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 3
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Mr. Hough owns a good truck farm of ten acres east of Wauseon, which has added to his resources. Politically he is a republican, and he has to some extent been in public life in his home district. Fra- ternally he belongs to the Knights of Pythias, in addition to his af- filiation with the Ancient Order of Gleaners.
He married, in 1906, Elsie, daughter of Frank and Alice (Tay- lor) Larned, of Ottokee, Fulton county. They have one child, a son, Rollin Delmar, who was born in 1908.
FRED L. FLEMING, partner with Harry H. Hough in the Fleming & Hough Auto Sales Company of Wauseon, Ohio, has since he entered into partnership with Mr. Hough been very successful, the business showing promising development. They have the county agency for the Oakland and Buick cars, and the Samson tractors and trucks, and do a substantial and growing business in auto acces- sories and tires.
He was born in Pike township, Fulton county, Ohio, on July 18, 1882, the son of Frank L. and Carrie (Mercer) Fleming. The Fleming family is of Puritan ancestry, and Frank L. Fleming, father of Fred L., owned a good farm in Pike township. Fred was rcared on that farm, and attended the country schools of the town- ship. He gave his father assistance in the farm work for some years before he left school, and when that time came he gave his father his whole time until he had reached the age of twenty years. He married at that early age, and with a wish to have a home of his own he took a farm of eighty acres situated about two miles north
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HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY
of Delta, Fulton county. That, the Cowan farm, he worked for three years; then for one season he farmed the Biddle farm of 120 acres, and the following season operated the George Fleming farm. He, however, came to Wauseon to live in 1907, and for eighteen months thereafter worked for W. H. Mercer. Then followed a period of three years during which he operated a farm of sixty acres he had purchased. It was situated six miles to the westward of Wau- seon. At the end of the third season, however, he traded the farm for another of thirty acres and a market business in Wauseon. Some time later he took to commercial pursuits, traveling throughout the district, selling farming implements for Heist Hall, of Wauseon. After he had been at such work for two years he became interested in the automobile business, acting as salesman of Ford and Buick cars for David Morningstar, the local agent. After two years with Mr. Morningstar he traveled again for about eighteen months, as the representative of the Moline Plow Company, throughout Northwest- ern Ohio. He did very well in this connection, and was able then to form business partnership with Mr. Hough for the purpose of ac- quiring from David Morningstar one of the two businesses that ener- getie Wauseon man conducted. The partners also brought to the business the optimism and enterprise of two able and experienced young business men, and soon had a splendidly developing business. More regarding the affairs of the company has been written in the biography of Harry H. Hough, for this edition, and it is therefore not necessary to further recount it here, at least not more than to say that the partners have good auguries of substantial success in the results of their first year of trading.
Mr. Fleming has been a republican in politics since he first be- came entitled to a vote, and when he lived in Dover township was a member of the school board. Fraternally, he is a member of the Wauseon Lodge of Free and Accepted Masons, of the local branch of the Knights of Pythias order, and also of the Ancient Order of Gleaners, of which his partner has held so prominent a connection.
In 1902 Mr. Fleming married Anna B., daughter of John and Annabelle Coe. They have one child, a daughter, Carrie.
ROBERT DRENNAN, who owns a successful agricultural imple- ment business in Wauseon, Ohio, and also other property, and has a good reputation for moral and material integrity through- out Fulton county, is a man of much versatility. At the outset of his career it appeared that his life would be given chiefly to educational occupations, for he attended the State Normal School and gained a teacher's certificate; in fact, for some years he followed that profession. Then he took to farming, and later came to Wau- seon and conducted a smithy and implement agency, the last- named occupation bringing him good return.
He is a native of Fulton county, born in Clinton township, where his father owned a farm of eighty acres, a little more than three miles to the westward of Wauseon. Robert's parents were William and Margaret (Dowd) Drennan, both of Irish birth, the father com- ing to America from Londonderry when he was only fifteen years old. He settled in Toledo, where he worked as a railroad grading contractor. He had the distinction of driving the first stake when the Middle Railroad yards at Toledo were surveyed for the Lake Shore freight yards. He did well by his years of railroad contraet- ing. And it was in Toledo that he met and married Mrs. Margaret Cahoe, who came to America when she was only thirteen years old.
