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 61
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the growing and shearing of this class of stock. He eame to the United States and settled in Huron County in 1852, and after a year of hard work had saved enough money to bring his little family across the ocean to join him. Ile was nine weeks in coming across the ocean on a sailing vessel to New York, and his family took about the same time. Ile found a home in Huron County and later located in Berlin Town- ship, subsequently in Milan Township, was the owner of a farm in IIurou Township, and subsequently bought a small place in Townsend Township of Huron County, where his wife died Jannary 9, 1864, at the age of forty-seven years, ten months, ten days. Ile died in the winter of 1875-76 at the home of his daughter Mrs. Eliza Bellamy in Huron County, and was then about sixty-five years of age. He and his wife were reared in the English Church and remained faithful to that training. In politics he was a republican and had served as a substitute soldier in the Civil war.
Of the seven children in the family, named as follows, William, Jane, Eliza, Sophia, James, Henry and Charles, the last named, Charles Coultrip, was the only one born in America. He grew up on a farm, obtained his education partly in Erie and partly in Huron County, and was nine years old when his mother died. Soon afterward he became self supporting and went through a long course of hard labor and much self denial before getting started. He finally invested his savings in a small farm of forty acres near the Village of Florence. This was in- creased to sixty acres, and after living upon it and introducing many im- provements he sold out and in 1893 bought his present place of ninety- five acres in Florence Township, two and a half miles south of the vil- lage of that name. Ile has a large roomy house, a fine red barn on a foundation 30x84 feet, surrounded by cribs, granaries, and all other facilities for farming. He raises generous crops of hay, corn, wheat, oats, and has a small orchard.
Mr. Coultrip was married in Erie County to Miss Ella M. Harris. She was born at Sherman, in Chautauqua County, New York, fifty- nine years ago, and her father, Addison Harris, also a native of that state, died from smallpox when his daughter, Mrs. Coultrip, was about six years of age. Her mother, whose maiden name was Adelia Skinner, also a native of New York State, subsequently married Samuel H. Bartholomew, and is now living a widow a second time in New York at the age of eighty-four. Mr. and Mrs. Coultrip are the parents of four children. Ruth is the wife of Erastus Wolverton, a farmer in Huron County, and their two children are Robert and Ellen. Ann was well educated at Oberlin and in the Northern Ohio College at Ada, and is now a stenographer in Cleveland. May was also well educated, and is employed in a store at Collins. Arthur graduated from the Collins ITigh School in 1913, and is now a valuable assistaut to his father in the management of the home farm. Mrs. Coultrip and her children are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and she is an active church worker. Mr. Coultrip is a republican, and has been honored with a posi- tion on the school board, and is always publie spirited in supporting movements for the community betterment.
RICHARD H. PRYOR. A resident of Erie County more than thirty years, and now one of the vigorous and prospering farmers of Florence Township, Richard II. Pryor came to this state from Canada, but is a native of okl Devon, that district of Southwestern England which has heen as notable for its sturdy men and women as for its dairies, mines and other industries.
Born in Devonshire, England. May 6, 1853, Richard II. Pryor was of a family that had been identified with that quarter of England for
Richard H. Virfor
Jennie th. Pryon
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generations. IHis Grandfather Pryor was twice married and died in his native shire in 1863, having been born in 1800. He occupied a posi- tion known as captain of mines, in the eopper-mining district of Devon. John Pryor, father of Richard II., was born in the same locality, grew up to the life of a copper miner, and after his father's death succeeded him as a captain of mines. He held that place a number of years, until a dispute arose in the mines with respect to his interests, and he left his position and entered into a long course of litigation which was carried through the courts for a great many years. The family still has a claim due for his share in the business. John Pryor, after leaving the mines, spent several years as a clothing merchant, and died in 1867, when at the age of forty-one. He married Ann Luxton Hawkins, who was born in the same shire and died in March, 1857, at the age of thirty. Ifer father, William Hawkins, deserves more than casual mention. He was by trade a wagonmaker and general mechanic. However, he was far in advance of the average proficiency in that trade, and is said to have made the first wagon with spokes in the wheels ever seen in that part of England. That wagon was made about 100 years ago. Ile also turned out from his shop the first plow that had an iron or steel point, and so far as known he was the first to make a plow of that kind in that part of England. Naturally these accomplishments brought him more than local fame. He died when a very old man, well np towards eighty years of age. In the earlier generations both the Pryor and Hawkins families were Church of England people, but the parents of Richard II. were members of the Methodist Church.
