Commemorative biographical record of the counties of Sandusky and Ottawa, Ohio, containing biographical sketches of prominent and representative citizens, Part 12

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 12
USA > Ohio > Ottawa County > Commemorative biographical record of the counties of Sandusky and Ottawa, Ohio, containing biographical sketches of prominent and representative citizens > Part 12

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

After the death of Francis Spielden- ner, our subject remained with the family to provide and care for them until the children were all grown up, on which ac- count he was deprived of educational ad-

COMMEMORATIVE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

vantages, but he mastered the rudiments of English and German by private study at home. On May 2, 1865, he was mar- ried to Mary Snider, and they have two children: Fredolina, who married John L. Reineck, of Fremont, Ohio, a mem- ber of the firm of Hetrick, Bristol & Co., dealers in hardware, and Adolph, unmar- ried, who lives with his parents. Two children died, Johannah at the age of seventeen, and one in infancy. Mrs. Spieldenner is the daughter of Martin and Mary (Flatz) Snider, and was born No- vember 19, 1846, in Tyrol, Austria, being educated at Wolfurt, near Bregenz. When she was twelve years old her par- ents came to America, and the family set- tled in Rice township, Sandusky county, Ohio. The mother died on the second day after reaching Fremont. The chil- dren remained at home until their mar- riage, and the father is now living at Millersville with his son-in-law, F. Fish- er. He was born November 11, 1806, in Austria, and was always a farmer; his wife, born in 1809, died June 25, 1859, and was buried in Ludwick Cemetery. There were fourteen children in the family, six of whom are living, one in California and the others in Sandusky county. Mrs. Spieldenner's maternal grandmother, May Ann Grising, was born in Austria about 1778.

After his marriage Peter Spieldenner settled on a farm in Ballville township and followed agriculture .exclusively for about six years; then moved to Sandusky township, where he bought eighty-five acres of land west of Fremont, just out- side the corporation, on which he now lives. Upon his removal to this place he engaged in buying and shipping live stock to Eastern markets, chiefly to Buffalo, N. Y., and a few years later he became interested in the breeding of horses, be- coming an importer of French stallions. He went to France about the year 1882, and purchased two Percheron stallions, which he brought to Fremont. For sev-

eral years subsequent to this he devoted his attention to the breeding of horses, and on a second trip to France he im- ported six stallions. While abroad in Europe he traveled through Scotland, England and parts of France, visiting his relatives in Paris. During the last thirty years Mr. Spieldenner has been well known in the vicinity of Fremont as a popular auctioneer, being able to speak both German and English fluently. He is a Democrat in politics, and has served as trustee of Sandusky township. He and his family are members of St. Joseph's Catholic Church of Fremont.

L AUREL ELMER ROBINSON, M. D., a successful and thoroughly trained medical practitioner of Clyde, Sandusky county, was born in Holmes county, Ohio, August 14, 1845, son of Basil W. and Elizabeth (Blair) Robinson.

The father was born at Danville, Knox county, in 1818, and now lives at Mt. Vernon, Ohio, a successful retired farmer and stock dealer. He bought horses and sheep extensively, selling them at Chi- cago and in other markets. The pater- nal grandfather of B. W. Robinson emi- grated from Scotland about the middle of the last century, and settled near Harris- burg, where he was engaged in general merchandising. He died possessed of considerable property, and his will is now in the possession of B. W. Robinson. William Robinson, one of the sons of this Scotch emigrant, was a member of one of the early legislatures of Ohio. Solomon Robinson, another son, father of B. W., migrated from Pennsylvania to Ohio in 1799 or 1800. He had eleven children, the eldest of whom was born in Ohio in 1801. Solomon Robinson died of apoplexy in his eighty-sixth year on the farm he had cleared near Mt. Vernon. Only three of his children survive: Dan- iel, of Lima; Mrs. Brooks, of Newark;

