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 26
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Mr. Price was born at Fremont, Ohio, April 24, 1854, son of Josiah F. and Belinda (Merrill) Price. His father for many years occupied a commanding position among Ohio's lawyers. Josiah Price was born in Stark county, Ohio, and his wife at Marion, where they were married. As a young man he taught school in Marion, and after his admission to the bar practiced law a few years at Marion and then moved to Fremont, where he was associated for two years with Judge Frenefrock. From there he moved to Perrys- burg, and served as prosecuting attorney and probate judge of Wood county. At the beginning of the Civil war he was commissioned a major and paymaster, and loyally aided the Union cause with every resource at his eommand. After the war Judge Price removed to Toledo, where for several years he was in practice with Judge George R. Haynes, a former member of the Ohio Supreme Court. He was also an associate for several years of Clayton W. Everett. Ill health compelled him eventually to give up his law practice and he then moved to a farm near Holland, Ohio, where his death occurred in 1887. His wife passed away December 10, 1894.
Aquila Price acquired his early education in the public schools. taking a commercial course at Toledo, and while in that city learned the drug business. In 1871 he left Toledo and went to Chicago, and was there at the time of the great fire and followed different occupations in the city for two years. He satisfied his wander spirit by travel over several of the western states and territories, but in 1875 located at Milford, Illinois, where he engaged in the drug busi- ness and where on December 10, 1877, he married Georgianna Blanehfill. She was born at Oxford, Indiana, daughter of George and Susan (McClure) Blanchfill.
Soon after his marriage Mr. Price came direct to Swanton, Ohio, bought a drug business, and remained personally in charge of the store until 1904. Not long afterward he sold out, and then organized the Bank of Swanton, becoming its president, and filling that office for several years. Mr. Priee was elected a member of the County Board of Commissioners in 1912, serving two terms of two years each. He has also served as clerk and assessor and city treasurer of Swanton, and was the first incumbent of the office of city treasurer. Mr. Price is a loyal republican in politics and has attained the thirty- second degree in Scottish Rite Masonry and in also a member of the Mystie Shrine.
He is the father of two daughters: Laura, Mrs. Robert Reed, of Swanton, and Jessie, Mrs. W. R. Ford of Toledo.
JOHN EDWARD ROBASSER. While for a quarter of a century his efforts were capably direeted within the scope of his own land as a farmer, Mr. Robasser in recent years, since becoming a resident of Swanton, has taken a very active interest in local public affairs and business and has supplied much of the enterprise to that locality. Mr. Robasser is a director of the Farmers and Merchants Bank of Swanton, is president of the Swanton Milling and Elevator Company and is a director of the A. D. Baker Company.
He was born in Fulton Township August 11, 1864, a son of Melchoir and Louisa (Zohl) Robasser. His father was a native of Switzerland and his mother of Germany. They were married in New York State after coming to this country, and Melchoir for several years worked as a farmer. In 1862 the family arrived in
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Fulton county, Melchoir at that time being poor in purse but deter- mined to establish a home of his own. With his modest means he acquired forty aeres in Fulton Township. Most of this land was covered with dense timber. His labor year after year subdued the wilderness, and as his means inereased he bought sixty aeres more, giving him a farm of eighty aeres and eventually a well won eompe- tenee. About a year before his death he retired from the farm and moved to Swanton, where he died in 1911. His widow passed away in 1909. Their children were: Charles, of Fulton Township; Eliza- beth, deceased; and John Edward.
John Edward Robasser as a boy attended the neighboring distriet school and was well trained to the tasks and responsibilities of farm- ing. On December 6, 1888, at the age of twenty-four, he married Elsie Berkebile. She was born in Speneer Township of Lueas county, Ohio, daughter of Levan and Mary (Farmer) Berkebile, natives of Pennsylvania.
After his marriage Mr. Robasser farmed his father's place for a quarter of a century. He inherited forty aeres of the homestead and subsequently bouglit forty aeres aeross the road. Of the purchase land about twenty aeres have been eleared and his individual efforts put thirteen aeres into eultivation. He busied himself with the tasks of general farming, made many improvements, and lived in the country until the fall of 1914, when he removed to Swanton. His son Vern now has the responsibilities of managing the farm.
Besides his business activities Mr. Robasser served four years as a county commissioner, two years on the City Council of Swanton, and is the present mayor of that village, having entered office Jan- uary 1, 1918. He is a republican in polities and a member of the Methodist Church. For six years he was a school director, and both in the country and sinee coming to Swanton has taken a deep inter- est in the maintenance of good sehools.
