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 30
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
Ira attended the district school nearest to his home regularly until he was eighteen years years old, but long before he had closed his schooling he had been in the habit of doing much work upon the home farm. When he was eighteen years old, however, he appears to have evinced an inclination for commercial life, for he then entered the general store of E. J. Claire of Archbold, where he worked for two years as a clerk. His younger brother, Enerson, had also entered merchandising business, and eventually the brothers, having some financial capital and a comprehensive knowledge of the grocery busi- ness, joined their resources and acquired the business of Mr. Claire, for whom Ira had worked. The Bourquin brothers for three years or so thereafter were independently established as grocers in Archbold, conducting their trading under the name of Bourquin Brothers, and having gratifying success. Eventually, however, they became cogni- zant of another business opportunity that promised greater success, and in order to pursue it they sold their grocery and entered upon their new enterprise, that of tile manufacturing. They purchased thirteen acres of land upon which were clay deposits of proved value, and immediately formulated plans to enter extensively into tile making. Their property is on the outskirts of Archbold, and during the years from 1906, when they acquired the land, to the present the brothers have developed an appreciable business for their manu- factured building tiles and other clay products. Their business sphere is of wide range, and also locally, and in the surrounding country, the brothers do a substantial degree of trading in coal. The tile plant finds employment constantly for thirteen men, so that in all the Bourquin brothers have developed a helpful industry for Archbold.
Politically Mr. Bourquin is a democrat, and while he has had to
213
HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY
adhere closely to his business affairs he has been a public-spirited resident. He is interested in all things that pertain to Fulton county, and to Archbold, and has been instrumental in furthering more than one project of public character. His private life is estimable, and as a business man he has good place among the responsible citizens of Fulton county. In 1903, he married Ethel, daughter of Robert S. and Elizabeth (Tedrow) Blair, of Archbold. They have five chil- dren : Wave Orville, who was born in 1906; Charles Robert, born in 1908; Gladys Elizabeth, born in 1910; Gladwin Emerson, born in 1912; Edwin Merritt, born in 1919. Mr. and Mrs. Bourquin have many almost life-long friends in Archbold, connected with which place the two families have been for so long a time.
JOEL RUPP was born near Archbold forty-four years ago, and for more than twenty years has been a responsible business man of that town. For eighteen years he was senior partner of the firm of Rupp Brothers, dry goods merchants, and since 1914 has been one of the partners in the successful Peerless Glove Manufacturing Com- pany of Archbold, a manufacturing enterprise which is becoming a consequential industry to the town of Archbold. Joel Rupp is the senior partner, and the product of the factory finds ready market throughout the United States, and has encouraging prospects of substantial expansion. As a business man, Mr. Rupp has good standing in the county, and in his personal life he has also gained enviable standing in Archbold, being of estimable character. He is an earnest Christian, a deacon of his church, and superintendent of the Sunday school, these connections evidencing his general char- acter and his worth in church work.
He was born on the family homestead near Archbold, Fulton county, Ohio, July 16, 1876, the son of Jacob and Catherine (Frien- berger) Rupp, who are classed among the pioneers of the district. The Rupp family is of Swiss origin. Jacob Rupp, father of Joel, was born in the canton of Schaffhausen, Switzerland, but came to America in his early manhood. He was of sturdy character, and resolute purpose, and settled cheerfully to pioneering work on virgin timber land, near Archbold, and before his death in 1884 had cleared and brought into profitable cultivation a good acreage. He married in Archbold, and all the twelve children of Jacob and Catherine (Frienberger) Rupp were born on the homestead he had won from the wilderness. Mrs. Rupp lived a widowhood of forty-two years, her decease not occurring until 1916. Of their twelve children eight are living, Joel being the third youngest son born to them.
