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 14

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 14


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Mr. Wright set about improving the land by drainage and build- ings and adding more land until he now has one hundred twenty acres, with ninety-five acres under cultivation. The remainder is wood land, which he uses for pasture. On January 4, 1867, Mr. Wright married Ida Mohr, of Amboy. She is a daughter of Peter and Barbara (Greisinger) Mohr, the father from Germany and the mother a native of Fulton township. Their children are Clara, wife of Alfred Gunn, of Amboy; Ivan, at home; Lelia, wife of Graydon Loar, of Lenawee county, Michigan, and LaVern, at home with the parents.


Mr. Wright went to the common school, and as a man he has served as a member of the school board. He votes the republican ticket. While his father was English and his father-in-law was German, there is no question about his Americanism. The family belongs to the Methodist Church and he is a member of the board of stewards.


FRANK ELLSWORTH BRODBECK, of "The Pioneer Home" in Am- boy, has the same lineal descent as F. E. Brodbeck, being a son of John and Mary (Myers) Brodbeek. He remained at the family homestead where he was born, April 18, 1869, as long as the father and mother lived, and he bought eighty acres and later inherited forty acres of it. Mr. Brodbeck has 120 acres of well improved farm land, and "The Pioneer Home" tells the whole story.


There is a briek farm house, placed at "The Pioneer Home" by John Brodbeck, and it has descended to the son, unlike some of the old homesteads that go to strangers when it comes to a division of an estate. On November 26, 1907, Mr. Brodbeck married Rosanna Iffland, a daughter of Adam and Louise (Reichardt) Iffland, an immigrant family from Germany. Their children are: Ellsworth Frank, deceased at the age of six years; Wilford, August 5. 1912; Marvin, born November 25, 1916; and Marie Louise, December 26, 1918.


Mr. Brodbeck is independent in politics. He is a member of the Independent Order Odd Fellows of Metamora.


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Mr. Brodbeck has the industry which has been a dominant char- acteristic of the Brodbecks through all the long years they have lived in Fulton county. He has made his industry productive of a good home and other evidences of material prosperity, and he is a believer in comfortable living, well being, and has exemplified a commendable degree of public spirit in all his relations with his com- munity.


JOHN SAUNDERS BOYES. There is Scotch blood in the Boyes family represented by John Saunders Boyes, of Royalton, although his own birth occurred in March, 1875, in Virginia. He is a son of Alexander and Jessie (Saunders) Boyes, who in 1866 immigrated from Scotland, settling in Virginia, where they lived until 1883, when they removed to Fulton county. The family lived for a time in Chesterfield. The father had been married before his marriage to Jessie Saunders. In 1906 he died at the home in Chesterfield.


On November 25. 1900, John S. Boyes married Bertha E. Todd. She was born September 30, 1877, and is a daughter of Oliver and Lucinda (Devereaux) Todd, of Chesterfield. The father was a na- tive of Putnam while the mother was born in Lorain county, Ohio.


J. S. Boyes has lived in Chesterfield, Gorham and Royalton townships. When he was married he lived for two years on a small farm he owned in Chesterfield, when he sold it and moved to Gor- ham, where he remained eight and one-half years on a rented farm, from which he removed to his 120 acre farm, already partly im- proved, in Royalton. Mr. Boyes built a new barn and tiled and fenced the farm. He installed a hot air heating system in the house and otherwise improved the surroundings.


Mr. Boyes is a general farmer, giving special attention to pure bred Holstein cattle. While he only attended common school, Mrs. Boyes had high school advantages at Manton, Michigan. They are members of the Disciples Church of East Chesterfield, and since 1917 he has been president of the church board. For seven years he has served Royalton township on the Board of Education, and in 1920 was elected as township trustee. In politics he is a republican, and he holds membership in the Chesterfield Grange. There are two children : Lyle Jay and Juniata Lucile.


Coming to Fulton county a boy of eight years, growing up in the atmosphere of the country, Mr. Boyes has found success through the constant exercise of industry and self-reliance. His valuable farm, his home, his family, his relations with the community, are all meas- ures of a commendable degree of success and indicates the esteem which he enjoys throughout his home township.


