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 14
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 14
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 14
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 14
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The family are all members of the M. E. Church, of which the father has served as class-leader, steward and trustee at various times through a long period of years. They reside in a commodious and handsome mod- ern dwelling built by Mr. Harley in 1877, at No. 610 Wayne street. As a Christian gentleman and good citizen Mr. Harley stands the peer of any, and as a business man his unquestioned integrity is well illustrated by the fact, that the prince of merchants, A. T. Stewart, offered him, while in New York City purchasing goods, a credit at one time to the amount of $100,000. Mr. Harley, at the age of seventy-six, is still hale and cheer- ful, with a prospect of many years of usefulness.
C. PERRY HARLEY.
This gentleman is a son of Christian Harley, mentioned above, and is one of the leading prominent and enterprising business spirits of the city of Defiance, Defiance county.
Mr. Harley was born September 10, 1855, at Florence, Ohio, but has passed most of his life at Defiance, where he came when he was but six years of age. Here, midst the best social surroundings and family influ- ence, he was reared, and was educated in the city schools. At the age of sixteen he took his first practical business lessons in his father's store, as clerk, remaining there until he was nineteen, when, on July 9, 1874, he was married to Miss Fannie M. Holgate, a daughter of the late W. C. Holgate, of Defiance. Soon after his marriage he went to Toledo, and with a brother engaged in the fur, hat and cap business. Returning to De- fiance in 1877, he and his brother, A. F. Harley, in the spring of that year bought out the father's prosperous dry-goods store, and conducted it suc- cessfully until 1882, when our subject, on account of failing health, sold out his interest to his brother, and sought other climes to find relief, pass- ing the winter of 1881-82 at St. Augustine, Florida, and the winter of 1883-84 at San Antonio, Texas.
Returning once more to Defiance in 1883, with health restored and generally invigorated, he in the fall of that year established a dry-goods store on the corner opposite the "Russell House," furnishing the capital, and his brother-in-law, R. T. Whitaker, having a working interest, the firm taking the name of C. P. Harley & Co. This enterprise under their ener- getic management proved a very successful business venture, and rapidly assumed large proportions, leading in sales any store of its kind in the city by a large per cent. In 1889 our subject sold a sufficient share of
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his interest to make a half interest in the business to Mr. Whitaker, the firm name being changed to Harley & Whitaker, and so remaining to the present time (1898). It is a busy place, its salesroom is continually crowded with customers; it is generally known as the "bargain store"-this is its secret of success. The proprietors being large purchasers by wholesale, secure the lowest prices, and then by quick sales and small profits benefit both themselves and customers.
Mr. Harley was one of the organizers and promoters of the Defiance Electric Light Co. (organized in 1886), and for some time was its treas- urer, but sold out his interest in 1891 to the parties who built the street railway. On the death of his father-in-law. William C. Holgate, August 13, 1888, he was elected to succeed him as president of the Merchants National Bank of Defiance, and was also made one of the joint execu- tors in the settlement of the William C. Holgate estate, one of the largest ever administered in Defiance county, amounting to three hundred and fifty thousand dollars. Mr. Harley is still president of the bank, and has added to his career by a half interest in a boot and shoe store in Music Hall block, which, under the firm name of Harley Brothers, has been conducted since 1893; in connection with his other enterprises he is also largely interested in real estate, and in 1882 he built the Music Hall block, which he still owns; also, in 1890, the Elk block, which is owned by his wife.
In politics Mr. Harley is an ardent Republican, and while never an office seeker, yet by means and influence he gives the party stanch and lib- eral support. His early training in religion was under the auspices of the M. E. Church, but for some years past he has been a member of the Pres- byterian Church. A bank president, dry-goods merchant, boot and shoe merchant, real-estate dealer, and a farmer operating a tract of six hundred acres one mile north of Defiance, Mr. Harley is one of the busiest men in the city, and to so successfully care for such large and varied interests re- quires administrative ability of the first order. Of great energy, possessed of good judgment, and untiring industry, public-spirited and thoroughly enterprising, Mr. Harley would be a marked man in any community. He is one of the host highly honored and respected citizens of his home city.
