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 94
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FRANK (. RISDON. While other members of this family spell their name Risden, Frank (. has always employed a slightly different spell- ing. However, this is by no means his only distinction. IIe is now a very successful and progressive farmer and stock man in Vermilion Township, his home being on rural route No. 2 ont of Vermilion Vil- lage. The career of Mr. Risdon, who by his own efforts has risen from a state of comparative poverty to one of independence, is a striking illustration of what may be accomplished by industry, perse- veranee, and a wise use of the faculties with which almost every man is endowed.
It is a matter of common report in his section of Erie County that Frank C. Risdon is a master of whatever he undertakes. For many years he followed his trade of mechanic in the employ of the Nickel Plate Railway. Ile was an excellent mechanie and painter. and has shown similar ability and snecess in farming, and is a busi- ness man who can be relied upon to carry out every obligation which he undertakes and works consistently and influentially for the good of the community in which he lives.
On the old Risdon farm, a portion of which he still owns and close to his present home. Frank (. Risdon was born in Vermilion Township on April 5, 1854. What is known as the Risdon Road passes by his
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farm. This is one of the older families of Erie County. ITis grand- father, Almor Risden, was born near Rochester, New York, and mar- ried for his first wife a Miss Nichols. She died there in the prime of life, leaving three children, George, Eliza and Elial. Almor Risden married for his second wife a Miss Lewis, and by that union there were two sons and four daughters. In 1836 Almor Risden with his second wife and family came to Ohio and located in the wilderness part of Vermilion Township. Ilere he cut a home out of the woods, lived in a log cabin until he could build a frame house, and was getting well started in his new home when he was accidentally drowned m the IIaron River in 1838. He was a fine type of the early settler, and enjoyed the confidence of his fellow citizens so thoroughly that they elected him to various offices of trust and responsibility. It is especially worthy to be recalled that this pioneer was in the habit of paying cash for every hour's work done for him. This was some- what unique in that time, when there was very little money in circu- lation, and many debts were taken out in trade of some kind.
George Risden, father of Frank C., was born in 1818 and was twenty years of age when his father died. He later bought a farm of his own not far from the old Risden homestead, and spent twenty- four years of profitable labor there. In 1872 he purchased another place of fifty-four acres situated on the lake shore and now known as the Silas ITitcheock homestead. There he passed away on January 28, 1893. Ile was a straightforward, honest man, and one whose success in life was beyond all question. In polities he was a democrat. George Risden married in Vermilion Township Miss Charity Goldsmith. She was born in Florence Township in October, 1823, a member of one of the very oldest families of Erie County. She died on the old Lake Shore homestead July 1, 1900. Her father was Isaac Goldsmith, who served as a soldier in the War of 1812 and soon afterwards came to Erie County as one of the pioneers. He died when past seventy years of age at his home four miles west of Vermilion Village.
Frank C. Risdon was one of a family of eight children. He was reared in a good home, given an education in public and private schools, and found plenty to do as a farmer until he was thirty. Hle then took up contracting for two years and subsequently beeame connected with the Nickel Plate Railroad as a member of its repair crew. Eighteen months later he was made foreman, and some years later became fore- man in the painting department of the railroad. All told he was eon- nected with the railroad company for twenty-five years, and the superior officials regarded him as one of the most competent and efficient men in the service. For five years of that time he lived in Lorain County. but finally he took up his residence on his present beautiful estate of 105 acres. All this land is improved, and is conducted on the same basis of efficiency which Mr. Risdon has employed in every other ae- tivity. He and his family enjoy the comforts of a modern seven-room house, a new basement barn 30 by 65 feet, the conspicuous feature about the home grounds, and there is another barn 24 by 40 feet. He has a sixty-ton silo ad joining his barn. All the farm facilities are arranged for efficiency and economy, and the entire farm is fenced and divided into fields by woven wire fencing, and there is not a rail or barbed wire displaced. Though in his sixty-second year, Mr. Risdon is apparently as full of energy as the ordinary man twenty years his junior. IIe works for a definite purpose, and is always ready to learn a new lesson, though many might well pattern after his successful efforts. As a farmer Mr. Risdon pays much attention to livestock. Ile keeps a good grade of horses, eattle, hogs and sheep, and has a number of excellent dairy cows, headed by a registered Holstein bull.
