Commemorative biographical record of the counties of Sandusky and Ottawa, Ohio, containing biographical sketches of prominent and representative citizens, Part 107

Author: J.H. Beers & Co
Publication date: 1896
Publisher: Chicago, J.H. Beers & co.
Number of Pages: 1040

USA > Ohio > Sandusky County > Commemorative biographical record of the counties of Sandusky and Ottawa, Ohio, containing biographical sketches of prominent and representative citizens > Part 107
USA > Ohio > Ottawa County > Commemorative biographical record of the counties of Sandusky and Ottawa, Ohio, containing biographical sketches of prominent and representative citizens > Part 107

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After a residence of forty busy years on his farm, Jacob Decker retired, in 1871, to his late residence at Bellevue, Ohio. He had been successful in worldly affairs, acquiring 900 acres of land, most of which he divided among his children. Mrs. Decker died March 27, 1872, and Mr. Decker was married on May 23, 1877, to Mrs. Sarah Gardener, who was born in 1829, in Berks county, Penn., daugh- ter of David and Lydia (Fisher) Slanker, who settled in Wayne county in 1832. Her first husband was Joseph Gardener, who died February 15, 1856. They had two sons: Charles D., living in Orrville, 46

Ohio, who married Miss Mary Hower, of Akron, Ohio; and William H., of Belle- vue, who married Alice Kern.

Mr. Decker was a lifelong, earnest Democrat, and took an active part in public affairs. He served his township in nearly all the civil offices, including that of justice of the peace. He also took a deep interest in the educational affairs of the community. He held the office of county commissioner two terms, and was twice called upon to represent Seneca county in the Ohio Legislature-in 1849 and the session following, the last under the old constitution and the first under the new. His opposing candidate for the second term was Gen. William H. Gib- son. Mr. Decker was well informed in the history and politics of his country. He was a ready debater on the questions of the times, a man of wonderful will power and force of convictions. The last fifteen years of his life were spent in the quiet and retirement of his home, and were comparatively uneventful, owing to his advanced years.

While residing in Seneca county, Mr. Decker was for twenty years a member of the Methodist Protestant Church; but on his removal to Bellevue he became a member of the M. E. Church, and was faithful in attendance so long as his health permitted. He died at his home, Novem- ber 7, 1894, in the eighty-sixth year of his age, and was laid to rest in the family burial lot, which he had graced with a fine marble monument, in Bellevue Ceme- tery. Mrs. Decker retains the family homestead. Amos and Milton Decker are joint executors of their father's estate.

W ILLIAM P. NAYLOR, one of the most prosperous and pro- gressive agriculturists of Madi- son township, Sandusky county, was born April 24, 1839, in Medina coun- ty, Ohio, son of Samuel and Elizabeth (Uhler) Naylor.

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Samuel Naylor, father of our subject, was born in what was then known as Little York, Penn., a son of Jacob Nay- lor, who was a farmer and distiller. Samuel was reared on a farm, and when a young man followed teaming, hauling whiskey from his father's and other dis- tilleries to Baltimore, Md., where was found the best market for that commod- ity. In those days it took six horses to haul thirty barrels of whiskey. Samuel was married in Cumberland county to Elizabeth Uhler, a native of that county, born of German ancestry, and after mar- riage the young couple located on a small farm in Cumberland county, which he rented. In Pennsylvania children as fol- lows came to them: Mary, born Decem- ber 6, 1820, now the widow of Amos Fritz, residing at Medina, Ohio; Samuel, born February 27, 1823, a farmer of Lo- rain county; Benjamin K., born Feb- ruary 25, 1825, a farmer and black- smith, now of Lucas county, Ohio; Jacob, born September 7, 1826, a farmer of Medina county, Ohio; and Ann Eliza, born September 20, 1829. In the fall of 1829 the family came to Ohio over the Alleghany Mountians in a covered two- horse wagon, bringing with them consider- able household effects, including their bedding, which they found of the greatest use during their two-weeks' wearisome journey. Mr. Naylor, the father, had previously visited Ohio, and in Guilford township, Medina county, had selected land then looked after by Judge Heman Ely, of Elyria, Lorain county. On the occasion of that visit Mr. Naylor had hired a man to build a log house for the convenience of the family when they should arrive, but they found it in such an unfinished state that they had to rent another cabin in the neighborhood, where- in to pass the winter. In the meantime their own was made habitable, and the following spring they moved into it. While the family were en route one child, named Ann Eliza, was born September