Mrs. Fannie (Holgate) Harley was born October 2, 1856; was edu- cated in the Defiance school, also at the Cleveland Female Seminary, and is a talented and amiable lady. Her father, William C. Holgate, was one of the most successful and enterprising men of Defiance, and probably did more toward building up the city from a small village than any other. He was a lawyer of acknowledged and superior attainments, of broad com-
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prehensive mind, and great financial ability. He was a bank president for many years, and was prominently identified with the interests of Defiance from 1837 to the day of his death, August 13, 1888. He was a native of Vermont, born at Burlington, November 23, 1814, of English and Scotch descent. He left two children, namely: Mrs. Fannie Harley and W. Cur- tis Holgate. W. Curtis Holgate was born November 29, 1854; on Sep- tember 14, 1876, he was married to Florence Gleason; and to them were born two children-William C., July 19, 1877; and Robert Gleason, Oc- tober 1, 1880. The father followed farming and the breeding of fine trot- ting horses, and was an eminently honored and respected citizen. He spent much time in travel throughout the country. He died January 31, 1887. His widow, Mrs. Florence (Gleason) Holgate, was married May 16, 1892, to Elmer T. Clark, and now resides in Defiance.
Mr. and Mrs. C. Perry Harley have two children: Holgate C., born June 19, 1876, now manager of his father's shoe store; and Fannie Maude, born December 5, 1884. Since 1876 the family have resided at No. 512 Holgate avenue, the old homestead of Mrs. Harley's father.
SAMUEL B. McLAIN.
The subject of this sketch, who for many years was a prominent, pro- gressive and prosperous agriculturist, now living retired, is a native of this State, born March 31, 1836, in Knox county.
John McLain, grandfather of our subject, came from Pennsylvania to Knox county, Ohio, in 1829, where he followed farming and stock rais- ing. He married Miss Phoebe Swan, of Pennsylvania, and by her had a family of eight children-four sons and four daughters-and one of the sons, Abijah, is now living in Granville, Ohio, at the age of eighty-three years.
Charles S. McLain, the eldest born in the family of John and Phoebe (Swan) McLain, and the father of our subject, was born in June, 1813. in Pennsylvania, coming thence to Knox county, Ohio, where he mar- ried Miss Ruth R. Berryhill, a native of that State, born in 1815. They had a family of ten children-five sons and five daughters-as follows: Samuel Berryhill; Mary A. (deceased); Hattie, of Mt. Vernon, Ohio; Lor- etta (deceased); William E., living in Colorado; Frances (deceased); Charles A., of Colorado Springs, Colorado; Henry H., of Knox county, Ohio; Louis, of Mt. Vernon, Ohio; and a son that died in infancy.
S. B. McLain, the subject proper of these lines, received a liberal edu-
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cation for his boyhood day in the subscription schools of Knox county, somewhat primitive though they were in their makeup, the seats being made of slabs, and the writing desks of rough boards, while quill pens were yet in use, and the ink was made from the bark of the maple tree. Until 1859 he assisted his father in the labor of the farm, and then took a trip to the South, spending over a year in the sunny latitudes; thence moving northward again, to Illinois and Iowa, in which States he made his home some seven years, then returning to Ohio, and settling on his present farm of three hundred forty acres, one hundred of which lie in Fulton county, and two hundred forty in Henry county. In addition to this he has given eighty acres to each of his sons. For several years he dealt extensively in horses, cattle, sheep and hogs, but is now living retired, having rented his farm. In politics he is a Republican, in religious faith a member of the Presbyterian Church.
Mr. McLain has been twice married, first time, in 1864, to Miss An- geline Rosecrans, whose father was a cousin of General Rosecrans, late of the United States Army. She had one child that died in infancy, and she herself passed away after about one year's married life. On August 29, 1866, our subject wedded Miss Mary E. Crawford, a native of Knox county, Ohio, born February II, 1841, and five children graced their union, namely: George H., of Liberty Center, Ohio; Burton C., a farmer of Ful- ton county, Ohio; and Leroy, Ruth and Hattie, all three deceased.
George and Jane (McCann) Crawford, parents of Mrs. McLain, were natives of Halifax, Nova Scotia, and Washington county, Pennsylvania, re- spectively. They were married June 12, 1837, in Muskingum county, Ohio, and came to Knox county in 1838, where they carried on agricultural pur- suits. Their family comprised four children: James C., who died in April, 1883; Mary E. (Mrs. McLain); Eliza (Mrs. Joel B. Couch), of Napoleon, Ohio; and G. A., of Liberty Center, Henry county. Mrs. McLain's grand- father, James Crawford, was a native of Ireland, where he married Cath- erine Miller, and in 1812 they came to this continent, making their home in Nova Scotia for a time, thence coming to Ohio. They had a family of eight children, all now deceased. Mrs. McLain's maternal grandfather, Archibald McCann, was also a native of Ireland, and was a captain in the Irish army at the time of the first Rebellion in that country; his father was executed for his active participation in that "rising." Archibald McCann was married in Washington, Pennsylvania, to a Miss Mary Mathews, also of Irish birth, and some time afterward they came to Ohio, both dying in Muskingum county. They had nine children-seven sons and two daugh-
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ters-one of whom, Doctor A. C. McCann, is now living in Paulding county, Ohio.
