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 8
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 8
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 8
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 8
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In the city of Defiance no man holds the respect and esteem of its citizens in a greater degree than does H. P. Miller, while as a business man he occu- pies the front rank. Conservative yet enterprising and progressive, of excellent executive power, he possesses a mind that grasps, directs and operates success- fully the intricate machinery necessary to conduct a great enterprise, one that with all its ramifications and countless details, requires a man possessed of tireless industry, unflagging energy, sound judgment, and ability to give prompt and correct decision in scores of cases arising every day. All of these qualities are possessed by Mr. Miller in an eminent degree, as is well attested by the immense and successful business he has established, and of which he is still the ruling and directing spirit. In addition to the enterprise mentioned he has yet found time to interest himself in other affairs in his city. He is one of the founders of "The Defiance Grocery Company," a very prosperous con- cern in which he is a stockholder and director ; is a stockholder in the "Defiance Bicycle Works," and is the owner of a valuable business block on Clinton street, Defiance, and of the old homestead farm at Lockport, Ohio.
In religion Mr. Miller followed the footsteps of his father, charitable to every one's opinion and liberal to all, and has by contributions assisted in building nearly every church edifice that has been erected in Defiance and
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surrounding country since his residence in the city, while in support of same he cheerfully responds to the calls of all denominations. He also inherits to a large degree the humane and generous characteristics of his father, and many are his unostentatious offerings to less fortunate fellow citizens. In politics he is a stanch Democrat, advocating the principles of that party on all occa- sions. Though not a politician in the sense of seeking office, he has been an efficient worker and organizer in the interests of the party, and has been chairman and treasurer of the County Democratic Executive Committee in every Presidential campaign from 1880 to 1892, inclusive, and served as a delegate on various occasions to the Democratic State and Congressional Con- ventions. Owing, however, to the pressure of his large and ever-growing business cares, he has always declined nomination for office when tendered to him by his party associates. Socially Mr. Miller is a member of the Masonic fraternity.
Mr. and Mrs. Miller have had a family of four children, named and described as follows : (1) Frank G., born July 26, 1871, is now secretary and treasurer of the H. P. Miller Co .; (2) Claude W., born April 17, 1875, who when a young man of twenty, of great promise, and richly endowed by nature, while on a visit to an uncle at Los Angeles, California, was stricken with diphtheria ; the parents were telegraphed for, but they arrived only in time for the cherished son to die in his father's arms on June 27, 1895 ( the remains were temporarily interred at Los Angeles) ; (3) Gracie, born August 4, 1883, died February 24, 1884; (4) Glenn B., born June 13, 1886, is attending school. Mr. Miller and family reside in the commodious and modern resi- dence, No. 665 Wayne street, built by him in 1891, and fitted with all modern conveniences, furnace, bath-rooms, etc., and it is one of the most hospitable and pleasant homes in Defiance.
If men, who have risen to eminence and wealth wholly by their own individual natural ability and exertion, can be called self-made, and the architect of their own fortunes, certainly Mr. Miller may be justly so de- scribed, as he began life with nothing save with what nature endowed him, and the good, temperate habits of life taught him by his parents. As seen in the perusal of this sketch, after being employed by others for several years, he, with the earnings thus secured, and accumulated by judicious thrift, was enabled to establish a business that by sound judgment, thorough business methods and remarkable financiering, he has developed into its present mam- moth proportions. A man of broad, acute and comprehensive mind, un- blemished record and sterling integrity, his name stands as the synonym for honorable citizenship and worthy enterprise.
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REV. JOHN WESLY LILLY.
Rev. J. W. Lilly, a presiding elder of the Church of the United Breth- ren in Christ, and former pastor of that church in Hicksville, is numbered among the highly esteemed and valued citizens of that place.
He is descended from English ancestry, both of his parents having been natives of England. His early paternal ancestry were farmers and land owners near Lincoln, Lincolnshire. The last of this line to pass his days in those ancestral homes, and to be laid with his fathers in their final rest- ing-place, was Lincoln Lilly, the father of John Lilly and a grandfather of the subject of this sketch. Lincoln Lilly married Copeland, who likewise lived and died in England.
