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. II > Part 12
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In October, 1871, Mr. Miller married Susan Cowan, a native of Erie county, Ohio. She is a daughter of Hugh and Lushie (Wil- liams) Cowan. Their children are: Sarah E., wife of Elmer Mur- rav, of Pike; Emmet V., of Fulton. Mrs. Miller died August 18, 1906, and November 23, 1907, Mr. Miller married Janette Hackett Vaughn, widow of Caleb J. Vaughn, who was also a Union army soldier. She was born April 21, 1848, in New York. She is a daughter of Benjamin and Sabrina (Miller) Hackett, and in her second marriage she took upon herself the maiden name of her mother.
Mr. Miller bought a farm in 1873, and lived there until 1907. The farm was in Pike township. In 1907 he sold it and moved to Metamora. He took quite an interest in stock raising, and raised . full blooded stock of all kinds. In early life Mr. Miller had common school advantages, and as a public-spirited citizen he has served for fifteen years as a member of the Pike township board of education. He is a republican in politics, and for fifteen years he was a member of the Fulton county board of agriculture. Mr. Miller is a member of the Sunflower Spiritualist Church of Toledo.
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REZIN FRANK PENNY. The history of the Penny family of which Rezin Frank Penny of Metamora is a representative began about 1850 in Ohio, when his father, Isaac Penny, came to Norwalk. He was a ship carpenter in his early life, and was a native of New York. He married Elizabeth Fay, of Huron county. In 1861 they came to Fulton county. He died in 1898, while she died sevell years later. Their children are: Nicholas, of Oklahoma; Rezin Frank, who relates the family history; William, of Amboy ; Eugene, of Fulton; and Lillie, wife of Byron Willson, of Amboy.
On November 19, 1884, Mr. Penny, who was born May 11, 1862, married Ella Arvilla Blaine, a daughter of Robert and Lauretta (Robb) Blaine, of Amboy. They lived on the Blaine farm in Amboy until 1895, when they bought twenty acres and later they bought forty, and Mr. Blaine gave them sixty, making 120 acres of excellent farm land in Amboy. It is all under cultivation but ten acres, which is in timber.
Mr. Penny improved the farm extensively, but in 1917 he rented it and moved to Metamora, where he became the local representa- tive of the International Harvester Company. His only son, Jesse R. Penny, is associated with him. Jesse married Mary Vaughan. Their children are Laura and Freda. The family vote is republican, and the church relation is with the Methodists.
Mr. Penny is known as a good practical farmer and an able busi- ness man, and life has brought him few opportunities which he has not been able to convert to advantage either to himself or family or to the community in which he has lived and in which he has such an excellent reputation.
FRED A. SEELEY. It was when he was eighteen years old that Fred A. Seeley, of Metamora, had his first introduction to Fulton eounty. He was born October 11, 1862, at Monroeville, Huron county. He is a son of Robert and Marilla (Searles) Seeley. The . grandfather, Robert Seeley, was born and died at Erie, Pennsylvania. The maternal grandfather, Albert Searles, eame from Massachusetts to Huron county, Ohio, in 1850, and in 1861 he came to Amboy township, Fulton county.
When Robert Seeley was a child two years old he was taken by the family to Clyde, Ohio. They lived there about eight years, when the boy was thrown on his own resources and shifted for him- self. In later years he established a livery business in Monroeville, the birth place of Fred A. Seeley. He died there in 1912, and the mother died two years later. Their children are: Charles, of Mon- roeville ; Fred A. Seeley, of Metamora, who relates the family history ; Cora, wife of W. J. Meade, of Cleveland: Edith, wife of H. D. Osborn, of Detroit; Laura, wife of Augustus Ries, of Metamora; and E. C. Seeley, of Monroeville.
When Fred A. Seeley located in Fulton county he worked for ten years in a general merchandise store in Metamora, and then he traveled for a time selling farm implements and machinery. In 1901 he engaged in the implement business for himself in Meta- mora. Three years later he sold out and engaged in the furniture and undertaking business, this being the first and only business of the kind in Metamora.
In 1902 Mr. Seeley helped organize the Farmers and Merchants Bank in Metamora, it being a branch of the bank in Sylvania. He was cashier of this bank until 1915, when it was changed to a state bank and he became viee president of it. In May, 1880, Mr. Seeley
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married Elizabeth Frail, of Delaware county, New York. They have one son, Edward, who is cashier in the bank.
