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 22
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In October, 1890, he married Miss Clara Guilford, a native of Dover township, Fulton county, and daughter of George and Ade -. line (Fitzsimmons) Guilford. the former a native of New York and the latter of Fulton county, Ohio. Mr. and Mrs. Prickett have two children : Dessa, a teacher of domestic science in the public schools at Adrian, Michigan, and Kenneth, attending a preparatory school at Ann Arbor, Michigan.
Mr. Prickett is a republican voter. In the Knights of the Macca- bees at Fayette he held the positon of finance keeper twelve years, and is also a prominent member of the Masonic Lodge at Fayette, being a past grand senior warden and past junior warden.
GEORGE WASHINGTON CROUT, who has been a resident of Fayette since 1878, is a practicing lawyer, land owner, and in former years had a great variety of business experience. He is an honored vet- eran of the Union army, and at one period of the war held the rank of major of an Ohio regiment.
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Major Crout was born in Lorain county, Ohio, August 11, 1835, and comes of old and prominent American ancestry. His parents were Elihu Taylor and Merintha (Lewis) Crout, the former a native of Bergen, New Jersey, and the latter of Elizabethtown, Essex county, New York. The paternal grandparents were John and Phoebe (Van Sickles) Crout, the former a native of New York City. Major Crout's maternal grandmother was Mary (Durand) Lewis, a native of Vermont, and a daughter of Franz Joseph Durand, who came from France and was a cousin to General Lafaycttc.
Elihu T. Crout and wife were married in Ontario, Wayne county, New York, where his father owned a fine estate. In 1831 he came west and entered a tract of wild timbered land in Lenawee county, Michigan. He was there at the very beginning of settlement. He also lived a few years in Lorain county, Ohio, and in 1837 moved back to Lenawee county, a few years later to Liberty township, Jack- son county, Michigan, then to Adrian township in Lenawee county, where in addition to looking after his extensive land holdings he operated a grist mill. In spite of his advanced age Elihu T. Crout enlisted in the Sixty-seventh Ohio Infantry as a drum major at the beginning of the war, and his death occurred before he returned home.
George Washington Crout has spent nearly all his life in Fulton county Ohio, and Lenawee county, Michigan. His early environ- ment was a pioneer county district. In the flush of young manhood, on November 8, 1861, he enlisted in Company A of the Sixty-seventh Ohio Infantry, which was also his father's regiment. After a brief training in a camp at Toledo he went to Camp Chase, Columbus, and was made drill master. He served in several battles, and while being transported across Chesapeake Bay was shipwrecked. After that he was consigned to a hospital at Washington, then returned to Baltimore and received an honorable discharge in the fall of 1863. Not long after his return home he helped organize a regiment of which Lawrence B. Smith was elected colonel; Louis Struble, lieu- tenant colonel, and Mr. Crout major.
Prior to the war and for some time afterward Major Crout was in the sawmill and lumber business and owned several farms both in Michigan and Ohio. He also filled the office of deputy sheriff of Fulton county sixteen years. His milling operations were centered chiefly in Ogden township of Lenawee county. He had also begun the study of law before he entered the army, and resumed that study later, and for half a century has been a capable attorney and is still practicing law at Fayette, where he has made his home for over forty years. Major Crout owns eighty acres of land in Texas and other property elsewhere. He served two terms as mayor of Fayette, and held various township offices in Lenawee county. He is a member of the Masonic order at Blissfield, Michigan, and is affiliated with the Methodist Church.
September 17, 1858, he married Mary Jane Scantland, who became the mother of his two children: George Eugene, of East To- ledo, and Cora Sedel. Mrs. Bert Richardson, of Lenawee county. Maior Crout married for his second wife Ursula Yeamans, a native of Pennsylvania. She had no children, and her death occurred in July. 1909. On March 15, 1910, Mr. Crout married Sarah Louise Jennings, who was born in Rowlin township of Lenawee county, Michigan. a daughter of Levi and Anna (Crout) Jennings, the for- mer a native of Milton, Saratoga county, New York, and the latter of Bergin, New Jersey. Her paternal grandparents were Henry and
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Meribah (Dexter) Jennings, the former born at Bedford, Massaehu- setts, in 1877. Her maternal grandparents were John and Phoebe (Van Siekles) Crout, so that she is closely connected with her hus- band's ancestry. Mrs. Crout at the time of her marriage to Mr. Crout was the widow of Joseph Marx. By that union she had two children, Berkeley, of Rochester, New York, and Fannie Litz, wife of Lorin J. Ball, of Rowlin township, Lenawee county, Michigan, Mrs. Crout lived on a farm in Michigan until the death of her first husband in 1876, and afterward performed the service of teacher and school superintendent in that vicinity for thirty-two years, and is held in high esteem and regard as one of the most capable educa- tors the schools of that locality have ever had. Mrs. Crout's parents were married in New York in the fall of 1833, beeame pioneers in Lenawee county, Michigan, entering timber land direet from the Government. Much of that land is still in the Jennings family.