Having grown up in Devon and gained his education in such schools as that shire provided, Richard H. Pryor left his native land in 1872, and after a voyage across the ocean, landed in Quebec, Canada. From there he went on to Toronto and later to Paris, in the same province, and for nine years was employed by a Mr. Christon, who was one of the senators from Ontario. For four years he was also clerk in a mercantile establishment at Toronto, and then came to Ohio and for a time was employed as a clerk in the Wardwell Dollar Store at Cleve- Iand. In 1883 he came into Erie County, and in 1885 bought fifty-two acres of land near the north line of Florence Township. That has since been the scene of his efforts and success as an agriculturist, and he has nothing to complain of in the prosperity which has rewarded his per- sistent endeavors. While a general farmer, he also has a good orchard of two aeres, and keeps some good stock.
Mr. Pryor was married on the farm where he now lives and which he owns, to Miss Charlotte Ameriea Curtiss, who was born in Florence Township, and died at her home in 1908 when past sixty years of age. Mr. Pryor married for his second wife Jennie M. Westcott, who was born in Beaverton, Ontario, was reared and educated there, and came to Erie County only a short time before her marriage. Mr. Pryor is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and both his wives have belonged to the same denomination. In national polities he is a demo- crat, but holds a somewhat independent attitude toward local matters.
DANIEL CHANDLER, JR. The Chandler family saw its establish- ment in Ohio as early as 1816, so that full a hundred years of their labors have contributed to the development of the commonwealth. The first of the name to locate in Florence Township, Erie County, was Daniel Chandler, Sr., father of the subject. He was a carpenter by trade, and had his training in Orange County, New York, the eastern home of the family, but after a few years he turned his attention to farming, and from then until now the Chandler men have been farm- ers in Florence Township.
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There is not much definite data concerning the family prior to its ar- rival in Ohio, though it is known that the Chandlers had lived in Orange County, New York, since Colonial days, and perhaps prior to that time, and that they were farmers, thrifty and industrious. Daniel Chandler, Sr., was born there on October 16, 1791, and in boyhood learned the carpenter's trade. In 1816, while he was still single, he came to Ohio, settling promptly in Erie County and Florence Township. Here he worked at his trade and it is of record that he built the first frame house erected in the township. Land was to be had at a nominal figure then, and Mr. Chandler did not miss his opportunity to get some of it at bottom figures. It was wild land, and to realize on it ealled for the ontlay of a tremendous amount of hard work. Mr. Chandler decided that he was equal to that, and he was willing to make some sacrifices. He built him a small cabin home and applied himself to the Herculean task of carving a farm out of the wilderness. It is needless to add that he was successful. His 200-acre farm in Florence Township came to be known among the garden spots of the community, and in addi- tion to that he owned a 100-acre place in Wakeman Township, Huron County, to which he gave a considerable attention. Some time before the Civil war broke ont Mr. Chandler built a fine frame house on his home place. It was situated on the state road, one mile west of Birming- ham, and here Mr. Chandler reared his family. He died on October 21, 1861, when he was seventy-eight years old.
Mr. Chandler was a whig and a republican. and for some years served his township in the office of justice of the peace. Ile was a mem- ber of the Baptist Church, and long served on its board of deacons. Two years after he settled in Florence Township, October 16, 1818, Mr. Chandler was married in Vermilion Township to Miss Sallie Summers. She was born in New York State in October, 1793, and in 1818 accom- panied her parents to Erie County, settling with them in Vermilion Township. She was the daughter of Mark and Diana ( Botsford) Sum- mers, who passed the remaining years of their lives in their new home. They were farming people, sturdy characters both, and highly esteemed of all who shared in their acquaintance. Sally Chandler, as she was called, survived her husband a good many years and died at the old home on December 28, 1891. She and her husband were the parents of ten children, seven daughters and three sons, all of whom grew to years of maturity, married and had children of their own, with the excep- tion of one danghter, Lanra. Of that goodly family of ten there are living today Daniel, whose name heads this review, and Mary, who is the widow of Stark Adams and lives in Kansas.
