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 20

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 20


Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).


Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76


"Oh, say, Ma-everybody was married in Adrian then," said Mr. Shadle in explanation of the statement made by his wife. They crossed the Ohio-Michigan line because it was a custom of the day, and since their attendants, Claudius Gillis and Polly Eliza Verity, were married at the same time it was the event of the season, both bridegrooms having just enlisted in the Civil war. While no license was then required in Michigan, the "high contracting" parties were given marriage certificates.


Mrs. Shadle was the youngest of five children born to David and Sarah Philips (Himes) Whitaker. They were: John, Sarah, Ruth, Amos and Ann. While Allen was born in Wayne county March 1, 1841, Ann was born September 12, 1842, in Huron county. He was one in a family of ten, of whom eight are living, while she is the last of the Whitaker family. The Whitaker family story reverts to Cheshire county, New Hampshire, where David Whitaker was born August 14, 1802, a son of John and Sarah (Philips) Whitaker. Sarah Philips was born July 28, 1807, in Oneida eounty, New York. They were married February 15, 1827, and their children were: David, Lyman, James, John, Isaae, Sarah and Mary.


David Whitaker. father of Mrs. Shadle, removed with his family from the east to Michigan in 1839, and May 29, 1840, the story begins in Ohio, Greenfield, Huron county, and here occurred the birth of their youngest daughter. It was in March, 1853, that Ann Whitaker came with her mother to Fulton county, and it was while both attended Ottokee School in the palmy days of Ottokee that she met Allen Shadle. The young people grew up together, and while they were married August 9, 1862, they began housekeeping April 1, 1863. on Elm Tree Farm in Clinton, where they lived a full half century. Here on January 9, 1866, their son Joseph Allen Shadle was born, and he was given the names of the two generations before him in the community


Joseph Allen Shadle's common scool education at Ottokee was supplemented with the high school advantages in Wauseon, and in June, 1886, he graduated from Fayette College. At the age of six- teen he began teaching, and there were young men and women older than himself in attendance. They all cherish his memory today. In October, 1887, he located in the State of Washington, where he soon became identified with the community and all of its interests. "He was ambitious, and the great State of Washington held out attraetions."


Joseph A. Shadle had commercial interests at Roy, and he was steward of the Insane Asylum of Fort Steilacoom. In 1892 he was clected as a republican representative in the Washington Legislature, and success had crowned all his efforts and ambitions. He died in his western environment March 4, 1894, but his last long sleep is in the Ottokee cemetery near Elm Tree Farm-the home of his child- hood, always so dear to him. On an easel in the home of the father and mother in Wauseon is a life size portrait, and at its base there are always flowers. Their greatest comfort in life is this tribute to the memory of their son- Joseph A. Shadle.


Allen and Ann Shadle had hoped to lean on the strong arms


141


HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY


of this son in their declining years, but memory is all that remains to them. Joseph Allen Shadle had lived twenty-eight years in the world, and in North Park, Wauseon, is a completed Soldiers' Monu- ment, the thought suggested to Mr. and Mrs. Shadle by their son, who often remarked: "I hope to live long enough and to have wealth enough to complete that monument," and through their ministrations it is his tribute to the community. The pension fund that had accrued to the father, who was a Civil war soldier in Com- pany H, One Hundredth Regiment, Ohio Volunteer Infantry, was used for that purpose. The monument had been begun at the close of the Civil war by patriotic citizens, but for want of funds it had remained unfinished for half a century.


This monument was finally dedicated September 20, 1918, the inscription reading: "This base was erected in 1867 by pioneers under the leadership of Col. D. W. H. Howard in memory of soldiers in Fulton county who enlisted in the Union army, 1861-1865, and finished in 1918 by Allen and Ann Shadle, at the request of their son, Joseph Allen Shadle, who died at Fort Steilacoom, Washington, March 4, 1894," and it stands there an object lesson of patriotism and devotion.


In the homes of many friends is a booklet: "Keep My Memory Green," with an introduction written by Hon. John C. Rorick, and signed tributes from other friends, that is a final tribute to Joseph Allen Shadle from his mother, a woman who has so many times written words of comfort for others. While this man and woman live at ease in their home in Wauseon, the loss of their son is a sorrow never to be forgotten by them. While Elm Tree Farm was the scene of their busy life activities, and the graceful, feathery elm has been preserved in picture and in written description, the farm has been sold and the tree destroyed by a storm, and only their Huron county farm and some western land are their realty today, aside from their retreat in Wauseon.