Joel was a boy of industrious habits, and after attending public school in Archbold until he had reached the age of sixteen years he assisted his brothers in the operation of the home farm. As a matter of fact, he had been undertaking many tasks in connection with the farm long before he had closed his schooling. He was only eight years old when his father died, and his mother having a large family to rear and the farm being the only substantial means of sub- sistence, Joel had been in the habit of working industriously on the farm during the long summer vacations while he was still a young boy. He remained with his mother, assisting his brothers in the farm work, until he was nineteen years old, and then seeing an opportunity and wishing to gain higher academic education he be- came a student at the High School of Archbold, attending high school for two years; concurrently doing much farm work. When
214
HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY
he was twenty-one years old he entered commercial life, securing the position of clerk in the dry goods store of F. J. Dimke, Archbold. About a year later he and a friend, William Rice, joined resources and purchased a one-half interest in the business of Mr. Dimke, the trading thereafter being conducted under the firm name of F. J. Dimke and Company. Two years later a reconstruction became necessary, owing to the death of Mr. Rice. In the consequent nego- ciations Emanuel Rupp, brother of Joel, joined in acquiring the whole business from Mr. Dimke, and thereafter for eighteen years the brothers conducted the business under the trading name of Rupp Brothers, giving good service and prospering well. The brothers handled that business very creditably, and became generally well- regarded in the town. In 1914 they joined Otto Waldvogel, a well- known Archbold resident, in forming the Peerless Glove Manufac- turing Company. The enterprise began in an inauspicions manner, the partners with commendable recognition of their responsibility preferring to build the industry upon a solid, if slow, base. Two years later Mr. Waldvogel sold his interest to Mr. D. J. Mockler, a man of much business experience and a hard worker, and since that time the Rupp brothers and Mr. Mockler, have devoted almost all their joint energies and thought to the development of the company's trading. The expansion of business up to the present, has been very satisfactory, and their manufactured product is shipped to all parts of the United States. It is a promising industry of Archbold, being capable of almost unlimited expansion. Upon the present volume of business the factory affords constant employment to twenty-two Archbold people, so that even in its present state of development, it is not an inconsequential manufacturing industry of the borough and county. It is in the hands of good executives, whose main inter- est it is, and the advancement should be appreciable as the years pass.
Mr. Rupp's interest in the community of Archbold is well known. He has upon many occasions demonstrated his desire in practical ways to further the interests of the place, and although he has not taken public office he has given good assistance to many local causes. He has been especially active in church work. He is a member of the Missionary Church, and has for years been one of its deacons, and his interest in the Christian guidance of the young people of his church is seen in his service as superintendent in the Sunday school. In this work he shows the unselfishness of his nature, and also the strength of his religious convictions.
In 1899 Mr. Rupp married Anna Rice, daughter of Jacob and Margaret (Waldvogel) Rice, of Archbold. Mrs. Rupp is active in church work, and during the recent war did much war work in Arch- bold in connection with the local Red Cross and other home activities, financial and personal.
EDWIN ANDREW MURBACH, M. D., of Archbold, one of the lead- ing physicians of Archbold, Fulton county, Ohio, and continuing a professional connection with that community begun by his father, Dr. Andrew J. Murbach, sixty years ago, is a medical man of worthy repute in the county, and of distinct qualifications. Holding the baccalaureate degree of Heidelberg University, and the medical degree of the University of Michigan, Dr. Murbach has undertaken much post-graduate research in special branches of medical science in some of the leading European centers of medicine, and has had much
215
HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY
hospital practice in addition to an almost continuous practice in Archbold since 1897, and a strenuous period as a military surgeon in United States Army hospitals during the World war recently ended. Dr. Murbach is one of the founders of the Wauseon Hospital, which has had rapid developments since its establishment in 1907.
Edwin Andrew Murbach is a native of Archbold, Fulton county, born in the town on December 15, 1869, the son of Andrew J. and Elise (Tanner) Murbach. The Murbach family is of Swiss origin, although three generations have been resident in the United States. Dr. Murbach's father and grandfather were both born in the town Goechlingen, canton of Schaffhausen, Switzerland, and both came to the United States, settling on farming land, then practically in its wild state, about six miles to the northward of Swanton, Swan Creek Township of Fulton county. At the time they came into Fulton county, Andrew J., father of Edwin A., was about sixteen years old. His father applied himself resolutely to pioneering tasks, and during his lifetime cleared quite an extensive tract of Fulton county timber land, being thus among the pioneer settlers of the county. His son Andrew J., however was not far beyond majority when he resolved to qualify for entrance to professional life. He pursued medical studies assiduously, and became a medical student at the Starling Medical College at Columbus, Ohio, eventually, in 1863, graduating, with the degree of Doctor of Medicine. He became established in good general practice of medicine in Archbold and for forty years continued to actively follow his profession, becoming widely known throughout Fulton county. He died April 28, 1900, his widow, Elise Tanner, dicd December 29, 1919.
