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 43

Author: Reighard, Frank H., 1867-
Publication date: 1920
Publisher: Chicago, New York, The Lewis Publishing Company
Number of Pages: 628


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 43


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William Henry Woodring acquired his education in the dis- trict schools and at the age of twenty began work as a carpenter. He continued to follow that trade until 1890. In the meantime, in 1884, he bought forty acres of heavy timber in section 21 of Amboy Township. Only five acres had been cleared, and during several successive winters he put in all his time increasing the area of his fields, while in the summer he worked as a carpenter. After 1890 he gave all his time to farming. Later he bought forty acres in


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section 27, this, too, being a tract of stumps and brush. He de- veloped it to cultivation, erected a house and barn, and then sold the place to one of his sons. He also bought forty acres adjoining his old home place, and has seen that cleared up and improved. Mr. Woodring in February, 1918, bought a comfortable home in Delta.


August 26, 1876, he married Delila Higley, a native of Huron county, Ohio, and a daughter of George and Sarah Ann .(Van Sickles) Higley. Their children are: Leroy, of Fulton Township; Raymond, of Amboy Township; Estella, wife of George Parker, of Adrian, Michigan; Luella, Mrs. J. Hollinger, of Fulton Township; and Herman, who now occupies the old homestead farm.


DANIEL RYCHENER. While Daniel Rychener, of Swan Creek Township, is a native of Fulton county, having been born Decem- ber 21, 1848, in German Township, two years before Fulton was separated from Lucas county, he is of emigrant stock. He is a son of Christian and Magdalena (Grieser) Rychener, the father having come from Switzerland and the mother from Alsace-Lorraine.


It was in the year of 1836 that the Rychener family story began in Ohio, and the Grieser family followed within a short time. Mr. Rychener and his wife both grew up in German Township, al- though both had overseas childhood recollections. This young Swiss emigrant entered forty acres of government land and soon ob- tained employment on the construction of the Maumee Canal, thereby earning sufficient money to buy forty acres additional farm land-not farm land then, but heavily timbered, and in time he cleared and improved it. It was in 1898 that this pioneer Fulton county resident died on the farm he had made in the wilderness of Fulton county, and his wife also died in 1898.


The children born to this pioneer family were: Christian, of Swan Creek; Mary, widow of Jacob Nofsinger, of German Town- ship; Joseph, of Pettisville; Daniel, subject of this sketch; Mag- dalena, wife of Jefferson Snuckers, of German Township; Bar- bara, wife of Joseph Nofsinger, of German Township; Henry of Pettysville; Anna, who resides with her sister, Mrs. Nofsinger; and Jacob, of Napoleon, Ohio.


In December, 1873, Daniel Rychener married Mary Eckley, of Henry county. Her home was four miles south of Pettysville. She was born there August 10, 1851, being a daughter of Jacob and Magdalena (Krieger) Eckley. The father was a native of Coshocton while the mother was from Holmes county, Ohio. Soon after his marriage Daniel Rychener bought a farm in German Township, but twenty years later he bought eighty acres of partly improved land in section 22 of Swan Creek Township, where he lives at present.


Mr. Rychener has rebuilt the house and barn and added many substantial improvements, and he was an active farmer and stock- man until 1909, when he rented the place to his son, although he still maintains his residence there. Mr. Rychener obtained a com- mon school education and is identified with the Mennonite Church of his native community.


The children born to Mr. and Mrs. Rychener are: Nancy, wife of John Rashley, of York Township; Esther, wife of Hyram Houser, of Toledo; Louisa, wife of Jesse Richardson, of Pinckney, Michi-


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gan; Aaron, of Swan Creek, who married Anna Shawley, and who has one daughter, Celia.


In this brief review are mentioned a number of names that prop- erly belong in the History of Fulton County beginning with pio- neer times. While the son of a pioneer, Daniel Rychener himself performed many of the labors and much of the service for which the first settlers are remembered with affection, and the ease and comfort he now enjoys in retirement are rewards that properly come to the man of toil and one who for so many years has done his duty to himself and by his fellow-men.


CLARENCE L. RYCHENER, who has recently entered the employ of the Continental Sugar Company of Toledo, Ohio, and now resides at Cherry City, Ohio, was formerly one of the leading merchants of Pettisville, Fulton county, and from 1915 until April, 1920, was postmaster at that place. He comes of one of the pioneer families of the neighborhood.