FRANK HICKER has been an honored resident of Fayette through a long period of years. The natural gift which he has used and developed through his aetive life was largely meehanieal. As a boy and later as a man he operated threshing outfits and was a dealer in agricultural implements. He also attended school of veterinary surgery, and for many years was the reliable veternarian for all the country around Fayette.
Mr. Hieker was born in Gorham township, Fulton county, Mareh 26, 1851. His parents were Stephen and Mary A. (Acker) Hieker, natives of Seneea county, New York. His parental grandparents, Henry and Susan Hicker, eame at an early day to Fulton county, as did also his maternal grandfather, George Aeker. Stephen Hieker learned the shoemaker's trade, and was a diligent and expert work- man for many years at Medina, Michigan. Later he moved to a farm in Gorham township of Fulton county, and spent his last years in Fayette. Frank was one of two children, his sister Melinda being Mrs. Vincent Reynolds of Gorham township.
Frank Hicker spent most of his boyhood on a farm, aequired a district school education, and at the age of seventeen began making a regular business throughout the season of operating a threshing outfit. He has owned several outfits of threshing machinery, and in that connection is probably as widely known among the grain farmers of Fulton township as any other individual. He was married when nineteen years of age, and as his father left the farm about that time and moved to Fayette the son remained on the old homestead and worked the farm eight years. He then bought a place of his own of sixty acres in Gorham township, cultivating and managing that property six years. When he rented his farm he moved to Fayette, and here for twenty years eondueted a business as a dealer in the celebrated Champion line of agricultural implements. Mr. Hicker also drove the hearse for Judson Pike for nineteen years in succes- sion. As a young man he had attended the Chicago Veterinary Sehool. and his practiee as a veterinarian in the vieinity of Fay- ette continued for a period of thirty-five years. In 1910 Mr. Hieker beeame interested in a garage in Fayette, and for several years was loeal agent for the Chevrolet ear. He still employs his time doing all kinds of machine work and repairing and is one of the experts of the old school of mechanics,
Mr. Hicker is a charter member of the Knights of Pythias at Fayette, is also affiliated with the Independent Order of Odd Fel-
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lows, and has held several chairs in both orders. He and his wife are members of the Rebekahs.
In February, 1870, he married Mary A. Ford, a native of Gor- ham township and daughter of Cyrus and Fannie (Ely) Ford, of Scotch parentage. They have two children, Edward and Lena. Ed- ward, who lives at Fayette, is a promoter and conductor of theatrical shows, and for several years has managed the business of the Flor- ence Players, a troupe of traveling entertainers widely known in many states. The daughter, Lena, is the wife of Clare Rosa, of Fayette, and has two children, Franklin and Max.
CHARLES E. YosT is proprietor of the only newspaper published at Fayette, and has been a hard working journalist of Fulton county nearly twenty years. He became well known in the county on ac- count of his official work as a school man, and he was in the educa- tional profession for a number of years before his capital and energies were attracted to the newspaper business.
Mr. Yost was born at Hebron, in Licking county, Ohio, in Sep- tember, 1862, son of John and Delila (Markley) Yost, his father a native of Virginia and his mother of Perry county, Ohio. His grandparents, Peter and Margaret Yost, were Virginians. John Yost and wife lived in Licking county until 1873, moved from there to Hancock county, and in 1875 established their home at Van Wert, where both of them died.
Partly while at home and partly through his own efforts Charles E. Yost acquired a good education. He attended grammar and high schools at Middlepoint, Ohio, also the Fayette Normal, and for about twenty years was one of the successful teachers and school ad- ministrators in northern Ohio. At one time he was superintendent of schools at Waldron, Michigan, also at Liberty Center, Ohio, and was superintendent at Tedrow and at Lyons, being located three years in the latter place. Some of his vacations he utilized as an employe in a printing office at Fayette, and finally, in September, 1901, E. W. Balch started the Fayette Review. The next June he became sole owner, and has very ably conducted that paper ever since. On June 6, 1913, Mr. Yost was commissioned postmaster of Fayette, which is a third class office.