Mrs. Robasser died July 2, 1917, and the Swanton home of Mr. Robasser is now being looked after by his daughter Flossie. He and his wife had two children. The son, Vern, married Edna Flemming, their three children being Ilene, Gerald and Marion. Flossie is Mrs. William Wier, and the mother of one daughter, Mary Elizabeth.
FREDERICK A. PILLIOD. The distinetion Swanton now enjoys as a growing industrial eenter and one of the most proosperous towns of Fulton county is chiefly due to the enterprise and leadership of such men as Frederiek A. Pilliod, whose name has been elosely associated with the commercial and industrial life of that town for many years.
Mr. Pilliod is a native of this seetion of Ohio, born at Waterville in Lueas county Mareh 20, 1866, son of Augustine and Emeline (Harris) Pilliod. His father was born near Belfort in eastern Franee, while his mother was a native of New York State. Frederick A. Pil- liod acquired a fair edueation, sufficient for his needs, in the publie and parochial schools of Toledo and in Assumption College at Sand- wieh, Canada. His success in life is due partly to his early start and partly to the tremendous energy with which he has prosecuted every endeavor. At the age of eighteen he was working as a mes- senger for the American Distriet Telegraph Company in Toledo. Eight months later he joined the Toledo Gas and Coke Company, and subsequently was in the flour milling business for two years at Holgate, Ohio. That brings his reeord down to the point where he joined the community of Swanton, then a small village without any
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pretensions for world trade. Here he became associated with his brother, L. N. Pilliod, in the flour milling business.
On January 1, 1901, Mr. Pilliod promoted and organized the A. D. Baker Company, manufacturers of traction engines. He became secretary, treasurer and general manager of that corporation, which for many years presented Swanton's chief claims to recognition as a manufacturing center. On October 1, 1907, Mr. Pilliod organized the Baker-Pilliod Valve Gear Company, for the purpose of manufac- turing a special type of locomotive valve gear. May 1, 1909, the busi- ness was re-organized in the form of a stock company known as the Pilliod Company, of which Mr. Pilliod is secretary, treasurer and general manager. The president and sales manager is R. H. Weath- erly and the vice president is A. D. Baker, while the other directors are Walter F. Brown of Toledo and Frank H. Clark of New York. While the main offices and manufacturing plant are at Swanton, the company maintains sales offices in New York and Chicago, and does an extensive business with all the railroads. The business is rapidly growing, and already more than seven thousand locomotives are equipped with the valve gears manufactured at Swanton. The plant employs on an average 100 skilled men.
Mr. Pilliod has several other things to his credit as a live and public spirited citizen of Swanton. He is a director in the Pilliod Lumber Company of that town, is a director in the Farmers and Merchants Deposit Company of Swanton, and he served for twenty- five years as chief of the local fire department, and was appointed by Governor Harmon and served four years as a trustee of the State Hospital for the Insane at Toledo. He is a Catholic, a member of the Church Council of St. Richard's Church at Swanton. He is affiliated with the Knights of Columbus at Toledo. and with Toledo Council of the National Union.
November 7, 1889, Mr. Pilliod married Mary E. Long, a native of Providence Township, Lucas county, and a daughter of George and Ellen Long. Her father for about thirty years was superin- tendent of the Miami and Erie Canal. Mr. and Mrs. Pilliod have four children: Harry G., of Swanton; Raymond D., assistant secretary and president of the valve company; Norbert L., a farmer in Swan- ton Township; and Margaret L., a stenographer with the valve com- company.
JOHN F. ESTEL is owner of one the well improved farms of Ful- ton Township, on rural route No. 19 out of Swanton. Most of his life has been spent in this section of Ohio, and his record well de- serves the confidence of his community.
Mr. Estel was born at Whitehouse in Lucas county, Ohio, October 24, 1857. His parents were Frederick John and Augusta (Grentz) Estel, the former a native of Dresden, Saxony, and the latter of Prussia, Germany. Five of their children were born in Germany. On October 18, 1854, the family reached Whitehouse, Ohio, and in 1866 moved to Fulton Township, buying a farm near Swanton. Frederick John Estel proved himself a capable farmer and substan- tial member of the community, and died honored and respected in 1898, while his wife passed away in 1899. A record of their children is as follows: Augusta, widow of Yarner Rakeskaw, living at Liberty Center, Ohio; Anna, widow of Martin Kibler, of Swanton; Emil, who died at the age of twenty-eight; Augustus, of Pasadena, California; Pauline, Mrs. Cornelius Aicher, whose address is Stockyards Station,
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Denver, Colorado; Mary, widow of William Grumme, and living at Marshalltown, Iowa; John F. ; Malinda, Mrs. Edward Heinz, of Mar- shalltown, Iowa; and Amelia, Mrs. Byron MeClure, also of Marshall- town.