20, 1829, at Lancaster, Penn., which in- teresting event delayed them three days. In Medina county the family was further increased by the following children: Re- becca, born December 18, 1831, now Mrs. W. W. Hutchisson, of Sandusky county, Ohio; Sarah J., born December 24, 1833, deceased; John, born February 10, 1838, who died at the age of twenty- one; William P., born April 24, 1839, our subject; and Henry F., born July 9, 1842, of Sandusky county. On this farm in Medina county the mother of these children passed from earth, and the father then moved into the village of Seville, same county, having purchased in that vicinity a farm of thirty acres, and also a residence in the village.

In Guilford township Mr. Naylor mar- ried, for his second wife, Miss Harriet Sheldon, and one child was born to this union August 19, 1856, Harriet, now Mrs. James Ross, who is at the frontier teaching Indians. Samuel Naylor died at the age of seventy-three, and lies buried in the Lutheran cemetery, Guilford town- ship Politically he was originally a Whig, and after the formation of the party was a stanch Republican. He had traveled all through the Southern States, and, from observations he made during his visit, predicted the Civil war many years before it broke out. Of his family Samuel Naylor, who is one of the most extensive landholders and wealthiest farmers of Penfield township, Lorain Co., Ohio, was born February 27, 1823, in Carlisle, Cum- berland Co., Penn. He was married in August, 1845, to Miss Barbara Long, and some time later they settled on a farm in Litchfield township, Medina Co., Ohio, at the end of three or four years moving to Penfield township, Lorain county, where he bought a piece of wild land. They had a family of children as follows: Jacob, who enlisted in the Civil war before he was seventeen years old, and died at Camp Dennison, while in the service; Henry, who died young; Elizabeth, wife

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of Stewart Long; Rebecca, deceased wife of Andrew Sigourney; Harriet A .; Lany E., who died at the age of seven years; Emma, wife of William Bradstock; Mary, deceased when seventeen years old; Har- vey G., a farmer; and Dora, wife of Will- iam Hower. The mother of these died January 7, 1874, and for his second wife Samuel Naylor married Miss Nancy E. Yocom, who died in 1882 without issue.

William P. Naylor, the subject proper of this memoir, received his education at the common schools of Guilford town- ship, Medina county, and worked on his father's farm until he reached the age of seventeen years, when he hired out as a day laborer by the month until he was twenty-one, at which time he came to Madison township, Sandusky county, and here continued in similar employment un- til the breaking out of the war of the Re- bellion. He then voluntarily proceeded to Fremont and enlisted in Company C, Seventy-second O. V. I., under Col. R. P. Buckland and Capt. Samuel A. J. Snider, which regiment was sent to Camp Chase, thence to Pittsburg Landing, par- ticipating in the battle fought at that place April 6 and 7, 1862. Here our sub- ject was so severely wounded in the leg that he had to be sent to the hospital at Covington, Ky., whence, after conval- escing, he returned home to his father's farm, and there spent the succeeding six months. At the end of that time he re- ceived orders from his regiment to report at headquarters, Camp Chase, whither he at once proceeded, and from there was sent to Camp Dennison, where he re- mained until receiving his discharge on account of disability, November 5, 1862.