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HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY
With his wife he moved to Clinton township, Fulton county, Ohio, having purchased about eighty acres of land in that locality. This removal took place in 1861, about twelve months after their mar- riage, and on this farm he lived for the remainder of his life, clear- ing the land and bringing it into good cultivation. He was a man of untiring energy, and with an ox team seemed to be incessantly working. As a result of good farming, and perhaps more because of his persistent and consistent application to farming, he became possessed ultimately of a very large acreage, owning 429 acres in the last years of his life. He died in 1897, his widow, however, living for a further twenty years, her death not occurring until October, 1917. They were the parents of five children, of whom Robert was the youngest. He was educated in the country school at Clinton, attending school during the winter months, and, as was the custom in farming districts at that time, assisting his father in the farming operations during the growing season. So he passed his years of ele- mentary study. However, he seems to have had the intention of entering the teaching profession, for during 1889 and 1890 he was a student at the State Normal School, and at the termination of the course was awarded a teacher's certificate. For four years thereafter he taught in the Clinton Township School Dictrict No. 6. Then, until 1903, he helped farm the home estate for his mother, coming in that year to Wauseon, where he took charge of the smithy and implement business owned by D. W. Kimerer, his brother-in-law. Mr. Drennan bought the stock, and from that time he conducted the blacksmith's shop and the implement agency with success. His establishment is located on the corner of North Fulton and Oak streets, Wauseon. In 1907 he built a new building on the site of the old, and has since expended his scope of business considerably. He has the agency for all the lines of the Moline Plow Company, for good territory, and is agent for the Moline tractor for four town- ships, Clinton, German, York and Dover, in Fulton county. Also, he owns a farming property of eighty acres near Wauseon.
Politically, Mr. Drennan is a democrat, that is in national poli- tics; in local affairs he is an independent, although he has not followed public affairs very closely, not so closely as to evince any desire to seek public office. But he is a man of enviable repute locally, and is generally sincerely interested in the progress of the city.
He married, in 1907, Nellie, daughter of W. H. and Minerva (Turney) Gaiman, of Wauseon. Three children were born to them : William, who was born in 1908, and died at the age of five months; Harry George, born February 22, 1910, and Donald Eugene, born August 10, 1917.
HARRY CLYDE WEBER, partner of the firm of Weber & Butter- more, wholesale and retail bakers of Wauseon, Ohio, is a native of the county, and although only eight years have passed since he graduated from the Wauseon High School, his busi- ness record shows that he possesses in good measure business acumen, ingenuity, enterprise and determination. There have been more fail- ures than successes in the following of poultry rearing as a vocation, but young Weber, who ventured into that business soon after leaving school, had success from the outset. and continued success through the years to that of the war, when he entered the military forces of the nation. And since his return from military service he has shown
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HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY
in the other business into which he went with Eugene Buttermore that he is determined to succeed.
He was born in Delta, Fulton county, Ohio, in 1894, and in due course attended and passed through the elementary school of that place, afterward taking the high school course at Wauseon, from which school he graduated in the class of 1912. He was of self- reliant, independent mind, and had resolved to make his own way in life, so, having given the business much preliminary study, he ven- tured into the occupation of poultry farming on the five-acre property he had in Wauseon. He specialized in Rhode Island Reds and Orpington fowls, and raised some prize stock. With his poultry he gained notable success in the shows of that part of Ohio, and was able to demand good prices for his eggs and baby chicks. During the first year he made a profit of $500; the second year yielded him $600 profit, and his profits in succeeding years increased. Alto- gether it was creditable work for young Weber, for it proved him to be possessed of the grit necessary to come successfully through the arduous and dull routine of the building process. The coming of the World war, with its demands upon the young men of the nation, caused him to temporarily transfer his poultry business. He enlisted in July, 1918, at Wauseon, in the United States Army, and was sent to Camp Jackson, South Carolina, where he remained for five months as a member of the Headquarters Company of the Twelfth Regiment of Field Artillery, rising to the grade of corporal. He received honorable discharge on December 22, 1918, and re- turned soon afterward to Wauseon. He then joined Eugene Butter- more, who also had just been mustered out of the United States naval forces, in purchasing a bakery business in Wauseon, which they have since continued, under the firm name of Weber & Butter- more, doing quite a substantial wholesale and retail city and country trade. Young Weber also still conducts his poultry farm and to some extent has gone into the hog-raising business. It will therefore be recognized that he is a young man of energy and enterprise. Po- litically he is a republican ; he is a Mason, member of the Wauseon Lodge No. 49, and he is a popular young man in the city, showing the stability of purpose that makes for good citizenship and suc- cess. He is unmarried.
