USA > Ohio > Erie County > A standard history of Erie County, Ohio: an authentic narrative of the past, with particular attention to the modern era in the commercial, industrial, civic, and social development. A chronicle of the people, with family lineage and memoirs > Part 31
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76 | Part 77 | Part 78 | Part 79 | Part 80 | Part 81 | Part 82 | Part 83 | Part 84 | Part 85 | Part 86 | Part 87 | Part 88 | Part 89 | Part 90 | Part 91 | Part 92 | Part 93 | Part 94 | Part 95 | Part 96 | Part 97 | Part 98 | Part 99 | Part 100 | Part 101 | Part 102 | Part 103 | Part 104 | Part 105 | Part 106 | Part 107 | Part 108 | Part 109 | Part 110 | Part 111 | Part 112 | Part 113 | Part 114
675
HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY
twice married and is survived by one daughter and one son of the first and three sons of the second marriage.
He whose name initiates this review is popular in both business and social circles in his native county, and in a fraternal way he is affiliated with Marks Lodge No. 359, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, at Huron ; with Milan Chapter No. 135, Royal Arch Masons; and with Sandusky Council No. 26, Royal and Select Masters, in the City of Sandusky. He attends and supports the Presbyterian Church, of which his wife is a member.
In Huron Township was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Rhinemiller to Miss Bertha Jarratt, who was here born and reared, and who is the daughter of the late Isaac Jarratt, a well-known and highly honored citizen of Erie County. Mrs. Jarratt, whose maiden name was Martha Harris, still resides in the City of Huron. Mr. and Mrs. Rhinemiller have one son, Edward George, who was born in 1909, and whose juvenile alert- ness and judgment are shown in the fact that he shows exceptional facil- ity in the personal operation of automobiles, though he is but six years of age.
EDMUND W. AVERY. A lifelong resident of the State of Ohio, and of Groton Township sinee 1872, no man is better known in this com- munity, nor more genuinely esteemed, than Edmund W. Avery, suc- cessful farmer and a member of the local board of education. Mr. Avery was born in Lyme Township, Huron County, on September 13, 1857, and is a son of Inther and Susanna ( Ford) Avery, well-known HInron County people.
Luther Avery was born in Connecticut, and his wife was of English birth. He came as a boy with his parents from Connecticut to Ohio, and the family settled in Lyme Township, being among the pioneers to that community. They came in the early thirties, when primitive conditions were at their height. Luther Avery's parents were of Eng- lish birth and ancestry, and he inherited from them the strain of sturdy independence that made them successful pioneers in a new land. Ile gained prominence and success in his farming activities as a citizen of Lyme, in Huron County, and served his community in various official capacities, as well as serving as a director from Huron County on the board of the Ohio Infirmary. In 1872 he moved from Huron County to Erie County, locating in Groton Township, and the farm he settled on is the one now owned by Edmund Avery and brother, J. O. He died there in 1895, and his wife in 1870. A self-made man in the best sense of the term, he won and deserved the high regard of his fellow- citizens, and he was sincerely mourned in Groton Township when he died.
Edmund W. Avery accompanied the family to Erie County in 1872 and settled with them in Groton Township. He was then a youth of fifteen years. Under his father's direction he grew to manhood well instructed in agricultural matters, and he has proved himself to be a practical farmer. He stayed on the home farm and when his father passed away continued there in its operation. Success has followed efforts, and this farm is one of the productive and prosperous places in the township.
Like his father, Mr. Avery has been a leader in service to his towns- people. He was a trustee of Groton for some years, and is now, and has been for the past few years, a member of the board of education. His schooling was secured in the public schools of Groton, followed by two years in the Western Reserve College, then located at Hudson, Ohio. He is a republican, and a member of the Congregational Church.
In 1897 Mr. Avery married Nettie (. Nims, who was born in Groton
676
HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY
Township, and is a daughter of Samuel Nims, well known in that com- munity, and now past his eightieth birthday. Three children have been horn to Mr. and Mrs. Avery-Helen R., Leland F. and Myron N. The first born is deceased.
The Avery family is highly regarded in the town and county, and have a host of friends hereabouts.
ALFRED FORD. One of the men who had an important share in the life and activities of Groton Township, and a veteran of the Civil war, was the late Alfred Ford, whose death occurred at his home in Groton Township Deeember 25, Christmas Day, of 1908. Mr. Ford had spent many years in other states, but was a native of Erie County, and both as a eitizen and business man his record deserves to be read by the people who knew him in his youth and in his later years.
