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 9
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In 1908 Doctor Bernath was united in marriage with Ida F. Bucher, a daughter of John C. and Mary Bucher, of Whitehouse, Ohio. Dr. and Mrs. Bernath have three children, namely : Margaret A., Robert I., Jr., and Irene Mary. When Doctor Bernatlı located at Wauseon the city gained a constructive citizen of merit, and his record since coming here is of such a character as to refleet credit upon him, his profession and his community, and he has the confi- dence of a wide circle of personal friends as well as of his constitu- ents.
DAVIS B. JOHNSON, the eldest of a family of seven children and the son of Arby D. Johnson and Effie Sellers Johnson, was born one-half mile south and one mile west of the village of Metamora, Amboy township, Fulton county, Ohio, in a neighborhood known to the old settlers of Amboy township as Duncan Town, on the 30th day of December, 1880.
Sullivan Johnson. grandfather of Davis, was a Vermonter by birth and of Scotch descent, he being the son of Abel Johnson and Roby Thomas Johnson. Sullivan Johnson came to the State of Ohio and settled with his father near Geneva, Lake county, Ohio. He afterward came to Toledo, Ohio, where he met and married Phidelia Worden, at a time when that city could boast of only two or three little log houses. Sullivan Johnson settled in Amboy town- ship about the year 1835, and played an important part in the early settlement of Amboy township and what is now Fulton county. He served two terms as sheriff of Fulton county. receiving his election by the republican party, to which he was a faithful and ardent mem- ber.
Elias Sellers, grandfather on the mother's side, was of Pennsyl- vania Dutch descent, an early settler of Dover township, Fulton county, Ohio, and a veteran of the Civil war.
During the winter months Davis attended the public schools of his native township and assisted his father on the farm in the sum- mer time. He attended the public school in the village of Tedrow, Dover township, for a number of winters while the school was under
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the supervision of Professor C. G. Miller, to whom he is indebted greatly for the education he has received. While attending the school at Tedrow he was nicknamed "Jeff Davis."
After leaving the Tedrow school he spent one winter in the Fay- ette Normal and received a teacher's certificate the following spring. His first term of school was taught in the little brick school house east of Seward, Ohio, about one-half mile, the same building and same school district in which he was first enrolled as a scholar. At first he was not very successful as a schoolmaster, and quit the pro- fession for about two years.
Thinking the matter over one day he came to the conclusion that he had been a quitter and decided to take another try at the busi- ness, and applied for a school in Amboy, his native township. After teaching the year in this district he was employed in the village school at Metamora, where he taught for about twelve years. Dur- ing that time the school grew from a two-room school to the first grade high school, with one of the most modern buildings in the county. During this period he attended summer school in vacation time and studied.
He spent two winters in the Chattanooga Law School of Chatta- nooga, Tennessee, and was admitted to the bar in the state of Ohio on the first day of July, 1916.
In politics Mr. Johnson has always been a strong and active re- publican. He served six years as a member of the Village Council of Metamora, Ohio, and has held many important positions on the County Central and Executive Committees of his party. In the fall election of 1914 he was elected clerk of courts of the county, and re-elected in the fall of 1916. Retiring from that office on the first Monday of August, 1919, he opened an office for the practice of law in Wauseon, Ohio, in which practice he is now engaged.
Mr. Johnson was married December 30, 1915, at Wauseon, Ohio, to Lillian Tressler, an adopted daughter of John and Louisa (Smith) Strong, of Wauseon. Mr. Johnson has one daughter, Louisa Eliza- beth Johnson, born September 27, 1919.
Mr. Johnson is well known in the Masonry of his county, being a member of Wauseon Lodge, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, Wauseon Chapter, Royal Archi Masons, and Wauseon Council, Royal and Select Masons, and Defiance Commandcry, Knights Templar.
Mr. Johnson is of an active and progressive nature, always for public improvement, good roads, good schools, good citizenship. He is one of the most dependable citizens of the county and is always ready and willing to contribute his services both in a private and professional capacity for civic betterment. His advancement has been steady, and each step has been gained through earnest and painstaking effort. He has many friends throughout the county, and his further progress is watched with interest by all who know him.
THOMAS W. SMITH has spent over fifty years of his life on the borders of Fulton county, and his friends and neighbors recognize in him a man of substantial industry and thrift, one who has improved his opportunities and achieved a comfortable home and farm, and altogether proved worthy of his American citizenship.
