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 53
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William A. Biddle, son of Henry L. and Agatha (Greenwelt) Biddle, was born in York Township on May 28, 1861. He attended the district school in his boyhood, and after leaving school applied himself industriously to agricultural occupations, becoming of much assistance to his father in the operation of their somewhat extensive farm. He remained by his father until the latter's death, and for twelve years afterward remained single, the responsibilities of the farm and the family to a great extent devolving upon him, he being the elder of the two sons. In 1900 he married, but he continued to work the home farm, and has done so up to the present, with good result, his industry and skill as a farmer having brought him very satisfactory return. He now owns the 127 acres, and although for the first four years of his married life they lived in the old Biddle home, he erected in 1905 the substantial modern dwelling they now occupy. His farming has been of general character, and he has had good success in stockraising and maintains a good dairy. His prop- erty is known as the Lake Shore Dairy Farm, and that acreage of good fertile land is the worthy contribution of one family to the development of the United States.
Politically Mr. Biddle is a democrat, but he has not taken active part in national politics, and has never sought political office. He, however, has closely followed local affairs, and has upon many occa- sions shown commendable public spirit in giving willing support to many movements of importance to the community. Religiously he is identified with the Evangelical Church, and fraternally is a member of the Ancient Order of Gleaners.
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His wife, Ella Biery, whom he married on April 29, 1900, was born in York Township, June 9, 1874, a daughter of Christian and Lottie (Schlegel) Biery and granddaughter of Nicholas and Magdeline (Hummel) Biery, all of whom were residents of York Township. Nicholas Biery, who is placed among the pioneers of the township, was born in Switzerland, and came to the United States when he was in early manhood. He settled in Pennsylvania and there married, his wife being a native of that state. Not long after their marriage they came into Ohio and to York Township, Fulton county, when the surrounding country was practically wil- derness. Christian Biery, their son, was born in North George- town, Columbiana county, Ohio. He lived in York Township for practically the whole of his life, farming an extensive acreage, and building four residences. He died in 1909, in his sixty-fourth year. His wife, Lottie (Schlegel) Biery, is still living, and in comfortable circumstances, upon the old homestead. She was born in Coshocton county, Ohio, but her parents were also early York Township residents. The maternal grandparents of Mrs. Ella (Biery) Biddle were Gotlief and Lydia Ann (Bailey) Schlegel, the former a native of Berlin, Germany, and the latter of Pennsylvania. They lived after marriage for a while in Coshocton county, Ohio, and there Lottie, their daughter, and mother of Mrs. Biddle was born on December 11, 1847, but they later came into Fulton county.
Mr. and Mrs. Biddle are generally well-regarded in their sec- tion of Fulton county, and have many close friends among their neighbors.
GEORGE WILDON ORNDORFF, who during the last decade has had substantial success in farming in York Township, Fulton county, is a native of that township, and comes of one of the pio- neer families of the county. Mr. Orndorff has lived an active life, has always been a responsible citizen of close interest in national and local affairs, and has manifested worthy Christian characteristics, having entered actively into church work.
He was born in York Township, Fulton county, in September, 1865. the son of George and Rachel (Biddle) Orndorff. The Orn- dorff family has had many generations of American residence, the name being encountered in the vital statistics of early Pennsyl- vanian communities. George Orndorff was born in Pennsylvania, and later came into Ohio. at first living in Wayne county, where he met Rachel Biddle, who became his wife. She was born in Wayne county, Ohio, and they came through the wilderness from Wayne county to Fulton county and settled in York Township, George Orndorff acquiring a tract of wild land in the northwestern part of the township. There they both lived for the remainder of their lives and raised a family of six children, of whom George Wildon was the youngest. Mrs. Rachel (Biddle) Orndorff died in about 1897, two years after the death of her husband, George Orndorff, whose demise occurred in 1895. Their children in order of birth were: Lorinda, who married Samuel Murray, of York Township, and is now deceased ; Samuel, also deceased; Luther, deceased; Clara J., who now lives in Wauseon, Ohio; Knight, now of Clinton Town- ship, Fulton county ; and George Wildon.
