USA > Ohio > Fulton County > A standard history of Fulton County, Ohio, an authentic narrative of the past, with an extended survey of modern developments in the progress of town and county, Vol. I > Part 18
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The beginning of centralization in Fulton county, and indeed in the whole of northwestern Ohio, may be attributed to the defeetion of the teacher in charge of the school in Distriet No. 3, of Fulton Township, in the spring of 1903. He resigned about two months be- fore the end of the school term. Centralization had been theoretically agitated for many years, but the action of the teacher referred to brought the question before the directors of Fulton Township schools for immediate and practical decision. They decided to arrange for the transportation of pupils of No. 3 District school to that of Distriet No. 2, at Ai, cach morning, and return them to their homes each night. It was a success, and in the following year the pupils of District No. 8 were al-o conveyed to and from the Ai school. Eventually came com- plete centralization of schools in that township, and the building of the present splendid schoolhouse at Ai.
What a striking contrast is that represented by the log schoolhouse of the '30s and '40s, and the massive centralized schoolhouse of to- day. Maybe, the contrast between the teachers of today and those of the early days would not be so striking. There were many indifferent and incapable teachers in the early days; but some of the teachers were brilliant. A. Holmes Smith, of Delta, one of the earliest and most capable school examiners of Fulton county, and for fifty years connected with the Board of Education, as teacher, examiner, and di- rector, stated that he found many quite brilliant, while others had little knowledge of arithmetic, other than mental. In the '50s there was a general re-examination of teachers, and only the most capable were retained. The Fulton County Board of Education sought to radically raise the standard of education, and candidates for teaching certificates were subjected to much more rigid tests than formerly. Higher sal-
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aries were offered, and this policy brought in many teachers from ad- joining counties. Teachers came from Oberlin, Norwalk, Adrian, and other places, and generally those who failed to pass the examiners went into Henry county, stated Mr. Holmes Smith. A teachers' institute was organized in 1857, and among the questions put by examiners to candidates for teaching certificates was: "Do you attend the Teachers' Institute meetings?" Applicants soon became of the opinion that at- tendance at the Institute meetings was an essential to the granting of certificate, consequently, the Teacher's Institute soon became a strong organization. It apparently had its inception in a meeting held on July 25, 1857, "to organize a teachers' association-in Fulton county." The first officers were: M. H. Butler, president; Amos Hilton, vice president ; J. Brewster, secretary.
Among the early school teachers, who gave faithful and generally good service for little pay, must be included :
Samuel Durgin, Naaman S. Merrill, Gideon W. Raymond, Sa-
PUBLIC SCHOOL, DELTA.
mantha Crandall, Flavel Butler, Laura Ranger, Samuel B. Darby, Melvina Howe, Elizabeth Trowbridge, Erastus Briggs, Julia Chamber- lin, Caroline Wood, Moses Curtis, Hartley Clute, Jonathan Long, Jona- than Hunt, Augustus Porter, Mary Ann Stevenson, Olive Green, Mor- timer Hibbard, Maria Lloyd, Lucinda Rogers, Elizabeth Freeman, O. B. Verity, Albert S. Fleet, Cornelia Ives, Thomas R. Williams, Michael Handy, Gamaliel Barnes, Amanda Pease, Mary Clough, Lidea Gorsuch, Zerada Leggett, John Deming, Hannah Comstock, John Spillane, Ella Jewell, Libbie Lyon, Nellie Bickford, Emma Davis, Addie DeMeritt, Phoebe Riddle, Sophronia Fluhart, Mrs. Pray, Mrs. Zimmerman, Garret Van Fleet, Lewis S. Hackett, Margaret Ful- lerton, Martin H. Butler, Joseph Aldrich, Mrs. Curtis, Lucy Crawford, "Rock" Williams, Capt. W. F. Williams, "Aunt Jane" Lutz, Thomas Harvey, - De Wolf, James Burroughs, William Cowan, the Demaresq sisters-Henrietta, Jenette, Mary, and Kate,-Amos Hilton, Joseph Jewell, Ben Bulger, Elizabeth Cole, Emma Springer, Betty Fleming, William Fraker, Gilbert Clark, Lorenzo Bennett, Ruthett Deblin,
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HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY
Lemuel Johnson, M. McCoy, F. F. Curtis, William Lewis, Lydia San- ford Daniels, Julia Root Rich, Ann Whittaker, Libbie Roos Haley, Minerva Cottrell, J. B. Lutes, Catherine Fairfield.