BEN LESLIE, who is creditably taking his place among the re- sponsible young business men of Wauseon, Ohio, is the sole owner of the Wauseon Specialty Company, general grocers of that city. He has a good business reputation, and has shown himself to be an energetic, up-to-date merchant since he has conducted a store in Wauseon.
He is a native of Fulton county, born in 1887, the son of Elijah Benton and Clara A. (Palmer) Leslie. He is of English-Scotch ancestry, although the Leslie family has had many (generations of American residence, the family being among the old families of Pennsylvania. Ben, as a boy, attended Wauseon schools, and at the age of sixteen years entered the employ of H. F. Dimke, proprietor of a general store at Wauseon, staying there for eight months as a clerk. Then for more than three years he was a salesman in the dry goods store of the Mercer Co-Operative Company, Wauseon. He. was a boy of strong characteristics, and when he began to carn money was not disposed to waste it in needless luxuries. He manifested commendable thrift, and also much capability in many other direc- tions, especially as a salesman. He was also of an optimistic turn of
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HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY
mind, and did not hesitate to enter independently into business as a grocer when he saw what seemed to be a good opportunity, even though he was at the time still a minor. For two years he conducted a grocery at the corner of Fulton and Oak streets, Wauseon, closing that business to enter another that promised greater return for time given. For six years he traveled as a representative for the Curtis Publishing Company and other publishing houses. During that period he proved his ability as a salesman, and accumulated some capital which later stood him in good stead. After six months spent in Toledo as stock clerk for a firm of wholesale grocers of that city he returned to Wauseon, and for more than three years was a clerk in the Wauseon Postoffice, under Postmaster Emil Weber. In Au- gust, 1917, Mr. Leslie purchased from Mr. H. Kennedy the Pioneer Grocery, situated at 132 North Fulton street, Wauseon, and has since conducted it. Mr. Leslie has some other business interests, but these are his main enterprises, and take most of his time. He employs four people, and up to the present he has shown a good capacity for consequential business.
In politics Mr. Leslie is independent; fraternally he belongs to local branches of the Independent Order of Odd Felows and the Knights of the Maccabees order. He is an earnest Christian, a mem- ber of the Evangelical Church.
In 1908 Mr. Leslie married Alta Mae, daughter of George W. and Ella (Oldfield) Ledyard, of Wauseon. They have three chil- dren : George Benton, who was born in 1910; Eleanore Mae, born in 1912, and Wayne Delos, born in 1919.
FRANCIS CARL SMALLMAN, grocer and seedsman of Wauseon, continuing in successful operation one of the oldest of such busi- nesses in the city, has shown distinct capability for business affairs, and an equally marked capability for the administration of public affairs. He is one of the rising young business men of the county ; was nominated for the office of mayor; has been president of the Wauseon City Council, and has been trustee of the Board of Public Affairs.
He was born in Wauseon, Ohio, in 1880, the son of Francis R. and Consuela (Acorn) Smallman, the former for forty years one of the leading business men of the city. Francis C. was educated in elementary and high school grades in the local schools. After he had completed two years in the Wauseon High School he took a preparatory course at the Kenyon Military Academy, Gambier, Ohio. After two years there he entered Kenyon College, where he took the Arts course for three years. Returning to Wauseon in 1901, he en- tered energetically into business association with his father, who conducted the store he now owns, and had conducted it since early manhood; in fact, the Smallman store at Wauseon has been widely known throughout Fulton county for almost half a century. It was established by Mr. Smallman, Sr., in 1873, and father and son have had a good share of the city and county trade during that period. Since 1909, the business has been entirely conducted by the son, the father then retiring; and during the last ten years of trading abund- ant evidenee has been seen of the business enterprises of the son, who has expanded the business in many directions.
