Commemorative biographical record of the counties of Sandusky and Ottawa, Ohio, containing biographical sketches of prominent and representative citizens, Part 2

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 2
USA > Ohio > Ottawa County > Commemorative biographical record of the counties of Sandusky and Ottawa, Ohio, containing biographical sketches of prominent and representative citizens > Part 2

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).

Christian Doncyson assisted his father in farm work until 1836, when he found employment, as a baker, with Fred Wise, who occupied a wooden building on the site of the Star Clothing House, Fremont. He next worked a few months with Fred Boos, a baker, at Sandusky City, and then went to Manhattan (now Toledo), Ohio, where he plied his trade, and where, on February 7, 1837, he married Marie M. Engler. Returning to Sandusky county he again assisted his parents on their farm until 1838, when he hired out to John Stahl to manage a bakery in a building then belonging to Mrs. S. A. Grant, near the west end of State street bridge, Lower Sandusky. Here he remained until 1844, when he and George Engler jointly bought out John Stahl's grocery, and con-

ducted the business together for several years. In 1853 Mr. Doncyson erected a three-story brick building on ground which he afterward sold to the Wheeling & Lake Erie Railroad Company, and car- ried on a grocery and provision store for upward of twenty years. In 1883 he built a fine brick mansion on the corner of Croghan and Wayne streets, which he occupied as a family residence during the rest of his life. He held various offices of honor and trust in his community, hav- ing been treasurer of Sandusky township from 1846 to 1862, county infirmary di- rector from 1867 to 1878, probate judge from 1878 to 1884, member of the city council of Fremont two terms, and of the city board of education twelve years. He was quiet and unassuming in manner, but proved a faithful and obliging official. During the last ten years of his life he lived partly retired from business, serving occasionally as deputy clerk for Hon. E. F. Dickinson and Hon. Joseph Zimmer- man. He was for many years a member of Fort Stephenson Lodge, F. & A. M., and worshipful master of the same. The children of Christian and Marie M. Doncy- son, all born in Sandusky, were: Chris- tena, wife of Leonard Adler, a butcher on East State street, Fremont; Elizabeth, deceased wife of Charles Geisen, a brew- er; Lucy A., who married Herman J. Gottron, a marble dealer (both now de- ceased); Henry G., a soldier of the Civil war, who served in Company K. One Hundredth Regiment O. V. I., married Miss Carrie Brown and is living at Tope- ka, Kans., where he is employed in the pension office; John R., a grocer of Fre- mont, who married Farry Kent; Herman WV., an architect, of Fremont, married to Amelia Hidber; George E., a liveryman, of Fremont; Oscar J., whose name intro- duces this sketch; Ella, widow of Jesse Schultz, who was a teacher; and two sons and one daughter who died in infancy. Judge C. Doncyson died at his home in Fremont, Ohio, June 14, 1893, and was

COMMEMORATIVE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

buried with Masonic honors, in Oakwood cemetery. His wife preceded him to the grave May 18, 1892, at the age of seven- ty-two.

Oscar J. Doncyson, the subject prop- er of this sketch, spent his youth in as- sisting his parents and attending the pub- lic schools of his native city, Fremont. At the age of eighteen he entered on life for himself as clerk in a grocery store. In 1886 he established a grocery and provis- ion store on his own account; but two years later he sold his grocery stock, and became an employe in the county audi- tor's office, where he served as deputy for a number of years. He had previously assisted his father in the office of probate judge. In religious connection he is a member of Grace Lutheran Church; so- cially he is affiliated with the German Aid Society of Fremont.

B ASIL MEEK. The subject of this sketch was born at New Cas- tle, Henry Co., Ind., April 20, 1829. He came of Anglo-Saxon ancestry, his paternal great-grandfather, Jacob Meek, having come from England to Virginia, whence later he moved to North Carolina, finally settling in Mary- land. His maternal great-grandfather, James Stevenson, a native of Pennsylva- nia, but moving to North Carolina and finally settling in Tennessee, served as a soldier during the war of the Revolution, and held a commission as captain in that war. His paternal grandfather, John Meek, moved from his native State of Maryland to Pennsylvania when the father of the subject of this sketch, whose name was also John, was a small boy; but after a few years' residence there, he, in 1788, removed with his family and all his ef- fects to Kentucky, settling at New Cas- tle, Henry county, in that State, where he died in 1803. He had been the owner of slaves, but in his will manumitted the last one he owned.

