USA > Ohio > Wayne County > Commemorative biographical record of Wayne County, Ohio, containing biographical sketches of prominent and representative citizens, and of many of the early settled families > Part 12
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Their son, Isaac, was born in April, 1834, and has all his life followed farm- ing. With true filial affection he has all along remained with his parents. He is a member of the Presbyterian Church, and is much esteemed by all who know him.
S AMUEL SWARTZ was born in Union County, Penn., June 3, 1816, and in 1819 came to Ohio with his parents, his father, John Swartz. settling in Canaan Township, Wayne County. At the age of eighteen (in 1834) Samuel first came on his future homestead. hiring out to John Miller. who had recently bought the tract of the Goverment, same being then regarded as mostly waste and swamp lands. Mr. Swartz continued to work as a hired hand at clearing the then unbroken wilderness, in company with his brother John, until 1839, in which year he was married to Mary Miller, daughter of his employer, a young lady of scarce sixteen summers. Mr. Swartz departed this life, at his residence in Mil- ton Township, October 15, 1885, in the seventieth year of his age. His widow survives him, having lived on the same farm since the age of six years, and in the companionship of the departed for more than fifty years, their friendship antedating their marriage by several years. Mr. Swartz was always strong, robust and hearty, and an indefatigable worker. Under the ringing blows of his ax, which he could wield with marvelous skill, the dense forest on his land was swept away, and by the caroful culture of later years his farm became noted as one of the finest in the country .. He was a model farmer, taking the load in hus-
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bandry of every kind; was enterprising and thrifty, and prosperity constantly waited upon him to crown his honest toil. He was a man of strong will and decided convictions of right and duty; and while these traits sometimes prodneed friction in his dealings with others, his honesty and integrity no one could question; as a neighbor he was generous and helpful and a true friend; from every viee he was remarkably free, and he had but little sympathy for any form of it in others. Of pure thought, he never uttered a pro- fane word, or indulged in slang or vulgar speech of any kind; in dress and living he was plain, and in all bis habits strictly temperate. Under the daily in- spiration of such an example, it is not to be wondered that every member of his large Family grew to maturity free from every form of vice. Mr. Swartz was pub- lie-spirited, and at different times he was elected to offices of public trust, which he filled creditably. Industrious and eco- nomical, at the age of forty he found hin- self free from debt, and most of his sub- sequent earnings he expended in the education and enlture of his children.
He was the father of twelve children, ten of whom, six sons and four daughters, survive him, and with their children, mon- bering in all nearly forty, were present at his funeral. To his six sous he gave a complete collegiate edneation, some of them
taking a post-graduate course; the advan- tages of a higher education healso afforded his daughters, according to their choice. His eldest son, John M., graduated at Granville, Ohio, in 1869, and is now a prominent lawyer of Newark, and pros- ceuting attorney of Licking County, Ohio; Hiram B. graduated from the literary and law department of Michigan Uni- versity in 1872, and was elected probate judge of Wayne County in 1997. which position he is now occupying; he was al-o mayor of the city of Wooster, Ohio, from 1877 to 1881; Franklin P. graduated at Granville in 1576, and from Rochester Theological Seminary in 1878 (was pas- tor of the Baptist Church at Loudonville, Ohio, for nine years, and is now pastor of the Baptist Church of Portsmouth, Ohio) ; Samuel E. graduated at Granville in 1879, and has ever since been principal of the Newark public schools; Donglas A. graduated from Adelbert College, Clove- land, Ohio, in 1581, after which he was ap- pointed by Gov. Hoadly to a position in the Cleveland Asylum for the Insane, which he resigned to enter upon the study of medicine in the Medical College of C'in- cimati, Ohio, whence he graduated in 158%, (ho is now engaged in the practice of his chosen profession in Canton, Ohio ) : Ulysses (. graduated from Adelbert Col- lege in 1856, and located in Wooster, this county, where he is engaged in the mann-
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facture and sale of paints and varnishes, ! ily devotions, and here it was he gave being at the head of the Wooster Paint Works in that city. Of the daughters, Ade- ' line lives with her children near Sterling, Ohio, her husband, H. G. Zeigler, having died in 1879; Isabella is the widow of M. H. Murdock, of Rittman, Ohio; Sarah E. is the wife of L. B. Harris, of Newark, Ohio, and Ellen A. is the wife of Christopher , somewhat marred the peace of his latter
Blankenhorn, a thrifty farmer of Milton Township, having bought the old home farm.
