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 53
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Quartus Gillmore, father of him whose name initiates this article, was born at Lorain, this state, in 1837, and was a son of Quincy Gill- more, who was a sterling pioneer of the Buckeye State and who settled at Lorain when that place was a mere forest hamlet of straggling pioneer type and when the present City of Cleveland was represented by little more than a ferry across the Cuyahoga River. He became one of the pioneer farmers of Lorain County, where he reclaimed his land from the wilderness and where he and his wife passed the remainder of their lives. Quartus Gillmore was reared and educated in his native county and he became eventually a successful and representative contractor in the construction of cement and stone work, especially in the building of piers and docks for lake vessels. lle held and successfully completed the contract for the construction of the Government piers and cribs at Huron and also the slip for vessels that is owned and utilized by the Wheeling & Lake Erie Railroad, these contracts having been completed by him in the early '80s. He did also a large amount of important dredging work, and was known and honored as an upright and able business man and as a citizen of invincible integrity and loyalty. He was concerned with Government improvement work at various points along the shore of Lake Erie, and his activities in this line touched such important ports as Sandusky, Lorain, Fairport, Ashtabula and Con- neant. He became specially well known throughout Northern Ohio, and ever commanded the unqualified esteem of those with whom he came in contact in the varied relations of a long and successful carcer. He was a radical republican in his political proclivities, and his strong mind and strong body sustained him almost to the last, his death having occurred at his home, at Lorain, his native place, on the 9th of Septem- ber, 1897.
At Lorain was solemnized the marriage of Quartus Gillmore to Miss Mary J. Fitzgerald, who survives him and who celebrated her seventy- eightli birthday anniversary in 1915, and who is still a resident of her native City of Lorain, where her circle of friends is limited only by that of her acquaintances. She has been from her youth a devoted member of the Congregational Church, and her husband was a liberal supporter of the various religious organizations in his home city, though he was not formally identified with any of the same, his views having been lib- eral and tolerant. Of the four children the first-born is Quartus A., who is in charge of the dock of the American Steel & Wire Company in the. City of Cleveland, who is married and who has one son and four daugh- ters ; M. Isabel is the wife of John B. Burges, trainmaster for the Balti- more & Ohio Railroad at Garrett, Indiana, and they have two sons; T. Roy, of this review, was the next in order of birth; William Eugene, who was educated in the United States Military Academy, at West Point, in which institution he was graduated, was assigned to detail duty in the construction of the rifle ranges for the Wisconsin National Guard, at Sparta, and thereafter became professor of military science and tactics at Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, a position in which he con- tinned his services until he was called upon to join his regiment in the Philippine Islands, where he is now stationed and where he was pro- moted in March, 1915, to the office of captain.
MRS. HI. J. MERTHE
A. J. Merthe
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T. Roy Gillmore is a republican in his political allegianee, and in a fraternal way is affiliated with the Royal Arcanum and the Benevolent & Protective Order of Elks.
At Lakewood, a suburb of Cleveland, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Gillmore to Miss Lillian D. Day, who is a daughter of Captain Edward Day, her father having been for more than twenty years in charge of docks in the City of Cleveland, where he is still the owner of a valuable dock property, and having been for a number of years sim- ilarly engaged at Conneaut. Captain Day now resides in the home of his daughter, Mrs. Gillmore, and though he has attained to the venerable age of eighty-four years, in 1915, he retains remarkable control of his physical and mental powers, keeps in touch with the events of the hour and is able to give most interesting reminiseences concerning the varied phases of his long and useful career, during the earlier stages of which he was a sailor on the Great Lakes, a service in which he rose to the command of a vessel and thus gained his title of captain. Mr. and Mrs. Gillmore have one daughter, Ruth, who was born in the year 1901 and who is now a student in the Huron High School.
HENRY J. MERTHIE, of Huron Township, is one of the industrious and reliable farmers of Erie County, elassed with the modern agrieulturists who are acknowledged to be as broad and scientifie in their methods and as fruitful in valuable results to the community as the workers in any other branch of modern industry. Through his well-directed efforts he has aceumulated a farm of 108 aeres, located on Lake Avenue, the pos- session of which stamps him as one of the substantial men of Huron Township.
