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 63
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After 21/2 years of "roughing it," Mr. and Mrs. Bradley boarded a train at Bull City, thinking the blue sky hanging over Chester- field suited them better, and Maplehurst an ideal place for any man and woman to end their days. Nineteen years after their wedding day a son was born-October 13, 1895-Roscoe O. Bradley. Maple- hurst has always been his home, and December 23, 1916, he mar- ried Ethel Elizabeth Heller. She is the oldest in a family of four children born to William Franklin and Alta Amelia (Ritter) Heller. She has a sister, Myrtle May Belle, and two brothers, Floyd Frank- lin and Harold Ceeil. The Hellers have lived in different parts of Ohio. Mrs. Bradley was born in Williams and married in Wood county. She is at onee "Dutch, Scotch and Irish." They have a daughter, Evelyn Irene.
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GEORGE PHILIP ZINK, who during the last ten years has been one of the leading residents and business men of Delta, Fulton county, Ohio, is the manager of large milling interests in that place, and has entered actively into the public administration. He has been councilman since 1918, and has given much of his time to church work.
He was born in Tonawanda City, Erie county, New York, in October, 1872, the son of Andrew and Elizabeth (Graff) Zink. The Zink family is Bavarian in origin, but has been in the United States for four generations. The paternal grandparents of George P. were John and Mary (Klingelschmit) Zink, who in 1837 settled at Pendleton Centre, Erie county, New York, having acquired a farm- ing property in that place. The maternal grandparents of George P. Zink were Jacob and Mary (Wagner) Graff, whose early -experi- ences in America constitute a somewhat interesting record. It ap- pears that in the early '30s of the last century they were the occupiers of a farm in New York state, their farm later becoming the site of the City of Niagara Falls. Jacob Graff and his family lived on that farm for nineteen years, renting it year by year. At the end of that period the property was offered to him for $200 an acre, which he thought prohibitive, and therefore soon afterward moved to Pendleton Centre, Erie county, New York, where the Graff and Zink families became neighbors. There the next generation of both families were reared, and led eventually to the marriage of Andrew Zink and Elizabeth Graff, parents of George Philip Zink of this Fulton county record. Andrew Zink followed the occupation of his father, farming, and in 1875 moved to Monroe county, Michi- gan, with his wife, taking up a good agricultural property in that county. For twenty-five years Andrew Zink was an active and suc- cessful farmer in Monroe county, Michigan, in 1900 retiring from farming and moving into the City of Monroe, where his wife died in 1904 and he in 1913.
Their son George Philip received the whole of his education in the public schools of Michigan, he being only two years old when his parents removed to Monroe county of that state from New York. After leaving school he assisted his father in the operation of the home farm until they moved into the City of Monroe in 1900, when he became connected with G. R. Hurd, a grain merchant of that place. For two years he was associated with Mr. Hurd, and for eight years thereafter was connected with the Amendt Milling Com- . pany of Monroe. In 1910 he came to Delta, Fulton county, to take over the management of their large mill, of which he has ever since been general manager, expanding the business of the company and gaining a good reputation for business and moral integrity during his decade of association in business and residential life with the people of that section of Fulton county.
Politically he is a democrat, and as such was elected councilman in 1918. He has shown a worthy interest in the affairs of the com- munity, and has been especially active in church work. A consistent Christian, Mr. Zink is of the German Lutheran faith, and is an earnest and helpful supporter of the local church of that denomina- tion. He has held almost all of the lay offices of the church, which is a commendable record.
On June 15, 1899, he married in Monroe, Michigan, Barbara C. Lochner, a native of that place, and daughter of Frederick and Caro-
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line Lochner, who were born in Bavaria, Germany, but had spent the greater part of their lives in the United States. To Mr. and Mrs. Zink have been born three children, Alfred, Carol and June, all of whom are still at home with their parents.
ALBERT PFAFF, of Fulton Township, was born September 16, 1854, in Pennsylvania. He is a son of Frederick and Amelia (Irwin) Pfaff, who came from Germany. They located in Pennsyl- vania, but in 1863 they moved to Lucas county. They lived four years near Whitehouse and then moved to Fulton Township, where they bought a tiniber tract with log buildings and only fifteen acres cleared land on it. He was improving the place, and died there in 1874, while she lived until 1905, in Fulton county.