At Elm Tree Farm Mr. and Mrs. Shadle conducted a prosperous dairy business, and for eleven years they operated a cheese factory there. The Fulton county milk condensaries are an outgrowth of the dairy industry, and Mr. Shadle was always active in the good roads agitations that have rendered this mammoth industry a physi- cal possibility. While serving as trustee of Clinton, he was instru- niental in building the first piece of gravel road in Fulton county, notwithstanding the protest that there was "not a spoonful of good gravel in the county." The building of this road laid the founda- tion for the gravel road sytem now so widespread in the whole country.


In 1903 Mr. and Mrs. Shadle were members of a party who toured the Great West in a car chartered for the purpose, and together they have visited thirty-four states, although northwestern Ohio suits them best of all. They were at the American Centennial in Philadelphia together in 1876, and in 1893 they were at the World's Fair in Chicago. They later attended many of the similar smaller expositions, and they had just returned from an outing in Detroit. They always attend the Grand Army encampments, and Mr. Shadle has served as commander of Losure Grand Army of the Republic Post, and as master of Ottokee Grange. He belongs to the Knights of Pythias Lodge and Mrs. Shadle to the Pythian Sisters. She is active in the Women's Relief Corps and in much of the social life about her.


Mrs. Julia C. Aldrich, who is an oracle in the community, attri-


142


HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY


butes the annual reunions of those who attended publie school at Ottokee when she was the teacher to the thoughtfulness of Mrs. Shadle. One time when a log cabin was constructed on the Fulton county fair grounds Mr. Shadle contributed a log from Elm Tree Farm-one of the finest stieks of timber there, and along with many other older residents of the community he regrets the faet that this cabin was removed and without the knowledge or consent of those who placed it there. Whenever there is a community wel- fare movement Allen and Ann Shadle always respond cheerfully to the demands made upon them.


GEORGE R. DAVOLL, of Amboy, has always lived where he was born April 7, 1858, and he has the unique record of being the republican member of the board of education for twenty-eight years. He is a son of Job and Martha (Taylor) Davoll, and the father before him had the distinetion of serving as the republican treasurer of Amboy nineteen consecutive years. Job Davoll and his wife were born and married at Collins, Erie county, New York. Their first western venture was to Bethel, Branch county, Michigan. After five years they returned to Erie county, New York, and two years later they came to Fulton county. They traded their Michigan land for land in Amboy.


The farm of today was in a swamp when Job Davoll bought it. As he improved the land he added another forty aeres, but he died in March, 1869, without seeing the development of the country. His wife died in 1902, having attained to eighty-three years. Their children are: William, who died in infaney; Josephine, wife of A. O. Burrill, of Chieo, California; Ann Ginevra, who died Novem- ber 3, 1873; and George R. Davoll, who relates the history. He bought the interests of the other heirs and remained at the family homestead in Amboy. He has acquired fifty aeres of other land in addition to the Davoll homestead.


On December 30, 1880, Mr. Davoll married Emily F. Setzler. She is a daughter of John and Louisa (Searles) Setzler, and was born in Huron county. Her father was born in Germany and her mother in the State of New York. Mrs. Davoll died October 10, 1917. There is one son, Charles A. Davoll, of Toledo.


. G. R. Davoll has been through all the chairs as a member of Independent Order of Odd Fellows Lodge No. 875 of Metamora. Where is there another citizen of Fulton county that has served the community in any one official capacity for more than twenty-eight years? . When Job Davoll, who was treasurer of Amboy nineteen years, first went to Michigan from New York he walked, and when he moved there he went through with an ox team. The youngsters of today who are familiar with automobiles never saw oxen drawing vehicles along the publie highways. The yoke worn by the oxen would be a mystery to them. What does the twentieth century child know about the ox yoke and the tar bucket, both so essential to travel in the early history of the United States of America?


Mr. Davoll was eleven years of age when his father died, and as the only surviving son he had practical responsibilities on the home farm far in advance of his years. While so many years of his life have been spent on the farm and in its work, his neighbors speak in terms of high approval of his publie spirit, his fathfulness in matters of trust, and his kindly character.


143


HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY


EDWARD S. DAVOLL. Two generations back the ancestry of Edward S. Davoll of Metamora lived in Massachusetts. He is a son of William P. and Eliza (Sherman) Davoll, and was born June 25, 1853, in Amboy. While the parents had met and married in Erie county, New York, the grandparents had all lived in Massachusetts. They were John and Sarah (Foster) Davoll and Charles R. and Edith (Pickens) Sherman. In December, 1852, William P. Davoll and his wife came by lake boat from Buffalo to Toledo and overland to Amboy township, where they secured a tract of timber and he cleared it. He had 100 acres cleared when in 1884 he sold it and removed to Charlevoix county, Michigan. The wife died in February, 1909, and he died in September, 1912, and both lie buried at Meta- mora.


