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 17

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 17


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On June 25. 1890, Charles Stutesman married Nettie Roos who bears the relation of cousin to G. Scott Roos, and their children are: E. Alleine, Glade Roos and Marian Agnes. Mrs. Roos is a half sister to them. The Roos-Stutesman family history is inseparably identified with the history of Chesterfield, and the Roos cemetery has been their God's Acre through all the years of the history of Fulton county.


The children born to Mr. and Mrs. G. Scott Roos are: Charles Gerald, George Seott, Elizabeth Norine, Harold Stutesman, Anna Eloise and Evelyn May. They are in the fifth generation from their Revolutionary aneestor, but the three older ones are sleeping the


Lawrence Q Stevens & Family.


T


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sleep of the ages, the immediate family burial plot now being the Wauseon cemetery-one of the beauty spots in Fulton county.


From the beginning the Roos family vote has been cast with the republican party, and for many years G. W. Roos was a justice of the peace in Chesterfield. G. Scott Roos has served as township trustee in Chesterfield and as a member of the board of education both there and in Wauseon. In November, 1914, he was elected treasurer of Fulton county, and that explains his removal to Wau- seon. The family are members of Chesterfield Grange and of Ches- terfield Arbor of the Ancient Order of Gleaners. Mr. Roos is a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows Lodge in Lyons, and of the Knights of Pythias in Wauseon.


The Roos family were members of East Chesterfield Christian Church, but have been transferred to Wauseon. In the rural church Mr. Roos was an elder and the Sunday school superintendent, and he is a deacon in the Wauseon Church.


Since 1888 the Roos family in Fulton county, of which there are several branches, have met in annual reunions. For many years they met at the different homesteads, but recently the meetings have been held on the Fulton county fair grounds. While some branches of the family have changed the spelling of the name from Roos to Rose, the Fulton county branch adheres to the original form of the word-the name given them by Dr. John Philip Burchard Roos in the beginning of American history. There are more than one hun- dred relatives who assemble in these annual reunions, and from the beginning Miss Olive Roos of Wauseon, although formerly a resi- dent of Chesterfield, has been the family historian.


The specific data concerning the beginning of the Roos family history in America is obtained from an age old document in pos- session of G. Scott Roos, being a copy from the records of St. Peter's Lutheran Church in Rhinebeck, New York, and dated April 28, 1819-written in legible hand and in good conditon. Mr. Roos also treasures an apple tree wood razor hone brought from Germany in 1776 by his Revolutionary ancestor-Dr. John Philip Burchard Roos.


LAWRENCE ALBERT STEVENS, a well-regarded and prosperous farmer of Franklin township, Fulton county, Ohio, comes of a family which for many generations has had worthy part in pioneer develop- ment in the states of New York, Connecticut and Ohio, and also to some extent in Michigan. Particularly of historic note in this his- tory of Fulton county leaders is the association of the Stevens family with pioneer efforts in the county. The great-grandfather in the paternal line of Lawrence Albert Stevens came over the blazed trail from New York into Ohio, settling at first in Huron county, and finally coming to Fulton county in 1857, where he took up a tract of land about three miles southeast of Wauseon. There he lived for the remainder of his life, and there his son, grandfather of Law- rence A., lived for the greater part of his life, eventually, however, removing to Toledo. Everall Stevens, father of Lawrence A., was born in Huron county, Ohio, but eventually settled in Riga town- ship, Lenawee county, Michigan in 1883, where he still lives. His wife, Magdalena (Lorntz) died in 1907. They were the parents of eleven children, among them being Lawrence Albert, who was one of twins and was born on October 19, 1884, in the family homestead at Riga township, Lenawee county, Michigan. Lawrence was edu- cated in the country school of his native township, attending that


