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 63
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For several years Mr. Potter has been loeal agent for the Amer- iean Agricultural Chemical Company of Cincinnati, and he has made a feature of one of their produets, known as Bowker's Fertilizer. He has amply demonstrated the need for commercial fertilizer in his own farming and through his introduction of it in the township and county has inereased the standard of productiveness in a goodly measure. Mr. Potter is now serving his second term as a trustee of Groton Town- ship, and he has served the town as superintendent of roads, as well. He is a Republican on the larger issues, but in loeal polities does not permit party lines to influenee his actions. Ilis fraternal affiliations are with the Masons and the Odd Fellows, and he and his family are members of the Congregational Church.
Thomas B. Potter was married on October 4, 1877, to Maria Hale, horn in York Township. Sandusky County, Ohio, and a daughter of William and Sarah Hale, natives of England who settled in Sandusky County early in the thirties. Four children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Potter. Worthy W. is a farmer of Groton Township, and he has one son, Thomas Eklon Potter. Eva M., unmarried, lives at home, as does Mabel A., while Gertrude C., the second child, is deceased. Worthy W. and Mabel A. are graduates of high school, of Bellevue, Ohio.
The Potter family is held in the highest esteem in the township where they have lived for the last forty years. They are representa- tive of the best element of loeal citizenship, and enjoy the confidence and good will of their fellow-townspeople in the highest measure.
CHARLES P. SEBOLT. The Sebolt home and farm is in the Village of Florence and in the township of that name, where Mr. Seholt is a prosperous farmer and stock man, and by reason of his long service as a trustee of the township is one of the best known eitizens in that part of Erie County.
He is living now in the same community where he was born on Jan- uary 28, 1866, and has never been long absent from the scenes in which
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he was born and reared. Ilis parents were Anthony and Mary ( Ritzen- thaler) Sebolt, both natives of Baden, Germany, and of the Catholic faith. The father was born in 1831 and the mother in 1835. Anthony Sebolt came to America in 1850, accompanying his father and other members of the family, and was six weeks on the ocean between Bremen and New York. He came on to Milan Township in Erie County, and the family lived there for a number of years, and while there he mar- ried Miss Ritzenthaler who had also come with other members of her family from Germany. Anthony Sebolt learned and followed the trade of shoemaker, while his father before him was a blacksmith, but in later years became well known as a herb doctor, and died at the home of his daughter in Cleveland when an old man. Anthony Sebolt toward the end of the decade of the '50s, after the birth of two children, moved from Milan to Florence Township, and set up in business at the thriv- ing little Village of Florence, which then contained but a few inhabit- ants and was a much more important center of population and trade than it is now. There he opened a custom boot and shoe making shop and repair shop and conducted it successfully for some years. Later for about thirty years he was engaged in the wine and liquor business, and died in 1909 at the age of seventy-six. Ile was noted for his remarkable vigor, and kept up his energetic career almost to the last day of his life. Anthony Sebolt was a democrat and took much part in local affairs. ITis wife died in June, 1914, at the age of eighty-two. Both remained faithful to the religion in which they had been reared. Their family consisted of six sons and four daughters, and all are living except two daughters and all married except two sons, and those mar- ried have children with the exception of one of the daughters.
Charles P. Sebolt grew up at Florence, attended the district schools there, and after reaching his majority bought a small tract of land a little south and east of the village, but subsequently sold that and pur- chased the sixty-two aeres in and adjoining the village, which place he has owned and occupied for the past twenty-four years. Under his direction it has become a highly valuable and improved farm. His home is a large ten-room modern house, painted yellow with white trim- mings, and set in a lawn shaded by beautiful trees. As part of his farm equipment he has two barns, one 30x50 feet and the other 30x40 feet. Ile is also a fruit grower, has some fifteen hundred peach trees and six acres of apple trees besides other fruits, all of choice varieties, and he exercises a great deal of care in looking after his fruit crop. ITis chief industry, however, is general crops and stock. He keeps first class grades of horses, cattle and hogs, and operates a small dairy.