ocrat of the Jeffersonian school, and his political faith he inculcated on his sons. Ile eschewed all publie amusements, and successfully impressed his convictions upon every one of his children. Ile was converted at an early age, and united with the Dunkard Church. the cardinal doc- trines of which faith he ever stoutly do- fended. With his brethren on some mat- ters of dress and education he differed, and so drifted from them, but not from the hope of the gospel. As his children grew up and united with the Baptist Church, he, with his wife, joined that church at Sterling, Ohio, and he was chosen deacon. A man of prayer it was his custom to close every day with fan-
best expression to his inner life and the desires of his soul. Heprayed ever for his children, the church and the triumph of the gospel in the world, his love for all which was never-failing. Indeed, his ar- dent zeal for purity in life and doctrine in the membershipand ministry of the church years.
He was impatient that sin in any form should enter the household of faith. To his strong nature what seemed to some to be faults appeared to him as vices not to be endured: yet he forgave and forgot
Mr. Swartz lived to see all his children converted and united with the Baptist Church, and took great comfort in their activity in Sunday-school and church " all personal wrongs, and died at peace with work. In polities he was a life-long Dem- . the whole world.
On May 4. 1581. he was stricken with partial paralysis, from which he never fully recovered. On Christmas day. 1558. he fell and broke his hip-bone, which hastened his end. His eyesight failed so he could not read. and thus he quietly suffered and waited, longing for the end to come, his mind continuing rational until the last. Surrounded by his large family of loving sons and daughters, and his ever faithful wife, who ministered to him as an angel of morey throughout all his years of suffering, he folded his arms and closed his eyes in the calm embrace of death. Thus ended a long and useful life: thus lived and died another of that noble band of pioneers whose strong arms
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and brave hearts made the wilderness here to "blossom as the rose. "
A man of pure thoughts and words, and of upright life, the memory of Sam- uel Swartz will live in his children whom he blessed. His fellow-citizens will cher- ish his good example, mentioning his name in after years as one whom the community delighted to honor. His neighbors and friends will remember him as one who loved integrity and hatod iniquity, a good-natured, cordial, honest man: and his brethren in the church will not forget the words of counsel, faith and hope which in the day of his strength he ever gave the cause he loved. He was interred in the family burying-ground, in the old church-yard on the hill, on the Saturday following his demise, the fu- neral services, which were unusually impressive, being held at the Starling Baptist Church, Rev. P. J. Ward, pastor, condneting, assisted by Rev. William F. Slocum, pastor of the Baptist Church at Wooster. The texts and sacred songs for the occasion were selected as those best loved and oftenest repeated by the de- parted. At his special request, his six sons acted as pall-bearers. Truly, of him it may be said: "His end is peace, and the memory of the just is blessed."
The above tributo is not an imaginary sketch, but was largely copied From the local papers printed soon after his death.
E LIZABETH VAN HOUTEN, the widow of Philo S. Van Houten, and a sister of Mr. George Bar- tol, a well-known citizen of Wayne County. was born in Elizabethtown, Lan- caster Co., Penn., in 1820, a dangh- ter of Mathias and Elizabeth (Jontz) Bartol, of whom reference is made in sketch of George Bartol. She was a girl of eleven years when her parents re- moved to this county, which has ever since been her home. At the age of nine- teen, January 2, 1840, Miss Bartol was united in marriage with Philo S. Van Hout- en, son of Jacob and Sarah ( Starr) Van Houten, who was born in Marcellus, Ou- ondaga Co., N. Y., December 25, 1910. and came when young with his parents to Ohio, they settling in Plymouth, Rich- land County. Here young Philo obtained such education as was afforded by the schools of that day, and when & young man became a clerk in a dry goods store in Wooster, continuing in that occupation for a munber of years.
For some time after their marriage the young comple continued to reside in Wooster, but later removed to Rowsburg, Ohio. where, however, they lived but three years, when they returned to Woos- ter, which they made their permanent home. In 1550 Mr. Van Houten become teller of the Wayne County Bank-now Wayne County National Bank -and at
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the time of his death was its cashier, serving faithfully, and with a slight ex- ception continuonsly, for thirty-one years, an ordinary generation. After laboring incessantly for twenty-three years as teller, he withdrew to take a needed rest, but soon found that an active life had be- come a necessity of his nature, and he accepted the position of cashier in the National Bank of Wooster, but in a year returned to the place where he had served so long and well, and was cashier until he died, April 9, 1881.
reputation among business men. Uni- versally respected for his strict integrity, good judgment and careful attention to business, he was considered a model bank officer, and his loss was deeply folt by those he so long and faithfully served. As a citizen he was held in high esteem. and his popularity among all classes is attested by the fact no man, perhaps. in Wayne County bad fewer enemies Ever generous, charitable and liberal minded. he was a man whose virtnes are worthy of emulation. and whose memory will not soon be forgotten.
