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 30
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 30
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 30
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 30
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At the age of eight years he removed with his mother to Ottawa county, Ohio, where he spent the time until he arrived at the age of fourteen, work- ing on his step-father's farm in summer and attending country school in winter. In the fall of 1876 he entered the office of the "Ottawa County Re- porter." at Port Clinton, to learn the printer's trade, where he continued until the spring of 1878. At that time he went to Upper Sandusky, Ohio, and worked for a time in the office of the "Wyandot Union." In January, 1879, he went to Paulding and worked for his brother R. D., in the office of "The Democrat," until the following autumn, when he removed to To- ledo, and there finding employment as a journeyman printer in the office of "The Commercial" and on other papers. In 1882 he went to Tiffin, Ohio, and was engaged for over a year in the grocery business. Thence he re- moved to Port Clinton, where for a year he was engaged at pound fishing in Lake Erie.
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In the fall of 1884 he returned to Paulding, Ohio, where he conducted the "Paulding Democrat" for his brother, R. D., while the latter was fill- ing the office of county auditor, until the first of April, 1889, when he pur- chased the "Ottawa County News," at Port Clinton, Ohio, which paper he conducted until the summer of 1895, when he sold out and went to River- side, Southern California, where he spent a year, employed as editor of the "Riverside Enterprise." In November of 1896, Mr. Webster returned to Ohio and purchased a half interest in "The Democrat" and "The Evening News," of Defiance, which he has since assisted in editing and publishing.
On November 17, 1881, Mr. Webster was united in marriage with Miss Sadie Bell, daughter of Richard Bell, a prosperous wholesale catcher and shipper of Lake Erie fish, at Port Clinton, Ohio, and to this union was born one son, Chauncy, at Tiffin, Ohio, September 3, 1883.
WILLIAM G. KOPP.
The endeavor to excel in a chosen line or lines of effort is character- istic of the men who win success in these days of close competition, and the subject of this sketch, a well-known resident of Highland township, Defiance county, has evidently made practical application of the fact in his various business enterprises.
Mr. Kopp is a native of Ohio, having been born in Crawford county, July 21, 1859, but his ancestry on both sides is of German blood. His father, the late Charles Kopp, and mother, Mrs. Louise (Stahl) Kopp, were born at Wurtemberg, Germany, and came to America early in their married life, in 1854. In 1862 they settled in Highland township, Defiance county, where the father died January 3, 1897. The mother now resides with our subject.
Our subject was the fourth in a family of eight children, and as the son of a busy farmer was trained from boyhood to habits of industry. When he was about eighteen years old he left home to learn the blacksmith's trade at New Washington, Crawford county, where he spent about two years. He then went to Lansing, Michigan, but after nine months returned to Defi- ance county, securing employment with the Turnbull Wagon works at Defi- ance. He remained with this company fourteen months, and then engaged in business on his own account in Section II, Highland township, where he has since resided. While conducting his blacksmith shop he became interested in a sawmill in the same locality as a partner of his brother Frederick, who was accidentally killed in the mill March 23, 1889.
Soon after this event Mr. Kopp gave up his blacksmithing business and
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took charge of the mill, and also engaged in farming at his present home- stead of forty acres, upon which he has made many improvements. His farm buildings are comfortable and attractive, and his management of the place is scientific, his inclination for securing the best possible results being shown in many ways, and notably in the keeping up of a herd of thorough- bred Poland-China hogs. In connection with his other work he now operates a tile factory on his farm. With all these cares he might be supposed to be too busy to take an active part in local politics, but his fellow-citizens have too high an opinion of his abilities and judgment to permit him to remain entirely out of politics. For many years he has been one of the leading advisers of the Democratic party in his locality, and in the spring of 1896 he was chosen as a member of the Central Committee of Defiance county. On May 7, 1898, he was appointed jury commissioner of Defiance county, and served one year from May 23. He is interested in all movements that promise benefit to the community, and is prominent in religious work as an active member of the Lutheran Church.
On October 16, 1881, Mr. Kopp was married near Lansing, Michigan, to Miss Louisa Oppanlander, who was born September 12, 1861, in Wur- temberg, Germany. Nine children blessed this union, their names and dates of birth, etc., being as follows: Frederick W., October 16, 1882; Elizabeth P., May 24, 1884; Sophia M., November 25, 1885; J. W. Webster, March 30, 1887; Edith A., October 7, 1890; Bertha M. P., February 22, 1892; Amelia A., September 22, 1894; Charles W. J., May 16, 1896, and John H., May 10, 1897, died August 13, 1898.
