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 44
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Mr. Griffin was mustered out near Louisville, Kentucky, July 12, 1865, and was discharged at Cleveland July 22d. Hc then returned to Fulton county, rented a farm for two years, after which he be- came a brakeman on the Lake Shore & Michigan Southern Railway. He worked up to the responsibilities of conductor and held that position eighteen years. Then after twenty-two years as a railroad man he left the service on account of rheumatism, induced by his army service. He then moved to a farm which he bought in Swan Creek Township, and worked in the fields for twenty years. Then having performed more than a normal share of the work and labors assigned to a man's lifetime, he sold his farm and bought the fine residence in which he now resides at Swanton.
July 4, 1866, he married Elizabeth E. Fashbaugh, a native of Fulton Township and daughter of John Q. and Wilhelmina (Fesler) Fashbaugh, who came from Pennsylvania. Mrs. Griffin died No- vember 5, 1902, mother of three children: Cora May, Mrs. Willis Peabody, of Swan Creek Township; John 'W., of Garrettsville, Ohio; and Charles C., of Montrose, Colorado.
November 24, 1903, Mr. Griffin married Hattie Geer, a native of Swan Creek Township and daughter of David and Mary Ann (Spaulding) Geer. Her father was born in Chittenden county, Vermont, and her mother in Swan Creek Township. Her grand- parents, Amos and Dilly (Thompson) Geer, and Africa and Harriet (Bray) Spaulding, were all Vermont people and were identified with the very early settlement of Swan Creek Township, where they acquired and developed a tract of timbered land. Mrs. Griffin's first husband was Lafayette Thompson.
Mr. Griffin is a republican voter, is affiliated with the Knights of
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Pythias at Delta, and has held various offices in McQuillan Post, Grand Army of the Republic, at Delta.
HARRY C. FROGLEY, while a farm owner, has always been in some line of commercial pursuit and for the past several years has directed a successful clothing and furnishing goods store at Swanton.
Mr. Frogley was born at Norwalk, Ohio, August 6, 1864, son of Richard P. and Cynthia (Winnie) Frogley, the former a native of Oxford, England, and the latter of Troy, New York. Richard Frogley after coming to the United States was a locomotive engi- neer, was married in New York, and four years later moved to Nor- walk, Ohio, where he continued his work as an engineer for twelve years and lived until his death in 1869. His widow survived him thirty years, until 1899. Their children were: George, of Elyria, Ohio; Ada, Mrs. J. E. Hall, of Elyria; Minnie, widow of J. M. Jud- son, of Elyria; Richard P., of Norwalk; Harry C .; and Winnie Bell, of Toledo.
Harry C. Frogley was reared and educated at Norwalk, and at the age of twenty years came to Swanton and clerked in the jewelry store of S. P. Hike. After a year he became a piano salesman and a year later went to work in the general store of William Geyser, where he remained eight years. After that for six months he was with the Glass Block Company of Norwalk, and again resumed his work as a piano salesman at Swanton for a year. Since then he has been in business for himself with a large and well equipped store, handling clothing, shoes, men's furnishing goods and other wares. Mr. Frogley also gives much time to the supervision of his several farms in Fulton county, where registered Holstein cattle, hogs and poultry are raised.
In 1889 he married Mary Jane Taylor, a native of Swanton Township, Lucas county, Ohio, daughter of Robert and Julia E. (Cable) Taylor. Mr. and Mrs. Frogley's only child was May Bell, born May 13, 1890. She died May 10, 1915. She was the wife of Ross G. Graham, who served as a first lieutenant in the Engineers with the American Expeditionary Forces. While on duty in France he was stricken with spinal meningitis, and after twenty-two hours died October 11, 1918. He now fills a soldier's grave in France. Mr. Frogley is a republican voter and is affiliated with Lodge No. 555, Free and Accepted Masons, at Swanton, and Toledo Comman- dery No. 7 of the Knights Templar.
JOHN S. HABLE. The Hable family of which John S. Hable is a member had lived in Williams county before locating in Fulton county. However, he was born at Dutch Ridge, Fulton Township, March 10, 1877, a son of Jacob and Katherine (Ottgen) Hable. When they were married they located on Dutch Ridge, where the father died in 1902, and the mother is now a resident of Bowling Green. John S. Hable has one brother, Orson.
Mr. Hable married Louella Batdorff, daughter of Quimby Bat- dorff. They have one son, Ronald R., born March 16, 1903. The father and son attended the same school-Dutch Ridge. He votes with the democratic party. The family are members of the Evan- gelical Church. When Mr. Hable married he worked for a while with his father and then they bought land together. He now owns sixty acres of excellent land.