A native of Groton Township of Erie County, he was a son of Edward and Sarah L. (Sprague) Ford, and a brother of Andrew Ford, a prominent citizen of Groton Township, under whose name will be found more extended information concerning the family.
The youth of Alfred Ford was spent on his father's farm in Groton Township and he depended upon the local schools for his early training. Ile was a reader from youth up and always aimed to keep himself well informed on general topics and was a practical and intelligent business man and citizen. Ilis record as a soldier in the Civil war began with his enlistment in 1862 in Company G of the One Hundred and First Ohio Volunteer Infantry, and he remained a soldier of the Union nearly three years. Ile was in many of the arduous campaigns of the western armies, fighting in Tennessee, Georgia and other states, and among other battles in which he participated was that of Chickamauga. He was twice wounded during his service and spent about eighteen months in a hospital in Tennessee. After his honorable discharge at the close of the war he returned to Erie County and was there married to Miss Elizabeth Ramsdell. She died less than a year after their marriage.
From Erie County Mr. Ford went west, spending several years in Colorado, was also a resident of Dakota Territory and for a short time lived in the Territory of Washington, and finally went to Humboldt County, California, which was his home for sixteen years. While there he was engaged in the live-stock industry, and was one of the leading stockmen of that western state.
In 1900 Mr. Ford returned to Erie County and lived quietly retired at his home in Groton Township until his death, which occurred about eight years later. For a brief time he had also lived in Mahaska County, Iowa, and while there he was married November 24, 1883, to Mrs. Martha E. Bailey, widow of William Bailey of Mahaska County. Mrs. Ford is now living at the old home in Groton Township. By her mar- riage to Mr. Ford she became the mother of three children : Edward N., of Castalia; Lois E., wife of Wilson Shannon, of Fremont, Ohio; and Fred .A., of Groton Township. Mrs. Ford has two daughters by her first marriage, namely : Cora E., widow of Albert Harmon, a late resi- dent of Groton Township; and Beulah E., who is a trained nurse, now living at Fremont, Ohio.
In his political actions Alfred Ford was also identified with the republican party. Public spirit was a prominent characteristic, and he showed himself a friend of all publie improvements, and particu- larly of public schools. The Ford home in Groton Township is an attractive farm of seventy-six acres, and Mrs. Ford lives there in com- fort and surrounded by the many friends of herself and her late hus- band. She was reared in Towa, where she attended the public schools at Bacon and was also a student in Penn College at Oskaloosa. During
677
HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY
her early womanhood she taught school for several months before her first marriage. Both her daughters by her marriage to William Bailey have also been school teachers in Groton Township.
ANDREW FORD. Under the rapidly changing conditions of American life it seldom happens that a man spends practically an entire lifetime in the same locality where he was born. Such has been the case of Andrew Ford, an honored resident of Groton Township, who now occupies the homestead which was his birthplace and the scene of all his early associations. Mr. Ford is now practically retired, enjoying the fruits of well-spent earlier years, and has always stood as a progressive, ener- getic and thoroughly competent agriculturist, while his record in all the varied relations of his busy life has been such as to reflect credit upon him and all connected with him.
Born December 16, 1839, he represents some of the earliest settlers in this section of Northern Ohio. Ilis parents were Edward and Sarah L. (Sprague) Ford, the former a native of Conneaut, Ohio, and the latter of Sandusky County. Edward Ford was a son of Christopher Ford. who came out and made settlement at Conneaut, Ohio, early in the nine- teenth century. Edward Ford grew to manhood in the vicinity of Conneaut and then removed to Erie County, settling in Groton Town- ship, where with his brother Andrew he took up a tract of raw land and developed it into a good farm, his brother Andrew remaining in the township only a short time and then returning to the vicinity of Conneaut. Edward Ford died on the old farm when his son Andrew was five years old.
The latter spent his early life in Groton Township, gained his edu- cation in the schools such as existed in the '40s and '50s, and agriculture has been his mainstay as a vocation for more than half a century. In that time he has witnessed many changes in methods of planting, tend- ing and harvesting erops, and the changes on his home farm are only echoes of the remarkable transformation made in practically every department of life during the last century. Mr. Ford also has a military record, having enlisted in April, 1864, in Company G of the State Home Guard, and was sent to Arlington Heights, Virginia, where he per- formed guard duty around the City of Washington. He remained in the service nearly four months, and then received his honorable dis- charge and returned home.
