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 49

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 49


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The Batdorff children are: Jennie, wife of Willard Gunn, of Toledo; James, who is the farmer at the homestead; William, of York; Brooks, of Fulton; May, wife of Henry Moore, of Fulton; Ella, wife of John H. Hable, of Fulton; Joseph, at the homestead; Jonah, of Toledo; and Harry, of Swanton.


Mr. Batdorff has an unusual Civil war record, having served his country exactly five years. He was a member of Company B, Ohio Volunteer Infantry, and was discharged June 18, 1866, exactly five years from the date the regiment entered the service. He is a mem- ber of McQuillan Grand Army of the Republic Post, and reviews in the way of campfire reminiscences many of the hard fought battles of the war. His ballot is cast with the republican party.


DR. ARTHUR BUCHANAN LATHROP represents at once both the professional life and the business interests of Swanton. He was born September 27, 1856, at Berkey, Richfield Township, Lucas county. He is a son of Clark C. and Louisa (Tuttle) Lathrop, the father from Rochester, New York, and the mother from Fairfield Township, Lenawee county, Michigan. When his father, Clark C. Lathrop, was only twelve years old he was brought by his father, Aruna La- throp, to Lucas county.


It was in 1835 that the Lathrops came by boat across Lake Erie and cut their way through the heavy timber that covered the coun-


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try to Fairfield Township from Maumee. The father and mother of Doctor Lathrop met and married when the country was primitive, and they settled on a farm near Berkey. The father died in 1905, at the age of eighty-two years, and the mother, at the age of eighty- seven, lives with her son in Swanton. Their children are: Dr. A. B. Lathrop; Edgar E., of Lorain county; and Alva A., who died June 9; 1919, in Swanton.


Doctor Lathrop as a boy attended the common schools, and later went to high school in Sylvania. He still later attended a school near Adrian, Michigan, and the Valparaiso Normal at Valparaiso, Indiana. For four years he attended Hillsdale College, Hillsdale, Michigan. The doctor is a graduate from Starling Medical College in Columbus, and from Bellevue, New York. He began practicing inedicine in Swanton, and has been there continuously except in 1900, when he took a post graduate course in New York City and also visited Europe.


In 1876 Doctor Lathrop married Louie M. Clark. Their chil- dren are: Homer C., of Indianapolis, who is with the firm of La- throp, McFarland Company in the automobile business there. Emily is an expert accountant and Louie, who is a graduate in the depart- ment of agriculture in the University of Nebraska, operates one of the Lathrop farms near Sylvania.


Doctor Lathrop's second marriage was with Lillian M. Printup, of Sylvania. She is a daughter of John Printup, who came as a babe six months old with his parents to Sylvania Township, Lucas county, in 1835-another pioneer Lucas county family. From this mar- riage there is one daughter, Helen Lucile. She is a Flower Hospital nurse in Toledo. The doctor and the nurse are both adjuncts to the community.


Doctor Lathrop was the democratic member of the Fulton County Board of Pension Examiners under President Cleveland. He is a Swanton Knight of Pythias, and a Mason up to the thirty- second degree. In the way of a business investment Doctor Lathrop owns a large farm near Sylvania, and is president and manager of the Swanton Home Telephone Company. For nine years, Doctor Lathrop was engaged in private banking business, in the Bank of Swanton, which was taken over by the Farmers and Mechanics De- posit Company.


HORATIO BURKEY. While he was born in Somerset county, Pennsylvania, August 1, 1835, Horatio Burkey, of Fulton Town- ship, has lived in Fulton county ever since 1858-three years be- fore he enlisted in the Civil war. He is a son of Jacob and Sarah (Burkey) Burkey, of Pennsylvania. After coming to Fulton county in 1858 Mr. Burkey worked by the month among farmers until August 21, 1861, when he enlisted in the service of his country. He was a member of Company I, Thirty-eighth Ohio Volunteer Infantry. He was discharged from the service December 10, 1863, and next day he re-enlisted in the same company and regiment for three years or until the end of the war.


Mr. Burkey received his final discharge July 12, 1865, near Louisville, Kentucky. He did not escape without injury. He had his knapsack shot off of his back, and he received a gunshot wound in his right wrist. The doctor probed for the bullet and secured it, and Mr. Burkey has it among his treasures today. Aye, the veterans of the Civil war had their share of narrow escapes, and


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today their campfires are burning dim-they are now so few in numbers.