COMMEMORATIVE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

and B. W. The latter is a Republican in politics; and a member of the Baptist Church. His wife, Elizabeth Blair, was born in Ashland county, Ohio, in 1821, and died in 1889. Her father was a Scotch emigrant; her maternal grand- mother was stolen from Ireland by a brother, and educated in America. The mother of Elizabeth Blair is said to have been the first white child born west of the Ohio river. When a child, during the early Indian troubles, she witnessed, through a crack in the stockade, the mas- sacre of her brother-twenty-one years old-and of her sister-two years younger -both victims of the tomahawks and scalping knives of the savages. B. W. and Elizabeth Robinson had five chil- dren, four of whom lived to maturity, as follows: Rovilla, who married John God- frey Jones, a Methodist minister, and a graduate of Kenyon College, and now re- sides near Portsmouth; Laurel Elmer, subject of this sketch; Winfield Scott, a physician, who was educated at Mt. Ver- non, Ohio, and Philadelphia, Penn., and who died in 1893; R. J., also a physician, now deceased; and one child that died in infancy.

Laurel Elmer Robinson was educated at Mt. Vernon. In 1868 he entered the U. S. regular army as hospital steward for a term of five years, passing a strict technical examination before his appoint- ment could be made effective. From this service Dr. Robinson received great pro- fessional benefit. He was stationed in Arizona during the Indian troubles of 1870, and in his professional capacity was often under fire from the savages. His hat brim was once shot off, and bullets several times pierced his clothing. He was under Gen. Crook's command, and not infrequently prescribed medicine for this unassuming commander, but brilliant Indian fighter. Retiring from the army service, Dr. Robinson completed a course of study at Rush Medical College, gradu- ating with the class of 1874. He prac-

ticed two years at Mt. Vernon with his brother, R. J., then three years at Re- public, Seneca county, and in 1879 set- tled permanently at Clyde, where he has since built up a large practice. Dr. Rob- inson was married at Mt. Vernon, in 1876, to Miss Cora B. McElroy, and four children have been born to them-How- ard, Lester, Carl and Russell; the latter died in June, 1894, aged two years and six months. Dr. Robinson is a member of the Sandusky County Medical Society, and in politics he is a Republican.

S B. TAYLOR, M. D., physician and surgeon, Fremont, Sandusky county, has been engaged in the practice of medicine for thirty years. He was born at Lower Sandusky, Ohio, March 19, 1844, son of Austin B. and Delia A. (Pettibone) Taylor. His

father was born in Newfane, Vt., in 1814, and at the age of twenty-four came to Lower Sandusky, Ohio, to clerk for Sardis Birchard, of the firm of Birchard, Dick- inson & Grant, whom he afterward suc- ceeded in business, and was one of the pioneer merchants of the village. He died February 22, 1863. Dr. Taylor's mother was born in Granby, Conn., in 1 822, daughter of Hon. Hiram Pettibone, a native of Connecticut, who in 1836 came to Lower Sandusky, and was one of its first attorneys. He died at Fond du Lac, Wis., in 1886; his wife died at Fremont in 1854. Mrs. Taylor died in 1888, at Fremont, Ohio.

The children of Austin B. and Delia A. Taylor were: Mary, who died in 1857, at the age of fourteen; Sardis B., our subject; Charles, who died in Dunlap, Iowa, in 1891; George, who died in At- tica, Harper Co., Kans., in 1891; Oscar WV., who died in Dunlap, Iowa, in 1891; Austin B., who resides at Dunlap, Iowa; and Delia, who is a teacher of German in the Fremont public schools (Miss

COMMEMORATIVE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

Taylor is a graduate of Wells College, N. Y.).