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When quite a young man at the outset of his career Mr. Risden married a neighbor girl, Viola E. Harding. She died in 1880, just two years after their marriage, leaving one son, William W., who is now living in Cleveland. For his second wife Mr. Risdon also chose a young woman from Vermilion Township, Jennie Brooks. She was born in the Village of Vermilion in 1863, and was reared and educated in this township. By this marriage there are two children : Ralph Henry, who attended schools at Lorain and in Cleveland, has for several years been the practical manager on his father's farm; he married Miss Ruth Kuhl of Vermilion Township, a graduate of the Vermilion High School, and they have a son Glenn F. Ollie M .. the daughter, finished her education in the Vermilion Iligh School and is still at home. She and her mother are members of the Congregational Church. Politically Mr. Risdon votes independently, and in civie matters what he does and what he thinks count for a good deal in his community.
JOHN WILL. There is no citizen of Vermilion Township who more thoroughly enjoys the esteem and respect of his fellow citizens than John Will. A German by birth, he has lived in America and in Erie County since infancy. Though a very young man at the time, he saw some active service in the Civil war. Ilis business career has identified him with farming, and he owns and occupies one of the best home- steads to be found in Vermilion Township. His house is one of attract- ive exterior and all the comforts and conveniences which make life worth living. His individual prosperity has not been accomplished without benefit to the community in which he has lived so long.
Ile was born in Kurhessen, Germany, February 10, 1846, a son of Nicholas and Catherine ( Reifer) Will. His mother was a daughter of Nicholas Reifer. All of them were born in Kurhessen. While the family lived in Germany two sons were born to them, JJohn and a younger child, who died soon after the family came to America. In . 1848 the little household took passage on an American sailing vessel and came from Bremen to Baltimore, spending eight weeks on the voyage. From Baltimore they proceeded west by way of canals and rivers as far as Sandusky, and then walked across country to the home of Henry Reifer, an uncle of Catherine Reifer Will. When Nicholas Will arrived in Vermilion Township he had not a single penny. Ile came prepared to do hard work, and he soon found plenty of employ- ment. Ile worked on different farms and for several years was an employe of John Anderson, father of James Anderson, a well known citizen along the lake shore of Erie County. As he became better ar- quainted and people became familiar with his capacity for good intelli- gent work, he took a more independent course and rented a farm, and then three years later in 1858 he made his first purchase in Vermilion Township. In the spring of 1859 he moved his family to the land which he had bought, and there he worked industriously for many years in improving and in increasing his holdings. His death oeenrred there May 7, 1890, when seventy-one years six months of age. His widow passed away in 1908, being at that time eighty-five years old. They and their children were confirmed in the German Reformed Church. After the family came to Erie County two other children were born, Henry and Eliza. Eliza died after her marriage to Peter Kuhl, leaving three children: Anna and Charles, both now deceased: and Alice. wife of Mr. Schotz of Huron.
John Will has lived in Vermilion Township since he was thirteen years of age. Ile gained his early schooling in Erie County and grew up to a discipline of hard work, regular habits, and honest intentions. Ile has found farming both a congenial and profitable vocation, and
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since the death of his mother in the fall of 1908 has owned the beautiful old homestead, comprising ninety-eight acres. Nearly all of his land is under cultivation and for years he has produced fine crops of all the staple varieties. His farm buildings are of the best. Ilis nine- room house is thoroughly modern, has steam heat in all the rooms, is furnished with bathroom and many other comforts and conveniences.
