USA > Ohio > Williams County > Commemorative biographical record of northwestern Ohio : including the counties of Defiance, Henry, Williams and Fulton, containing biographical sketches of prominent and representative citizens, and of many of the early settled families > Part 11
USA > Ohio > Fulton County > Commemorative biographical record of northwestern Ohio : including the counties of Defiance, Henry, Williams and Fulton, containing biographical sketches of prominent and representative citizens, and of many of the early settled families > Part 11
USA > Ohio > Henry County > Commemorative biographical record of northwestern Ohio : including the counties of Defiance, Henry, Williams and Fulton, containing biographical sketches of prominent and representative citizens, and of many of the early settled families > Part 11
USA > Ohio > Defiance County > Commemorative biographical record of northwestern Ohio : including the counties of Defiance, Henry, Williams and Fulton, containing biographical sketches of prominent and representative citizens, and of many of the early settled families > Part 11
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In 1880 our subject was married at Brookston, Indiana, to Miss Es- tella Powell, who died in August of the following year. In 1884 he was married to his present wife, formerly Miss Lillie Gorgas, and their home, an attractive modern residence on the corner of Bryan and High streets erected in 1893, is brightened by their three children: Eula A., born June 8, 1888; Estella M., born December 25, 1889; and Mary Emma, born Oc- tober 10, 1893.
Mr. Pettit has always been a Republican and a contributor to the sup- port of the principles of his party. He has been actively associated with educational and other local matters, holding various official positions of honor and trust, to which an appreciative community have elevated him. He has served as secretary and treasurer of the school board nine years, as treasurer of the Hicksville Fair Association ten years, and as trustee and superintendent of the water works three years, besides serving in other capacities. His religious connection is with the Methodist Church, of which he has been a member for the past thirteen years, and has served is steward and trustee. Socially he is a member of the Masonic fraternity.
L. S. JAMESON.
Mr. Jameson, the subject of this review, who is proprietor and editor of the "Wauseon Tribune," a sterling Republican paper, and a local news- paper of much merit, is a native of Ohio, having been born, in 1841, in Butler county.
Mr. Jameson has a splendid record as a soldier during the war of the Rebellion. He first enlisted as a private in the Thirty-fifth Ohio Volunteer
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Infantry, in September, 1861; then for a time served as lieutenant in the One Hundred and Sixty-seventh regiment, after which he organized the One Hundred and Eighty-fourth regiment, the first regiment organized under Governor Brough's last call for troops. He served as senior captain, commanding the regiment much of the time. President Johnson tendered him a commission as brevet colonel, but, not being ready to "swing around the circle," he declined.
For eleven years after the war Mr. Jameson was a commercial traveler; but in 1879 he located at Celina, Ohio, and soon after took charge of the "Observer" at the request of Republican leaders. From 1880 to 1892, during which time he published the "Observer," the plant more than doubled in value. In 1892 he sold the "Observer," soon afterward pur- chasing the "Fulton County Tribune." and is now publishing one of the neatest country newspapers in the State. He has erected and taken pos- session of a fine two-story building, using the first floor for his office, which is as well arranged as can be found anywhere.
Mr. Jameson has always been an active Republican. For ten years he served as chairman of the Mercer county central and executive committees. He has been familiar as a delegate to all State and District conventions, and was an alternate delegate to the Republican National Convention of 1888, and a delegate to the National Convention of 1892.
On September 22, 1868, Mr. Jameson was united in marriage to Mattie Boyd, of Steubenville, Ohio.
HON. SOLOMON JOHNSON.
There are in every community men of great force of character and exceptional ability, who by reason of their capacity for leadership become recognized as foremost citizens, and bear a most important part in the devel- opment and progress of the locality with which they are connected. Such a man is Mr. Johnson, who is prominently identified with Williams county, his home being in Section II, Springfield township.
A native of Ohio, he was born March 2, 1850, in German township, Fulton county, a son of George and Catherine (Krontz) Johnson. The father, who was a miller and farmer by occupation, died in German township, November 28, 1855, but the mother is still living. In their family were three children: Sarah (widow of William Ufer), Solomon and Simon.
In German township, Fulton county, Solomon Johnson continued to make his home until 1861, at which time he came to Springfield township.
yours truly. Solomatin Johnson di fus
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Williams county, where he grew to manhood upon a farm, becoming thor- oughly familiar with agricultural pursuits, and acquiring his early education in the common schools of the neighborhood. For four terms he attended the Normal School at Bryan, Ohio, and for one term was assistant teacher in that institution. For some time he followed teaching during the winter season in Williams, Fulton and Defiance counties, Ohio, and for one year taught in the high school at Evansport, Defiance county.