Mr. Merthe is a native son of Ohio, born January 30, 1856, at Amherst, Lorain County, his parents being Henry and Elza (Heusner) Merthe, the former born in Northern Hesse, Germany, April 10. 1830, and the latter in Southern Hesse, Germany, February 4, 1838. Henry Merthe was educated in his native land and was a youth of nineteen years when he started for America. Going to Hamburg, he boarded an old sailing vessel, which was shipwrecked on the journey, and before the voyage was completed the passengers suffered greatly from hunger and thirst, the ship's provisions having given out. Finally, after twenty-two weeks, the vessel made port at New York City, from whenee Mr. Merthe at onee made his way to Lorain County, Ohio, began life as a farmer, and there met and married Elza Heusner, who had come to the United States in 1844 with her father, Jacob Heusner. Jacob Ileusner was a school and musie teacher, and a member of a family of eight generations of musicians, but on coming to Lorain County, Ohio, turned his attention to agricultural pursuits, purchasing a tract of wild, heavily timbered land in Brownhehn Township. There he ent and burned the heaviest growth of walnut, eleared up his farm and made a good home, and died at Elyria, Ohio, in 1880, at the age of eighty years. Ile was also a composer of music and in Germany had been a preacher in the Reformed Church, of which he was always a member. as was also his wife, who died when forty-five years of age.
After his marriage, Henry Merthe began life in Lorain County, where he assisted in the building of the Lake Shore Railroad and worked for several years on that line as a brakeman. Later he purchased and improved 300 acres of land in Amherst Township, that county, on which was located a large stone quarry, which he sold to great advantage. Ile was a thrifty, industrious farmer, a citizen who was highly respected in his community, and a leader in prayer meeting in the Evangelical Church, as well as deacon, steward and superintendent of the Sunday School for many years. A talented musician, he was particularly pro- ficient as a performer on the violin. In polities he was a republican.
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Mrs. Merthe was a member of the Lutheran Church, and in all the county there was to be found no more worthy or upright couple. They had a family of eleven children, of whom five sons and four daughters are still living, and all but one are married and have families.
Henry J. Merthe received his education in the public schools of Lorain County, and was brought up to agricultural pursuits which have occupied his attention throughout his life. When he came to Erie County, in 1879, he purchased 108 acres of land on Lake Avenue in Huron Township, and this property he has brought to a high state of cultivation, raising fifty bushels of wheat to the acre and 300 bushels of potatoes, of the latter of which he makes a specialty. For a number of years he has been an exhibitor at various fairs and exposi- tions, and has taken many prizes and premiums for his exhibits. In for- mer years he was a raiser of fine sheep for the market, as well as other stock, and is now actively engaged in buying and shipping of live stock to the eastern markets, and all of his ventures have been attended by suc- cess, which he attributes to the fact that he has always used modern and practical methods in his work. He now has excellent improvements on his farm, known as Pleasant View Farm, including a large and artistic residence of twelve rooms, comfortably and tastefully furnished, and equipped with all modern comforts and conveniences.
Mr. Merthe was married at Elyria, Ohio, to Miss Christena L. Eppley, who was born in 1865 at MeConnellsville, Morgan County, Ohio, on the Muskingum River, daughter of Michael and Rosa ( Harsch) Eppley, natives of Germany. Mr. Eppley was ten years of age and his wife five years old when they were brought to the United States by their parents on sailing vessels, the families settling in Morgan County, Ohio, where they were farming people and members of the Evangelical Church. After his marriage, Mr. Eppley was engaged as a carpenter and house builder until 1870, in which year he moved to Elyria, Ohio, and there engaged in farming. IIe erected a good house and bank barns on his large farm, and also specialized in raising fine horses, for which he secured as much as $1,500 a pair, and died well to do in 1894, when about seventy years of age, Mrs. Eppley having died some time before, when fifty years old. They were faithful members of the Evangelical Church all their lives, and in politics Mr. Eppley was a democrat.