John Lilly was the second son in their family, and in the apportion- ment of his father's estate received his share accordingly. He learned the trade of a shoemaker in his native land, and at the age of twenty-one emi- grated to the New World, locating temporarily in Canada, where he found employment. He subsequently came to Richland county, Ohio, and set- tled near Plymouth, engaging there in husbandry, and combining with this occupation the labors of a local minister of the Church of the United Breth- ren in Christ. He there formed the acquaintance of Miss Bertha Cutler, a native of London, who with two brothers, named Robert and James, had emigrated to America and made Ohio their adopted home about the tinie her new acquaintance, John Lilly, settled there. The friendship then formed ripened to an affection that was consummated in a matrimonial union; and we find that after a residence near Plymouth till about 1849, John Lilly and his wife removed to Gorham township, near Fayette, Fulton county, this State, and located on a farm of one hundred acres.
They became the parents of six children, as follows: Mary Ann, born January 16, 1842, married Andrew Bear, and died in the winter of 1896-97 (Mr. Bear died in the Union army during the war of the Rebellion); Mathew, born October 11, 1843, died in infancy; Sarah E., born August 27, 1845, also died in infancy; John Wesly, born February 8, 1847, is our subject; Eliza C., born November 4, 1849, married B. B. Jones in 1867, and resides in Hillsdale county, Michigan; and Aaron B., born December 4, 1852, married (first) Amanda McQuillan, and (second) wedded Emma Mc- Millan, and makes his home in Huntington, Indiana. John Lilly resided on the farm near Fayette to an advanced age. Retiring later in life to Pioneer, Williams county, he there passed most of his declining years.
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His wife died April 17, 1890; his death occurred near Ransom Center, Michigan, July 8, 1893, and both are buried in the cemetery near that place. Mrs. Lilly was of the same religious faith as her husband, both being mem- bers of the U. B. Church.
John Wesly Lilly was born in the home near Plymouth, and in the local schools of the new home near Fayette received his early educational training, attending them until he was eighteen or nineteen years of age. At the latter age he took one term of tuition in a graded school. During the following winter (1866-67) he engaged in teaching, after which he entered Hillsdale College (Michigan), and by his labors as an educator during the winter seasons secured the means requisite for his continuance in college two years. During the two years that followed his college life he continued his work as an educator six terms, spending two of them in graded schools. Having purchased a piece of land, he then turned to practical account the knowledge acquired on the home farm in his boyhood days, alternating agricultural labors in the summer with teaching in the winter for two years, and, his tastes inclining to the legal profession, applying himself in con- nection with his educational work to reading and study in preparation for this profession. He also arranged with a lawyer of Adrian, Michigan, to read law in his office; but before the time came for entering upon his study there he attended a Methodist revival meeting held in a place where he had attended a graded school, and presided over by Rev. John R. Colgan. He was led to attend the meeting through curiosity, but his curiosity gave place to serious interest, which resulted in his conversion and relinquish- ment of the study of law for that of theology, and in the following spring- that of 1872-he united with the Church of the United Brethren in Christ at Hamer, Williams county, Ohio.
He then began his theological studies in preparation for his sacred work, and in August of that year received from the Quarterly Conference a license to preach. In September, 1873, he was licensed by the Annual Conference, held at Swan Creek, Ohio, the presiding bishop of which was Rev. Jonathan Weaver, D. D., a noted minister and orator of that Church; and by that Conference-the North Ohio-he received the appointment to the Ransom Center circuit. He served in that charge three years, being twice reappointed, and during the third year one hundred and ten new members were received into Church fellowship. In 1876 he was appointed to the Morenci Circuit, in Michigan, where he likewise received two reap- pointments, thus making his service in that field of labor three years. The following extract from a sketch of Rev. Mr. Lilly, published in 1892, in the
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"Hicksville News," shows the high character and corresponding estimate of his labors from the inception of his ministerial work, in 1873:
"Since that time his life has been one of incessant toil and devotion to the cause he had espoused. At the end of his second pastorate, when he had been in the ministry six years, he received the well-merited sum- mons to come up higher, and was elected to the presiding eldership of his Church, and served in that capacity with eminent satisfaction for eight years, having different districts under his supervision. In 1880 he was elected to the position of trustee of Otterbein University, a position he still holds. His council, wisdom and acknowledged leadership has always been in demand, and on three successive occasions he has been called upon to represent his Conference, the North Ohio, as a delegate to the General Conference, one of the highest positions in the gift of the Church, and also the highest body or tribunal that governs the Church, and is in fact the court of last resort. He was elected by his Conference as a member of the court of appeals in 1889, a position he is eminently qualified to fill, and which he still holds. As a pastor he has been very successful, and during ten years of his labor he has taken into the Church over six hundred mem- bers. Their present beautiful edifice in Hicksville is the fifth church that has been built under his immediate supervision, and on fields where he was laboring in his Master's vineyard, and speaks in the strongest language of his great ability as an organizer and successful minister.