Returning to Medina county, Mr. Nay- lor passed a year at his father's home, and then once more came to Madison township, Sandusky county, where he rented a farm which he worked on shares with his brother-in-law for a year. In 1865 he secured a farm of his own, eighty acres in extent, which, with the excep-

tion of a space where stood a log cabin, was covered with timber. Into this rude dwelling he and his wife removed, the walls of which were bare and unplastered, the furniture being of the same primitive character; in the provision line they had sufficient flour to last them a year, and they also had a couple of cows and some poultry. But, better than all, they were possessed of stout hearts and willing hands, and the one cheering the other they resolutely set to work to clear the land, after much labor succeeding in get- ting a couple of acres under cultivation, which they sowed to wheat, yielding at the harvesting twenty bushels. This they took to mill to be ground, the grist giving them enough flour for another year, and in this way they managed to exist and rear their family of children. After fif- teen years passed in reducing this eighty- acre tract to cultivation, Mr. Naylor purchased an additional forty acres of timber-covered land, which in course of time he also succeeded in clearing, and bringing to a high state of fertility. In 1886 he erected a fine dwelling, second to none in the township, and built com- modious barns and outhouses, planted an orchard, put up substantial fences, laid tiles, and in many other ways improved the property, till it became one of the most complete farmsteads in the county- a practical illustration of what can be ac- complished by industry and enterprise.

On August 7, 1865, Mr. Naylor was married in Madison township, to Miss Elizabeth J. McCreary, daughter of James McCreary, a prominent farmer of that locality, and five children were the result of that union, as follows: Mildred R., born April 7, 1866, married to William Plantz, a farmer in Scott township, San- dusky county; Winnie E., born Novem- ber 6, 1867, died July 13, 1880; Arthur, born July 3, 1870; Phinneous M., born August 31, 1872, working on his father's farm; and John A., born April 28, 1875, died September 2, 1875. The mother of

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these was called from earth August 6, 1879, and December 31, 1882, Mr. Nay- lor married Miss Catherine Slates, daugh- ter of Joseph and Elizabeth (Fleck) Slates, a sketch of whom follows. By this marriage there is no issue.

In religious faith Mr. and Mrs. Naylor and family are adherents of the Church of the Disciples, attending service at Gib- sonburg. In his political preferences he is a stanch Republican, has never sought office, and has never accepted any, as he finds that his own affairs too closely oc- cupy his time. He was school director of his district nine years, and has always taken a deep interest in educational mat- ters, in fact in everything tending to the improvement and advancement, social or otherwise, of the community in which he lives.

JOSEPH SLATES, father of Mrs. William P. Naylor, was born February 16, 1812, in Carroll county, Md., son of John and Catherine (Keselring) Slates, both also natives of Maryland. When Joseph was a twelve-year-old lad the family removed to Pennsylvania, where on the home farm he worked during the summers, his win- ter months being passed at the schools of the neighborhood, he paying for his edu- cation out of money earned during the busy seasons on the farm, and he re- mained in Pennsylvania, working in the capacity of farm laborer, until 1854, when he came to Sandusky county, Ohio, in Jackson township, renting a farm which he operated three years. He then removed to Washington township, same county, also renting a farm there four years, and later buying eighty acres of land in Madison township, part of which was improved, although there was an overplus of water, and there were as yet no roads. Here, in a rude hut, they made their new home, but Mr. Slates became so disgusted at the prospects that he was about to give up farming altogether, when his heroic wife assured him of her will- ingness to remain where they were, and

render him all the assistance in her power. With this noble encouragement he con- cluded to remain, and he and his faithful life partner set to work with earnest en- deavor, soon having nearly all of eighty acres cleared, whereon they erected a comfortable home surrounded by substan- tial barns and outhouses. In the course of time Mr. Slates added by purchase other eighty acres, thirty of which he brought under cultivation; then sold this eighty-acre tract, retaining the first one, which he rents, as he is now living re- tired, passing his declining years with his daughter and son-in-law, Mr. and Mrs. W. P. Naylor. Notwithstanding his years he is still active, and is a very interesting conversationalist.

