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 58

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 58


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Wallace W. Trowbridge was born in Saratoga county, New York, June 12, 1830, the son of James and Laura (Butler) Trowbridge. In both paternal and maternal descent he comes of colonial New England families, his father having been born in Connecticut and his mother in Massachusetts. His parents soon after marriage set- tled on a farming property in Saratoga county, New York, where Wallace W. was born. He was only seven years old when his par- ents resolved to venture into the frontier states and take up the lives of pioneering settlers. The journey from New York state was made almost wholly by water, they and their few household goods being transported by canal to Buffalo, and from there to Perrysburg by lake boat. From Perrysburg, Wood county, into the wild region now converted into the agriculturally rich Fulton county they came by wagon, James Trowbridge entering govern- inent land and securing title to an eighty acre tract situated some- what to the westward of where Delta now stands. There the family settled, and as the years passed did much clearing of timber land. James Trowbridge also conducted a general store, his being the only store in the vicinity. Many Indians were in that territory in those days, and they were in the habit of coming to James Trowbridge's store to trade, his store thus being to some extent similar to the frontier trading posts. The Indians were, however, for the most part friendly, and were honestly treated by James Trowbridge. And, as may be imagined, they were much interested in young Wallace Trowbridge, then a boy of seven or eight years. Such were the sur- roundings and the general conditions under which the family of James and Laura (Butler) Trowbridge was raised. The parents spent the remainder of their lives in Fulton county, and on the property upon which they first settled. Their children were: Eliza, who married Daniel Pettis and died in Beatrice, Nebraska; Wallace W., regarding whom more follows; Orlando F. C., who died in infancy.


Wallace W. Trowbridge was unable to obtain much schooling, although during his long life he has been intellectually inclined, and has made good many of the academic deficiencies of his boy- hood. In the primitive conditions under which he lived in his boyhood adequate schooling was not possible, and as he grew he became more conversant with agricultural methods than with academic subjects. He remained on the home farm, taking good part in the clearing and agricultural tasks of the parental acres until he eventually became possessed of it altogether, his father in his declining years transferring the property to him. He farmed the property for the greater part of his life, until he, in turn, passed it on to the third generation, to his own son, Charles F., who has since conducted it. After the transfer of the property Wallace W. Trowbridge bought a small estate, five acres, a comfortable resi- dential property situated in the northwestern part of the borough of Delta, and there he has since lived in comfort, well cared for by his daughter. He is a remarkable man in many ways, has lived a steady, upright, active life, and consequently now in nonogenarian


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age is still comparatively vigorous, much more so than many men twenty years his junior and his mental powers he has retained almost unimpaired. His conversation proves that he is a well-read man, of retentive mind, and intellectually bright. During liis al- most life-long association with the affairs of Delta he has manifested a sineere public spirit, and in many ways has been helpful in the developinent of the place. Had he so wished he might have held many more town offices than he has, for he has always been well- regarded in Delta. He has undertaken the responsibilities of eon- stable, and for many years gave much attention to educational matters, being a school director. Politieally he is a republican.


In December, 1856, he married Lydia Hoag, who was born in Montgomery county, New York, and died at the Trowbridge home- stead in York Township, Fulton county, Ohio, in 1885. She was the daughter of Stephen Hoag, for many years resident in Fulton county. And although Mr. Trowbridge has survived his wife for thirty-five years, their married life was of comparatively long dura- tion, twenty-seven years, which emphasizes his longevity. Most of his life-long friends have passed away, and many not yet born when he had reached manhood have lived their whole lives and also passed beyond. Even his son, Charles Francis, who now owns the Trowbridge homestead, is himself an elderly man now. The only other child of Wallaee W. and Lydia (Hoag) Trowbridge is Etta, their daughter, who married Dora Campbell, but now lives with her father in Delta.


CHARLES FRANCIS TROWBRIDGE. It is given to but few men to live always on the same town lot or on the same farm throughout a life time, but such has been the privilege of Charles Francis Trowbridge of York, who still lives where he was born April 30, 1858, a son of Wallace W. Trowbridge. But he has been a roll- ing stone to some extent and has come baek there.