When Mr. Hable acquired the farm it had a good brick house
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on it, and he added some porches and many farm buildings. He has pride in his farm surroundings. Along with general farming he is engaged in the livestock business, and he operates a dairy. Dairy farming is very general in Fulton county.
LOUIE E. COSGROVE, M. D. Through three generations the name Cosgrove has been prominent in the history of medicine in northern Ohio. Dr. Louie E. Cosgrove has practiced a number of years at Swanton, where his father, also a physician, lived until his death.
Doctor Cosgrove has an interesting and rather notable record of military service. In June, 1912, he accepted a commission as first lieutenant in the Medical Department of the Ohio National Guard. In June, 1915, he was promoted to captain. He went with the Ohio contingent of the National Guard regiment to the Mexican border, where he was on duty from June, 1915, until February, 1917. He then resumed his private practice at Swanton, but in June, 1918, was commissioned a captain in the Medical Reserve Corps, and re- ported for active duty at Camp Sheridan at Montgomery, Alabama. Six weeks later he was ordered to Fort Oglethorp, Georgia, and joined Evacuation Hospital No. 49 and was soon transported for overscas service in northern France. His work there kept him until after the signing of the Armistice, when he reported to the United States Convalescent Hospital at Mentone in the Maritime Alps on the Mediterranean Sea. He was there for eight weeks dur- ing the winter of 1918-19, and was then ordered to Coblenz, Ger- many, with the Army of Occupation, rejoining his original organ- ization, Evacuation Hospital No. 49, and acting as chief of its medi- cal service. He remained there until July 5, 1919, when he was sent home and given an honorable discharge at Fort McHenry, Maryland.
Doctor Cosgrove was born at Swanton in August, 1879, son of Sylvanus F. and Alice J. (Cooper) Cosgrove. His paternal grand- parents were Dr. T. T. and Betsie (Mooney) Cosgrove. T. T. Cos- grove was a native of Alsace-Lorraine, France, while his wife was born near Dublin, Ireland. Dr. T. T. Cosgrove was one of the early members of the medical fraternity at Toledo, Ohio, and practiced in that city many years.
Dr. Sylvanus F. Cosgrove was born in Lucas county, Ohio. His wife, Alice J. Cooper, was a daughter of Nathaniel S. and Irene (Parker) Cooper, Massachusetts people of English ancestry. The Cooper and Parker families were early settlers in Lucas county, near Sylvania. Sylvanus Cosgrove for several years conducted a bakery business at Tecumseh, Michigan. While there he took up the study of medicine, and after selling his business finished his professional education in Cincinnati. He practiced for one year at Sylvania and from there removed to Swanton, where he was one of the hard working physicians of Fulton county until his death him and was killed in an elevator accident at Toledo October 6, November 25, 1908, at the age of sixty-two. His widow survived 1919. Dr. Louie E. is the only surviving child. His sister Lillie' May died at the age of four years and twin children died in infancy.
Louie E. Cosgrove grew up at Swanton, attended the grammar and high schools, the Fayette Normal University, where he pur- sued a special course, and in 1897 began the study of medicine at the Toledo Medical College. He was graduated in 1901 and sub- sequently took post-graduate studies in the Chicago Polyclinic in
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1903 and in 1906. He practiced as a partner with his father until the latter's death, and since then except for his army service has been alone in practice.
Doctor Cosgrove is a member of the County, State and American Medical Associations, served two terms as coroner of Fulton county, was a member of the council three terms and mayor two terms, and has also been a member of the Board of Education. He is a re- publican and is prominent in the Masonic Order, being affiliated with Lodge No. 555 at Swanton, Royal Arch Chapter at Delta, Toledo Commandery No. 7, Knights Templar, and Zenobia Temple of the Mystic Shrine at Toledo.
In January, 1906, Doctor Cosgrove married Minnie M. Grove, a native of Fulton Township and daughter of Herman and Stella (Koder) Grove. They have one son, Louie, born October 13, 1906.
CHARLES W. KRAUSS. While Charles W. Krauss, of Swan Creek Township, is of German parentage, he is a native of Fulton county. He was born in April, 1853, and is a son of John George and Bar- bara (Baumgartner) Krauss, who came from Germany in 1853 to Delta. They lived for a time in German Township and later in Clinton.
On December 9, 1880, while the Krauss family lived in Clinton Township, Charles W. Krauss married Mary Baum, who is a native of Germany. She is a daughter of Thomas and Margaret (Shakely) Baum. In his early married life Mr. Krauss had a migratory ex- perience, living one year in Clinton, three years in Dover, four years in Chesterfield and one year in Pike, returning then to Clinton, where he lived four years before buying an eighty acre farm in sec- tion 28 of Swan Creek Township, which is his home today.