Mr. Smith was born at Elyria, Ohio, on June 4, 1860, son of Chapman and Mary Jane (Haden) Smith, the former a native of Massachusetts and the latter of New York. The maternal grand- parents, Thomas Jefferson and Hannah (Russell) Haden, moved
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from New York state to Lorain county, Ohio. Chapman Smith also went to Lorain county, was married there, and in 1865 moved to Fulton county and located in Pike township. He lived in that com- munity about twenty years and then moved to Fulton township. He died February 3, 1901. His widow made her home with her son, Thomas, until her death May 15, 1918. Each of his parents had been twice married. Thomas W. was the only son of his parents.
He grew up on a farm, acquired a district school education, and at the age of eighteen began earning monthly wages from neigh- boring farmers. Ile continued in that way until April 29, 1883, when he married Flora Alma Eldred. Mrs. Smith was born in Pike township, a daughter of Ambrose S. and Cynthia O. (Hall) Eldred, her father a native of Kalamazoo, Michigan, and her mother of Ash- land county. Ohio. Her maternal grandfather was named Am- brose S. Eldred, while her maternal grandparents were Charles and Ruth ( Weeks) Hall, the former a native of England and the latter of New York state.
Mr. Smith after his marriage rented a farm in Fulton township for six years, then bought twenty acres in the northwest corner of that township, and his parents lived with him there for thirteen years. He then rented another farm in the same locality, and in the meantime sold his place and bought sixty-four acres of partly improved land in section 30 of Amboy township. The Amboy township farm has been the scene of his best work as a farmer. He has remodeled the house and other buildings, kept the improvements up to the standard of the times, and has conducted its operations as a general farmer and also operates a small dairy of six cows. Mr. Smith is a republican voter and is affiliated with Lodge No. 555 of Masons.
Mr. and Mrs. Smith have one son, Emira Willard, who was born March 1, 1884. He is now a resident of Detroit, Michigan. He has been twice married, his present wife having borne the maiden name of May Smith. By his first marriage he has three children, Sidney Max, Marjory Fern and Hazel May.
MYRON E. DOANE. The gentleman to a brief review of whose life and characteristics the reader's attention is herewith directed is among the favorably known and representative citizens of this section of Ohio, in which he has spent his life. He has by his indomitable enterprise and progressive methods contributed in a material way the advancement of his locality, and during the course of an honor- able career has met with success as a general farmer, being a man of energy, sound judgment and honesty of purpose.
Myron E. Doane, who operates a fine farm of 168 acres in Clin- ton township, Fulton county, was born in Hartland township, Hu- ron county, Ohio, on April 2, 1855, and is the son of Eliphalet Joshua and Selina (Dunn) Doane. He is descended from a long line of honorable ancestry, his antecedents being traced in a direct line to some of the prominent families of the earliest colonial period in New England history. On the paternal side the family is of English stock, while the maternal line is of English-Scotch-Dutch blood. The Doane family was established in England in a very early day, it having been mentioned in English records as early as 1199, and a little later the home of the Doanes in England was at Utkinton, north of Tarperley. Deacon John Doane was one of the historic band of Pilgrims who landed at Plymouth Roek, Massa- chusetts, and is prominently mentioned in connection with the
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Myrone. Doane
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HISTORY OF FULTON COUNTY
Plymouth Colony in 1630. Later the family was established at Cape Cod, Massachusetts. Deacon John Doane became a deacon of the Plymouth Church, and later of the Eastham Church, at Eastham, Massachusetts, and it is noteworthy that five successive generations of Doanes served as deacon of the last named church. The family remained identified with New England for many generations and became prominent as educators and merchants. On the maternal side the ancestors owned a block and ran a tavern in Glasgow. The grandfather came as an English soldier to Canada in the war of 1812, but remained and came to the new country in the northwest terri- tory.
The subject's father, Eliphalet Joshua Doane, was born in Wayne county, New York, April 7, 1816, and followed agricultural pursuits mainly throughout his life. He came to Fulton county August 14, 1863. He died April 24, 1886, at the age of seventy years, and was survived a number of years by his widow, who died February 11, 1894, at the age of eighty-four years. She was born in Genesee, Lex- ington county, New York.
When the family came to Fulton county the farm was in heavy woods, only a few acres having been cleared. Myron E. and his father cleared the remainder, as well as built roads and performed the other tasks of pioneering farmers. This section was then wet and swampy, and even the main highways had not been cleared of trees and logs.