Some will have reference elsewhere in this work, and the record of others will be found creditable in other county publications. A few have had especially distinctive careers, or especially long connec- tion with the Fulton county educational system. Samuel Durgin was one of the first school examiners; so also was Martin H. Butler. Thomas Harvey and De Wolf both became state school commissioners. Joseph Aldrich was an early school examiner. "Aunt Jane" Lutz was known from one end of Swan Creek to the other; was wont to pass from house to house, when whole families would be stricken with ague and fever. She would cook, wash, and attend to the personal and domestic affairs of one stricken household, nursing and feeding them; and then pass on to the next home; all out of whole-hearted love and affection for her neighbors. Michael' Handy and O. B. Verity became prominent members of the Fulton county legal bar. Addie DeMeritt was a teacher for more than thirty years; Mrs. Phoebe Riddle taught for practically a generation ; Jonathan Hunt, of Swan Creek, was one of the most ad- vanced teachers of his time; and many others might be mentioned. William B. ("Bill") Cowan, of Pike Township, and James F. ("Jim") Burroughs, of Royalton, both excellent teachers, were much sought after by the directors of certain school districts in their active days. James F. Burroughs taught fifty-nine winter terms of school in Ful- ton and Lucas counties, and generally passed the summer months in farming. "Bill" Cowan, in his day, was one of the ablest educators in the county; a remarkable man, in fact, stated Holmes Smith, the school examiner, adding that Cowan was "quite a mathematician." Mr. Smith recollects that Cowan once told him that he had had very little schooling; had had practically no academic training, and had spent most of his early life in farming; yet, he was destined to teach school for fifty-four terms, and to conduct a summer school for teachers with such success that he became the mentor and tutor of some of the most capable teachers of Fulton county. Of the students who at- tended his short normal course 187 became teachers. Mr. Cowan died in 1913, and as there is nothing in permanent biographical record regarding him, it might not be inappropriate to here briefly cover the deficiency, culling the material from an article which appeared in the "Fulton County Tribune," December 21, 1906. From it, we gather that he was born in 1827, that, in his own words:
"The first school I attended was held in a salt box. The mer- chants had large boxes in which to store salt during the summer months, and in the winter they were empty; and as those early set- tlers had no money to furnish a building, or time to erect one, they were very glad to use these large boxes ...... I did not start school until I was eight years old. From the time I was twelve years old, until I was seventeen. I had but nineteen days of schooling in any one year; but every night you would find me in a corner, near the fire- place. working over my books with the best teacher at my side- my mother ...... When I was seventeen, I entered Milan Seminary ..... for seven months, and then my schooling ended. Ended, yet only begun,"
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HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY
He taught for several years in the schools of his home county, and when, in 1852, he purchased some land in Pike Township, Fulton county, and found farming hard and precarious, he thought again of teaching. He said:
"In the winter of 1854, I taught my first term of school in this county. My first term of school was successful, and after that it was a matter for me to decide which school I would teach in. Two dis- tricts in Pike Township were determined to have me teach, and year after year they would overbid each other, until they were paying me fifty-two or fifty-three dollars per month, when I told them they had gone high enough, and to settle the matter I would teach five years in one district, and then five years in the other. This arrangement seemed to be satisfactory, and I followed it until I quit teaching. I taught twelve winter terms in one district, and thirteen in the other."
"Bill" Cowan was a man of strong character, frank and emphatic in expression, and quick in decision. He had very many friends throughout the county.
8
WAUSEON HIGH SCHOOL.
So as not to duplicate school history reviewed in the township chap- ters, this chapter will end with a brief statement of the school system, as now constituted in Fulton county. The re-districting of Fulton county schools. under the new school code of 1914, when the town- ship schools came more directly under county control, is a step toward centralization; and the Fulton County Board of Education hopes to bring such a plan gradually into effect. Under the new code, Pro- fessor Biery, superintendent of Wauseon schools, became the county superintendent of schools in 1914, but after he had resigned in 1915, to accept a professorship in a leading college, Professor C. D. Perry was appointed, and is still county superintendent. He has had a dis- tinguished career as an educator in Fulton county, and was recently elected president of the Northwestern Ohio Teachers' Association. His assistants are: E. F. Chase, who is superintendent of the northern
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HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY
half of the county, termed the Supervision District No. 1; and H. M. Jay, superintendent of the southern half, ealled Supervision District No. 2. The present Board of Examiners is made up as follows: H. M. Jay, president; C. C. Smith, vice president; C. D. Perry, clerk. The present members of the Fulton County Board of Education are: C. K. Miller, Fayette; W. L. Biddle, Wauseon; W. B. MeClarren, Delta; W. C. Hoch, Delta: and W. J. Weber, of Pettisville, who is president. There are twenty-four distriet boards, information. regarding which will be found in township chapters.