John F. Estel during his boyhood in Fulton county attended the common schools and also acquired much knowledge of farming. About the time he reached his majority he went west, worked on farms in Barton county, Kansas, during 1879, and during the follow- ing ycar was employed as a eooper at Marshalltown, Iowa. After returning to Fulton county he lived with his parents until the death of his father, and then for two years rented a farm in Spencer Town- ship of Lucas county. He then bought the fifty acres known as the Levi Merrill farm in section 10 of Fulton Township. Mr. Estel has prospered as a farmer in spite of some losses and calamities out of the ordinary. August 5, 1910, while threshing, the buildings caught fire and all were destroyed. He replaced them with a complete set of new buildings, all of substantial character, and this building equipment does much to give his farm its present high value.
On May 2, 1889, Mr. Estel married Pauline Mayer, who was born at Whitehouse, Ohio, a daughter of J. M. and Elizabeth ( Brenner) Mayer. Her parents were natives of Wurtemberg, Germany. Mr. and Mrs. Estel have two children, John M. and Frank L., both living in Fulton Township. The family are members of the Lutheran Church. Mr. Estel'served as constable while living in Speneer Town- ship of Lucas county, and has also been a member of the loeal sehool board. He is a republican voter and is affiliated with Swanton Lodge No. 588, Knights of Pythias.
JOSEPH LUMBREZER. The Lumbrezer family history reverts to Lucas county, and Joseph Lumbrezer of Fulton Township was born April 20, 1880, in Spencer Township. He is a son of Thomas and Elizabeth (Ruple) Lumbrezer, the father born in Switzerland but the mother was a native of Lucas county. In 1854 Peter Lumbrezer and his family came from Switzerland and located in Spencer Town- ship, and Thomas Lumbrezer and his family are still residents of Lueas county. The children are: Katie, wife of Edward Langender, of Richfield Township: Peter, of Spencer Township; Joseph, who crossed the line into Fulton county ; Lawrence, of Fulton Township; Anthony of Richfield Township; Louis, of Spencer Township; Clar- ence, at home; and May, who died in young womanhood.
When Joseph Lumbrezer was sixteen years old he began working by the month and continued it for seven seasons. On May 13, 1913, he married Margaret Matilda Bauer. She was born in Amboy .Town- ship. She is a daughter of Nicholas and Catharine (Gerton) Bauer, who came from Germany. After his marriage Mr. Lumbrezer set- tled on a farm of forty acres he owned in Richfield Township, Lueas county. In the spring of 1910 he sold the Lueas county farm and bought ninety-seven acres where he lives in Fulton Township. He lives on the Fulton-Lucas county line, and in 1917 he bought fifty- four aeres in Lueas county, in front of his house.
The Lumbrezer children are: Frederick, Milan and Raymond. Mr. Lumbrezer is a democrat. The family are members of the Catholic Church at Caraghar and he is a Catholic Knight.
ALBERT FLORENTINE KEENER. The Keener family story reverts to Lueas county, where Albert Florentine Keener, of Fulton Town-
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ship, was born April 5, 1881. He is a son of Daniel and Sarah (Fausz) Keener, the father from Crawford and the mother a native of Lucas county. When Daniel Keener married he settled near White- house and always resided in Lucas county. His wife died in 1910, and he still lives at Whitehouse. Their children are: Jeanette, of Toledo; Albert F .; Grace, a World war nurse in the United States Army, and Lucile, who lives with the father at Whitehouse.
A. F. Keener was educated in common school and in high school at Whitehouse. He went to the Metropolitan Business College in Toledo, and after he was twenty-one he worked one year for his father and they were partners for two years, when Mr. Keener bought the farm of 106 acres where he now lives in Fulton Township. He has eighty-five acres under cultivation and the remainder is in tim- ber in the pasture. Since then he has bought two farms in Lucas county. He rents them and manages his farm in Fulton. He does a general line of farming and raises Holstein cattle.