Mr. Johnson early became interested in public affairs; in the fall of 1878 he was the candidate of the Democratic party for the office of recorder of Williams county, and was defeated by only thirty votes. In the same fall he entered the Law Department of the Michigan University at Ann Arbor, where he graduated in March, 1880, and in the same spring he was admitted to the Bar in both Michigan and Ohio. Locating in Bryan, Ohio, in the winter of 1883, he began the practice of his chosen profession, and there made his home for four years. He now owns and operates an excellent farm of two hundred acres in Section II, Springfield township, whose well-tilled fields and substantial buildings indicate the thrift and enterprise of the owner. On it are seventy thousand tiles, all laid by his own hands.
In Madison township, Williams county, on September 14, 1882, Mr. Johnson was united in marriage with Miss Florence M. Bostater, who was born in that county March 14, 1862, a daughter of Doctor Andrew J. Bos- tater, of Fayette, Ohio. To Mr. and Mrs. Johnson have been born four children : Frank, born April 7, 1884; Walter, born February 10, 1886; Robert, born September 19, 1890; and Albert, born November 1, 1897. For a year or so prior to her marriage Mrs. Johnson was a teacher in Bryan. She began to teach when she was only sixteen years old, and taught ten terms before her marriage.
The Democratic party has ever found in Mr. Johnson a stanch supporter, and in the fall of 1881 he was its candidate for the Legislature from his district; but was defeated by Judge Bowersox, of Bryan, by only thirty-eight votes. In 1883, however, he was elected by a majority of four hundred and thirty-eight votes over that gentleman, and two years later was re-elected, acceptably serving in that responsible position for two terms. While a member of the General Assembly of Ohio, Mr. Johnson, in addition to other measures of less importance, was the author of the law making the lowest grade certificate for schoolteachers valid for one year instead of for six months, as the law then stood. He considered it unjust that a teacher should be examined twice in the same school year. He was also the author of the law that makes a deed for real estate valid as against all parties as soon as
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it is filed for record, and does not leave the purchaser at the mercy of anyone that he might deal with until six months after the date of his deed, as formerly. The Judiciary Committee, to whom this measure was referred, refused to recommend its passage, but notwithstanding the opposition of that com- mittee Mr. Johnson, by a thorough investigation of the subject, was able to show the justice of the proposed law, and thus secured its enactment.
Mr. Johnson has also filled the office of township assessor for two terms ; school examiner five years; a member of the school board in Spring- field township eleven years; and president of the board seven years. The cause of education has ever found in him a warm advocate, and he has done much toward securing a high grade of schools in his community. Since the latter part of the 'zos he has affiliated with the Masonic fraternity, and for two years has been president of the Williams County Farmers Institute of Bryan, Ohio. He has made two trips to Europe in order to study the customs of the people. Both in public and private life he has been true to every trust reposed in him, conscientiously discharges his duties of citizen- ship, and justly merits the esteem in which he is held.
HON. MELVIN MORRELI BOOTHMAN.
The Boothman family originated in England, the ancestral home being in Lancashire, and some of its members are now prominently identified with the manufacturing interests of Manchester and Liverpool. During the war of 1812 Robert Boothman, the grandfather of the well-known resi- tlent of Bryan whose name opens this sketch, came to this country as a soldier in the British army, and when hostilities ended he settled in Hub- bard, Trumbull county, Ohio, and became a loyal American citizen. By occupation he was a cabinetmaker, and after carrying on that business in Trumbull county for some time he removed to New Orleans, Louisiana, where he died of yellow fever about 1820. His wife, Eliza -, to whom he was married in Ohio, formed a second matrimonial union, with Ludwig Miller, and resided in Pulaski township, Williams county, during the re- mainder of her life.
