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 3
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 3
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 3
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 3
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there eighteen months, and fully justifying the confidence of his employers in his ability and integrity. His life there was not without its amusing side. One day John and William Price and Elisha Thorpe came to the bridge, and John asked what the toll was. Mr. Wilhelm said that it was not much, only three cents apiece. "Do you charge extra for baggage?" inquired Mr. Price. "No," said Mr. Wilhelm, "you can carry all you want to." At this Mr. Price stooped over, and, his two companions climbing up on his back, he carried them across, Mr. Wilhelm walking by his side to see that he "toted fair."
In the fall of 1844 he became a clerk in the dry-goods store of C. L. Noble & Co., with the privilege of attending school in winter. This arrangement lasted one year, but for two years following he was paid forty dollars per month. As he could talk both English and German, he controlled the German trade from a wide circuit, and he thought himself entitled to higher wages. The firm refused to give him more, so Mr. Wil- helm entered the employ of Cyrus Lyman at North Defiance for fifty dollars a month, and remained until the store was sold. In 1847 Mr. Wilhelm opened a grocery on his own account in a building belonging to Mr. Lyman, at the north end of the bridge, Mr. Lyman endorsing for him at Toledo for his stock. After four months at that location Mr. Wilhelm moved to the south end of the bridge, locating on the west side of the road. He prospered, and in 1853 he removed to the present site of the Wilhelm block, forming a partnership with G. M. Weisenberger in a gen- eral mercantile business. They continued four years, during which time Mr. Wilhelm became an invalid through drinking too much ice water. For a time his case seemed desperate, and he spent six thousand dollars in cash traveling about in search of a remedy, but finally he was cured by three weeks' treatment from Dr. Brooks, a young physician at Gilboa, Ohio, at a cost of one dollar and a half!
In 1857 Mr. Wilhelm went to Independence and bought a grocery, which he carried on for four years. He also purchased one hundred and twelve acres of land on credit from George Philips, a wholesale grocer of Dayton, Ohio, who supplied him also with twenty-two hundred dollars' worth of goods on time. The entire indebtedness amounted to six thou- sand dollars, which Mr. Wilhelm paid off in six years. In 1861 he returned to Defiance and formed a partnership with a brother-in-law; but nine months later he purchased his partner's interest. He continued the busi- ness successfully for fifteen years, buying his groceries by the car-load, and also engaged extensively in the lumber trade. He virtually conducted
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a banking business during part of this time, as he cashed lumbermen's drafts to a large amount. Real-estate speculation also occupied his atten- tion, and at one time he owned three thousand acres of land, much of it being heavily wooded. He disposed of the timber to lumbermen at a hand- some profit, and sold part of the land, but still has about two thousand acres. His wealth is largely invested in Defiance. He owns two houses and lots, two hundred vacant lots, the Wilhelm block, containing three stores, the Defiance mills, purchased in 1876; the Erie mills, and the Cement mill, two miles south of the city. The first two mills are now operated by a stock company, known as the Maumee Valley Milling Co., of which Mr. Wilhelm is president; William Ryan, treasurer, and J. R. Wilhelm, our sub- ject's son, general manager. Mr. Wilhelm is one of the promoters of the village of Holgate, and contributed his share to the building of schools and railroads. He is still actively engaged in buying and selling real estate.
In politics he is a Democrat, and his abilities have given him promi- nence in this line also. He was county commissioner for two terms, city councilman three terms, and city treasurer two terms. He is a leading member of the Catholic Church, and was one of the chief workers in the erection of the first church of that faith in Defiance, a frame building on the site of St. John's. He also assisted in building the first M. E. church ever erected in Defiance.
Mr. Wilhelm was married April 5, 1847, to Miss Mary Rickert, who died in 1875, leaving six children: John R .; Frank; Catherine, now Mrs. William Jackson; Amelia; Clara; and Adam, who was killed, in 1891, at the age of nineteen, by the kick of a horse. In 1841-42 Mr. Wilhelm assisted in the constructing of the Miami and Erie canal, and in the construction of the dam across the Maumee river at Independence, the foundation tim- bers were bolted to the rock of the river bed, and Mr. Wilhelm carried the bolts for this purpose to the workmen who were putting in the founda- tion. He safely passed through the cholera epidemic which raged for a time at Independence. He was one of a committee of three-Mr. Ables, Mr. Metts, and our subject-for the burying of the dead from the disease. So fast were the people carried away by the plague that the members of this committee were obliged to work day and night at their task, which so overcame some of them that they had to give up the work for recupera- tion; others then had to be secured to relieve them of their arduous duty. One assistant, Isaac Hively, agreed to assist in the burying for five dollars each. He buried three, and the next notice to the committee was that Mr. Hively had died of the same dreadful disease. During the cholera
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siege our subject would talk with a man on business, and within four hours thereafter would be called upon to bury the same party!