In 1879, when Mr. Trowbridge had reached his majority, he went to North Dakota, near Fargo, where he spent two summers and one winter pre-empting a claim of a quarter section of land which he afterward traded to his father for ninety-three acres of the old homestead, and he returned to the scenes of his younger days. He paid the government price of $2.50 an aere for this land in the northwest, but it gave him capital through its advance in value, and he was able to live in Fulton county again. Mr. Trow- bridge has always been a dairy farmer, and he has tiled, feneed and added farm buildings until he has a fine environment in York.


On November 2, 1882, Mr. Trowbridge married Julia Shoffner, who was born at Harverstraw, Roekford county, New York, July 27, 1863, a daughter of John and Anna (Steinbach) Shoffner. They were natives of Germany, but were married in the State of New York and in 1865 they eame to Delta. He had been a miller in New York, but after coming to Fulton county he engaged in con- struction work on the Lake Shore & Michigan Southern Railroad, and thus helped work the transformation in northern Ohio.


The children born in the family are: Clifford Wellington, who died November 17, 1918; Maud Shoffner, wife of Clyde Arnold, of Delta; Anna Laura, wife of Fred Zimmerman, of Delta; Marion Wallace, who died December 26, 1895; Ray Maurice, of Delta; Hazel Kirk, wife of C. J. Baser, of Delta; Frank Hoag, at home;


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Josephine Florenee, wife of H. H. Hadland, of Delta; Metra Eldora, Marjorie May, Mildred Louise and Imogene. F. H. Trowbridge married Pauline La May Beehtels, and R. M. Trowbridge married Fannie Pearl Bundy. They all had common sehool advantages in York and at Delta.


The Trowbridge family are Methodists. Mr. Trowbridge is a republiean, and has been township trustee of York. In the winter of 1918 he was sergeant-at-arms in the House of Representatives in the Ohio Legislature at Columbus. The son Frank H. Trowbridge was in the service in the World war. He had his training at Camp Sherman and at the Broadway Auditorium in Buffalo. . He was in the motor transport convoy service seven months, making frequent trips across the Atlantic.


JOHN H. TEEPLE, a well-known and respected resident of Delta, York Township, Fulton county, who for very many years has been responsibly identified with and successful in extensive farming in the township, is a native of California, but has lived in Fulton county for almost fifty years.


He was born in Omega, California, April 26, 1867, the son of David and Phoebe (Tomer) Teeple. His father was a native of New Jersey and his mother of Ohio, born in Bolivar Village of Tuscarawas county. She met David Teeple in California, in which state they were married. Her husband was interested in gold min- ing, and in 1871 returned north with his wife and ehildren, settling in Delta. He was for some years interested with Dr. William Ram- sey in local banking, but died in 1879, eight years after having taken up residence in Delta. His wife lived a widowhood of twenty- six years, her death not occurring until 1905. David and Phoebe (Tomer) Teeple were the parents of two children: Elizabeth, who married Dr. J. V. Newton, of Toledo, Ohio; and John H.


John H. Teeple was only four years old when his parents came to Delta, Ohio, to reside, and he was only twelve years old in the year of his father's death. Nevertheless, he was able to obtain a comparatively good education, attending the elementary and high schools of Delta. After school duties he took industriously to agri- cultural occupations, and in course of time became a skillful, re- sponsible farmer. For very many years he has directed the opera- tion of two large farms near Delta, and has been a large raiser of the big type of Poland hogs and Holstein cattle. He maintains a large dairy. Generally, his farming has been marked by enter- prise and indefatigable application, and by an aptness which has enabled him to adopt and to benefit by many of the modern methods of farming. He lives in Delta, and has always been known as a responsible resident, substantial and honorable.


Politieally he is a republican, although he has never taken an active interest in political campaigns, having no inclination for political work. Fraternally he is identified with the Knights of Pythias, loeal branch No. 199, and with Delta Lodge No. 460, and Fulton Eneampment No. 197, of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows.


On May 21, 1895, he married Aliee A. Snyder, a native of Fulton county, Ohio, daughter of Daniel J. and Anna (Geitgey) Snyder, formerly of Wooster, Wayne county, Ohio. Mr. and Mrs. Teeple have many sincere friends in Delta.


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JAMES SANDERSON, who is widely known throughout Fulton county among agriculturists as the manager of the Delta plant of the Helvetia Milk Condensing Company, with which he has been responsibly connected practically since leaving school, is one of the leading business men of Delta, and has very many friends in that section of the county.