George Wildon Orndorff, youngest child of George and Rachel
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(Biddle) Orndorff, was born in the old homestead of the family, and in his youth had to content himself with the limited educa- tion he could obtain in the district school. Afterward he devoted his time mainly to work upon the home farm until he was twenty- three years old, when he married. Soon after that important event in his life he went to live in Wauseon, Ohio, and there for about six years did well in the teaming and trucking business. In 1894 he went to Signet, Ohio, and for the next eighteen months worked as a teamster in the oil fields. Returning to Wauseon, he took up his former connection, continuing in the teaming and trucking enterprises until 1909. He had also concurrently undertaken farm- ing responsibilities, having purchased forty acres of the Orndorff homestead in York Township soon after he had returned to the dis- trict from the oil fields. The portion he had bought was practically all timber, and most of this during the next four years he cleared, later selling the property. In 1909, however, he purchased a farm ยท of eighty acres of improved land in section 9 of York Township, and since that year he has devoted himself exclusively to farming, with good results. He is enterprising, has good knowledge of farm- ing, is energetic, and alertly follows the developments of modern methods. His farm is well adapted to the purposes to which he puts it, those of general farming, and he keeps a dairy of moderate size.
Politically he is a republican, but his interest in politics has not been that of an office seeker. He has never sought, neither would he accept, public office. His busy life has been too full of produc- tion to liave much room for deliberation. In church matters, how- ever, he has ever been an earnest worker. He is a stalwart member of the Christian Union Church, and since early in 1917 has been first elder of the local church. He is also an assistant teacher in the Sunday School.
Mr. Orndorff has been twice married. His first wife, whom he married in November, 1888, was Della, daughter of David Pontius, of York Township. Mrs. Orndorff was a native of York Township, but her father was born in Pickaway county, Ohio. George Wildon Orndorff married for his second wife Ida Ledyard, born in Clinton Township, Fulton county, daughter of Frank and Ellen (Kimmer) Ledyard, the second marriage having taken place in March, 1905.
Clarence Orndorff, son of George Wildon Orndorff by his first wife, Della Pontius, is now succeeding well, in life in the city of Toledo, Ohio.
OLIVER P. RAKER. The vital interest of the whole community in the success of agriculture as the great basal industry has been proven beyond question, and within recent years this interest has been intensified because of the unprecedented demand for foodstuffs. Because of these facts the importance of the farmer has become gen- erally recognized, and his choice of a calling received universal approval. One of the men who lent distinction to Fulton county as an agricultural center was Oliver P. Raker, of York Township, whose death occurred December 2, 1919.
Oliver P. Raker was born in Swan Creek Township on Decem- ber 5, 1841, a son of Jacob and Fannie (Perry) Raker, natives of Pennsylvania and Wayne county, Ohio, and grandson of Martin Raker, a native of Pennsylvania, and Levi and Frances (Hum- phrey) Perry, all of whom were very early settlers of Ohio. Jacob
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Raker and his wife were married in what was then Lucas county, Ohio, but is now Fulton county, and they settled in Swan Creek Township, then all wild timberland, about 1835. Here they cleared and improved a farm, and in 1854 bought 160 aeres of land on section 24, York Township, which was also in the timber. On it the father built a log cabin, and then went to work to clear it off and place it under cultivation. He died on this farm in 1888, when he was sixty-nine years of age. His widow survived him until November, 1907, when she passed away at the age of eighty-seven years. Their children were as follows: Oliver P., who was the eld- est; Wealthy Ann, who is deceased; George, who is also deceased; Diantha Jane, who is Mrs. John Love, of McClure, Ohio; Harriet, who is Mrs. George Shaub; Amos P., who lives in Pike Township ; Daniel, who lived at Napoleon, Ohio, until October, 1919, and now resides on his farm one mile south of Delta; and Calvin, who lives near Tedrow, Ohio.
Oliver P. Raker has a war record, for he enlisted in November, 1861, in the Sixty-eighth Ohio Volunteer Infantry, for service dur- ing the war between the states, and was at Fort Donelson, and in many of the important battles in Tennessee, Alabama and Missis- sippi, including the siege of Vicksburg. Later his regiment was with General Sherman's command in the campaign in Georgia. Mr. Ra- ker received his discharge on December 10, 1864, near Savannah, Georgia, and returned home by way of New York City.