Myron E. Doane secured his educational training in the old Markley School in District No. 3, later known as the Olive Branch School. His summers were spent on his father's farm of 160 acres, the greater part of which is still in the estate. He now farms this in connection with his own property, and has given intelligent direc- tion to its operation, in which he has met with abundant success.
Mr. Doane has never married, but lives on the old homestead with two of his sisters, Mary Selina and Jane Ann. The former is the widow of Charles H. Kline, who died on April 14, 1904.
Politically Mr. Doane is a supporter of the republican party, while his church affiliation is with the United Brethren in Christ (Old Constitution). He is a member of the board of trustees of the United Brethren Church, a trustee of the parsonage, a member of the annual conference board of trustees of the United Brethren Church, and has for twenty-six years been secretary of the quarterly conference of the Wauseon Circuit of the United Brethren Church. Such, in brief, is the record of Mr. Doane, than whom a more whole- souled or popular man it would be difficult to find within the borders of Fulton county, where he has long maintained his home and where he has labored not only for his own individual advancement, but also for the improvement of the entire community, whose inter- ests he ever has at heart.
GEORGE WASHINGTON TWISS, of Amboy, is only two generations away from the British Isles, and there is both English and Irish blood in his veins. He was born June 24, 1850, in Seneca county. He is a son of Russell and Sally Ann (Hall) Twiss. While the par- ents were born in Holmes county and afterward lived in Seneca county, the grandfather, Abial Twiss, came from England, and the grandmother, Mary (Mullit) Twiss, was born in Ireland. The Twiss family first lived in Philadelphia, and came from there to Ohio. The maternal grandparents were Reuben and Almira (Wheaton) Hall.
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Abial Twiss was a cooper, and he also operated a water power saw mill. At one time when he was along the stream there was a panther lying in the sun, and without disturbing it he returned to the house for his trusty flintlock gun. He hurried back and shot the panther, breaking its shoulder. The gunshot aroused the bull dog and it attacked the panther, which was so crippled it could not climb a tree in making its escape from the place. While the dog and panther were fighting they both got into the stream, and Mr. Twiss waded in and clubbed the panther to death. The settlers fre- quently had adventures with wild animals of the forest.
When Russell Twiss came to northern Ohio he lived for four years in Spencer and then moved to a farm in Richfield township, of Lucas county. The place was under water and he cleared and drained it. His wife died there June 16, 1900, and he died January 3, 1903, in Swanton. Their children are: Caroline, widow of Walter Stinson, of Casanovia, Michigan; Reuben, of Niagara Falls, New York; Eliza Jane, wife of Joseph Corth, of Toledo; G. W. Twiss, who relates the family history ; Mary, wife of Eugene Crissey, died May 30, 1900, and Arletta, who died in infancy.
On April 20, 1879, G. W. Twiss married Clarinda J. Sloan, of Sencea county. She is a daughter of Horatio and Rebecca (Hall) Sloan. The parental grandfather was Alonzo Sloan and the maternal grandfather was Reuben Hall. When they were married they lo- cated on a forty acre traet of timber in Amboy. It was under water and he cleared and drained it. While reclaiming this land Mr. Twiss frequently shot wild turkeys, and it was no trouble to supply wild meats for his dinner table. While Amboy is now fine farming and, it was wild country when Mr. Twiss first located in it. While he only had frame buildings in 1899, Mr. Twiss bought and hauled brick from Toledo and built a fine ten-room brick house.
From time to time Mr. Twiss has bought more land, paying $16 to $20 an acre for it, but now the price of land is a different story. Some of the young men would like to have such opportunities of securing farmsteads in Fulton county. Mr. Twiss planted an orch- ard of more than 100 trees, and he was always an active man until 1909, since which time he has rented the farm. A man who always has worked always will find something to do as long as he remains in the country.
The children are: Bertha, a graduate of the Toledo Conservatory ; Frank J .. of Richfield, who married Verna Gillette, and they have one son. Harold; Burton A .. of Lyons. married Helen L. Stebbins, and they have one son. George Frederick: Arthur Lee Twiss, mar- ried October 29, 1919, Vena Hackett, and lives on a sixty aere farm adjoining his father. The family are Methodists. Mr. Twiss is a republican and for twelve years he has served as a school director. He is a member of the F. and A. M., No. 555, of Swanton. The family has social and business interests in both Fulton and Lucas counties.