Lemuel Boothman, the father of our subject, was the only child of Robert and Eliza Boothman. He was born in Trumbull county in 1818, and his youth was mainly spent there in the home of an adopted father, Lemuel Micheltree, with whom he remained until he attained his majority. In the fall of 1842 he came to Williams county and purchased eighty acres of land in Section 36, Jefferson township, then an unbroken wilderness, and
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after making a visit to Trumbull county he returned in the spring of 1843 and made his home upon this tract. He was married in Williams county to Miss Melisendra Hart, a cousin of Hon. Alphonso Hart, formerly Lieutenant-Governor of Ohio, and a direct descendant of the Harts of Connecticut, an old Colonial family, which furnished a number of soldiers to the American army in Revolutionary times. The young couple began housekeeping in a log cabin, and Mr. Boothman proceeded to improve the place for a homestead, clearing all but twelve acres. He became a sub- stantial farmer and was highly respected by his fellow-citizens, being fre- quently elected to local offices. In 1872 he sold his farm and removed to Bryan, where he and his wife still reside. He is a man of independent judgment, taking much interest in all the questions of the time, and in religious faith he is a Universalist.
Of his ten children one died in infancy, the others being: Adelina, now Mrs. John Thomas, of Adrian, Michigan; Melvin M., our subject, who is mentioned more fully below; Emily L., now Mrs. A. R. Hyatt, of Brady township, Williams county; Louis K., who married Miss Alice Kerr and resides at Stryker, where he is engaged in an agricultural business; Rollin E., a well-borer by occupation, who married Miss Mary E. Cotterman and settled at West Unity; Elery C., a traveling salesman of Bryan, who mar- ried (first) Miss Eliza J. Starr, and (second) Miss Mary E. Shelley; Julian W. (a member of the dry-goods firm of Binns, Boothman & Radabaugh, of Bryan), who married Miss May Ely; Miss Maria, who resides at Bryan with her parents; and William M., who married Miss Constance Eager and settled in Bryan.
The subject of this biography was born October 16, 1846, at the old homestead in Jefferson township, Williams county, and during his youth he went through the usual experiences of a pioneer farmer's son, assisting in the work of the farm while availing himself of the educational privileges afforded by the local schools. When the Civil war broke out he was a mere boy, but on January 4, 1864, at the age of seventeen years and two months, he enlisted in Company H, Thirty-eighth Ohio Volunteer Infantry. and soon afterward was sent to Ringgold, Georgia, arriving there February 18th. The company went into camp and were under drill until the 10th of the following May, when they joined the forces of General Sherman for the famous Atlanta campaign. From that time until September 1, 1864, Mr. Boothman was in active service, taking part in many momentous en- gagements, and his regiment, which contained a full complement of a thou- sand men at the beginning of the campaign, had only three hundred and
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sixty men at the time of the final battle, known in history as the battle of Jonesboro, Georgia. In that fierce struggle this number was reduced nearly one half, forty-two being killed and one hundred and ten wounded. Com- pany H, being a color company, drew the fire of the enemy especially, and out of thirty-three men who went into battle only fourteen escaped injury, four being killed outright. Mr. Boothman was hit by a minie ball in the cap of the left knee, which so disabled him that he was sent to the field hospital, and on the following morning the limb was amputated just above the knee. Four others of the company lost their left legs, and of these two died in the hospital.
In June, 1865, Mr. Boothman had regained his strength sufficiently to enable him to return home, and in the following winter he spent six months in study at the high school in Stryker. He then taught school for two winters in Brady township, Williams county, and in the spring of 1867 entered upon a course of study in the schools of Bryan, working to pay his expenses. In the fall of 1869 he went to Ann Arbor to take a course in law at the University of Michigan, where he was graduated in the spring of 1871 with the degree of LL. B. While there he spent his vacations in work in the county offices in order to secure funds, and he served as deputy auditor, deputy treasurer, deputy recorder, and deputy clerk in Williams county, Ohio. On graduating he returned to Bryan, and in the same year he was elected on the Republican ticket to the office of treasurer of Wil- liams county, by a majority of sixty-one votes. In 1873 he was re-elected, and on relinquishing the position in 1876 he began the practice of law at Bryan, having been admitted to the Bar in 1872.
His abilities soon won recognition in this field, and he continued suc- cessfully until the fall of 1886, when he was elected to Congress by a major- ity of thirteen hundred and seventy-seven votes. During the first term he served on the committee on Accounts, also the committee on Revision of the Laws, and after his re-election in 1888 he was appointed to member- ship in the committees on Accounts, Indian Affairs, and Claims. In 1888 his majority was eighty-four, but as his is a Democratic district, and was carried that year by Cleveland by a majority of eight hundred and forty- four, his election under the circumstances was a marked proof of popularity. On March 4, 1891, he returned to Bryan to resume his professional work which he has since continued. He is the attorney for the First National Bank of Bryan, and he has an extensive general practice, being regarded as one of the ablest lawyers in northwestern Ohio. His sound judgment and his wide knowledge of affairs make him a valued counselor in the
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Republican party, and in 1892 he served as an alternate delegate in the national convention held at Minneapolis.