The children in the Pfaff family are: Frederick, of Delta; Amelia, widow of G. W. Fashbaugh, of Metamora; Anna, deceased, was the wife of David Barbee; Albert, who enrolls the family history ; John, of Swan Creek; William, deceased; George, of Swan Creek ; Louis, of Fulton; Mary, wife of Wilson D. Lett, Marion, Indiana; and Rosa, deceased. Albert Pfaff remained at home until 1880, when he went to Toledo and found employment in a wholesale and retail paint and oil store.
In March, 1881, Mr. Pfaff married Ida Burnham, a daughter of Thomas and Mary Burnham. When he returned to Fulton Township he rented land for eight years, then bought sixteen acres of the Burnham farm and eight years later he bought his father's place of seventy-two acres, and thirty-two acres of the Burnham place later, which gives him a valuable farmstead. He has remodeled and built new buildings until he has excellent improvements on it.
The Pfaff children of this generation are: Claud, of Swan Creek, and Roy, of Fulton Township. Mrs. Pfaff died in 1888, and in 1889 Albert Pfaff married Alice Lake, of Fulton county. She is a daughter of Henry and Sarah (Shafer) Lake. Their children are: Lawrence, Lloyd and Howard, deceased, and Homer. In all there are three sons living, Claud, Roy and Homer. The family are Methodists. Mr. Pfaff is a democrat, and he has served the commu- nity as road superintendent.
While Mr. Pfaff spent some of his boyhood years in a log home, and had other experiences connecting him with the pioneer era of Fulton county, he has succeeded in giving his own family a higher level of comforts and conveniences than the previous generation en- joved, and at the cost of many years of effort has achieved a fine measure of success and has served his community well and deserves well of it.
ISAAC L. COY. M. D., a well-regarded and successful physician and surgeon of Archbold. Fulton county, Ohio, studied medicine at the Baltimore Medical College, Maryland, and at the Cincinnati, Ohio. College of Medicine and Surgery, graduating from the latter in 1896, with the degree of Doctor of Medicine. He thus had good credentials with which to enter into practice. But he has supple- mented his college experience and wide private practice by taking a post-graduate course in obstetrics under Professor Stark at the Cin- cinnati College of Physicians and Surgeons: and although his ex- tensive practice is a general one, Doctor Coy has had especial success latterly in obstetrical cases. in which branch of medical science he may be said now to specialize.
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For a professional man his career has been somewhat remark- able. In his early manhood he was a carpenter and millwright, and did not graduate in medicine until he was over thirty-five years old; and although he has been in practice in Archbold for twenty-two years, that period is in reality about one-third of his life. He was born in Evansport, Defiance county, Ohio, in 1859, the son of Jacob and Mary A. (Shank) Coy, and comes of one of the pioneer families of that section of Ohio. The Coy family is of Scottish origin, but the maternal lineage is German, or rather Pennsylvania-Dutch, the Shank family being of early Pennsylvania record. At least three generations of the Coy family has had residence in Ohio. Jacob Coy, father of Dr. Isaac L., was born in Dayton, Ohio. In his ad- venturous youth and early manhood he traded with the Indians of the frontier, and did much pioneering work. He settled at Ridge- ville, Ohio, and the greater part of his life was spent in farming occupations, or at all events in the clearing of land preparatory to tillage. But it seems that he was also to some extent a building contractor. He built the first church at Evansport, Defiance county, Ohio, and also the first store at that place; and in that place he lived for the greater part of his life. Most of the children of Jacob and Mary (Shank) Coy were born in Evansport, including Dr. Isaac L. He spent his boyhood in an agricultural environment, attended the country school nearest to the farm of his parents, and, following the custom in most farming families of the state, he did much work on the home farm during the long summer vacations. After passing through the district school he was for a while a student at the Stryker High School, Williams county, but did not graduate. After leaving school he appears to have had no thought of enter- ing a profession. He apprenticed himself to a carpenter and mill- wright, and for ten years followed that trade at Bryan, Williams county, Ohio. And while following that trade he helped to build the second grist mill to be erected at Evansport. Then came the change. His brother M. C. was already in the medical profession, and at that time in good practice at Evansport, their native place. And Isaac L. ultimately resolved if possible to qualify in medicine. With that object he took up the reading of medicine under the guid- ance of his brother, and in due course entered medical college, be- ing successful in matriculating at the Baltimore Medical College, Maryland. After spending one term at that college, however, he transferred his studentship to the Cincinnati, Ohio, College of Medi- cine and Surgery. From that well-known medical college he even- tually creditably graduated, being of the class of 1896, and with his graduation gaining the degree' of Doctor of Medicine. There- after for about one year he was in professional practice in associa- tion with his brother in Stryker, Williams county, Ohio, but in 1898 he came to Archbold, and has ever since practiced in that section of Fulton county. During the years from that to the present Doctor Coy has gained for himself an enviable professional record, and none the less enviable is the personal record he has as a public- spirited citizen of commendable life. He has devoted himself to his profession, appears to be an omnivorous student, and has under- taken much research in some branches of medical science. Partic- ularlv, has he devoted himself to obstetrical research; and in his practice Doctor Coy has shown evidence of the extent of his research in this branch of medicine. As an obstetrical surgeon Doctor Coy has latterly gained much credit. He took a post-graduate course
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in obstetrics under Professor Stark at the College of Physicians and Surgeons, Cincinnati, Ohio, and has closely followed all develop- ments reported, and also those arising from his own practicc. He is well-regarded in state and county medical circles, belongs to the state and county medical socicties, and also to some of national scope; and generally he has had noteworthy success in his profes- sional career.