In Vermilion Township Mr. Will married Miss Alice Neiding. She was born in this township October 1, 1858, and received her education in this county. Iler parents, John and Magdalena ( lilcher) Neiding, were both natives of Germany and came from the same part of the fa- therland as the Will family. They emigrated to the United States in 1850, spending thirteen weeks on a saiting vessel. They soon after- wards located near the Village of Vermilion, and improved a good farm there, but the parents finally retired to live in Vermilion Village, where her father died January 30, 1907, at the age of eighty years, and her mother on August 9, 1903, aged seventy-seven. Besides Mrs. Will the other children in the Neiding family are: Adam Neiding, who married Emma F. Brown of Vermilion Village, and they are the parents of three sons and one daughter, one of the sons, Otis 11., being de- ceased ; Burton is married, John Allen lives at home, and Frank E. and Emma are also at home in Cleveland. Henry Neiding is a eom- mercial traveler living in Vermilion, and by his marriage to Mattie Bourne of Kentucky has two children, Mae and James, the former now married. John is a carpenter in the Village of Vermilion and first married Katie Fey, who died leaving Bertha, Charles, George and Alice; and for his second wife he married Catherine Knott. Samuel Neiding is in the meat market business at Vermilion, and by his marriage to Mary Fey, who is now deceased, he has a daughter Hattie. Kate Neiding is the wife of Robert Patterson of Cleveland, and they have a daughter May. Christina died after her marriage to the late Dr. Frank E. Engelbry, and there is a son by that marriage named Rowland.
Mr. and Mrs. Will have one son, Fred Peter, who was born December 6, 1884. He graduated from the Vermilion High School, and since reaching his majority has lived at home and is doing a large part of the work and management connected with the farm operations. Mr. and Mrs. Will and their son are members of the German Reformed Church, and the father and son are republicans in politics. It was on Septem- ber 19, 1864, that Mr. Will enlisted in Company B of the 176th Ohio Volunteer Infantry, and remained with that command until he re- ceived his honorable discharge on June 15, 1865, at Nashville, Ten- nessee. The war was nearly closed when he went to the front, and it was not his luck to take part in any pitched battle. For many years now he has been an active member of Vermilion Post of the Grand Army of the Republie, and has filled several of its offices and is very popular among his old army comrades.
HENRY WILL. Born in the township of his present residence and on the farm which he now occupies and cultivates, and which his father took up in a totally wild and unbroken condition many years ago. Henry Will is one of the citizens of Erie County who can take special pride in the direct contribution made by himself and other members of the family to the improvement of this seetion of Northern Ohio. The land which his father first saw as a landscape of dense woods, has since been reduced by occupancy and tillage to a tract of agricultural land hardly surpassed in Vermilion Township. Thus what one gen- eration won from the wilderness the next has continued to improve and make still better.
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The parents of Henry Will were Nicholas and Catherine . Reifer Will, who were natives of Kurhessen, Germany, and came in 1848 with one child to America. From Baltimore they went west and arrived in Erie County very poor though possessed of the characteristic Ger- man industry and thrift. For about ten years Nicholas Will worked for others, either at monthly wages or as a renter, and it was the hardest kind of struggle which finally gave him the modest capital which he invested in his first purchase of land in Vermilion Township. It was while the family lived in the Village of Iluron in Erie County that Henry Will was born March 25, 1850. When he was nine years of age, in 1859, his father took the family to his newly purchased land in Vermilion Township. This land was on the Lake State Road and in the midst of the heavy woods. Henry Will recalls some of the incidents and scenes of his boyhood spent in a log cabin home, when all the country around was a region of dense forest. In time he himself wielded an axe and helped to clear off this land. Gradually the large trees were ent down, part of them were worked up into lumber and others were gathered together by the logging bees which were so familiar a part of the industrial and social life of that time, and these great heaps of logs and brush were burned in order that the land might be cleared for cultivation. It was on this land that the Will family got its first real start in the world. After many years of struggle and privation prosperity began to smile upon them, and Nicholas Will was able to see his efforts and sacrifices rewarded. IIe finally increased his hold- ings to 164 aeres, most of it improved and cultivated, and worth many times what he gave for it. Ile also built a good home and barns. and there he and his good wife spent their declining years in peace and comfort. Nicholas Will died May 7, 1890, at the age of seventy-one years six months, and his wife passed away in 1908, at the age of eighty-five. In the early years of their residence on this old home- stead they not only cultivated the usual crops but also raised much stock, particularly sheep, which found pasturage in the woods. The wool clip was largely utilized by the industry and perseverance of the good housewife and housemother, who would rise at four o'clock in the morning in order to take up her spinning. The yarn which she spun from the sheep wool was worked up into various articles of clothing which the children wore at home and in school. She would knit the yarn into socks and mittens, and in the long winter evenings her needles were never quiet until bedtime.