Mrs. S. B. McLain was educated in part at the schools of Napoleon, in part at Granville (Ohio) Female College, graduating from that institution in 1861, after which she taught three terms in Henry county. She and her husband are numbered among the citizens of Fulton county of the high- est respectability, and, socially, they occupy an enviable position.
J. L. SHINABERGER.
It has been aptly stated that the latter half of the nineteenth century is the "age of the young man." In looking over the important events that have transpired in recent years, there is found a greater number of young men taking prominent parts, young men filling offices of greater responsibility, than ever before. The practical but comprehensive educational system has had a great deal to do toward opening the way for the young man, whose energy, whose ambition urges him onward and upward. Such an one is J. L. Shina- berger, sheriff of Fulton county, Ohio, and the youngest man in the State holding that position. He was born April 18, 1870, the son of Jacob and Han- nah (Kirkwood) Shinaberger.
James Shinaberger, his grandfather, was born in Pennsylvania, and moved to Richland county, Ohio, later coming to Fulton county. He married Margaret Holtz, of Pennsylvania, by whom he had four children, all of whom are yet living: Lavina, wife of Leonard Alleman, of Fulton county ; Jacob, mention of whom is made below; John, of Hillsdale county, Michigan; and Sarah, wife of George Frederick, of this county.
Jacob Shinaberger was born in 1844, and followed farming as an occupa- tion all his life. During the Civil war he enlisted, becoming a member of Company C, Sixty-fifth Ohio Volunteer Infantry, and served until the time of his enlistment had expired. He married Hannah Kirkwood, who was born September 8, 1847, and died in 1879. Three children were born of this union : James Lewis, our subject; one that died in infancy; and Anna, now the wife of Henry Deckerson, a farmer of Fulton county, by whom she has two children: Lewis and Fern. Hannah (Kirkwood) Shinaberger was a daughter of Lewis Kirkwood, a native of Ohio, who served in the Thirty- third Ohio Volunteer Infantry during the war of the Rebellion. He married Hannah Elizabeth Shreves, a native of New Jersey, born December 28, 1828, and they became the parents of the following children : Hannah, our subject's mother; Thomas (4), born September 27, 1849; Anna, born January 25,
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J. L. Shinaberger
COMMEMORATIVE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 165
1853; Charles, born March 30, 1861; Elma, born October 5, 1863; Amos, born August 21, 1866; and Jessie, born October 14, 1871. The Kirkwood family in America is descended from Thomas ( I) Kirkwood, who was born in Ireland in 1750, and landed in America November 30, 1784. He had a son Thomas (2) who was born October 14, 1779, and died January 6, 1856. Thomas (2) married Hannah -, who was born July 5, 1784, and died April 9, 1847. Their children were: Elizabeth, born September 5, 1802; Thomas (3), September 24, 1804; Sarah, May 15, 1807; Charles, May 15, 1809; Hannah, June 16, 1811 ; Mary, April 19, 1816; Susanna, May 6, 1821 ; and Lewis, our subject's grandfather.
J. L. Shinaberger was educated in the county schools of Fulton county, and in the Northwestern Normal at Wauseon. From the Scientific Depart- ment of the last named institution he was graduated in 1893, and he then immediately began the practical use of his acquirements by engaging in teaching, which he continued with much success for thirteen terms. His close application during the years he was a student, and his careful observation of the methods of his own instructors, peculiarly fitted him for the teacher's profession, while his pupils, with that remarkable intuition of school children, soon recognized in his a master mind, and quietly and quickly accepted his control. In 1896 he was elected to the office of sheriff of Fulton county on the Republican ticket, carrying the county with a plurality of nine hundred and twenty-five, and running fifty-two votes ahead of his ticket. He entered upon the duties of his new position January 4, 1897, and since that time has ex- ceeded the expectations even of those who knew him best. His work is accomplished with so little ostentation, but with so great care that he has won the plaudits even of his political enemies, and it is safe to predict that the future holds much success in store for him. Quiet and courteous in his man- ner, he has hosts of friends. His position, so unusual for one of his years, has not been the means of betraying any latent weakness in his character ; he upholds the dignity of his office with the modesty of ingenuous youth, and the wisdom of maturer years.