When Mr. Krauss located in Swan Creek Township the farm was all in the brush and there was "an old shell of a house" on it, but he went to work with a determination born of the love of one's own "vine and fig tree," and he soon cleared and fenced the tract and made the substantial improvements that mark the site today. He immediately began tiling the land and planting fruit trees, and a fine orchard is the result.
In his younger days Mr. Krauss was a carpenter, and the im- provements at his farmstead are his own handiwork. Today he devotes himself to general farming, and he keeps a small dairy. He is an advocate of the theory of land improvement through dairy farming, and through his management the small dairy is a good investment.
The children born to Mr. and Mrs. Krauss are: Carrie, wife of Henry Brookhoff, of Swan Creek Township; Sophia, wife of Edward Brookhoff, of Swan Creek; Pauline, wife of Leonard Mary- doo, of Swan Creek; and Charles of Swan Creek. The children at home are : Gottleib and Martha. Those deceased are: George, Mary and David. Mr. Krauss is guardian for seven children who are relatives. The Krauss homestead is known as "White Oak Farm."
Besides being a native son Mr. Krauss has many other ties to bind him to Fulton county. In this county he has performed his life work, has seen his hopes come to a satisfactory measure of fruition, his own children grow up, and has become possessor of a farm that is also a home, and a cherished spot both for himself and for his children and many of his relatives.
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WILLIAM AUSTIN HOGUE, one of the progressive farmers of Swan Creek Township, has to his credit the development and im- provement of his valuable farm in this region. He was born at Delta, Ohio, on March 15, 1872, a son of Austin and Martha (Matt- ingly) Hogue, of English descent. They had three children, namely : William Austin, who was the eldest; Hattie, who is Mrs. Oscar J. Wismen, of Delta, Ohio, where her husband is a dental surgeon ; and Frank, who lives in Idaho. The mother secured a divorce from the father, and was later married to Samuel Casson, and now lives at Delta, Ohio.
William Austin Hogue lived with his mother until he was twenty-one years of age, at which time he rented her farm in the vicinity of Delta and conducted it for a few years. He then worked for his step-father in a sawmill for about two years, and leaving him went to Chicago, Illinois, where he was engaged in teaming for a few months. He then returned to Delta, resuming work for his stepfather in the mill, but in the spring went to Toledo, Ohio, where he was a street car conductor during the subsequent summer. Once more Mr. Hogue returned home to resume work in the sawmill.
In May, 1899, he was married to Mattie Adams, a daughter of Herman Charles and Margaret Adams, of Swan Creek Township. The year following his marriage Mr. Hogue located on the 120- acre homestead of the Adams family, and after the death of his father-in-law in 1901 he bought the property of his mother-in-law, who survived her husband until in June, 1918, when she, too, passed away. Since becoming the owner of the property Mr. Hogue has rebulit the house and barns, making them thoroughly modern, and he has otherwise greatly improved the place. Mr. Hogue is carrying on general farming, stockraising and dairying, his herd being comprised of twenty head of cattle. He specializes on raising a mixed breed of hogs of good quality, and is making a success of his several undertakings.
Mr. and Mrs. Hogue have one daughter, Helen Adams, who has been graduated from the Delta High School, and is a charming young lady. In politics Mr. Hogue is a republican. The Presby- terian Church of his neighborhood has him as an attendant, al- though he is not a member of any religious body. Always a hard worker, Mr. Hogue has won his own way in the world and deserves the confidence he inspires among his neighbors.
HENRY O. WALES. Although he is now engaged in general farming and stockraising in Swan Creek Township, Henry O. Wales has had a somewhat varied career and is a gentleman of unusual talents. He was born in Wood county, Ohio, April 6, 1871, a son of Rev. Oscar L. and Mary E. (Williams) Wales, he born in New York state, on August 5, 1830, and she born in Sylvania, Lucas county, Ohio, on February 28, 1844. Rev. Oscar L. Wales was a minister of the Universalist faith, and preached at Lyon, Ohio, for fifteen years. On December 10, 1891, he came to Fulton county, where he bought a partly improved farm of 1211/2 acres, but con- tinued to discharge the duties pertaining to his church while ope- rating his farm. The death of this excellent man occurred on August 19, 1906, but his widow survived him until November 28, 1918. By a former marriage he had the following children : Charles, Lucy and Carrie, all of whom, with their mother, Mrs. Saphronia (Horton) Wales, are deceased. Mr. and Mrs. Wales, parents of
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Henry O. Wales, had the following children: Fannie, who died at the age of four years; Nellie, who died at the age of three years; and Henry O., who is the youngest and only survivor.