"He is now serving his second pastorate here, and is rapidly strengthen- ing the Church, and growing in favor among all our people. He is at present a member of our school board and town council, and is one of the leading lights agitating the location of a normal school at this place, an institution he looks upon as a great benefit to our town and community. Perhaps no minister in Hicksville has ever been called upon to preach as many funeral sermons as Mr. Lilly, which is only another testimony of the high esteem in which he is held by all our people, whether members of his Church or of some other body. Mr. Lilly is popular as a public speaker no less than a minister and is ever in demand on public occasions. He is one of those happy souls we are always glad to meet. While preserving the dignity of his calling, he is always prepared to relate a good joke to fit an occasion. Aside from his sterling worth as a man and a Christian worker, he is gifted with an enviable attribute that has something to do with making him friends, and that is his never-lagging interest in his fellows. In him the truth of the proverb that 'He who would have friends must show himself friendly' is amply verified."
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The presiding eldership referred to in this extract was that of the East District and the Center District of the North Ohio Conference, the former having been under his supervision two years, and the latter six-a period of four years intervening, during the first three of which he served in the pastorate of the Hicksville Circuit, and the last year in the Waterloo Circuit, Indiana.
On January 28, 1872, Mr. Lilly was united in marriage with Miss AArissie Amsbaugh. Locating near Fayette after their marriage, they made that place their home until Mr. Lilly entered into the pastorate of the Hicks- ville Circuit, in the fall of 1881, when they removed to this place, and, later changing their residence to Waterloo, resided there three years. In 1890 he was re-elected to the presiding eldership, but resigned, the failing health of his wife demanding his presence at home, and, receiving a second ap- pointment to the pastorate of the U. B. Church at Hicksville, served there two years.
During the first year of his former pastorate here the church mem- bership, numbering about one hundred and seventy-five on his arrival, was increased by sixty-six new members, and during the same pastorate the brick parsonage was built. During his second pastorate here, adminis- tered with characteristic energy and ability, the present handsome church edifice was erected. It is the finest house of worship in this section. The auditorium has a seating capacity of four hundred and fifty, and this can be increased to over six hundred by opening three smaller rooms that con- municate by folding doors. The entire cost of the structure was eleven thousand dollars, of which amount subscriptions for seven thousand dollars were received by the soliciting committee, Mr. Lilly and Henry Bricker, before the work of building was begun.
A mark of Mr. Lilly's popularity during the years of his pastoral charge of this circuit was manifest in the many calls he received to officiate on wedding and funeral occasions. In the fall of 1893 he was appointed to the Wauseon Circuit, and after serving there one year was again elected presid- ing elder, his appointment being of the North District of the North Ohio Conference; and since that time he has been continuously re-elected pre- siding elder. He is now serving on the South District.