In 1896 Mr. Shinaberger was married to Miss Ophelia Smith, a daughter of Benjamin Smith, a farmer of Williams county, Ohio. One child, John, born July 17, 1897, has come to brighten their happy home. Mrs. Shina- berger is a refined and intelligent lady. She was educated at Wauseon, and successfully taught for several terms in Williams county. Their charming home is all that intelligence and culture can make it, and is often the meeting place for the brightest lights in the educational world at Wauseon.
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HON. W. A. SCOTT, JR.
The advancement of civilization is due, in no small degree, to the indi- vidual lessons derived from the mistakes and success of others. It is just as necessary that the mariners know the rocks and the shoals to be avoided as it is for them to know the safer and the surer way. It is in the pages of history and biography that we trace the motives of men, and find their effect in the progress of the world. Each generation leaves a heritage of habits, good or ill, and happy indeed is he who can point with pride to a long line of honorable ancestry.
In the early days of this country, there settled in Massachusetts one Scott, who lived a quiet, industrious life, and there died. Joel Scott, one of his descendants, was born October 20, 1751, and in 1774 was married to Miss Molly Bacon, who was born August 22, 1755, and died at Paines- ville, Lake county, Ohio, August 30, 1821. Joel Scott enlisted as a sol- dier in the Revolutionary war. In 1807 he removed to Painesville, Ohio, and put in the first mills in northern Ohio. As late as 1833 the mills at Painesville were still running with its wooden cogs and gearing. In 1825 Mr. Scott went to Huron county, and located in Fairfield township. In his religious belief he was a Presbyterian, and in politics a Whig. He died November 8, 1835, in Swanton township, Lucas county. In his fam- ily were the following children: (1) Joel, Jr., born June, 1775, was mar- ried in 1801, to Laura Matthews, and died January 7, 1855, in New York. (2) Rufus (1), born April, 1777, died the same year. (3) Pollie, born May 29, 1778, was married in August, 1801, to Abijah Merrill (who died at Akron, Ohio, at the age of sixty-six), and died March 15, 1806. (4) Abi- gail, born September 12, 1780, was married February 7, 1802, to David Harrott, who died, and she then, May 3, 1807, wedded Abijah Merrill; she died August 28, 1872. (5) Gad, born April 24, 1783, died October 30, 1805. (6) Rufus (2), born June 26, 1785, died in Swanton township, Lucas county, September 2, 1835. (7) William, born May 8, 1788, was married on June 15, 1840, to Liza A. Alexander, and died in Vicksburg, Missis- sippi, October 31, 1841. His widow removed to California, there remar- ried. (8) Chester, born September 7, 1790, died at Swanton August 4, 1868, at the age of seventy-eight years. (9) Persis (1), born September, 1793, died in August, 1797. (10) Persis (2), born April 15, 1798, died January 27, 1861. (II) Philo B., born April 22, 1801, is mentioned more fully below. Of these children-Rufus, William and Chester were engaged in bridge building for many years on the Western Reserve.
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Philo B. Scott lived at Painesville, Ohio, and though desirous of a college education, was unable to secure it. He spent two or three years making a home in Huron county, which at that time was still infested with bears, wolves, etc. For nine years he lived in Thompson township, Sen- eca county, going from there to Swanton township, Lucas county, in April, 1835. In the spring of 1845, he was elected superintendent of the Lucas County Infirmary. In politics he was first a Whig, and then a Republi- can, having attended the convention held at Maumee in 1854 when the principles of Republicanism were adopted before the formal organization of the party. He also served as justice of the peace, and held several township offices. He helped to lay out the first road west of the Maumee, known as the Old State road. In religion he was a devout follower of John Wesley.