To Mr. and Mrs. Merthe there have been born the following chil- dren : Arthur and Ruby, who died when about nine months old; Edward C., born in 1883, a talented musician, learned the trade of machinist and is now foreman of the machine department of the United States Corporation's plant at Lorain, Ohio, married Edith Brunk, of Lorain, and has two sons, Donald and Wendell; Nellie, who is the wife of Arthur Scully, of Toledo, Ohio; Elmora, a graduate of the Iluron High School, and now the wife of Ross Heilman, of Chicago Junetion, Ohio, and has a son, Hubert; and Lillian Pearl Walcott, living with her parents on the farm, and the mother of one daughter, Yvonne Eleanor Walcott.
Mr. and Mrs. Merthe and their children are members of the Evan- gelical Church. He is a republican in his political views, and while not a seeker for preferment of an official nature, takes an interest in the success of his party and as a citizen discharges his responsibilities in a public-spirited manner. His reputation in business eireles is of the highest character, and his numerous friends testify to his general popu- Jarity.
JOHN C. BRITTON. Since 1906 Mr. Britton has held the position of superintendent of the municipal light and water plant of the City of IIuron, this office having been assumed by him on the 20th of March of that year and under his efficient supervision the service having been
RESIDENCE OF HENRY J. MERTHE, PLEASANT VIEW FARM, LAKE AVENUE, HURON
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kept up to the highest standard, with marked popular appreciation on the part of the community. This department of public-utility service has been owned and controlled by the city since 1898, and the munici- pality having found also that economy has been conserved under its control, the while consumers also have profited largely through the change from private ownership, the cost of the electric-lighting system being much below the average, and the waterworks system having 274 taps in operation, with a constant increase in number from year to year, with the result that the city confidently expects to be able to give in the near future an appreciably cheaper water service than even the excep- tionally low rate at present in force. The effective service and economy of operation have been largely due to the technical knowledge and well formulated policies of the present superintendent, and the citizens in general have marked their gratitude for his effective labors and ad- mirable administration of the important utilities over which he is placed in charge. The fine new municipal light and water plant, on the shore of Lake Erie, was completed in 1909 and is modern in every particular. The water plant has a capacity for supplying half a million gallons each twenty-four hours, and the intake crib in Lake Erie is 1,300 feet distant from the shore line, all water being filtered at the plant by the most approved modern process, so that the supply is unexcelled in purity by that of any city in the state, as shown by careful scientific tests. The provisions for hire protection are admirable and the stand-pipe or water tower has a capacity of 100,000 gallons-a reserve adequate for a city of much greater population than Huron.
It is scarcely necessary to say that Mr. Britton is a practical engineer of careful scientific and technical training and excellent practical ex- perience. Prior to coming to Iluron he had been engaged in mechanical and engineering work for the National Tube Company, at Lorain, and previously he had been for three years in charge of the high heating and power plant of the Ely Realty Company, in the City of Lyria.
Mr. Britton was born at Spencer, Medina County, Ohio, on the 20th of June, 1881, and when he was a lad of thirteen years his parents re- moved to Iluron, so that he was reared to maturity in the fine little city that is now his home. IIere he continued his studies in the public schools until his graduation in the high school, when he was sixteen years old, he having been a member of the class of 1907. Thereafter he devoted himself assiduously to the study of mechanics and engineering, and in the furtherance of his technical knowledge he completed a thor- ough course in stationary engineering in the International Correspond- ence School at Scranton, Pennsylvania, the most celebrated institution of this kind in the world. Later he took a similar correspondence course in electrical engineering in the American Correspondence School of Chicago, Illinois, and that he has made good use of his acquirements needs no further voucher than his notable success and his official pre- ferment as superintendent of a modern electric and water plant.
Mr. Britton is a son of Erwin E. and Alice (Fenstermaker) Britton, the former of whom was born and reared in Medina County, this state, a scion of a family of Irish lineage, that was founded in that county fully a century ago, John C. Britton, father of Erwin E., having been born in Ireland and having died in Medina eounty when in the prime of life, his wife, whose maiden name was Phillips and who was of New England stock, having survived him by many years. He was an iron- moulder by trade but eventually turned his attention to agricultural pursuits and became the owner of an exeellent farm in Medina County. He was six feet and four inches in height and was noted for his physical prowess-a man of superb strength and vigor.