On October 4, 1866, Mr. Raker was married to Martha Dumar- esq, born in Cuyahoga county, Ohio, on June 26, 1845, a daughter of Frederiek and Jane Maria (Norton) Dumaresq, natives of the Isle of Guernsey and Wayne county, New York, respectively. Mrs. Raker's grandfather, Abram Dumaresq, was born on the Isle of Guernsey, and he married a Miss Simon. The maternal grandpar- ents were Benjamin and Betsey (Minor) Norton, natives of Wayne county, New York.
After his marriage Mr. Raker took up his residence on his farm of five aeres, to which he kept on adding until he had forty acres, all of which he cleared and improved, and in 1916 he rented it. In the spring of 1919 he sold this farm to Melford Baldwin, but continued to make his home on the property until his death.
Mr. and Mrs. Raker beeame the parents of the following chil- dren : Charles, who is a resident of Toledo, Ohio; Mrs. N. D. Fonty, of Wauseon; Mrs. Henry Smout, of Toledo; Fred, who lives at Delta, Ohio; Albert, who died in infaney; and Carlton, who lives at Bellefontaine, Ohio. Mr. Raker had nine grandehildren and two great-grandchildren, and was very proud of all of them. For many years he was a member of the Christian Church of Delta, and from 1888 he served it as a deacon. While he gave an intelligent support to the candidates of the republican party, he never cared to enter public life as an office seeker. He was a member of Mc- Quillan Post, Grand Army of the Republic.
Having spent his entire life in Fulton eounty, with the excep- tion of his army serviee, Mr. Raker was naturally much interested in its advancement, and felt proud of the fact that he had the privi- lege of taking part in this work. He was a man of high character, one who carried his religion into his every day life, and those who knew him appreciated the fact that he was one who not only treated his neighbor as well as himself, but considerably better. While his
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educational training was restricted to the district schools he had added to his store of knowledge as the years went by, and was a very well informed man in every respect.
HEZEKIAH MARKS. Strictly a self-made man who has created his own opportunities, Hezekiah Marks has long been identified with the agricultural community of Fulton county, and after ac- quiring a competence as a farmer he moved to Fayette, where he is now enjoying a well-carned retirement.
He was born in Hillsdale county, Michigan, January 18, 1861, son of Jacob Frederick and Barbara Ellen (Musser) Marks, the former a native of Pennsylvania and the latter of Ohio. The paternal grandparents were Daniel and Hannah (Lillie) Marks, the former a native of Pennsylvania, while the latter was born on the Atlantic Ocean while her parents were coming to this country from Germany, the voyage requiring seventeen weeks. Danicl Marks and wife settled in Williams county, Ohio, while the Musser family were pioneers of Gorham Township, Fulton county. Jacob F. Marks after his marriage lived for a few years in Hillsdale county, Michigan, spent two years in Lenawee county, that state, and then returned to Williams county, Ohio. Their family consisted of four children : Benjamin Franklin, who died at the age of twenty-one; Hezekiah; Hattie, wife of Gilbert Van Arsdalen, of Michigan; and William Peter, of Pioneer, Ohio.
Hezekiah Marks had no opportunities to attend school while at home. He was seventeen years of age when he took his place among much younger children in a district school, and altogether his schooling was limited to about twenty-one months. However, he early learned to make the best of a bad situation, and has main- tained an open mind and willingness to learn by experience, and therefore has not suffered as great a handicap as might be supposed. He left home at the age of seventeen, and worked out as a farm hand until he was thirty years of age. By industry and careful economy he was able to invest his savings in eighty acres of land in Gorham Township, and after getting that partly improved he married a year and a half after purchasing it, on November 12, 1891, Miss Amanda M. Alleman. Mrs. Marks was born in Richland county, Ohio, August 30, 1864, daughter of Josiah and Sarah (Gleim) Alleman. Her parents were natives of Ohio and early settlers in Richland county. Mr. Marks put in many strenuous years on his farm, working in the fields with the growing crops and constantly studying to make the land more productive and improving with barns, house and other equipment. He remained there engaged in general farming until March 9, 1915, when he bought his residence in Fayette, turning over the management of his farm to his son, and has since lived practically retired.
He has two children, the son being Josiah Franklin, while the daughter, Ruby Marie, is the wife of Bernard Crawford of Milan, Michigan. The son married Bertha Long and has a daughter, Gladys Lucile.