On December 27, 1821, Philo B. Scott was married to Emelia Brown, who was born April 2, 1807, and died April 17, 1865. After her death he married Mrs. Anna Huftile. He was the father of the following child- ren, all by his first marriage: (1) William Alfred, mentioned more fully below. (2) Napoleon B., born September, 1825, in Fairfield, Huron coun- ty, died in Thompson township, Seneca county, Ohio, August 14, 1828. (3) Charles J., born October 22, 1827, was married October 17, 1867, to Eliza A. Cowling. (4) Isabel S., born April 3, 1832, died in Lucas county, April 6, 1853. (5) F. P., born in Lucas county, December 19, 1837, died March 31, 1838. (6) Philo B., born June 1, 1839, died July 29, 1844. (7) Eliza E., born December 12, 1841, was married August 25, 1870, to N. J. Harding, and died at Norwalk, Ohio, January 27, 1879. Mr. Hard- ing died at Grindstone City, Michigan, August 11, 1885. (8) Mary L., born April 12, 1844, died May 10, 1844. (9) Rufus C., born March 30, 1845, was married November 29, 1867, to Harriet Rogers. (10) Win- field, born July 16, 1849, was married March 21, 1869, to Frances E. Rog- ers, and died November 13, 1873, preceded by his wife, who passed away October 15, 1870. The father of this family was called to his final rest April II, 1874.
William Alfred Scott, Sr., the eldest son in the above mentioned fam- ily, was born August 21, 1823, and was educated in the schools near his home and in a select school in Maumee. His life, when out of the school- room, was spent on the farm until he was twenty-one. He began the study of medicine, and worked for a time in a drug store in Toledo, where he acquired some knowledge of pharmacy. He attended medical lectures in Cleveland, and while still a student served as physician to the county infir-
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mary. In 1849 he went to Vienna, Michigan, and in the spring of 1850 returned to Ohio. He married, and started for California the same day, leaving his wife in Ohio. The trip going was made over the plains, and the only white settlement worth mentioning was at Salt Lake. He set- tled on Maxwell's creek, and the Merced river, and engaged in trading and mining. In December, 1852, he returned home by the way of the Isthmus of Panama, and located in Lucas county, Ohio, where he has been practicing almost continuously ever since. He is much the oldest prac- ticing physician in this locality, and in spite of his years keeps abreast with the advancement of the medical science. His first vote was cast for Henry Clay in 1844; on the organization of the Republican party he be- came one of its stanchest adherents, but since 1885 he has cast his bal- lot in support of the men and the measures of the Prohibition party.
On April 8, 1850, occurred the marriage of William Alfred Scott, Sr., and Miss Eleanor Johnson, parents of whom both died in 1835, leaving their six children-three sons and three daughters-orphans. To Doctor and Mrs. Scott were born five children: Ann, born February 27, 1856, died in March, 1856; Isabel, born October 8, 1858, died February 13, 1881; Will- iam Alfred, Jr., a sketch of whom follows; Eleanor, born August 11, 1868, and died August 20, 1877; and Winfield L., born March 18, 1874. On June 8, 1892, the happy home was darkened by the death of the devoted wife and mother, thus closing a life spent in kindly thoughtfulness for others, and in the making of a true home "the only bliss of Paradise that hath survived the fall."
Hon. W. A. Scott, Jr., was born July 3, 1861, and received his educa- tion in part at Olivett College, and in part at Michigan University. At the age of sixteen years he began teaching, in which he continued some twenty-three terms, and for one year he was principal of the Swanton schools. In 1886 he embarked in the insurance and real-estate businesses in Swanton, buying out F. K. Hogue. In 1888 he was appointed mayor of Swanton, and on the expiration of that term was unanimously elected to the office. He has been clerk of the school board for several years.
In 1895 Mr. Scott was elected to the Ohio Legislature to represent Fulton county on the Republican ticket, running ahead of it. At the nom- ination of this he had three opposing candidates. In 1897 he was re- elected to the Legislature, his present term expiring in 1899. He was chairman of the committee on Taxation, and a member of the committee on Dairying and Food, the committee on Elections, and the committee on Insurance. In February, 1898, he was appointed as one of the dele-
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gates to represent the Republican League held at Omaha, Nebraska, in July, 1898. From the time he was twenty-one years old till leaving Lu- cas county he was a member of every Republican political convention held in that county, and he has been a prominent political speaker in different campaigns.
On May 5, 1887, Mr. Scott was married to Cora Vaughan, a native of Fulton county, Ohio, born February 19, 1863, and educated in the schools of Swanton. Her father, James C. Vaughan, is still living in Swanton; her mother died June 20, 1878. To the marriage of our subject and his wife have come two children, their names and dates of birth being as fol- lows: Ned, November 13, 1890, and Fred, January 9, 1893.
GENERAL ROBERT KINGSTON SCOTT.
Cooper declared that there was "an instinctive tendency in men to look at any man who has become distinguished." Two centuries before, the immortal Bacon had said: "Men in great places are thrice servants- servants of the sovereign, or state; servants of fame, and servants of busi- ness; so as they have no freedom, neither in their persons, nor in their actions, nor in their times."
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