John Meek (father of Basil), a farmer, was born in 1772, near Ellicott's Mills (now Ellicott City), in the State of Mary- land, going with his father first to Penn- sylvania and thence to Kentucky where he grew to manhood, and at New Castle, Ky., July 1, 1792, was married to his first wife, Miss Margaret Ervin, who bore him nine children-six sons and three daugh- ters-their names and dates of birth being as follows: William, May 29, 1793; Joseph, March 3, 1795; Sarah, 1797; Mary, 1800; Jeptha, November 3, 1803; Jesse, May 27, 1806; Elizabeth, August 9, 1808; John (date lost); and Lorenzo Dow, May 29, 1812. These all married and raised families. Of them, Sarah was married at Richmond, Ind., to John Smith, son of one of the founders of that city, and Joseph married Gulielma, a sis- ter of John Smith. Mary became the wife of Rev. Daniel Fraley, a pioneer Methodist preacher of Indiana. The

last surviving one, Elizabeth, was the wife of Rev. John Davis, a local Method- ist minister, who died at Wabash, Ind .; she died at Stratford, Ontario, Canada, in 1893, aged eighty-six years. John Meek, about 1812, moved from Kentucky to Wayne county, Ind., and settled at Clear Creek, on a farm now embraced within the limits of the present city of Rich- mond. Here his first wife died while Lorenzo D. was a small boy. He con- tinued to live there some years, and then moved to New Castle, Henry Co., Ind., where in 1827, he married Miss Salina Stevenson, daughter of John Stevenson; she was only twenty while he was fifty- five years old at the time.

There were six children born to him of the marriage-four sons and two daughters -- of whom are now living the subject of this sketch, and Capt. James S., who was born August 17, 1834, now living in Spencer, Ind .; Laurinda, born June 2, 1831, now the wife of Stephen Clement, of Newton Iowa; Cynthia J., born November 29, 1836, now

Bail Mek

COMMEMORATIVE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

the wife of Jesse Clement, of Scandia, Kans. One of the sons died in infancy; the other son, Thomas J., born January 15, 1843, died in early manhood. The mother of these died at the home of her son, Capt. James S. Meek, at Spencer, Ind., in 1883, aged seventy-six years. In the year 1832 John Meek returned to Wayne county, and there resided until 1841, when he removed with his family to Mor- gan township, Owen Co., Ind., then a very new and unimproved section of the State, with but very limited school or other privileges. Here he died in 1849, and was buried in Pleasant Grove Ceme- tery, in that township.

Basil Meek was only twelve years old when his father settled in Owen county, and, having no opportunity of attending any of the higher educational institutions, his school education was limited to that of the common schools of that compara- tively new country; but being naturally inclined to study, he improved every op- portunity that was afforded for self im- provement, and to none of these is he more indebted than to a few years' resi- dence at the falls of Eel river-Cataract village-in the cultured family of Alfred N. Bullitt, Esq., in whose store he served as clerk. This was a Kentucky family from Louisville. Mr. Bullitt was a man of fine abilities, a graduate of Yale and had been possessed of what was in his day a large fortune in Louisville which through some misfortune he had lost, and having an interest in a large tract of land, which included the " falls," he removed to Cataract village with his accomplished family in 1846, and there kept a general store. To his valuable library of rare books, the subject of this sketch had ac- cess; which, together with the friendly interest of Mr. Bullitt and his family, awakened in him a desire, and supplied the opportunity for a higher and better education than could be obtained short of ·college.

While residing at Cataract village, De-

cember 23, 1849, he was united in mar- riage with Miss Cynthia A. Brown, daugh- ter of Abner Brown, of Morgan township, the result of this union being four chil- dren, namely: Minerva Bullitt; Mary E .; Lenora Belle, and Flora B. Of these, Minerva B. died at Clyde, Ohio, Novem- ber 22, 1869, in the eighteenth year of her age; Flora B. died in infancy; Mary E. is the wife of Byron R. Dudrow, at- torney at law of Fremont; and Lenora Belle is the wife of L. C. Grover, farmer, near Clyde. The mother of these died in Spencer, Owen Co., Ind., in August, 1861. On September 30, 1862, Mr. Meek married Miss Martha E. Anderson, daughter of Alvin and Harriet (Baldwin) Anderson, of Bellevue, Ohio. By this marriage there are two children, namely: Clara C., wife of Dr. H. G. Edgerton, dentist, of Fremont, Ohio, and Dr. Rob- ert Basil, a brief notice of whom follows. Our subject's grandchildren are: Robert Basil Grover, Mary B., Rachel, Dorothy and Henry Meek Edgerton.