Mrs. Marks received a district school education. She is an active member of the Missionary and Ladies Aid Societies of the Disciples Church, in which Mr. Marks is serving as deacon and treasurer. Politically he votes as a democrat.
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HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY
ANSEL LANDIS FORD was born and lias spent all his life in Ful- ton county. His business interests from first to last have been con- centrated in land and its fruits and products. His success has been a rather unusual and striking one. He began his active career with little capital except a determined ambition and unlimited energy. In the course of many years he has owned seventeen different farms, and his possessions today include six farms, aggregating about 500 acres.
Mr. Ford, who is now enjoying the comforts of a part town and part country home at the edge of Fayette, was born in Gorham Township August 15, 1851, son of Cyrus and Fannie (Landis) Ford. He represents old New England stock, his people for several generations living in Cumington, Massachusetts, where his father was born in 1821. The Landis family came from Pennsylvania, and one of Mr. Ford's maternal ancestors was an American officer in the Revolutionary war. The principal facts regarding the Ford ancestors and the Fulton county branch of that name are given on other pages of this publication.
Ansel Landis Ford grew up on his father's farm, acquiring his education in Fayette, and after his marriage at the age of twenty- four lived on his father's old home placc a mile from Fayette. He was a renter there, and continued to occupy this place even after he had acquired other farmns. In 1909 he bought eighty acres of the old Ford homestead, including the buildings. Under his owner- ship many of the buildings have been replaced with modern struc- turcs, and the farm has been highly developed in every way. On June 1, 1917, Mr. Ford bought a modern residence and an acre of ground at the east edge of Fayette."
He married in September, 1874, Anna Humphrey, a native of Fayette, daughter of Rensselaer and Cornelia (Emerick) Humphrey and member of another prominent and well-known family of Ful- ton county whose records are given in detail elsewhere. The oldest of Mr. and Mrs. Ford's children is Alva, of Gorham Township, who married Ida Taylor and has three children, Anna, Naomi and Van. The second child, Bermah, is the wife of Clyde Brown of Napa, California, and the mother of two children, Lowell F. and Leland Robert. Clare Ford, who now has the responsibilities of managing the home farm, married Gertrude Wilcox, and their children are Blenda June and Don Wilcox. Deinah is the wife of Cass Cullis, of Swanton, and has a son, Ford Miller. Denver, twin brother of Demah, lives in Gorham Township, and by his marriage to Lois Richmond has a daughter, Pauline Lucile.
His experience as a farmer and land owner has given Mr. Ford a wide and diversified knowledge of land values, and he has served as real estate appraiser in Gorham Township and the village of Fayette and for two years was township assessor. He has been deeply interested in public schools and for forty years has been a member of the township School Board of Gorham. He is now serv- ing his second term as justice of the peace and in politics is a re- publican voter. He has held all the chairs of Lodge No. 689 of the Knights of Pythias at Fayette.
EMERSON E. BOURQUIN, partner of the firm of Bourquin Brothers, tile manufacturers of Archbold, Fulton county, Ohio, is one of the substantial and enterprising business men of that section
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of the county, in which he has lived during practically the whole of his life.
He was born about three miles to the west of Archbold in 1877, the son of Charles and Martha Bourquin. The family is of Alsatian (French) ancestry, but three generations have had American resi- dence, the American progenitor of the branch to which Emerson E. and Ira O. Bourquin, of Archbold, belong being their grandfather, James, who was a cabinetmaker in his native land, although after he crossed to America and settled in Fulton county, near Archbold, he followed agriculture almost exclusively. He had married an- terior to the year of his immigration, and some of his children were born in France, but concerning his immediate family the data now available is not explicit or complete. It appears, however, that for some short period after immigrating with his wife and children James Bourquin lived in Williams county, Ohio, subsequently mov- ing into Fulton county, where the family home has ever since been. The Bourquin family has been thus connected with the county and with Archbold for very long. Of the four children of James Bour- quin, two sons and two daughters, his son Charles, father of Emer- son E., was the last born and possibly he was born in America. Charles Bourquin farmed for the greater part of his life, assisting his father throughout the latter's life, and after his death continu- ing to till the Bourquin family homestead, to the westward of Arch- bold, until somewhat recently, when he retired from agricultural occupations altogether and moved into Archbold, so that he might pass the remaining years of his life in quiet comfort and be near his children. IIe married Martha Klopfenstein, and they were the parents of four children, all sons, of whom Emerson E. is the youngest.
