of three children-Otto, Charles and Edward. Mr. Hovernian is a member of lodge No. 771, I. O. O. F., and with his family belongs to the German Reform church.
ODNEY GRAHAM, one of the lead- ing farmers of Van Wert county, Ohio, an old settler of Tully township and the present township trustee, is of sturdy Scotch-Irish descent and comes from an old colonial Pennsylvania family. His great-grandfather was a soldier in the patriot army in the Revolutionary war and had his lip shot off at the battle of Cowpers, in North Carolina. William Graham, son of the above and grandfather of our subject, was a soldier
in the war of 1812. When a young man he came to Athens county, Ohio, where he inar- ried Nancy Cassel, and was one of the original pioneers and an organizer of the township of Lee, where he had settled when there were but three other white families within its limits, but numerous vicious Indians, who often made raids upon the settlement. ] He succeeded in clearing up his farm and in acquiring a large amount of land, and was well known through- out the country for his integrity and sagacity as a business man. To himself and wife were born twelve children, named as follows: Henry, Sophia, William, James, Elias, Samuel, Wil- son, Hannah, Martha, Nancy, Ivy and Eliza- beth Graham.
Samuel Graham, one of the children above enumerated and the father of our subject, Rod- ney, was born in Athens county, Ohio, June 12, 18IS, was reared a farmer and there inar- ried Miss Nancy Wheeler. The children born to Mr. and Mrs. Samuel Graham were eleven in number and were named Rodney, Ivy, Mary J., Sarah E., Lydia A., Samuel E., Martha, Susanna, Armentha, Eliza, and one that died in infancy.
Samuel Graham continned his residence in Athens county, Ohio, until 1846, when he moved to Monroe township, Allen county, Ind., and settled on eighty acres in the wild woods, where he eventually made a good home, greatly increased his acreage, and still retains 160 acres of fine land. His first wife died in Mon- roe township, and for his second companion he married the widow of Peter Crush, but to this union no children have been born. Mr. Gra- ham is a member of the United Brethren church, in politics is a democrat, and is one of the most highly respected citizens of the county of Allen, Ind.
Rodney Graham, whose name opens this biographical notice, was born Angust 4, 1841, in Athens county, Ohio, on the home farm.
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BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY
At the age of five years he was taken by his father to Allen county, Ind., and still remein- bers seeing that gentleman cutting his way through the black swamps of Ohio. He re- ceived the usual education of the pioneer days, was reared as farmer lads usually are reared, and on April 10, 1862, was married in Monroe township, Allen county, Ind., to Miss Nancy J. Clem, daughter of Noah and Magdalen (Ridenour) Clem. These parents, Noah Clem and wife, were born in Shenandoah county, Va., moved to Champaign county, Ohio, and thence, in 1840, to Allen county, Ind., where Mr. Clem cleared up a farm and became quite wealthy. He was one of the organizers of his township, was the first justice of the peace, and performed the ceremony for the first couple married in Monroe. He and wife were par- ents of thirteen children, viz: Alfred, Benja- min, Mary, Margaret, Nancy J., Jacob, Noah, Susannah, Elizabeth, Isabelle, John, Joseph, and Joshua. Mr. Clem was born September 27, 1809, is a Jacksonian democrat, and still survives.
After this happy marriage of Mr. and Mrs. Graham they resided in Monroe township, Allen county, Ind., until 1865, when they moved to his present farm, which then con- tained but eighty acres, in Tully township, Van Wert county, Ohio. Mr. and Mrs. Gra- ham, by their joint labor and by "pulling to- gether," have increased their acreage to 400, and have, beside, given their son, William, forty acres. Mrs. Graham is a member of the Methodist church, and Mr. Graham has the entire confidence of the people of Tully town- ship, whom he served four terins as township trustee. Mr. and Mrs. Graham are the parents of three children, viz: William J., who mar- ried Mary Bainbridge, and owns a market in Chicago; Florence, who is married to Gilbert Gyer, a farmer of Tully township, and Martha, the wife of Augustus H. Schroeder, a taxider-
mist of Atlanta, Ga., and the mother of one child. Mr. and Mrs. Graham are among the most honored of the residents of Tully town- ship and the county of Van Wert, he being well known throughout the county for his ge- nial manners and unsullied business integrity and sterling worth.