In June, 1871, Mr. Boothman was married to Miss Angie Bushong, daughter of Jacob and Hannah Bushong, prominent residents of Jefferson township, Williams county, her father being a well-to-do agriculturist. Four children have blessed this union: Ernest H., born April 28, 1872, who graduated from Oberlin College in June, 1896, and is now preparing for the legal profession; Grace, born April 16, 1874; Dale M., born Febru- ary 17, 1877, who intends to become a lawyer; and Jean Bessie, born Sep- tember 5, 1881. The family reside in a pleasant home on West Bryan street, and are prominent in the best social circles of the town. Mr. Boothman is a leading member of the Presbyterian Church at Bryan, and is also active in various fraternal orders, including the F. and A. M., being a Knight Templar, and the G. A. R., being a charter member of Evans Post, No. 149, at Bryan, in which he has served as senior vice-commander.
HON. CHARLES L. ALLEN.
This gentleman, who for several years has been filling an enviable career of official life, is a well-known useful member of the Republican party in northwestern Ohio, and is a resident of Fayette, Fulton county.
A native of New York State, he was born November 16, 1838, in Monroe county, and received his education in part at the public schools of Monroe, in part at the State Normal of that county, later, in 1858, gradu- ating from the Eastman Business College at Rochester, New York. At the age of twenty-one years he came to Fulton county, at which time the village of Fayette was known as Gorham, a mere hamlet consisting of one store (Thompson & Caldwell's) and a blacksmith shop. Here our subject entered this store as clerk, remaining in that capacity until the fall of 1861, at which time he enlisted in Company K, Thirty-eighth Ohio Volunteer Infantry, for three years, and resigned in January, 1864, on account of dis- ability, his resignation being accepted. On the organization of the com- pany he was made second lieutenant, from which he was subsequently pro- moted to first lieutenant and adjutant, which rank he held up to his resig- nation. He then returned to Fayette, and soon afterward embarked in mercantile business there, in which he continued from 1865 to 1877, and for four years thereafter he conducted a produce business in the same local- ity. In 1885 he aided in the organization of the Bank of Fayette, of which institution he has been cashier and manager ever since.
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In 1867 Mr. Allen was elected a justice of the peace of Gorham town- ship, the first to hold the office in that township as a Republican, Gorham being at that time Democratic by a majority of fully eighty; and he was re-elected three times. In 1878 he was elected to the Ohio Legislature, on the Republican ticket, to represent Fulton county, and after serving one term (two years) was, in 1880, re-elected. During his career in the Legis- lature he served on the following committees: Military Affairs; Roads and Highways; and Ditches, Drains and Watercourses. The bill for the loca- tion of the Insane Asylum in Toledo received much of Mr. Allen's atten- tion, and his constituents are loud in their praise of his work in that line.
Mr. Allen also served for six years on the county board of school examiners of Fulton county, and was postmaster at Fayette for twelve years-1865 to 1877. He is usually a delegate to State Republican con- ventions, and altogether takes an active part in political matters, generally, in the county; in which connection it may be mentioned that he is the only Republican among six brothers in the Allen family.
In 1865 Charles L. Allen was married to Miss Susan Gamber, a daugh- ter of Henry Gamber, one of the first settlers in this section, who platted the first "lay-out" for the village of Fayette. She was born, in 1847, in New York State, coming to Ohio when a child, and was educated in the public schools of Gorham township. Two children were born to this union: Carrie B., at home; and Elsie M., wife of Doctor Clare Campbell, of Tedrow, Fulton county, Ohio.
As already intimated, Mr. Allen is a pronounced Republican and cast his first Presidential vote for Abraham Lincoln in 1864. Socially, he is a charter member of Gorham Lodge, No. 387, F. and A. M., and has filled most of the chairs therein; also is connected with the K. of P. and with Stout Post, No. 108, G. A. R., both of Fayette. He and his wife are. identi- fied with the M. E. Church, and, although non-communicants, give liber- ally of their means toward its support.