Mrs. Lilly died March 10, 1893, leaving four children: George W., born July 13, 1873: Jennie May, born March 27. 1875; Estelle A., born January 16, 1879; and Stella R., born April 14, 1892. A daughter, Berthe L., born September 29, 1884, died when not quite three weeks old. Mr. Lilly was married again May 22, 1895, making Mrs. Adelia Otis, née
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Forlow, his wife, to which union there are no children. He has made Hicks- ville his home since his removal here in 1891. The family now reside at No. 80 Smith street, their pleasant modern home being furnished with convenient appointments. Mr. Lilly's present wife is a native of this place, a daughter of Amos and Eliza (Myer) Forlow, the former an agriculturist and a prominent and leading citizen of the county. He is the president of the Farmers' Institute, and serves in many other positions. He is a mem- ber of the U. B. Church and trustee of the Otterbein University, at Wester- ville, this State.
In politics Mr. Lilly is a Republican, and in principle a Prohibitionist. He is at all times actively interested in whatever pertains to the benefit of the village, the State and the country, and as the years pass by his official positions increasing in number bear testimony to his continued usefulness, as also to the continued appreciation of his ability and worth. He is at present serving as president of the board of education, of which board he has been a member ten years, and, ever warmly interested in educational matters, takes pleasure in giving personal attention to work on the fine brick high school building in process of erection here. He is frequently called upon to deliver class and commencement addresses, and is a popular Decoration Day orator. He is a member of the board of trustees of the General Church of the United Brethren in Christ; is a member of the local church erection board of the North Ohio Annual Conference; has been missionary treasurer of the Conference for the past twenty-one years; has been one of the directors of the Union Biblical Seminary at Dayton, Ohio, for the past four years; and since the foregoing extract was published he has again received the distinguished honor of being one of the delegates chosen to represent his Conference in the General Conference.
HON. SILAS T. SUTPHEN.
To one familiar with the personnel of the Defiance County Bar, the simple statement that the subject of this sketch stands among its leaders will be sufficient to suggest the vigorous mentality, the resolute will, the worthy ambition worthily pursued, which the following history shows in greater detail.
Judge Sutphen's family originated in Holland, and the name as spelled by the first emigrants to America was Zutphen, being taken probably from the city of that name in their native land. These early ancestors appear to have settled near Newark, New Jersey, where they engaged in agricultural pur-
Silas J. Sutphen.
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suits. The Judge's father, Colonel Richard D. Sutphen, now of Carey, Ohio, came to this State about 1820 and located in Liberty township, Fairfield county, where he entered eighty acres of government land. He was then a young man, and he afterward married Miss Sarah Zerkle, a lady of German descent, who was a native of the Shenandoah Valley, in Virginia. Colonel Sutphen was a prominent and influential citizen and held the office of justice of the peace for many years. He also served as sergeant-at-arms of the Ohio House of Representatives during one session, and for years was a colonel in the militia of Fairfield county, Ohio. Until 1865 he followed farming as an occupation, but on retiring from active business he sold his estate, and after spending ten years in Toledo, settled at his present home in Carey. His wife passed to the unseen world in 1890 at the age of eighty-five, but he is still living, and at ninety is in the full possession of his faculties and enjoys vigorous health.
Judge Sutphen, who was the third in a family of seven children, was born August 28, 1838, at the old home in Liberty township, Fairfield county, four miles northwest of Baltimore. During his boyhood he attended the neighboring district schools, and the union and high schools at Baltimore. At twenty he entered Heidelberg College, at Tiffin, Ohio, and took a four- years' course, graduating from the scientific department in 1862. While there he also began the study of law under the instruction of Judge James Pillars, of Tiffin, and in June, 1863, was admitted to the Bar at Fremont, Ohio. He immediately opened an office in Defiance, where from the start he met with success and soon established a good practice, which has increased as the years have rolled by.
Being an ardent Democrat, he became actively interested in political work, and his talents as a public speaker were utilized by his party in every campaign until 1884, when he was elected judge of the court of common pleas. In 1864 he was chosen to the office of mayor of Defiance, to which he was again elected on the expiration of his term. In 1867 he became prosecuting attorney, and held the position for three consecutive terms, six years in all. He then resumed his practice, and continued until November, 1884, when he was elected judge of the court of common pleas for the district composed of the counties of Defiance, Paulding and Williams. In this posi- tion he served the public interests ably and faithfully for seven years and a half. Conservative and impartial in judgment and painstaking in research, his decisions were based on sound legal principles, and were seldom reversed. Since retiring from the Bench in February, 1891, he has given his attention exclusively to his practice, which includes some of the most important matters
.