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school until he had reached the age of sixteen years, when he entered the Blissfield, Michigan, High School. He had resolved to qualify for professional life, and with that object took the course at the Fayette Normal School, which gained him admission to the teaching profession. As an educator he spent the next five years in the public schools of his native county in the State of Michigan, and about the end of that time married, this bringing material change in his plans. Thereafter for the next three years he farined a property he had purchased in Riga township, Lenawee county, Michigan. He sold that property to advantage after occupying it for three years, and then came into Fulton county, having rented a farm situated at Fayette. There for two years he made his home, farming, and during the period teaching also in the local school. At the end of that time he moved to the farm in Franklin township, Fulton county, upon which he has since lived, that is, for the last seven years, he having aequired it in 1913. It is a good property of eighty aeres, and well fitted for the purpose to which he puts it, general farming and the raising of hogs. He has shown much enterprise and marked energy in farming matters, and is one of the substantial, responsible men of the community, well-regarded by his neighbors, and active in church work. By religious conviction he is a Methodist, is a trustee of the local church, and served as a member of the building com- mittee. He belongs to the Franklin Grange, and politically is affili- ated with the democratic party. He is also one of the stockholders of the Fayette Elevator Company, with the affairs of which he is closely identified. Generally throughout his life he has manifested commendable characteristics, a self-reliant steadiness of purpose and an aptness in business management such as has brought him to a comfortable state of material wealth.


His wife, whom he married in 1909, was Verna C. Ely, daughter of John M. and Priscilla ( Borton ) Ely, of Gorham township, Fulton county. She comes of a family of Colonial and of distinguished Revolutionary record. The Ely family is of English origin, but has been resident in the United States since 1680, and was among the Colonial families of New Jersey, the family home being in the vicinity of Trenton in that state. Colonel George Ely, great-great- grandfather of Verna C. Ely, had a worthy part in the Revolutionary struggle. Mr. and Mrs. Stevens have two children, sons: Ray Allen, born in 1910, and John Everall, now five years old.


GEORGE M. ZIEGLER. One of the prosperous farmers and stoek- raisers of Fulton county is George M. Ziegler, who is demonstrating in his everyday work a comprehension of the dignity and importance of his calling, and proving conclusively that there is money in farming, provided a man knows how to make his efforts pay. He owns a fine farm of 126 acres in Franklin township, and it is regarded as one of the best rural properties in this section.


George M. Ziegler was born in Lucas county, Ohio, on April 5, 1881. a son of John A. and Mary (Bechtol) Ziegler, and grandson of Jacob Ziegler, born in Switzerland, who at the age of fourteen years was brought to the United States by his parents, who aequired a farm in Lucas county, Ohio. When George M. Ziegler was two years old his parents came to Franklin township and bought the farm on which they are still living.


Until he was sixteen years of age George M. Ziegler attended the rural schools of Lueas and Fulton counties, and from then on has been engaged in farming. At the time of his marriage he located


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on his present farm, and is carrying on a general line of farming and raising Holstein cattle, being very successful in both lines of agricultural activity.


In 1914 Mr. Ziegler was united in marriage with Helen E. Stemen, a daughter of Rev. Andrew J. Stemen, then of Van Wert, Ohio, but now in charge of the United Bretheren Church at Warren, Ohio. The maiden name of the mother of Mrs. Ziegler was Tillie Baxter. Mr. and Mrs. Ziegler have three children, namely: Elinor Frances, who was born in 1915; Clarence Stemen, who was born in 1917; and Jean Catherine, who was born in 1919. In his political convictions Mr. Ziegler is a republican, and was elected a member of the school board of his district for a term of six years in 1920. He belongs to the United Bretheren Church. A man of untiring indus- try, Mr. "Ziegler keeps things moving on his farm, and everything is in the best of order. Having devoted his life to farming, he understands every detail of his business, and is interested in any movement which has for its object the improvement of his neighbor- hood or the raising of the standard of living for the farmer. How- ever, he is too practical to advocate any extravagant expenditure of public funds, knowing that it is better to have things done right and economically, and his advice is recognized as being sound and to the point both on matters agricultural and political ..