WILLIAM D. WILSON.
Among the sons of the beautiful Emerald Isle who emigrated to our shores many years ago, was Barnabas Wilson, the grandfather of the pros- perous business man whose name opens this biographical memoir. He was married in his native land to Eliza Crosby, and together they came to Amer- ica and settled in Westmoreland county, Pennsylvania, making this their adopted country and that place their permanent home. Mr. Wilson followed farming as a life occupation.
James Wilson, a son of this couple, was born in Westmoreland county, Pennsylvania, removing to Ashland county, Ohio. He there married Miss Mary Geer, and in 1852 removed to Milford township, Defiance county. He became a useful and valued citizen of that place, and served in a number of local offices. His wife is a native of Virginia, and is a daughter of the late
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George Geer. Her mother's maiden name was Catharine Winbigler. James Wilson was a prosperous agriculturist and representative citizen of Milford township, Defiance county, for a number of years, but now lives a retired life at Edgerton, Williams county, Ohio. He and his wife are members of the Christian Church.
George Geer was an early settler of Ashland county, Ohio, and made agriculture the business of his life. He was a man of very exemplary char- acter. Both he and his wife died at the home of their daughter, Mrs. James Wilson, in Defiance county. They were members of the Christian Church.
William D. Wilson, son of James and Mary (Geer) Wilson, was born at Jeromesville, Ashland county, Ohio, February 19, 1850. He received his educational training in the schools of Defiance county, and made his home there with his father until his marriage, which occurred November 27, 1873, the lady of his choice being Mrs. Lovina Kyle, née Foust, a daughter of William and Susanna ( Deardorf) Foust. Her father is a farmer of Defi- ance county. Mr. and Mrs. Wilson began housekeeping on a farm pur- chased by Mr. Wilson a short time before his marriage. It contained eighty acres of heavily-timbered land, thirty-five of which he cleared while he was the proprietor of the farm. In 1879 he sold it and moved to Edgerton, where he established himself in the insurance business, and built a handsome resi- dence. After a stay of three years in that place he sold his property and busi- ness there, and January 2, 1882, located in Hicksville, where, by fair and strictly upright dealing, he has built up a large and lucrative loan, real-estate and insurance business-the leading one of the kind there in the amount of business transacted and collections made. His sterling integrity and busi- ness ability have gained for him such confidence in the community that he is intrusted with a great amount of private funds for investment, and has been placed in charge of the loan department of the Connecticut School Fund for Defiance county.
Politically, Mr. Wilson is a stanch Democrat, and has been a zealous worker in Defiance county in the support of the party nominations. He is at present a notary public, and has served as treasurer of the school board and in other local offices, but has refused all nominations for county offices tendered him. He is a member of the Masonic fraternity, belonging to Lodge No. 478, Hicksville, the National Union Lodge, and other social orders. His religious connection is with the Christian Church, of which he and his family are members.
The family of Mr. and Mrs. Wilson numbers two children: Della O. Kyle (Mrs. Wilson's daughter by her first marriage), born November 17;
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1869; and Guy D., born November 9, 1879. Della O. is a graduate of the musical department of the Angola (Indiana) Normal School, class of '88, and for two years was an efficient teacher of that art in northern Ohio. For the past eight years she has been stenographer and bookkeeper in her father's office in Hicksville. The beautiful and attractive home of the family, located at No. 15 Smith street, is one of the finest modern residences of the town.
JOHN W. LONG.
If it be true-and we have good authority for it being a fact-that one's environment has an influence upon character, then the men who have had the fortune to pass their lives in the midst of the movements which have brought about the rapid development of this section may well be expected to show independence, enterprise, and practical sagacity. In the life of this well-known merchant of Florida, Henry county, we find these qualities manifested in an unusual degree, his success being based upon a prompt and judicious use of opportunity.