He was born in Greenville, Illinois, December 12, 1880, the son of James and Lucy (Davis) Sanderson, who were both natives of Bond county, Illinois. His father, James Sanderson, who of late years has lived in California, has a worthy Civil war record, and for many years was a farmer in Illinois. He also was one of the pioneer carriers of mail under the rural free delivery system. He has lived in Selma, Fresno county, California, since 1912.


James Sanderson, son of James and Lucy (David) Sanderson, spent his early years in his native place, Greenville, Illinois. He attended the elementary public and high schools of that place, and after graduating therefrom took a course in a business college. In 1898 he began his business career as an employe of the Helvetia Milk Condensing Company at Greenville, Illinois, taking minor executive capacity in that plant. Two years later he entered the employ of Swift & Company at East St. Louis, Illinois, having a position of some responsibility in the general offices of that huge corporation. Two years later, however, he again took up connec- tion with the Helvetia Milk Condensing Company, coming to Delta, Fulton county, to take the position of bookkeeper in the plant the company was then constructing at Delta. That was in January, 1904. He remained in Delta as bookkeeper for more than three years, then gaining well-merited promotion, being transferred to Wellsboro, Pennsylvania, to take the assistant managership of the company's plant at that place. In 1911 he was transferred in the same capacity to the Westfield, Pennsylvania, plant of the com- pany, becoming manager of that plant, where he remained for four years. In 1915 he was again sent to Delta, and since that time he has been general manager of the Delta plant, which is the largest of the eleven operated by the Helvetia Milk Condensing Company. Mr. Sanderson has manifested superior administrative ability and a commendable loyalty. He attends steadily to business, has a pleasing method of trading and of directing the operations for which he is responsible, so that he has the confidence and esteem of employes and of agriculturists generally throughout the district from which the Delta plant draws its supplies.


Politically Mr. Sanderson is a republican, and has shown much interest in local affairs. He is generally of much popularity in the community, and in 1918 was elected councilman. Fraternally he is a Mason, a member of Fulton Lodge No. 248 of Delta, and Aurora Chapter. He also belongs to the Knights of Pythias Lodge No. 199 of Delta.


In October, 1905, he married Catherine Watkins, who was born in Delta, daughter of L. C. and Drucilla (Snyder) Watkins, both of whom also were born in Fulton county. Mr. Sanderson has been interested in Delta since his first coming to the place in 1904. Mr. and Mrs. Sanderson have two children, Richard and Dorothy.


HECTOR LEE MILES, who for more than forty years has been one of the representative business men of Delta, Ohio, and for the


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greater part of that time has conducted a substantial lumber busi- ness in Delta, is a man of good business ability, a capable ad- ministrator, and an efficient public worker. He is of enviable per- sonal and business repute in Delta, has been an earnest church worker, and has served the community as councilman for many years, in very many other ways also manifesting a helpful public spirit.


He was born in Huron county, Ohio, on August 2, 1852, the son of David and Mary (Lee) Miles. He comes of a New York state family, his father having been born in Lockport of that state, and his grandparents, Lewis T. and Lucinda Miles, were also born in New York. His mother, Mary (Lee) Miles, however, was born in Ohio, and four generations of the Miles family have had resi- dence in Ohio, Lewis T. and Lucinda Miles, grandparents of Hec- tor L., having come into the state early in their married life. They took a farming property, or what later became a farming property, near Norwalk, Huron county, Ohio, although at the time he ob- tained possession it was practically in the wild state. He did much pioneering work, although his main occupation was that of mill- wriglit. In the last years of his life he was a farm owner in Clyde, Sandusky county, Ohio, where he died.


David, son of Lewis T. and Lucinda Miles, spent most of his early life in Huron county, Ohio, where he grew to manhood he was initiated into the work of a millwright by his father, and for many years he followed that trade. He married near Milan, Ohio, and in 1865 came into Fulton county, Ohio, having purchased a tract of 160 acres of land, mostly in the wild state, heavily tim- bered, situated near Metamora Village, Amboy Township. There he and his wife lived for some years, during which he cleared the timber from many acres of his land, eventually selling the property to advantage and going to Clyde, Sandusky county, Ohio, where his father and mother then lived. He remained associated with his father until the latter's death, when the home farm passed into the possession of the son. Some time later David Miles traded his property at Clyde for a farming property situated in Williams county, Ohio. There he and his son for some years mainly followed agricultural pursuits. Eventually, however, he sold the farm and returned to Fulton county, taking up his residence in Delta, where he died in 1896, four years after the decease of his wife in 1892. Their children were: Fitch, who died not long after having at- tained his majority ; Hector Lee; Lewis Levings, who died in 1917; and Llewellyn L., who lives in Toledo, Ohio.