Their son, Edwin Andrew, as a boy attended the Archbold ele- mentary public school, and later passed through the high school of Archbold. He wished to also enter professional life, and with that ultimate object became an undergraduate of Heidelberg University, graduating therefrom in 1890, with the degree of Bachelor of Arts. He then proceeded to the University of Michigan, enrolling as a medical student, and in 1894 graduated with the degree of Doctor of Medicine. Then followed a valuable interneship of one year, dur- ing which time he was house surgeon of the University Hospital, an appointment gained by competitive examination, and valuable to the young doctor in its wide scope of clinical opportunities. After leaving the hospital he returned to Archbold, and for a year or so was associated with his father in practice. He, however, desired to undertake further research in internal medicine and surgery, and for that purpose went to Europe in 1896, and took a post-graduate course at the Royal University, Vienna, Austria, probably the leading medical center of Europe. He passed a year in valuable post-gradu- ate work in Europe and upon his return to the United States, and to Archbold, he immediately entered general practice, associating with his father until the latter's death in 1900, and from that time until 1913 attending to the medical needs of most of the families that formerly had been served by his father. In 1913, his younger brother, C. F., entered into professional partnership with him, which arrangement has since held. During the last decade Doctor Murbach has been able to undertake much post-graduate research, notwith- standing his extensive practice, and he probably will continue his studies until he finally closes his professional labors altogether. He had a wide practice as a military surgeon in 1918, and would have en- listed earlier had he not been held in the county from June, 1917,
216
HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY
until July, 1918, by professional duties of military connection, Doc- tor Murbach during that period being surgeon on the Fulton county Selective Draft Board. In July, 1918, he was commissioned by Presi- dent Wilson in the grade of captain of the Medical Reserve Corps of the United States Army, and was ordered to active service at Camp Greenleaf, Georgia, where he took a six-weeks' course in military sur- gery. After graduation he was ordered to Fort Des Moines, Iowa, for service in the United States General Hospital, No. 26, where he re- mained for five months, the Armistice of November, 1918, making it unnecessary, in fact almost impossible, for an army surgeon stationed in the United States to get assignment to overseas duty. Doctor Mur- bach received honorable discharge from the United States Army on January 6, 1919, soon afterward resuming his private practice.
Professionally Doctor Murbach has a good place among Fulton county physicians, and is well-regarded in the profession. He be- longs to many medical organizations, including the state and county societies, and he has an enviable professional reputation among the residents of Archbold and that part of the county. His practice is a wide one, and marked by much care in diagnosis, and yet with a confidence that comes from knowledge and experience. Doctor Mur- bach was one of the founders in 1907 of the Wauseon Hospital, being joined by his brother-in-law, Dr. J. V. Fauster, in that undertaking. The hospital has more than doubled its capacity since it was estab- lished, and is now under the supervision of the Wauseon Business Men's Club. It is equipped with an up-to-date operating room.
During his more than two decades of busy professional practice in Archbold Doctor Murbach has shown commendable public spirit- edness. He has been a good supporter of local institutions and move- ments of community interest. He has been especially interested in educational matters, and for twenty-years has been a member of the school board. Politically he is a republican by religious conviction he is a member of the Reformed Church; and fraternally has been somewhat prominent in the functioning of local Masonic bodies, being a member of the Free and Accepted Masons, Wauseon lodge, and belongs to the Commandery and Shrine.
In 1907 he married Maud E. Eastman, daughter of E. R. East- man, of Ottawa, Ohio. They have four children, two sons and two daughters.
C. F. MURBACH, M. D., a well-regarded physician and surgeon of Archbold, Fulton county, Ohio, is continuing with his brother a practice of medicine in Fulton county begun by their father, Dr. Andrew J. Murbach, sixty years ago. He is a native of Archbold, where his father practiced for forty years, and is of a family which is placed among the pioneers of Fulton county. Doctor Murbach specializes in surgery, and his medical qualifications include gradua- tion in medicine from the University of Michigan and post-graduate study of surgery at the Harvard University, medical department, which is generally considered to be the leading school of medicine in America.