In 1853 at the age of twenty-four Basil Meek was elected clerk of the cir- cuit court and moved from Cataract to Spencer, the county seat of Owen county. He was re-elected without opposition in 1857, serving two terms of four years each. During these eight years he de- voted such time as could be spared from his official duties in studying law, and in 1861 was admitted to the bar and formed a partnership with Hon. Samuel H. Bus- kirk, of Bloomington, and practiced law at Spencer for about two years. In 1864 he removed from his native State to San- dusky county, Ohio, making at first his home on a farm which is now within the village of Clyde. In 1871 he became a member of the Sandusky county bar, and formed a partnership with Col. J. H. Rhodes in the practice of law at Clyde. This partnership continued for four years, after which he practiced alone until Feb- ruary 10, 1879, when he entered upon his duties as clerk of courts, to which office

COMMEMORATIVE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

he had been elected at the previons fall election by a large plurality, running ahead of his ticket in his own village and township 284 votes. In the fall of 1879 he removed with his family to Fremont, where he now resides. At the close of his term he was re-elected clerk of courts by a majority of 1, 100 votes, and served six years in all. On retiring from this office he resumed the practice of his profession, with F. R. Fronizer as partner, until he was appointed, by President Cleveland, postmaster at Fremont. He took charge of this office September 1, 1886, and served until March 1, 1891, a period of four years and six months. In this office he took much interest, and devoted his entire energies in rendering an efficient and highly satisfactory service to the public. It was during his term and through his efforts that the free-delivery system was extended to this office, and put into very successful operation under his management and that of his son, Rob- ert B., who was his first-assistant post- master. On April 1, 1891, he became asso- ciated with his son-in-law, Byron R. Dud- row, in the practice of the law in which he has since been engaged, and is senior member of the law firm of Meek, Dudrow & Worst. As a lawyer he is careful and painstaking in the preparation of his cases, and in their presentation he is clear in statement and forcible in argument. As an advocate he believes in his client, making his cause his own and serving him with a warinth and zeal which springs only from a conviction of the justness of his client's cause.

Mr. Meek has been a member of the board of education since April, 1894, and also clerk of that body. As a member of this board he was influential in the re- organization of the high school in 1895, in creating the principalship, adopting new courses of study and supporting other measures tending to advance the interests of said schools, and establish therein methods of instruction both modern and

practical. He was also active in making free Kindergartens a part of the public school system of the city, and is chairman of the standing committee on Kindergart- ens. Politically he has all his life been a Democrat, loyally supporting the meas- ures and candidates of his party, and cheerfully working for the promotion of its principles, serving on several occasions as chairman of the County Executive Committee, with acceptability to his party.

He is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and has been such since 1857. As a lover of truth and free- dom of thought and action, himself, he is not only resolute for what he believes to be the truth, but is tolerant of all who are seeking the same of whatever name or creed.

R OBERT BASIL MEEK, M. D., son of Basil and Martha E. (An- derson) Meek, was born at Clyde, Sandusky Co., Ohio, January 14,

1 869. His paternal ancestry is given in the foregoing sketch of his father. On his mother's side he is of Scotch descent.

The Andersons were Covenanters, and during the persecutions waged against their faith in Scotland they emigrated to the North of Ireland. From here David Anderson, the great ancestor of this fam- ily line, about the year 1740, with a ,col- ony of Scotch Presbyterians, who brought with them a minister and schoolmaster, came to this country and settled first in Massachusetts; later in Lawrence county, N.

Y. Among his children was a son named John, then a small boy, who here grew to manhood and married Eliz- abeth McCracken, who also was of this colony. John Anderson had five sons- David, Samuel, Joseph, James and John -all of whom were soldiers of the Revo- lutionary war, fighting for their country. James Anderson married Betsy Dodge, and several children were born to them,

COMMEMORATIVE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

one being Alvin Anderson, who married Harriet Baldwin.