Mr. Sebolt was married in Berlin Heights to Miss Mary Appeman, who was born at Amherst in Lorain County. May 3, 1865. and while growing up there received a careful training in the public schools. Her parents were John and Catherine (Smith) Appeman, both natives of Germany, came to the United States before the war, and lived in Lorain County, beginning their married lives there as farmers. John Appe- man died at the age of seventy-two, and his wife had also reached that age when she passed away, their deaths occurring about two years apart. They were members of the Protestant denomination, and were pros- perons and highly respected people.
Mr. and Mrs. Sebolt have one daughter, Pearl E., who was born April 7, 1892, and after finishing her education married JJames F. ITillock, who is an electrical engineer, having graduated from Armour Institute in Chicago. In 1907 in a beauty contest Mrs. Hilloek won a prize and honor, she being declared the most beautiful woman in the State of Ohio.
Mrs. Sebolt is a member of the Congregational Church. Mr. Sebolt
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is a democrat and for nineteen consecutive years enjoyed the confidence of his fellow citizens who regularly elected him township trustee. For several years he served as chairman of the board of trustees.
DAVID B. NIMs. Seventy-five years ago David B. Nims, one of the well known and respected citizens of Groton Township, Erie County, was born on the farm he now owns and occupies. His natal day was November 18, 1840, and he is a son of Worthington and Betsy (Barn- ard) Nims, both born in old Massachusetts.
Worthington Nims came to Ohio from Massachusetts, settling in Erie County in the early twenties of the last century, and he was among the very earliest of the pioneers to this section of the state. He took up land, toiled early and late to make a productive spot of it, and sue- ceeded admirably. Even in his lifetime it gave promise of being a fruitful place, and in more recent years it has been developed to the fullest extent. This pioneer citizen spent his life on that farm, and died there in 1895. lle was well known and deeply respected through- out the county, and his death was accounted a great loss in his com- munity.
His son, David B. Nims of this review, succeeded to ownership of the place on which he was born, and here he has continued to live. The breeding of blooded horses has been a part of his business, and he has enjoyed a generous measure of success in whatever enterprise he has undertaken. He followed his public school training with a course of study in the preparatory department of Oberlin College, and he was married on November 25, 1863, to Sabra Stebbins, who was born in Lynne Township, Huron County. She was a daughter of Alfred and Elida (Fanning) Stebbins, natives of Conway, Massachusetts, and New York state, respectively. Alfred Stebbins, when he first came to Ohio, located near New London and later on came to Lynne Township, in Huron County, settling near Bellevue in an early day. He was born in 1810 and was still very young when he settled in this part of the state.
To Mr. and Mrs. Nims one son was born,-Alfred S., now deceased, He married Jessie G. Wills, who makes her home with her husband's parents.
The Nims family are members of the Ridge Congregational Church, and are socially prominent in their community, where they have a wide cirele of good friends. Mr. Nims has been a leader in the community, and has been the staunch friend of education all his life. He is con- sidered one of the expert horse men of the county, and is well known for his success as a breeder and trainer. He owns land in Erie and Huron townships, aside from the old farm home on which he lives, and is among the prosperous men of Groton Township. He has the con- fidence and good will of all who know him, and his place in the township is most secure.
MARK E. CLARY. A family that maintains its position steadily for one generation after another in one locality possesses unusual elements of strength and character. While there are a number of families who have made their homes in Erie County for almost a century, probably none of those now living have retained more of the sturdy qualities which enabled their ancestors to make homes in the wilderness than the members of the Clary family. As a family the Clarys have always been exponents of the simple and wholesome principles and ideals of life, have devoted themselves with few exceptions to farming as a vocation, and for fully a century their influence and activities have gone towards making a better community.
The founder of the family in Northern Ohio was Elihu Clary, who
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was of Irish aneestry, but was born at Montague, Massachusetts, July 18, 1791. lle grew up in his native state, and was married October 14, 1814, to Miss Parley Brooks, who was born October 20, 1792, of an old New England family. Not long after their marriage they deter- mined to find a home in the new country west of the Allegheny Moun- tains. They employed the most primitive means of transportation, since there was neither canals nor railroads at the time, and having with great labor and hardship penetrated the wilderness finally located in the woods along the Vermilion River. The land upon which they settled is now in part owned by their descendant, Mark E. Clary, named above, and for four successive generations and a period of close upon a century one family name has been identified with this particular loeal- ity. Elihu Clary and wife possessed all the qualifications to enable them to live and make a home in the wilderness. They improved their land, but finally removed to Huron County, where Elihu died June 11, 1824, and his wife passed away June 18, 1830. In polities he was a whig.