DEWITT C. CLEGHORN. There is New England blood in the veins of DeWitt C. Cleghorn. of Royalton, his father being a native of Massachusetts and the mother of Vermont. However, Mr. Cleg- horn was born September 11, 1850, in Erie county, New York. His father, Zorester Cleghorn, was born in 1818 in Massachusetts, so that the name has been in the United States more than a century. He met his wife, Amy S. Hurd, in Erie county, New York, where he was a mason by trade. In 1858 they moved to Erie county, Ohio, and in 1884 they came with their son, D. C. Cleghorn, to Fulton county.


Mr. Cleghorn had invested in an eighty acre farm in Royalton, with only eighteen acres cleared, and he set about clearing and im- proving it. He still has a small tract in timber, and it is well known that a plot of timber adds to the value of a farm when it is offered on


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the market. Mr. Cleghorn has purchased forty acres additional land across from the original homestead, and there is some timber still on it. In the way of reforestration he has set out catalpa and osage orange trees.


While general farming is carried on at the Cleghorn place, for many years he worked at the general mason trade in the community, his wife overseeing the farm while he was away from it. In May, 1890, he married Hattie L. Miller, of Pike township. She is a daughter of Jeremiah and Nancy (McQuillian) Miller, the father having come from Wayne county and the mother from Summerset, Pennsylvania. The children are: Flossie S., wife of Welcome Green, of Morenci, Michigan, and they have three children, Amelia Cleg- horn, Evelyn Harriet and Elmer Smith, La Von De Witt, of Royalton, who married Martha Samlow, has two children, Ruth Amy and Har- riett Jeannette, and they live in Royalton; and Lola Belle. Mr. Cleghorn votes the democratic ticket. He was educated in the high school at Berlin Heights.


The thirty-six years Mr. Cleghorn has spent in Fulton county he regards as the most productive period of his life. He has achieved a commendable degree of success and prosperity, largely by applying the rule of doing the duty that lies nearest at hand, and the esteem with which his name is spoken in Fulton county is an evidence of how well his duties have been performed and his responsibilities dis- charged.


ROBERT PERRY CARPENTER. There is a Michigan side to the life story of Robert Perry Carpenter, of Lyons. He was born in Fairfield township, Lenawee county, March 23, 1859, and he grew up there. His father, Reuben T. Carpenter, was a native of Orange county, New York. His mother, Rosanna (Upton) Carpenter, was born in Ireland. The Carpenters were early settlers in Lenawee county, the grandparents of R. P. Carpenter, James and Katie (Striker) Carpenter, having come there from New York. James Carpenter entered a section of virgin timber land which he cleared, and he has had his part in the development of Lenawee county.


James Carpenter was an old school Baptist minister, and he was a man of moral influence on the frontier. William and Charity (McConnell) Upton, the maternal grandparents of Mr. Carpenter, were early residents of Maumee, Ohio, and they later removed to Fairfield, Michigan. Reuben T. Carpenter and Rosanna Upton were married in Lenawee county and settled there. but in 1903 they re- moved to Huron, Michigan, and they later died there. Their chil- dren are: Lewis, of Silverwood, Michigan ; Lorenzo, Ella and Emma, deceased; Robert Perry ; and Adelia, wife of Dr. M. C. McDonald, of Bad Axe, Michigan.


On August 28, 1884, Mr. Carpenter married Hattie L. Holt, a daughter of Frederick and Jane (Gilmore) Holt, the father a native of Germany, while the mother was a Fulton county woman. They lived in Royalton. For ten years Mr. and Mrs. Carpenter lived on a farm in Lenawee county, Michigan, and finally they moved to Lyons. Mr. Carpenter engaged in the hardware business, but two years later. he suffered the loss of his business through fire, and then he built the business block he now occupies today, where he conducts a gen- eral store.


The children in the Carpenter household are: Fred H., associated in business with his father, and Floyd O., of Lyons. Fred H. Car- penter married Nora Mullen. He has one son, Robert Clare. Floyd


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O., married Hazel Wilson. The Carpenters are democrats, and R. P. Carpenter has served the community as a member of the City Council and as a director of the Board of Education. Fraternally he belongs to the Masonic and Independent Order Odd Fellows lodges in Lyons, and the Knights of the Maccabees in Wauseon.