Emerson E. as a boy attended the district school nearest to the family homestead, following the classes until he had reached the age of eighteen years. Like most country boys of his time, his school- ing practically resolved itself into winter terms, the school being closed for the greater part of the growing season. However, he made good that deficiency by attending school for a greater num- ber of years than he otherwise might have. Still, as his long sum- mer vacations were spent generally in doing what tasks connected with the home farm he had the strength to undertake, he was al- most an experienced farmer before he finally closed his schooling altogether. From the age of eighteen years until he was in his twenty-third year he remained at home, giving his time exclusively to his father, and to the affairs of the home farm. In 1899, how- ever, he went to West Unity, Williams county, Ohio, where for the next four years he was a clerk in a general store of that place. He returned to Archbold at the end of that time and joined his brother Ira O. in a business enterprise, the two then becoming established in a grocery business in Archbold, trading as Bourquin Brothers, and during the next four years having satisfactory return upon their investment. They then sold the business to advantage, being influenced in the matter by another business opportunity then open, and from which they expected to get an even better return than the continuance in merchandising business would have brought them. They purchased thirteen acres of land to the eastward of Archbold, and ever since have been manufacturers of building tile and other clay products, valuable clay deposits being upon their land, which
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faet the Bourquin brothers had cognizance of prior to their deci- sion to purchase the land. Their manufactured products find a ready market among users within seventy-five miles of Arehbold, and they have generally been able to keep their plant operated at full capacity. Thirteen men find constant employment in the plant, and the brothers have not an inconsequential business in their retailing of coal in Archbold and the neighboring country.
Politically Mr. Bourquin is of independent affiliation; in fact it may be said of him that he is of independent mind, placing more importance upon the strength and moral standing of the candidate for his vote rather than upon the party such candidate was linked with. If such discrimination were more generally shown at elee- tions, politics would be of higher standard in all probability. Mr. Bourquin has upon many oceasions shown a commendable community interest, and has at all times been ready to co-operate, personally or financially, in worthy local projects of communistic bearing. Fraternally he is identified with the Knights of Pythias, a member of the West Unity branch of that order, and is also a member of Masonic order at the same placc. Generally he enjoys good repute in Archbold and the vicinity, being recognized as a helpful, responsible resident and loyal citizen.
In 1904 he married Bertha, daughter of J. O. and Jane Swisher. They have one child, Martha Jane.
SAMUEL C. SCHANTZ. Upon the roll of representative citizens and influential business men of Fulton county consistently appears the name of Samuel C. Schantz, cashier of the Peoples State Bank of Arehbold. He is one of those sturdy spirits who has contributed largely to the material welfare of the locality in which he lives, representing that class of earnest citizens who have done so much for the development of the country, while at the same time they have benefited themselves in a very material manner. He has spent practically his entire life in this county, during which time he has gradually won his way into the affeetions of the people, for he possesses those sterling qualities of character which commend them- selves to the people of a community.
Samuel C. Sehantz was born on his father's farm near Arch- bold, Fulton county, Ohio, on August 8, 1869, and is the son of Christian and Mary (Gingerick) Schantz. His paternal grand- father, Christian Sehantz, Sr., was a native of Alsace-Lorraine, who came to the United States in an early day and settled on a farm in Wayne county, Ohio. Among his children who accompanied him on the immigration to this country was Christian, Jr., father of the subject, and who at that time was twelve years of age. The latter became a pioneer settler of Fulton county, where he entered and created a home. Of his fifteen children the subject of this sketch is the youngest.
Samuel C. Schantz was reared to manhood on his father's farm and secured his elementary education in the sehools of District No. 10, near Archbold, after which he attended the Trenton high school at Butler one year. Having decided to adopt the teaching profes- sion, he attended the Fayette Normal Sehool two terms, and then for eight years was employed as a teacher in the country schools of this section, including two terms in Springfield Township, Henry county, two terms in District No. 10, German Township, Fulton
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