In the next generation the descent continued through George W. Clary, who was born in the wilds of Florence Township October 28, 1818, reached manhood in time to participate in the still heavy task that confronted the settlers in this locality, and spent his active career as a farmer. He married Eliza Chandler, the ceremony that made them man and wife being performed in Florence Township September 13, 1844. She was born in that township January 23, 1821, and was a sister of Daniel Chandler, a pioneer name to which special attention is given on other pages of this work. After his marriage George W. Clary started housekeeping on the very spot now occupied by the home of his grandson, Mark E. He lived a long and useful career, passing away January 15, 1899. His wife survived until January 3, 1906. George W. Clary as a farmer and business man stood with hardly an equal in his time and generation in Erie County. The results of his energy and enterprise were represented by the accumulation of nearly 400 aeres of fine farming land, divided into three farms, and improved up to the standards of his time. He and his wife were also factors in supporting all the institutions and movements that are most required in a new country, and the impress of their influence can still be seen. He was a whig and later a republican, and his activity in local affairs led to his service for three years as a county commissioner, and he also held all the local township offices. George W. Clary and wife have two sons. George C., who was born May 7, 1848, married Ella A. King. He died April 15, 1879, and his widow later married Newton Andress, under which name more particular reference to this branch of the family will be found on other pages.
Fred Martin, the older son of George W. Clary, was born at the old homestead in Florence Township August 5, 1845. That was the seene of his early rearing. but after his marriage he moved out to Greenwood in the State of Missouri for several years. While there his first child, Frank M., was born June 7, 1871. This son is now married and operates an extensive fruit and sugar cane plantation on the Island of Cuba, his children being Irma, Frederick, Esther and Frank. About 1872 the little family returned to Florence Township, locating on a farm near Birmingham, where Fred M. Clary spent the rest of his aetive career. Ile died January 9, 1887, when still in the prime of his years. He was known as a successful farmer, a citizen of good repute, and in politics was a republican. Fred M. Clary was married in Florence Township to Anna E. Morse. She was born July 11, 1846, on the farm which she still owns and occupies. After the death of Mr. Clary she married II. JJ. Thompson, and her home is now known as the Morse estate.
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The younger of the two sous of Fred M. Clary and wife is Mark E. Clary, who was born in Florence Township near the Vermilion River April 8, 1875. All his active career has been spent in the vicinity of his birthplace, and as a boy he learned the lessons of honest toil at the home farm and gained his education in the local schools. Mr. Clary inherited from his grandfather, George W. Clary, 101 acres of the old homestead already deseribed and has occupied it as his home and farm since 1899. This is a splendid property both in intrinsie value and im- provements. Many years ago his grandfather built the large basement barn on a foundation 35x90 feet, attached to which is a large wagon and tool shed, 40x24 feet, and also a carriage house. Mr. Clary is a young and progressive agriculturist and used almost every aere of his farm for the production of the staple crops. He and his family occupy one of the best homes in the country district of Florence Township, a large fourteen-room house and in good repair.
Mr. Clary's first wife was Orpha Butcher. She was born in York, Pennsylvania, May 27, 1880, but was reared and educated in Florence Township. She died March 27, 1903. The two children who survive her are: George W., HI, born October 12, 1900, and now attending the eighth grade of the public schools; and Elizabeth Orpha, who was born March 20, 1903, a few days before the death of her mother. On June 6, 1905, Mr. Clary married the sister of his first wife, Edith Butcher. She was born in York, Pennsylvania, June 2, 1883, but has lived in Erie County since 1893. At that date her parents, Henry W. and Mary E. (Dellinger) Butcher came to Erie County. Her father was born in Pennsylvania February 4, 1853, and her mother in the same state September 16, 1853, and both were of Pennsylvania Dutch stock. They were married near York, Pennsylvania, where both their daughters were born, and they now live in Elyria, Ohio, where her father is a miller. The other children in the Buteher family are: Harry L., who is a farmer and market gardener at North Ridgeville in Lorain County, and has a daughter, Elma II. : and Elmer E. Butcher, who has gained no little distinction as an expert in wireless electricity, having studied under the famons Marconi, and during the absence of Mr. Marconi to serve in the European war young Butcher has had the active management of the Marconi office in New York City, and has also supervised the equipment of many of the Government and other ocean steamships with wireless apparatus.