Mr. Long was born August 12, 1859, in Flat Rock township, Henry county, Ohio, a son of John and Caroline (Greybast) Long, who came to this section from Stark county, Ohio, at an early day. The father, who was born in Hessen-Darmstadt, Germany, in 1818, was a shoemaker by occupa- tion, and for some time after his removal to this section followed his trade in Florida, Henry county, where he also conducted a grocery. Later he purchased a farm about three miles south of the village, but after five years of agricultural work he returned to Florida, and from 1865 to 1872 was engaged in shoemaking. He then became interested in a grocery business which he carried on until his death, March 2, 1877. His wife, whose birth occurred in Germany in 1827, still lives, and resides with her daughter, Elisa- beth Tuttle ; John W. is the fifth in the family of nine children-four sons and five daughters : Augustus (deceased), Louisa, Elizabeth, Caroline (deceased), John W., Frank P., Mary, Wilhelmina, and William.
Our subject's education was begun in the common schools of his native township, and in 1879-80 he attended a commercial college at Hillsdale, Michigan. Although he was only seventeen years old when his father died, he took charge of his mother's interests, especially in connection with the grocery business, while pursuing his studies at Hillsdale. On completing his course of study he purchased his mother's share in that business, and formed a partnership with W. S. Brubaker; but two years later he purchased the latter's interest, becoming the sole proprietor. In 1883 he took another
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partner, Mr. A. Tuttle, with whom he continued until April, 1889, when he again became the owner of the entire business by purchase. In 1883 they engaged in the grain business, which Mr. Long also purchased, and he now carries on both lines of trade with marked success. In 1892 he bought an additional elevator at Okolona; in 1896 he built one at Stanley, Ohio, and at present he operates the three, doing a prosperous business, the volume of which may be inferred from the fact that from January I to July 1, 1897, he handled three hundred and ten cars of grain.
Notwithstanding his business cares, he has taken an active part in local politics, as a member of the Democratic party. In 1882 he was elected clerk of Flat Rock township, and this office he held until March, 1888, when he resigned. Later he was chosen township treasurer, and served two terms, being re-elected in the fall of 1896. He is prominent in local affairs of a non- political nature, and socially is identified with the National Union, the B. P. O. E., Defiance Lodge, and with the Masonic fraternity, having reached the Thirty-second degree.
On October 12, 1882, Mr. Long was married in Texas, Ohio, to Miss Hattie S. Durbin, who was born August 8, 1858, a daughter of William and Mary Durbin, well-known residents of Texas. The following children have blessed this union: Richard H., Lewis O., William D., Carl F. (who died July 17, 1893, at the age of five and a half years), Mabel M., Vernia F., John W., Jr., Earl E., and Hattie S.
AARON F. SCHRACK.
This prominent resident of Defiance is the proprietor of two leading newspapers of that city-"The Daily Crescent" and "The Weekly County Record"-and under his able management both publications have attained wide influence.
Mr. Schrack is of Pennsylvania-German descent, and was born May 16, 1865, in the town of Somerset, Somerset county, Pennsylvania, where several generations of his family have resided. His father, William M. Schrack, is a native of the same locality, and now resides there. For many years he was a prosperous merchant; for some time he also followed sur- veying, and was engaged in publishing "The Somerset Standard," a Re- publican organ. He is a man of influence in his locality, having held various offices, including that of clerk of the Board of County Commissioners, which is equivalent to the office of County Auditor in Ohio. During the Civil war he raised two companies of volunteers, in which he held the rank of cap-
Schack
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tain, and was in active service throughout the greater part of the conflict, two swords and a flag which were captured from the enemy being treasured relics of his army experience. While taking part in the campaign along the Potomac he became ill, and was subsequently discharged for disability. His wife, whose maiden name was Mary E. Foy, is of Scotch-Irish descent, and her father, Rev. Henry E. Foy, a native of Hagerstown, Maryland, was a well-known minister of the Methodist Church.
Our subject's education was begun in the common schools of his na- tive place, and for three years-from seventeen to twenty-he was under pri- vate tuition in a class of three. On completing his course he engaged in newspaper work as a reporter on the "Myersdale Commercial" (daily and weekly), remaining two years. In 1887 he located at Defiance, purchasing the plant of "The Saturday Call," a weekly paper, which he renamed "The Local News." After six months he discontinued that paper and estab- lished "The Daily Crescent," a four-page folio, which now has a circulation of one thousand. These papers were all independent and the "Crescent" maintains that attitude in politics; but in 1892 he established "The County Record," a Democratic newspaper which is published as an eight-page quarto, and has two thousand five hundred subscribers, the largest circulation of any paper in Defiance county.