He was born in German Township November 14, 1886, in the old Rychener homestead, the son of Henry and Josephine (Raber) Rychener, and the family has had good part in the history-making of that section. Christian Rychener, grandfather of Clarence L., came from Berne, Switzerland, to America, and to Wayne county, Ohio, soon afterward joining a party of nine pioneer families in crossing from Wayne county through the wilderness to German Township, Fulton county, where they settled. Christian Rychener married there, the marriage being of historic interest in that it was the first wedding of white people solemnized in the township, the ceremony being performed by a Methodist clergyman. Henry Ry- chener, father of Clarence L., and son of Christian, was reared in German Township and married there, but some time later moved with his family to Holden, Johnstone county, Missouri, where they lived for eleven years, eventually returning to Ohio, and to Fulton county.


Clarence L. Rychener was an infant when his parents moved from German Township to Holden, Johnstone county, Missouri, and most of his schooling was obtained in the public schools of the latter place. When the family returned to Fulton county he at- tended the nearest school to their new home, which was the Braily School in Swan Creek Township. He was fifteen years old when he began to work for pay, his first experience being on a farm at Archbold during the summer of 1901. From that time until he was twenty-one years old he found employment on farms in the vicinity of his native place. In 1907 he entered the employ of the New York Central Railroad Company as section-man, continuing to be so employed for three years, after which time he spent one summer in independent business, endeavoring to establish a prof- itable milk route. That effort apparently was not productive of sufficiently good results to influence him to continue, and for the next year he was employed as a carpenter. He was a man of all- round ability, and possessed distinct capability in commercial af- fairs. This has been evident since 1912, when he entered a busi- ness of merchandising character. He and his brother William Henry in 1912 purchased the established general store business of Jacob Krauss & Company at Pettisville, and the business from March 15th of that year was conducted under the firm-name of Rychener Brothers with advantage to themselves. The brothers established


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themselves very satisfactorily in that business, and secured a good share of the local trade, and also an extensive country connection. In 1915 Clarence L. Rychener was made postmaster at Pettisville, having been appointed by President Wilson, notwithstanding that he is a republican. He served in that office until April, 1920.


In 1913 Mr. Rychener married Emma Lantz, daughter of John and Elizabeth (Nofeiger) Lantz, of near Archbold, Fulton county. They have two children, sons, Lawrence Henry, who was born January 12, 1914, and Lowell John, born July 2, 1918.


THOMAS STEDMAN for over forty years has been one of the ca- pable farmers of Amboy Township, and owns part of the old Blaine homestead, one of the first tracts of land entered in Fulton county.


Mr. Stedman was born in Amboy Township January 9, 1855, son of Alva and Thankful (Rogers) Stedman. His parents were born and married near Syracuse, New York, and on coming to Amboy Township entered a tract of timbered land and lived there the rest of their lives, making a good farm. Their children were: Roswell, of Tiffin, Ohio; Orlina, widow of Marvin Robinson, living at Lyons; Clark, Horace, William, and Amelia, all deceased; Lewis, of Fulton Township; and Thomas.


Thomas Stedman at the age of fifteen, after having acquired a common school education, hired out for monthly wages to neigh- boring farmers, and continued as a wage earner until his marriage. July 3, 1876, Emma Blaine became his wife. She was born in Amboy Township, daughter of Charles and Rachel (Bathalt) Blaine and member of the historic pioneer family of Blaines.


After his marriage Mr. Stedman worked the farm of his father- in-law on the shares, and afterward cleared up and improved fifty acres inherited by Mrs. Stedman, and has lived there ever since.


He and his wife have two children, Robert, still at home, and Friend, in California. Mr. Stedman served two years as school di- rector and is a republican voter.


CHARLES FREEMONT DEWEY has handled and developed a great deal of farm property in Fulton county, also in adjoining counties, is a practical farmer by training and experience, and is now living practically retired at Metamora, though he still continues dealing in real estate.


He was born at Metamora October 20, 1856, a son of David and Emily (Elliott) Dewey, the former a native of Connecticut and the latter of Vermont. The maternal grandparents were Amos and Sally (George) Elliott, natives of Vermont and early settlers in Lorain county, Ohio. David Dewey was about eight years old when his parents died, and he was reared among strangers, accom- panying one family, in whose home he was living, to Lorain county, Ohio, where he lived until his marriage. He then moved to the vicinity of Metamora, where for a number of years he conducted a wagon making shop. He and his wife were laid to rest in the same grave on May 7, 1908. Their children were: Henry, of Toledo; Charles F .; Julia, Mrs. Samuel Hall, of Adrian, Michigan; Alfred and Alma, twins, the former a resident of Pike Township and the latter wife of Charles Auble, of Morenci, Michigan; and Ernest, of Jackson, Michigan.


Charles F. Dewey acquired a common school education, and as a young man was employed chiefly in saw mills and heading mills.