Mr. Van Houten was an ardent Repub- lican in his political belief, but never a Since her husband's death Mrs. Van Houten has continued to reside in the house where they had passed together so many happy years. Nine children had come to bless their nion, only four of whom, however, now survive. as fol- lows: Mary, now Mrs. Wellington Curry, in Toledo, Ohio: Emma, Mrs. John Hankey, in Bowling Green; Edward, in California, and Anna, Mrs. Frank Eshel- man, in Wooster. Those deceased are dave (Mrs. Lee Scobey, who died in Wooster), Harry. Charles, John and Car- oline (who died in Wooster in infancy). Like her late husband, Mrs. Van Houten is a sincere and consistent member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and is an ardent advocate of the cause of temper- ance, and a member of the organization place-hunter. He was elected trustee of Wooster township in 1846, 1851, 1865 and in 1878, and was treasurer of the town- ship in 1858. In 1879 he was the Repub- lican candidate for county treasurer. For many years he was a member of the Masonic fraternity, having been treasurer of Ebenezer Lodge No. 33 of Wooster as far back as 1848, and worshipful master in 1853. He was always known as a zealous, conscientious Mason, in whom the cardinal principles were Fully exem- plilied. He was a man of irreproachable private character, whose domestic life and habits were of that quiet and un- ostentatious kind so well calculated to endoar him to family and friends. In his capacity as cashier of the Wayno County National Bank he had an enviable , known as the Evergreen Social Temple.
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By everyone who knows her she is justly held in high esteem for the many good qualities which adorn hor character.
THOMAS P. BAUMGARDNER is one of Wooster's well-known citi- zens and business men, and propri- ctor of the business place known as the " Double Store." Ile is a native of the Keystone State, born in Northampton County November 13, 1827. His father, Peter Baumgardner, was born in Ger- many, and came in boyhood to the United States. Upon reaching manhood he was united in marriage with Catherine Heller, a native of Pennsylvania. He was a farmer by occupation, and in the year 1832 removed to Ohio in search of cheaper land. Coming to Wayne County, he set- tled on a farm near Wooster, but did not long live to enjoy his new home, death claiming him about a year later. Besides his widow he left five children, four of whom are now living. viz. : Thomas P .; Mary, now Mrs. George Strock, of Mill- brook: Julia A., Mrs. Capt. B. F. Miller, and b. S., who is proprietor of a large wholesale notion honse in Toledo, Ohio. When Mr. Bamgardner came to Ohio the entire trip was made by wagon, and the farm which he purchased here was
ouly partly improved. Before death in- terfered with his plans he had bought a home in Wooster, to which he had in- tended to remove.
Our subject was in his seventh year when his father died, and in the spring following the widowed mother with her children removed to Wooster, later going to Salt Creek Township, where they lived upon a farm for several years, then re- turning to Wooster. Here Thomas P. attended school for a number of years, after which he served an apprenticeship of four years in the furniture factory of Spear & Beistle, of Wooster. This trade he followed for a number of years, when in company with his brothers he erected a large building, known as the " Arca- dome," and there started a drug business. This was then the only large ball in Wooster, and at its dedication a great unmber of people assembled, specches were made, and much enthusiasm mani- fosted. In this building the brothers built up a prosperous business, but in December, 1861. our subject sold his in- terest to his brothers, receiving therefor the sum of $16.000, and the following spring he purchased the American House block, and at once set about rebuildling and improving it, putting in new store- rooms, etc., which made it for many years one of the finest blocks in the city. Mr. Bunugardner occupied one of the stores
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himself as a music store, doing a large trade in musical merchandise, and also in piano timing, and is still conducting a large business in that line. He rented most of the block after its rebuilding, and in 1881 himself removed to the store-room in which he is carrying on his music business. A prominent feature in this connection is the renting of pianos, which he carries on extensively. In 1884, the music business not absorbing his whole time, he added the shoe trade, carrying an extensive and varied stock of goods in that line, and having one of the leading business houses of the city.