According to "The Annual Statistical Report" of the county super- intendent, for the year 1919, the Fulton County Board of Education then controlled eighty-three one-room elementary schools, and three two-room elementary schools; and in addition eight larger elemen- tary and first grade high schools.
There were, in 1919, seventeen rural school districts in the county, seven village districts, and two supervision districts in addition to the two centralized districts, Fulton and Chesterfield.
Under ordinary conditions, the school year is divided into two terms, affording, in all, eight months of tuition in the country schools, and nine months in the village schools. .
Enrollment figures for 1919 are: 2,252 boys and 2,186 girls in elementary grades; and 347 male and 435 female students in the high schools. In 1919, there were 123 high school graduates, and 328 eighth-grade graduates.
In that year, the high school staffs consisted of sixteen male and twenty-three female teachers, thirty-five of whom had graduated from college or university, and two had had partial college courses. Three teachers were graduates of a four-year normal course; two of a two- year normal; and the others were graduates of high school course. The salaries paid to teachers of township high schools, in 1919, aver- aged $872. In the village high schools, the average was $945.
The elementary schools of the county were, in 1919, staffed by four male and 136 female teachers. Of that number, one was a college graduate, three had attended college but had not graduated, 118 had had partial normal sehool training, twelve were graduates of a four-year and six graduates of a two-year normal course. With one exception, all teachers employed had graduated from high school Salaries paid to elementary rural school teachers averaged, in 1919: $720. Teachers in the village elementary schools were paid an aver- age of $738. At these rates it is becoming increasingly difficult to get the services of teachers of the standard demanded.
CHAPTER VIII
THE BANKS OF FULTON COUNTY
In the earliest days of the county, banks "sprang up like mush- rooms," stated "Charley" Cornell. "Anybody, who felt that way in- clined could start a bank. But they didn't last long, and people got into the habit of banking in their own pockets what little money they could accumulate." Paper was not then as stable as it is today. Pio- neer Fulton county men who helped to build the railroad through the county in 1854 had to take their pay in Kalamazoo notes. These they were generally able to pass in trade, but the notes were not good and acceptable tender in payment of taxes.
Nothing is on record regarding these early banks, because they were of little consequenee, and generally of brief history. Indeed, until the last decade of the nineteenth century, the only two banks of any importance in Fulton county were Barber's Bank of Wauseon, and the Bank of Fayette. The first-named was established in 1863, and the Fayette Bank in about 1871.
The Bank of Wauseon began to do business in a small frame build- ing, on the east side of Fulton street south of the railroad, on Febru- ary 1, 1863. It was founded by Epaphras L. Barber. Naaman Mer- rill later became a partner, the firm then trading as Barber and Mer- rill, until 1879, when E. S. Callender became a partner. In that year Naaman Merrill died. A commodious bank building was erected in 1871, on the east side of Fulton street, north of the railroad, and there for very many years the bank headquarters were. In July of 1907 the Bank of Wauseon was reconstructed, taking corporate powers, under the name of the Wauseon Savings and Trust Company, with a capital of $50,000. The partners of the old bank were: E. L. Barber, son of Col. Epaphras L. Barber; H. A. Barber; Sophy H. Barber, and Addie L. Barber. These members of the pioneer Wauseon family, together with W. T. Hudson, were the stockholders and directors of the new bank, E. L. Barber being president, and W. T. Hudson, cashier. The new bank, however, was destined to have a very short life. On April 21, 1908, the doors were elosed, temporarily it was stated, Mr. E. L. Barber then making a statement, which read as fol- lows:
"The Bank of Wauseon was a partnership composed of E. L. Bar- ber, H. A. Barber, Addie L. Barber, and Sophy H. Barber, and had been engaged in banking in Wauseon for many years. Last July there was incorporated the Wauseon Savings and Trust Company, under the laws of the State of Ohio, with a capital stock of $50,000, for the purpose of taking over the banking business of the Bank of Wauseon; and this has been gradually carried on so that at the present time practically all of the banking business is now in the corporation.
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HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY
The present corporation has securities and assets representing every dollar of deposits, and the issued capital stock. If the securities and assets are not sold at forced sale, and a fair valuation is realized upon them, there will be ample to pay all of the depositors in full.