Dr. S. B. Taylor was reared in Fre- mont, there receiving his primary educa- tion in the public schools, and subse- quently passed through the Preparatory Department of Western Reserve College, at Hudson, Ohio. He then commenced the study of medicine at Cleveland, Ohio, under Dr. S. R. Beckwith, and later en- tered Cleveland Medical Institute, from which he graduated with the class of 1864. He afterward attended Starling Medical College, Columbus, Ohio, from which he graduated with the class of 1872. He began the practice of his pro- fession in 1864, in the capacity of assist- ant-surgeon of the One Hundred and Sixty-ninth Regiment, O. V. I., at Fort Ethan Allen, Va., and since that time he has been in constant practice at Fremont, Ohio. He was physician at the County Infirmary from 1868 to 1872, and he is now president of the Sandusky County Soldiers' Relief Commission, and a mem- ber of the Sandusky County Medical Society, of which he was the first libra- rian. Dr. Taylor is a member of Dick- inson Tent No. 21, K. O. T. M., of which he has been physician, and a mem- ber of Eugene Rawson Post No. 32, G. A. R., numbering 170 members, of which he has been surgeon for twelve years. He was aide-de-camp to the G. A. R. for Sandusky county in 1890. He is a Democrat in politics. Dr. Taylor is a lineal descendant, great-grandson, of Brig. - Gen. Chauncey Pettibone, who served in the Revolutionary war.

J OSEPH L. RAWSON. Few fam- ilies have honored the memory of an illustrions line of English ancestry more than has the Rawson family in Sandusky county, Ohio. Depending wholly upon their own exertions, each has left the impress of his life and character upon the history of the community in

which he lived and labored. As an honored representative of the Rawsons we present the one whose name opens this article.

Joseph L. Rawson, surveyor, was born in Fremont, Ohio, in 1835, a son of Dr. L. Q. and Sophia (Beaugrand) Raw- son, the former of English and the lat- ter of French descent. Dr. Rawson was a native of Irving, Franklin Co., Mass., born September 4, 1804, a son of Lemuel Rawson, who was also a native of Massa- chusetts, born Jannary 18, 1767. Lemuel Rawson was a tanner by trade until 1812, after which he was a farmer; he was mar- ried on September 8, 1791, to Miss Sarah Barrus, and after farming successively at Orange, New Salem and Irving Grant, Mass., until 1836, came to Bath, Summit Co., Ohio, where he remained until Sep- tember 20, 1844, when his wife died, and he then removed to Lower Sandusky. Their children were: Sallie Rawson, who was first married to Capt. Jesse Thompson, and after his death to Mr. B. Hubbard, who settled in Putnam county, Ohio; she died October 15, 1853. Lemuel, born December 14, 1793, died October 6, 1866; he settled on the Rawson farm, in South Orange, Mass. Secretary Rawson, who practiced medicine in Summit county, Ohio, forty-two years, after which he went to DesMoines, Iowa, where he died in 1891, aged ninety-five years; he was a member of the Presbyterian Church. Elizabeth, twin of Secretary, died when two years old. Abel Rawson, an attorney at law of Tiffin, Ohio, died in 1871. Bass Rawson, who was a hatter by trade, and later a physician and surgeon of Findlay, Hancock Co., Ohio; he died in 1891, aged ninety-two years. Hannah Rawson, wife of John Galbraith, of Seneca county, Ohio; she died in September, 1867. L. Q., father of our subject. Alonzo Raw- son, who published a weekly paper at Athol, Mass., called the Freedom Sentinel, until 1833, when he came to Tiffin, Ohio, and published the Independent Chronicle two years; after this he engaged for a

COMMEMORATIVE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

time in mercantile pursuits, and then studied and practiced medicine; he died at Colton, Ohio, November 25, 1864, aged fifty-eight years.

Dr. L. Q. Rawson was reared and educated in Massachusetts, and in 1824 attended a medical college at Cincinnati, Ohio. He began the practice of medi- cine in 1825, in Wyandot county, and in 1826 came to Lower Sandusky, whence after a brief stay he then went east and en- tered the Medical College of the Uni- versity of Pennsylvania, where he finished his education and received the degree of M. D .; he returned to Sandusky county, and continued in the practice of his pro- fession until 1855. He held various of- fices of honor and trust in his community, for a time serving as clerk of courts, and also as clerk of the supreme court from 1836 to 1851. From 1853 he devoted part of his time to the building of the Lake Erie & Western railroad, of which he was president several years. The town of Rawson was named after him, as was also Rawson avenue, Fremont. He was considered a man of good finan- cial ability and force of character. On July 8, 1829, Dr. Rawson was married to Miss Sophia Beaugrand, at Lower San- dusky (now Fremont), Ohio, who was born October 20, 1810, a daughter of John B. Beaugrand, one of the early pioneers of the Black Swamp, who was a merchant at Maumee from 1802 to 1812. He had married in 1802, at Detroit, Mich., Miss Margaret Chabert, daughter of Col. Chabert de Joucaire, of the French army. Dr. L. Q. Rawson died at Fremont, in September, 1888, and his wife in May, 1882. Their children were: Milton E., a physician, who graduated from Cleveland Medical College, practiced medicine in Grand Haven and Muskegon, Mich., and at Fremont, Ohio; Xavier J., who died in infancy; Joseph L., whose name opens this sketch; Josephine, who died in childhood; Roxine H., born in 1838, and died in 1846; Eugene A., born