Hector Lee Miles, second child of David and Mary (Lee) Miles, was born in Huron county, Ohio, spent some of his early infant years in Fulton county, but passed most of his boyhood in Clyde, Sandusky county, Ohio, attending the elementary and high schools of that place. Having decided to enter commercial life, he took a business course at the Davis Business College, Adrian, Michigan, after graduating from which he at the age of nineteen years took employment as a clerk in a dry goods store. About two years later the farmhouse occupied by the family burned, and soon afterward Hector L., went into the Harkness Dry Goods Store, where he re- mained steadily employed for about a year, then coming with his parents to Delta, Fulton county, where he found employment for two years in a local bakery, in which enterprise he had acquired a


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partnership. At the end of two years he sold his interest in the bakery business and for eighteen months thereafter conducted a haberdashery establishment, known as the 888 Notion Store, which he sold to some advantage. He married in 1878, and soon there- after became one of the principals of an established lumber, coal, lime and cement business in Delta, Ohio, his wife having been be- queathed an interest in that business by her former husband. Mr. Miles took partnership in the business with Mr. Dumeresq, the partnership continuing for eight years, when Mr. Miles acquired the interest of his partner. Since 1886 he has conducted the busi- ness alone, and has during the long period had an appreciable share of the. business of that section of Fulton county. He has had a long career of consequential honorable trading, and is widely known throughout that part of Fulton county. During his long connection with Delta he has taken much interest in its affairs, in his younger days entering actively into most of the social activities of the community, and throughout his life keenly interesting him- self in civic matters. He has long been among the business leaders of the section, and for six years has been a member of the City Council. Politically he is a republican, although he has not shown the close interest in national politics that he has manifested in local affairs. He is a consistent churchman, member of the local Metho- dist Episcopal Church, and an earnest church worker. He has been trustee of the church, and is one of its stewards. Fraternally he is a Mason, of Royal Arch degree, and is also identified with the Fraternity of Modern Woodmen of America.


On November 13, 1878, he married Louisa M. (Griffin) Van Fleet, widow of George Van Fleet, of Delta, Fulton county, and daughter of William and Clarissa (Gunn) Griffin. She was born in Fulton county, and has lived most of her life in Delta. No chil- dren were born to her first marriage, but she has borne three chil- dren to her second husband, Hector Lee Miles. Their children in order of birth are: Roy H., who was in successful business in De- troit, Michigan, for several years and is now on his farm south of Delta. He married Gertrude Biddle, of Delta, a daughter of John and Margaret Jane (Watkins) Biddle. Dorr Lee is associated in business with his father, latterly undertaking practically the whole management of the business. He married Mrs. Iva Seidel, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Lowe, of Gibsonburg, Ohio. They have two children, Jean Louie, and Dorr, Jr. Bessie died when nine years old.


HENRY R. PELTON, a successful business man and respected resident of Delta, Fulton county, Ohio, has lived an energetic, re- sponsible life, and has taken good part in the administrative duties of the township.


He was born in Ottawa county, Ohio, October 28, 1858, the son of Henry and Sarah (Van Pelt) Pelton, both of whom were born in New York state, his father in Onondago county and his mother in Yates county. The Pelton family for some generations had been resident in New York state, John Pelton and Anthony Van Pelt, grandparents of Henry R. Pelton, having also been born in the state, Mr. Pelton, of Delta, thus being descended in both paternal and maternal lines from colonial New York families. His grand- parents on his mother's side were also early residents of Ohio, being