The annual demands upon the bank for money at this time made it necessary for it to either sacrifiee its securities, at less than their value, and thus cause an unnecessary loss to its depositors and stock- holders, or to place its affairs in the hands of a competent receiver, who could properly preserve and administer the assets in such a way as to realize their reasonable value. The present action was therefore determined upon, and Mr. George W. Close, a banker, and a 'man of wide experience and acknowledged ability was appointed by Judge Taylor as Receiver of the Wauseon Savings & Trust Com- pany, and gave bond in the sum of $100,000; and the Hon. H. C. Rorick. who has had large experience in financial matters, and is well and favorably known, was appointed by Judge Taylor as Re- ceiver of the Bank of Wauseon, and gave a $50,000 bond. The ap- pointment of these two men by Judge Taylor assures depositors that the affairs of the bank will be honestly and capably administrated."
The efforts of the receivers were however unavailing, for the de- positors lost heavily eventually.
The Bank of Fayette, the other of the two pioneer banks was finally liquidated, but not however to the loss of depositors. It was founded in about the same year (1871) in which Fayette became a railroad town, George E. Leteher, who had built a grain house in Fayette and had "made Fayette one of the best grain markets in northwestern Ohio" was the owner of the bank until 1885, when he sold to Arthur and C. L. Allen and J. Trowbridge, who conducted the business, as a private company, until 1913, when they decided to go out of business, which they did, in September of that year clos- ing the bank, "after twenty-seven years of satisfaction to all its pa- trons."
So, in brief, is the history of the two pioneer banks of Fulton county. The county has many stable banks today, and an attempt will be made to separately and adequately review, in this chapter, each existing bank. There are thirteen, Archbold, Delta, Fayette, Metamora, and Wauseon each having two, and Lyons, Pettisville, and Swanton one. Somewhat extensive reference will be made in volume two of this work to the lives of some of the prominent Fulton county bankers of today; therefore, in biographical reference, this chapter will deal only with deceased bankers.
Colonel Epaphras L. Barber, who died in 1899, was of course the pioneer banker of Fulton county, and he died many years before the bank he founded closed its doors. His life will however be reviewed in an even more appropriate chapter, in that which traces the devel- opment of Wauseon, of which he was one of the original proprietors.
Naaman Merrill's life will also be reviewed elsewhere. He was one of the pioneer school teachers; was clerk of the courts in 1853; and from being a leading democrat he became an active republican, when that party superseded the whig party in the '50s.
Arthur Allen was one of the leading business men of Fayette, to
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HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY
which he came in 1865. He held many township offices, and was justice of the peace for many years.
The Rorick family has had prominent connection with Fulton county banking, especially with the banks of Fayette. Cosper Rorick, who died in 1911, may be considered to have been the founder of the Fayette State Savings Bank. His home was in Morenci, but he was well-known throughout Fulton county, and, as an obituary stated "a figure familiar in the community for over a half century has been laid to rest, and the citizens mourn the loss of an honorable upright fellow-citizen. and big-hearted friend."
Charles C. Greenleaf, one of the founders of the Peoples State Bank of Wauseon, was connected with Fulton county banking for twenty years. He died in 1910. Mr. Greenleaf was one of the lead- ing financiers of the county, successful in business, and esteemed for his steady purpose in life.
PEOPLES STATE BANK, WAUSEON.
George S. Clement, partner with Mr. Greenleaf in the milling business they condueted together in Wauseon for very many years, was also one of the organizers of the Peoples State Bank, in 1889, and a director until his death, in 1912. He was "well known ...... as a man of great probity of character, and one who was trusted implicitly by all."
Another original director of the Peoples' Bank, Hiram Pritchard, died in 1912. He had lived in Wauseon for almost fifty years, and for many years was partner with F. R. Smallman in the Smallman Grocery. Previously, he had been a building contraetor, and in 1864 built the courthouse in Ottokee.
L. P. Vernier, one of the founders of the Peoples State Bank of Archbold, and its first president, was the head of one of the pioneer
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HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY
families of German Township. He was one of the most progressive merchants of Archbold.
There was a bank in Delta as carly as 1869. It was called the Bank of Delta, and Dr. William Ramsey, whose life will be reviewed in the medical chapter, was the sole owner of it.
Dealing with direet institutional history, the banks at present (1920) in operation in Fulton county arc: the Farmers and Mer- chants Bank, and the Peoples State Bank, both of Archbold; the People- Savings Bank, and the Farmers State Bank, both of Delta; the Fayette State and the Farmers State Banks, of Fayette; the Lyons Commercial Bank, of Lyons; the Farmers and Merchants and the Home Savings Banks of Metamora; the Pettisville Savings Bank, of Pettisville; the Farmers and Merchants Deposit Company, of Swan- ton; and the two banks of the county seat, the Peoples State and First National Banks, of Wauseon. The banks all appear to be doing satis- factory business, and to have the confidence of its depositors; and the history of the respective banks is worthy of place in this county record.