The Ford estate in Groton Township comprises 176 aeres, all of it well improved and devoted to general agriculture, and Mr. Ford's home- stead, a part of the place on which he was born, comprises eighty aeres. Ile is a republican politically and has always shown a commendable public spirit in helping forward every enterprise for the local benefit. Mr. Ford is a bachelor, and has a great host of friends in the community where he has been known since childhood.
HORACE VALENTINE RAMSDELL. A life that was significant of sturdy character, upright manhood, long-continued industry, patriotic service during the period which insured the integrity of the Union, and lasting esteem from family, friends and neighbors, was that lived by the late Horace Valentine Ramsdell in Oxford Township.
Born at the pioneer Ramsdell home at Bloomingville. JJune 23, 1842, he lived in that one community nearly all his life, except when away during the war, and died in the fullness of years January 17, 1914, aged seventy-one years, six months and twenty-five days. He was one of the twelve children of Ilorace and Sarah Ramsdell. The Ramsdells came originally from England, lived through a generation or more in New England, while Horaee Ramsdell was a native of New York
678
IHISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY
State and in the early days of Erie County came into Oxford Township and cleared off the woods from the land which he and his son llorace and his grandson George have successfully cultivated. Of the children of Horace and Sarah Ramsdell, only seven reached years of maturity, and Horace V. was the last but two, being survived by a brother, James H., of Newton Falls, Ohio, and a sister, Mrs. Lydia J. Paxton, of Eugene, Oregon.
The late Horace V. Ramsdell grew up in a community where his school advantages were confined to those afforded by a seleet sehool taught in the family home at brief intervals. At the outbreak of the war, though but nineteen, he offered his services to the Union army, entering Company G of the One Hundred and First Regiment of Ohio Volunteer Infantry. He enlisted at Castalia, and his company was mus- tered into service at Monroeville August 1, 1861, under Captain Messer and Lient. John Fleming. This company and regiment went into the Army of the Cumberland, and from Monroeville the company was sent to Covington, Kentucky, where that division of the Union troops were severely pressing General Bragg and slowly forcing his retreat south- ward aeross Kentucky and Tennessee. In this campaign Mr. Ramsdell participated in the battles of Perryville, Crab Orchard and the engage- ments around Nashville. Ile was shot twice in the battle of Stone River, otherwise known as Murfreesboro, December 31, 1861, during the first day of that bloody engagement. The remainder of that day, the night following, all during New Year's Day and through the next night he lay upon the field with a hole entirely through his body big enough for a good-sized handkerchief to be drawn through it, and with the bullet from the other shot lodged in his hip. The fight raged over the bodies of the dead and wounded, the artillery passing and repassing over these bodies just as they lay on the field of earnage. When the ambulance department gathered him up and turned him over to the army surgeons at the hospital at Nashville it was believed that his wounds were mortal, and he was sent on to Louisville to be taken to Covington. When pre- sented to the steamboat officials for transportation up the Ohio, they refused to receive him unless a coffin also be provided and placed aboard, so near was he to death's door. On the way another man died and the coffin intended for him was used as a receptacle for that man's body. To Covington his mother and his brother went to bring him home, but it was only after two months of patient nursing by his mother that he was sufficiently restored to strength to stand the home- ward trip. Ilis discharge from the army bears the date of March 17, 1862.
After having thus nearly sacrificed his life for his country he spent a year in recovering his health and strength. His next experience eame when he and his brother James were called upon to go to Portland, Ore- gon, to bring home their older brother, John, who had gone west sixteen years before as a '49er and who was eritically ill. There being no trans- continental railway lines, they went to New York and took a steamship for Niearagua, crossing Central America via the old proposed Niea- rauguan Canal route, thence up the Pacific Coast. They brought their sick brother home nearly over the same route, exeept that they returned by the Isthmus of Panama.