ILARRY T. WILLEMAN. It is a compliment worthily bestowed to say that Fulton county is honored by the citizenship of Harry T. Willeman, of Clinton township, for he has achieved definite success through his own efforts and is thoroughly deserving of the proud American title of self-made man, the term being one that, in its better sense, cannot but appeal to the loyal admiration of all who are appreciative of our national institutions and the privileges afforded for individual accomplishment. It is a privilege, ever gratifying in this day and age, to meet a man who has the courage to face the battles of life with a strong heart and steady hand and to win in the stern conflict by bringing to bear only those forces with which nature has equipped him, industry, self-reliance and integrity.


Harry T. Willeman is a native son of the Buckeye state, having been born in Richland township, Defiance county, in 1876, and he is the son of Henry F. and Caroline Amanda (Overly) Willeman. These parents, whose entire lives have been devoted to farming pur- suits, are descended from sturdy old Pennsylvania German stock, though the family has been established in America for many genera- tions. The subject secured his education in the common schools which he attended during the winter months, his summers from the time he was large enough being devoted to work on the home farm. Ile assisted his father until twenty-two years of age, when he under- took to operate the home farm on his own account, continuing this until his marriage in 1899. He remained on the home farm a year longer, and then bought forty acres of land in Defiance county, to the operation of which he gave his attention during the following nine years, at the end of which period he sold that place and bought his present farm of forty-one acres, located in Clinton township, Fulton county, where he has resided continuously since 1907, and to which he has devoted himself indefatigably. His industry and good management have brought to him a well-deserved prosperity and today he is numbered among the enterprising and up-to-date agriculturists of his section of the county. His place is well im- proved in every respect, the farm buildings being of a substantial and attractive character, while the general appearance of the place is a credit to the owner. Mr. Willeman devotes himself to general farming. and also raises some livestock.


In 1899 Mr. Willeman was married to Mary Peter, the daughter of William and Eva (Yorges) Peter, of Henry county, Ohio, and they are the parents of three children, Alta May, Mabel Irene and Julia Elizabeth.


Politically Mr. Willeman is an independent democrat, reserving to himself the right, especially at local elections, to vote for whom he considers the best men regardless of strict party lines. His re- ligious membership is with the Methodist Episcopal Church at Wau- seon. Personally he is a man of kindly and generous impulses, and deserves the respect which is accorded him because of his accom- plishments and his high personal character.


GEORGE B. HARTMAN. Having undertaken the operation of sixty acres of fine farm land in Fulton county. George B. Hartman, of Clinton township, feels that he is making his work pay him a good


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return on his efforts, and is satisfied with what he has accomplished so far, but has plans for advancement and the acquisition of more land in the future, as is but natural, for he is still a young man, having been born in Clinton township on October 10, 1887.


His grandfather, John Hartman, was brought to the United States by his parents when he was only six months old, they coming from Wurtemberg, Germany, and after their arrival in this country settlement was made near Wauseon, in Fulton county, and members of the Hartman family have been farmers ever since. The parents of George B. Ilartman are Ira and Cannie (Bayes) Hartman, also farming people of Fulton county.


After acquiring a common school education George B. Hartman attended the Wauseon High School for a year, and then began farm- ing. In 1913 he was married to Nora Gaiman, a daughter of William H. and Minerva (Turney) Gaiman, of Clinton township. Mr. and Mrs. Hartman have no children. After his marriage Mr. Hartman spent two years on his father's farm and then took over the operation of the Gaiman homestead. Since coming to it Mr. Hartman has bene- fitted by its substantial improvements and takes a deep pride in its ex- cellent condition. The neat buildings, all well adapted for their sev- eral purposes, well fenced fields, the many appliances and machinery for increasing the efficiency of the farming plant, all show that it is a place for a practical farmer and an industrious man and one who is carrying on this work as a regular business and not as a vocation until something better "turns up." This tendency on the part of some of the farmers to use their calling as but a make-shift, instead of bending every energy to making it a life work, is what has preju- diced some against an agricultural life. Naturally a man cannot expect to succeed if his heart is not in what he is doing. Farming is like any other kind of business, it must be carried on capably and by one who puts his interest in it along with his work, and then the results are readily amazing, gratifying and intensely interesting. Mr. Hartman is the latter kind of farmer, and that is the reason he is making such a success of his undertaking. Ever since casting his first vote he has been a republican, and sees no reason to change his political views.