Erwin E. Britton was graduated in Baldwin College, at Berea, Ohio,
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and later was graduated in one of the leading medical institutions of this state. After his marriage he was engaged in the practice of his pro- fession at Spencer, Medina County, until his removal to Huron, Erie County, where he continued his successful practice for a number of years. Doctor Britton is now engaged in active practice at MeClure, Henry County, and celebrated in 1915 his sixty-fifth birthday anniver- sary, his wife being about two years his junior and both being zealous members of the Methodist Episcopal Church, in which he has served as a trustee for many years. The doctor is a republican in politics and is affiliated with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and the Mod- ern Woodmen of America, besides holding membership in the . Henry County Medical Society and the Ohio State Medical Society. Of the children the eldest is Wayland S., who is still a bachelor and who is a teacher of bookkeeping in a business college in the City of Columbus, Ohio: John C., of this sketch, was the second child; Mary, who was graduated as a trained nurse, was an attache of the maternity hospital in the City of Toledo and is now doing private work; and Robert, who served four years in the United States navy, the last two years having marked his incumbency of a petit office on the flagship of the fleet that made the voyage around the world, died July 5, 1915.
At Grafton, Lorain County, was solemnized the marriage of John C. Britton to Miss Lydia E. Jones, who was born and reared in that county and who is a daughter of Adelbert and Clara (Miller) Jones, her father having been engaged in the hardware and farm-implement business at Grafton at the time of his death and his widow being still a resident of that village. Mr. and Mrs. Britton have one son, Erwin Adelbert, who was born February 19, 1915. Mrs. Britton is a member of the Presby- terian Church, and her husband attends and supports the same, his political views being indicated by his alignment with the republican party, and he being affiliated with the Masonic fraternity and the Inde- pendent Order of Odd Fellows, in the former of which he is serving, in 1915, as senior warden of Marks Lodge, No. 359, Ancient Free & Accepted Masons, at Iluron.
HENRY P. SCHAFFER. Though he claims the old Keystone State as the place of his nativity, Mr. Schaffer has been a resident of Ohio from infancy and is a scion of old and honored pioneer families of this state. Sinee 1890 he has maintained his residence in the fine little City of Huron, Erie County, where, as a building contractor and as a manu- facturer, he has gained secure status as one of the representative busi- ness men of the county. He is senior member of the firm of Sehaffer Brothers, in which his able and valued coadjutor is his younger brother, Frederick J., and they have not only developed a large and substantial business as contractors and builders but are also engaged in the manu- facturing of boxes for use in the packing and shipping of fish, the latter enterprise having been founded by them in 1914 and having already be- come one of most successful order. The manufacturing plant is a build- ing 40 by 80 feet in dimensions, and in its varions operations power is furnished by electrie motors with an aggregate capacity of twenty-five horse power. The plant ineludes a modern planing mill equipped with a battery of five saws, and the average daily output of the factory is now 200 boxes. The thriving industry has been developed entirely through the energy, initiative and practical skill of the Sehaffer brothers, and they also control a representative business as contractors in the building of houses and other structures. both being excellent mechanics and Fred- erick J., who is also a practical architect, having the active supervision of the contracting business, the while Henry P. gives the major part of his time and attention to the manufacturing enterprise.
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HIenry P. Schaffer was born in the City of Meadville, Crawford County, Pennsylvania, on the 14th of March, 1869, and he was one year old when his parents, who had remained in that place only a short time, returned to their old home in Bronson Township, Huron County, Ohio, where he was reared to adult age and where he availed himself fully of the advantages of the excellent public schools. One year after his mar- riage he came with his young wife to Huron, where he engaged in mechanical work and where by industry and progressiveness he has risen to his present secure vantage-ground as a successful business man and influential and popular citizen.