It is also recalled as a fact of local history that the first church in Vermilion Township, a Congregational Church, was built on the Will farm, which is the geographical center of the township. The first edifice was a hewed log building, and within its walls were gathered together people who came from miles around. Even the location of that old church has been forgotten by most people now living in Ver- milion Township.
Of the old homestead which his father established and in the clear- ing and cultivation of which Henry Will hore his own boyhood part. he now owns nearly seventy-nine acres. In his individual career he has been very successful as a farmer and now has all his land cultivated except a woodland tract of eight acres. Ile grows all kinds of grain. fruit, and large quantities of grapes. Ile also keeps live stock in num- bers proportionate to the size of his farm, including work horses. cattle and hogs.
In Vermilion Township Mr. Henry Will married Miss Annie Schro- der. She was born in Brownhelm Township of Lorain County June 3. 1870, but was reared and edneated in Vermilion Township, where her parents established their home when she was a child. Her grandfather
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was Dr. Charles Schroder, a native of Kurhessen, Germany, who came to America a great many years ago and was a well educated and highly successful German physician and surgeon. He served as a surgeon in the Union army during the Civil war from 1861 to 1865. lle had come to America with his wife and family during the '40s and lived first in Cleveland and later in Lorain County, but he died in Vermilion Township when eighty-three years of age, while his widow survived until she attained the maximum age of ninety-four. Mrs. Will's par- ents were Gus and Elizabeth (Miller) Schroder, the former a native of Germany and the latter of Brownhelm Township of Lorain County. For over thirty years the Schroder family have lived in Vermilion Township. Mrs. Will's father was seventy-five years of age in Decem- ber, 1915, and her mother was sixty-five in November of the same year. Both are members of the Reformed Church. Mr. and Mrs. Will are likewise Reformed Church people and in politics he is a demoerat.
ALMOR G. RISDEN. For well upwards of a century the Risden family has had its home in Erie County. In the various generations they have been people of most excellent worth, influence, and valuable to the community in which they live. For the greater part they have been farmers, but in whatever station of life to which they have been called, they have neglected none of the obligations imposed upon true womanhood and manhood and citizenship. Almor G. Risden spent a great many years in business affairs as a traveling salesman, but is now enjoying a somewhat more stationary form of life and with more comfort, though he is still very active, and has a nice farm and country estate in the Township of Vermilion.
It was in Vermilion Township that he was born June 26. 1860, a son of George and Charity ( Goldsmith) Risden. His father was born in New York State and his mother on Long Island, and the former was of Welsh and the latter of English ancestry. Charity Goldsmith came to Erie County when about one year of age with her parents Isaac and Sarah Goldsmith from Long Island. Isaae Goldsmith and wife spent the rest of their days on a farm along the lake shore and died when quite old people. He was a demoerat, and Mrs. Goldsmith was a member of the Methodist Church. George Risden, the father. lost his mother in New York State when he was about four years of age, and when he was sixteen he accompanied his father, Almor Risden. to Ohio. They made practically the entire journey on foot, carrying all their earthly possessions on their backs. On arriving here the father and son started out to make a living, and in the following year the grandfather was accidentally drowned while attempting to rescue a floating skiff in the lake. IIe was at that time forty-four years of age. After George and Charity Risden were married, they located on the farm in Vermilion Township which he had bought some time before. They worked hard, lived simply, and in a few years they had pro- gressed to a point where they were regarded as more than able to take care of all their obligations. They spent their last years in the okdl Pelton home on the lake shore, where George Risden died in January, 1894. lle was born in 1818. flis widow died in 1900. She was an active member of the Methodist Episcopal Church.