HON. ALFRED P. EDGERTON.
This deceased gentleman was in his lifetime one of the most distin- guished citizens of this section, and his able, faithful, and long-continued service in important official positions reflects honor upon the community in which he made his home. His prominence in political affairs is indicated by his service as Congressman; member of the Ohio State Senate; presi- dent of the Civil Service Commission, and by his election as a delegate to four national Democratic conventions, while his name was associated with numerous undertakings which have been of permanent benefit to the busi- ness interests of the country.
Mr. Edgerton came of good old English ancestry, and traced his descent from Richard Edgerton, one of the original thirty-five proprietors of Norwich, Connecticut. He was born January 11, 1813, at Plattsburg. New York, and received an academic education at Albany. For a time after leaving school he edited a newspaper at his native place, but in 1833 he removed to New York City, and engaged in mercantile business. In the spring of 1837 he came to Ohio, and assumed the management of the extensive interests of the American Land Company, and the Hicks Land Company in the northwestern part of the State, establishing his office and home at Hicksville, then in Williams county. He ever afterward retained a residence there, his beautiful home being always kept ready for his occupancy, and he spent much of his time there; but in 1859 he removed to Fort Wayne, Indiana. From that time until 1868 his attention was mainly devoted to the management of the Indiana State canals, which he leased in partnership with Hugh McCulloch and Pliny Hoogland, and at different times he was identified with various railroad interests in Indiana and Michigan, as promoter, stockholder, and director.
His abilities received early recognition among his fellow-workers in the Democratic party, and his fidelity to duty in every office fully justified their confidence in him. In 1845 he was elected to the Ohio State Senate; in 1848 was a delegate-at-large to the National Democratic Convention; in 1850 was elected to the XXXIId Congress; in 1852 was re-elected, and as a member of the XXXIIId Congress he served as chairman of the Committee on Claims, and was one of its most active and conscientious members, blocking many false claims. In 1853 he was appointed financial
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agent of the State of Ohio, with an office at New York City, and this posi- tion he held until May 1, 1856. From 1852 to 1856 he was a member of the Democratic National Committee, and was chairman of the sub-com- mittee which organized the national convention in the latter year. In 1858 he was a member of a committee appointed to investigate certain frauds upon the Ohio State treasury, and he assisted in preparing an elab- orate report disclosing the extent of the frauds and the names of the guilty parties.
In January, 1864, he was chosen delegate-at-large to the national convention of his party. In 1868 he was a candidate for the post of lieu- tenant-governor of Indiana on the ticket with Thomas A. Hendricks, but was defeated, and in 1872 he was nominated as the "straight out" candidate for governor of that State, but he declined to run. In November, 1885, President Cleveland appointed him as a member of the United States Civil Service Commission, and for about four years he served as chairman of that body. Throughout his life Mr. Edgerton was an earnest friend to educa- tional progress, and for many years he served as a member of the school board at Fort Wayne, and as trustee of Purdue University at Lafayette, Indiana, and of the Agricultural and Mechanical College of Indiana, which is endowed by the general government.
His unswerving integrity in financial matters is shown by the fact that he was not a very wealthy man, notwithstanding the opportunities for gain which his official positions gave him. His business enterprises were profit- able, and in the early '70's he was worth from eight hundred thousand to a million dollars, but, having made a verbal promise as security for his brother Lycurgus, who was in business in New York City, he felt com- pelled to meet all liabilities when the panic of 1873 brought on the failure of the latter. This took the greater portion of Mr. Edgerton's fortune, and as he was not legally bound to pay the obligations, the incident illustrates in a striking way his high sense of honor.