Mr. Sceley attended school at Monroeville and the Northern Ohio Normal at Ada. He is a republican and for ten years he served as clerk of the corporation of Metamora. Through his influence it became an incorporated town. He is a charter member of Independ- ent Order of Odd Fellows Lodge No. 875, of Metamora, and has filled all of the chairs. He is a Mason at Lyons, a member of the chapter, and Blue Lodge and Council of Wauseon, and a member of Zenobia Commandery, Scottish Rite Consistory and Shrine at Toledo.
Mr. Seeley can therefore claim a residence of four decades ir. Fulton county. His career has been a progressive one, his employ. ment as a clerk opening the door of opportunity as a traveling sales- Inan, going from that into business for himself, and then extending the scope of his enterprise from merchandising to include banking. Altogether the record is one to satisfy any normally ambitious man.
JOSEPH M. HERR. While death overtook him in his labors at a comparatively early age, Joseph M. Herr had accomplished most of those things that give substance to a man's life. He had worked with a right good will, had provided home and other advantages for his dependents, and his name and memory are held in high esteem in both Fulton and Lucas counties.
Mr. Herr was born at Sylvania in Lucas county September 4, 1870, son of August and Elizabeth Herr. His parents were natives of Germany, and soon after their marriage came to America and settled in Lucas county, where the mother died about 1877. August Herr then married Mrs. John Bettenger, who survived him.
Joseph M. Herr grew up on his father's farm, attended the com- mon schools, and on July 30, 1891, at the age of twenty-one, mar- ried Miss Mary Ann Schneider. Mrs. Herr was born at Raab, near Richfield Center in Lucas county, January 27, 1871. Her parents, Michael and Rosa (Buick) Schneider. were natives of Germany and Lucas county, Ohio, respectively. and both are now deccased.
Following their marriage Mr. and Mrs. Herr lived with his parents a year and a half, and then moved to Toledo. Mr. Herr was a very skillful carpenter, and worked at his trade in Toledo four years. Hc always liked farming and the country, and on leaving the city bought twenty acres in Amboy township of Fulton county. He improved this land with several buildings and put about ten acres under cultivation. He lived there about ten years and every season worked at his trade. On selling that property he bought thirty- seven acres a half mile north of Caraghar, but continued his car- penter work and left the management of the farm largely to his sons. After four years he sold again and then bought eighty acres of partly improved land in Amboy township. The rest of his life he devoted to making this a first class farm, though after a few years, on account of ill health, he had to give over the heavier work to his two older sons. Mr. Herr died September 14, 1918. He was a member of the Catholic Knights of Ohio, was a democratic voter, and was affiliated with the Catholic Church at Caraghar.
Mrs. Herr has proved a very capable business woman and with the aid of her sons has managed the farm with expert ability and with satisfying returns. Of her children Michacl, the oldest, dicd in infancy. Sylvester married Margaret O'Neil and has two chil- dren, Alice Ann and Richard Michael. Louis, now at home, was
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with the United States Hospital Corps and saw eleven months of duty overseas in France. Celia died at the age of two years and Bertha is at home. Vincent is attending school in St. Louis, Missouri. The two youngest children at home are Ambrose and Cyrillus.
WILLIAM BENNETT COOK. While Mr. Cook was born in the City of Cleveland, the greater part of his life has been spent within the confines of Fulton county, and here he has worked out life's problems in a satisfactory manner to all concerned, has achieved a place of esteem among his neighbors and is enjoying the fruits of many years of toil as a farmer.
He was born at Cleveland March 17, 1851, a son of William and Sarah Ann (Bennett) Cook. His parents were natives of England, his father born at Folkstone and his mother at Tenterdon in Kent county. They were married in England and in the spring of 1849 crossed the ocean, lived in New York a year, then settled at Cleve- land, where William Cook was employed as a laborer six years. For four years he lived on a farm near Independence, Ohio, and in the spring of 1861 drove across the country to Amboy township of Fulton county. He rented here for three years, then bought eighty acres of timbered land. To provide a home for his family he built a log cabin in the midst of the woods, and he worked hard to get the land under cultivation and give his farm the improvements he desired. He died on the old homestead and his widow remained with her son William B. until her death some years later.
William Bennett Cook was the youngest of his parents' chil- dren. He was ten years of age when he came to Fulton county, and his education was derived from common schools. As a boy he was trained in habits of industry and has relied upon that quality to give him the success he has earned. On March 17, 1876, he married Mary Esther Grimm. Mrs. Cook was born in Lucas township, Ohio, a daughter of Frederick and Harriet (Brainer) Grimm, both natives of Germany. Mrs. Cook passed away November 27, 1914. On May 27, 1919, Mr. Cook married Albertina Mohr, daughter of Simon and Louisa Ortgen, who were born in Germany. Three years after his first marriage Mr. Cook bought the old Grimm homestead of fifty acres. Only part of it was cleared and improved and the farm as it stands today is largely a monument to Mr. Cook's personal labors and management. He built all the present buildings. Later he bought the old home place of his father from the other heirs, so that he owns 130 acres, all devoted to crops except twenty acres in timber. Here he continued his active work as a farmer until about 1909, since which date he has taken life somewhat at leisure, and his son now rents the farm. Mr. Cook has served as principal of his township and is a republican voter.