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On October 7, 1883, he married Mary Helen Potter, a native of Amboy Township and daughter of John Henry and Mary Lovina (Granger) Potter. Her parents were natives of Herkimer county, New York. Her father's brother, James Emory, and anotlier brother, Caleb, inarried sisters at the same time. Mrs. Dewey's paternal grandparents were Mora S. and Minerva (Jones) Potter.


After his marriage Mr. Dewey lived in Metamora, continuing work in saw mills for three years. He then rented a farm in Michi- gan, soon afterward bought a farm in Amboy Township, but sold this after four years and bought another farm in Lucas county. On selling that lie moved to Riga Township in Lenawee eounty, was there one year and the following year he spent at Blissfield, Miehi- gan, after which he returned to his farm. On selling the farm he bought another place in Lucas county, Ohio, and remained there eight years. His next farm purchase was in Sylvania Township, where he remained three years before selling and then returned to Metamora and bought town property.


Mr. and Mrs. Dewey have two children: Donnah Ann, Mrs. James Dailey, of Adrian, Michigan; and Lloyd Millard, of Metamora. Mr. Dewey is a republican and his wife is a member of the Ladies of the Maccabees.


WILLIAM F. MILLER is one of the men of Swan Creek Town- ship who is devoting his energies to agricultural pursuits with very gratifying results. He was born at Sandusky, Ohio, October 11, 1878, a son of Aaron and Susanna (Knight) Miller, natives of Pennsylvania and England, respectively. They were married at Sandusky, Ohio, and in 1889 came to Delta Township, Fulton county, Ohio, he trading a farm he owned in Sandusky county for the one in Fulton county on which his son William F. now re- sides. He is now a resident of Delta, having retired from active life. His wife dicd about 1895, having borne her husband the following children: Burdetta, who is Mrs. Sherman Coss, of Toledo; Clyde, of Delta, Ohio; William F., whose name heads this review; Grace, who is Mrs. Casey Quist of Cleveland, Ohio; and Gertrude, who is Mrs. William Merrilett of Swan Creek Township. After the death of the mother of these children the father was married to Dora Stensel, but there are no children by this marriage. By a first marriage Aaron Miller had two children, namely: George, who is a farmer of Swan Creek Township; and Katie, who is the widow of William Gowell, of Clyde, Ohio.


Until he was eighteen years old William F. Miller remained at home, attending the district schools and learning to be a practical farmer, but then went to Clyde, Ohio, and later to Toledo, Ohio, and was variously employed. After he was married in 1904 he settled on the homestead and has since lived on this place, doing general farming and stockraising and keeping ten cows.


On November 15, 1902, Mr. Miller was united in marriage with Iva Bixler, born in Swan Creek Township, a daughter of Baltzer and Sarah (Deck) Bixler. In politics Mr. Miller is a democrat, and he has never had any aspirations toward public office, so con- fines his participation in polities to exercising his right of suffrage. He belongs to Brailey Grange and to the Gleaners and is in sym- pathy with the work of these organizers. Having spent practically all of his life in Fulton county, Mr. Miller is essentially one of its products and deeply interested in its further progress.


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CHARLES STURTEVANT, of Swan Creek Township, is identified with the Methodist Episcopal Church and is a republican. His birth occurred August 15, 1851, in Huron county. His parents, Russell and Annette (Sturtevant) Sturtevant, were second cousins. He lived in Rochester and she lived in Adams county, and they were married in Jefferson county, New York. Soon after their mar- riage they located in Huron county, Ohio. Later they lived again in York state, and in 1863 they removed to Bellevue, Ohio, where he died in 1891 and his wife died in 1909. Their children are: Warren, deceased; Ellen, widow of John Shoup, of Clyde, Ohio; Charles, of Swan Creek; Melissa, wife of Frank Clay, of Clyde; Mary and Manford, deceased; Clara, wife of Fred Warner, of Toledo, Alice, deceased; and Spencer, of Akron.


Charles Sturtevant lived with his parents until his father went to the Civil war in 1863, and from that time he worked by the month, giving his money to his parents until December 25, 1873, when he married Jennie McFarland of Sandusky county. She was born Au- gust 14, 1857, and was the daughter of Aaron and Clarinda (King) McFarland. They had come from New York and located in San- dusky county. Mr. and Mrs. Sturtevant lived for a time in San- dusky county, but in 1886 they removed to Fulton county.


After coming to Fulton county Mr. Sturtevant rented farm land until 1913, when he bought forty acres of partly improved land in Swan Creek Township. He is engaged in general farming, dairy- ing and raising livestock for the market. The children are: Clar- ence, born September 28, 1874, of Toledo; Claude, born September 11, 1876, of Toledo; Estella, born December 18, 1878; Clara, born November 16, 1881, wife of Arthur Gingery, of Swan Creek; Russel, born March 1, 1889, died March 31, 1890; and Charles Laurel, born March 1, 1899, who lives at the family homestead.