CHARLES E. SCHUCH, a respected and prosperous farmer of Franklin township, Fulton county, Ohio, is of German origin, but the family has had generations of American residence, mostly in the State of Pennsylvania. Charles E. was born in the family homestead in Lycoming county, Pennsylvania, on September 17, 1865, the son of Jacob and Regina (Stoltz) Schuch. He was edu- cated in public schools near his native place, and after leaving school took to farming occupations with good will and energy. He married in 1886, in Bradford county, Pennsylvania. He only stayed there a short while, however, and from the farm there he came direct to one in Franklin township, Fulton county, upon which he remained for about a year, then moving to Hillsdale, where he worked a farm for two seasons, then returning to Franklin township and taking a property near the farm he had formerly occupied. On that farm he remained for seven years and prospered, so that at the end of that time he was able to purchase the farm of eighty-five acres upon which the family has since lived. Mr. Schuch has shown alertness and enterprise in his farming, and has much improved his property, which is well adapted to the use to which he puts it, being a rich dairy farm. He has not shirked the hard labor necessary to bring the farm into complete bearing, and from time to time has employed much help. Neither has he shirked his share in the public respon- sibilities of the community. He has generously supported com- munity movements of merit. and has upon more than one occasion shown a commendable public spirit. During the progress of the recent war he manifested a genuine loyalty, supporting the local committees to the limit of his resources in their war work require- ments. In national politics he is a democrat, of independent lean- ings. As a matter of fact, he follows no party blindly, giving his vote to the candidate who measures up to his standard, and whose platform he can conscientiously indorse. Fraternally he is a mem- ber of the local branch of the Knights of Pvthias Order. For many years he has been an active member of the local grange.


In 1886 he married Nettie Case, daughter of Jabez and Mary


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Jane Case. She was born in Trov, Bradford county, Pennsylvania. To Mr. and Mrs. Schuel have been born two children. Emerson Herdie, who is now thirty-one years old, is unmarried and lives with his parents, ably assisting his father in the operation of the farm. Mabel Louise was a school teacher for four years and is now book- keeper with the Firestone Tire Company at Toledo.


JUDSON MARTIN VANDERVEER, deceased, but remembered and revered by many of the responsible agrieulturists of Fulton county, Ohio, in which he spent his whole life, was a man of estimable character, manifesting in his agricultural endeavors much of the worthy, manly characteristics of his pioneer forebears. The Van- derveer family is one of the old Dutch families of colonial New York. The name is encountered in many of the old records of that settlement, and at one time the family owned landed estate in what is now part of New York City. How the title to the land was lost to the family is not known to the present chronicler, and is not of particular significance to this record of Fulton county. Evidently Peter Vanderveer, who braved the rigors of frontier life, and in consequence brought the family into Ohio record, was not well circumstanced in material wealth. It appears that he was by trade a carpenter and mechanie, and came through the wilderness from New York state, driving an ox cart, seeking to win for himself and his family a homestead out of the privations and dangers of pioneer life. He settled on a tract of 100 acres in the district now known as Brady township, Williams county, Ohio. He removed to a farming property he had acquired near West Unity, Williams county, where he died in February, 1852. He had six children, four sons and two daughters, among his sons being Judson Martin, who was ultimately destined to spend so useful a part of his life in Fulton county.


Judson Martin Vanderveer, son of Peter and Sarah (Van Ort- wick) Vanderveer, was born at the family homestead near West Unity, Williams county, Ohio, on April 27, 1850. He was not vet two years old when his father died. It appears, however, that the family continued to live on the West Unity property, and in the country schools of that place Judson was educated, this educa- tion resolving itself into the winter months spent in study, and the summer months spent in farm work, the country schools being closed for a long summer vacation during the growing months. In that way the boy received a public school education, and concur- rently was of assistance to his brothers and his mother in the opera- tion of the home farm. Eventually the farm became his own prop- erty, and he steadily worked it until he was thirty-four years old. until 1884. In that year he sold the farm to advantage, and removed with his wife and family to the farm in Fulton county upon which he lived for the remainder of his life, and upon which his widow still resides. Judson M. Vanderveer died on April 18, 1912, after a worthy life of sixty-two years, spent mostly in energetic application to production, and in intelligent public-spirited co-operation in the responsibilities of community life. He had very many sincere friends in Fulton county, and was esteemed as an earnest Christian and a good neighbor. He was an independent in politics, and had he wished he might have been elected to some of the offices in the local administration. Fraternally he was affiliated with the Inde- pendent Order of Odd Fellows, a member of the Fayette Lodge.


In 1875, in Franklin township, Fulton county, Ohio, Judson


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Martin Vanderveer was married to Laura, daughter of Joseph and Mary (Beaty) Mclaughlin, the former a well-known and successful farmer of Franklin township. Mr. and Mrs. Vanderveer lived a long and happy wedded life, thirty-seven years passing before the demise of Mr. Vanderveer in 1912 ended the union in this life. To them were born three children, who, in the order of birth, are: Columbus Theodore, now forty-two years old, husband of Jessie Strawsbaugh, of Franklin township. They have three children: Lura Ethel, Nina May and Opal Gracc. Phoebe, who married Per- ley Wallace, of Fayette, became the mother of six children: Martin Evan, who died in November, 1916, aged twelve years; Olin Cassius, now thirteen years old; Hubert Edward, now eleven years old; Edna Leona; Leo Donald; and Vivian Velehr; John Henry married Lydia Ruger on December 25, 1907, and to this marriage two chil- dren have been born: Ralph J., now eleven years old, and Robert Orville, six years old.