On February 9, 1841, Mr. Edgerton was married at Columbus, Ohio, to Miss Charlotte Dixon, who was born June 1, 1816, at Portland, Con- necticut, a daughter of Charles and Lucy (Sage) Dixon, of Bethany, New York. Soon after their marriage Mr. Edgerton brought his bride to his home in Hicksville, which had just been completed for her reception, and the first gentleman to call and offer his congratulations on their arrival was Chief Justice Waite. In this home many happy years were spent, the following children blessing the union: Henry Hicks, born January 1, 1842; Cornelia Augusta, born February 4, 1843, died August 13, 1848; Frances
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DeLord, born September 1, 1844; Alfred P., Jr., born April 12, 1846; Charlotte Elizabeth, born October 1, 1847; Ann Eliza, born June 4. 1849; Arthur, born February 7, 1852, died March 28, 1856; and Dixon, born July 28, 1857. On January 21, 1895, the beloved wife and mother passed to the unseen life, deeply mourned by a large circle of friends. She was a member of the Episcopal Church and was prominent in its varied activities.
Even when well advanced in years, Mr. Edgerton displayed remark- able intellectual and physical vitality, and was still actively interested in various progressive movements of the day. He died May 14, 1897, at Hicksville, Ohio, and was buried at Fort Wayne, Indiana, May 17, from Trinity Church.
CAPTAIN THOMAS YEAGER.
In his lifetime Captain Yeager was a leading citizen of Evansport, Defi- ance county. He was one of the gallant band of military veterans, whose service during the Civil war entitles them to the gratitude of every true American. For many years he was prominently identified with mercantile business in his locality, but for some time prior to his death, February 3, 1898, he was living in retirement, enjoying in well-earned leisure the fruits of past labors.
Captain Yeager was born November 9, 1828, in Butler county, Penn- sylvania, a son of John and Elizabeth Ann (Duke) Yeager, also natives of the Keystone State, the former of whom was of German blood, the latter of Scotch descent. Their marriage occurred in Butler county, Pennsyl- ยท vania, whence they afterward came to Ohio, residing for two years in Stark county, three years in Portage county, two years in Wood county, then settling at Florida, Henry county, where the mother died in 1845 at the age of fifty-four years. Her father, Daniel Duke, also died in that locality. After spending four years there our subject's father removed to Wolcott- ville, Lagrange county, Indiana, and his death occurred there in 1863, when he had reached the advanced age of eighty-three years. Our subject was the fifth in a family of fifteen children-eight sons and seven daughters.
Captain Yeager's educational opportunities were somewhat limited, but through observation and private study he secured a good practical knowl- edge of men and affairs. He made his home with his father until 1847. in October of that year locating in Evansport, where he was employed some six years by John Snyder. While there he married, and soon after- ward he settled upon a rented farm in Williams county, where he remained
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three years. He then returned to the vicinity of Evansport, and continued farming until 1858, in which year he engaged in a mercantile business in the village. This he conducted successfully for more than thirty years, selling out in 1891, after which he was not actively engaged in any busi- ness. Although the Captain took much interest in the questions of the day, he was never an office-seeker. In local affairs he was influential, and socially he was prominent, being connected with various orders, including the I. O. O. F. His title of "Captain" was earned by service of about eight months in the Eighty-sixth Ohio Volunteer Infantry, Company E, which he joined in 1863, with the rank of captain.
On May 5, 1853, Captain Yeager was married in Evansport to Miss Mary T. Snyder, who was born in that town in 1833, a daughter of John and Nancy A. Snyder. Two children have blessed this union: John A., a resident of Evansport; and Nancy E., wife of A. C. Cameron, of Evans- port.
HON. HENRY HARDY.
Hon. Henry Hardy, of Defiance, who for more than a quarter of a century has been a leading member of the Defiance County Bar, is a man of strong character and marked influence. Possessing in a high degree the esteem of his fellow citizens, he has been called by them to various positions of trust and responsibility, and these he has filled with a fidelity which reflects credit upon him and upon the judgment of his constituents as well.
A native of West Troy, New York, he was born June 28, 1827. His family was of pure Saxon origin, but by intermarriage with different families from Scotland and Ireland it acquired the admixture of blood known as the Scotch-Irish, a strain which has produced a large proportion of our eminent men. Mr. Hardy's ancestors had their home for many generations in County Donegal, Ireland, where they were mainly engaged in farming and stock raising, being also more or less interested as dealers in cattle.
William Hardy, our subject's father, was born about 1794, near Mount Charles, or Letterkenny, in that county, and for a time in his youth followed the ancestral occupations with his father. At the age of nineteen he came to America alone, and from 1813 to 1817 remained at Warrensburg, Warren county, New York. He then located at West Troy as a dry-goods merchant, continuing in business successfully until 1836, when he came to Ohio and purchased a farm at Newcomerstown, Tuscarawas county. His wife, Mary (McCafferty), to whom he was married at West Troy, died at their home
1498479
Henry Hardy
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in Ohio in 1862, and his own death occurred six years later. They had eleven children, of whom four-Edwin, Eleanor, John and Henry-lived to adult age.