He is a democrat, and is affiliated with the Knights of Pythias, Modern Woodmen of America and Knights of the Maccabees at Fayette. In August, 1886, he married Miss Ada Purcell. Mrs. Yost was born near Purcellville, Virginia, a daughter of Lott A. and Cornelia (Bird) Purcell. They have one son, Gaylord Yost, who is married and resides in Indianapolis, Indiana.
LAWRENCE L. YEAGLEY is a native of Hancock county, has been in business in several other Ohio counties and elsewhere, and is now a successful commission merchant at Fayette, handling a large part of the poultry and other general produce marketed from Fulton county.
. Mr. Yeagley was born October 7, 1876, son of John P. and Sa- villa (Miller) Yeagley. His parents were also natives of Hancock county and are now deceased. Lawrence L. Yeagley acquired a good education, graduating from the high school of Rawson in his native county, and from the Ohio Northern University at Ada. For one year he had a business training as clerk in a mercantile store at Rawson, and from 1894 until 1896 was employed at Grover Hill. in Paulding county, after which he secured an interest in a general
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merchandise enterprise there. He continued in that way some ten years, and in 1905 he and Mr. N. V. Turner organized the United States Cooperage and Handle Company, with a plant at Malden, Missouri. He was secretary and treasurer of the company and they did a large business in manufacturing cooperage wares and imple- ment handles. Mr. Yeagley continued as secretary and treasurer of the business some five years. Finally, on account of his wife's health he returned to Ohio, and at Grover Hill was in the merchandise busi- ness nine months. He sold out, and on November 1, 1911, came to Fayette, where he bought an established business for handling poul- try, produce and other products, and has since extended the scope of his enterprise, having established a branch at Metamora in the spring of 1917.
Mr. Yeagley is a public spirited citizen, well known fraternally, is a member of the Fulton County Executive Committee of the re- publican party, has been a member of the Fayette School Board since 1917, and is affiliated with the Knights of Pythias, the Masonic Lodge at Fayette, the Royal Arch Chapter and Council at Lyons, and the Defiance Commandery of the Knights Templar.
In June, 1897, he married Miss Della Scott, a native of Indiana, and daughter of Henry and Harriet Scott, of West Union, Ohio. Two children were born to their marriage: Mildred, who died at the age of four years, and Paul, born April 20, 1906.
GEORGE GRANTHAM WRIGHT. This is one of the names held in grateful memory in Fulton county, because of the long residence of Mr. Wright, the industrious part he took in earlier and later days as a farmer, and the honesty and good will that distinguished all his relations with the community.
Ile was born at Kirkby, England, April 30, 1831, a son of Edward and Catherine (Grantham) Wright. His parents lived all their lives in England. George Grantham Wright was rcared and trained to agricultural pursuits, followed farming in England, and on July 7, 1858, married Ann Parr. Mrs. Wright was born at Osgodby July 7, 1834, daughter of William and Elizabeth (Tomlinson) Parr. Her mother died in England in 1845 and her father married for his second wife Mary Ann Rushton and later came to America and lived out his years at Manchester, Michigan, where he and his wife are buried.
In 1858 George G. Wright came to America, and in Fulton county bought sixty acres in Amboy township. A large part of the land was coveerd with woods and for a number of years he made a determined fight against the powers of the wilderness, until he saw his farm under cultivation and with excellent improvements. That old homestead where he settled more than sixty years ago was the place where death came to him on March 19, 1912, and Mrs. Wright still occupies the farm. She is now eighty-six years of age, and still in good health and retains her faculties. The late Mr. Wright was an earnest member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, serving as steward, superintendent of the Sunday School and was most regu- lar in the performance of his church duties. He also served as a school director and politically voted as a republican.
The oldest of the children is Edward G., of Amboy township, William lives in Lucas county, Ohio, Catherine E. died in infancy, James is a resident of Toledo, Clara Alsena is Mrs. John Hurtle of Amboy township. Brainard lives at Prairie Depot, Ohio, and Ralph is a resident of Cincinnati.