March 14, 1840, a soldier of the Civil war, who died July 22, 1864, and after whom a G. A. R. Post is named (he enlisted in the Twelfth New York In- fantry, was transferred in December, 1861, to the Seventy-second Regiment, O. V. I., with the rank of adjutant, and soon afterward received the rank of major which he held up to the time of his death. He participated in the battles of Shiloh, first Bull Run, siege of Corinth, Vicksburg, and other engagements of less note. During a skirmish near Guntown, Miss., July 15, 1864, he received a wound which resulted in his death a week later, at Memphis, Tenn.); and Estelle S., born March 2, 1849, wife of L. A. Russell, of Cleveland, Ohio.

Joseph L. Rawson was reared and educated in Fremont, and occasionally performed farm labor. He took up civil engineering, which he followed for a time, and for about ten years also had charge of a grain elevator at the docks in Fre- mont. In September, 1859, he married Miss Margaret A. Gelpin, of Fremont, Ohio, whose parents were Lyman and Martha (Stevenson) Gelpin, the former from New York State, the latter from Maryland, both having come to the Western Reserve at an early day, where they died. To our subject and wife were born three children: Sophia E., born July 4, 1860, wife of Theodore Harris, a merchant of Tecumseh, Mich., who has one child, Jennie May; Jennie A., born February 7, 1863, wife of Dr. O. H. Thomas, of Fremont, Ohio, and La Quinio G., born October 28, 1871, an attorney at law of Cleveland, Ohio, who read law with James H. Fowler, Fre- mont, attended the Cincinnati Law School, from which he graduated, stand- ing fifth in a class of ninety-seven, and was admitted to the bar in 1891.

Our subject is a Republican in politics; his family are members of the St. Paul's Episcopal Church. The Raw- son family is of English ancestry, being

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COMMEMORATIVE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

descended from Edward Rawson, who came to the Colony of Massachusetts, in 1636-37, and settled at Newbury, Mass. Some of the family line were ministers, some sea captains, and others physicians. The family have a coat of arms traced back to England, and a well-written book of family genealogy.

M AJOR EUGENE ALLEN RAWSON. Prominent among the patriotic and brave young men of Sandusky county, who voluntarily sacrificed their lives on the altar of their country during the Civil war, 1861-65, was he whose name introduces this article.

While a student at Homer, N. Y., and just about finishing his academic course preparatory to entering Yale College, he promptly responded to Abraham Lincoln's first call for volunteers by enlisting in the Twelfth New York Regiment. In the capacity of private he took a noble part in the battle of Bull Run, evincing great coolness and bravery. In December, 1861, he was appointed adjutant of the Seventy-second Reginent O. V. I., by the governor of Ohio, and was accordingly transferred to it by the War Department. He left Fremont with the regiment in January, 1862, when it moved to Camp Chase, preparatory to going to its final destination-Paducah and the Southwest. He shared its perils after it joined the army of the Tennessee, and moved down the Mississippi to Pittsburg Landing. Many boys of the regiment were sick with the diseases peculiar to that Southern climate, and Mr. Rawson's natural buoy- ancy of spirit and cheerful sprightly man- ner did no little to drive away despond- ency. A few incidents will give an idea of his bravery. On Friday preceding the battle of Shiloh, at the head of Company B, Adjutant Rawson, with forty men, having only a fallen tree for their breast- work, kept six hundred Rebel cavalry in