Isaac Allen, father of our subject, was born, in 1794, in Enfield, Con- necticut, and died in New York State in 1884. He was married in Con- necticut to Miss Mary Terry, a native of the same locality, who died in the year 1876. The father traveled from Connecticut to western New York State on foot, prior to the building of the Erie canal. He served in the war of 1812. To this honored pioneer couple were born ten children: Chauncey, Isaac, Harriet, Mary, Julia, Joseph, Emily, Henry, Charles and Arthur; of whom Harriet died in 1898 and Emily in 1880. Henry served during the war of the Rebellion in the One Hundred and Fortieth New
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York Volunteer Infantry, entering his company as sergeant, and after par- ticipating in all the hard-fought battles his regiment was engaged in, returned home with the rank of captain.
CHARLES SEYMOUR.
This highly esteemed citizen of Defiance is an inventor whose genius, as embodied in various designs and mechanisms, has been recognized in all parts of the civilized world. For about twenty years past he has been a designer and draughtsman of the Defiance Machine Works, and his in- ventions in wood-working machinery for the manufacture of wagons and carriages have enabled the company to distance all competitors.
Mr. Seymour was born November 1, 1838, at Fish House, Fulton county, New York. Harmon Seymour, the father of our subject, was en- gaged in business as a hatter at Ballston Spa and Schenectady, New York, his death occurring at the latter place.
At the age of eighteen Charles Seymour began to learn the machin- ist's trade in the New York Central railroad shops at Schenectady, and during his apprenticeship he also took lessons in drawing, and studied the theory of mechanics. He was constantly experimenting, and even in boy- hood he produced several valuable inventions, especially in planers, lathes, and other tools used by machinists; but few of his ideas were patented, and the benefits accrued to his employers. In 1867 Mr. Seymour went to Olympia, Washington Territory (at that time), and established a general jobbing and machine business, which he carried on successfully for eight years. In 1875 he returned to the East and located at Defiance, accept- ing the position of superintendent of the Defiance Machine Works, with which he has ever since been connected. In 1887 he gave up the post of superintendent and accepted that of designer and draughtsman. As the company makes a specialty of the machinery used by manufacturers of carriages and wagons, his attention has been turned chiefly in that direc- tion, his inventions, which are too numerous to be mentioned in this ar- ticle, being all patented and owned by the company, which has an exten- sive trade in foreign lands as well as in this country. For many years Mr. Seymour has been an occasional contributor to scientific journals, his thoughtful and scholarly articles attracting wide attention. He was the first to write upon the properties of rotating and revolving bodies from a mechanical and practical standpoint, and his conclusions brought him the commendatory notice of The Franklin Institute. Had he been of a more
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grasping nature he might have made a large fortune, but as it is he has se- cured a fair competence from his efforts. In 1894 and 1896 he made trips to Europe in connection with his business, and a plant of wagon and car- riage making machinery was started by him at Zurich, Switzerland. While absent he availed himself of the opportunity to visit different parts of Eu- rope, including Italy, France, Germany, Austria, Hungary, Denmark, Sweden, and the British Isles.
Although Mr. Seymour's educational opportunities were limited, his attendance at the public schools ending when he was only eleven years old, he has gained a wide range of information through his personal efforts with- out a teacher, and he is still an earnest student of general literature as well as in mechanical lines. Politically he is a Democrat, but he has never sought or held office. He is a member of the Episcopal Church, and so- cially is identified with the Masonic fraternity, having attained the Knight Templar degree.
HON. WILLIAM H. MCCAULEY.
Few men are more prominent or more widely known in Defiance county than Mr. McCauley, whose name is inseparably connected with its political history. He is distinctively a man of affairs, and one who wields a wide influence. He was born in Tiffin township, September 28, 1852, and is a worthy representative of one of the honored pioneer families of Defiance county. His grandfather, Patrick McCauley, came to Ohio from Pennsyl- vania and first located in Montgomery county, but in 1837 became a resident of Tiffin township, Defiance county.
Philip McCauley (the father of our subject) was born in Carlisle, Penn- sylvania, in 1822, and accompanied his parents on their emigration to Ohio, becoming a resident of Defiance county at the age of fifteen years. He bore an important part in the upbuilding and development of Tiffin township, and there made his home until called to his final rest, May 22, 1892. In early manhood he married Miss Mary Wissler, a native of Pickaway county, Ohio, and a daughter of John Wissler, also one of the prominent early settlers of Defiance county; having located in Tiffin township in 1833. To Mr. and Mrs. McCauley were born six children, namely : John C .; Orlando; Sarah, wife of Peter Kuhn; William H., the subject of this sketch; Hattie; and Freeman, who died at the age of four years. The mother of these children is still living.
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