Almor G. Risden was one of a family of eight children, five sons and three daughters. All are living except Amanda who died after her marriage to Mr. M. C. Driver of Vermilion Township. Lilie, another of the daughters, is the widow of James Barnes, and has a son De Bee. William lives in Walla Walla, Washington, where he is engaged in coal mining, and is married and has two children named Ola and Nina. Frank was for a number of years a railway foreman but is now a farmer
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in Vermilion Township, was twice married, and has a son, William W., by his first wife and two children, Ralph and Olive, by the second wife. James, who has a nice farm in Vermilion Township, married Clara Sickles, and their two daughters, Grace and Gladys, are unusually well educated, one of them being a teacher and the other a student in college. Next in age to James is Ahor G. Ann is the wife of John Sheredd, a farmer in Vermilion Township, and their children are Bes- sie, Charity and Lawrence. George, Jr., who is a farmer in Brown- helm Township of Lorain County, is married and has an adopted child named HIelen. now a student in the University of Ohio at Co- lumbus.
Almor G. Risden grew up in Vermilion Township on the old home- stead, gained a highly satisfactory education in the public schools, and at an early age launched himself into practical affairs where he soon proved master of any situation which came up. For twenty years he traveled as a salesman for sewing machines. Much of this time was spent in the West. IJe finally invested his savings in the good farm of forty aeres along the Bartow Ridge Road, and is now prepared to take life somewhat easily. Hle has a good house, barns, all the facilities for progressive farming, and gets something more than a living from the home place. In addition he also is a contractor for conerete work.
In Huron Township of this county Mr. Risden married Miss Julia Galloway, daughter of the late George Galloway. Mrs. Risden was born in Huron Township in 1868 and acquired her edneation in that locality. To their marriage has been born one danghter, Myrtle, on June 6, 1886. She was well reared and educated and is now the wife of Court Smith of Vermilion Township. Mr. Risden sinee becoming a permanent resident of Vermilion Township has always interested himself in local affairs. Ile is at the present time township health of- ficer, and for ten years served as truant officer. In politics he is a democrat.
CONRAD B. NunN. In the judgment of many people of Vermilion Township, that township has no more thrifty farmer and industrial citizen than Conrad H. Nuhn. He has often sueceeded in his under- takings where others have failed. The home that he has now is a notable instance of his enterprise. He took it when it was of little value as a farm, and by hard work, reorganization, and constant vigi- lance, has effected a wonderful transformation. Mr. Nuhn is not only a practical farmer, but for many years has been known to the farming people of Erie County through his operations as a thresherman.
He was born in Vermilion Township September 18, 1862, grew up in that locality, the son of honest and hardworking German par- ents. acquired a common school education, and became a practical worker before reaching his majority. In 1904 he bought his present farm, nearly one hundred acres, at Joppa Corners. Originally it had been a fine farm, excellent soil, but had been allowed to run down and do- teriorate until it was of little value for regular cropping. It took Mr. Nuhn less than ten years to restore its former fertility and make it a model place in all its improvements. He has put up one of the best and most perfeetly equipped barns in the township, standing on a foundation 38 by 48 feet. He also has a good home of seven rooms. surrounded by an attractive lawn set with some of the old fashioned shade trees. Ile grows the largest crops of staples, and keeps fine stoek. including five mileh eows, three head of good horses, and a minber of hogs.
His parents were Osmus and Mary (Opper) Nuhn, who were born in Hesse. Germany, were married there, and after the birth of one
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son immigrated to the United States. It took eight weeks for the sail- ing vessel to carry them across the ocean, and after landing they made their way westward to Vermilion Township and located among some of their former friends and acquaintances in Germany who had arrived before them. They were people of very modest circumstances, and accepted whatever opportunities they could find to make a start as small farmers. They later bought seventeen aeres of land not far south of the Nickel Plate Railway, and in time they built up there an excellent home. The father died in 1908 at the age of eighty, and the mother passed away in 1903 aged sixty-five. They were German Reformed Church people and in politics he was a democrat.
For the past eighteen years Conrad Nuhn has spent much of his time during the season for that work as a thresherman. He keeps one of the best outfits in the county and operates it with a crew of four men. This has been one of his chief lines of work since he was eighteen years of age, but he was in the employ of others until about eighteen years ago.
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