SAMUEL KAHLE. In the death of Samuel Kahle on May 7, 1919, Fulton county lost one of its very capable farmers and busi- ness men. Mr. Kahle had done his share of the clearing and im- proving of land from a wilderness condition, and in later years was active in a prosperous lumber business at Metamora.


Mr. Kahle, whose wife and family still live in Fulton county, was born in Butler county, Pennsylvania, May 10, 1856, son of James and Mary (Gates) Kahle. His father was a native of the City of Straussburg, France, while his mother was born in Penn- sylvania. James Kahle settled in Pennsylvania at the age of nine- teen and lived in that state some years after his marriage. On com- ing to Fulton county, Ohio, he acquired several farms, and he and his wife spent their last years in Amboy Township. Their chil- dren were: Henry, deceased; William, of Bradford, Pennsylvania; Ann and George, deceased; Milton, of Fayette, Ohio; James, Rose and Daniel, all deceased; Miles, of Metamora; John and Daniel, de- ceased; and Samuel.


Samuel Kahle, the youngest of the children, grew up in Ful- ton county, and on January 1, 1880, married Mary Hackett. Mrs. Kahle was born in Amboy Township, daughter of Benjamin and Sebrina (Miller) Hackett. Her parents were natives of Herki- mer county, New York, and were among the early settlers of Fulton county, where they bought a farm in Amboy Township about 1845. The children in the Hackett family were: Lewis, of Pittsford, Michigan; John, who died in 1919; Janette, Mrs. Daniel Miller,


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of Metamora; Mary, Mrs. Kahle; Benjamin, deceased; Martha, widow of Marion Goodale, of Toledo ;; and George, deceased.


After his marriage Samuel Kahle lived seven years on one of his father's farms, and then acquired 118 acres of the Kahle estate. Very little clearing had been done on this property and it had no buildings. During the next twenty years Mr. Kahle carried out a progressive scheme of improvement and management, brought most of the land under cultivation, and erected modern buildings, so that when he left the farm in 1910 it was a very valuable and productive property. He rented the place to his son and, moving to Metamora, built the fine modern home in which he dicd and where Mrs. Kahle now resides. In 1903 Mr. Kahle became asso- ciated with his brother and several others in establishing the Meta- mora Lumber Company, and upon him devolved the active manage- ment of the business. Mr. Kahle filled several offices in the Congre- gational Church, was township trustee, a democratic voter and was affiliated with the Masons and Knights of the Maccabees.


Mrs. Kahle has three children: Lanah, Mrs. Russell Sebring, of Amboy Township; Myrtle, Mrs. Emmet Miller, of Fulton Town- ship; and Benjamin, now owner of the home farm.


FRANK A. GRIFFIN occupies one of the attractive country homes of Gorham Township, located on rural route No. 13 out of Fayette. He has been identified with the agricultural affairs of this section nearly all his active life, though as a young man he was a school teacher for a number of years.


Mr. Griffin was born in Gorham Township August 16, 1867, a son of Ezekiel T. and Mary (Wightman) Griffin. His father was a native of New York state, a son of William and Sarah Griffin. Mary Wightman was born at Nauvoo in Hancock county, Illinois, her parents, a Morman family, having moved from Allegheny county, New York, to Nauvoo while that was the center of the Mormon settlement in the west. Mary Wightman was left father- less at the age of six years, and was then taken by her uncle, Erastus Wightman, to Fulton county, Ohio, where she grew up and where she married Ezekiel Griffin. They located on the old Griffin home- stead which William Griffin had acquired from the man who had entered it direct from the government. Much of the land was cov- ered with heavy timber when Ezekiel Griffin went there to live, and he made a good farm of it. His first wife died on the farm June 20, 1883, and in 1900 he removed to Fayette, where he died in May, 1915. His second wife was Louisa Martin, a native of Geauga county, Ohio. The children of Ezekiel Griffin were all by his first wife: Fred, who died at the age of six years; Frank A .; Jennie, Mrs. Elmer E. Martin, of Toledo; and Lena Fay, who died at the age of two years.


