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 57
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H. W. Jaqua and his family live with Mr. and Mrs. Seth Jaqua at Walnut Grove Farm, and their children attend Chesterfield Cen- tralized School, while the Wilson Wiles family live at White House, in Lucas county. Their daughter Lena is temporarily at Walnut Grove for public school advantages. While for several generations the Jaquas have not been actively identified with any church organ- ization, in their early history they were French Catholics. The Williams relation have been Methodists and the Daytons have been Baptists.
Elijah Williams, the grandfather of Mrs. Jaqua, who was an early resident of Fulton county, was a Methodist, but his wife, Han- nah (Harrison) Williams, who was a cousin to President William Henry Harrison, came of Presbyterian stock. When President Harrison was making his campaign, Tippecanoe and Tyler, too, in 1840, he was a guest of the Williams family, whose oldest daughter, Lucinda, was the first white child born in Fulton county. It is related that she afterward became a bride at a time of high water, and that her father, Elijah Williams, a justice of the peace, per- formed the marriage ceremony with her on one side of the stream and the bridegroom, Thomas Lingle, separated from her by the turbulent waters of Turkey Foot Creek. The young people did not postpone their wedding day on account of high waters.
Since living in Fulton county the Jaquas have sometimes at- tended the churches and Sunday Schools in the vicinity, and
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Mrs. Jaqua always works with the different aid societies. She was an active Red Cross worker, being present whenever the Chesterfield branch workshop was open, and often having work on hand at home, which she did at odd times. The Jaqua family vote has al- ways been with the democratic party, and John C. Jaqua was at one time sheriff of Henry county.
The Jaqua family was represented in the Civil war by Uriah, a brotlier of John C. Jaqua, and an uncle of Seth Jaqua. The oc- cupation of the Ohio Jaquas has always been agriculture, and at Walnut Grove general farming and dairying claim attention. While there are average good farm improvements, one of the barns was burned August 28, 1919, with complete loss of harness, vehicles and farm implements. It happened that all the horses were saved from the conflagration. Plans were made for rebuilding the barn-the blackened ruins of which was an unpleasant view from the window.
The family at Walnut Grove is not exempt from accident and disease and have had their share of such visitations, and yet the three generations sheltered under one roof are making the most of everything and all have their part in the Chesterfield community of interests. "It is a good place to live," said Mrs. Jaqua, and that sentiment expresses the feelings of all about it.
JAMES L. BACHMAN. The story of the Bachman family of which James L. Bachman of Chesterfield is a member had its Ameri- can beginning in Pennsylvania. While he was born at Lockport, Niagara county, New York, January 26, 1856, his own life history is part of the history of Fulton county. He was only one year old when his parents came from the State of New York to Ohio.
Mr. Bachman's father, John L. Bachman, was married twice, and he is a son' of the second marriage. The first marriage was with Elizabeth Acker, October 13, 1844, in Seneca county, New York, and two sons, Joseph and Lorenzo, were born to them. The death of the wife occurred April 27, 1850, and June 30, 1853, he married Catharine Bair, of Niagara county, and two children, Sarah and James L., were born there before the removal of the par- ents to Ohio. Those born in Fulton county are: Eliza, Ida, Gor- don, Emma, George, Cora, John, Robert and Samuel. All but Lorenzo, of the older and John of the younger set of children are living, November 3, 1919, when this data was given by James L. Bachman.
Joseph lives in Seneca county, New York, and Eliza and Gor- don are in Michigan. The others all live in Fulton county to- day. The father, John L. Bachman, was a son of John L. and Catharine Bachman. These grandparents of James L. Bachman had lived in Pennsylvania and New York before accompanying their son to Ohio, and they lie buried in Olive Branch Cemetery in Williams county. The burial ground of the the next generation is at Fayette. The home of John L. Bachman was in Gorham. He owned three different farms before 1872, when he located where his son, James L., lives today.
On May 24, 1894, James L. Bachman married Mary Orilla Clark, and since then he has lived at the family homestead in Chesterfield. She was born November 21, 1868, in Richland county, her parents being Eli and Maggie (Clay) Clark. They were mar- ried there, January 28, the year she was born in November, and
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she is the oldest in a family of twelve children. She had a twin sister, Sarah Cordelia, and the twins and Ira Clinton were born in Richland county. In 1872 the Clark family removed to Williams county, and those born there are: Ora Allen, John Nelson, Eliza Belle, Joseph William, Charles Howard, George Lewis, Harvey Franklin, Arthur J. and Nancy Jane. The twin sister, Sarah Cor- delia, Eliza Belle and Charles Howard are deceased, while the others are all living in Ohio, Michigan and Indiana.