The children born to the Davolls are: William A., of Clarks- ville, Georgia; John, of Charlevoix, Michigan; Foster, deceased; Edward S., of Metamora. On October 15, 1876, he married Melinda Woodring, of Fulton township. She is a daughter of Reuben and Katie Ann (Watkins) Woodring, the father from Pennsylvania but the mother a Fulton county woman. For a few years he lived with his parents as tenant and part owner of the farm, and then moved to Burkey, where he engaged in mercantile business as a clerk.


One year later Mr. Davoll came to Metamora and worked for one man as a clerk four years, when he bought R. V. Gilbert's gen- eral merchandise store in Metamora. He owned and operated this store eight years, when he sold it and bought seventy acres of land adjoining Metamora. It was partly incorporated in the village. Mr. Davoll bought more land until he had 160 acres, where he handled livestock for nine years. He bought, fed and sold live- stock, and this farm was an excellent place for the transactions.


In 1901 Mr. Davoll rented the farm, and when the Home Sav- ings Bank of Metamora was organized he became its president. He has remained in that position with Horace Tredway, vice president, H. H. Tredway, cashier, and Charles J. Malone, assistant cashier. He is a broker in connection with the banking business.


From 1872 until 1881 Mr. Davoll taught in the district schools of Amboy township and Fulton township. The last two winters he taught in the community where he had been a school boy. Mr. Davoll had one son, Edward E., who met an accidental death at Burkey when he was three years old. Mr. Davoll is a republican, and he has served the community as justice of the peace twelve years, mayor of Metamora two terms and as president of the board of education at the time two schoolhouses were built. When a man who has made a success of his own business gives his attention to public affairs he usually brings business methods into it, and the public has the benefit from it.


FRED E. PERRY, now serving his second term as county auditor of Fulton county, has been an active business man at Fayette and Wauseon for a number of years, and his business abilities, his work- ing membership in the republican party, and his all around popu- larity have brought honor and credit to his administration of this important county department.


Mr. Perry was born in Lenawee county, Michigan, in 1880, a son of Erwin P. and Nancy (Seeley) Perry. He is of English ancestry. His first American ancestor was Jonathan Perry, who came from Plymouth, England, in 1627 and settled at Jamestown, Virginia. Later generations of the family supplied soldiers to the


144


HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY


American Revolution. As a family they have followed both agri- cultural and professional lines. Erwin P. Perry, who died in 1914, was an honored veteran of the Civil war. The widowed mother is still living.


Fred E. Perry finished his education in the Fayette Normal School. and in 1900, at the age of twenty, married Miss Jessie Gay, a daughter of Theodore and Dora (Eaton) Gay. Her people lived near the state line between Ohio and Michigan.


After their marriage Mr. and Mrs. Perry took up a business career at Fayette with the Home Telephone Company. They re- mained with that institution fifteen years and became stockholders and managers. Mr. Perry was a director and the secretary. Since coming to Wauseon he has retained business interests as a stock- holder in the Fayette Telephone Company.


Mr. Perry served eight years as secretary of the county executive committee of the republican party, has also been chairman of the county central committee. He was elected county auditor in 1916, and at his re-election in 1918 had no oppositon for this office.


Mr. Perry is a member of the Methodist Church, is a Knight Templar Mason and Odd Fellow, and Mrs. Perry is prominent among the Ohio Rebekahs, serving as president of the Rebekah Assembly of the state in 1915-16. Mrs. Perry has also been chief deputy in the auditor's office during Mr. Perry's entire term. At the last session of the Legislature the auditor's term was extended eighteen months, and Mr. Perry being the acting auditor receives the benefit, closing his term in March, 1923.


GEORGE C. DUDLEY, senior partner of the Wauseon Lumber Com- pany of Wauseon, Ohio, and one of the business leaders in that city for the greater part of his business life, comes of a pioneer family of the district, and has himself been a material factor in the advance- ment of the city. As a business man he has been very successful, has manifested good organizing and administrative ability, and his many years of trading have brought him an enviable reputation as a man of rigid principles and business integrity. As a public worker he lias demonstrated his interest in the city, has served on the city council under three mayors, and has given active and financial sup- port to many movements of consequence to the community.