Dr. C. F. Murbach was born in April,1885, the son of Dr. A. J. and Elise (Tanner) Murbach, and grandson of the first Murbach of record in Fulton county. The family is of Swiss origin, and both father and grandfather, were born in Goechlingen, canton of Schaff- hausen, Switzerland. They were early settlers in Fulton county, and more regarding the early connection of the Murbach family with
217
HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY
Fulton county is contained in the article written for this edition of county history regarding the life of Dr. Murbach's brother, Edwin A. The homestead of the Murbach family is in Swan Creek Town- ship, but for sixty years the family has been resident in Archbold, with the development of which took place it has been somewhat closely associated. Dr. C. F. Murbach attended the public schools of Arch- bold, eventually graduating from the Archbold High School. He was fifteen years old when his father died, and at that time was in high school, and had planned to eventually study medicine. Fortunately the family was well circumstanced financially, and he was able to take the requisite pre-medical course and the medical course of the University of Michigan, from which he successfully and creditably graduated, with the degree of Doctor of Medicine, in 1909. Then followed four years of professional practice in Portland, Oregon. In 1913, however, he returned to Archbold, and entered general prac- tice in his native place in association with his brother, Edwin A., who had during the previous fifteen years or so developed quite an extensive medical practice in Archbold and throughout that section of the county. During the seven years to the present he has prac- ticed almost continuously in Archbold, and during the war, was a captain of the Medical Corps in the military service, spending two years overseas with the Rainbow Division. He is a skillful surgeon, and has specialized in that branch of medical science, taking post- graduate study, 1915-16, at Harvard University Medical School, and benefitting considerably by the wide clinical opportunities of the city of Boston.
Dr. C. F. Murbach is a member of most of the medical societies, belonging to the Ohio State society and to the county organization, and also to some national associations. Fraternally he is a Scottish Rite Mason and a Shriner. He is unmarried. One might almost say that he is wedded to his profession, for he devotes almost all his time to professional matters, in research and practice.
HENRY J. FAGLEY, partner of the firm of Hirsch and Fagley, wool merchants and seedsmen of Archbold, Fulton county, Ohio, has for many years been prominent in the business and civic life of that borough. For four years he was town clerk, and for nine years was a councilman and in his personal, civic and business activities he has been actuated by the same high moral principle which first brought him into favor in his native place.
He was born in Archbold in 1873, the son of Conrad and Anna (Saurerbry) Fagley. His family was of Swiss birth, both his father and grandfather having been born in the Canton of Schauffhausen, Switzerland, but both spent the greater part of their lives in America. Conrad Fagley, father of Henry J., was only four years old when his parents brought him to America. They settled soon afterward in Fulton county, purchasing a tract of wild land about a mile or so distant from Pettisville, Fulton county. Their tract was virgin tim- ber land, and they were evidently not very well circumstanced finan- cially, for notwithstanding that the Government sold undeveloped land in the district at nominal prices, in most cases at about $1.25 per acre, the Fagley family at the outset only acquired from the Government eleven acres of land. This they gradually cleared, and upon the land erected a substantial dwelling, which became known as the Fagley homestead. Conrad Fagley grew to manhood in such an environment, and whether because of such surroundings or through
218
HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY
inherited sturdiness of character he developed much strength of purpose and personality as he passed through life. By trade he was a carpenter, and he followed his trade industriously throughout his aetive life, which ended in 1885. His wife, however, lived to a venerable old age, surviving her husband by twenty-nine years. She died in 1914.
