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 13

Author: Reighard, Frank H., 1867-
Publication date: 1920
Publisher: Chicago, New York, The Lewis Publishing Company
Number of Pages: 628


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 13


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FREDERICK A. SLATER, who has the distinction of having been in business continuously in Lyons longer than any other man, is from Vermont: "Among the mountain trees, Vermont's Green Mountain Boys." It was August 10, 1843, that he was born in Essex, Chittenden county, Vermont. The Slaters were early settlers in Vermont. Augustus Slater was born there in 1802, and Laura D. (Littlefield) Slater was born in 1809-the year Lincoln was born, and they both died where they had always lived, his death occurring January 25, 1868, while she lived on until April 12, 1904 -almost four years into the Twentieth century. The Slaters one generation further back-Ezra and Perthenia Slater-were born in Connecticut, the Wooden Nutmeg state, and the Littlefields of that generation-Daniel and Mariam Littlefield-were born in Massa- chusetts. Daniel Littlefield was a soldier in the second war with England, the war of 1812, and the military spirit has been trans- mitted through the generations. Frederick A. Slater, of Lyons, enlisted September 10, 1862, in Company F, Thirteenth Vermont Infantry, going into the Civil war as a musician, and there is no gainsaying the part music had in swaying the results of that strug- gle. He was mustered out of the service July 21, 1863, and re- enlisted in Company I, Sixth Vermont Volunteer Infantry, Decem- ber 24, 1863, and on June 26, 1865, he was finally mustered out of the service.


Mr. Slater was in the famous three days' battle of Gettysburg, and July 3, 1863, he was deafened in his left ear by the explosion of a shell, which was a permanent injury to him. At the close of the war he returned to Vermont, but in September he went to Middle- ville, Michigan, to visit a sister, and later he attended school in Grand Rapids, where he studied bookkeeping for a time, and in No- vember of that year he started learning the harness maker's trade -a business he has since followed with success. He served his ap- prenticeship in Berlin, Michigan, and in 1866 he returned to the home of his sister at Middleville, and was married.


On April 10, 1867, Mr. Slater married Cynthia S. Chappell, of Wayland. Michigan. She was born December 30, 1846, at Man- chester, Ontario county, New York. She is a daughter of James G. and Eliza S. (Butts) Chappell, and in the next generation her ances- try were Elias and Charity (Freeman) Chappell, and Pardon Butts.


After his marriage Mr. Slater located in Morenci, Michigan, re- maining there only one summer, when, on account of the illness of relatives, he and his wife removed to Vermont, but after the death of his father, January 25, 1868, they returned to Fulton county, locat- ing in Chesterfield. Mr. Slater and a brother-in-law, A. F. Chappell, farmed together one year, and in 1870 Mr. Slater came to Lyons as a journeyman harness maker. In August, 1872, he went into busi- ness for himself at Lyons. and he has remained in this business to the present day. Mr. Slater voted for Abraham Lincoln in 1864, and has voted the republican ticket ever since.


The children born to Mr. and Mrs. Slater are Laura, wife of Frank H. Ferrand, of Essex, Vermont; Mervin W., of Columbus, Ohio; Cora M., who died in childhood; James W., of Hamilton, On- tario, Canada; Edith M., wife of William Kelley, of Morenci, Mich- igan ; Vera E., who died in young womanhood; Carlos B., who is associated with his father, and Roy N., of Lyons.


Mr. Slater secured an education in the Vermont district school and at Essex Academy. In 1883 he was elected township clerk, and since then he has held the office, aside from a vacancy of four years.


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While William McKinley was governor of Ohio he appointed Mr. Slater a notory public, and he does not allow the commission to expire. Mr. Slater is a charter member of Baxter Post, G. A. R., of Lyons, and since 1882 he has served as quartermaster.


Mr. Slater is a member of Royalton Union Lodge No. 434, Free and Accepted Masons, and of Lyons Chapter No. 175, Royal Arch Masons. He is a member of Wauseon Royal and Select Masters No. 68, and has served as secretary of the Free and Accepted Masons and Royal Arch Masons for many years. Few men are more active in fraternity circles than Mr. Slater.


An honored veteran of the Civil war, a resident.of Fulton county more than half a century, a veteran in the business and civil life of Lyons, and with an interesting record of social, civic and fraternal affiliations, Frederick A. Slater comes to old age with a serene con- sciousness of duty performed and many obligations fulfilled.