Following this, Horace V. Ramsdell took charge of the old homestead in Oxford Township, and from that day he was the head and mainstay of the family. He was engaged in farming from that time until his death, with two brief interruptions. For a short time he was engaged in the fishing business on the lakes. In this he was successful, but soon gave it np and returned to the farm. During the early '70s he went out to the Black Hills distriet following the mining excitement in that
679
HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY
section of the Northwest, but did not remain long. Throughout his life the center of his interests was the old homestead, where he and his good wife dispensed that hospitality for which they were so well known throughout their large circle of friends. At his death he left an estate of 187 aeres, comprising an excellent home and farm lands that had been brought to the highest state of intensive cultivation. In politics he was a republican, and the only organization with which he affiliated was the Sam Edwards Post of the Grand Army of the Republic at Sand Hill, which he served at. one time as commander, though circumstances pre- vented his regular attendance at its meetings in later years. His funeral was conducted under the auspices of this post.
To the man and his character a happy tribute was paid editorially by the Sandusky Register: "He was a man of warm-hearted impulses and of splendid generosity. In this community he was ever to be de- pended upon as one of the first to respond where his services were needed during illness, accident or at death. Mr. Ramsdell was pre-eminently a home man, devoted to his family and his grandehildren and affection- ately fond of the scenes and places hereabouts where he spent his life. It was here on this farm that for almost fifty years he devoted the best energies of his life, in season and out, sowing and reaping and gar- nering until the great 'Reaper whose name is Death' issued the final summons to eease his labors and rest forevermore."
Mr. Ramsdell was survived by his widow, one son, two daughters, and seven grandchildren, On December 24, 1876, he married Alma Louise Bardwell. She was born in Groton Township of Erie County September 4, 1847, a daughter of Seth and Louise (White) Bardwell. Iler parents were natives of Hatfield, Massachusetts, and the Bardwell family is widely known in Erie County, and further information eon- cerning its members can be found on other pages of this work. Mrs. Ramsdell was reared in Groton Township and lived there until her mar- riage to Mr. Ramsdell. She is a worker in the Universalist Church. She and Mr. Ramsdell became the parents of four children: S. Louise, who is now the wife of H. M. Linn, of Cleveland, Tennessee; George B., at Bloomingville; Gertrude, wife of Ralph T. Wolfram, of Bellevue, Ohio; and Wade Owen, who died at the age of three years.
George B. Ramsdell, the only son of Ilorace V. Ramsdell, is a young and progressive farmer and now looking after the active management of the old Ramsdell farm at Bloomingville. He was born there April 14. 1880, and was educated in the public schools of Bloomingville and high school at Milan, took a course in the Sandusky Business College, and for a time was a student in Buchtel College at Akron, Ohio. Ile married Miss Elsie Prout, who was born at Bloomingville, a daughter of Albert II. Pront, who is now living in Cleveland. Albert Prout was a son of Andrew Prout, who came as an early settler into Oxford Township and settled in the locality which subsequently was named in his honor as Prout Station, and for a number of years was postmaster of that village. Mr. George B. Ramsdell and wife have two children: Manrice and Helen. Hle is an active republican and for five years served as clerk of Oxford Township.
ANTON KOB. A little more than thirty years ago a young German came to this country, poor, almost friendless, and with only the willing labor of his hands to recommend him for future advancement. That he has made most excellent use of his opportunities finds illustration of the fact that Anton Kob is now one of the leading citizens of Perkins township and is the owner of a fine farm of one hundred and fifty aeres. all of it valuable land, and under his management producing abundantly
680
HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY
of the general erops. IIe has lived there since 1900 and has all the cir- cumstances and conditions of a successful citizen.
Born in Wuertemberg, Germany, January 9, 1862, Anton Kob is a son of Fidel and Theresa (Sonnermoser) Kob. His parents were natives of Germany, and both are now deceased. Mr. Kob was reared in his native kingdom and lived there until his twentieth year. Ile then crossed the channel to England, and at London took passage on a steamer which about fourteen days later landed him in New York City. For many years he combined industry with thrift, and finally realized enough capital to make his start as an individual farmer, and from farming has gained his chief success in the business world.
On January 16, 1886, Mr. Kob married Mary Feiden, who was born in Perkins township of Erie County, a daughter of John and Angeline (Neuman) Feiden. Her parents were natives of Germany, came to America and lived in Perkins township a time, subsequently in Huron township, and spent their last years in the latter locality. Mr. and Mrs. Kob have two sons: John A. and Anton P. Mr. Kob and his wife are members of St. Mary's Catholic Church at Sandusky, and in politics he is democrat with independent proelivities. Ilis neighbors speak highly of him both as a citizen and as a man who has prospered not from good fortune or inheritance but by depending upon his own powers and faculties.