Henry O. Wales was carefully educated, and after he had eom- pleted the grammar and high school courses, studied commercial methods in the Ohio Business University, being graduated there- from in bookkeeping and a general business course. For a number of years Mr. Wales taught penmanship during the evenings to pupils who could not obtain instruction at any other time, and for twenty- two years was a teacher of the piano and organ.
On May 25, 1892, Mr. Wales was united in marriage with Nellie Jane Meintzer, born at Fremont, Ohio, a daughter of Henry and Sophia (Hultzhaur) Meintzer, and for eight months thereafter resided with his parents. Mr. Wales then bought forty aeres of land in section 22 of Swan Creek Township, where he lived until after the death of his mother, when he came to the homestead which he inherited from her. Here he is carrying on a general farming, stoekraising and dairying business. Mr. and Mrs. Wales have the following children : Paul Emerson, who lives at Delta, Ohio, mar- ried Opal Slagle, and they have two children, Bonnie Iola and Clar- ence Burdette; Blossom Marguerite, who married Donald M. An- thony, has one son, Donald Wales; and Regina Elizabeth, who is at home. Mr. Wales is a republican and has served on the School Board sinee 1913 and has been assessor since 1915. He belongs to Brailey Camp No. 1165, Modern Woodmen of America. In the teachings of Christian Science Mr. Wales finds expression for his religious faith, and he is a firm believer in them, governing his life accordingly. A quiet, unassuming man, Mr. Wales does his full duty to his family and community, and commands the confidenee of all with whom he comes in contact.
LEONARD MERIDEW, of Swan Creek Township, came as a child of six years with his father from England. He was born there November 7, 1879, and in August, 1885, he arrived in New York City. The family came at once to York Township, Fulton county. Mr. Meridew is a son of Thomas and Martha (Glass) Meridew. His sister, Editha, became the wife of Carson Carstenton and lives in Frederick, Michigan. In 1883 their mother died, and their father married Caroline Young, of England. The children of this second marriage are: Alice, who is the wife of William Jackson, of Toledo; Kate, wife of Bert Snyder, of Delta; Ruby, wife of Fritz Emeh, of Delta; Benjamin and Jesse, of the United States Navy ; Fred of the United States Army ; and Earl, of Delta. Mrs. Caroline Young Meridew also lives in Delta.
From the time he was eleven until he was twenty-four years old Leonard Meridew worked on farms by the month, and then for eight years he was employed in the Helveta Condensary. In 1913 he bought the eighty-acre farm in Swan Creek Township that is now his home. He has added many improvements and has about seventy aeres of the land under cultivation, the remainder in timber and pasture. He is engaged in general farming, stockraising and dairying.
May 5, 1908, Mr. Meridew married Pauline Krauss, of Chester- field. She is a daughter of William and Maria (Baum) Krauss, who are natives of Germany. Their children are: Dorothy, Grace and Ocie. The family belong to the Diseiples Church in Delta.
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HENRY SHARTZER was a factor in the life and affairs of Fulton county for over forty years. He was an honored veteran of the Civil war, and when the war was over he returned to his chosen work as a farmer, and members of his family today enjoy the fruits of his labors on one of the highly improved and valuable farms of Swan Creek Township.
Mr. Shartzer was born in Wayne county, Ohio, in February, 1836, son of John and Sarah (Greenewalt) Shartzer. His parents were natives of Pennsylvania and spent many years of their lives in Henry county, Ohio. Henry Shartzer grew up in Henry county, acquired a practical education in such schools as then existed, and on October 7, 1862, enlisted in the Union Army in Company B of the Thirty-eighth Ohio Volunteer Infantry. He was with his regi- ment for nine months and then received an honorable discharge. On September 3, 1864, he again enlisted in Company B of the One Hundred and Seventy-eighth Ohio Infantry, and continued in service until June 13, 1865, seeing the end of the great struggle that preserved the Union. For many years Mr. Shartzer affiliated with his old comrades as a member of the Grand Army Post at Col- ton, Ohio.