EWIS A. HARVEY, the genial super- intendent and manager of the Grange warehouse of Van Wert, Ohio, was born in Union township, Van Wert county, August 31, 1851, a son of James and Wilhelmina (Rees) Harvey, natives of Hoaglin township in the same county, where Lewis A was reared on his father's farm. He made his home at the residence of his parents until 1884, although for a number of year prior to this date he had been employed in job carpen- ter work and bridge building. He was edu- cated in the country schools of his township and also took private lessons in mathematics of S. B. Devore for a year. In April, 1884. he came to Van Wert and was employed as superintendent of the Patrons of Husbandry warehouse and held the position until 1887, when he was elected auditor of Van Wert county, assumed the office in September. 1888. and most satisfactorily filled the position for six years and five weeks, having been twice elected by the democratic party, of which he is a stanch member -- the first time by a ma- jority of 198 votes and the second time by 891 majority, a fact which speaks for his in- tegrity and ability louder than words. Since 1888, also, he has been engaged as superin- tendent and manager of the warehouse, in which he has two-thirds interest; in isgo he began to traffic in hay, and in 1894 handled over 150 carloads; he is also connected with the Ohio City warehouse and purchases grain at Convoy, Scott, Dixon, Middlepoint and
1
297
OF VAN WERT COUNTY.
Venedocia, and handles about 450 carloads per year. He has been a member of the Hoaglin grange since 1874, and in all respects is a shrewd business man, with a reputation that has never been impugned nor tarnished. Fraternally he is a member of the Improved Order of Red Men, and socially he holds a very high position among the citizens of Van Wert city and county.
James Harvey, of Hoaglin township, Van Wert county, Ohio, is a son of William and Sallie (Watson) Harvey, was born in Richland county, Ohio. April 21, 1828, and was thir- teen years of age when brought to Van Wert county. Since that early age he has been identified, more or less, with the history of his township. He was educated in one of the pio- neer log school-houses of his day, containing the rudest and most primitive improvised fur- niture within, and surrounded without with wild woods infested with savage beasts of prey and abounding in game. He became an in- telligent and sturdy farmer, and married, Oc- tober 24, 1850, Wilhelmina Rees, born August 31, 1826, a daughter of Christopher and Char- lotta (Quasy) Rees, natives of the kingdom of Bavaria, in the empire of Germany. The Rees family came to America in 1840, located in Montgomery, Ohio, for a year, and then, in 1841, moved to Van Wert county, where they hewed out a farm of 280 acres. The children, who were all born in Germany, were named as follows: Frederick, Henry, Wilhelmina, Lewis (died in Germany), Caroline, August (died in Germany); those who reached this country are now also deceased, with the ex- ception of Mrs. Harvey.
James Harvey was married in Union town- ship, lived there five years on a rented farm, and then moved to Hoaglin township, where Mr. Harvey now owns a fine farrn of ninety- nine acres, well drained and cultivated, and improved with a good, new, modern, frame
residence, good barn and outbuildings, and stocked as a specialty with registered Poland- China hogs-all realized through his own hard labor. Following are the names of the chil- dren born to Mr. and Mrs. Harvey: Lewis A., ex-county auditor for six years; George H. ; Amanda and Miranda, deceased; James M .; Francis D .; Clara A., and Perry H. In pol- itics Mr. Harvey is a stanch democrat. Of the children enumerated above, James M. re- sides on the old homestead and cares for it generally.
ON. JAMES F. HIGGINS, mayor of Van Wert, Ohio, is a son of Ralph P. and Laura M. (Doup) Higgins, and was born in Shelby county, Ohio, August 31, 1860. Ralph P. Higgins was born in Hamilton county, Ohio, December 28. 1823, while his wife was born in Frederick county, Maryland. They were married in Shelby county, in 1852, lived on a farm until 1873. and then removed to Piqua, Miami county, where Mr. Higgins is now passing his declining years in retirement. They had born to their marriage three children, in the following order: William H., deceased; Edward D., of Denver, Colo., and James F., whose name opens this paragraph. The father is, as was his wife, a member of the Methodist Episcopal church; in politics he is a republican, is trustee of his township and for many years served as justice of the peace; he has been very successful in life, still owns two farms, aggregating 260 acres. in Shelby county, Ohio, and has always been regarded, wherever he has lived, as an upright and intelligent gentleman.
Mayor James F. Higgins was reared on the home farm in Shelby county, Ohio, until thir- teen years of age, when. in 1873, he was taken by his parents to Miami county and finished his schooling at Piqua, after which he resided with
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BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY
his uncle, E. R. Doup, in Brooklyn, N. Y., and for two years remained with said uncle, and in 1879 came to Van Wert, Ohio, in the capacity of buyer and shipper of lumber for the same gentleman, which position he held until 1885, when, in connection with his brother, William Higgins, then a resident of New York city, he established the firm of Hig- gins Bros., lumber merchants, which continued in the trade until the decease of William, in 1891. In 1894, James F. Higgins was elected mayor of Van Wert by the republican party, with whom he stands high in favor, as he does, indeed, with the public in general, and took possession of his office April 13, of the same year.
