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 42
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NELSON FALOR. In the early '40s, not long after the Indians left northern Ohio, the Falor family came into Fulton county, push- ing their way over rough and obscure roads and trails through the woods. Their wagons were drawn by ox teams. The family con- sisted of Andrew and Hannah (McConkey) Falor and several chil- dren, including their last born, Nelson.
Nelson Falor was born in Summit county, Ohio, June 1, 1842, and was just an infant when his parents came to Fulton county. His father entered forty acres of timbered land from the govern- ment and bought eighty acres more. He cleared it and made a farm and in order to frighten away the wolves from his sheep car- ried a torch at night. He would frequently work all day in the woods or in the fields, earning a wage of fifty cents, and then return home and split rails and do other necessary work around the house. in the night hours. Nelson Falor was one of thirteen children and he grew up in the wilds of Fulton county and is one of the men still living who can speak from knowledge at first hand of the ways and customs of the pioneers. He attended a log cabin school and later the district school of Pike Center. As a youth he went to Summit county and worked at the cooper's trade. The Civil war was then on and in the spring of 1863 he enlisted in Company K of the One Hundred and Twenty-ninth Ohio Infantry. Most of his service was guard duty at the Cumberland Gap. After his release from the army he returned to Summit county for a year and then back to Fulton county.
In 1867 Mr. Falor married Mary A. Salsbury, a native of Pike Township and a daughter of David and Serena Salsbury. Her par- ents were born in Pennsylvania.
After his marriage Mr. Falor bought forty acres of timber land, and cleared part of it. He then sold and bought eighty acres of
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improved farm land, subsequently trading this for eighty acres in section 32 of Pike Township. He has bought and sold several tracts of land, and has recently divided his estate among his children, re- taining a life lease on a 126-acre farm in Pike Township.
Mrs. Falor died in 1914. Their children were: Minnie, Mrs. Frank LaSalle, of Pike Township; Roy, living with his father; Laura, Mrs. Dell Patterson, of Pike Township. Mr. Falor is a re- publican and is affiliated with McQuillan Post, Grand Army of the Republic.
JOHN FREDERICK HETTINGER, who with his family enjoys the comforts of a good farm and rural home in York Township, is a former county surveyor of Fulton county, a veteran schoolmaster, and altogether his career presents a stimulating record.
He was born near Fremont, Ohio, May 27, 1868, son of John and Louise Hettinger. His parents were natives of Germany. John Frederick Hettinger was about eight years old when he lost both his parents, who at that time were living near Perrysburg, Ohio. The township trustees then bound the boy out, but the family with which he lived were people of low ideals and slovenly habits, and the boy soon took it upon himself to run away. He found honest means of making a living, chiefly at farm work, and spent several years in the vicinity of Swanton. He had an ambition for an educa- tion and first satisfied this when at the age of sixteen he entered the Fayette Normal School. Without means he paid his tuition and his board by janitor work, sweeping floors, ringing bells, and remained there until he was qualified for a teacher's certificate.
First and last Mr. Hettinger taught about thirty terms of school. For two terms he was at Delta. In the meantime he was furthering his education and other aims in life. He attended the Northwestern Normal School at Wauseon, also the Ohio Northern University at Ada, and on August 16, 1901, he graduated from the Tri-State Nor- mal College at Angola, Indiana. During those years he took sev- eral courses in civil engineering, and had his ambition set upon a career as an engineer. Failing eyesight compelled him to abandon his intentions as to a professional career of this nature.
In the fall of 1901, at the Republican County Convention, he ' was nominated on the second ballot for county surveyor, his nomi- nation being made unanimous. He was elected, receiving 1,622 votes more than his opponent. He served three years and was then chosen for a second term without opposition. He also served an additional year, and was county surveyor from September, 1902, to September, 1909, seven years in all.
In the meantime Mr. Hettinger had acquired ten acres of land in York Township, and as his means increased he added from time to time until he now has a farm of ninety acres. The improvements on his original tract consisted of a house and barn.
Mr. Hettinger also made a successful record as a traveling sales- man. For two years he represented the Lewis Corrugated Culvert Company of Elyria, Ohio, and then the Canton Culvert Company. In 1912 he became a traveling representative for the National Fire Proofing Company from the Huntington, Indiana, branch office. During 1914 he sold $40,000 worth of silos, and as a token of ap- preciation of the company for his services he received a present of a fifty dollar gold watch. He remained with the Fire Proofing Com- pany until 1917, when he went with the Illinois Silo and Tractor
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Company of Bloomington, Illinois, and was their representative a year. Since then he has lived on his farm and is well satisfied with the occupations and the profits of a farmer. His farm has been im- proved with a modern home. Mr. Hettinger is a member of the United Presbyterian Church and served as trustee of his congrega- tion many years.