Mr. and Mrs. Clary have four children: Mark E., Jr., born March 9, 1906: Elmer E., born July 10, 1908: Clifford II., born August 28, 1910; and Gertrude N., born August 27, 1912. The family attend the Methodist Episcopal Church at Birmingham, and in politics Mr. Clary is a republican.
TIENRY C. ILALLADAY. A lifelong resident of Ohio, and contribut- ing his share of the work of the world through the medium of agricul- ture and stock raising, Henry C. Halladay died June 10, 1899, at his homestead farm in Huron Township, two and a half miles south of the City of Huron. The Halladay family has been identified with this section of Northern Ohio for more than a century and in every gener- ation there have been loyal, worthy and industrial citizens. Besides his work as a farmer the late Mr. Halladay was deeply interested in all community affairs, was an active republiean, and for several years served as trustee of Iluron Township. In church relations he was an attendant of the Christ Episcopal Church at Huron and long served as a member of the vestry of the parish. He was also a charter mem- ber of Marks Lodge, F. & A. M .. at IIuron. filled several of its chairs, including that of warden.
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Ile was born on his father's pioneer homestead in Greenfield Town- ship of IInron County, March 30, 1832, and was sixty-seven years of age at the time of his death. His parents were Horace and Phoebe (Carpenter) Halladay, who were married in Huron County. August 19, 1829. Horace was born in Brattleboro, Vermont, October 27, 1797, and his wife in the same state, September 10, 1804. Their last years were spent in Erie County where Mrs. Halladay died March 15, 1868, and where Horace passed away September 5, 1877. After his marmage Horace Halladay became a farmer near the little Village of Green- field in Inron County until about 1835, and then removed to Erie County, which only a few years before had been set off from .Huron County, and much of which was still sparsely settled and little devel- oped. Five years later Horace Halladay bought a farm on what be- came known as Sand Road, three miles south of Huron Village. After the death of his first wife Horace Halladay married Mrs. Eliza Tinney, and they finally moved from the farm to the Village of Huron. The second wife of Horace Halladay, who died at the age of seventy-five, had a daughter Helen by her first marriage, and this daughter is now the wife of J. S. McDonald, an Erie County farmer.
Horace Halladay was a son of Eli and Catherine ( Stephens) Hal- laday, both natives of Vermont. where Eli was born May 25, 1763. and Catherine February 10, 1763. Eli Halladay lived for a number of years in Huron Township of Erie County, where he died May 31. 1849, and his wife on February 5, 1842. Their remains are now at rest in the Scott Cemetery in Milan Township, where are to be found the graves of many other Erie County pioneers. Eli Halladay and wife were married in Vermont August 25, 1785, and in the early years of the nineteenth century they came with their family to the Western Reserve of Ohio, settling in Huron County more than a century ago, where Eli reclaimed the farm from the wilderness.
The parents of Eli Halladay were Daniel and Anna Halladay. Daniel was born in Vermont, February 26, 1736, and died in Iluron County, Ohio, January 19, 1818. It is supposed that his wife was also a native of Vermont and she was born August 30, 1838, and died February 25, 1819. They were already advanced in years when they came to Ohio, and probably accompanied their son Eli on his removal to this section of the Western Reserve. In this ancestral line of several generations it is interesting to note that Eli Halladay, though only a youth at the time, served as a patriot soldier in the War of the Revo- lution, and was with the organization known in history as the "Green Mountain Boys." For generations the Ilalladay family were members of the Presbyterian Church, and Eli Halladay was familiarly known as Deacon Halladay, and his son Horace filled a similar position. How- ever, Henry C. Halladay, as already noted, became a member of the Episcopal Church through the influence of his wife.