From the age of sixteen Mr. Schrack has been actively interested in pol- itics, and when only twenty-one years old he was a member of the Central Committee of his native county. Since settling in Defiance he has been a valued worker in his party, and personally and through his papers he has done much to shape public opinion. In the campaign of 1896 his talent as a speaker was shown in numerous addresses in his own and neighboring counties. On February 1, 1897, Mr. Schrack incorporated his publishing interests in a stock company, "The Record Printing and Publishing Co.," of Defiance, Ohio. The Weekly remains Democratic, and the Daily, neutral. Mr. Schrack is the managing editor of the company.
On January 8, 1895, Mr. Schrack married Miss Gertrude Squire, daugh- ter of C. B. SQUIRE, a leading citizen of Defiance.
On August 29, 1898, (since the foregoing was formulated), Mr. Schrack died at Hahnemann Hospital, Chicago, Illinois, where he had been taken to be treated for apendicitis.
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JOHN A. HIRES.
This popular and enterprising merchant of Mark Center, Defiance county, has evidently found the key to substantial success in life. As a business man he holds an enviable rank, while as a citizen he is highly esteemed among all classes.
Mr. Hires was born July 7, 1857, in Marshall county, Illinois, but since his eleventh year he has been a resident of Ohio. In 1868 his parents, Josiah N. and Louisa (Beard) Hires, removed from the old home in Illinois to Van Wert, Ohio, and in 1880 they settled in Mark Center, where they now reside. Our subject is second in a family of five children-two sons and three daughters: Amanda (deceased), John A. (our subject), William E., Ida, Viola (Mrs. William Wagner, residing in Mark Center with her three children -- Clyde, Fern and Margaret).
During his boyhood Mr. Hires received an excellent education in the schools of Van Wert, completing his studies in the high school. In 1882 he located at Mark Center, and for three years was employed as a clerk in a store there. With the practical knowledge thus acquired, he started in mercantile life on his own account, and has since continued with marked success, his fine stock of goods, and his judicious management of his business, bringing him a constantly increasing trade. He owns one hundred and sixty acres of land in Mark township, and Mrs. Hires owns forty acres in the same township.
On August 27, 1885, Mr. Hires was married at Nevada, Wyandot county, Ohio, to Miss Flora M. Welty, of that county, where her father, William Welty, is a prominent resident. Four sons have blessed this union, their names and dates of birth being as follows: Charles O., September 26, 1887; Ray Welty, July 3, 1889; Negley, August 8, 1892; and Fred E., November 10, 1896. The parents are leading members of the Methodist Church at Mark Center, Mrs. Hires being an ardent worker in the Sabbath- school and leader of the music therein; they are also identified with the I. O. G. T., and for two years Mrs. Hires has been Superintendent of the Juvenile Temple. Mr. Hires has always taken an active part in move- ments tending to promote the welfare of the community. Since settling at Mark Center he has been chosen to numerous township offices, in all of which he has served the public with ability and fidelity.
Mrs. Hires was born October 9, 1859, received her education at Oak Ridge, Ohio, and for six years taught school in Wyandot county. She has
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five brothers and four sisters living, to-wit: Ellen is the wife of V. Pease, of Nevada, by whom she has one child-Verdie; Mary is the wife of Joseph Keifer, of Nevada, by whom she has three children-Elmer, Vioma and Loney; Louisa is the wife of Smith Gregg, of Nevada, by whom she has two sons-Albert L. and Fred M .; Henry C. and James O. (twins) come next in the order of birth, of whom-Henry lives at Boulder, Colorado, is married and has had four children-Jessie, Grace and Alma-and Howard; James Otis, the other twin, lives in Wyandot county; Marion is married and has four daughters and one son-Minnie, Lola, Nina, Chloe and There; Josephine is the wife of Frank Morris, by whom she has two daughters- Dosie and Lillie; Doctor S. F. Welty, of Hicksville, Ohio, comes next ; and Garfield is the youngest. One brother, Washington, coming after Marion, died March 17, 1894. The parents of Mrs. Hires were married August 5, 1838; the mother died December 11, 1893. Grandfather John Welty was a native of Pennsylvania, and came to Ohio in early times. By his wife Catherine (Robrough), also a Pennsylvanian, he had two daughters and four sons, of whom-William (Mrs. Hires' father) is still living in Wyan- dot county, Ohio, at the age of eighty-two years. He purchased his present farm from the United States Government. Mrs. Hires' maternal grand- father, Ezekiel Otis, a native of Ohio, married Mary Miller, of the same State, and they had three sons and one daughter, of whom Marilla, the mother of Mrs. Hires, died in November, 1895, aged seventy-six years and six months, her death being the only one to occur in the family during the long period of half a century.