The children born to Mr. and Mrs. James L. Bachman are: Bert Donald, Roscoe Garfield, Orla May, Zelma Belle, Alta Dell, Virgil Dale, Vera Jean and James Leslie. Zelma Belle is the wife of Floyd L. Powers, and they live in Lenawee county, Michigan. She was married July 2, 1918. Alta Dell died April 7, 1902. ยท On Feb- ruary 13, 1918, Roscoe G. enlisted in the Army Air Service, -Spruce Production Division, and he was located at Vancouver Barracks. He was discharged from Camp Sherman January 9, 1919, and with his older brother, Bert D., is engaged in farming at the family homestead in Chesterfield. Floyd L. Powers was also in the war of the nations, holding the commission of first lieutenant. He was in several different training camps and was finally discharged from Camp Taylor, Kentucky. Orla May, who is employed in the Mor- enci Hospital, had two years in high school at Fayette. The younger children all attend the Chesterfield Centrallized Public School at Oak Shade.
"Politics?" both the sons queried, "why, Dad voted for Wilson," and then Mr. Bachman said the family vote had always been demo- cratic down to the present generation. "Every Bachman I ever knew was a stiff democrat, and when some of us began voting the republican ticket, father quit voting at all."
"Everybody's church," was the echo from the sons, and it de- veloped that some of the pioneer relatives had been members of the Church of Christ while others were United Brethren.
While John L. Bachman always owned a farm, he was a car- penter. He was a master builder and some of the old time houses and barns still standing in Gorham are his handiwork. He built the house in which James L. Bachman lives today. When he came to Fulton county in 1857 it was all woods, there was game and they had wild turkey on the dinner table frequently. In his boyhood days Mr. Bachman used to put on skates and go on errands to Morenci. Now the land has been drained and there is a hard sur- face road where he used to glide along over the ice. Instead of going to town on skates the family now rides out in a modern tour- ing car-quite the fashionable idea in Chesterfield.
While Mr. Bachman was a broom-maker for years and would sometimes have as many as 300 dozen brooms on hand, in the last ten years his attention has been turned entirely to farming until now the sons are the farmers there. However, Mr. Bachman is still on the job and finds plenty of odd jobs to keep him out of mis- chief. The twin silos and other farm commodities attest the pros- perity that has rewarded his efforts.
HENRY B. MANN is in the second generation of his family in the United States, his parents both having come from Germany. He was born February 8, 1855, in Perkins Township, Erie county. His parents were Frederick and Mary (Fisher) Mann, the father
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born near Dresden and the mother on the River Rhine. It was the first marriage of the father, but the second marriage of the mother.
Mary Fisher had been the wife of a Mr. Weed, and one child was born to them in Germany. He immigrated to America and worked three years in the Pennsylvania coal mines and sent for her. Three more children were born in Pennsylvania. Mr. Weed died and Frederick Mann, being a bachelor of forty, married the widow. They lived in Schuylkill county, Pennsylvania. His mother was a widow and they all lived together. While living in Germany Mr. Mann was a coachman, and one time, when Queen Victoria of England was visiting in Germany, she was his passenger.
While living in Schuylkill county, Pennsylvania, and working as a miner Mr. Mann went on a prospecting trip via the Great Lakes to Chicago, and going on via the Illinois River to the Mis- sissippi, he went down it to the mouth of the Ohio, and returned up the river to Pennsylvania again. He soon afterward married and removed to Erie county, Ohio. For seven years he rented land and then removed to Henry county, where he bought forty acres in timber. He improved the land and eight years later he sold it and located in Swan Creek Township.
In 1863 Mr. Mann bought a twenty-three acre tract partly cleared, and he improved it. His wife died in December, 1895, and he died in March of the Century year. One daughter, Rebecca, wife of Robert Reighard, of Swan Creek, remains of the older set of children. Of the second marriage Mrs. Weed-Mann had the fol- lowing children: Catharine, wife of Edson C. Moore, of Delta; Henry B., of Delta; Adam, deceased; William M., of York; and James, deceased. At the age of thirteen Henry B. Mann began working by the month in Fulton county, receiving thirteen dollars a month and having the privilege of school in winter.