March 30, 1890, he married Abbie Mary Meeker, who was born at Cleveland, Ohio, a daughter of George O. and Hattie (McQuillin) Meeker, the fornier a native of Cuyahoga county, Ohio, and the latter of Pike Township, Fulton county. The paternal grandparents were John O. and Mary (Hendershot) Meeker, and the former, a native of New Jersey, was taken by his parents to the present site of Cleveland at a very early time in the history of Ohio. The maternal grandparents of Mrs. Hettinger were David and Lydia (Switzer) McQuillin, natives of Pennsylvania and early and promi- nent residents of Fulton county. Mr. and Mrs. Hettinger have one daughter, Hattie Louise, born July 14, 1892. She is now Mrs. Oliver A. Schnur, of York Township, and has two children, Frederick Henry, born September 10, 1914, and Lois Irene, born August 15, 1915.
ARTHUR GILL, of Swan Creek, was born in Lenawee county, Michigan, his parents had previously lived in Wood county, Ohio. He is a son of Jacob and Mary Ellen (Cost) Gill, the father a native of Pennsylvania and the mother of Maryland. The grand- father, William Gill, was an early settler in Wood county, bringing the family name to Bowing Green and vicinity. For nine years after their marriage Mr. and Mrs. Jacob Gill lived in Michigan, and some of their children were born there. It was in 1872 that they left Ohio. They had lived in Wood county, but when they returned to Ohio they located in Swan Creek. Her death occurred Feb- ruary 2, 1915, while he lived three years afterward.
The children born to Mr. and Mrs. Jacob Gill are: Delmar, of Swan Creek; William, of Maumee; Ernest, of Detroit; Arthur, who commemorates the family; Maud, the wife of Bert Reighard, of Swan Creek; and Virginia, the wife of. Charles Born, of Fulton Township. Two children died in early life, Irvin and Claud.
In April, 1901, Arthur Gill married Mildred Elton. She is a daughter of Allen and Ida (Bennett) Elton, the father from Eng- land while the mother was born in Ohio. Mr. Elton's parents were Thomas and Mary (Young) Elton of England. The Bennett an- cestry had lived in New York before locating in Ohio. Mr. and Mrs. Allen Elton were married in Toledo, and they afterward moved to a farm in Swan Creek Township, where he met an accidental death in 1883. The widow married Douglas Ottinger, and they lived on the farm until 1906, when they removed to Delta. She died four years later.
Mrs. Arthur Gill has two half brothers: Emerson, of Toledo, and Tracy, of Urbana, Illinois. After his marriage Mr. Gill lived on a rented farm for four years then bought Mrs. Gill's mother's share in the home farm in Swan Creek. While the house was built by her father, Mr. Gill finished clearing the land and added many substan- tial improvements. While he has always been a farmer, Mr. Gill has served Swan Creek Township as road supervisor. He has been a member of the school board, and in politics he is a republican. The children born to Mr. and Mrs. Arthur Gill are: Glen, Vaughn, Florence and Vern.
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Mr. Gill was born February 9, 1879, and at the age of forty has the best part of his life still ahead of him. Nevertheless his work and his influence have been contributing factors in the affairs of Fulton county, and he has already shown the qualifications of an expert farmer, a public-spirited citizen and one who has handled his responsibilities well in connection with various items in the public welfare.
NOAH S. LEIST. Among the citizens of Fulton county who won their prosperity from the soil long before the modern era of high prices and improved agricultural conditions is Noah S. Leist of Gor- ham Township, who still lives on his farm, but is able to take life at a leisurely pace and enjoy what his past labors have earned him.
Mr. Leist was born in Piqua county, Ohio, July 9, 1846, son of Samuel and Lovina (Schlotman) Leist, the former a native of Piqua county and a son of Peter Leist, while the latter was born in Pennsylvania, a daughter of Daniel Schlotman. Samuel Leist lived in Piqua county until 1849, when he moved to Seneca county, and died fifteen days after reaching there. His widow then returned to the home of her parents in Fairfield county. In May, 1859, the Schlotman family came to Gorham Township of Fulton county, where Daniel Schlotman died in May, 1864.