Mr. Keener has modern appointments in his home-electric lights, furnace heat, etc., and everything is modern at his farmstead. In October, 1904, Mr. Keener married Lena Dora Stuessy, of Green county, Wisconsin. She is a daughter of Jacob Stuessy. Their chil- dren are: Mildred, Burton Daniel, Edith, Marjorie, Dorothy, Nor- man and Grace.
The Keener family are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church in Swanton, and for several years Mr. Keener has been a member of the Swanton Board of Education. Since 1917 he has been a stockholder and a member of the board of directors of the Swanton Milling Company. Mr. Keener is independent in politics-the man rather than the party-and he is a Mason in Swanton. He has filled all of the chairs in the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, Lodge No. 528, of Swanton.
Of the younger generation of farmers one of the best representa- tives is Albert F. Keener. His ambition was to be a successful farmer and he has succeeded in attaining it. He takes a keen interest in the welfare and improvement of his local community, as the above record shows, and the agricultural and civic welfare of Fulton county are well assured so long as such men as Mr. Keener have the keeping of the destinies of farm and country life.
JAMES JOSEPH BORN. The Born family history centering about James Joseph Born of Fulton had its beginning in Fulton county soon after its organization with the coming of his parents, David and Margaret (Kline) Born, to the new county in Western Ohio. Their son was born March 9, 1855, in Fulton county. The father was a native of Berks county, Pennsylvania, while the mother was born in Tuscarawas county. David Born came to Tuscarawas county, where they were married, but they immediately removed to Fulton county.
When the Born family was planted in Fulton county, David Born paid $400 for forty acres of land, but in time he acquired the rest of an eighty and an extra acre of land on which he erected a shop, where he worked as a carpenter, millwright and wagonmaker for many years in the early history of the community. As a car- penter he did much building all about the country. He served the community as township official in different capacities. Mrs. Born died May 13, 1894, while Mr. Born died June 4 of the following year -two Fulton county pioneers.
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Their children are: Franklin, deccased; Johanna, wife of Abra- ham S. Van Nortwick, of Wauscon; Jacob, deceased; James Joseph ; and Ellen, who died at the age of seven. Mr. Born acquired the home farın after the death of his father, and he has never lived anywhere else. David Born and his son invented a washing machine, and for years James Joseph Born was employed placing it on the market. He traveled about the country with it.
There are about six acres of pasture and not a foot of waste land on the farm owned by Mr. Born. His main crops are corn, oats, wheat and clover seed. and for seven years he has grown sugar beets. Diversified farming and crop rotation solves the problem in agri- culturc.
On December 29, 1881, Mr. Born married Lovina Saeger, a daughter of Samuel and Sarah (Nobbs) Saeger, and a native of Fulton county. The mother was an English woman and the father was from Pennsylvania. The children are: Grace, who died July 29, 1913; Charles, of Fulton, married Virgie Gill, and their children are: Thelma Maudc, Wilbur Charles, Clarenee Jacob, William James and Earl Teddy, who died in infancy.
Mr. Born attended Basswood district school, and for many years he served the community as a member of the school board. He casts his ballot with the republicans. He is a charter member of the Knights of Pythias Lodge in Delta, and has occupied all of the chairs. The family belongs to the Methodist Episcopal Church in the com- munity. Mr. Born is an active member of the Grange, and has at- tended the State Grange as the local representative.
While his life has been spent in one locality, Mr. Born has had interesting diversity of experiences, and his farming, business, social and civic interests indicate that he is more than a representative type of Fulton county citizenship. He has always been sensible of his obligations to others, and his individual record lends many additional qualities to the long and useful residence of the Born family in this county.
JOHN A. RUPP, secretary, treasurer and stockholder of the Elmira Elevated Company of Elmira, Ohio, is one of the aggressive young business men of Fulton county who has attained to the position his talents entitle him to hold. He was born in Franklin Township, Fulton county, Ohio, on October 23, 1886, a son of John J. and Anna (Buchor) Rupp, and grandson of Joseph Rupp, who founded the family in America, coming here from Switzerland in young man- hood. After his arrival in this country he was married, and finally located in Wayne county, Ohio, where for some time he was engaged in farming. Later he moved to German Township, Fulton county, near Burlington, and bought a 160 acre farm. He reared a family of five sons and two daughters, and died in 1885.
John J. Rupp located in Franklin Township, Fulton county, after his marriage, and became the owner of 1421/2 acres of land, and there he died in 1915 and his wife passed away in the same year, they dying just three months apart. Like his father, John J. Rupp spent his life in agricultural activities.