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now in litigation in this section. He is retained by the State of Connecticut to manage its legal business in Defiance county, and is also engaged in looking after valuable properties in and near Defiance.
As a trial lawyer he is remarkably successful, his clear and sound reason- ing, presented with the force and polish of the trained logician. carrying conviction to his hearers. He has a fine presence, and his habit of speaking to the point, clearly and effectively, always impresses a jury favorably. His well-proved integrity also lends to his utterances substantial weight and in- fluence, and he is held in high esteem throughout the community. His popu- larity is not bounded by party lines, and when a candidate for office he has always received a large support from the opposition. Financially he is regarded as one of the substantial men of the city, his extensive business inter- ests being carefully managed. He is a director in the Merchants National Bank, and is a large stockholder in the Security Building & Loan Association, for which he is also the attorney.
On November 29, 1863, the Judge was married at Tiffin, to Miss Sarah Huss, daughter of John and Sarah Huss. Of the four children of this union two died in infancy. Miss Minnie G. Sutphen is a talented musician, pos- sessing a beautiful soprano voice of wide range and sweet and sympathetic quality. She attended the Conservatory of Music at Cincinnati for three years, gaining a teacher's certificate for proficiency in instrumental music and voice culture. She is now engaged in teaching, and is regarded as one of the most gifted singers in the State, being often invited to entertain select and cultured audiences. Richard Sutphen, the Judge's only son, is a student at the Michigan University, preparing for the legal profession. The Judge and his family attend the Presbyterian Church, and he takes a generous interest in all social and philanthropic movements, being a liberal contributor to any cause which he deems worthy.
WILLIAM WILBER MORRISON.
The cashier and manager of the First National Bank of Bryan, W. W. Morrison, our subject, is an able financier whose shrewd and conservative judgment has won for him the confidence of business men throughout this section. His character and standing demonstrate the truth of the old adage that "blood will tell," as he is descended in both paternal and ma- ternal lines from good old Colonial families, several of his ancestors having served as soldiers in the Revolutionary war.
The Morrison family is of English and Scotch derivation, and the head
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of the American branch settled at Rutland, Vermont, at a very early period. Daniel Morrison, the grandfather of our subject, became a pioneer farmer in the southern part of Richland county, Ohio, being among the first set- tlers of the locality, and his remaining years were spent there. He was held in high esteem for his excellent qualities of character, and he and his wife (whose maiden name was Catherine Crowley) were devout and con- sistent members of the Society of Friends. The late Doctor William C. Morrison, our subject's father, was born at the old homestead in Richland county, where he grew to manhood. At an early age he determined to follow the medical profession, and on completing his course of study he located in Williams county, then newly opened for settlement, and prac- ticed successfully at West Unity.
While maintaining a high rank in his profession he also took an active part in various business enterprises and other movements tending to pro- mote the welfare of the new community, and he was known as one of the clearest-headed business men of the time and locality. He possessed a commanding personality, which inspired respect and confidence wherever he was known, and his sound judgment and keen insight, sharpened by experience and observation, gave weight to his advice on any subject. A strict sense of honor marked all his dealings, and so successful was he in the majority of his undertakings that at his death, which occurred in Janu- ary, 1865, he left a comfortable competence to his widow and children. One of the chief enterprises with which his name was connected was the First National Bank of Bryan, which he helped to organize on October 8. 1863, with a capital of sixty thousand dollars, its charter number, 237, showing it to be one of the pioneer institutions under the National banking system. He became the second president of the bank, being elected in 1866, and until his death he gave close attention to its management; his work having been a leading factor in the development which has made it one of the most prosperous financial institutions of northwestern Ohio. He was twice mar- ried, and by his first wife, Mary (Spencer), he had one son, Homer, now a stock buyer residing at West Unity. After the death of his first wife he was married on August 6, 1853, to Harriet Wilber, who survived him and was married in 1873 at Tecumseh, Michigan, to the late Oscar Eaton. By his second marriage Mr. Morrison had two children: William Wilber and Olive Louise.
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