Noah S. Leist was thirteen years of age when he accompanied his mother and maternal grandparents to Fulton county. He ac- quired a common school education, and was married at the age of twenty-three and then lived for seven years in Piqua county, where he worked as a wage earner. Returning to Gorham Township, he bought eighty acres of partly improved land. He made that a high class farm, raised many successive crops from it, and improved it with a fine brick home. He continued to live there until November, 1916, when he sold the eighty acre farm, and then moved to a smaller place of eighty acres which he had bought in Gorham Township and had previously owned an improved forty acres in Franklin Township. On his forty acre farm in Gorham Township he resides in a comfortable modern bungalow, and though past seventy years of age is still farming, with some assistance. Mr. Leist is a democrat and a member of the Lutheran Evangelical Church.
September 12, 1867, in Fairfield county, he married Orpha Crites, who was born in Piqua county September 15, 1848, a daughter of John S. Crites. Mrs. Leist died June 23, 1910. Born to Mr. and Mrs. Leist were the following children: Minnie, Mrs. Oren Borton, of Lenawee county; Lucy, Mrs. Charles Warkentin, of Gorham Township; Ollie, wife of Zale Borton, of Franklin Township; Wil- liam of Wauseon, who married Eva Robinson; Mary, Mrs. Charles Caulkins, of Williams county; and Denver, who was born Septem- ber 27, 1881, and died December 26, 1882.
JOHN E. SEGRIST, a capable, reliable and respected farmer of York Township, Fulton county, Ohio, is one of the representative agriculturists of that section of the county. And he comes into this historical record of Fulton county with special credentials, his family being among the early residents of the township in which he was born.
He was born in section 33 of York Township, Fulton county, Ohio, on February 14, 1859, the son of John B. and Christianna (Lautenschleger) Segrist. The Segrists are of German antecedents,
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although four generations of the family have had residence in America, including the children of John E. His grandfather, John Segrist, was a native of Wurtemberg, Germany, and there his father, John B., was also born, although the latter was only eight years old when the family crossed the sea to America. Misfortune overtook them almost at the outset of their settling in America, for within ten days of their landing in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the head of the family, John Segrist, succumbed to an attack of yellow fever, contracted during the voyage. However, as is so often found to be the case with women of German rearing, the widow appears to have been capable of undertaking the responsibilities of farm manage- ment and the record shows that the Segrist family settled on a farm- ing property in Bucks county, Pennsylvania, and there lived for about twenty years, the widow, Agnes (Lautenschleger) Segrist, then removing to Coshocton, Ohio, where she died in about 1880. John B. Segrist, son of John and Agnes (Lautenschleger) Segrist, was born in Wurtemberg, Germany, in 1823, and came with his parents to America in 1831. The death of his father soon after landing undoubtedly had important bearing upon the boy's pros- pects, and he appears to have spent much of his time as a youth with his uncle, who was a butcher in Philadelphia. It seems that he was indentured to his uncle, and consequently learned the butch- ering trade. When he was about eighteen years old, however, he left Philadelphia, and in company with another adventurous youth walked to Mansfield, Ohio, where both found work for a while, Segrist at his trade and his companion as a blacksmith. Mr. Segrist remained in Mansfield for three years, and for five years or more thereafter was in good employment as a butcher in Toledo, Ohio. Toward the latter part of his residence in Toledo he had acquired a tract of timber land in York Township, Fulton county, and ulti- mately he decided to give up his Toledo connection and take up pio- neering work on his land. He may be considered to be among the pioneers of Fulton county, for he was in the county when much of it was a wilderness and he probably cleared much more forest than the average Fulton county farmer of his generation. On his eighty acre tract seventy-five acres consisted of virgin timber, only five acres having been cleared by the original settler, who had built a log cabin, which was the only structure on the place, and it was a very primitive hut. However, by the exercise of much ingenuity, and by the cheerful tolerance that comes with the pioneering spirit, the log cabin was made to serve passably as a habitation, and in it some of the children of John B. and Christianna (Lautenschleger) Segrist were born. John B. Segrist soon after taking up residence in York Township secured boards with which he floored the cabin, and bunks were made by boring holes into the logs of the walls, and then by some process of pegging constructed the bunk. And he had to take his team of horses into Maumee Village to procure a cook stove. Those were some of the early experiences of John B. Segrist and his wife in York Township, but he was a worthy pio- neer, stalwart and capable, and in course of time he not only cleared that acreage but also much additional land. He purchased eighty acres adjoining, and subsequently another adjacent tract of like acreage, all of which he and his sons brought into good bearing. He was a man of strong personality, and had an enviable reputation in York Township, wherein he lived for almost seven decades, and eventually was one of the largest landowners in the section. Death
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came to him in 1918, July 30, he being then in his ninety-fifth year. His wife, Christianma Lautenschleger, who was born in Pennsylvania, died in York Township, Fulton county, Ohio, in 1869, her husband surviving her for forty-nine years. They were the parents of nine children, who in order of birth were: Amanda, now deceased, married George Yaney; Mary, who married Jonas Seymour, and now lives in Turlock, California; William H., of York Township, whose life story is elsewhere recorded in this edi- tion ; George, who died at the age of forty years; John E., regarding whom more is written hereafter; Agnes, who married Samuel Rup- pert, of Wauseon, Ohio, and died in 1907; Ellen, who married William Nye, of Liberty Centre, Ohio; Theodore, who has remained on the home farm; and Fred A., now of Swan Creek Township, Ohio.