In 1832 Joseph Slates was married in Huntingdon county, Penn., to Miss Eliza- abeth Fleck, and a brief record of their children is as follows: William, born August 3, 1837, who is a farmer of Indi- ana, is married and has a family; Cath- erine, born August 6, 1839, Mrs. Naylor; Elizabeth, born April 6, 1842, wife of Jacob Snider, a farmer of Washington township, Sandusky county (they have two children); Liddie A., born April 5, 1844, who died in 1886, leaving four chil- dren (she first married John Lance, a farmer of Madison township, who was in 1870 burned to death at Gibsonburg, his death being caused by the explosion of a can of coal oil; she subsequently married Ira Krotzer, of Woodville township); Jacob, born April 7, 1846, a prominent farmer of Michigan, who is married and has seven children; Rebecca, born April 13, 1848, who married Samuel Garns, a farmer of Williams county, and died June 6, 1895; Mary Jane, born September 8, 1851, wife of Watts Allen, a farmer of Isabella county, Mich. (they have four children); Lucinda, born October 19, 1853, wife of David Klutz. a farmer of Eaton Rapids, Mich. (they have two chil- dren); and Ellen, born July 20, 1858, wife of Frank Klutz, an oil man (they have

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one child). The mother of these was called to her long home in 1878, leaving a sorrowing husband and sons and daugh- ters to mourn the departure of a loving and affectionate wife and mother. She was an estimable lady, affable and kind, and ever ready to sacrifice the smallest or the greatest pleasure for her husband and family. Mr. Slates, during his active life, took a deep interest in educational affairs, and for several years was school director, also clerk of the board, and he was elected township trustee on the Democratic ticket, of which party he has ever been a stanch adherent, his first vote being cast for Gen. Jackson. In religious faith he is an ad- herent of the Lutheran Church.

P ETER DOELL, retired farmer, Ballville township, Sandusky coun- ty, was born in Hessen, Germany, April 20, 1819, a son of Henry and Clara (Cobbler) Doell, natives of Hes-

sen. Her parents were Adam and Ann Cobbler, the father a blacksmith by trade, and they both died in Germany. Our subject was one of four children, viz .: Adam Doell, a wagon maker, who mar- ried Catharine Sheffel; Catharine, wife of George Fath, a weaver and farmer, who had three children, and died in Ger- many; Mary, wife of Peter List, a weaver and farmer, who had two children, and died in Germany; and our subject.

Peter Doell landed in America Au- gust 2, 1838, came to Ohio, and settled in Ballville township, Sandusky county. Here he worked out by the month among the farmers for about three years, and saved his earnings. On August 29, 1841, he married Miss Margaret Resch, who was born November 2, 1816, daughter of Lewis Resch, a native of Germany. He continued working by the month two years after his marriage, then bought a farm of forty acres for $210. Having cleared nearly twenty acres of it, and lived on same twenty years, he sold it to

his son George; then for $1,800 bought the forty-nine acres where he now lives. The children of Peter and Margaret Doell were twelve in number, four of whom survive: (1) Mary, born October 6, 1842, married April 30, 1873, by Rev. H. Lang, of Fremont, Ohio, to C. L. Rearick, who was born April 29, 1833, a farmer and Democrat, son of John and Elizabeth Rearick, natives of Pennsyl- vania (their children were-Minnie May, born May 25, 1874; Arthur, born Janu- ary, 1878; and Burdett, born December 29, 1880); (2) George Doell, born Janu- ary 26, 1843, farmer, Democrat, mem- ber of the Lutheran Church, who mar- ried Miss Mary Parks; (3) Catharine, born March, 1845, wife of Jacob Groff, farmer, Democrat, living in Jackson township, whose children are-Emma, Nettie, Ida, and Hattie; (4) Jeseph, born January, 1847, a Democrat and member of the M. E. Church, who married Miss Mary Aguge, of Fremont. Ohio. Mrs. Margaret Doell died July 17, 1892, at the age of seventy-six years, since which time Mr. Doell has rented his farm to others, and lives with his daughter on the old homestead. He is a Democrat in poli- tics, and a man highly esteemed by his neighbors.