His marriage took place in Covington, Ky., to Miss Lulu E. Brown, a native of Memphis, Shelby county, Tenn., and a daughter of Orlan- do and Josephene Brown, now deceased, and this union has been gladdened by the birth of one child, Ralph Pendry, Jr. Mr. and Mrs. Higgins are members of the Methodist Episco- pal church and fraternally he is a Knight of Pythias, whose ranks his fine appearance and manly proportions greatly adorn. In all the attributes of manhood and useful citizenship Mr. Higgins stands conspicuous among his fellows, and few men in Van Wert county have as wide and varied acquaintance as he, or have made as strong impression on the public mind. In his early youth formed a determined pur- pose to succeed, and his position socially, and his standing in the business world, are proofs that so far in life this purpose has been fully realized; and, judging by the past, it is safe to predict for him a future of still greater honor and usefulness. He is a man of positive con- victions, firm in its adherence to what he con- siders the right, and in the performance of his official functions has proved a most careful and impartial public servant. Mr. Higgins is characterized by a strong and vigorous person-
ality, is dignified in bearing, and impresses all with whom he comes in contact as a typical representative of the sturdy and intelligent manhood for which the great commonwealth of Ohio has long been noted.
RS. ESTHER A. FISHER, widow of Samuel Fisher, late of Union township, Van Wert county, Ohio, is a daughter of John and Hannah Ferguson, and was born in Cecil county, Md., October 30, 1829-the youngest of seven chil- dren, named as follows. George, deceased; Mrs. Eliza Moore, of Michigan, deceased; William; Margaret, deceased; Robert; Mrs. Rebecca McVay, and our subject, Esther A., now Mrs. Samuel Fisher.
Mrs. Esther A. Fisher was educated in the select school of her native state, and was first married, February 25, 1847, to John F. Mc- Cullough, a son of John and Susan McCul- lough, to which union were born the following children: Samuel H., May 30, 1848; Susan J., January 22, 1850; George W., May 18, 1852; Harriet A., June 8, 1855; Margaret E., October 13, 1857; William C., April 8, 1860. Mr. Mccullough, the father of these children, was born in Lancaster county, Pa., August 14, 1827, and was a farmer. After marriage he, with his family, lived on a farm in Lancaster county for twenty-four years, and then moved to York county, same state, and several years later-about 1857-came to Ohio and located in Fairfield county, whence, in 1861, he came to Van Wert county and purchased a small farin in Liberty township, on which he located his family, and in the same year enlisted in company H, Forty-sixth Ohio volunteer infan- try. At the battle of Pittsburg Landing he was seriously wounded in the foot and was consequentiy laid up in the hospital at Saint Louis, Mo., where he recovered, and, on re-
J. F. MCCULLOUGH.
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OF VAN WERT COUNTY.
303
turning home, enlisted in the Fifteenth Ohio volunteer infantry for the remainder of the war. During his services in his two enlist- ments he took part in the severe campaigns of Kentucky, Tennessee, Alabama and Georgia, and at Dallas, Ga., gave up his life, and now rests in a grave among the unknown but gal- lant brave.
After Mr. Mccullough's death, his widow, our subject, with the assistance of her sons, managed the home farm in Liberty township until 1869, when she sold the place and moved to her present home in Union township. In June, 1870, she was united in marriage with Samuel Fisher. This lamented gentleman was a son of Jacob Fisher, and was born in Crawford county, Ohio, May 25, 1822, and was reared a blacksmith, as well as to farming. He first married Julia A. French, to which marriage were born five children, all of whom are now residents of Paulding county. Samuel Fisher was also a gallant soldier in the late Civil war and served in company H, One Hundred and Thirty-second Ohio volunteer infantry, of Paulding county. At the close of this internecine struggle he resumed blacksmithing and farming, and lost his wife in 1868. After his marriage to our subject he retained his residence on his farm in Paulding county for twelve years, and there, with his second wife, our subject, stood very high in the estimation of his neighbors as a useful and valuable mem- ber of society. His untimely death took place May 8, 1892, in the faith of the Church of God. In politics he was a republican and was an honored member of the Grand Army of the Republic. He held several local offices, hav- ing been quite popular with his party, and being always recognized as an honest, intelli- gent and trustworthy citizen.