WAYNE CARPENTER. The western history of the Carpenter fam- ily of which Wayne Carpenter of Royalton is a representative, had its beginning in Lenawee county, Michigan, as early as 1828, when Samuel Carpenter, who was the grandfather of Wayne Carpenter, located there. While his parents, Mordecai and Caroline (Foster) Carpenter, came from New York, they grew up in Michigan, and when they were married they settled in Ohio, and on January 29, 1846, Wayne Carpenter was born in the community where he lives today.


The Foster ancestry came a few years later from New York to Michigan, and here their daughter Caroline married into the Car- penter family. Mordecai and Caroline Carpenter first moved to Willow Prairie, in Indiana, but there were so many Indians there that they soon returned to Michigan and later they crossed the Michigan-Ohio border into Fulton county. Here they bought land and from this home he was called as a soldier into the Mohawk wars. His father, Samuel Carpenter, had been a soldier in the second war with England, in 1812.


In the early history of the Carpenter family there were three brothers who located in Rhode Island, but they separated and went into different directions, Samuel Carpenter being descended from the one who located in New York, and who lived and died in the vicinity of Niagara Falls. Mordecai Carpenter died in Michigan in 1852, and his wife in 1864. Their children were Ebenezer, George and Addie, deceased, leaving Wayne Carpenter alone.


In March, 1864, Mr. Carpenter enlisted as a Civil war soldier in Company F. Sixty-seventh Ohio Volunteer Infantry, as a private. He served in the Army of the James, and received his discharge in September, 1865. He returned to Fulton county, and in 1871 he went to Newton and Shedrick City, Kansas, where he spent a season on a ranch. Later he went to Fairfield, Michigan, and worked in a lumber camp.


In August. 1878, Mr. Carpenter married Elizabeth Cox. She is a daughter of Thomas and Eliza Cox, and was born at Lincolnshire, England, March 16, 1860. He then settled in Lyons, Ohio, where he worked as a brick and stone mason, and as a plasterer. He fol- lowed his trade many years, but since 1914 he has been living in comparative retirement in Lyons. There is one son, Thomas Edgar Carpenter, born April 29, 1899, at Lyons, Ohio, now employed in Toledo.


Mr. Carpenter votes the democratic ticket, and is an exponent of


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the Universalist religion. He is a member of the Grand Army Re- public, Baxter Post No. 238, also a member of the Independent Order Odd Fellows, lodge No. 622, of Lyons, and for twenty-two years he lias served as its financial secretary.


E. A. SEELEY. When he graduated from the Metamora High School, E. A. Seeley became cashier of the Farmers and Merchants Bank of Metamora, and has always filled that position of trust and responsibility in the community. He was born March 8, 1894, and has always lived in Metamora. He is a son of Fred A. and Elizabeth (Frail) Seeley.


The Farmers and Merchants Bank of which Mr. Secley is cashier was founded in July, 1901, with M. Lochbihler, president; F. A. Seeley, viee-president; F. E. Brodbeck, second vice-president, and Mr. Seeley, cashier. In November, 1913, Mr. Seeley married Carrie Ford, of Berkey, Lucas county. She is a daughter of L. L. Ford, who came to Lucas county in 1850, and who still owns his original farm of 350 acres there. The children are Frederiek L., Margaret J. and Virginia M.


The Seeleys belong to the Methodist Episcopal Church, and Mr. Secley is a member of the official board, and treasurer of the Cen- tenary fund. He is a member of the Metamora School Board, and is serving his second term as eity treasurer of Metamora. He is seere- tary-treasurer of the Civic League of Metamora, and seeretary of the Metamora Telephone Company. Mr. Seeley is a member and the financial secretary of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, No. 875, of Metamora. Few young men are connected more intimately with the social and business life of any community.


CHARLES J. MALONE, assistant eashier of the Home Savings Bank, Metamora, Ohio, is a son of John and Mary (Brenner) Malone. He was born April 5, 1895, at Swanton, Ohio. The family were resi- dents later of Metamora. His father, John Malone, was editor and publisher of the Metamora Record, and knew all about the business connected with issuing a weekly newspaper. As he was growing up C. J. Malone assisted his father in the printing office, but in 1915 he came as assistant cashier to the Home Savings Bank of Metamora.


The Home Savings Bank was organized in 1901 as a private bank, with E. S. Da Voll, president ; Horace Tredway, vice president, and H. H. Tredway, cashier. Mr. Malone is now assistant eashier. He was educated in the Metamora High School and belongs to the Catholic Church. He is a member of the Knights of Columbus in Toledo and of the Knights of the Maccabees. He was in military service from August, 1918, to February, 1919, stationed at Camp Sheridan, Alabama, Headquarters Company, One Hundred and Sixty-seventh Infantry, Ninth Division. He was chairman of the Sales Committee through four Liberty Loan drives, chairman of the Returned Soldiers Committee, Amboy township, during the Victory Loan campaigns. assistant scout master of Troop No. 1, Metamora Boy Scouts, and clerk of the Village of Metamora. Mr. Malone married Bernice Noble, of Lyons, Ohio, October 22, 1919.