He is a native of Wauscon, born in the city on February 20, 1862, and has here spent all of his life. He attended the elementary and high schools of Wauseon, graduating from the latter. At eight- een years of age he was in the employ of the Lake Shore Railroad Company as telegraph operator at Wauseon. Two years later he was employed in the flour mill of Lyon, Clement, and Greenleaf, his association with that business lasting for twenty years, at the end of which time he was the owner of an interest in the business. In 1903 he sold his interest in the mill to Mr. C. D. Greenleaf, and soon afterward organized and built the Home Telephone Company at Bedford, Indiana, of which he became a director.


That undertaking satisfactorily accomplished, Mr. Dudley re- turned to Wauseon, and for two years thereafter was in business in the city as a furniture dealer, having an up-to-date and well-stocked store. In 1906 he sold the business to W. L. Milner and Company of Toledo, Ohio, and in the same year was one of the principals in the organization and incorporation of the Wauseon Lumber and Supply Company, of which Mr. Dudley became secretary and treas- urer and Mr. F. J. Spencer, president. The business continued in


145


HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY


good trading until September 1, 1918, when the company was re- organized, the whole business being acquired by Mr. Dudley and his brother, Charles H. The trading name under the reconstruction be- came the Wauseon Lumber Company, and so the company is at present constituted. The business is of some magnitude, Mr. Dudley having very satisfactorily developed it before and since the reorgan- ization, and it enters extensively into almost all branches and ma- terials of a high-grade and comprehensive lumber business.


. Politically Mr. Dudley is an independent, and has served as a member of the city council during the administration of three mayors. Fraternally he is identified with the Knights of Pythias Order, and with the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks. He is well-regarded in the city, and has given liberal support to many movements of community interest.


He married in 1888, at Wauseon, H. Louise, daughter of Lo- renzo and Nellie (Durgin) Lyons, of Wauseon. To them have been born two children : Marjorie L., who is a graduate of St. Mary's Col- lege, South Bend, Indiana, and also of the Chicago Musical College, and Donald Lyon, who was born in 1896, graduated from the local schools and also took the four-year course at the Ohio State Univer- sity. He is a veteran of the World war, having a creditable mili- tary record. In October, 1917, he enlisted in the most dangerous, as well as the most glorious, branch of the United States Army, the air service, his acceptance for this branch indicating that he was a young man of almost perfect physical condition. After enlistment at Toledo, Ohio, he was sent to Columbus Barracks and from there to the aviation training center, Kelly Field, Texas. Eventually he was transferred to Morrison, Virginia, soon afterward embarking for France. He saw service in France, and for a while was at the Aero Training Camp at Little Hampton, England. He was mustered out of the Federal service on December 23, 1919, and soon afterward re- sumed his civilian occupation ; he has been for some time employed in the purchasing department of the Auto-Lite Corporation, Toledo, Ohio.


JOHN VON SEGGERN. One of the successful farmers of Clinton township, Fulton county, who has worked hard for that which he now possesses, and knows how to appreciate the true dignity of labor and to place a correct estimate on the value of money, is John Von Seggern. He has honored this community with his citizenship in view of the fact that he has been an enterprising and progressive citizen who, while advancing his individual interests, has not been neglectful of the general good of the community.


John Von Seggern, who operates a fine farm of eighty acres in Clinton township, was born in Damascus township, Henry county, Ohio, on November 11, 1887, and is the son of Frederick and Caro- line (Reuter) Von Seggern. The paternal family came from Olden- berg, Germany, to the United States when Frederick Von Seggern was ten years old and settled on a farm in Henry county, Ohio, where the grandfather spent the remainder of his life, his death occurring in 1880. The subject attended the common schools of his home neighborhood in Henry county until he was seventeen years of age, when he went to work on farms in that neighborhood, being so em- ployed until he was twenty-eight years old, when, at the time of his marriage, he bought forty acres of land in Clinton township. He entered actively upon the operation of this land and was so success- ful that in 1919 he rented forty acres additional, making his present


1


140


HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY


operations cover eighty acres. Here he carries on general farming operations, raising all the crops common to this locality, and by the exercise of good judgment and sound common sense he has gained a reputation as an excellent farmer.


In June, 1916. Mr. Von Seggern was married to Amelia Glantz, the daughter of Adolph and Sophie (Lockmann) Glantz, of Naomi, Freedom township, Henry county, Ohio. Mrs. Von Seggern died on February 12, 1919, leaving one child, Lucille Louise.