Mr. Schaffer is a son of Peter and Margaret (Schoenacker) Schaffer, both of whom were born and reared in Huron County, the lineage of both, as the names indicate, being traced back to staunch German origin. With the exception of a brief period of residence in Pennsylvania, they always maintained their home in Huron County, where the death of the father occurred and where his widow still resides. Peter Schaffer be- came a skilled mechanic, and in addition to becoming a successful con- tractor and builder he also owned and operated a good farm in his native county. In the early days he found much requisition for his services in the making of coffins, the work having all been done by hand and with punctillions haste after the death of the person for whom the "long and narrow couch" was intended. As a contractor and manu- facturer he gave employment to a force of ten men all the year round, and this continued for several years. This sterling citizen died on his homestead farm, in his native township, in the year 1887, and he was one of the well known and highly esteemed citizens of Huron County, his political allegiance having been given to the democratic party and his religious faith having been that of the Catholic Church, of which his widow likewise has been a lifelong communicant.
The parents of Peter Schaffer were natives of Germany, where their marriage was solemnized, and after their immigration to America, the voyage having been made on a sailing vessel and having required sixty days, they became members of a pioneer company of colonists who came from Pennsylvania and settled in Huron County, Ohio. They made the overland journey with wagon and ox teams, in the early '30s, and settled on a tract of heavily timbered land in Bronson Township, Huron County, where they reclaimed a farm and endured the full tension of the strenu- ous pioneer life. The father died in the prime of his manhood and the mother attained to the remarkable age of ninety-nine years, both having been representatives of staunch old families of Alsace-Lorraine, the ter- ritory of which has been disputed by Germany and France and which is now the stage of a most bitter and sanguinary conflict. Mrs. Peter Schaffer, who has attained to the psahnist's span of three score years and ten, is one of the loved pioneer women of Huron County and retains her mental and physical faculties to a wonderful degree, as is indieated by the fact that she personally maintains a general supervision of the old homestead farm. Her parents were members of the same company of German colonists in Huron county. as were those of her husband, and both crossed the Atlantic on the same voyage of the same sailing ship. All of the family have held rigorously to the ancestral faith of the Catholic Church and in Huron County the representatives of each have been aligned with the democratic party. Peter and Margaret Schaffer became the parents of seven sons and three daughters, all of whom still survive the honored father and all of whom are married except Fred- erick J., junior member of the Iluron firm of Schaffer Brothers.
At Huron, on the 11th of June, 1899, was solemnized the marriage of Ilenry P. Schaffer to Miss Bertha Dale, who was born in a home on the lot adjacent to her present place of residence and the date of whose Vol. II-23
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nativity was June 22, 1876, she being the youngest in a family of one son and seven daughters, the other surviving children being: Elmer, who resides at Milan, this county, and who has two sons and two dangh- ters; and Mary, who is the wife of Peter Roberts, of Toledo. Mrs. Schaffer is a daughter of James and Anna (Murry) Dale, the former of whom was born in Erie County and the latter of whom was nine years of age when she came to this county from her native State of New York, in company with her widowed mother, Mrs. Anna Murry, her father, James Murry, having died shortly before her birth. Mr. and Mrs. Dale became residents of Iluron many years ago, and here Mr. Dale died, at his old homestead on Williams Street, July 8, 1905, at the age of seventy- nine years, his widow still remaining in the home endeared to her by the gracious memories of the past and having celebrated her eighty-fifth birthday anniversary in September, 1915. Mr. Dale was long identified with navigation interests on the Great Lakes, having served many years as first mate on lake boats. He was a Presbyterian in religion and his widow likewise is a zealous member of that church. Mr. Dale was one of the valiant soldiers of the Union during virtually the entire period of the Civil war, and after having been severely injured in connection with a wagon accident he was confined in a hospital until he received his hon- orable discharge, his injury having entirely incapacitated him for fur- ther military service and having caused him mueh suffering in later years. He was a popular member of the post of the Grand Army of the Republic in Huron and was a stalwart republican in his political pro- elivities. ITis father, Peter Dale, immigrated to America from England and became a pioneer of Erie County, where he married Miss Anna Brundage, the remainder of their lives having been passed in this county. Mr. and Mrs. Schaffer have no children. They are popular factors in the representative social activities of their home community and both are communicants of the Protestant Episcopal Church, as members of the historie old parish of Christ Church.
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