The subject of this sketch first attended school in West Troy, but after the removal of the family to this State his opportunities for an education were restricted to an attendance at the district schools of Tuscarawas county, and a night school of a grade corresponding to the grammar schools of to-day He was an apt pupil and made the most of his somewhat limited facilities, laying a good foundation for future progress. He remained with his father until nearly eighteen years of age, and then left home to take a place as driver on the canal. In this capacity he made the trip to Cleveland, but one week at the employment satisfied him, and he returned to the parental roof. He then spent eighteen months in learning the tailor's trade, which he followed for a time, but in 1850 he located at Defiance, purchasing some timbered land. In 1853 he married his first wife, Miss Mary Ann Platter, daughter of George Platter, Esq., a well-known farmer of Paulding county, residing twelve miles from Defiance. The day before his marriage Mr. Hardy went to Charloe, Paulding county, to procure a license. The first year of their wedded life was passed at Newcomerstown, Ohio, Mr. Hardy being engaged in his trade there, but afterward he bought a farm ten miles southwest of Defiance, on the Maumee river, where he lived for two years. During this time his wife died, leaving one son, George P., now a resident of Paulding county.
In 1857 Mr. Hardy was elected recorder of Defiance county, and removed to the county seat. He served six years in that office, being re-elected in 1860; in the meantime he studied law with Thomas McBride, and was admitted to the Bar. In the same year he was elected to the office of prosecuting attorney for Defiance county, and was re-elected at the expiration of his term, serving four years in all. His law practice occupied his entire attention for a time, but in 1873 he was nominated by the Democratic party as a member of the Legislature, and was elected in the following year. At the close of his term he resumed his practice, and in 1878 he was again chosen to represent his locality in the Legislature. During that session, 1878-79, the laws of the State were codified, the statutes as then revised taking effect in 1880. Mr. Hardy also served as mayor of Defiance before the place was chartered as a city, but with the exception of the time spent in these public duties, which were faithfully and ably performed, he has devoted his energies to professional work.
In 1859 Mr. Hardy married a second wife, Miss Elizabeth Hamilton, a lineal descendant of Gaven Hamilton, mentioned in Robert Burns' poem,
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"Holy Willie's Prayer." Her father, who was also named Gaven Hamilton, was a prosperous miller near Newville, Indiana. Mrs. Elizabeth Hardy died in 1864, leaving two children: Mary, a successful teacher in the Defiance schools, who also keeps house for her father; and John, now engaged in railroad work in Mexico City, Mexico. Four years after the death of his second wife, Mr. Hardy married Miss Julia Dunning, daughter of Charles Dunning, captain of a boat. Her death occurred in 1889, one child surviving her : Henrietta, now Mrs. William C. Heth, of Fort Wayne, Indiana. Mr. Hardy resides at No. 219 Wayne street, Defiance, in a building which was used as the first court house in Williams county.
From boyhood Mr. Hardy has been an active supporter of the Democratic party, has made many political speeches in this section, and served as a dele- gate to many conventions, Judicial, State and Congressional. In 1896 he endorsed the Chicago platform, upholding the free coinage of silver at 16 to I. He is a member of the Episcopal Church, and of the Masonic fraternity, being a Knight Templar.
JONATHAN P. BUFFINGTON.
In reviewing the lives of citizens of Defiance county in a volume of this nature, none more properly finds a place in its pages than the honored citizen and representative business man whose name opens this brief bio- graphical notice.
Mr. Buffington is descended from a sturdy, honest and God-fearing stock, remotely natives of England and members of the Society of Friends, who formed part of the colony that came with William Penn and founded the city of Philadelphia, and the State of Pennsylvania. There his ances- tors were farmers, and with strong arms, industrious and steady habits, helped to lay the foundation of a mighty nation. The ancestral home of the Buffington family was in Brandywine township, Chester county, and on Brandywine creek, of that township, James Buffington, grandfather of our subject, owned and operated a farm which covered part of the ground on which the Revolutionary "Battle of Brandywine" was fought.