In this way Mr. Mann secured sufficient education to begin teaching school in the fall of 1875, and he spent his summer vaca- tion working in a brick yard. He taught continuously for seven- teen winters, and finally engaged in farming in the summer vaca- tions. He had a home with Mr. Platt three miles from Delta. Mr. Platt was a blacksmith, and part of the time he worked with him in the shop. He always saved his money and invested it, buy- ing twenty acres of land when he was only nineteen.
Mr. Mann has been dealing in land since that time, and he continued farming until 1915, when he retired to Delta. He owns. a good farm of eighty acres and another of 106, and some smaller tracts of land. On January 1, 1880, Mr. Mann married Martha Ellen Detwiler, a daughter of Jacob and Penelope (Miller) Det- wiler. She was born in Marion county, while her father was a native of Pennsylvania and the mother of Maryland. Their chil- dren are: Ray Melville, of Toledo; Charles Henry, on the Mann farm; and Marion Lawrence, of York Township, on another of his father's farms.
The Manns are Presbyterians, and Mr. Mann has been deacon and Sunday School superintendent. At present he is teacher of the Bible Class. He is a Mason of Fulton Lodge in Delta. He has been a school director and a democratic justice of the peace in a re- publican township.
Such is a brief record of nearly half a century of good citizen-
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ship and effective work in his own interests and the interests of a large community in Northwestern Ohio and the Nation, as he was a strong supporter of the Federal Government during the World war both morally and financially. He was a purchaser of over $12,000 in Government Liberty and Victory Bonds. Ray Melville, the eldest son of Mr. Mann, had charge of the Liberty Bonds sales of Van Wert and Williams counties for the government. Begin- ning as a humble wage earner when a boy, never avoiding the arduous tasks of life, whether of manual toil or of intellectual en- deavor, employing one modest success to win another, Mr. Mann has deserved well of his fellow citizens, and none will envy him the comfortable prosperity he enjoys and the good will and respect that are his.
JACOB GOTTLIEB STIRIZ. The name Stiriz harks back to Ger- many, Jacob Gottlieb Stiriz of Delta having been born April 20, 1849, in Lauffen, Wuertemberg, Germany. In 1852, when he was but three years old, his parents, Jacob Godfried and Elizabeth (Rueckle) Stiriz, sailed for the United States, being forty-nine days on the Atlantic. They landed in New York City, but came di- rectly to Buffalo, where they lived for three years. He worked in the Jewett and Root Foundry, receiving the magnificent sum of seventy-five cents a day for his service.
The Stiriz family came from Buffalo to Toledo by boat, and one week later they moved to Lucke Corners in Fulton county. Mr. Stiriz worked around at anything he could find until in 1857, when he bought eighty acres of wild land in the timber, paying six dollars an acre for it. He at once built a log cabin and set in to clear and improve the homestead. In 1865 he sold it for $1,500 and worked for six months on the railroad, when he again bought eighty acres, only 1/2 miles west of his former home, paying $1,500 for it. He and the son who relates the story cleared it, and in 1870 he added forty acres to it, and in 1875 he added an eighty, and at this time he had $4,200 invested in Fulton county timber and wild land. In 1880 he bought forty acres more land, paying $1,000 for it.
Mr. Stiriz and his son cleared and improved much of this land and in 1882 he built the largest barn ever seen in the community. Fulton is known as the county of big barns, and the Stiriz barn, 38 by 76 feet and 20 feet from the ground to the eaves, was the first one in its class in Fulton county. Today there are mammoth barns on almost every farmstead. In 1885 Mr. Stiriz built a brick veneered farmhouse with slate roof and two stories in height, and it was his home until 1892, when he went to Europe on a visit and died December 11 of that year, and he lies buried in Bietigen Cemetery, Wuertemberg, Germany. His wife died August 11, 1889, at the family homestead in Fulton county.
The children born to this pioneer German family are: Chris- tina, widow of Jacob Krauss, of Pettisville; and Jacob Gottlieb Stiriz, who is the younger and always had his home with the father and mother. On July 27 of the American Centennial Year, Mr. Stiriz married Margaret Herrmann, of Bavaria, Germany. She is a daughter of John and Barbara (Barth) Herrmann, the father dying in Germany and the mother in Fulton county.