ANSON WILLSON. The late Anson Willson, who was born Feb- ruary 3. 1845, in the territorial days of Fulton county, in what is now Fulton township, and who died April 20, 1914, at the family homestead in Amboy township, is commemorated in the Fulton county annals by his son, Burton Willson, who resides with his inother at the old homestead.


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Anson Willson was a son of Martin and Jane (Fullerton) Will- son, the father from Clark county, Ohio, and the mother from York county Pennsylvania. The grandfather, Nathan Willson, was born in New York and came to Pike township in 1834, where he entered land from the United States government, and thus Burton Willson is in the fourth generation of the Willson family in Fulton county. The maternal grandfather, Robert Fullerton, came from Pennsyl- vania in 1840 and settled in Swanton township, Lucas county. The ancestry of Burton Willson were early residents of northwestern Ohio.


Anson Willson was a college man and an educator in the early history of Fulton county. He attended Adrian College, and he taught school for twelve years. He resided in Fulton township until 1882, when he removed to Amboy. As early as 1876 .he had bought an eighty acre tract in the timber, and he improved it. Mr. Willson was a republican and served the community as justice of the peace, township trustee, member of the board of education, etc., and he was a good man in the community.


On May 12, 1870, Anson Willson married Susannah Stout. She is a daughter of Samuel and Amanda (Johnson) Stout, and was born May 12, 1849, in the territory now known as Fulton township. The children in the Willson family are: Burton and Gertrude, the latter the wife of Samuel Shug, of Pike township. The Willsons are mem- bers of the Reformed Church, and their family history is closely related to the history of Fulton county. The Willson name was in the territory before the organization of Fulton county.


To the readers of this article will be indicated briefly some of the facts that justify the high place of honor assigned the Willson family in the history of Fulton county. The family annals running back in this one locality more than eighty-five years, there are only a few other names whose record antedates that of the Willsons. They were not only among the carly settlers, but, as the record shows, were among the earnest, hard-working and intelligent citizens. Dur- ing his long life Mr. Anson Willson abundantly proved the abilities and the fine qualities in his character.


HIRAM ARTHUR SMALLMAN is readily identified in the citizen- ship of Fulton county as one of the men who have made a success in farming and in the performance of all the duties imposed by his relationship in his community of Amboy township through a long period of years.


Mr. Smallman has spent most of his life in Fulton county, but was born in Lagrange township of Lorain county, Ohio, May 28, 1858. He is a son of John and Josephine (Dernier) Smallman. His father, a native of Dublin, Ireland, was brought to this country by his parents, Frank and Elizabeth (Roycraft) Smallman, who in 1842 settled in Medina county, Ohio. From there John Smallman moved to Lorain county, and married Josephine Dernier, a daughter of Frank and Cynthia (Robbins) Dernier. John Smallman left his wife and family to enlist in the army during the Civil war, and paid the full sacrifice for his patriotism, being wounded in battle and dying while in the army. His widow then married Nathaniel Parent, and about 1864 they moved to Fulton county, locating in Royalton township. In 1879 Mr. and Mrs. Parent moved to Am- boy township, where he died in the fall of 1915. The widowed mother, who was born October 9, 1839, is still living, making her


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home with Hiram A. Smallman, her oldest child. Her other child by her first marriage is Frank Eugene Smallman, also of Amboy township. By lier second marriage she had two children : Cynthia, Mrs. Burton Eldred, of Kansas City, Missouri, and Benjamin, of Toledo.


Hiram Arthur Smallman was about six years old when brought to Fulton county, and he attended the common schools here and also the Normal School at Wauseon. At the age of twenty-one he started farming on a place he owned in Fulton township, and after his marriage a few years later moved to a farm of seventy-one acres in section 30, of Amboy township. He has since enlarged his farm to a hundred three acres, partly in section 19 and partly in section 30. The barn has been rebuilt, the house remodeled and rebuilt, and the place for a number of years has been regarded as a model of cultivation and good management. Seventy-one acres are under cultivation, while the rest is timber and pasture. In connection with general farming Mr. Smallman has always operated more or less as a dairyman.