Mrs. Laura Mclaughlin Vanderveer is thus fortunate in her chil- dren and grandchildren. She has also very many sincere friends in the community in which she has lived for so long.


VERNIE E. HUMPHREY. One of the oldest active business men of Fayette is Vernie E. Humphrey, who does a day's work every working day at his store. Mr. Humphrey's father was one of the founders and builders of Fayette, and the useful career of the son has been in keeping with the honorable traditions of the family here.


Mr. Humphrey was born in Fayette December 10, 1868, son of Rensselaer and Cornelia (Emerick) Humphrey. His father, who was born in Seneca county, New York, came to Fulton county and bought a tract of land, covered with a heavy growth of timber, and cleared away the space where part of the town of Fayette now stands. His land embraced all the south side of Fayette. He was a carpenter by trade, and among other services rendered by him in early times was the building of the first frame schoolhouse in Gorham town- ship. He and his wife are long since deceased. Their children were: Hannah, widow of N. Shipman, at Fayette; Mina, deceased wife of Lewis Ackley; Anna, Mrs. A. L. Ford, of Fayette; Elva, widow of James Kellogg, of Wichita, Kansas; Elmer, deceased ; Charles, of Jackson county, Michigan ; Elery, of Clinton, Oklahoma; Vernie E .; Millie, wife of H. C. Williams, of Toledo; Lelia, Mrs. Aaron Klopfenstein, of Clinton, Oklahoma.


During his boyhood at Fayette Vernie E. Humphrey attended the local schools and the Fayette Normal, and when he was sixteen years of age he left home and went west .to Sedgwick county, Kan- sas, near Wichita, which was then a boom town on the western frontier. He worked on farms in that vicinity about two years after which he returned to Fayette and for six years busied himself with his duties as clerk in the general store of A. J. Howard. About 1892 Mr. Humphrey again went west and participated in the race for land at the opening of the Cherokee strip in Oklahoma. He secured 160 acres, and occupied it six months before he returned home. He then engaged with W. L. Millnor in the drug business, and that partnership continued about six years. President McKin- ley appointed Mr. Humphrey postmaster at Fayette, and by reap- pointment he held office more than fourteen years. After retiring he moved to a farm in Lenawee county, but six years later sold his farm and then bought an interest with Mr. Fish in a clothing, men's


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furnishing goods and shoe store at Fayette, the business to which he is now giving his chief attention.


Mr. Ilumphrey and family attend the Methodist Church. In polities he has been a staunch republican and a leader in his party. In 1889 Mr. Humphrey married Sadie Borton, a native of Fulton county and daughter of William and Regina (Oliver) Borton. Her father was a native of New Jersey. The two children of Mr. and Mrs. Humphrey are: Beulah. at home, and Lanah, wife of Robert R. Towne, of Newark. New Jersey.


RICHARD SAMUEL KESTER. M. D. The noble aims that seem to inspire some men's entire activities necessarily and compensatingly lead to far-reaching results. A life of unselfish effort devoted to his fellow men in even more than one line may not bring the plaudits of the unthinking multitude, even when the recipients of the cheer and encouragement that helps them on their way. The gift is not given to all men to minister acceptably to both mind and body, to be able to point the way to heavenly things and to also minister to earthly ills, but such a privileged life is led by Dr. Richard Samuel Kester of Wauseon, a physician well known over the country, and a minister in the Methodist Episcopal Church.