REUBEN E. CHASE, who for many years has been identified in responsible capacity with the Gottshall Manufacturing Company, and latterly has been a stockholder and director of that corporation and general manager of their Archbold plant, is a man of good busi- ness ability, and one who since he has been in Archbold has mani- fested a helpful public-spiritedness.


He was born at the family homestead in Defiance county, Ohio, 'in 1859, the son of Charles and Charlotte (Felton) Chase. The Chase family, which originally was of English antecedents, is one of the noted colonial New England families. Its scions are numerously spread throughout the New England states, and many have had honorable and some quite a prominent place in American church, state or professional history. The branch to which Reuben E. Chase of Archbold belongs appears to have retained its ancestral sturdiness, and it was manifest in Charles Chase, father of Reuben. The early records shows the family as having originally settled at Nantucket Island, Massachusetts, and there Charles Chase was born. Prior to his marriage he followed the adventurous life of a whaler, but after he had married Charlotte Felton he settled in Buffalo, and for some years found occupation of maritime character on the great lakes.


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Eventually his family crossed the lake to Ohio, and Charles Chase settled them in Adams township, Defiance county, where for the rest of his life he lived, following agriculture upon a farming property of forty acres he had purchased. There Reuben E. was born, and there he grew to manhood. He received elementary education in the country schools at West Ridge, attending sehool until he was in his nineteenth year, although he had for many years prior to that done much work on the home farm. By the time his schooling closed he was conversant with most of the operations of farming life, and was also a young man of strong purpose and steady mind. He and his brother Frederick farmed one hundred and twenty acres sit- uated near to his father's property, and for five years they worked it jointly, after which Reuben went to Stryker, Williams county, where for the next two years he worked as a carpenter. He was twenty-five years old when he married, which event had its effect upon his plans, for soon after he had married he and his wife returned to Defiance county, and Reuben took a farm of eighty aeres in Adams township. That property he worked for two seasons, at the end of which time he became connected with a sawmill and tile manufacturing enter- prise at Bettsford, Williams county. He had acquired a one-half interest in that plant, and for the next five years he and his partner traded as Chase & Betts at Bettsford, which brought him to the time when he became associated with Mr. L. D. Gottshall, an extensive dealer in lumber. The partnership at Bettsford seems to have been dissolved by a division of interests, Mr. Chase taking the sawmill and his partner the tile plant. Next Mr. Chase with his sawmill was busily employed sawing lumber near Tedrow, Ohio, for Mr. Gottshall. And he had similar connection with Mr. Gottshall for twelve years at Farmers Center, Ohio. In 1901 he came to Arch- bold, where he has ever since lived. He is one of the principal stock- holders of the Gottshall Manufacturing Company, and is a director and also general manager for all the interests of that company, which does an extensive lumber business. He has proved himself to be a business man of reliability, is enterprising and energetic, and is a good employer. He has not shown a very evident interest in po- litical movements, and has never sought politieal office, but in the affairs of Archbold he has manifested a helpful interest, co-oper- ating in most of the publie movements of the place. He was mayor of Archbold for one terni. By religious conviction he is a member of the Church of Christ. He has for many years been placed among the business leaders of Archbold, and during the war proved him- self to be a whole-heartedly loyal citizen. He was very directly in- terested in the struggle, for one of his sons was in almost constant danger, crossing and reerossing the terrible submarine zone on one of the United States transports.


Mr. Chase married in 1885 Amelia Florence, daughter of Louis and Louise (Bourquin) Grim, whose home was near Archbold. Four children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Chase, but only two still sur- vive. The surviving children are: Ray V., who is now twenty-six years old, lives in Archbold, and has married. He is an accomplished musician and during the time of war enlisted in the United States . Marine Corps. He was assigned to the liner "Finland," then a trans- port, and as a member of the Marine Band of that ship he made eight trips across the Atlantic ocean, through the waters infested by the submarines. Fortunately the ship escaped and eventually young Chase received honorable discharge from the service. The other surviving child of Reuben E. and Amelia F. (Grim) Chase is the


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daughter, Marjorie Louise, now thirteen years old. Their deceased child, Muriel Joy, died in 1908, at the age of twenty-one years. She had many friends and was of a bright, generous nature, and her death was a sad blow not only to her parents but to her many girl friends also. She had been well educated and seemed to be entering into a worthy womanhood when death took her. Mrs. Chase died September 3, 1913.