NORMAN P. TRIPP has been closely identified with agricultural interests in Amboy township for a number of years. In young man- hood he had an interesting experience and service as a soldier in the Spanish-American war, and he comes of military stock. His great- grandfather, Cyrus Tripp, was a soldier in the War of 1812, while Mr.Tripp's grandfather earned a patriotic record as a Union man during the Civil war.
Norman P. Tripp was born in Pike township of Fulton county,
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September 18, 1878, son of Henry D. and Alice M. (Forrester) Tripp. His parents were also born in Fulton county, his father in Amboy and his mother in Pike township. The paternal grand- parents were Norman M. and Julia Ann (Bartlett) Tripp, the former a native of New York and the latter of Toledo. The maternal grand- father was Patrick Forrester, a native of Ireland, who came to this country at an early day, and was one of the workmen who built the canal across the state to Cincinnati. Later he acquired extensive tracts of land in Pike township of Fulton county. The paternal grandparents were likewise early settlers and developed a farm from the woods in Amboy township. Henry D. Tripp after his marriage settled in Amboy township, but later moved to Holgate, Ohio, but he died in Amboy in March, 1916, and his wife on January 29, 1919. They had three children : Frank, of Holgate; Norman P., and Muriel, who is a principal in the public schools at Holgate.
Norman P. Tripp was twenty years of age when in April, 1898, he was an enthusiastic volunteer for the service of his country during the Spanish-American war. He was with the Sixth Ohio Infantry and served with that command in Cuba with the Army of Occupa- tion, receiving his honorable discharge May 26, 1899, and for sev- eral years thereafter was a member of the Ohio National Guard. For three years after his army service Mr. Tripp lived at Toledo, where he worked at his trade as painter and also as conductor on a street car. He then returned to Amboy township and took charge of the home farm of eighty acres. He has lived there ever since and in 1913 bought the farm. He has all of it in cultivation except about ten acres of timber pasture.
Mr. Tripp is a member of the Spanish War Veterans at Toledo, is a democrat, a Catholic and a member of the Catholic Knights of Ohio. May 5, 1903, he married Miss Catherine Rondy, who was born at Crestline, Ohio, a daughter of Jacob and Catherine (Sutter) Rondy. Her father was a native of Germany and her mother of Ohio. Mr. and Mrs. Tripp have five children : Alton, Alice, Paul, - John and Norman.
DANIEL FORD. While he owns farm land in Amboy, Daniel Ford now lives on a small tract of land at Caraghar. He is a Cath- olic and a member of the Catholic church there that is attended by so many families in the northeastern part of Fulton county. Mr. Ford was born November 3, 1856, in Toledo. He is a son of William and Elizabeth (Lineham) Ford, the mother a Toledo woman, but the father came from Ireland.
When William Ford came to Toledo he worked for thirty years at the Wabash Grain Elevator. For ten years he was foreman there. His wife died in 1864, leaving the following children: Daniel, who enrolls the family; Alice, deceased; Catherine, wife of John Dow- ling, of Toledo, and Elizabeth, wife of Robert Savage, of Swanton. Mr. Ford. later married Anna Mckinley, and their children are: Patrick, William and Mamie, deceased, leaving one son, Michael, of Toledo.
After his mother died, Daniel Ford lived with her parents, who reared him on a farm in Lucas county. He remained with them until September 11, 1878, when he married Mary A. Savage, a native of Ohio, and a daughter of Hugh and Bridget (Gallagher) Savage. They came from Ireland to Canada. Mr. Ford and his wife lived one year with his grandparents, where he had lived, and then rented
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a farm for two years in Lucas county. The next move was to Amboy in Fulton county.
Mr. Ford bought twenty acres in the timber and with an ax and spade set about making a home on it. For seventeen years he lived there, when he sold the place and bought 120 acres of land, where he lived until 1910, when he bought a five-acre tract at Caraghar, Amboy township, where he lives and rents the farm. Industry and economy explain the changed conditions in the life of Daniel Ford.
The children born to Mr. and Mrs. Ford are: Frank, on the home farm in Amboy; John, of Amboy; Alice, wife of Gamaliel Marvin, of Amboy: William, of Toledo, and Ella, wife of Louis Simons, of Amboy. Mr. Ford is a democrat. All the family are members of St. Mary's Catholic Church at Caraghar.