He and his wife have had four children: Dallas B., of Pike township, Robert, of Amboy township, Alice, who died at the age of nine months, and Arnold at home.
REUBEN A. SMITH. In 1839 John Smith, of London, England, came with his family to Guelph, Canada, and settled on land secured from the English Crown. Here his son, Reuben .J. Smith, a school teacher, met a teacher in the Toronto Normal, Esther Emma Clarke by name, the daughter of Rev. John Clarke, a minister of the Bap- tist Church. The two were united in marriage, settling near Guelph on the farm of Reuben J. Smith's mother, by this time a widow. Later they moved to Elora, Ontario, where Mr. Smith entered the drug business.
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Here the subject of our sketch, Reuben A. Smith, was born in 1863. When fourteen years of age, Reuben A. completed the course in the Elora High School and passed his entrance into Toronto University. He worked in his father's drug store until he moved to Tuscola county, Michigan. In Tuscola county Mr. Smithi became of age and thus became a citizen of the United States. Mr. Smith pur- chased a drug store at Mayville, Michigan. In this town he met Margaret E. D'Arcy, daughter of William and Mary (MeLaughlin) D'Arcy, both of Irish deseent. On March 11, 1885, they were united in marriage, and to this union was born one daughter, Myrtle E., wife of Bert A. Crockett.
Later, "R. A.", as lie is known to his friends, sold his store at Mayville and for several years clerked in several towns in Michigan. In 1893 he moved to Morenei, Michigan, and lived there for five years, when he bought out the drug store of E. C. Porter & Son at Weston, Michigan, Mr. Smith successfully conducted the drug busi- ness there until September, 1902, when he moved his stock to Meta- mora. Since that time he has built up a splendid business in Meta- inora, adding groceries, erockery, jewelry, silverware, wallpaper, books and stationery to his line. His store is known as one of the finest in northwestern Ohio. Mr. Smith is a pharmaceutical ehemist, registered in both Michigan and Ohio. Beginning as a drug clerk, later as proprietor of a business of his own, and for eighteen years a successful merchant at Metamora, Reuben A. Smith is a Fulton county citizen who has made good use of his opportunities.
Ile is a member of the Masonic Order, belonging to the Blue Lodge and Chapter at Lyons, and the Council at Wauseon. For eights years he has been a member of the Metamora town council and is now serving his fifth term. A good business man, he has proved an equally good citizen and the people of Metamora and vieinity know and respeet him as such.
MELVIN J. WHITCOMB. The Whitcomb family story began in Fulton county in 1864, when the parents of Melvin J. Whiteomb of Pike bought some wild land and made a farm of it. They eame from Huron eounty. He was born November 9, 1852, a son of Samuel B. and Mary Jane (Thomas) Whitcomb. They had come from Herki- mer eounty, New York, to Huron county, Ohio. They were mar- ried in Huron county. The paternal grandparents, Hiram and Hannah Whitcomb, also came to Huron county. He died there Mareh 25, 1858, while she lived until July 17, the eentennial year.
When Samuel B. Whiteomb came to Fulton county in 1864 he bought 120 acres in the brush and much of the time under water. It had to be cleared and drained, and that was the beginning of the Whiteomb activities in Fulton county. He paid five dollars an acre for this land fourteen years after Fulton was an organized county. Mr. Whitcomb erected the neeessary farm buildings and added to the land until he had 210 aeres of well improved farm land under culti- vation. The wife died October 31, 1895, and he died March 7, two years later. Their children are: Melvin J. Whiteomb, who relates the family story; Fred, deceased, February 18, 1917, survived by his wife, Emma Raymond Whitcomb, and two children; Bertha M., wife of Clarence Senior; and Howard who lives with his mother.