HARVEY KING, who has an appreciable automobile supply busi- nes in Archbold, Fulton county, Ohio, and is the owner of the King Garage of that place, is an energetic business man of good practical inclination, and in his automobile enterprises lias given good service, in which way he has made very satisfactory connections.


He was born near Stutgard, Arkansas, in 1884, the son of Abra- ham and Fanny (Stutzman) King. In the paternal line his origin is British, but his maternal lineage connects with a German family. His father owned a farming property in Arkansas, later moving to Johnson county, Missouri, and after about eleven years of residence in that state came north and settled on an agricultural property near Archbold. Harvey was about seven years old when his parents moved from Arkansas to Missouri, and in the public schools of John- son county of that state he received practically all his academic education. He was sixteen years old when he closed his schooling and gave his time to his father and to the work of the parental farm. About one year later the family came into Ohio and settled near Archbold. There for the next four years father and son worked to- gether. Soon after that, however, Harvey married and took upon himself the responsibilities of independent farming. He rented a property of one hundred and twenty acres for five years, and another farm of sixty-nine acres for a further five years, during which time he appears to have had moderate success, and to have accumulated some capital. He was then able to follow his natural inclination toward mechanics. He came into Archbold and bought a machine shop, and met with some success in enterprisingly turning it into a garage. For somewhat more than two years he was established in that location, and then saw an advantage in renting the Ford repair room, which business he conducted for nine months. Then he bought his present garage, and has not had reason to regret the pur- chase. His business is a substantial and expanding one, and is known to automobile owners throughout that section of the county. His service is all that could be desired, and his intention is to main- tain it at a high and up-to-date standard. Mr. King has shown commendable enterprise since he has been in Archbold, and an equally commendable industriousness, and so has good place among the responsible optimistic residents of the town.


In 1905 he married Carrie, daughter of Amos and Elizabeth (Short) Rupp, of Archbold, and to them have been born five chil- dren : Ilva, thirteen years old; Ella, age eleven ; Mildred, nine years old; Beulah, age seven, and Ralph, two years old.


GARNETT QUEDO MORGAN. One of the leading business men and best known citizens of the western part of Fulton county is Garnett Q. Morgan, proprietor of the Red Cross Drug Store at Archbold. He has succeeded in his life work because he has been persistent and energetic and honorable in his dealings with the public, and he has therefore enjoyed the confidence and good will of all, which are in-


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dispensable factors if one succeeds in any line where the public has to be depended upon.


Garnett Q. Morgan was born at Hieksville, Defianee county, Ohio, on September 26, 1869, and is the son of Edison G. and Naney (Whitloek) Morgan, who were of Scotch and Irish antecedents re- spectively, though both families have been represented in America for many years. The subject was reared on his father's farm and secured his educational training in the common and high schools of Hicksville. When nineteen years of age he went to work for E. M. Pettit & Company, druggists at Hicksville, with whom he re- mained until thirty years of age. In 1899 Mr. Morgan entered the Ada School of Pharmacy, where he received his pharmaeist certifi- cate. Two years later he returned to Hicksville, where he remained until 1908, when he came to Archbold and took charge of C. W. Waldvogel's drug store. He continued in that position until 1913 when he purchased the business and has since operated it under the name of the Red Cross Drug Store. He carries a large and complete line of drugs and proprietary remedies, as well as several accessory lines, including wall paper, kodak supplies, etc. He enjoys a large and representative patronage covering a wide radius of surrounding coun- try and is deservedly popular with all his customers.


Mr. Morgan was married to Lodema B. Hoffman, the daughter of Peter and Caroline (Tracht) Hoffman, of near Hicksville, and to them lrave been born two daughters, Opal Marie and Eula Grace, the latter dying at the age of one year.


Politically Mr. Morgan is an ardent supporter of the republican party and has taken a commendable interest in loeal public affairs. He has served one term as a member of the City Council, and was re-elected in 1919. Fraternally he is a member of Hicksville Lodge No. 478, Free and Accepted Masons, belonging also to the Chapter of Royal Arch Masons. His religious affiliation is with the Christian Church. In all life's relations he has been true to every duty and the trusts reposed in him, and thereby has earned the enviable position which he enjoys in the community.




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