Great-grandfather Hires came from Highland Germany, and the great- grandmother came from Scotland. The great-grandfather settled in Vir- ginia, where Grandfather Abraham was born and raised, and there mar- ried Lorana Peterson. They migrated to Van Wert county, Ohio, where Father Hires was born and raised, and where he married Louisa Beard December 18, 1852.
OREN ELBRIDGE ENSIGN.
Fortunate is he who has back of him an ancestry honorable and distin- guished, and happy is he if his lines of life are cast in harmony therewith. Our subject is blessed in this respect, for he springs from a prominent fam- ily, which was early founded in Ohio. His paternal grandfather, William Ensign, was a native of Massachusetts, served in the Revolutionary war, and died in Madison, Lake county, Ohio, at an advanced age.
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Oren Ensign, our subject's father, was born in 1785, in Pittsfield, Berk- shire county, Massachusetts, where he grew to manhood, but at a very early day in the history of this State he became a resident of Lake county, Ohio, where he married Nancy Pepoon, who was born in Hartford, Connecticut, about 1795, a daughter of Lewis Pepoon, who served with distinction as a captain in the Revolutionary war. After his marriage Oren Ensign, Sr., located on a farm near Painesville, in Lake county, Ohio, where he continued to live until his removal to Farmer township, Defiance county, about 1836. His death occurred there in the autumn of 1857, and several years afterward his widow went to Wisconsin to live with her eldest son, dying in Beloit. that State, at the age of seventy-five years. Our subject is the youngest in the family, the others being William O., who also died in Beloit, Wis- consin, during the early '70's, when about sixty-five years of age; Henry A., a physician, who died in Nevada, Missouri, at the age of sixty; Dwight P., who died in Farmer township, Defiance county, Ohio, at the age of sixty-nine; and Francis E., a prominent attorney and judge living in Idaho.
Mr. Ensign, whose name introduces this sketch, was born in Paines- ville, Lake county, Ohio, November 29, 1831, and was five years old when taken by his parents to their new home in Farmer township, Defiance county, where he grew to manhood. During early life he successfully engaged in teaching school in Farmer township for eight winters, and was similarly em- ployed for one winter in Center township, Williams county. He had received a good common-school education, and also attended the Academy in Paines- ville for six months.
For two years (in 1854 and 1855) he was employed as foreman on the Air Line railroad (the L. S. & M. S.), and for one year was freight agent at Edgerton, Williams county. After leaving the employ of the railroad he purchased the farm of one hundred and eighty acres in Section 36, Center township, Williams county, where he now lives, a portion of which had been bequeathed to him by his father. Since 1857 he has devoted his attention to agricultural pursuits, and has met with a well-deserved success in his under- takings.
On April 9, 1857, in Toledo, Ohio, Mr. Ensign married Miss Clarissa L. Dunkle, a native of New York, born near Canandaigua, June 13, 1839. She is a daughter of Charles and Minerva (Coller) Dunkle, the latter of whom died in Center township, Williams county, Ohio, late in the '50's. Four children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Ensign, namely: Marvin A., who died at the age of two and a half years; Albert E., who was only twenty-four days old at the time of his death; Clara E., who is now the wife of Matus
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R. Scott, of Center township, Williams county ; and Adda R., wife of John Woods, of Center township, Williams county.
In politics Mr. Ensign is an ardent Republican; is an earnest Christian gentleman, a faithful member of the United Brethren Church, and takes an active part in all Church work, having filled many important places of trust in the Church. Over his life record there. falls no shadow of wrong, his public service was most exemplary, and his private life has been marked by the utmost fidelity to duty. Prior to his leaving the L. S. & M. S. R. R. service, his father gave him a farm in Center township, Williams county, with the understanding that he (our subject) should pay to the other heirs a specified sum of money.
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