In 1849 Mr. Baumgardner was united | in marriage with Miss Elizabeth M., daughter of Philip Smith. Their wedded life was made happy by the birth of ten children: Joseph H., Edson W., Newton L., James F., Harry S. and Ama ( Mrs. J. W. Emrich), all residents of Toledo, Ohio; Lizzio M., at home; Thomas, Ella and Carrie are deceased. The daughters, Anna and Lizzie M., are graduates of the Wooster High School. Both are excel- lent musicians, and euch is mistress of that difficult instrument, the pipe organ.
Mr. and Mrs. Baingardner and family are highly respected in the community ; she is a member of the First Prosby lerian Church. Mr. Baumgartner is a member of the Knights of Honor and the Royal Arcanum; in politics he is a stanch
and true Republican. His success in life is a gratifying one to him, and has been the more marked as he bad but little aid in beginning his career. It is the legit- imate result of his good judgment and steady application to business, and he may truly be called a self-made man in the best sense of the word. The family have an elegant and commodious home on Buckeye and Larwill Streets, to which they removed in 1878.
ORENZO D. CORNELL, son of Jason and Rachel ( Critchfield ) Cor- nell, was born November 26, 1551. in Chester Township, Wayne Co., Ohio. Joseph Cornell, born May 3, 1760. in Hunterdon County, N. J., his father. the first of the family of whom there is rec- ord, came from Germany with two broth- ors, and located in Hunterdon County. N. J., but nothing is known of his brothers after their arrival in New York. Joseph married, in New Jersey, a Miss Mary Vankirk, and afterward located in Alle- gheny County, Pen., in 1790, and to them four children were born: Isaac, Samuel 13. Bela S. and Joseph C. The father and family moved to Mercer County. Poun .. thence to Wayne County, Ohio, in 1513.
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locating in Franklin Township, where he engaged in farming.
who married Ellen Keister, and is a resi. dent of Shreve: Tamzer E., now Mrs. E. T. Shelly, of Londonville, Ashland Co., Ohio; Lucius T., now a resident of Shreve, and Lorenzo Dow, who received his preliminary education iv Wayne County, his commercial education in the business college of Valparaiso. Ind., and is now a lawstudent with McClure & Smy- ser, of Wooster. He is located at Shreve. engaged in the real estate business.
Of the children, Isaac married Miss Agnes Carson for his first wife, and for his second wife Priscilla Morgan, and re- moved to Porter County, Ind .; both are now deceased, but the children still live there; Samuel B. married, and moved to Winterset, Madison Co., lowa, since which little is known of him: Bela S. sought a home in the West, but his local- ity is unknown; Joseph C. married Eliza- beth Morgan, of Virginia, and eventually located in Franklin Township, Wayne Co., Ohio. Their children are Mary Jane, who married John Stough, and removed to SAAC B. DOUGLASS was born at Uniontown, Fayette Co., Penn .. Fch- rnary 26, 1546, and is a son of James and Naomi (Brown) Douglass, also na- tives of Fayette County, who, in 1962 Bible Grove, Scotland Co., Mo. (both are now deceased, but the children still reside in Missouri) ; Alpha, who married Mary MeConkey, and removed to Hohnes County. Ohio, where he died September came to Wayne County, Ohio, and located 2, JS88; Merey, now Mrs. Jacob Lee, of Hicksville, Defiance Co., Ohio; Temper- on a farm in Sugar Creek Township, where the mother died in 1564. The father ance, now Mrs. Reason Campbell, of Ful- , then married a Miss Rector, and moved ton County, Ohio; Phebe, now Mrs. to Missouri, where he died in 1573. Isaac Baize, of Fulton County, Ohio, and Ja- B. Douglass, whose name heads this bio- son, who married Rachel, daughter of graphical memoir, the only one of the family now living, was reared on a farm and educated in the counnon schools, He followed agricultural pursuits For sollte time, but for many years has been en gaged in the haber business out oper ating n portable saw-mill in Sugar Crock Lorenzo Dow Critchfield, in 1517. and lo- cated in Wayne County, Ohio, where they remained until 1861, in which year they removed to Ashland County, and eventu- ally to Shreve, where he died July 20. 1881. Mrs. Cornell is still a resident of Shreve. Their children are Milan C., Township, Wayne County.