Among the children of Alvin Ander- son was Martha E. Anderson, who mar- ried Basil Meek, and is the mother of the subject of this sketch, Robert B., who, when he was ten years old, moved with his parents to Fremont, Ohio, where he completed his elementary and high-school education. In 1887, while his father was postmaster at this place, he was appoint- ed first assistant, and served as such until September, 1890, rendering very efficient and satisfactory service to the public, among whom he was universally popular. During 1890-91 he pursued a scientific course at Adelbert College, Cleveland, Ohio, preparatory to entering upon the study of medicine. In 1891 he entered the Western Reserve Medical College at Cleveland, where he remained two years; then became a student in Wooster Medi- cal College, in that city, taking his senior course therein, and graduating in the spring of 1894. During his three-years' course in the medical college he spent his vacations in the office of his able and skillful preceptor, William Caldwell, M. D., of Fremont. In the summer of 1894 Dr. Meek opened an office in Fre- mont and entered upon the practice of his profession. In the spring of 1895 he was chosen one of the city physicians of the board of health. He is a member of the Northwestern Ohio Medical Associa- tion. In August, 1895, he went to Eu- rope to further pursue his medical educa- tion, and is now (1895) in Vienna, Aus- tria, where he is devoting his time to study in the clinics of the large hospitals, and in taking special courses under the instruction of eminent professors in that great medical center of the Old World. He expects to return home during the summer of 1896, to resume his practice in Fremont, in which he was meeting with very flattering success when he gave it up, temporarily, to go abroad.

Dr. Meek is a young man of fine

natural abilities, and with his medical education received at home, and the rare opportunities he is now enjoying abroad for further equipment, it is safe to pre- dict for him a useful and a successful career in his chosen profession.

R OBERT S. RICE, M. D., was born in Ohio county, Va. (now W. Va.), May 28, 1805, and died in Fremont, Ohio, August 5, 1875. At the age of ten he came to Ohio with his father's family, who located in Chilli- cothe, Ross county, the family in 1818 re- moving from that place to Marion county, and in 1827 our subject settled in Lower Sandusky. He worked at his trade as a potter until about the year 1847, when, having long employed his leisure hours in the study of medicine, he commenced practice. Although he labored under the disadvantages of limited educational op- portunities in his youth, and of not hav- ing received a regular course of medical instruction, his career as a physician was quite successful, and he numbered as his patrons many among the most respectable families in his town and county.

Dr. Rice was a man of sound judg- ment, quick wit, fond of a joke, and sel- dom equaled as a mimic and story teller. He was a keen observer, and found amusement and instruction in his daily intercourse with men by perceiving many things that commonly pass unnoticed. His sympathies were constantly extended to all manner of suffering and oppressed people. He denounced human slavery, and from an early period acted politically with the opponents of that institution. He also opposed corporal punishment in schools, and favored the humane treat- ment of children. He was a member of the Methodist Protestant Church, and was deeply religious. In early years, when preachers were few in this then new country, he often exhorted and preached. His public spirit was shown

COMMEMORATIVE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

on many occasions. He was colonel of the First Regiment of Cavalry Militia or- ganized in Sandusky county, and also general of the first brigade. He assisted in running the line between Ohio and Michigan, near Toledo, Ohio, the dispute in regard to which led to the bloodless ·· Michigan war." He served several terms as justice of the peace, and one term as mayor of Lower Sandusky.

On December 30, 1824, Dr. Robert S. Rice married, in Marion, Ohio, Miss Eliza Ann, daughter of William and Mary (Park) Caldwell, born near Chillicothe, Ohio, March 19, 1807, and who died at Fremont, Ohio, January 17, 1873. They had seven sons and two daughters: The first two were sons who died in infancy; William A. was born in Fremont, Ohio, July 31, 1829; John B. was born June 23, 1832; Sarah Jane, February 20, 1835; Robert H., December 20, 1837; Alfred H., September 23, 1840; Charles F., July 23, 1843; Emeline E., January 14, 1847. Of this family Sarah Jane died June 20, 1841, and Emeline died Sep- tember 19, 1859.

JOHN B. RICE, M. D., was born in Fremont (then Lower Sandusky), Ohio, June 23, 1832, son of Robert S. and Eliza Ann (Caldwell) Rice. During his boyhood he attended the village schools, and learned the printer's trade in the office of the Sandusky County Democrat, where he worked three years. After this .he spent two years in study at Oberlin College, subsequently taking up the study of medicine, and graduated from the Medical Department of the University of Michigan in 1857, soon after which he associated himself with his father in prac- tice at Fremont. In 1859 he further prosecuted his studies at Jefferson Medi- cal College, Philadelphia, and at Bellevue Hospital, New York City. On returning home he resumed his practice.