WILLIAM D. TAYLOR. With the lengthening perspective of years, more and more honor is paid to the old soldiers who fought for the preservation of the Union during the dark days of the 60s. One of these veterans still surviving and honored for that service and his long local activity as a citizen in Erie County is William D. Taylor, who now lives retired on his comfortable homestead in Perkins Township, on Rural Delivery Route No. I out of Sandusky.
William D. Taylor is a native of Perkins township, and his family has been identified with Erie County for about a century. He was born September 19, 1839, a son of Elory and Mary A. (Hunt) Taylor. Both parents were natives of Connecticut. Elory Taylor was brought to Erie County when seven years of age by his father, Jesse Taylor, and wife Julia Taylor, who were also natives of Connecticut. Jesse Taylor was one of the vigorous pioneers in Erie County, and made himself a home in the woods when the population was sprinkled about among a few set- tlements chiefly along the lake shore. Elory Taylor grew up amid pioneer surroundings, and was a nonagenarian when he died. In polities he was identified with the republican party.
William D. Taylor spent his early life on the farm, acquired an edu- cation in the common schools, and was beginning to perform his inde- pendent responsibilities as a man when the war broke ont. On August 23, 1862, he enlisted in Company B of the 101st Ohio Volunteer Infan- try, and was in active service for three years, beginning as a private and coming out of the war as a sergeant. Ile was in the forces commanded successively by Rosecrans, Thomas and Sherman, and fought in many battles, including among the more notable those at Perryville, Stone River, in the Atlanta campaign and siege, and was then sent back with the troops who pursued General IIood through Tennessee and partici- pated at Franklin and Nashville in the fall of 1864.
After his honorable discharge as a Union soldier Mr. Taylor returned home to Perkins township, and has lived in that community ever since. Ile owns a well kept farm of forty-eight acres, located at the Perkins Church. On August 23, 1863, Mr. Taylor married Sarah E. Rogers, who was born in New York state. Of their three children two are living. Alice A., lives at home with her parents in Perkins township; Gertrude
7
Haley
681
HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY
E., was formerly engaged in teaching and is now a resident of Cleveland, Ohio, her work as teacher having been done in Sandusky. The daughter Hattie P., is now deceased. Mr. Taylor is a republican in politics, having east his first vote for Abraham Lincoln in 1860 and has been as public spirited in home affairs as he was in his duty as a soldier during the war. Ile is a member and an elder in the Methodist Episcopal Church at Perkins.
FRANK A. HALEY. Nearly all his life Frank A. Haley has been a resident of Erie County. Ilis has been an active and prosperous career, whether as a farmer, business man or public official, and his name is known and esteemed not only in his home Village of Huron but over the county at large. He began life dependent upon his own resources, and had to swim against the current of circumstances for a good many years. He is now well established so far as business and material circumstances are concerned, has an honorable record in all his relations, and still takes a public-spirited share in the social and civic life of his community.
Mr. Haley comes of Swiss ancestry. His Grandfather Haley was born in Canton Basel, Switzerland, grew up there, married, and while living in the Swiss country the first child was born, George J., on December 14, 1815. When this boy was fourteen months of age the family left their native canton in 1817 and came across the ocean on one of the old- fashioned sailing vessels that then provided the only means of transpor- tation. After a voyage of six weeks they landed in New York, and by the slow and tedious means of that period gradually worked their way west as far as Fairfield County, Ohio. Thus the family became identified with this state almost a century ago. The grandfather located in the midst of the woods, cut out a place for his rude log cabin, which had no door, a blanket being hung over the opening. Several times wolves peeked their heads through this improvised door and frightened the children of the household, a terror that did not lapse as long as these animals kept up their howling in the woods near by. Time and hard labor brought about many changes. The land was gradually cleared and planted in corn and garden crops, and according to the standards of that time the family were in a fair way to prosperity. This original home was not far from North Baltimore, Ohio. Subsequently they removed to another section in the black swamp region in Hardin County, and in that locality the grandparents died, the grandfather when abont sixty and the grand- mother a number of years later. They were members of the Reformed Church, and the grandfather was a republican and a man of sterling citizenship and true worth. Among their children may be mentioned the following: George John, Jacob, Sebastian, Margaret and Elizabeth. all except the first born in Ohio, where they all grew up and had families of their own.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.