Henry J., son of Conrad and Anna (Saurerbry) Fagley, and eldest of their five children, attended the public schools of Arehbold until he was fifteen years old, then having to leave sehool because of the vital necessity of help his mother needed in maintaining the family of five children, after the death of the head of the house, their father. Henry J., earnestly applied himself to what work then offered in the grist mill of Vernier and Levy, of Archbold. He was a good workman, and his employers soon discovered that quality in him, and his life was a compartively happy one in honest work under those employers for twenty years, during which he ad- vanced in responsibility until he became head miller, which respon- sibility he held for the last eight years of his official connection with the mill. He would probably have continued as such for many more years had not the ownership of the mill changed hands. When that occurred, and Henry J. Farley had, perforce, to seek other em- ployment, he found it without much difficulty in the factory of the Archbold Veneered Door Company, in which plant he worked for three years, showing a versatility in practical work and an aptness in adapting himself to the circumstances of the moment that was ereditable. He proved himself to be a man of distinct practicability, and could have probably made his way successfully under almost all conditions. For three years he worked in the door factory, and then came another marked change of business, Mr. Fagley then entering the employ of Henry Hirsch, a local seedsman and wool merehant. He was associated with that business as an employe, for three years, at the end of that time becoming more closely interested in it, being then able to purchase a partnership in it. Since that year, 1914, the partnership trading has been done under the firm- name of Hirseh and Fagley, and the six years of trading have been mutually satisfactory, the company expanding its business appreei- ably. Its sale of clover and field seeds is of great volume, their trading being with most of the responsible agriculturists of the surrounding country. Mr. Fagley is still actively following the busi- ness and expects to for many years, but he has already reached a satisfactory competence in material wealth. He is a direetor and stock- holder of the Archbold Telephone Company, and has other business interests.
His record in public service is a good one. He is politically a staunch democrat, and has for very many years been prominent in local affairs. He has demonstrated a worthy and unselfish public spirit, and also marked ability and faithfulness in the public ser- viee. For four years he was town clerk of Archbold, and for nine years sat in the borough council while his general interest in other community work has in very many ways been shown. He has been a helpful resident, and while the World war was in progress demon- strated in a very practical way a useful citizenship. Religiously he is a member of the Lutheran Church.
In 1898 he married Elizabeth Miller, daughter of John Miller, a successful farmer of the Archbold neighborhood. Two children have been born to them: Ruth H., who was born in 1902; and Arthur C., who was born in 1904.
,
219
HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY
GEORGE C. ROEDEL, senior partner of the Archbold firm of Roedel and Short, clothiers, haberdashers, and shoe merchants, has been among the leading business people of Archbold, Fulton county, for many years. His father was a successful merchant in Archbold throughout practically the whole of his business life and the family generally is of good repute in that section of Fulton county.
George C. Roedel was born in Holgate Village, Pleasant Town- ship, Henry county, Ohio, in 1877, the son of Charles and Mary (Woelfel) Roedel. The family is of German-Swiss origin, the home of Roedels being in Berne, Switzerland. His genealogy in the mat- ternal line connects with a family which had early connection with the State of Wisconsin, his grandfather Woelfel emigrating when thirty-five years old, with his wife and three children, and settling in Madison, Wisconsin, where for many years he was a merchant, even- tually coming to Archbold, and there for many years being in inde- pendent business as a shoe merchant, and also having a livery and posting business at Fayette, Fulton county. He died in Archbold. The Roedels also were shoe merchants in Archbold, Charles Roedel, father of George C., being in good business of that character in the town for the greater part of his life, where he was estecmed as an enterprising, responsible and honorable merchant of public-spirited inclinations. He entered actively into community affairs. and con- tributed more than that quota of one resident to the development of the town. His wife, Mary Woelfel, also was of good life, and esteemed by many for her kindly nature. Their son, George C., spent the greater part of his boyhood in Archbold, attended the local public schools until he reached the age of seventeen years, and then entered upon an active business career. For twenty-two years he was con- nected with the firm of Vervier and Mclaughlin of Archbold, and during that period, by steady life and commendable thrift, accumul- ated not an inconsequential sum of money, with which capital he eventually entered into partnership with his former employer's son, G. J. Vernier, the two for about two years conducting a clothing establishment in Archbold, under the trading name of Vernier and Roedel. This business enterprise came to a sudden and unexpected termination in 1913, their establishment, with so many others, being gutted by the great Archbold fire of that year. The partners after that disastrous occurrence dissolved partnership, and in 1914 Mr. Roedel formed a business association with Mr. P. C. Short, the two forming the firm of Roedel and Short, which has since developed into one of the substantial retail businesses of the town. Their trading in clothing, shoes and haberdashery is extensive, as they have a good country trade and the partners have manifested commendable enter- prise, their store being well stocked, up-to-date and well situated.
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.