In Huron Township of Erie County, February 1. 1865, Henry Carpenter Halladay married Miss Maria Louise Shook. She spent all her life in Erie County and died May 24, 1904. Her parents were John and Eliza (Kline) Shook, pioneer settlers. A brief record of the children of Henry C. and Louise Halladay is found in the fol- lowing paragraphs :
Lorena Frances, who was born Angust 9, 1867, graduated from the Milan Normal School in 1887. was one of the first teachers in the Huron lligh School, and on November 13, 1889, married Dr. Lewis II. MeDonald. He is a graduate in dentistry from the University of Michigan, and for a number of years has been in successful practice in the City of Norwalk. Dr. and Mrs. MeDonald have four children : Lewis, the oldest, graduated from the United States Naval Academy
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at Annapolis in 1915, and is now serving in the navy; Eleanor Louise graduated from the Norwalk High School in 1911, and is now in a nurses training school in Cleveland; Robert Talmadge is a member of the elass of 1918 in the University of Michigan; Elspeth Lucinda was born in 1911.
Phoebe E. Halladay was born July 24, 1869, and died October 4, 1908. Her husband, William T. Morse of Lyndon, Vermont, survives her with two children, Louise Aliee and Ralph II.
Rose Mary IIalladay was born in 1871 and died in infancy, and the next in order of birth was named Mary Louise. She was born December 26, 1872, graduated from the Huron High School in 1892, and is now the wife of Edward R. Ililton, their home being at HIuron Village. Mr. Hilton, a native of Michigan, is in the lumber business. Their children are Ruth E. and Edward R. Jr.
Austin Patterson Halladay, born July 2, 1878, graduated from the Huron High School in 1896 and died February 27, 1898.
Martha Halladay, the youngest, was born May 25, 1882, graduated from the Sandusky Business College and is now a professional nurse. with home at Cleveland.
Fifth in order of birth among the children is John Shook Halla- day, who was born January 19, 1876. He graduated from the Huron High School in 1894, and was on the old homestead farm, assisting in its work and management until 1904. Since then his home has been in Huron. He was with a Sandusky firm in the handling of farm implements and machinery as local representative until 1909, then for two years traveled on the road selling a similar line of goods, and has sinee been traveling representative in Ohio for the J. L. & H. Stadler Fertilizer Company of Cleveland.
Active in Masonry, Mr. Halladay is past master of Marks Lodge No. 359. F. & A. M. at Huron; is past patron of the local chapter of the Order of Eastern Star, in which his wife is past matron; is affili- ated with Erie Commandery No. 23, Knights Templar in Sandusky ; and with the Scottish Rite Consistory at Toledo. He is a republican in politics, and since 1908 has been a member of the Huron Board of Education, of which he is now clerk and was formerly president. He is also a member of the United Commercial Travelers Association.
At Sandusky, January 1, 1901, John S. Halladay married Miss Florence E. Hodgins. She was born at Sandusky, August 20, 1879. graduated from high school in 1897. They have two children: Eleanor M., born November 12. 1901 ; and Catherine, born June 26, 1903. Mr. Halladay is a member of the vestry of the Christ Episcopal Church, while Mrs. Halladay was reared in and is a member of the Presbyterian Church.
JESSE C. CLARK. The activities of Jesse C. Clark have made him widely known throughout Erie and Northern Ohio both in business and agricultural eireles. His best achievement as a farmer has been in the developing and production of high grade seeds, particularly corn. "Clark's Yellow Dent Corn" is a proved variety of high ex- cellenee and is considered by expert judges to he one of the most pro- lifie and best adapted corn for the climate and soil of Northern Ohio. Besides growing this seed for the market, Mr. Clark is likewise a general farmer and a buyer and shipper of live stock.
Ilis birth occurred in Margaretta Township of Erie County, March 26, 1867. His parents were William and Diantha (Wilson) Clark. His father was born in England and his mother was a native of Erie County, of New England family. William Clark came to America between 1848 and 1850 and located in Margaretta Township, lived
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there more than a quarter of a century, after which he took his family to Wood County, Ohio, and still later went to Arkansas, in which state he died in 1905. In politics he was a republican.
The only resident of Erie County among the seven surviving chil- dren is Jesse C. Clark, who spent the first ten years of his life in Margaretta Township, then lived with the family in Wood County, and completed his education by two years at the Northern Indiana Normal School at Valparaiso. For ten years Mr. Clark was in the life and accident insurance business, and with headquarters at Sandusky covered the territory of Erie and four adjoining counties. In the meantime he had become interested in farming and in raising seed and buying live stock, and in 1914 located on the present farm in Perkins Township on South Hayes Avenue.
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