check for several hours, until relieved by the timely arrival of Col. Buckland. When the battle opened on Sunday morning, April 6th, and the Rebels came like an avalanche upon the unsuspecting Union troops, Buckland's brigade re- sponded to the beat of the "long roll " with such alacrity that they stood in the very front of Sherman's Division, ready for action, before the enemy had gained rifle distance of their position. Col. R. P. Buckland being in command of the brigade, the command of the regiment devolved upon Lieut .- Col. Canfield, and as Major Crockett, the only other field officer of the regiment had been taken prisoner two days previous, Adjutant Rawson, by common consent assumed the duties of major for the occasion. At the first or second fire, Lieut. - Col. Can- field fell mortally wounded, and Adjutant Rawson alone remained to command the regiment, and cheer the boys who stood steadfast amid the storm of leaden hail that mowed through their ranks, until Col. Buckland, seeing their extremity, came to their relief. The horse of Adj. Rawson was shot from under him, and another that had been sent for him was captured before it reached him, but he performed his duties promptly and effi- ciently on foot. He distinguished himself later in the three-days' fight at Pittsburg Landing, at the siege of Corinth, in the pursuit of Forrest through Tennessee, in the marches, skirmishes and battles from Memphis to Vicksburg, in the pursuit of Johnson, under Sherman, to Jackson, in the return to Memphis, and in the expe- dition into Mississippi.

After the Seventy-second had re-en- listed as veterans, and after the main body composing Sherman's expedition had moved southward, a small force of about 1, 600 men was sent out on the venture- some expedition of making a feint into the enemy's country, where they were hold- ing a position on the bank of the Talla- hatchie to intercept and defeat the cross-

COMMEMORATIVE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

ing of reinforcements moving to the sup- port of Sherman. Of this small force, the Seventy-second regiment, under Lieut. - Col. Eaton and Maj. Rawson formed a part. The latter officer had been pro- moted by common consent to the rank of major, and performed his part of the un- dertaking with rare good judgment and intrepidity. From the badly managed expedition of which the Seventy-second regiment formed a part, which was sent out from Memphis under Gen. Sturgis, and which ended so sadly at Guntown and Ripley, in Mississippi, Maj. Rawson reached Memphis with such of the officers and men as were saved from the general disaster; marching over eighty miles with- out food or rest, in less than forty-eight hours. The Seventy-second regiment acted as a rear guard to the fleeing troops, and valiantly beat back the pursuing foe until out of ammunition and having their supply train destroyed by the Rebels, when they were at last forced to make good their escape by flight after 250 of their men had been captured. Scarcely rested from this scene of suffering, the Seventy-second regiment, under Maj. Rawson, started again, under, Gen. A. J. Smith, to encounter the same foe. Com- ing up to the enemy at Tupelo, Miss., Maj. Rawson was mortally wounded at Old Town Creek, while gallantly leading a charge against the Rebel lines. He was borne from the field and conveyed back to Memphis, where he died July 22, 1864, aged twenty-four years. His re- mains were embalmed and sent home to Fremont, Ohio, where with appropriate ceremonies they were interred in Oak Wood Cemetery. Resolutions of respect were adopted by the remaining officers of the regiment, and forwarded for publica- tion to the Press of Sandusky county. In the year 1881, the first organization of the Grand Army of the Republic, at Fre- mont, was named after Maj. Eugene Al- len Rawson, and among its charter mem- bers were Gen. R. P. Buckland and Gen.

R. B. Hayes, the latter of whom donated the use of Birchard Hall to the Post, free, as long as they shall maintain their organi- zation.

Major Rawson was the son of Dr. La Quinio and Sophia (Beaugrand) Rawson, and was born at Fremont, Ohio, March 14, 1840. While absent from his regi- ment on furlough, August 31, 1863, he married Miss Jennie Snyder, an amiable and accomplished lady of Cortland, New York.