His fellow citizens appreciate the many substantial qualities of the character of Daniel Ford. The example he set when with no capital and with few implements he began making a home for him- self in the timber should prove an encouragement to those who com- plain of the hardships of the present post-war period. He earned his prosperity by the hardest kind of work, and before persistent industry all the obstacles of life give way.
EDWIN J. SMITH. It was in 1842 that John Smith, founder of the American branch of the Smith family represented by Edwin J. Smith of "The Walnut Grove Farm" in Royalton, came from Scot- land directly to the community since developed into Royalton. Walter, the father of Edwin J. Smith, came with his father, John Smith, to the United States. However, they were not the only Smiths in Royalton. He married Eleanor Smith, who was already living there. Her parents, Charles D. and Jane B. (Helms) Smith, had come in an early day from New York to Ohio. They entered 180 acres of timber and developed it into one of the best farms in Fulton county.
Charles D. Smith, the maternal grandfather of Edwin J. Smith, was the second sheriff of Fulton county. He held the office two terms, and died when he was forty-eight years of age. Walter Smith, after his marriage with Eleanor Smith, settled on an eighty acre tract which he secured from the government. It was all in timber and he cleared a space for the cabin, and cleared and added to the land until he had a farm of 200 acres in Royalton. He died in July, 1910, while his wife died in October, two years later.
Edwin J. Smith, of "The Walnut Grove Farm," was the oldest, and he relates the family story. His brothers are Charles, William and Scott, William having met with an accidental death in 1888.
On February 28, 1891, Edwin J. Smith married Mrs. Rachael Cole, widow of Lemuel Cole. She had two children: Addie, wife of Ezra Burkev. of Fulton, and Donna, who lives at the Smith home- stead. Mrs. Smith is a daughter of Reuben S. and Katie Ann (Watkins) Woodring, and she was born in Fulton township, Fulton county, May 22. 1863. For eleven years after his marriage Mr. Smith lived at the old family homestead, when he bought a farm of eighty acres with few improvements, and now it has everything modern and convenient upon it. He also owns a small farm in Seneca township, Lenawee county, Michigan, which is all under cultivation, and he rents it to others. He lives on the farm in Roy- alton, where he operates a Holstein dairy along with other farm activities.
The children are: Ruth, wife of Floyd Ryder, of Lyons; Fern
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D., who died at the age of sixteen, and Reuben E., who lives at the homestead. Mr. Smith is active in local politics, and is a member of the township democratic committee. He is a member of the Modern Woodmen of America, and has served the order as its treas- urer for several years.
Edwin J. Smith was born in Royalton township, September 13, 1857, and has therefore had an active career of nearly half a cen- tury. He is one of the honored members of a real pioneer family of Fulton county, and what he has done in developing the Walnut Grove Farm is of itself an important contribution to the life and wel- fare of the county. Only a few families can claim a continuous residence of nearly eighty years in this section of Ohio, and the for- tunes of a family are in safe keeping when the present generation is so well represented as in the person of the proprietor of The Wal- nut Grove Farm.
VAN EMMONS. Since he was thirteen years old Van Emmons has been the farmer at the old homestead of his father in Royalton. He was born there September 26, 1881, and has always lived there. His father, Stephen Emmons, came from New Jersey. His mother, Ellen (Deyo) Emmons, has always lived in Royalton.
Stephen Emmons was a Union soldier in the Civil war, having enlisted from New Jersey, but after the war he located in Fulton county. He married and settled in Royalton. He died in 1891, and Mrs. Emmons and her son Van continue their residence at the family homestead. There are 110 acres in the farmstead.
The Emmons children are: William, of Royalton; Hattie, wife of W. R. Wyant, of Royalton, and Van, who enrolls the family. Since the death of his father he has assumed the responsibilities of the farm, and has a home there with his mother.
JOHN ROBERTS. The late John Roberts of Royalton lived in Cincinnati in his early years, although his native place was New York. He was born November 9, 1831, a son of Thomas and Polly Roberts. When he was a young man the family moved from Cin- cinnati to Allen county, Ohio.
Mr. Roberts married twice, the first wife being Mary Chloe Clev- . enger, of Allen county, Ohio. For some years they lived in Allen county, then he removed to Adrian, Michigan, where he conducted a livery barn for some years. Mr. Roberts later became a cheese- maker. He was one of the first cheese-makers in Fulton county.
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