When this veteran of the Civil war returned to Fulton county, he bought an eighty-acre tract of timber in Fulton Township and he cleared it. Finally he and his wife owned 250 acres of well improved farm land, but in their old days they gave all to their children except a five-acre tract, where they they live in comfort. Mr. Burkey contracted deafness in the Civil war, and it grew worse until since 1898 he has been totally deaf.


Of the children born to Jacob and Sarah Burkey, those living today are: Anna Eliza, wife of David Livingston, of Holsapple, Pennsylvania; Sarah, who is married and lives in Johnstown, Penn- sylvania; and Horatio Burkey, of Fulton county. On July 1, 1866, Jacob Burkey married Rebecca Greisinger. She was born in the com- munity where she has always lived, May 18, 1846, a daughter of Henry and Esther (Shultz) Greisinger. The father was born in Germany while the mother was a native of Pennsylvania.


Mr. and Mrs. Horatio Burkey had seven children: Laura F., wife of Frank Enfield, of Fulton; Amelia, who died at thirteen and Abba, who died at eleven; Erwin, of Fulton; Ezra, who is married and lives in Fulton county ; Edna, wife of Peter Leibel, of Fulton; and Leonard, who is an Evangelical minister located at Copemish, Michigan. Mr. Burkey belongs to the same denomination as the son.


Mr. Burkey is republican in his political affiliation, and he is a member of McQuillan Post, Grand Army of the Republic, at Delta.


This is a simple record of an old soldier who gave several years from the flower of his youth to the service of his country, and for many years since has suffered partial impairment of his faculties because of his patriotism to the old flag. And after the military record comes the record of many long years spent in the toil and sacrifice of developing a farm and making a home, and that achieve- ment well performed is an additional solace to a man who has lived four score and five years and in every one of life's numerous relation- ships has deserved well of his country and his fellow .men.


CHARLES I. FRAKER, who for many years was in business with his father in Delta, Fulton county, Ohio, but who since the retire- ment of his father and the latter's ultimate death has devoted him- self to the tillage of the old Fraker farm, which has been in the pos- session of the Fraker family for four generations, ever since the time it was deeded to their pioneer ancestor by President Pierce. The original parchment bearing the United States president's sig- nature is still one of the treasured possessions of the family. The Fraker family has been in Ohio for more than a century, Thomas Fraker, great-grandfather of Charles I., was born in Pennsylvania, but his son George, grandfather of Charles I., was born in Wayne county, Ohio, in 1819, his parents, Thomas and Nancy (McKee) Fraker, having an adventurous early life in Ohio, the Indians being troublesome in their vicinity in those days. Thomas Fraker came to Fulton county in 1834, and entered government land, gaining title to 320 acres in Swan Creek and York Townships, and even- tually receiving the parchment deed signed by the president of the United States. The land was heavily wooded, all wilderness, but the wood was valuable, for the most part walnut, elm, and oak.


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Gradually a good acrcage was cleared, his son George doing much of the clearing, and continuing the work after his father's death. Thomas Fraker was a typical pioneer, a man of strong purpose, courageous and determined. And he was a man of influence in the township, as the early record shows. His son George, who was born in Wayne county, Ohio, in 1819, and came with his father into Ful- ton county, married Mary Ann Gorsuch. He was of worthy record in the county, and should be placed with his father as one of the pioneers of Swan Creek and York Townships. His son Andrew J., who was born in Clinton Township of Fulton county, married Ra- chel Fauble, who was born in Fulton Township of the same county, the daughter of Isaac Fauble and his wife, Rachel A. (Watkins), who were both born in Wayne county, Ohio, he in 1815 and she in 1818, and both of them the children of worthy pioneers of that part of Ohio. Michael Fauble, father of Isaac, was born in Germany, and was the American progenitor of the family and the pioneer an- cestor in Wayne county, where he died. Isaac Fauble was in Ful- ton county soon after he had married, and secured several hundreds of acres of undeveloped government land situated in Fulton Town- ship, Fulton county. There he and his wife lived for the remainder of their lives, and there their daughter Rachel, who married An- drew J. Fraker, was born. So that in both paternal and maternal lines the ancestry of Charles I. Fraker of Delta goes back to pio- neers of the earliest days of Fulton county, a record which makes a review of his life of particular interest and value in this edition of Fulton County History.