He has always tried to do his part as a good citizen, served one term as justice of the peace and as a member of the school board, is a republican voter, and has held the office of trustee, class leader and superintendent of the Sunday school in the Methodist Episcopal Church.


February 28, 1883, Mr. Smallman married Eva Louise Blaine, who was born in Amboy township, a daughter of Benjamin and El- mina (Robb) Blaine. Her father was also born in Amboy and was a member of the old and prominent pioneer Blaine family, while her mother was a native of Medina county. Mr. and Mrs. Small- man have one daughter, Florence Elsie, now Mrs. Edward Lane, living in the Smallman home. Mrs. Lane by a former marriage has a son, Arthur L. Thompson.


ERNEST FRANK HANSON, deceased, was secretary and treasurer of the E. F. Hanson Company, Incorporated, of Wauseon, Ohio, the owners of the largest grain and elevator business in Fulton county. He was one of the substantial business men of the city. He had taken much part in public affairs, was well-regarded by the citizens in general, had been a city councilman for four years, and was defeated by only one vote when he sought the mayor's office in 1917 in the democratic interest. It will therefore be recognized that he was a man of consequence and enviable place among the people of Fulton county, Ohio.


He was born in Norwalk, Ohio. in June, 1882, the son of Wil- liam C. and Sophia (Reber) Hanson. The Hanson family is of German origin. but three generations have now had residence in America. William C., father of Ernest F., settled at Norwalk, Ohio, and their home was maintained at that place from that time. Ernest F. spent practically the whole of his years of minority there, attended the Norwalk Elementary School, and was a high school student for two years. Entering business life, he began to learn the trade of tanning, but before he was out of his apprenticeship forsook that calling and became a machinist, working in several local machine shops and finishing in New York City. After some time spent in Elkhart. Indiana, where he worked at his trade, he came to Wauseon in 1901, with capital sufficient to enter business. in partnership with Frank Bartlett, as grain and feed dealers, the


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firm getting good elevator capacity. The business was successful almost from the outset, and a substantial volume of trading was done. In 1910 Mr. Hanson acquired the interest of his partner, and the firm name eventually changed from that of Bartlett and Hanson to that of E. F. Hanson Company. It was incorporated in 1914, with Mr. Hanson practically the sole owner, and in control of its affairs as secretary and treasurer. He had developed a very sub- stantial business, having the largest elevator capacity in the district and having a large country trade.


Mr. Hanson proved himself to be a man of reliability in business and in private affairs. He had a solid standing in the city, as was evidenced in 1917 when he sought election as mayor, being defeated by the republican candidate by only one vote. For four years he was a city councilman and in national politics he was always a staunch democrat. He was, fraternally, a member of the Wauseon Blue Lodge of Masons, and of the local lodge of the Knights of Pythias order. A congregationalist, Mr. Hanson was a member of the Wauseon Congregational Church for many years. And, gener- ally, in almost all phases of the affairs of the community he showed an intelligent interest, generous in support of all projects he might consider to promise good for the community. Mr. Hanson passed away October 20, 1919.


On September 11, 1907, Mr. Hanson married Katherine, daughter of D. O. and Harriet (Mead) Woodward, of Norwalk. Three chil- dren have been born to them: Harriet Ruth, Charles Willard, who was born in 1911, and Gretchen. Mr. and Mrs. Hanson gained many sincere friends since they came to live in Wauseon, and have always been very hospitable.


JUSTIN BARTLETT. Usually the pioneers have gone the way of the world when the third and fourth generations are holding the boards in any community. Justin Bartlett, of Amboy, looks back- ward over two generations, and in his household are children in the fourth generation of the Bartlett family in Fulton county. Mr. Bartlett was born December 26, 1867, in Amboy, and for more than half a century he has lived in one community. He is a son of Hiram Russell and Mary Jane (Dennis) Bartlett, the father having been born in Toledo and the inother in Spencer township, Lucas county. Mr. Bartlett is also in the third generation of the Dennis family in northwestern Ohio.


The Bartlett name was brought to Fulton county by Hiram and Mary Ann (Fisher) Bartlett from New York. They were among the early settlers in Amboy, having entered land and secured a patent or government sheepskin from President Martin Van Buren. The maternal grandparents, Joseph and Mary Dennis, who came early to Lucas county, were also from New York state. When H. R. Bart- lett married into the Dennis family he settled on land in Amboy. that had been entered from the government by his father, Hiram Bartlett, whose name he carried into the next generation. He died January 16, 1917, and his wife had preceded him in death several years.