In the intervals of his army service Mr. Shartzer married in December. 1863, Miss Harriet Tharp. She was born in Perry county, Ohio, May 16, 1846, daughter of Nathan and Lucy Ann (Berry) Tharp. After his marriage Mr. Shartzer lived for a time at Napoleon and then moved to Fulton county and acquired thirty acres in Swan Creek Township. This land was covered with heavy timber, and his efforts partly cleared and improved the place. In 1881 he bought another tract of forty acres covered with timber in section 7 of Swan Creek Township, and this he also cleared and improved, ditched and gave it all the building equipment for suc- cessful operation. At one time in his career he also traded 100 acres he owned in Swan Creek Township for about 200 acres of Michigan land, but after one year there he found the land unsuited for agri- cultural operations, and practically abandoned it.
Mr. Shartzer, who died December 9, 1905, was known as a hard worker, provided well for his family, was a man of quiet and un- assuming character, voted as a republican, and altogether acquitted himself well in the duties and obligations of life.
Mrs. Henry Shartzer still lives on the old homestead in Swan Creek Township. The manager of the farm is-her son Arthur Roy, who was born September 22, 1880. He has operated the farm for about twenty years, and in addition to maintaining its improve- ments has bought twenty acres more. Arthur Roy married October 29, 1910, Miss Laura Mohler, who was born in Henry county, Ohio, May 10, 1893, daughter of William W. and Martha E. (Price) Mohler. The children of Arthur Shartzer and wife are: Clayton Leroy, born October 28, 1912; and Clifford Elwin, born Decem- ber 9, 1918.
The only daughter of Mrs. Shartzer is Myrtle, who was born December 3, 1876. She is the wife of Caleb Bundy, and they have two children, Bertha, now Mrs. Clyde Benedict, and Ora, Mrs. Lester Meyers, both living in Hudson, Michigan. Mr. and Mrs. Bundy reside in Chicago.
MARTIN E. ELLSWORTH is one of the substantial citizens of Fayette, where he spent much of his younger life and after a busi-
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ness record of about twenty years in Indiana returned to the old home farm of the Ellsworths, near Fayette, where he now enjoys a comfortable home and is living practically retired.
Mr. Ellsworth was born at Lysander in Onondaga county, New York, April 2, 1847, and was about four years old when his par- ents settled in the wilderness of Fulton county. He is a son of Lyman and Elizabeth (Emerick) Ellsworth. His mother was born in New York, a daughter of Elijah Emerick. Lyman Ellsworth was born in Vermont March 17, 1811, son of William Ellsworth, who was born March 30, 1765. After their marriage Lyman Ells- worth and wife lived in Onondaga county until 1851, when they sold their property and with some of their household possessions started for Buffalo, New York, traveling on a boat on the Erie Canal, thence by lake boat to Toledo, went on by railroad as far as Clayton and thus arrived in Gorham Township. Just east of Fayette they bought forty acres, largely covered with timber. Later ten acres more were added to this home place. Lyman Ellsworth while he improved his farm during his lifetime was a carpenter by trade, and was an old fashioned, careful mechanic, who did practi- cally all his work with hand tools. He dressed the lumber, made . the framing and practically all the molding, as was the custom of carpenters of that day, before mill work became so general. Many of the buildings which he constructed around Fayette are still stand- ing. He died in March, 1876, survived by his widow until May, 1904. Martin was the youngest of their children. The oldest is Anna, a resident of Fayette, Cornelia, also of Fayette, and Hannah, deceased.
Martin E. Ellsworth attended the common schools of Fayette and was reared as a farmer and carpenter, both of which occupations he thoroughly learned. March 12, 1871, he married Ellen S. Parker, who was born in Gorham Township August 4, 1852, daughter of Jared and Almira (Brink) Parker. Her father was born in Rhode Island October 12, 1819. Almira Brink was born in what is now Fulton county, Ohio, August 21, 1829, one of the first white children born in the county. Her parents, John and Harriet (Kellogg) Brink, located in this part of the Ohio wilderness when there was scarcely another family between there and Lake Erie.
After his marriage Mr. Ellsworth lived in the town of Fayette, conducted his father's farm until 1880, and also worked at the trade of carpenter several years. For 11/2 years he was in the general merchandise business at Fayette and from here removed to Butler, Indiana, where he conducted a general store six years. Then still keeping his home at Butler he became a general agent installing gasoline lighting plants, and was on the road much of the time covering his territory of fourteen counties in northern Indiana. He continued in that business sixteen years. After disposing of his interests in Indiana Mr. Ellsworth returned to Fayette, bought the old Ellsworth homestead, and resumed farming pursuits. In recent years he has sold forty-four acres of the old farm, now known as the Ellsworth Addition to Fayette, much of it divided into small home tracts. Around his own home he retains six acres, and that ground gives him ample employment in his leisure years. Mr. Ellsworth is a Methodist and has held all the lay offices in the church and Sunday School. Politically he is a republican voter.
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