Of sturdy stock, reaching back many generations to Scotch, Irish and German ancestry, Doctor Kester counts both agriculturists and professional men among his ancestors. His birth took place in De Kalb county, Indiana, May 5, 1847. His parents were Peter S. and Annabelle (Widney) Kester, and his father at that time was a substantial farmer in Washington township, De Kalb county. There the youth attended the country schools, and later completed the public school course at Auburn. He assisted his father on the home farm until he became a soldier, enlisting for service in the Civil war in November, 1863, at Kendallville, Indiana. As a member of Company C, Thirty-fifth Indiana Volunteer Infantry, he was sent first to Louisville, Kentucky: and from there to Pulaski, Tennessee, and later participated in the battles at Franklin and Nashville, the engagement at Franklin being deemed one of the most severely con- tested battles of the whole war. He assisted in the building of the pontoon bridges over the river. the yellow waters of the Cumberland making the work one of great danger. . With his regiment Mr. Kester camped at many points in Tennessee for a more or less length of time on the way to Texas, where the regiment was stationed from July to October, 1865, then returned to Indianapolis, and there he was honorably discharged. He has reason to refer with some pride to his military career, for it reflects honor upon him.


After the close of the war and his return home Mr. Kester taught school for a time and also worked at the carpenter trade in Auburn, during all this time cherishing hopes of becoming a physician. Fi- nally he went to Waterloo, Indiana, and there spent a year in the study of medicine in the office of Doctor Shepherd, and with this preparation in 1880 entered Hahnemann College at Chicago, from which he was graduated with the degree of M. D. in 1883. He was an indefatigable student during these years, not only keeping up with his classes in the college, but taking post graduate work at the Chicago Medical Institute, from which he was also graduated in 1883.


Doctor Kester entered upon the practice of his profession at Avilla, Indiana. where he remained for eight years, during four years of this period also operating a drug store. He then disposed of his


MOR Skusten


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store, exchanging it for property in Chicago, and then moved to Kendallville, Indiana, where he devoted himself to the practice of medicine for the next ten years, removing then to Columbus City, Indiana, and from there in 1900 to Toledo, Ohio, where he estab- lished himself on Glenwood avenue and remained eight years, becom- ing one of the prominent medical men of that city. Before coming to Wauseon, in 1917, he practiced medicine at North Lewisburg, Ohio, for fifteen months. Always busy in a professional way because of his medical skill, Doctor Kester for years has been a useful factor in the world in still another way. Careful and conscientious as a physician, he has brought healing of the body to the afflicted wherever he has exercised his skill, while as a local minister of his church body he has labored just as faithfully in this field as the other. He still is serving both city and country churches. as oppor- tunity offers, and still carries on his medical practice.


Doctor Kester was married August 1, 1869, to Margaret Barn- hart, a daughter of Peter and Mary (McFarland) Barnhart. Mrs. Kester died in 1914, having been the mother of six children, of whom the following survive: Bert, who married and settled at Atlanta, Georgia, has two children; Clyde J., who lives with his family at Detroit, Michigan, has three children; Ivy L., who is the wife of Francis Myers, of Toledo; and Loretto, who is the wife of Melvin Castleton, of Toledo. Doctor Kester's second marriage was to Dora J. Longwell, a trained nurse, a daughter of Tilghman Tell- ner, of Bucyrus, Ohio.


EARL NELSON BALDWIN. There is a Michigan side to the family story of Earl Nelson Baldwin of Fayette. He was born November 3, 1878, in Medina township, Lenawee county. He is a son of Nelson and Sarah (Sims) Baldwin. Nelson is a son of Charles Baldwin and a native of Lenawee county, while the mother came from Mon- roe county, New York. However, they were married in Michigan. For many years they were farmers, finally locating in Morenci, that haven of retired farmers. The mother died in 1905, and the father in 1914 in Morenci.


Beside his common school education Earl N. Baldwin attended the Favette Normal, and then entered the hardware business in Morenci. Four years later he transferred his business interests to Fayette, and he has prospered in a general hardware store.


In October, 1911, Mr. Baldwin married Myrtle C. Rorick. She is a daughter of Mark and Mary (Porter) Rorick, and is a native of Seneca township, Lenawee county, Michigan. Their children are: Ned, Mark, Pauline, Roscoe, Duane and twins, Cary and Mary.


GEORGE W. GRIFFIN. The Griffin family as represented by George W. Griffin of Fayette came west from New York to Ohio as early as 1835, the ancestry crossing Lake Erie and living for a time at Maumee before going by wagon to Adrian, Michigan, and later to Fayette. George W. Griffin, who relates the family history, was born in Fayette July 12, 1855, and all of his life has been spent in Fulton county. He was born within its borders five years after its organization.




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