The oldest of the banks now in operation is the Peoples State Bank, of Wauseon. Its history dates back to 1889, and from an original capital of $15,000 to a combined capital and surplus of $120,000, and resources of more than one million eight hundred thousand dol- lars. Reviewing its more than thirty years of operation and progress, it appears that early in 1889 a partnership was formed by George D. Green, Charles C. Greenleaf, William H. Eager, George S. Clement, Hiram Pritchard, and Frank Smallman, all active business men of Wauseon. The partnership took the trading name of the Peoples Bank, and on Deecmber 10, 1889, having ereeted a suitable building, on the east side of Fulton street and almost opposite the present loea- tion of the bank, it was opened, and from that time until December of 1906 did an ever-inercasing banking business, as a private institu- tion. In December, 1906, it was incorporated under the banking laws of Ohio as the Peoples State Bank, and began business as a cor- porate body on January 2, 1907. In 1910 its eapital was increased to $100,000. In May, 1913, the bank decided to build a larger bank building, and with that object purchased the old Eager House, and the work of removing the old building was immediately begun. In due course the magnificent modern bank building of brick and Bed- ford stone became the place of business of the banking corporation, which has since steadily continued to prosper. Its growth may be rea- lized by figures culled from its official records. Its resources on June 30. 1890, totalled to $129,481.89; in 1900 to $375,339.03; in 1910 to $748,131.54; and in 1920 to $1,831,484.58.
It is somewhat remarkable that for a period of twenty-one years there was no change in the directorate of this bank. The first ehange came when Mr. Charles C. Greenleaf died on April 4, 1910; deaths of Hiram Pritchard and George S. Clement, in 1912, brought further changes in the board, which as now constituted is made up as follows : W. H. Eager, president; F. R. Smallman, vice president ; C. D. Green- leaf, G. D. Green. L. H. Deyo, and C. P. Grisicr. Mr. Eager has been president of the bank sinec its establishment, in 1889; and Charles W.
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HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY
Struble has been cashier since 1890, thirty years of faithful, valued, and valuable service.
The next bank to be established was the Farmers and Merchants State Bank, of Archbold, which was organized, as a private partner- slip, in 1897, by J. O. Swisher, Jacob Ehrat, Jr., C. M. Mclaughlin, A. J. Vernier, L. D. Gottshall, and I. W. Gottshall. The bank was re-organized in 1919, when it became the Farmers and Merchants State Bank, with a capital of $50,000. The bank ownership how- ever has remained unchanged since its first establishment, the same six co-partners being its present stockholders. Under its re-organiza- tion in 1919 the following named men became its officers: J. O. Swisher, president; C. M. Mclaughlin, vice president; A. J. Stamm, cashier. The "Report of the Condition" of the bank at the close of business May 4, 1920 showed its resources to have then been $470,- 231.29; capital stock, paid in, $50,000; surplus, $1,600. The institu- tion does its business in its own modern bank building, on the corner of Main and Depot streets. The building was erected in 1909, at a cost of about $5,000.
The Farmers State Savings Bank, under its former name, the Farmers National Bank, of Delta, first opened for business on Sep- tember 13, 1900. Its organizers were: C. P. Grisier, A. J. Fraker, A. W. Crisman, L. D. Gottshall. A. B. Thompson, A. M. Wilkins, and S. P. Bishop. The first officers were: C. P. Grisier, president; A. J. Fraker, vice president; J. W. Crisman, second vice president; A. P. Grisier, cashier. For the first seven years of its operation, the bank was located on Main street, Delta, in the center of a block, and upon the site where now stands the clothing store of P. C. Smith. The bank building was gutted by fire in 1907, and for six or seven months thereafter, the institution did its business in a temporary frame struc- ture hastly erected over the bank vaults, which had withstood the fire. Meanwhile, a new bank building was in course of construction, and in 1908 was completed, at a cost of about $15,000. Since that year it has been the home of the institution, which on July 6, 1914, liqui- dated as a national bank, reorganizing as a state bank on the same day. Under the reorganization the following named stockholders be- came officers: C. P. Grisier, president; A. J. Fraker and J. W. Cris- man, vice presidents; W. C. Hoch, cashier; W. H. Fraker, assistant cashier. There has been one change since that year, A. J. 'Fraker resigning, and W. H. Fraker being appointed second vice president. The capital stock of the bank has always remained the same, $25,000, but its surplus is now $25,000, and its resources, on February 28, 1920, totalled to $680,829.01. Present directors, in addition to officers above-stated, are: A. B. Thompson, S. P. Bishop, A. M. Wilkins, and Chas I. Fraker.
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