Frank A. Griffin acquired a good education as a youth, attend- ing the district schools, the Fayette High School and the Normal School at Fayette. Beginning when he was seventeen years of age, he taught school and continued in that occupation until he had put in seven years. He married at the age of twenty-one, and the first year after his marriage lived at home, then rented and lived on the Mallory farm nearby five years, and from there moved to the Dubois farm in Gorham Township. He rented that several years and then returned to the Griffin homestead, where he remained until 1917. He now owns ninety acres of that home place and it


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is farmed by a tenant. On account of ill health Mr. Griffin has had to give up the more strenuous tasks of farming since 1917, and in that year he moved to a small farm of forty acres in section 20, where he enjoys the comforts of a modern bungalow home. He has been active in local affairs, serving as township assessor two terms, township trustee four years, and for two terms was a member of the Board of County Commissioners. He is a republican, and has been through all the chairs of Fayette Lodge No. 431, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and has served as district deputy and repre- sentative to the Grand Lodge.


In March, 1887, he married Mary E. Martin, a native of Clin- ton Township and daughter of Elliott S. and Louisa (Russell) Mar- tin. They have two children, Roscoe S. and Ruth A., the latter still at home. Roscoe lives in Gorham Township and married Hazel Graham.


EARL ELVIN SLAGLE, of York Township, was born July 29, 1880, and he has always lived in the community. He is a democrat and has served three times on the election board. He is a son of Solomon and Mary (Sharp) Slagle. The father was born in east- ern Pennsylvania while the mother is a native of Tiffin, Ohio.


The grandparents, Charles and Hannah (Eck) Slagle, came to


· Fulton county in 1867 from Pennsylvania. Jacob and Elizabeth (Wagoner) Sharp lived in Seneca and later in Henry county. Mr. Slagle died in 1917 and the widow lives among her children. They are: Earl Elvin; Sadie, wife of Charles Tremain, of York Township; and Opal, who is the wife of Paul Wales, of Delta.


On December 23, 1900, Mr. Slagle married Minnie Detwiler, daughter of Oliver and Mary (Teff) Detwiler, of Swan Creek. For two years they lived on the Detwiler farm, then bought seventy-five acres-a badly run-down farm, and he improved it. He reclaimed the land by tiling and grubbing, fenced it and erected new build- ings on it. Mr. Slagle has a modern house with running water, elec- tric lights and furnace heat. He is a general farmer, specializing with a Holstein dairy.


The children born to Mr. and Mrs. Slagle are: Vern LeRoy, Thelma Pearl, Cecil Lionel and Kenneth Clare. The family at- tends Raker Union Church in the community.


While Mr. Slagle's parents and grandparents did their part in the pioneer epoch of Fulton county, his own active career belongs to the modern twentieth century. Nevertheless, he has done a real pioneer's part, and it is possible to claim for his efforts that they contributed to the large volume of production by which Fulton county has distinguished itself as an agricultural center during the last decade and particularly during the war time period. The Slagle farm shows the progressiveness of its owner, and his neighbors everywhere speak of him as a man of thoroughly progressive char- acter.


CARVER S. GRIFFIN before he was seventeen years of age was enrolled as a soldier in the Union Army. While in the army only a little more than a year, he saw some of the hardest fighting in Sherman's great Atlanta campaigns and until the close of the war. The marks of his service he bears today, but in spite of the crippling effects of the war he put in more than forty years as an active rail- road man and farmer.


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Mr. Griffin is now enjoying a well earned retirement at Swan- ton. He is a native of Fulton county, born in Pike Township May 4, 1847, son of William C. and Clarissa M. (Gunn) Griffin. His people were among the earliest settlers of the county. Clarissa Gunn came here with her parents in 1832, about the time the first families were invading this wilderness and starting to make homes. Carver S. Griffin was the twelfth of the children of his parents. Only three are now living, the other two being Louisa M., Mrs. H. L. Miles, of Delta, and Augustus, of Delta.


Carver S. Griffin spent much of his boyhood among strangers and had no opportunities to attend sehool until he entered the army. He studied as opportunity offered and acquired a rather substantial edueation, greatly improved by his experience with men and affairs. From the age of six he lived with a Mr. Shaffer in Dover Township three years. After that he wandered about and saw much of the country until on February 2, 1864, he enlisted in Company I of an Ohio Regiment, his enlistment being credited to Fulton Township. After a brief period of training he joined Sherman's army at Chattanooga, Tennessee, and in the fall of 1864 was continuously under fire during the hundred days advance upon Atlanta. When Atlanta fell he was with the troops that started in pursuit of General Hood toward Nashville, but was called back and took part in the march to the sea, ending with the capture of Savannah at Christmas time. He continued with Sherman's "bum- mers" through the Carolinas, through Columbia, South Carolina, and on to Raleiglı, North Carolina, when General Johnston's army surrendered. He went on to Richmond and from there to Wash- ington, where he had the honor of marching in the Grand Review.




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