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of record in the state in the early '50s, and both living the lives of pioneers. Henry Pelton, son of John and father of Henry R., was born in New York state, but lived a part of his life in Ohio. He married at Port Clinton, Ottawa county, Sarah Van Pelt, who when their son Henry R. was about nine months old took the boy to New York state, where until 1863 they lived with relatives of her husband. In 1863 they returned to Ohio, going to Manhattan, near Toledo, where they lived for about one year with her brother, eventually coming into Fulton county, Ohio, and settling in Swan Creek Township, where until 1903 the Peltons lived on a farm Mrs. Pelton had purchased when they first came into the county. Mrs. Sarah (Van Pelt) Pelton died in 1902, and in March of the following year her son Henry R., having sold the farm, came into Delta, built a home in the town, and for the next five years took general employment in the vicinity. In January, 1908, he pur- chased an 'established business in Delta, and since that time has successfully conducted that business, which deals somewhat exten- sively in coal and lumber, and maintains in operation a saw and feed mill. Since Mr. Pelton has directed the business its trading has been appreciably expanded, and he is placed among the consequen- tial business men of that section of Fulton county. He is widely known throughout that district, having lived in York and Swan Creek Townships for almost the whole of his life. As a boy he attended the old log school in Swan Creek Township, and since he has been a man of responsible affairs he has taken much interest in local administrative responsibilities, having undertaken the duties of many of the township offices. Politically he is a republican, al- though his interest has been closer in local public movements than in national politics.


HIenry R. Pelton has been twice married. His first wife, whom he married on April 6, 1878, was Nancy Lester, who was born in Bellevue, Ohio, daughter of Robert and Paulina (Catlin) Lester, the former a Union soldier who died during the Civil war. Three children were born to his first marriage. Ethel May, who married Blair Pierrepont, of Napoleon. Henry county, Ohio; Margaret, who married William Gerst, of Toledo, Ohio; and Henry Alfred, of Delta, Ohio. He married Blanche, daughter of E. J. Deck of Delta, Ohio, and they have three children, Clive, Pearl, and Bernard. They live in Toledo, Ohio. Mrs. Nancy (Lester) Pelton died in December, 1891, and on March 29, 1893, Mr. Pelton married again, . his second wife being Phoebe Ann Fint, who comes of a West Vir- ginia family. To Henry R. and Phoebe Ann (Fint) Pelton have been born eight children :. Mabel, who married Charles Russell, of Grand Rapids, Michigan, John, Vera, Elmer, Elbert, Ruth, Walter and Phoebe, the six last namncd being at home with their parents.


SAMUEL B. FINNEY is one of the oldest residents of Delta, Ful- ton county, Ohio, and he has maintained his home in Fulton county, Ohio, since the close of the Civil war, during which he was in re- sponsible charge in the Union cause, being one of the personal bodyguards of President Lincoln. Mr. Finney has given some time to agriculture during his life, having owned various farms in Ful- ton county, but he has chiefly followed professional work, being an expert herbalist, and since 1890 established as such in Delta. He is well-known throughout the county, and his dispensing of natural


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medicines has brought health to many thousands of people during the course of his practice as an herbalist.


He was born in Holmes county, Ohio, August 22, 1832, the son of Washington and Martha B. (Bell) Finney. The Finney family is of Irish origin, and the grandparents of Samuel B. Finney were both born in Ireland. They, David and Mary Finney, were among the pioneer residents in Holmes county, Ohio, David Finney acquir- ing a ranch of 800 acres near Millersburg of that county in 1811. There Washington Finney, father of Samuel B., was born; there he married Martha B. Bell; and there Samuel B., their son, was born and grew to manhood. Anterior to the Civil war Samuel B. Finney studied roots and herbs, and developed quite a satisfactory connec- tion and sold medicines of his own preparation and formula throughout a wide district. During the Civil war he offered his services to the Union, prepared to take any capacity in the cause of the North. He was a man of good repute, responsible and resolute, and was attached to the guard of President Lincoln, and as such was stationed at Washington Barracks, District of Columbia, for the majority of his war service. At the conclusion of hostilities he came to Fulton county, Ohio, and acquired a farm of forty acres, which he tilled, although his interest was really in his medical work. He gave much time to his profession, and in course of time became known throughout the county as an herbalist. With his medicines he has effected many creditable cures, some of them cases that had reached almost the chronic state. He has owned various farms in the county, but his life-work must be stated to have been medicine. Since 1890 he has been established as an herbalist in Delta, Fulton county, Ohio, and has undertaken the treatment of most human liseases, with success both professional and material. Of necessity, because of octogenarian age, he has of late years lived a somewhat retired life, but he is an esteemed resident of Delta, and during his active years was one of the helpful, worth-while citizens of Ful- ton county.




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