Religiously he is a Methodist, member of the Methodist Epis- copal Church of Archbold, and a good supporter of that body. Fra- ternally he is a Mason, member of a West Unity lodge, and an Odd Fellow, a member of an Archbold lodge. He does not concern himself much with politics. As a matter of fact, his professional ties keep him closely to professional work for the greater part of each day.
In 1901, at Evansport, Ohio, Doctor Coy married Jennie, daugh- ter of John and Elizabeth (McCauley) Spangle, of that place. They have one child, a daughter, Isabelle.
Since she has lived in Archbold Mrs. Coy has entered much into church and social movements in the community, and has very many friends in the district. During the war both she and her husband worked indefatigably in the national cause, aiding in much of the home work of national bearing, and entering loyally into the var- ious local movements formulated to secure the proper prosecution of local drives in connection with the Liberty Loan and other gov- ernmental issues necessary to mect the purposes of the government in the war. And Mrs. Coy has been a worthy church worker.
W. B. HARRIS. The banks of any community are the conserv- itors of the financial interests of. the people, and the men connected with their operation are naturally important factors in their local- ities. One of the men who is accepted as one of the sound finan- ciers of Fulton county is W. B. Harris, cashier of the First National Bank of Wauseon.
W. B. Harris was born in Licking county, Ohio, in 1890, a son of William B. and Laura (Woodruff) Harris. The great-great- great-grandfather of W. B. Harris came from England to the Ameri- can colonies and settled in New Jersey, and four of his sons served under General Washington during the American Revolution. One of these sons was with the Colonial Army at Valley Forge. In the period of expansion subsequent to the Revolutionary war representa- tives of the family migrated into Ohio and secured land in the cen- tral portion of the state, developing into prosperous agriculturists. Both the grandfather and father of W. B. Harris were born in Lick- ing county, Ohio.
William B. Harris was a school-teacher and became superinten- dent of the Sylvania High School, but later went into the banking business, organizing the Farmers & Merchants Bank, of which he was cashier until 1907, when he became cashier of the Sylvania Savings Bank, and continued in that position until the time of his death in 1915. His widow survives him and makes her home with her son. She and her husband had a daughter, these two children constituting their family.
Before he completed his school-days W. B. Harris helped his father in the Farmers & Merchants Bank, and after the death of his father he went to Toledo, Ohio, and was in the Second National
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Bank of that city for a short time. In 1910 Mr. Harris came to Wauseon as bookkeeper for the First National Bank, and after three years was made assistant cashier. Three years later he was made cashier, and still holds that eminently responsible position. He is also a stockholder in the bank, and is on its board of directors, and he is a director of the Pettisville Savings Bank and the Ridgeville Savings Bank at Ridgeville Corners. Mr. Harris has also a quarter interest in the Blue Creek Stock Farm of 320 acres and is secretary and treasurer of the Arcola Building Company.