Andrew J. and Rachel (Fauble) Fraker were married on Jan- uary 14, 1878, and soon afterward settled in Pettisville, Fulton county, where he established himself in a sawmilling enterprise. In the next year, however, he settled in Delta, having purchased an established saw and planing mill at that place. For twenty-one years thereafter he conducted that business, developing also quite a substantial trading in lumber. In 1900 he saw that it would be to his advantage to sell the business, and did so. However, three years later he again acquired the mill, and for the next six years operated it as a stave and heading mill. In 1909 he dismantled the mill and retired altogether from business, having acquired much material wealth by his years of trading. He died nine years later, on December 10, 1918, aged seventy years, having been born on June 26, 1848. Andrew J. Fraker was an able business man, and attained prominent place among the people of Delta. Throughout his life he showed commendable public spirit, and when he became a capitalist he became somewhat widely-known as a banking official. He was one of the founders of the Farmers Savings Bank of Delta, and for very many years was its vice president. His widow, who was born in 1857, still resides in Delta, and is in comparatively good health. The children of Andrew J. and Rachel (Fauble) Fraker were: Charles I., of whom more follows; William H., of Delta, now vice president of the Farmers Savings Bank of Delta, succeeding his father to the office; Herma Jane, who married the Rev. W. D. Hendershot, of Zanesville, Ohio, the latter in the Chris- tian Church ministry.


Charles I. Fraker, eldest child of Andrew J. and Rachel (Fauble) Fraker, attended the elementary public and also the high schools of Delta, graduating from the latter in 1901. He took a collegiate course at Hiram College of Portage county, Ohio, and eventually


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entered business life in association with his father, continuing to take part in the business until his father decided to retire altogether, and to dismantle the mill. Charles I. then gave his attention to the cultivation of the Fraker farming property of 120 acres adjoining the borough of Delta on the southeast, the property eventually be- coming his by inheritance and in 1919 he added sixteen acres to it. His decision to work the farm himself arose not only because it was a rich agricultural property, but family associations had some in- fluence in bringing him to a decision, for it is the property upon which four generations of his family have lived, and representing the initial pioneering effort of his great-grandfather, who received title to the property from President Pierce, the original parchment bearing the signature of the nation's then chief executive being still in the possession of the family. Mr. Charles I. Fraker entered into the management of the farm with energy, proved himself apt and ultimately a skillful farmer. He cultivates about 100 acres of the 120 acres, the remaining twenty acres being in timber and pasture, and he has built two large barns, has laid much tile, and in other ways has appreciably improved the property. His farming is of general character, to which the property is well adapted, and he has had good success with cattle and registered Duroc Jersey hogs, raising poultry also somewhat extensively.


Politically Mr. Fraker is independent. He is a Mason, a mem- ber of local lodge No. 248, and he is a director and stockholder in the Farmers Savings Bank of Delta. He is widely known through- out that section of Fulton county, and has proved himself to be a man of fine character and strong purpose.


On November 12, 1913, he married Grace Vanaman, who was born in Bartlow Township, Henry county, Ohio, June 8, 1894, the daughter of Chester and Freda (Bundy) Vanaman, who were both natives of Fulton county, and granddaughter of Robert Vanaman, who was of German descent. Mr. and Mrs. Fraker are the parents of three children: Herma Jane, who was born on April 8, 1915; Andrew Jackson, who was born on January 4, 1917; and Fred Carlton, born March 1, 1919.


CLARENCE C. SMITH, B. A., prominent in Fulton county educa- tional circles, a well-known school principal, and latterly superin- tendent of schools of Delta, Fulton county, Ohio, is a native of the county, and is giving his most earnest attention to the betterment of public facilities in the county generally, and especially to the elevating of the standard of public education in the county. He has had a good collegiate and academic record, and entered upon his life work well qualified, having graduated from the Tri-State College, Angola, Indiana, and Oberlin Business College, Ohio, and attended the Ohio State University at Columbus. He is a member of the Fulton County Board of Examiners of Teachers, and, being still quite a young man, he will, it seems, most probably take even more prominent part in educational matters as the years pass.