Daniel Chandler, Jr., was born on the old homestead of his parents on November 5, 1830. ITe was reared and educated in the home com- munity, and barring a few years spent in Wakeman Township, Huron Connty, the place of his birth has been his lifelong home. He earried on the management of the farm up to the year 1903, when he sold a part of it and retired from actual farming operations, though his son still carries on general farming on the remaining portion of the old place. Mr. Chandler was high successful in his agricultural activities, as his father before him had been, and what the senior gentleman did not ac- complish in his life time in the way of improvements on the place. his son did.
Mr. Chandler married Sarah Emma Belknap, born in Erie County on August 13, 1834, and the daughter of Samuel and Mary (Dunham) Belknap. Mrs. Belknap died in Loraine County in 1871 when she was in the best years of her life, and the father later made his home with their daughter, Mrs. Chandler. He died there when he was in the eighty-ninth year of his age. He and his wife were lifelong members of
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the Methodist Episcopal Church, and were people of excellent character, owning many warm friends through all their days.
Mrs. Chandler passed away at the family home on November 8, 1913, mourned by her family and a wide circle of staunch friends who loved her for her kindly nature and her many admirable traits of character. She had been reared in the faith of her parents, who were Methodists, as has been said, but in later life she turned to Spiritualism.
Three children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Chandler. Albert, the first born, died in 1891. 1Ie married Cora Washburn, who survives him, as does also their son, Warren, who married and is the father of a son, Albert, and Della, the wife of Frank O. King. The third child of the Daniel Chandlers is Frank Forest Chandler, who was born on the home place on May 11, 1867, and was there reared and educated under the tutelage of Job Fish, well known educator in Erie County. Frank Chandler gave his attention to farming, and took over seventy acres of the home place at the time when his father sold the major part of his holdings and retired from active labors. This acreage has been sufficient for Mr. Chandler's needs, and he keeps the place in a highly productive state so that the average yield of his place is well above what is held to be a good erop. Thrifty management has marked the farming activities of each generation of Erie County Chandlers, and the closest inspection will not reveal slip-shod methods in any department.
Frank Forest Chandler married first in Townsend Township, Huron County, Miss E. May Parsons, born there April 12, 1872, and the dangh- ter of Charles K. and Elmina (Arnet) Parsons. They were lifelong farmers of Huron County and died there, the mother in middle life and the father when he was almost ninety. Mrs. Chandler, their daughter, was educated at Oberlin, Ohio. She died on March 12, 1913, the mother of five children, of whom brief mention is made as follows: Charles, born January 19, 1900, is a student in the local high school, class of 1917. Gordon F., born January 25, 1902, is in school, as is also Beulah May, born March 8, 1904, and Sarah E., born March 24, 1907. The fifth and youngest child, Bernice, born August 18, 1912, has since the death of the mother been adopted by a relative. Mr. Chandler married for his second wife, September 9, 1915, Rose M. Ackerman, of Green- wich, Ohio.
Frank Forest Chandler is a democrat and has been town clerk for two terms. His father, the subject of this review. became a democrat in later life, and has in years past held many offices of trust in his community. Like his wife. he is a Spiritualist, and is a member of the Masonie fraternity.
The men of the Chandler family have stood for worthy citizenship through all the years in which they have been identified with the for- tunes of Erie County, and the name is unblemished and highly honored.
FREDERICK A. ELDREDGE, M. D. Now retired from the active cares and responsibilities of a medical profession, which he followed for many years and to which he brought high talents, Doctor Eldredge has lived at Berlin Heights more than thirty-five years. He represents one of the oldest families in New England, and in the profession of medicine fol- lowed in the footsteps of both his father and grandfather. Doctor Eldredge was an army surgeon in the Union army during the Civil war.