MR. AND MRS. GEORGE G. WRIGHT
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The youngest of the family is Arthur Clinton, who lives with his mother and manages the home farm. In December, 1900, he married Edna Ford, who was born in Lucas county, Ohio, June 17, 1876. Her parents were Wallace and Eliza (Willson) Ford, the former a native of Massachusetts and the latter of Fulton county, Ohio. Arthur C. Wright and wife have seven children: Dorothy, George Stanley, Paul Willson, Harold Arthur, Marian Eliza, Freda Frances, and Rachel Lucile.
MILLARD LEWIS, now living at Fayette, has had an active asso- ciation with the business interests of that town for over a third of a century. The work for which he is best remembered was his long service as local express agent, though he was also interested in the newspaper business, local manufacturing and in other lines, and the net results of his life make up a very satisfactory record.
Mr. Lewis was born in Gorham township of Fulton county No- vember 24, 1854. His parents, George and Mary (Davis) Lewis, were early settlers in Fulton county during the decade of the forties. His father was born at Boston, Massachusetts, and his mother in Seneca county, New York. George Lewis for many years was a farmer in Gorham township, and died March 30, 1891, at the age of seventy-four, being survived by his widow until May 27, 1915, when she was eighty-seven years of age. Millard is the oldest of their children. The daughters, Clara and Ida, still live on the old home- stead farm. Another daughter is Jennie, and the other son, William D., is also on the homestead.
Millard Lewis acquired a common school education and at the age of twenty began learning the printer's trade from L. D. Lyon, then publisher of the local newspaper at Fayette. After working at his trade for a time Mr. Lewis bought an interest in the Fayette Record. and was associated with G. W. Griffin in that journalistic enterprise for about nineteen years. In the meantime he had be- come local express agent, and this work was performed by him in Fayette for over thirty years, during which time he successively rep- resented the American, United States and Wells-Fargo Companies. Besides his association with Mr. Griffin in the newspaper business they were also partners in an excelsior factory and in a collection agency, and for a few years did some fire insurance business. Mr. Lewis since 1915, when he gave up his post as express agent, has been practically retired from business.
During his early career he was elected and served two terms as justice of the peace, but resigned that office on account of the press of business duties. Later he served two terms as a member of the Fayette Council. Mr. Lewis is a republican.
December 13, 1882, he married Miss Mary Saunders, who was born in Mill Creek township of Williams county, daughter of Samuel and Anna (Rhodes) Saunders. Her father was a native of England and her mother of Germany. Mr. and Mrs. Lewis have two sons, Floyd E. and Earl D. Floyd lives at Hillsdale, Michigan, where he is division freight agent of the New York Central Railway. He mar- ried Bessie Cole. Earl is a jeweler and engraver at Jackson, Michi- gan, and married Clela Funk.
HERBERT PARTRIDGE, present mayor of Fayette, through his trade and business relations as a cheese maker and dairy expert, has been an important factor in the dairy districts of northern Ohio for many years. Mr. Partridge now conducts a plant at Fayette, where a large part of the milk produced in that vicinity is sent to market.
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He was born in Fairfield township of Lenawee county, Michigan, October 12, 1870, son of John W. and Marian (Ratan) Partridge. His parents were natives of New York state and his grandfathers, Ira Partridge and John H. Ratan, were among the early settlers of southern Michigan. John W. Partridge and wife after their. mar- riage lived an a farm in Lenawee county. John Partridge enlisted in the Sixth Michigan Heavy Artillery in 1862, and served until the close of the war, when he was honorably discharged. For nearly half a century after the war he was engaged in farming, and he died in December, 1911. The widowed mother is still living at Weston, Mich- igan. There were three sons: A. L., of Jasper, Michigan; Herbert, and Herver, twins, the latter a resident of Oak Shade, Ohio.
Herbert Partridge acquired his early education in the common schools of Michigan, was married before he was twenty years of age, and then lived on a farm in Lenawee county two years. He learned cheese making at Winemeg, Pike township, of Fulton county, work- ing one year for W. L. Campbell there. After that he was em- ployed for four years in a cheese factory at Tedrow in Dover town- ship, put in another three years at the cheese factory in Oak Grove, Pike township, and for eight years was the expert cheese maker for Brown Brothers in Amboy township. For another eight years Mr. Partridge was owner and manager of a factory in Gorham town- ship, and from there he moved to Fayette and bought the local creamery. For several years he continued to make cheese and butter, but in August, 1918, discontinued the cheese industry and is now using his facilities for the buying and collecting of milk from the surrounding districts and shipping it to the Van Camp Packing Company at Wauseon. He handles between a thousand and two thousand gallons every day.