He was born on May 14, 1882, the son of Hiram B. and Evelyn (Kyper) Smith, his birthplace being in Swan Creek Township of Fulton county. His father was born in Huron county, Ohio, but his mother was a native of Swan Creek Township, Fulton county, Ohio. The Smith family is of British origin, but the branch to which Professor Smith belongs has been resident in America since colonial days. His grandparents, John and Jane (Barber) Smith,


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were both born in New York state, but were early settlers in Huron county, Ohio, coming into Fulton county in 1865, when they settled in Swan Creek Township. His genealogy connects with a Pennsyl- vania family of English descent, his maternal grandparents being Cyrus and Cynthia (Spaulding) Kyper, both of Pennsylvania birth, the former the son of Africa Kyper, who was born in England, but who in 1835 is of record among the pioneers of Swan Creek Town- ship, he having in that year entered government (wild) land in the vicinity of Swanton, and gaining title to several hundred acres. So that in both maternal and paternal lineage Clarence C. Smith comes of families which are among the early residents of Fulton county. All the grandparents of Professor Smith died in Swan Creek Township, and his parents, Hiram B. and Evelyn (Kyper) Smith, settled in the township soon after marriage, the former farm- ing independently from his parents. Eventually Hiram B. Smith became superintendent of the Fulton county farm, holding that office until his death on June 16, 1914. His widow still resides in the family homestead in Swan Creek Township, in which all of their children were born. The four children of Hiram B. and Evelyn (Kyper) Smith were: Clarence C., regarding whose life in its connection with Fulton county more is written below for this edition of county history; Grace, who married A. E. Lawrence, but is now deceased; Maude, who married E. A. Jones, and now lives with her mother and brother on the home farm; and Fred, who resides with the mother on the home farm.


Clarence C., eldest child of Hiram B. and Evelyn (Kyper) Smith, in his boyhood attended the district school nearest to his home, and later passed through the high school of Delta, after which he enterd the Tri-State College at Angola, Indiana, eventually graduating. He also attended Oberlin Business College, and was a stu- dent at the Ohio State University at Columbus. He early entered the teaching profession, being only seventeen years old when he was first appointed a member of the teaching staff of Swan Creek district school. He was a district school teacher for six years, and for seven years was a teacher in the Delta High School, eventually, on June 1, 1916, becoming the superintendent of schools of Delta, which office he has since held. He has a recognized place among the able educators of the county, and is well-regarded in Delta. He is a member of the Fulton County Board of Examiners of Teachers.


Mr. Smith is of good personal repute, is an earnest church worker and is esteemed as a man of high moral integrity. By reli- gious conviction a Methodist, he has entered earnestly into church work, is a steward of the Delta church of that denomination, and has been a Sunday School teacher for many years. Politically he he is a republican and fraternally is a Mason, of Royal Arch degree, member of Octavius Waters Chapter of Delta.


On December 29, 1907, Clarence C. Smith married Chloe Put- nam, who was born in Fulton county, daughter of Israel and Mary (Bratton) Putnam, both of whom were born in Pennsylvania. Mrs. Smith in descent is German-Irish, the paternal line being of German antecedents, and her mother having been born in Ireland. Mr. and Mrs. Smith have two children: Roscoe, who was born April 21, 1910; and Ross, born May 5, 1911.


MERLIN A. BATDORF, a life-long resident in York Township, Fulton county, Ohio, well-known among agriculturists of the


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county, and well-regarded in his home township, has succeeded well as a farmer, and has shown commendable public spirit, and a consistent earnestness in church work. He has been a trustee of his church for twenty years; has served as school director; and has several times been elected to high office in a fraternal order instituted by agriculturists. And he comes into Fulton County History with particular interest, his grandparent, John Batdorff, having been one of the pioneer settlers in York Township.


Merlin A. Batdorf was born in York Township on September 5, 1874, the son of Aaron Benton and Mary Jane (Minnich) Batdorf, and grandson in the paternal line of John and Elizabeth (Morgan) Batdorf, who were both born in Pennsylvania, but came to York Township, which then was in Lucas county, Ohio, in the early '40s. They entered government land and lived the lives of pioneers, grad- ually clearing a good acreage and having a comfortable old age. . Their son Aaron Benton, father of Merlin A., was born in York Township, and in due course attended the district school, although in those days the school was practically open only for the winter months, the summer vacation extending over most of the growing period of the year. After leaving school he gave his time wholly to his father, and did much pioneering work on the home estate. He married Mary Jane Minnich, who was born in Marion county, Ohio, daughter of David and Hannah (Crawford) Minnich, both born in Marion county, Ohio, but eventually residents in Delta village, York Township, where David Minnich followed his trade, shoemaking. After marriage Aaron B. Batdorf and his wife settled on the farm in York Township upon which they raised their chil- dren, living there until 1907, when they moved into the city of Wauseon. In that city Aaron B. Batdorf died on December 21, 1918, his widow, however, still living a quiet comfortable life in that city. They were the parents of six children, who in order of birth were: Jessie, who married John W. Sands, of Toledo, Ohio; Merlin A., of whom further; Cora E., who married Blanchard Miller; but is now deceased: Ethel M., who married Jonas Snyder, of To- ledo, Ohio; Frances E., who married Charles Snyder, of Wauseon, Ohio; Nellie A., who married Frank Zeigler, of Toledo, Ohio.