He has for many years been prominent in the social and public affairs of the city and, generally, is of enviable repute in Wauseon. Politically he gives allegiance to the republican party, and has inter- ested himself actively in national campaigns. His activities of
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HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY
publie bearing, however, have been more coneerned with local af- fairs than national; in fact, he has taken quite prominent part in eivic matters. He sat in the City Council for two terms, and was the president of that body, and for two years was one of the trustees of the Board of Public Affairs. His place among the people of the city may be gauged by his nomination for election to the office of chief magistrate. He, however, declined that honor, which would draw him almost entirely from his business affairs. He has been some- what prominently identified with local lodges of fraternal organiza- tions, being a thirty-second degree Mason, Scottish Rite, and a member of the Knights of Pythias. His college fraternity is Delta Tau Delta.
Mr. Smallman, in 1909, married Elsie, daughter of John F. Dimke, a well known Wauseon resident. They have one child, a daughter, Jane Aleorn.
FRANK R. GUILFORD, president of the well-known Wauseon, Ohio, firm of Brigham, Guilford & Company, department store owners, and one of the leading business men of this city, has achieved substantial suecess as a merchant during the last decade. He has also come prominently to the fore as a public worker, has held more than one public office, has been a member of the Wauseon City Council for three terms, and has in very many ways proved himself to be a good citizen and an able man of marked public spirit.
He is a native of Wauseon, born in the eity in 1882, the son of Conley E. and Florence (McConnell) Guilford. The Guilford fam- ily is of English origin, but for many generations has been resident in America, the progenitor of the American branch of the old Eng- lish family having settled near Cuba, in New York State. Conley E. Guilford, father of Frank R., was for many years a prominent merchant in Wauseon, a pioneer druggist, and he was much esteemed in the eity and county. A man of strong character and definite capability, he took good part in the public affairs of the district, was for two terms county treasurer, and was a factor of much influence with the people of the city.
Frank R. Guilford attended the public schools of Wauseon and graduated from the Wauseon High School in 1900. He then pro- eeeded to Columbus, and took the course at the Ohio State Univer- sity, graduating in arts and science, and thus gaining the Bachelor of Arts degree. with the class of 1905. For a year thereafter he was in Louisville. Kentucky, where he was employed as an accountant. He returned to Wauseon so that he might take the office of deputy county treasurer under his father, who had been elected to the office of county treasurer. As a matter of fact his father was county treasurer for two terms, but it was only for his father's second term. 1905-06, that he acted as deputy. In 1906 Frank R. Guildford became aeeountant for C. E. Rossman & Company, department store owners of Wauseon: and it was in all probability this connection that shaped materially his future business activities. For three years he remained with that company. In 1909, he took part in the organization of another company, the objeet of which was to estab- lish a department store business in Wauseon, and this new organiza- tion took over the business of C. E. Rossman & Company. The new company took the trading name of Brigham, Guilford & Company. the partners being Messrs. Guilford, Brigham, Seott. Dalrymple and Palmer, all good business men, favorably known in Wauseon and
LUCIUS PALMER TAYLOR Born August 15th, 1817, 102 years old August 15th, 1919.
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HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY
within a radius of twenty-five miles of that place, so that they started in business with good prospects of succeeding. Mr. Guilford was appointed general manager and elected secretary and treasurer of the corporate body, which had been capitalized at $60,000. He continued in such capacities until the death of Mr. Brigham in 1917, soon after which occurrence he was elected president of the company, which office, as well as that of general manager, he has since held. The trading of the company has been very satisfactorily expanded, and today it holds an enviable place among the business institutions of Wauseon, and draws trade over a wide area. The store is the largest retail establishment in Northwest Ohio outside of Toledo.
Mr. Guilford is now a man of substance, has a very good repu- tation, and his standing in the city has brought him into connection with the direction of other corporate concerns of public trust. He is a director of the Fulton County Building, Loan and Savings Com- pany, and is himself the owner of an agricultural property one hun- dred acres in extent.