The children of the next generation are: Gottfried, who lives
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on the home farm. He married Barbara Leininger, and their chil- dren are: Walter, Helen and Leon. Mary is the wife of Rev. J. Kauffman, a Lutheran minister. Louise is the wife of Rev. A. O. Zeituer, a Lutheran minister. Amelia is the wife of Rev. A. G. Wacke, a Lutheran minister. William Paul, who lives on one of the Stiriz farms, married Louisa Wackentine, and their daughter is Ruth. W. P. Stiriz did overseas service in the World war. On June 24, 1917, J. G. Stiriz retired to Delta, and the sons arc the agriculturists today.
In his boyhood days Mr. Stiriz had the educational advantages afforded by the log school house. The family has always been iden- tified with the Lutheran Church, and he has served on the board of trustees for many years. He is a democrat and has filled different offices in the township, and for twenty-five years he was chairman of the School Board. He was township trustee for four years in York. While the Stiriz name harks back to Germany, it is also inseparably identified with the historical development of Fulton county. The substantial improvements on the Stiriz farm in York Township mark an epoch in farm building history. Make a roundup of the farm improvements in Fulton county, and remem- ber the barn on the Stiriz farm was the first in the series that now gives special distinction to Fulton-the county of big barns in Ohio.
FRANKLIN PIERCE COLLINS. The Collins name belongs to the early history of Fulton county. Franklin Pierce Collins was born August 30, 1852, and his father and mother, G. Washington and Elizabeth (Alwood) Collins, had come early to York Township. For a time they had rented the farm on which F. P. Collins was born, and then they bought it. They ended their days there.
In his early life F. P. Collins worked by the month on differ- ent farms until his marriage, March 25, 1879, to Mary Alice Koos. She is a daughter of Jacob and Julia (Tomer) Koos, the father born in Germany and the mother in Tuscarawas county, Ohio. Mr. and Mrs. Collins began housekeeping on the Koos farm one mile west of Delta. At the death of her parents Mrs. Collins in- herited this homestead. It is almost all under cultivation and is an excellent farmstead. In all there are 119 acres of it. Mr. Koos also acquired 160 acres of land in Swan Creek Township. It was all in timber, and he cleared it and put it under cultivation. In 1867 he acquired the farm in York Township where he died in 1890, and his wife died there in 1905, having disposed of their realty among their children themselves.
The children in the Koos family are: Albert, on the old home- stead; Ira, of Oklahoma; and Mrs. Collins, of Delta. The Koos children deceased are: Phoebe, Frederick, Julia, George, Flora, and Danny and Nancy, who died in infancy. Mr. and Mrs. Collins remained on the homestead she had inherited until 1903, when they bought a home in Delta. Their children are: Flora Alice, wife of Peter Smith, and Cora Opal. Mr. Collins is employed by the Delta Milling Company. . He votes the republican ticket.
JACOB HUTH. The name of the late Jacob Huth is commemo- rated by his daughter, Mrs. Ellen Close of Delta. Mr. Huth was born in Germany in 1826, and in 1834 he came with his parents on
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a sailing vessel to the United States. They settled on a farm in Pennsylvania. In 1839 they came to Bolivar, Tuscarawas county, Ohio. In 1856 they located in Fulton county. They bought eighty acres in Fulton Township, and some years later they removed to York Township, where they bought another eighty. Both were in the timber when he obtained possession, and he cleared and im- proved them.
In 1845 Mr. Huth enlisted at Cleveland in the Mexican war. There were 1,000 men when they went out, and after three years he was one of sixty who returned, and he had escaped without injury. When Mr. Huth gave up farming he bought a home in Delta, and in 1892 he died there. He married Mary Tomer, of Bolivar. She was born February 3, 1830, a daughter of John and Nancy (Mock) Tomer. They were Pennsylvanians who had moved to Ohio. There was one daughter, Ellen, who married George W. Close. Her chil- dren are: Mary Edna, wife of Fred Moore, of Toledo, and Geor- giana, wife of Linn Hobart, of Detroit. Mrs. Close is a member of the Disciples Church and of the Ladies Aid Society. She is the sole heir to the property that had been accumulated by her father, Jacob Huth.
ALTON T. McCOMB, a respected and public-spirited resident of Delta, Fulton county, Ohio, who has been cashier of the Peoples Savings Bank of Delta since its inception fourteen years ago, has been among the leading residents of that place for many years, has earned the confidence of the community, and has since 1907 held the responsible office of corporation treasurer; and upon many occa- sions has manifested not only an ability and alertness in civic ad- ministration, but a commendably unselfish public spirit.