Merlin A. Batdorf attended the York Township district school nearest to his home, and when sixteen years old went to live with his paternal grandparents in York Township, with whom he lived until his twenty-second year, when he married. With that responsi- bility Merlin A. began to independently farm, and for two years rented properties in the township. In the third year of his married life, however, he acquired a farm of twenty-five acres of cleared land, but without buildings. He erected the necessary buildings, and had good success in his cultivation of the land, so much so that eight years later he purchased an additional twenty-five acres, ten of which were in timber. He has farmed enterprisingly and thoroughly, and his industry has brought him good return. He has followed general farming, to which his acreage was adaptable, and has had good success in stockraising, and dairying.


During his years of busy farming he has not neglected public responsibilities. He has taken close interest in local affairs, and has been ever ready to support personally and financially local movements of civic, social or religious character. He has been es- pecially interested in educational matters, and has devoted some of


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his time to the duties of school director. Politically lie is a republi- can, but he has not actively concerned himself in national political campaigns. He has always been sincere in church matters. By religious conviction he is a member of the United Brethren denom- ination, and has been a trustec of the local church since 1900. Fra- ternally he has been prominent in the functioning of the Ancient Order of Gleaners, an organization composed mostly of agricultur- ists. . In that organization he has held the office of chief gleaner for several years. In November, 1919, he was clected township trustee.


On July 22, 1896, he married Laura A. Williams, who was born in York Township, daughter of John and Ann (Struble) Williams, well-known residents. Mr. and Mrs. Batdorf raised a large family, having had eight children born to them, only one of whom, their first born. is deceased. Their children in order of birth are: Ralph B., who died in infancy; Walter C., now successfully established in Clinton Township, and married to Mabel Turney; Mildred M., who has taken a business course in the State University of Nebraska at Lincoln, and who is now employed by The Old Line Bankers Life Insurance Company of Lincoln, Nebraska; Frank H., at home; Lowell E., also at home; Lawrence C .; John Cair; and Marion L.


EDWIN B. PERKINS has lived in York Township, Fulton county, Ohio, for almost sixty-three years. He comes of pioneer residents of Clinton and York Townships, and has given his whole life to useful development and profitable industry in York Township, where he is esteemed as a substantial and industrious resident, and public-spirited and good-hearted neighbor.


Edwin B. Perkins was born in York Township, Fulton county, on March 15, 1857, the son of Evander and Susan (McAllister) Perkins. In the paternal line he comes of an old colonial New Eng- land family, and through his mother his genealogy connects with a New York state family. His father was born in Connecticut and his mother in New York state, where they were married, and from which state in 1845 they eventually came into Ohio, and to Clinton Township of Fulton county. Four years later Evander and Susan (McAllister) Perkins moved to York Township, having purchased the farm known as the Steadman Farm, upon which for the next ten years they resided, and upon which their son Edwin B. was born. Evander Perkins died in 1867, but his widow lived a further thirty- three years, her demise not occurring until 1900. They were the parents of five children, namely : Eliza, who is the widow of William Welling, and now lives with her brother Edwin B .; Eunice, who married Solomon Fisher, but is now deceased; Lydia, also deceased; William A., a successful farmer in York Township; and Edwin B.


Edwin B. Perkins was reared in the wholesome environment of the parental farm, and in due course attended the public school of his home district, giving, as he grew, increasing assistance to his father in the operation of the farm. He was ten years old when his father died, and thereafter his part in the operation of the farm became increasingly important. With his elder brother he remained near his widowed mother until he was thirty years old, when he mar- ried and set up a separate establishment, residing on the seventy- five acre farm that he in partnership with his brother owned. The farm was to the southward. in section 7 of York Township, and it was his home until 1897, when he sold his interest in it to his brother,




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