W ILLIAM LORENZO STIER- WALT, M. D., one of the most successful and prosperous med- ical practitioners in northwest- ern Ohio, now located at the flourishing little village of Lindsey, Sandusky county, was born in Sandusky township, about two miles east of Lindsey, April 30, 1859, son of Moses and Elizabeth (Lay) Stier- walt.

Moses Stierwalt, the father, was a farmer by occupation, and a native of Allentown, Ohio, and in an early day he came with his father, Henry Stierwalt, to Sandusky county, where he has ever since remained, he and the mother now liv-

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ing in Rice township. William L. re- mained at the home of his parents, work- ing on the farm and receiving a common- school education, until he was fifteen years old. He was a lad of keen percep- tions, and early in life he became fitted to teach a district school. For twelve years he successfully taught in country schools, and in 1881 he was appointed superin- tendent of the Lindsey High School. There he remained two years, and, in or- der to more thoroughly fit himself for the work of education, he went to the Ohio Normal University, at Ada, and took a scientific and pharmaceutical course. He became so deeply engrossed in the sub- ject that the whole current of his life was diverted to a new aim. He concluded to take up the profession of medicine.

After his marriage, March 28, 1883, to Ida E. Hineline, daughter of Theodore and Hannah (Rafferty) Hineline, farming people of Sandusky county, he returned to Ada and completed his studies. Going to Toledo, he remained there three years, taking a thorough course in medical science and surgery, and then, in 1888, returning to Lindsey, he engaged in practice in part- nership with Dr. Woland, with whom he continued until July 1. Dr. Woland then retired, and Dr. Steirwalt has since built up one of the largest and most suc- cessful practices in Ohio. He now owns eighty acres of choice farming land in Washington township, besides property in Lindsey. As a diversion from his professional work he is greatly interested in the breeding of fine horses, and is sec- retary of the Lindsey Coach Horse As- sociation. He owns a one-fourth interest in the coach horse Marschall, purchased at the World's Fair for $2, 500. Dr. Stierwalt was, in 1890, elected city coun- cilman, on the Democratic ticket, by a majority of forty-four, when the town- ship was conceded to be Republican. No happier home can be found than that of Dr. Stierwalt, graced as it is by an af- fectionate and devoted wife, and two

bright children-Howard L., born No- vember 12, 1888, and Mildred M., born May 31, 1894.

C A. KELLOGG, a prosperous re- tired farmer of Woodville town- ship, Sandusky county, was born in Wood county, Ohio, April 30, 1845, son of Elijah and Mary W. (Ballard) Kellogg, and grandson of Elijah Kellogg, Sr. The latter was a native of the Green Mountain State, and at the early age of eight years migrated to Canada with his parents, who settled there upon a new piece of land. The boy grew up in Can- ada, and married Lavinia Hall, who died October 1, 1819. For his second wife Elijah Kellogg, Sr., married Maria Wells, by whom he had six children. She died in Illinois in January, 1882.

Elijah Kellogg. Jr., a child by the first marriage, was born September 16, 1819. When a young man he came to Ohio, and on October 8, 1842, in Wood county, he married Miss Mary W. Ballard, who was born September 3, 1819, in Georgia, Franklin Co., Vt. A brief sketch of the six children of Elijah and Mary W. Kel- logg is as follows: (1) Thomas H., born July 29, 1843, enlisted in the fall of 1861 in Company I, Sixty-eighth O. V. I., and re-enlisted for three years; while in the service he contracted a cold at Vicksburg, which became severe and developed into consumption, and he was discharged for disability. He died at Vicksburg, Miss., October 4, 1864, and his remains were brought north and interred in Woodville cemetery. (21 C. A. is the subject proper of this sketch. (3) Theresa was born October 8, 1847. (4) Flora L., born February 16, 1850, was married June 21, 1882, to Harry E. Hudson, a farmer of Coldwater, Iowa; they have four children: Burney V., born May 8, 1883; Oscar, born December 5, 1884; Terrence E., born December 26, 1886, died August 27, 1887, and Lepha H., born November 18,

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1888. (5) Mary Lavina was born Au- gust 6, 1851. (6) Charles S., a physi- cian of large practice at Austin, Ill., born September 23, 1858, was married Decem- ber 20, 1884, to Alice Pauline Riley, who was born October 24, 1859. They have three children, Marie, born January I, 1886; Erma, born June 6, 1890, and Chester, born September 21, 1892.