He was born in Pembroke, New Hampshire, September 28, 1837. llis first American ancestor was William Eldredge, who came from England with a brother in 1635. In the Massachusetts colony he was bound out as an apprentice for seven years, and subsequently became a prominent land owner at Chatham, and so far as the records go it is probable that
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he died there. His descendants many of them located and lived on Cape Cod, and also spread over into the State of Connecticut. The doctor's grandfather, Dr. Michael Eldredge, was born in Connecticut in 1765. He spent three years as a student of medicine under his unele Hezekiah Eldredge at Newton, Massachusetts, and received a license to praetiee in 1797. Many years later he obtained his diploma from a regular medieal school in 1824. He was in practice for many years at Prineeton, Mas- sachusetts, where he married Sallie Butrick. She was a niece of Maj. John Butriek, who in the annals of the Revolutionary war is distin- guished as having opened the fight against the British Regulars in the Battle of Concord. Dr. Michael Eldredge subsequently removed to Nashua, New Hampshire, and practieed there until his death at the age of seventy-three in 1848. His widow died in 1866 in Lowell, Massa- chusetts. In religion they were members of the Congregational Church.
Dr. Hezekiah Eldredge, father of Dr. Frederick A., was the oldest of thirteen children, and was born in Princeton, Massachusetts, in 1798. He studied medicine under the direction of his father, and subsequently took a course of lectures at Pittsfield and graduated M. D. in 1824 from Brown University. That was the same year that his father secured his medical diploma at Boston. Dr. Hezekiah Eldredge began the practice of medicine at Dunstable, Massachusetts, and in that city met and mar- ried Sarah, Bennett, a granddaughter of Capt. John Bennett, who served with distinction in the Revolutionary war. After the birth of two sons. Doetor Eldredge moved to Pembroke, New Hampshire. and in 1840 took his family to Amesbury, Massachusetts. In 1847 he moved to Milford, New Hampshire, and praetieed there until his death in 1870. Ilis first wife died at Amesbury, Massachusetts, in 1846. She was born in 1800. At Amesbury he also married his second wife, Louisa Cushing Eastman, who survived him and died at Amherst in 1895, without sur- viving children. Dr. Frederick A. Eldredge was one of three sons. One brother, Lucius, died in 1871 unmarried at Milford, New Hampshire, and the younger brother, Erastus Darwin, died in 1866 at Toledo, where lie was a merehant, and still unmarried.
Dr. Frederick A. Eldredge grew up with such associations and ten- dencies toward the medieal profession that he made it the calling of his choice before he reached his majority. He studied under the direc- tion of his father, and had not yet qualified for practice when, in Sep- tember, 1863. he enlisted in the Fifth Regiment of Infantry of the New Hampshire troops as a private. A few weeks later he was made assistant hospital steward and subsequently was commissioned hospital surgeon of the First New Hampshire Cavalry. His commission is dated in July, 1864. He served in that capacity until finally mustered out in July. 1865.
Doetor Eldredge remained in New Hampshire until the spring of 1866, and then moved to Toledo where he took over the management of the fish business which had been conducted by his brother. He eontin- ued to be occupied with this work until 1878, and then moved to Berlin Heights in Erie County. Here he established and built up a very large practice as a physician and has an enviable reputation in his profession which still belongs to him, although several years ago he retired from active practice. lle is still an active member of the Cleveland Medieal Society.
Doctor Eldredge eomes of a family that in politics has been iden- tified since the establishment of the government with the old federal principles and subsequently with those held and maintained by the whigs and the republicans. He served one term as mayor of his village, and for more than a quarter of a century was commander of the George M.
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Fowler Post of the Grand Army of the Republic, and is still a member of that organization.
Doctor Eldredge was married in Toledo, Ohio, to Miss Regina Crow- ell, who was born in Chatham, Massachusetts, February 17, 1846. Her family were Cape Cod people dating back to colonial times. She came to Toledo in 1864, and died at Berlin Heights, April, 1912. Doctor Eldredge and bis wife attended the Congregational Church at Berlin Heights.
CHARLES F. KUHL. The farming men of Erie County have played an important part in the fortunes of that section, and among them may be mentioned Charles F. Kuhl of Florence Township, who operates one of the most productive farms in his community. Diversified farm- ing is his plan, and his 100-acre tract ranks among the profitable farms in the township. Though he acquired this place as late as 1910, Mr. Kuhl is no stranger to agriculture, for he has been a successful farmer all his life.