M. J. Whitcomb inherited part of the Whitcomb family home- stead and has always lived there. He does general farming and dairying, and has comfortable surroundings. On April 23, 1881, he married Catharine Stukey, of Archbold. She was born there July 15,
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1862, a daughter of Peter and Anna (Gigax) Stukey. The father came from France and the mother from Switzerland. The paternal grandparents, Peter and Catharine (Yoder) Stukey, were early set- tlers in Fulton county. The grandfather, Godfrey Gigax, lived in Archbold in an early day. They were all emigrants to America. The children born to Mr. and Mrs. M. J. Whitcomb are: Viola, wife of Earl Holmes, of Clayton; Cora, wife of Harry Cooley, of Wolf Creek, Michigan; Ethel, at home; Herbert, of Pike, married Hazel Smith, and they have one daughter, Catharine; Charles and Ora were both soldiers in the war of the nations, the latter being in the Army of Occupation in Germany; Ruby and Elton are at home with their parents.
Mr. Whitcomb votes with the republican party, and for eight years he has been a inember of the board of education in Pike town- ship. Mrs. Whitcomb is a member of the Disciples Church. For more than half a century the Whitcomb family has been identified with the history of Fulton county.
Twelve years of age when brought to Fulton county, Melvin J. Whitcomb as he grew to manhood gained a true appreciation of his individual responsibilities, and his own efforts have supplemented those of his family in redeeming a portion of the wilderness and creating the great agricultural prosperity that Fulton county enjoys today. While he can properly find satisfaction in the work and cir- cumstances of his own career, he also looks back with gratitude to what his father did before him, and also feels a commendable pride in his own children, particularly in the sons who joined the colors and are veterans of the World war.
ROMEO D. MIZER. It was the lot of Romeo D. Mizer of "Mount Pleasant Farm" in Fulton county to come again to the old home- stead of the Mizer family. He was born December 8, 1876, in Pike township. He is a son of Jacob S. and Delilah (Shrock) Mizer, the father from Coshocton and the mother from Holmes county. The father was a soldier in Company G, Eightieth Ohio Volunteer Infantry, and soon after his discharge from the army they were married, and in 1866 they invested in eighty acres of land in Pike township, Fulton county. In time they added sixteen acres to the farm.
In 1908 Jacob S. Mizer retired to Delta, and died December 20, 1918, and his wife still lives in Delta. Their children are: Julia Ann, wife of Rev. Clayton Hopkins, of Wauseon; Martha, wife of William Harmon, of Delta; Romeo D. Mizer, of "Mount Pleasant Farm ;" William Andrew, of Pike; and Lelia, wife of Clarence Ohlinger, of York.
When he was twenty-one Mr. Mizer hired out on farms by the month until in the spring of 1900, when he married Cora Gardener, of Royalton township. She is a daughter of Watson and Alice (Snyder) Gardener. Their first investment was in a twenty-acre place in Pike, and a few years later they sold it and bought the old Mizer farm-Mount Pleasant Farm. He has improved the farm and has modern buildings on it. Their children are: Paul Watson, Rov Sidney and Ethelyn Mae. The Mizers belong to the United Brethren Church, of which he is a trustee and the chorister. He is republican, and was for six years a member of the school board. He was a member of the committee on the sale of Liberty Bonds, and is a member of Aetna Grange.
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JOHN B. VIERS. Pike township has been the home of the Viers family since the coming of James Viers, the grandfather of John B. Viers. Born in Pike in January, 1871, John B. Viers is a son of James E. and Sarah E. (Dunbar) Viers, the parents both natives of Fulton county. James Viers entered the land that is now the Viers family homestead.
The maternal grandparents, Boyd and Rachel (Fitzsimmons) Dunbar, were also early settlers in Pike township. He died in 1883, while she lived until 1902, in the community. The children born to James E. and Sarah E. Viers are: Owen, of Wauseon; Della, wife of William Mickle of Detroit; John B., of Pike; Harvey C., of Toledo; and Nellic, wife of Freeman Geesey, of Toledo.
J. B. Viers married Mary A. Cole on June 1, 1891. She is a daughter of Thomas Jefferson and Louisa (Jones) Cole, of Pike, both Ohio people and the mother a native of Fulton county. She was born in Dover township. She died in 1888, while Mr. Cole died in 1910. Mr. and Mrs. Viers lived at the family homestead until the second marriage of his mother to Joseph Bloom, and later he bought out the heirs and again took up his residence there. Finally he traded this farm for sixty acres where he lives today. He has drained and improved the place and has a Holstein dairy there.
The children born to Mr. and Mrs. Viers are: Cloid. of Lucas county, who married Lola DeLong. They have five children : Thora, Doris, Orma, Wayne and Russell. Ruby B. is a resident of Toledo. Sela is the wife of Leonard Stolte, of Dearborn, Michigan. They have one son, William J. Stolte.