Mr. Partridge was elected mayor of Fayette in November, 1919, beginning his office at the first of the following year. He is a repub- lican and for eight years served as a member of the council of Fay- ette. He is a member of the Baptist Church of western Michigan, and has been through the chairs of the Knights of Pythias at Fay- ette.
On June 8, 1890, Mr. Partridge married Zurah Miley, a native of Clinton township, Fulton county, and daughter of W. B. and Eliza Jane (Robinett) Miley. They have one son, Ross Byron, who was born March 1, 1892, and is now preparing for his profession in the Detroit College of Medicine and Surgery.
ARTIE G. AUNGST. As one of the successful business men of Fayette, Mr. Aungst for several years has been the responsible man- ager of the local grain elevator, and besides buying and handling a large volume of the grain produced in that locality, is a dealer and distributor of coal, cement, flour and feed.
Mr. Aungst was born in Richland county, Ohio, February 25, 1876, son of John and Elizabeth (Green) Aungst. His parents were natives of Richland county, and his father died about 1896 and his mother in 1898. John Aungst for many years combined farming with the threshing business. There was a large family of children : S. J., of Hudson, Ohio; Quinnie, deceased; Sylvia, Mrs. Charles Brown, of Mansfield, Ohio; Verna, Mrs. Clem Lemley, of Richland county ; Jessie, Mrs. Taylor Simmons, of Knox county; Artie and Alphina, twins. the latter a resident of Butler, Ohio; Wilbur, also of Butler, and Cecil. who died when about five years old.
Artie G. Aungst was a farmer before he was a business man. He
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spent his early years on a farm, was disciplined in its work, and secured his education largely by attending district schools in the winter. At the age of eighteen he was working in a sawmill, while in the summer he followed a threshing outfit from farm to farm. Those occupations kept him busy for about twelve years. Then with two brothers he bought a hardware store at Butler, Ohio, but a year later sold out and came to Fayette. He engaged in the grain elevator business with his oldest brother, but three months later this brother moved to Lebanon, where the Aungst brothers conduct a mill and elevator. Artis G. Aungst has therefore had the active management of the business at Fayette practically from the beginning, and by his fair dealing, well known integrity and close attention to his work has developed a very substantial enterprise.
January 26, 1901, he married Miss Alta Harrison, a native of Knox county, Ohio, where her parents, James and Dora (McGowen) Harrison, were also born. Mr. and Mrs. Aungst have two children, Harley and Cecil, both at home. Mr. Aungst is a member of the official board of the Methodist Episcopal Church, has served one term as councilman at Fayette, is a democrat and is affiliated with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows at Butler.
WILLIAM DORSEY VAN RENSSELAER, who represents some of the original Holland Dutch stock of New York State, has been an active business man at Wauseon for over thirty years, and is senior partner of Edgar & Van Rensselaer, undertakers, embalmers and funeral directors.
Mr. Van Rensselaer was born at Port Clinton, Ohio, in Septem- ber, 1851, a son of Peter Sanders and Jane (Depew) Van Rensselaer. His grandfather, Philip Van Rensselaer, was a practicing physician in New York City for many years. Peter S. Van Rensselaer was the second of three sons, was born in Schenectady, New York, moved to Albany, and for many years followed the life of a sailor on the Great Lakes. He located in the famous summer resort region of northern Ohio on Lake Erie, at Put-in-Bay Island and Bass Island. In addition to sailing on the Great Lakes during summer, he cleared and developed a good farm. He reared his family there and died December 23, 1903.
William D. Van Rensselaer acquired a country school education. He, too, sailed on the Great Lakes. In 1886 he engaged in the fur- niture business at Wauseon, and for twenty years his store, handling a class of goods high class in every respect, was located in the Opera House Building. He then moved to his present location at 145 South Fulton street, and now gives all his time to the undertaking business.
In 1880 he married Miss Clara Ransom, daughter of Hiram and Jane (Parks) Ransom, of Port Clinton, Ohio. To their marriage were born two children : Hiram Sanders, born in 1883, now married and living in Detroit, and Hazel Pearl, who died in Wauseon in September, 1903, at the age of twenty. Mr. Van Rensselaer is a republican, and was three times elected a member of the City Coun- cil. He is affiliated with the Masons, Knights of Pythias. National Union and the Eastern Star at Wauseon.
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