Charles F. Kuhl was born in Vermilion Township, Erie County, on March 30. 1880. Hle is a son of John C. and Katherine Ferber, nee Coolen Kuhl. The father was born in Lorain County, this state, in 1849, and died in Erie County on January 11, 1905. He spent his life in agricultural activities in Lorain and Erie counties, and was one of the most highly esteemed men of his community. He was a son of Ger- man parents, who in young life had settled in Lorain County, later making their home in Erie County, Vermilion Township, where they spent the last years of their life. They were farming people, and their son and grandson followed in their vocation. They were lifelong mem- bers of the German Reformed Church, and were esteemed of all who knew them.
Katherine (Coolen) Kulil, mother of the subject, was a daughter of German parents, and she was reared in Vermilion Township. She died in Berlin Township in 1891, when she was forty-two years of age. With her husband, she was a member of the German Reformed Church, and was a woman of splendid character. One daughter, Emma, of her first marriage, is married to Charles Ruggles, of Ver- milion Township. As the wife of John Kuhl she became the mother of four sons and two daughters. The eldest is John, a farmer in Ver- milion Township. Charles F. of this review was the next born. Sophia, unmarried, lives in California. Peter, who married Lydia Davidson, and has one daughter, Thelma, lives in Huron Township. Lonis, mar- ried Sophia Kreig, is a farmer in Berlin Township, and has a son, Elmer, and daughter, Mildred. Augusta, the wife of Leon Oeling, of Oberlin, Ohio, became the mother of two children, both of whom died in infancy.
Charles F. Kuhl was married on February 14, 1905, to Miss Caroline A. Battz. She was born and reared in Florence Township, the date of her birth being June 7, 1887, and she is the daughter of Nicholas and Catherine ( Fraley ) Baatz, both of German birth, who came to this country in early life and were married in Berlin Township. They spent many years on a farm in Florence Township, were pros- perons and stood well in their community. The father died at the age of seventy-three and the mother at sixty-nine. They were members of the German Reformed Church. and Nicholas Baatz was prominent in the public affairs of the township in which he lived, holding varions local offices and acquitting himself with credit at all times. They were the parents of six daughters and four sons, all of them married and liv- ing today.
Charles and Caroline Kuhl have one living child, Gladys C., born
.
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March 31, 1911. They have membership in a Birmingham church, are held in high esteem in their community, and have many warm friends thereabouts. Mr. Kuhl, who is a republican in politics, is active in the political life of the township.
JESSE R. BATH. Among the agricultural class of Groton Township there is no man who has more honestly earned his success than Jesse R. Bath. In his youth he was in very modest financial circumstances, had to overcome hardships in order to get a start, but for many years has steadfastly directed his energies along a certain line, observing mean- while the virtues of honesty and industry, and is now recognized, as one of the most successful farmers and dairymen of his home township, and in that locality has enjoyed such confidence and popularity as to gain official honors.
It was in 1872 that he came to the farm where he now resides in Gro- ton Township, and beginning as a renter has since acquired land in his own right from time to time, and has made a commendable degree of prosperity. Mr. Bath is a native of England, born in Somersetshire October 14, 1854, a son of George and Matilda (Maggs) Bath. When he was about four years of age his parents left England, came to the United States and lived in Huron County, Ohio, until 1864, when they moved into Erie County and were among the first of a number of English families to settle in Groton Township. George Bath was also a farmer, and he and his wife spent their last years in Groton Township.
Jesse R. Bath grew up in Huron and Erie counties, received his early education in the public schools of Groton Township and likewise attended a private normal school at Berlin Heights. As a result of his long con- tinued operations as a farmer he now owns a fine place of 197 aeres, devoted to general agriculture. For a number of years he has been a dairyman, keeps a herd of high grade Durham cattle, and sells large quantities of fine cream to the creamery at Bellevue.
For his first wife Mr. Bath married Miss Idola Langwell of Marga- retta Township, now deceased. His present wife before her marriage was Jennie L. Hlastings of Groton Township. They have two children, Mar- jorie L. and Jesse Robert.
In a public capacity Mr. Bath served twelve years as a member of the board of education of Groton Township, and during a portion of that time was president of the board. He has always been interested in good schools, good roads, and in every improvement for his home community. In politics he is a republican. All his practical career has been spent in farming and among other advantages gained by years of residence in Erie County he has acquired the confidence and good will of a large eom- munity.
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