J D. BEMIS, M. D., is a native of Ohio, born in Elyria, March 14, 1858, a son of Eri and Lydia A. (Griswold) Bemis, the former of whom was a well-to-do farmer of Lorain county until the breaking out of the Civil war. At that time, fired with the spirit of patriotism, he gave his services to the government, for the preservation of the Union, by enlisting, in August, 1862, in Company E, First Ohio Light Artillery (Edgerton's Battery), in which he bravely served until he died at Nashville, Tenn., July 13, 1863; his remains were sent home to Elyria for burial. The mother of our subject also died in comparatively early life, leaving four children, namely: Charles, who lives in Elyria, Ohio; H. E., in California; Dr. J. D .; and Clara, now the wife of C. W. Benton, of Elyria, Ohio.

The subject of these lines after the death of his parents was placed in care of his uncle, Dr. Griswold, of Elyria, Lorain county, and attended the schools of that city until he was about nine years of age, when he was received into the Sol- diers and Sailors Orphans home, at Xenia, Ohio (of which institution his uncle had just been appointed superin- tendent), remaining there until he was thirteen years old. This brings us now to 1871, at which time our subject re- ceived, at the hands of Lieut .- Gov. J. C. Lee, the appointment of bill-room mes-

COMMEMORATIVE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

senger for the Ohio Senate, in which ca- pacity he served two years. During the State Constitutional Convention, 1873-74, he was appointed page, and later he filled the office of assistant sergeant-at-arms, under appointment from M. R. Waite, president of the convention, and after- ward chief justice of the United States. In 1874-75 Dr. Bemis attended Baldwin University, and from there returned to Elyria, where he pursued the study of medicine in the office of Dr. Perry, having previously studied at intervals with the aid of his uncle's medical library. From Dr. Perry's office he went, in 1876, to the Eclectic Medical Institute, Cincin- nati (Ohio), graduating thereat in 1879, and then came to Fremont, where he at once commenced the practice of his chosen profession, and, as a hard student of advanced ideas in both medicine and surgery, has placed himself in the fore- most rank of skilled practitioners in the county.

In 1892 the Doctor was elected health officer for the city of Fremont, and is at present filling the incumbency with his proverbial skill and efficiency, the quality of which is well evidenced by the present high sanitary condition of the city. In 1892 he was appointed a member of the United States Board of Pension Examin- ing Surgeons, and has been its secretary since 1893.

W ILLIAM A. CLEMONS, famil- iarly known as " Judge Clem- ons," one of the most prominent citizens of Ottawa county, was born in Erie county, Ohio, December 15, 1829, and is a son of Alexander and Ange- line (Hollister) Clemons, the former a native of Maine, the latter of Connecticut. They were of Scotch ancestry on the ma- ternal side, but the Clemons family, as far as known, originated on the Isle of Guern- sey, where two little boys, Isaac and John Clemons, were stolen while on their

way to school, and brought to America, locating at Salem, Mass., in the early part of the eighteenth century.

Our subject is descended from Isaac, who afterward located in the State of Maine, and became the father of two sons-Edward and John. The former had four sons-Jock, Samuel, Jabez, and Frank-and these four brothers removed to Madison, N. Y., in 1795. The first named became the father of three sons and two daughters. Samuel had one son and two dughters; Jabez, two sons and three daughters; Frank had three daugh- ters. Jabez became the father of David Clemons, the father of the celebrated humorist, who is best known to the world as Mark Twain. John, the brother of Ed- ward, had three sons and three daughters, namely: John, Jonathan, Eli, Ruth, Hannah and Eunice. John wedded Mary Mclellan, of Gorham, Maine, and their children were-Cary, Andrew, Alexander, John, Eunice, Ai, Elijah, Nancy, Samuel and William. Ruth, a sister of the father of this family, became the wife of Col. Charles Wadsworth, son of Gen. Peleg Wadsworth, of Revolutionary fame, and the brother of the mother of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. Hannah mar- ried William Cotton. The mother of John Clemons, and the great-grandmother of our subject, was Abigail Wetherbee, who lived to be one hundred and four years old, and left one hundred and sixty- four descendants.

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Commemorative biographical record of the counties of Sandusky and Ottawa, Ohio, containing biographical sketches of prominent and representative citizens, Part 12

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