Politically Mr. Von Seggern is independent, reserving the right to vote for the best men regardless of political lines. He is a member of the German Lutheran Church, to which he gives liberal support. Quiet and unostentatious, Mr. Von Seggern has attended strictly to his own affairs and because of his success and his right personal char- acter he enjoys the respect of the entire community.


FITCH JERALD SPENCER has been identified with the business and civic life of Wauseon for over forty years, is one of its foremost merchants, and is one of the oldest officials of the First National Bank, of which he is the first vice president.


He was born at Albion, Indiana, September 21, 1854, a son of D. E. A. and Margaret (Bowen) Spencer. He is of English ancestry, and the family has long lived in Ohio and in Indiana. As a family they have been chiefly merchants and farmers. D. E. A. Spencer was a merchant tailor at Albion, Indiana. Fitch Jerald Spencer secured his education there, attending the grammar and high schools to the age of eighteen, then went to work for J. D. Black at Albion as clerk. He spent seven and a half years with the firm of Clapp, Phillips & White at Albion, and on March 28, 1878, first came to Wauseon, where he was a salesman for G. W. Hull & Brother for eight years. This firm then sent him to Decatur, Indiana, as general manager of its branch store for a year and a half. He then bought the Decatur store, but after three and a half years returned to Wau- seon in 1890 and acquired the business of the Hull Brothers. His associate was F. A. Stuempel, and they continued the business under the firm name of Spencer & Stuempel. Mr. Spencer then sold out to W. L. Milner, of Toledo, and at that time became vice president of the First National Bank of Wauseon, an office he has held for over a quarter of a century.


At different times he has also resumed merchandising. With Earl Edgar he bought and established the business of Spencer & Edgar, a firm that in 1915 was reorganized as Spencer, Edgar & Voll- mer Company, and Mr. Spencer is president of this general dry goods concern, the largest in northern Ohio and having a trade all over Fulton county. Mr. Spencer is a director and general manager of the Northwestern Ohio Telephone Company, is president of the Areade Building Company, and is interested in a number of other local concerns.


In January, 1880, he married Lizzie Bartlett, daughter of Ward and Elizabethi Bartlett, of Wauseon. She died in 1890. In 1892 Clara G. Brainard, daughter of Sereno Brainard, of Wauseon, be- came his wife. Mr. Spencer is a republican and has served as town councilman several terms. He is a trustee of the Methodist Episcopal Church and in Masonry is affiliated with Wauseon Lodge No. 349, with the Chapter and Council, with the Knight Templar Command- ery No. 7, and Zenobia Temple of the Mystic Shrine at Toledo. He is also a member of the Wauseon Knights of Pythias.


147


HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY


C. E. PONTIOUS. Undoubtedly the most practical important men in a community, from every point of view, are the enterprising, trustworthy business men, and narrowed down to its finest point, they are men dealing in food commodities. The demand for their goods is continuous and insistent, and it is a demand that cannot be denied, for the teeming millions of the world must have food, whether they have cultural advantages or civilizing conditions or not. Fulton county is the home of a number of practical, level-headed men, who are apt to take a common-sense view of most things, and well known among them is C. E. Pontious, who is the proprietor of a wholesale poultry and egg business at Wauseon.


C. E. Pontious was born at Wauseon, Ohio, in 1886, and is a son of Simon and Ann (Jennings) Pontious. He obtained his edu- cation in the public schools, and his first business experience was handling poultry and eggs for L. Madison, of Wauseon, with whom he remained one year. He was quite successful in this early venture, but wisely determined to provide for future contingencies by learning a useful trade, hence he worked four years in the plumbing shop of F. R. Harper, when he was deemed proficient. During the fol- lowing year he worked as a plumber for John Mohr, and in this connection put in a large amount of the plumbing in newly erected buildings at that time in this city, all of which gave entire satisfac- tion. Circumstances then led to his again becoming interested in the poultry and egg business, and for the next six years he was con- nected with L. R. Jones in this line at Wauseon. For a short period afterward he was in the employ of Swift & Company, Chicago pack- ers, and then went into the poultry business with Morrison & Com- pany, at Bryan, where he continued until lie accepted the manage- ment of the Rural Egg Company at Wauseon. In 1920 he became proprietor and now conducts the establishment for his own benefit. This is a wholesale business and draws trade from a wide territory. Mr. Pontious is well known all over the county, and his honorable methods of doing business have produced results most favorable to all eoneerned.




Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.