Mr. Viers is a republiean and for fifteen years he served as con- stable in Pike township. He is a member of the Ottokee Arbor of the AAneient Order of Gleaners. James E. Viers was a Civil war soldier. He first enlisted in Company I, Thirtv-eighth Ohio Volun- teer Infantry, in the 100 days' service, and was discharged Oetober 27, 1862, and on February 21, 1864, he re-enlisted in Company K, Sixth Ohio Cavalry. He received his final discharge June 27, 1865, -the end of the war.
MELVIN HINKLE, of Royalton, has lived in one place all of his life, still owning part of the original Hinkle farm where he was born April 23. 1846. He is a son of Ephraim and Ruth (Welch) Hinkle, the mother a native of Royalton. Ephraim was a son of John and Huldah Hinkle, and their home was in Cayuga county, New York. The other grandparents. George and Ruth Welch, came from New York, and were early settlers in Royalton. They entered land and made a farm in the community.
When Ephraim Hinkle was married he and his wife settled on land owned today by Melvin Hinkle. Their children are: Melvin, who relates the family story ; and Mary, deceased. who was the wife of Charles Mann. Ephraim Hinkle married Susan Horton, and there is one son, Stephen, of Royalton.
Melvin Hinkle enlisted April 9, 1861, in Company K, One Hun -. dred and Forty-seventh Ohio Volunteer Infantry, and served in the Army of the Potomac. Discharged from the army the same fall, he returned to Royalton. In 1867 he married Hannah Carpenter, of Royalton. She was a daughter of James and Cordelia Carpenter, of New York. He lives on twenty acres of the Hinkle family home- stead.
The children of this marriage are: Delia, deceased; Arthur, deceased; Lewis, of Redford, Michigan ; Ernest, of Detroit; La Vern,
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wife of Ira Smith, who lives with her father; Harry, of Fort Wayne, Indiana; and Mrs. Ruth Drum, who lives in Toledo. Mr. Hinkle is a republican, and a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows Lodge of Lyons, and of the Baxter Post No. 238, Grand Army of the Republic, of Lyons.
Thus briefly are recounted some of the facts of a long life. There is a particular interest attaching to the career of Melvin Hinkle as one of the oldest living native sons of Royalton. His service as a Civil war soldier, the many years he devoted to agriculture on the old homestead, and his public-spirited part in community affairs all justify a record of this honorable citizen in the history of Fulton county.
JOHN R. CLENDENIN. It was in the American Centennial year --- September 26, 1876, that a child was born on the line between Ful- ton and Lucas counties, in Amboy. He is a son of Leverett H. and Cornelia (Tredway) Clendenin, the father from York State. His parents, John and Phoebe Ann (Hackett) Clendenin, came early to the vicinity of Metamora, and thus John R. Clendenin is a native of Fulton county. Reuben and Nancy Tred- way were also New York people who came early to Fulton county. As the story books say: "It was the union of two of our early families," when Leverett H. Clendenin married Cornelia Tredway.
. After the Clendenin-Tredway marriage the young people settled on a farm in Amboy. While he was not a natural born farmer, he was a horse dealer and had his part in securing electric railroads, etc .; doing many things to advance the interests of the community. Mr. Clendenin was one of the early builders of stone abutments for bridges, and was always a little in advance of the time in which he lived-was always just a little ahead of the procession in general progress. His wife died in 1912, and he died four years later.
The children in the Clendenin family are: Anna, wife of George Potter, of Metamora; Minnie, who died at the age of eighteen ; John R., who relates the family history; and Morris, of Swanton.
On November 30, 1899, J. R. Clendenin married Emma Viola Kahle. She was a daughter of David Milton and Emma (Horton) Kahle. They lived in Richfield township, Lucas county, Ohio, although both were natives of Pennsylvania. J. R. Clendenin set- tled on a small farm in the extreme northeast corner of Amboy, which is the corner of Fulton county, on a forty that Mr. Clen- denin had purchased from his father. It was only partly improved, and he soon exchanged it for property in Metamora.
When Mr. Clendenin removed to Metamora he worked by the day for one year. He then secured a place at the grain elevator and remained there four years. He then worked one year for the Meta- mora Hardware Company, and returned to the position at the ele- vator where he remained for three years. On January 1, 1912, he became associated with the Lyons Grain and Coal Company. He has an interest in the business and remains as manager. ,
The children born to Mr. and Mrs. J. R. Clendenin are: Hope Minnie, Emma Fay, Lorin Rex (who died at the age of eleven months), and John Max. Mr. Clendenin "saves his country" by vot- ing with the republican party. He belongs to the Free and Accepted Masons, Lodge No. 434, and Lyons Chapter No. 175. The family belongs to the Church of Christ in Lyons.
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