John E. Segrist was educated in the country school of his native place, and while still at school gave much of his time to his father. And during the long summer vacations he devoted practically his whole time to such work. After leaving school he applied himself altogether to the hard work of the expanding acreage of his father's farm until he had reached the age of twenty-five years, when he married and set up an independent establishment. He rented a fifty-acre farm in York Township, and for seven years thereafter worked it under such conditions. He apparently prospered by his industry, for at the end of that time he was able to purchase the farm. Later, however, he traded the property for another of eighty acres, only partly cleared, owned by his father-in-law, and to that farm he took his wife, they occupying a log house thereon for two years, but eventually taking up their abode in an old schoolhouse which stood upon their property. In that building they lived for seven years, by which time Mr. Segrist was able to erect a modern house of nine rooms, and which he was able to fit with many modern improvements, including natural gas illumination from his own well. And upon the property he has also been able to build many substantial and spacious out-buildings. In 1907 he built a large double barn, and in 1914 a straw barn. In the former year he ac- quired an additional forty acres, practically all cleared land. So that he now owns a fine agricultural property, well balanced, and well adapted to general farming. Mr. Segrist has had much success in the breeding of Belgian horses, and has extensively raised Hol- stein cattle. He has a large dairy, and enters to appreciable extent into hog raising of good breeds.
Politically Mr. Segrist is a democrat, and while he has always taken an intelligent interest in politics, especially movements affect- ing his home district, he has never sought political office. He has lived a steady life of worth-while industry, and as a good Christian has consistently observed church responsibilities. He is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church.
In March, 1884, he married Katherine, daughter of Adam and Belinda Katherine (Miller) Anspach. She was born in Perry county, Ohio. Mr. and Mrs. Segrist are the parents of two children : Laura, who is married to Laurence Geringer, of York Township; and Clarence, who married Grace Williams in 1916, since which time he has been practically in full control of his father's farm, his father and mother having moved to a small portion of the original farm, leaving the management of the farm to the son, who has shown much reliability and earnestness of purpose.
W.L. Campbell!
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WILLIAM L. CAMPBELL. There is Canadian blood in the veins of William L. Campbell of Pike Township, although December 18, 1871, he was born in Fulton county. His father, John W. Camp- bell, came from Canada to Fulton county. His mother, Caroline (Miser) Campbell, was born in Coshocton county. When they were married they settled on this Pike Township farm in Fulton county.
John W. Campbell was a cheesemaker, and followed that busi- ness for many years in Ohio and Michigan. When he quit he bought the farm in Pike Township and lived there a few years. He retired to Wauseon, where he died January 14, 1902, and his wife died there two years later. William L. Campbell, was the oldest child, and a brotlier, Howard, works with him, and a sister, Allie, is the wife of Ernest Shadle, of Dover.
When W. L. Campbell was eighteen years old he learned the cheesemaker's trade from his father, and worked in many different factories. He worked in Prattsville, Michigan, one year and later he made cheese for George D. Clark of Metamora one year, then he went to Winameg, where he made cheese for A. B. Thompson for five years. Then he formed a partnership with Frank Knoseo in a cheese factory at Winameg, and they continued six years in busi- ness together.