He has for many years taken active interest in the public ad- ministration of the city and county, and his popularity in the city may be gauged by the fact that for three terms he was elected to the City Council, and for a like period sat on the Board of Public Af- fairs. He has shown commendable sincerity in public work and much ability as an administrator, and while the war was in progress was indefatigable in his efforts to further the national cause in his home territory. Politically he has been staunch in his allegiance to the republican party, and has been an active worker for the cause. Fraternally he is identified with the Masonic Order and the Knights of Pythias. Of the branches of the former he belongs to the lodge of F. and A. M., Wauseon, to the Wauseon Chapter, and to Defiance Commandery. By religious conviction he is a Congregationalist, and a member and good supporter of the Wauseon Congregational Church. His success in life is all the more commendable in that it has been attained entirely by his own efforts. It of course had a very solid base in the superior education he was able to get, but education is not the only essential to success.
Frank R. Guilford married Dolly, daughter of William S. and Flora (Stuller) Boone, of Wauseon. The marriage took place in 1907. and two children have been born to them: Hortense Ruth and Conley Boone.
LUCIUS PALMER TAYLOR. It is not given to many men to pass the century milestone, but Fulton county has a citizen who gives the census enumerator 102 years old as his last birthday. This magnificent specimen of honorable old age is Lucius Palmer Tay- lor of Pike Township, a man who holds the affectionate esteem of all who have the distinct honor of his acquaintance. He was born in Bucklin Township, Franklin county, Massachusetts on August 15, 1817, a son of Orrin and Ann Street (Hall) Taylor. Orrin Tay- lor was born in Bucklin Township, Franklin county, Massachusetts, on September 5, 1789, a son of William and Abigail (Miles) Tay- lor, natives of Massachusetts; grandson of Othnel and Martha (Arms) Taylor. Othnel Taylor was born in 1719 and served as captain of a company during the American Revolution. He was a son of Capt. Samuel Taylor, who was born at Northfield, Massachu- setts, in 1688, and served as captain in the regular British Army stationed at Norwalk, Connecticut. Samuel Taylor was a son of
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HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY
John Taylor, who was born June 14, 1614, and settled at Northfield, Massachusetts, but was killed while commanding a company pursu- ing Seuer de Montgomery during the troubles with the French. He had come from his birthplace, Windsor, England, to the American Colonies with a band of Puritans in 1630, to escape persecution. The wife of Samuel Taylor was Sarah Munn, and she was born on Dc- cember 2, 1716. The maternal grandfather of Lucius Palmer Tay- lor was Joel Hall, and he was born at Wallingford, Connecticut.
After their marriage Orrin Taylor and his wife came to Ohio, traveling as far as the Erie Canal by wagon, and then came by canalboat to Buffalo, New York. There they secured passage on a steamer to Cleveland, Ohio. The Ohio Canal afforded them passage as far as Boston Bridge, and from that point the little party traveled again by wagon to the destination, Northfield, Ohio. For the first couple of years Orrin Taylor and his brother engaged in fishing in Lake Huron at Thunder Bay Island. In order to make the pay- ment on his land Mr. Taylor had to go to Detroit, Michigan, the nearest land office, and walked the entire distance there and back. He was accompanied by his brother William O. It was his inten- tion to place the currency about his waist in a money belt, but found the belt too heavy to carry in that fashion, so slung it about his shoulders. It is very evident that people were more honest in those days, as Mr. Taylor inct with no accident and delivered his moncy safely. Few men would like to undertake a similar trip today. Indeed it would not be safe for anyone to attempt to carry such a belt a block on a crowded city street, to say nothing of jour- neying over trackless wastes for a matter of days. He and his brother paid for 380 acres adjoining, the land lying east of the farm of Lucius P. Taylor.
Lucius Palmer Taylor has a vivid recollection of some of the hardships of the early days in Ohio. For some years the family lived in a little twelve foot square cabin, with benches along the side for beds. The door opening was so low that they had to bend their heads in order to keep from bumping themselves. In 1843 he came to Pike Township and bought 240 acres in the wild timber.
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