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In 1565 he married Miss Susan, daugh- ter of Alexander and Mary Shanklin, who were among the first settlers of Sugar Creek Township, Wayne Co., Ohio, and to this union have been born nine chil- dren, named as follows: James U., Orpha A., Ira B., Howard, Henry A., Isaac A., Robert M., William W. and Ora May. Mr. Douglass, politically, is a Democrat, and is a vigorous and uncompromising exponent of the principles of his party. He has served as township assessor for four years. He is now serving his twelfth year as justice of the peace; has been school director for many years. He is a member of Central Lodge, No. 212, K. of P., of Orrville, Ohio, and is trustee and superintendent of the Sabbath-school in the Church of God ( Winebrennerian).
Wayne County with his parents. By hard labor, first on the farm, then in teaching school, and finally in the practice of law, he succeeded in providing a com- fortable living for a large family. The maiden name of our subjeet's mother was Jane E. Cotton, a native of New York State, whose grandfather was born in Bos- ton, Mass., and was a Revolutionary sol- dier.
The subject of this sketch was given a fair common-school education, and devel- oped a bent for figures. He removed to Wooster in 1861 with his father, who had just been elected county auditor. At the age of thirteen he entered the audi- tor's office, where he served as clerk and deputy under four different administra- tions, in all about six years. In 1565 he entered Vermillion Institute, Hayesville, Ohio, where he was a student for about one year, and afterward taught district schools during two succeeding winter terms. In 1868-69 he was employed in the office of B. L. Fahnestock & Co., a large wholesale drug house in Pittsburgh. Returning to Wooster in 1869, he entered the employ of the Commercial Bank. as book-keeper, and when the National Bank of Wooster was organized, in January, 1872, he was appointed teller, in which capacity he served nearly four years. I ISit he was elected clerk of Wooster
T HOMAS EDSON PECKINPAUGH is a native of Wayne County, Ohio. lle was born August 6, 1849, at Slankerville (now Easton), Chippe- wa Township, and, with the exception of about two years, has resided in the county ever since. On his father's side he is of German extraction; on his mother's, of English. His father, Thomas W. Pock- inpaugh, was born in West Virginia, and in 1821, when four years of age, came to Township, serving one year, and was then
Yours Fraternally J. E. Peckinpaugh
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elected township treasurer, a position he held four successive years. In 1876 he purchased an interest in the Wayne County Democrat, of which Hon. E. B. Eshelman was editor, managing the busi- ness department of that paper success- fully for several years, when he sold ont, and again entored the public service, this time as deputy county treasurer, under John S. Caskey, in which office he re- mained Four years. In his business career Mr. Peckinpaugh has been noted for his accuracy and the strictest integ- rity. In the winter of 1878 he founded the Royal Arcanum Journal, a monthly publication in the interest of the benefi- ciary society whose name it bears. Find- ing the occupation of journalism agree- able, he has ever since continued this publication in connection with his other duties. Mr. Peckinpaugh was married October 14, 1850, to Miss Kate Baker, of Wooster, daughter of the well-known architeet, C. C. Baker, and has two chil- dren living, Florence M. and Helen V., a son having died from accident in 1855.
A Democrat by birth and education, our subject early espoused the cause of his party, and rendered valuable service as a member and secretary of the county executive committee. He is a consistent and earnest advocate of the principles of Democracy, but not a bitter partisan, bo- lieving, as he does, that everything good
is not confined to any one political party. In ISSI he was nominated and elected by a handsome majority to the office of county auditor for the term of three years. At the expiration of this time he was appointed by the county commis- sioners to fill the same office for a period of ten months, which appointment was necessitated by a change in the law fixing the time of taking office. In November, 1SS7. ho was re-elected, by the largest majority given to any candidate upon the ticket, for another term of three years, and, should he live to fill out the full time, will have the honor of having served his county as auditor for a longer period than any of his predecessors. At the city election in April, 1589, against his wishes, he was placed upon the ticket for member of the Board of Education of Wooster, and was elected by a large ma- jority. Considering his years, he has re- ceived marked political honors. Recog- nizing the great work of benevolence which is being carried Forward by the various fraternal secret societies, he has become identified with some of them. He is a member of the Masonic frater- nity, having taken all the degrees up to and inehiding that of Kuight Templar. At the organization of Wooster Com- mandery, K. T., on July 2. 1559, he was made first eminent commander, He is also a past great sachem of the Im-
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proved Order of Red Men, and has been an officer of the Supreme Council of the Royal Areamm. He has four younger brothers and one sister, all living in Wooster.
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