Joshua Buffington, father of our subject, lived on and operated the old homestead for some four or five years after his marriage to Eliza Parks, also a descendant of the colony, who came with William Penn, and a daugh- ter of Joseph Parks. Joshua Buffington, with his family, migrated west in 1832, and located on a fine farm of two hundred and forty acres in Salem township, Champaign county, Ohio; this farm he improved until it was
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known as one of the best in Ohio. He afterward bought a farm at West Liberty, Logan county, Ohio, to which he removed and lived on until his death in 1884, when he was aged seventy-seven; his wife died in Salem township in 1859, aged fifty-seven years. They had a family of nine chil- dren, and left six living children, named as follows: Jonathan P., our subject; Anna, who married William Johnson, and died at Spring Valley, Illinois; Caroline, who married Samuel Cowgill, and died in Champaign county, Ohio; Sarah, now deceased, never married; Jacob, who married, and is a citizen of Bement, Illinois; and John, who married, and lives at North Baltimore, Ohio.
Jonathan P. Buffington was born November 12, 1828, on the old homestead of the family in Brandywine township, and was therefore four years old when his parents moved to Ohio. He was reared a farmer boy, attending the neighborhood schools and the high school at Springfield, Ohio, and later his education was completed by a three years' attendance at Granville College, in Licking county, at which college he had as class- mates and fellow students: George H. Williams, afterward district attorney of the United States for Oregon under President Grant; George R. Sage, now judge of the United States Court; George L. Converse, subsequently member of Congress; William H. Corwin, who became a prominent physi- cian and was a son of Hon. "Tom" Corwin; besides others who became honored and prominent citizens.
On leaving college Mr. Buffington was twenty-three years of age, and he soon became engaged in buying and selling cattle. In 1853 he removed to Defiance, Defiance county, Ohio, and engaged in the drug business in a store on First street, which he occupied for eight years, when he removed to his present store on Clinton street. In 1854 he also established a drug store at Bryan, conducting both stores for two years, and they at that time had the distinction of being the only drug stores in the three counties, Defiance, Williams and Paulding. For forty-three years Mr. Buffington has conducted the drug business at Defiance, and for thirty-five years he has occupied his present store on Clinton street, and has for a longer time been continuously in the drug business than any other drug- gist between Toledo and Fort Wayne.
Mr. Buffington has for twenty-two years been a member of the M. E. Church, and in the building of St. Paul's M. E. Church edifice at Defiance he was a large contributor. He is a member of the Masonic fraternity and a Knight Templar. Politically he was originally a Whig, and when the Whig party was merged into the Republican he went with his party and
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has always remained an advocate of the political principles represented by that party; both by means and influence he has been active in his party's interests in his county and vicinity. He was chairman of the first Repub- lican Judicial Convention ever held in the Northwest, which convened at Defiance, Ohio, in 1855, and represented six surrounding counties; was also chairman of the first Republican Legislative Convention held the same year. At this convention every county had a candidate; but the delegates could not agree, and had started to go home without nominating a candi- date, when Mr. Buffington arrested their attention by calling from a window to them and suggesting the name of a man who had not before been men- tioned as a candidate-Judge Haymaker, of Brunersburg. The name was unanimously accepted, the delegates returned to the hall, and Haymaker was nominated and duly elected.
During the nearly half century in which Mr. Buffington has made Defi- ance his home, a generous hospitality has always been extended to his friends, all being made welcome by his gentle and genial wife, and during this period he has taken a wide, unselfish and active interest in political and public affairs, numbering among his friends and acquaintances many prominent men in State and Nation, among whom may be mentioned: Hon. Salmon P. Chase, Governor of Ohio, Secretary of the Treasury under President Lincoln's administration and Chief Justice of the United States; Hon. James A. Garfield, member of Congress and President of the United States, accompanying both of these distinguished men in their campaigns through this section of Ohio. He formed a strong affection and love for Mr. Garfield, whom he described as one of the most lovable and compan- ionable of men, and in whose behalf Mr. Buffington, for the first and only time, struck a fellow man, who during Garfield's speech repeatedly insulted him (Garfield) by calling him a liar; Mr. Buffington, who stood by the man's side, could not restrain himself, and knocked the fellow down. Mr. Buffington was associated in different campaigns with Honorable Columbus Delano, General James Ashley and many others. One notable trip was taken with Salmon P. Chase, from Defiance to Antwerp (eighteen miles through rainy, disagreeable weather), where Mr. Chase was to speak; they secured a canoe or pirogue, a pair of horses and a driver, which towed them on the canal, arrived at Antwerp at twelve noon, took dinner at the little hotel, and left to return about four o'clock, but on arriving within three miles of Defiance, at Schooly's lock, the canoe got fast and the team gave out, compelling the party to abandon the boat and walk through the rain and mud to Defiance, where they arrived a little after midnight. By invi-
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