After the death of her lamented husband Mrs. Fisher soon returned to her old home in Union township, Van Wert county, where she
is now residing with her daughter, Susan J., one of the children born to her first marriage. Susan J. Mccullough was married November 26, 1868, to Jacob Wise, a son of James and Julia A. (Bartin) Wise, and has borne her hus- band three children, named as follows : James H., of Middlebury, Summit county, Ohio; Cora A., wife of Frank Rolsten, of Union township, Van Wert county; and Zelma A. Mr. Wise was born in Morrow county. Ohio, April 11, 1847, is of Pennsylvania-Dutch descent, and came to Van Wert, Ohio. with his parents in his boyhood, and here his life. has ever since been identified with the agri- cultural interests of the county.
Mrs. Fisher, like her husband, is a devoted member of the Church of God, in which faith she has reared all her children. The relict of two brave soldiers, she is passing away, a ven- erated and honored woman, the remaining years of her life, awaiting only the call of the Being after whom her church is named.
J ARTHUR HINES, M. D., was born in Van Wert, Ohio, September 12, 1842, and is now recognized as one of the most experienced physicians and surgeons of the county. His grandfather, Jacob Hines, was a native of Maryland, and for many years was an employee of the national government, although he was by trade a tin- smith. He was the owner of a few slaves, but for conscience, sake freed them before the opening of the late Civil war. He passed from 1840 to 1850, or ten years of his life. in Van Wert county, Ohio, and while here was a class leader in the Methodist Episcopal church, in which he had always taken an animated in- terest. To him and his wife, Susannah, were born three children, viz: Mrs. James W. Barker, of Washington city; Philip J., father of our subject, and Johanna R., deceased.
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BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY
Mrs. Susannah Hines departed this life, a sin- cere Christian, in 1835, at the age of forty- nine, while Jacob, her husband, lived to the remarkable old age of ninety-seven, dying in 1874. Philip John Hines, M. D., son of Jacob and Susannah, and the father of Dr. J. Arthur Hines, was born in Fredericktown, Md., August 11, 1815, and was educated in Wash- ington, D. C., chiefly, and there read medicine under the renowned Dr. Thomas Miller, who was the attending physician of every president of the United States, from Washington to 'Lincoln. Mr. Hines then entered the Univer- sity of Maryland, from the medical department of which he graduated in 1837. Dissatisfied with the laws of the United State's which dis- franchises the residents of the District of Col- umbia as far as national offices are concerned, Dr. Hines came west in 1838, tarried for a while in Bucyrus, Ohio, and then settled in Van Wert, then a mere village of the back- woods order, and was one of the committee, when the town was created the capital of the county, appointed in 1839, to transfer the county records from the former county seat, Willshire. He taught school and practiced medicine in Van Wert, and being intel- ligent and popular, was elected and served as representative in the state legislature in 1847 and 1848. In 1849 he was seized with the gold fever, went to California, and remained there until 1852, when he returned to Van Wert and resumed the practice of medicine, served as county clerk and as county auditor, and under the administration of President Pierce as post- master of Van Wert from 1852 to 1856, when he once more resumed practice, which he ad- hered to until 1869. He brought the first stock of drugs ever seen in Van Wert, and conducted a trade in this line until his death, on September 12, 1884. His wife, Relief Morse, whom he married March 6, 1841, was a native of New York state, was the first fe-
male teacher in Van Wert, where she taught two years, and was also a member of the first Methodist Episcopal church class organized in the city. She departed this life October 20, 1886, the mother of the following-named chil- dren: J. Arthur, M. D .; Mary A., wife of W. W. Hillerman, of Springfield, Ohio; Robert, deceased; Sarah A., deceased; J. B. and C. E., of Van Wert.
J. Arthur Hines received his preparatory education in his native city, and in 1859 en- tered the Columbian National college, at Wash- ington, D. C., where he remained, pursuing his studies, until the building was taken pos- session of, among others, for hospital pur- poses, by the military authorities, when he returned to Van Wert, remained until 1866, and then went back to the District of Colum - bia, studied at and graduated from the med- ical department of Georgetown university, the platform, on the occasion-graduation day- being graced by the presence of President Grant and numerous statesmen of national re- nown. Our young physician immediately be- gan practice at Van Wert, where his abilities were at once recognized, and here he has met with that tide of prominent life which has "led on to fortune," his specialty being the diseases of children and women. He has also been unusually successful in his general prac- tice, and this success led to his appointment as county physician to the poor, as well as his appointment, September 15, 1893, as special examiner of applicants for pensions, the doc- tor being a faithful and stanch member of the democratic party.
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