Our subject, C. A. Kellogg, at the age of seventeen enlisted at Woodville in Company I, Sixty-eighth O. V. I .; at Memphis, Tenn., he was taken sick with rheumatism and lay in the hospital for five months, after which he was dis- charged for disability. Mr. Kellogg has ever since suffered acutely from the dis- ease thus contracted. It was in 1847 that our subject was brought to Woodville township, Sandusky county, by his fa- ther, Elijah Kellogg, who first purchased sixty-four acres of land, later seventy-two acres, and later still 160 acres. He also bought 160 acres of land located in Wood county. In May, 1892, he leased this land to the Standard Oil Company, who put down nine wells, most of which proved good producers. C. A. Kellogg in the year 1890 retired from active business life. He has leased the old homestead, for the infirmities consequent upon his military service have made it impossible for him to longer attend to the farm work.

H ENRY FARK, a well-known and popular pioneer farmer of Wood- ville township, Sandusky county, was born in Hanover, Germany, December 15, 1823. His parents, John and Mary (Westerfeldt) Fark, were born in 1788 and 1796 respectively. Of their eight children five died young. Freder- ick, Henry and John grew to maturity and married. Frederick was born in 1815, and in Germany married Charlotte Ticka- meyer, by whom he had five children, as follows: Mary, wife of Charles Brown, of Toledo; Angeline, wife of George Dietz,

and mother of five children (they are residents of Michigan); Frederick, a farmer and painter, of Wood county, Ohio; Eliza, wife of Henry David, a farmer of Wood county (she is the mother of six children); and Henry, a Wood county farmer, who married Lottie Brown, and has two children. John was born in 1829, and married Katie Yaunsmeyer, who bore him two children: Harry, who is married to Lydia Heiser, and has two children; and Nellie, wife of William Dipp, a miller by trade, who also has two children.

In 1844 our subject, then twenty-one years of age, came with his parents to America in the German sailing vessel "Louisa," which was thirty-three days on the water. After remaining a short time in New York the family came to Ohio, and in Woodville township, Sandusky county, the father purchased fifty-two acres of land, paying for the same $400. Henry remained with his parents until their decease in 1866, and for his care and attention to them in their old age the father had given him a deed for the place which he had helped to clear. On March 6, 1847, Mr. Fark married Mary Bor- cherdling, born December 15, 1822, by whom he had two children: Caroline, who was born December 14, 1847, and married Henry Ernsthouse, by whom she had eight children; and Eliza, who was born May 30, 1850, and married Henry Hartman, of Lucas county, by whom she has five children. The mother died No- vember 10, 1853, and Mr. Fark subse- quently married Louisa Miller, who was born in Hanover, Germany, January 6, 1835, and when two years old came with her parents to America. This union was blessed with eleven children, as follows: John, born December 3, 1855, married Louisa Havercourse, and became the father of six children; he is a farmer of Wood county. Henry, born November 27, 1856, died March 4, 1859. John, born October 3, 1859, is living at home.

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Commemorative biographical record of the counties of Sandusky and Ottawa, Ohio, containing biographical sketches of prominent and representative citizens, Part 107

Author: J.H. Beers & Co Publication date: 1896 Publisher: Chicago, J.H. Beers & co. Number of Pages: 1040

Author: J.H. Beers & Co
Publication date: 1896
Publisher: Chicago, J.H. Beers & co.
Number of Pages: 1040