He was born in Ogden Centre, Ogden Township, Lenawee county, Michigan, January 23, 1872, the son of Thomas and Isabel (Patter- son) McComb. In both paternal and maternal lineage he is of Irish descent. Although his father was born in Mount Morris, New York, his mother was of Irish birth, as were' also his paternal and maternal grandparents, William and Mary McComb and William Patterson. The grandparents left Ireland in 1835, and all settled in Lenawee county of Michigan, at the outset living a pioneering life in a wild country. Thomas McComb, son of William and Mary and father of Alton T., was born in Mount Morris, New York, soon after the family arrived in America, but he grew to man- hood on the Michigan farm of his parents. He married in Michi- gan, and was in merchandising business in Lenawee county, Michi- gan, for the greater part of his life, also entering extensively into the lumber business. He died in October, 1886, being then fifty- one years old. Therefore, although one record states that William and Mary McComb crossed from Ireland in 1845, they were ob- viously in the United States in 1835, or earlier, seeing that their son Thomas was born in New York state. Perhaps, the 1845 record is of a trip made by the grandparents of Alton T. to their native country ten years or more after they had immigrated, although there is nothing in the family papers to bear out that supposition. However, they were sufficiently early in America to have been among the pioneer settlers of Lenawee county, Michigan. Isabel (Patterson) McComb, mother of Alton T., died in 1907, the last years of her life being spent in Palo Alto, California, where she was
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buried. The children of Thomas and Isabel (Patterson) McComb were: Estine, who married Dr. J. H. Moore, and is now deccased; Jennie, who married H. W. Daniels, and now lives in Fullerton, California; Alton T., of whom more is recorded below; Allison V., who is in San Francisco, California.
Alton T. McComb, third child of Thomas and Isabel (Patter- son) McComb, spent his carly life in Lenawee county, Michigan, and attended the Michigan public schools. He was only fourteen years old, however, when his father died, and after having com- pleted his academic years of schooling he seems to have resolved to enter commercial life, and with that object, apparently, took the course at the Davis Business College at Toledo, Ohio. Later, how- ever, he decided to qualify for pharmaceutical work, and with that object went to the Ohio Normal School at Ada, Ohio, graduating in 1899. For three years thereafter he was the manager of a drug store at Lyons, Fulton county, Ohio, eventually taking similar capacity in the employ of Mr. Carmen of Delta, Fulton county, where in that connection he followed his profession for six years. Then he was appointed to the position of cashier of the Peoples Savings Bank of Delta, which was founded in April, 1906, by a few of the substantial people of the place. The officials since in- ception have been: J. M. Longnecker, president; F. Briggs, vice president ; Alton T. McComb, cashier; M. W. Casler, assistant cashier. It has developed into an institution of solidity, its capital being $25,000, its surplus $32,000, while its deposits total $500,000, which is a creditable building of a banking institution, limited in scope of patronage as it necessarily is. Mr. McComb, who as cashier has of course been the active responsible official, has shown the traits of a reliable, successful banker, and he has an enviable reputation. both personally and for business acumen in that section of Fulton county.
He has entered actively and effectively into community life. Religiously he is a Presbyterian, a consistent churchman and a steady supporter of church work. Fraternally he is a Mason, a member of the Fulton Lodge No. 248, Free and Accepted Masons, of Delta, Ohio, and of the local Royal Arch Chapter. He has taken responsible part in the civic administration, having been corporation treasurer since 1907. He was also borough treasurer for the three years during which he was a resident in Lyons, Ohio. Politically he is a republican, and has interestedly followed local and national politics. During the recent war he was especially active in the national cause. co-operating usefully and effectively with the local body responsible for the proper and adequate subscription in that district to the various war funds. And in many ways during that time Mr. McComb proved himself to be a patriotic and useful citizen.
On May 23, 1894, he married Nellie M. Young, who was born in Hillsdale county, Michigan, daughter of Edgar and Sarah (Herri- man) Young, the former a native of Lenawee county, Michigan, and the latter of New York birth. Mr. and Mrs. McComb have for many years associated themselves in the social activities of the community, and both have many friends in Delta.
WALLACE W. TROWBRIDGE, who is the oldest resident of Delta, and, in fact, is one of the first pioneers of the district, is a remark-
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ably well-preserved man, intellectually lucid, and very entertain- ing when he narrates his early experiences in Fulton county, at the time when the Indians used to come to trade with his father, who kept a store just a little to the westward of where Delta is now situated.
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