During the late war Mr. Harris took a conspicuous part in the various drives, being chairman of the Fifth Liberty Loan Campaign of his neighborhood, and more than raised the quota, and he was secretary of the War Savings Stamp Campaign. He is unmarried. A Mason, Mr. Harris belongs to Wauseon Lodge No. 349, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, and is a Knight Templar. He also be- longs to the Knights of Pythias. The Congregational Church holds his membership. Mr. Harris makes his home at Wauseon, his mother and sister living with him, the latter being a public school teacher. She was prepared for her career in Oberlin University, from which she was graduated. A young man of spirit, Mr. Harris has taken a constructive part in the public affairs of Wauseon since coming to the county seat, and can be depended upon to give an active support to those measures he believes will work out for the further betterment of existing conditions here. Few men of his age have accomplished as much as he, and his fellow citizens are proud of his record.
C. P. WEBER. No knowledge is wasted. Each effort in the di- rection of mental expansion brings its own reward, and therefore it has been found that the men who have carefully trained their minds for scholastic duties are the ones who develop into the most efficient public officials. One of these former educators who has inade a remarkably good record as county surveyor is C. P. Weber of Wauseon. Under his capable and businesslike administration the roads of Fulton county have been so improved as to attract at- tention from all over the state, and his efficiency is praised by all who understand the difficulties with which he contended.
C. P. Weber was born south of Pettisville, Ohio, in October, 1883, a son of John and Margaret Weber, of German and French descent whose families have been located in this country for many years. After securing a public sehool education C. P. Weber at- tended the Pettisville High School, from which he was graduated, and later the Tri-State College at Angola, Indiana, and was gradu- ated from the latter institution in the scientific course in 1906, with the degree of Bachelor of Science. For four years Mr. Weber was engaged in teaching in the rural schools of Fulton county, rising to be superintendent of schools at Ridgeville Corners in Fulton county, and then he was superintendent of the Fulton Township Certified Schools for three years more, and he continued in the edu- cational field until he was elected county surveyor in 1916, and after serving for a terin was the candidate of his party to succeed himself, but was defeated, but was re-elected in 1918. He has al- ways been an advocate of good roads, realizing the benefit of them not only to the immediate communities through which they pass but the state and country. He now has $500,000 worth of road im-
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provement contracts, and through his efforts the state has contrib- uted over $120,000 through a bond issue to be used on the roads in Fulton county. In addition to the responsibilities of his office Mr. Weber is interested in a general real estate and insurance busi- ness at Wauseon.
Mr. Weber was married to Celia D. Wheeler, a daughter of Henry Wheeler, of Ridgeville Corners, and they have the follow- ing children: Marshall, who was born in 1911; Morley Vincent, who , was born in 1913; and Margaret Genevieve. Mr. Weber is an in- dependent democrat. He belongs to Swanton Lodge, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, and Delta Council, Royal Arch Masons. In- terested in the work of the Grange, he belongs to the county and state organizations. Having studied the question of good roads very carefully, Mr. Weber has been able to carry out his ideas in an in- telligent and practical manner, and the people of his community are reaping the benefit from his knowledge and public-spirited en- deavors.
ALBERT BILBEE LAROWE. It is given to but few men to round out the proverbial "three score and ten years," the allotted time of a man's life, on the same plot of ground where they first beheld the light of day, but that privilege has been vouchsafed to Albert B. La- Rowe of Silver Brook Farm in Chesterfield. He was born at the family homestead December 6, 1847, and since last December he has been living on "borrowed time."
A. B. LaRowe, of Silver Brook, is a son of Moses and Lydia (Bradley) LaRowe. He has one sister, Victoria. The LaRowe family came from Genesee county, New York, in 1843, traveling as far as Toledo by water. Moses LaRowe left his wife there while he came on foot to the site of Silver Brook Farm, where there was already a "cabin in the clearing," placed there on a previous visit to the frontier community. He secured an ox team and went back to Toledo for his wife and their household belongings brought along from Genesee county. There is a falling leaf table, some dishes and a bureau at Silver Brook today that were in that original lot of household furniture.
While relatives on both sides frequently visited the family, none of them ever lived in Fulton county. Silver Brook was pur- chased from land speculators who were on the ground early, but since that time it has been a LaRowe family possession, the present owner buying it in 1872 from his father. The father and mother ended their days here, his demise coming January 23, 1882, while she lived until May 11, six years later. They lie buried in Butler or Chesterfield cemetery-the local burial place in their day and generation. He was born January 20, 1807, in New Jersey, and she was born December 2, 1812, in Springport, New York. They had been among the Fulton county settlers who selected this Chester- field God's Acre as their final resting place. They had endured the hardships of the pioneers, and in their memory their posterity has a splendid heritage.