John A. Rupp was reared. amid strictly rural surroundings and was taught the dignity of labor properly performed. He attended the district schools until he was seventeen years old, when he left to take a commercial course in the Metropolitan Business College at Toledo, Ohio, and during the winter months in order to earn sufficient money
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to pay for his tuition. Returning home he was engaged in working the homestead with his father until he reached his majority, at that time securing a position as bookkeeper for the Elmira Elevator Com- pany, assuming the duties of that position in November, 1908. Faith- ful performance of them gained him recognition, and he was pro- moted, being first made secretary, then treasurer, and in September, 1917, he was made manager of the elevator. This company handles grain, feed, coal, salt, hay and flour, receiving produce from a terri- tory of ten miles and shipping to the eastern markets. With Walter E. Spangler, Mr. Rupp owns the Cement, Tile & Block Company of Elmira, Ohio, is secretary of the Winner Manufacturing Company, in which he also owns stock, and in all of these concerns is a forceful factor.
Mr. Rupp is a member of the Elmira Special School District Board. He served on the board for five years, was re-elected and was made its secretary and clerk, which offices he still holds. In his political views, Mr. Rupp is an independent thinker. Proud of his family, he has succeeded in awakening the interest of members of it and now is secretary of the Rupp Reunion, which takes place in September of every year at Rufenacht Grove, and the popularity of these gatherings is largely due to his efforts. Mr. Rupp was also a member of the German Township Liberty Loan Committee and raised $104,250. In every respect Mr. Rupp is an excellent citizen, and one of his most effective services is that rendered as secretary of the committee having in charge the securing of the high tension electric service line to furnish power and light from the Toledo Interurban Railway from Pettisville to Elmira at a cost of $9,000.
In September, 1910, Mr. Rupp was united in marriage with Almeda Weber, a daughter of Daniel and Catherine Weber, who lived at Archbold, Ohio. Mr. and Mrs. Rupp have three children, namely: Lyle John, who was born in 1911; Stanley, who was born in 1914; and Paul Weber, who was born in 1916. Mr. Rupp is the embodiment of the qualities of utter fearlessness and honesty, joined with a fortunate capacity for hard work and intelligent direction of his efforts, and it is very seldom that he undertakes anything that it is not carried through to a successful completion.
CORWIN F. MILLS, of Fulton Township, was born August 22, 1860, in Swanton Township, Lucas county. He is a son of Arthur and Jane Ann (Hogle) Mills. While the father was born in Lucas county, the mother came from Rochester, New York. The paternal grandparents, David and Sarah (Barnes) Mills, who were early set- tlers in Lucas county, came from Connecticut. The maternal an- cestry, Isaac and Jane (Torrey) Hogle, always lived in New York. An uncle, Samuel J. Torrey, was a representative in 1867 in the New York Legislature.
Mr. and Mrs. Arthur Mills were married in Fulton county, but lived in Lucas county until 1869, when they moved back to Fulton and in 1870 they removed to DeKalb county, Illinois. In 1872 they returned to Fulton county and located in Swan Creek. They bought timber land which he cleared, and he did carpenter work in the com- munity. He died February 20, 1884, and she died January 20, 1894, just ten years later, and as each died at the age of fifty-eight years, he was ten years older than his wife.
By a previous marriage Mr. Mills had a son, Jefferson C., who met his death in 1882, and a daughter, Louisa, now the wife of C. C.
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Quiggle, of Delta. Corwin F. Mills is the only child born to his mother. In 1879 he went to Chicago and worked six years for the Deering Harvester Company, when he returned to Swanton and lived again with his mother.
In November, 1892, Mr. Mills married Addie May Purdy. She is a daughter of Dwight and Fannie (Jinks) Purdy, and lived in Huron county. For a time they lived at the Mills homestead in Swan Creek, then bought an eighty in Fulton, where he has sixty-five acres under cultivation, the remainder in timber and pasture. He remodeled the house, rebuilt the barn and built corn crib, granary and hog house, and generally improved the place in order to make it his home for the future. For about twenty years Mr. Mills did bridge and road building contract work, but now he gives his atten- tion to the farm and its requirements.
The Mills children are: Robert D., of Toledo; Fannie, a student in Ohio State University at Columbus; Harold, Arthur and Marion, at home with their parents. Mr. Mills has served as township trustee and for seven years he was a member of the Swanton Board of Educa- tion. He is a member of the Knights of Pythias and has been through all the chairs in the Swanton Independent Order of Odd Fellows. Mr. Mills votes the republican ticket.
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