On the breaking out of the Civil war Dr. Rice was appointed assistant surgeon of the Tenth O. V. I., and served with

his regiment under the gallant Col. Lytle, through the early battles in West Virginia. On November 25, 1861, he was promoted to surgeon, and assigned to his home regi- ment, the Seventy-second O. V. I., which first felt the shock of battle at Shiloh. Through the long years of the war Dr. Rice served with conspicuous bravery and devotion. He was, on different occasions, assigned to duty as surgeon-in-chief of Lauman's and Tuttle's Divisions of the Fifteenth Army Corps, and of the District of Memphis, when commanded by Gen. R. P. Buckland. To the members of the Seventy-second regiment and Buck- land's Brigade he was as a brother. None of the thousands of soldiers who came under his care can ever forget or cease to bless his memory. He was always cheer- ful, sympathetic, and watchful for the interests of his comrades. After the Re- bellion Dr. Rice returned to Fremont, and resumed the practice of his profes- sion. His skill in medicine and surgery was unsurpassed, his practice was large, and he was called in consultation all over this section of the State. There are few capital operations in surgery that he had not performed many times. Dr. Rice was a member of the county, district and State medical societies, and for several years lectured in the Charity Hospital Medical College, and the Medical Depart- ment of the University of Wooster, at Cleveland; his topics were military surg- ery, obstetrics, etc. He contributed ex- tensively to the medical journals of the country, and was everywhere recognized as one of the able men of his profession. He was one of the founders of the Trom- mer Extract of Malt Company, and was connected with other enterprises; he serv- ed on the city board of health, and was a member of the board of pension examiners; and he was ever ready, with his means and influence, to aid in any project for the prosperity and welfare of the com- munity.

In 1880 Dr. Rice was nominated for

COMMEMORATIVE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

Congress by the Republican party of the Tenth District, composed of the counties of Erie, Hancock, Huron, Sandusky and Seneca, and was elected by the handsome plurality of almost 1,400 votes. He served with ability in the XLVIIth Con- gress, receiving the commendations of his constituents and the esteem of his political associates of both parties, and was re- nominated for the XLVIIIth Congress, but declined the nomination, resuming the practice of his profession and the management of the Trommer Extract of Malt Works.

In his demeanor Dr. Rice was simple and unostentatious. He was always the friend and defender of the poor, the weak and the oppressed. No one ever ap- proached him for charity and was sent away empty. No one ever sought his ad- vice in hours of trouble that did not receive full sympathy and generous counsel. No one has done more than he to aid worthy veterans in obtaining their hard-earned pensions, and for his services in their be- half he took no pay. Possessed of an attractive physical development, sound judgment and rare common sense, the versatility of his knowledge and the magic charm of his wit and humor made him the central figure around which all were delighted to gather. He always carried his good humor with him, and it became contagious. He was the master of the story-teller's art, and often left the mem- ory of a rollicking story, a hearty laugh or an appropriate joke to do its good work long after he had taken his departure on his daily rounds. The affection in which he was held by all tells the story of his life, and is that life's best eulogy, as the remembrance of it will be his most fitting epitaph. Dr. Rice was received into the communion of St. Paul's Episcopal Church; was a member of the Grand Army of the Republic, of the Loyal Le- gion and of the Masonic fraternity. He died January 14, 1893, and was buried in Oakwood cemetery.

On December 12, 1861, Dr. Rice married Miss Sarah E., daughter of Dr. James W. and Nancy E. (Justice) Wil- son, of Fremont, Ohio, and the children. born to this union were: Lizzie, born September 18, 1865, and Wilson, born July 2, 1875.

ROBERT H. RICE, M. D., was born in Lower Sandusky (now Fremont), Ohio, December 20, 1837, a son of Dr. Robert S. and Eliza Ann (Caldwell) Rice. In his youth he attended the village schools, and was for several years employed as clerk in the store of O. L. Nims. He afterward attended school at Oberlin Col- lege about two years, and then com- menced the study of medicine with his father and brother, John. Later on he attended medical lectures in the Medical Department of the University of Michi- gan, and graduated from that institution in March, 1863, on his return to Fremont engaging in the practice of medicine with his father, his brother John being then in the army. He soon acquired a very extensive practice, which, later, in part- nership with his brother, Dr. John B. Rice, he prosecuted with untiring zeal, and he has been eminently successful in his profession.

In 1872-73 Dr. Robert H. Rice, spent a year in Europe, during which time he traveled extensively over the con- tinent, Great Britain and Ireland, devot- ing some time, in the medical schools of Paris and Berlin, to the study of his profession. His knowledge of the Ger- man and French languages, which he had acquired by his own efforts, and for which he has a great fondness, enabled him to derive unusual pleasure and advantage from his travels abroad. On his return home he resumed his practice, and soon after entered into the establishment of the Trommer Extract of Malt Works at Fremont, Ohio. Being possessed of a kind, sympathetic and generous nature, he has won a high place in the esteem of those with whom his professional rela-

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Commemorative biographical record of the counties of Sandusky and Ottawa, Ohio, containing biographical sketches of prominent and representative citizens, Part 2

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