Albert B. LaRowe married Hattie E. Terpenning, December 25, 1869, and at the time of this interview, October 30, 1919, special plans were being formulated for their Golden Wedding anniversary in connection with the annual Christmas festivities. In their family there is a daughter and son-a repetition of the original LaRowe family at Silver Brook. They are: Mina and Albert Clair.
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MR. AND MRS. A. B. LAROWE (Taken on their fiftieth Wedding Anniversary, December 25, 1919)
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HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY
Mrs. LaRowe is one of three children born to John and Nancy (Van Arsdall) Terpenning. Her brothers are William H. and Francis E. Terpenning. The early Terpennings were also New York emigrants to Ohio. John Terpenning was born October 23, 1816, in Onandago county, and he died January 13, 1889, and he and his wife lie buried in the Wauseon Cemetery.
There was another Christmas wedding in 1898, when Mina La- Rowe became the wife of Frank D. Stubbins. Their sons are Don- ald C., Wilden D. and Elbert F. Stubbins. Albert C. LaRowe mar- ried Rena Saulsbury, March 7, 1907, and their children are Fran- ces E., Alice C. and William A. LaRowe. The daughter and her family have always lived at Silver Brook, where Mr. Stubbins is a farmer, and the son lives in Morenci, Michigan, where he is en- gaged in the hardware trade.
The LaRowe family has never affiliated with church or secret orders. The family vote, both LaRowe and Terpenning, has always been cast with the republican party. John Terpenning and his son, William H. Terpenning-an unusual thing, father and son-were soldiers in the Civil war, although they only met once while both were wearing the blue uniform.
Through the children in the Stubbins family, the fourth genera- tion in the LaRowe household in now being sheltered at Silver Brook Farm. Among the household treasures is a volume of poems given to Mrs. LaRowe by her first school teacher, Mrs. Julia Carter Aldrich, entitled "Hazel Bloom." Their acquaintance began at the Ottokee school when Ottokee was the seat of government in Fulton county.
There are few citizens in Chesterfield who have lived longer in one community than have the LaRowes. Their acquaintance lies chiefly among the pioneer families of Fulton county, and it is not over-estimating things to say that their friends are numbered by their acquaintances.
MENNO TRAUT. Both as a farmer and citizen Menno Traut measures up to high standards and is entitled to the confidence of his neighborhood, for he has earned it. He was born in Fulton county in 1883, a son of Nicholas and Mary (Riefsnider) Traut, who came to the United States from Russia, although of German birth, and for a time after reaching Ohio, Nicholas Traut worked by the day at Pettisville. Later he engaged in farming for others, and as soon as he had saved up enough money he bought fifty acres of land near Swanton and conducted it until he retired, and he is now living at Swanton, Ohio. He and his wife became the parents of two children.
Menno Traut attended the country schools and those at Delta, Ohio, until he was sixteen years old, when he left school and de- voted all of his attention to the home farm, where he remained until twenty-three years old. In 1905 he was married at Swanton, Ohio, to Anna Spurgon, a daughter of Nathaniel Spurgon, and they became the parents of six children, all of whom are still living. Mrs. Traut died in 1917 and was deeply mourned, not only by her immediate family but also by the many who knew her and paid respect to her excellent qualities of heart and brain.
In 1908 Mr. Traut bought eighty-six acres of land, and this is his present farm, on which he is carrying on a general line of farm- ing. He takes a strong interest in keeping his farm up-to-date, and
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has made a number of improvements since buying it. Mr. Traut is a man who believes in exercising his own judgment with reference to voting, and so has not definitely connected himself with any party, but selects his candidates very carefully after inspecting their ree- ords. While he has devoted himself to his farm, he has found time to go into the matter of good roads in a comprehensive and prac- tieal manner, and wants necessary improvements made, but does not believe in an extravagant outlay. Working hard and steadily, he has been rewarded for his industry and thrift with a fair measure of success, and at the same time he has so condueted his affairs as to demonstrate that he was a good business man and fair-minded citizen. His progress has been a natural one, and is but the logical outcome of a lifetime of endeavor, and his experiences may well point out the way for others to follow.
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