During that six years the firm located a cheese factory at Ai, and Mr. Campbell bought the Clinton cheese factory of H. J. Gelzer, and the East Gorham factory near Fayette. He started the Conden- sary Factory at Morenci, Michigan, and five years later he consoli- dated with the Fulton Dairy Company and the Ramer Dairy Com- pany of Toledo, with the main offices at Morenci. From this center he operated twelve cheese factories, one milk condensary and one dairy distributing station in' Toledo. He formed a stock company, of which he was secretary and general manager, with Frank Knoseo its president and H. A. Barber, treasurer.
In July, 1903, Mr. Campbell transferred his interests in the Ohio Dairy Company for a stock of general merchandise at Winameg. Five months later he sold the store in Winameg, and removed to Montpelier, where he conducted two cheese factories, one in Mont- pelier and one in Kunkle. Two years later he sold out and returned to Winameg, where he again went into a general store.
Beside being a manufacturer and business man, Mr. Campbell was a public school teacher for several years in the winter, teaching in both York and Pike, his education having been obtained in pub- lic sehool and at the Fayette Normal. He is independent in his political affiliation, and is a member of the Board of Education.
On December 27, 1893, Mr. Campbell married Dimma Stuller, daughter of John W. and Jennie (Lash) Stuller, of Eden, Williams county. They have one daughter, Donelda, wife of Harrison M. Ives of Toledo. The family belongs to the Methodist Episcopal Church. Mr. Campbell is a Mason in Lyons, and a member of the Knights of Pythias Lodge at Montpelier, Ohio. Few men have given their attention to a greater variety of business enterprises than Mr. Campbell.
The efforts he has put forth at different times have in fact proved a powerful impulse to the development of the dairy industry in northwestern Ohio, and several communities can regard it as a piece of good fortune that Mr. Campbell learned the cheese maker's trade as a youth and for so many years operated factories for dairy produet. His home community of Pike also knows and honors him
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for what he has done in behalf of the local schools, his kindly and interested part in other local affairs, and his standing and character as a home maker.
FRANKLIN WOOLACE, a surviving veteran of the Civil war, has for half a century been a leading farm resident of Gorham Town- ship.
He was born in Seneca Township, New York, January 3, 1840, son of William and Mary (Schlotman) Woolace. His parents were natives of Pennsylvania and in 1842 moved to Fairfield county, Ohio, and in 1857 settled in Gorham Township of Fulton county.
Franklin Woolace came to Fulton county at the age of seven- teen, and acquired most of his education in Fairfield county. In 1862 he enlisted in Company H of the One Hundredth Ohio In- fantry, and was on duty until the close of the war, receiving his honorable discharge in June, 1865. Part of the time he was detailed for guard and hospital duty in Kentucky. After his return home Mr. Woolace married Mary Hoffman, who was born in Gorham Township, a daughter of Charles and Nancy (Spaulding) Hoffman, who came from New York.
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The first year after his marriage Mr. Woolace lived at Wauseon and worked in the sash and blind factory. He then bought 100 acres in Gorham Township from his father, a place that was already well improved, and has remained there ever since, sharing in the growing prosperity of this agricultural section and in the fruits of his own toil and industry. He has served several terms as township trustee and assessor, is a democrat and is affiliated with the Masonic Lodge at Fayette and the Royal Arch Chapter at Wauseon. He and his wife have two children: Verna D., wife of M. B. Badger, of Fayette; and Charles, who lives at Fayette and married Arville McCurty.
WILLIAM HENRY WOODRING, now living retired in Delta, has done his full share in the work of developing Fulton county from the wilderness.
He was born in Fulton Township September 11, 1852, a son of Reuben S. and Katie Ann (Watkins) Woodring, his father a native of Lehigh county, Pennsylvania, and his mother of Wayne county, Ohio. The paternal grandparents were Cain and Mary (Saeger) Woodring, of Pennsylvania. Reuben Woodring after his marriage lived in Fulton Township, where he died in 1908. His first wife died in April, 1872, mother of the following children: William Henry; Malinda Ann, wife of E. S. Deval, of Metamora; Mary Matilda, deceased wife of Wesley Delano: Sarah Jane, deceased, who married Jacob Harger; Emma, Mrs. Del Delano, of Jasper, Michi- gan ; and Ida, Mrs. Frank Seabring, of Lenawee county. For his second wife Reuben Woodring married Hannah Fisher and had a daughter, Laura, now Mrs. Elwood Hallett of Lyons, Ohio.
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