Justin Bartlett was the oldest son born in the third generation of Bartletts in Fulton county. A brother, Ralph, lives in Toledo, and Clarence lives in Adrian, Michigan. Marion, Evaline and Wayne are numbered among the dead in the Bartlett family. Mr. Bartlett has always lived at the place of his birth, buying some of the land from his father, and he has remodeled the house and added necessary


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farm buildings. He now owns one hundred twenty acres of the old homestead and is building a modern house on it.


On November 30, 1890, Mr. Bartlett married Emma L. Weeks, of Pike township. She is a daughter of Virgil and Ruth ( Fewels) Weeks. Their children are: Marie, widow of Lloyd Pfaff; Hollie, at home; Marjorie, wife of Fred Cameron, of Toledo, and Fern, Harry and Hal. Mr. Bartlett is a member of the Knights of the Macca- bees of Metamora, and for many years he has served as constable in the community. He is the republican member of the Amboy town- ship Board of Education.


His management of public affairs has well justified the confidenee reposed in him by his fellow citizens. In the improvement of the home farm he has made his efforts supplement those of the preced- ing generation, and his own children are now doing work that he did for his own parents thirty or forty years ago. Altogether it is possible to say that the substantial qualities of the Bartlett family are among the best assets of citizenship possessed by Fulton county.


JOHN FREMONT HARTELL. The political seer will not think twice before he discovers the reason why John Fremont Hartell was named John Fremont, when he learns that the man was born July . 4, 1856, and that he is a republican. The republican party came into existence that vear, and John C. Fremont was its first presi- dential candidate. Mr. Hartell is a son of John Beaver and Ellen (MeGary) Hartell, and he was born in Hardin county. The father was born on the Pennsylvania side of the Ohio River and the mother in Wheeling, West Virginia. Jesse McGary was Trish and his wife was English, but the Hartell strain in his family relation is "Pennsyl- vania Dutch."


When J. B. Hartell was married he settled near LaRue, Ohio, and in 1861 he moved to Marseilles; in 1863 he moved to Allen county, near Lima, and two years later to Pike township, Fulton county. He bought a farm in Pike and two years later he traded it for land in Amboy that had been chopped over, and he cleared and improved it. The Amboy place required draining, and he did it. He died there in May, 1895, while his wife died November 19, 1903, at the family homestead. Their children were: Lucurgus, who died in infancy; Theoda Linda, deceased; Augusta, widow of Albert Bowker, of Oklahoma; John Fremont; and Minnie, deceased.


Mr. Hartell has remained in one place sinee coming to the old homestead, where there are excellent farm improvements. On De- cember 31, 1885, he married Clara Wright. She was born April 3, 1866, in Amboy, and is a daughter of George and Ann (Parr) Wright. The Wrights were born and married in England, and they were among the early settlers in Fulton county.


The children born to Mr. and Mrs. Wright are: Edward, of Amboy township; William, of Lucas county; James, of Toledo; Clara. who is the wife of Mr. Hartell: Brainard, of Prairie Depot; Ralph, of Cincinnati, and Arthur of Amboy township.


The children born to Mr. and Mrs. J. F. Hartell are: Mildred. wife of J. M. Burroughs, of Royalton, Maynard and Elbert, at home, and Maude. the wife of Oliver Hable, of Fulton township. Mr. and Mrs. Hartell had common school advantages and have looked after the education of the next generation.


The Hartell homestead in Amboy township possesses that dig- nity due to long and continuous occupation by one family. For upwards of forty years its fields have responded to the intelligent


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efforts of its present proprietor, who ranks as one of the progressive farmers of the neighborhood. He has been cultivating the soil of that one place practically ever since he left school, and by the eapable handling of his farms, and by the rearing of a family, he has well earned a high place among the citizens of Fulton county.


EDWARD G. WRIGHT. George and Ann (Parr) Wright were English immigrants to America. They were born in Lineolnshire and immigrated in 1867, coming direet to Fulton county. They settled in Fulton township, but soon moved to Amboy. Their son, Edward G. Wright, of Amboy, relates the family history. They bought land in the timber and cleared it and made a farm of it. Mr. Wright died there in 1912, and at the advanced age of eighty- five years Mrs. Wright still lives at the family homestead.


The children born in the Wright family are: Edward G. Wright, of Amboy; William, of Toledo; James R., of Toledo; Clara, wife of John Hartell, of Amboy; Brainard, of Prairie Depot; Ralph, of Cin- cinnati, and Arthur, of the home place in Amboy. When he was twelve years old Edward G. Wright began working out by the month, and when he was twenty-five he had saved enough to buy forty acres. There was only seven acres cleared and the rest was under water.




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