Commemorative biographical record of the counties of Sandusky and Ottawa, Ohio, containing biographical sketches of prominent and representative citizens, Part 21

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 21
USA > Ohio > Ottawa County > Commemorative biographical record of the counties of Sandusky and Ottawa, Ohio, containing biographical sketches of prominent and representative citizens > Part 21

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).

John B. Loveland was married at New Haven, Huron Co., Ohio, August 22, 1850, to Miss Martha Jane, daughter of Nicholas and Delilah (Hunsicker) Watts. She was born in Owasco, N. Y., March 3, 1831, and died at Fremont, February 27, 1883, the mother of children as fol- lows: Martha Amelia, born July 31, 1851, died August 22, 1851; Nicholas Eugene, born November 20, 1852; and John El- mer, born December 22, 1862. On April 22, 1884, John B. Loveland, for his second wife, married, at Fremont, Mrs. Harriet Newell Paxson, née Loveland, who was born at Waterville, Penn., February 17, 1838. At the age of sixteen our subject united with the Free-Will Baptist Church in New Haven, and he and Mrs. Love- land are now members of the M. E. Church at Fremont.

N. E. LOVELAND, farmer, of Green Spring, Ohio, was born in Greenfield township, Huron county, November 20, 1852, and spent his early life on his fa- ther's farm at Fremont. In 1872 he gradu- ated from the Fremont High School, after which he served as superintendent of the

Port Clinton and Woodville schools. He studied law with the firm of Everett & Fowler, Fremont, and was admitted to the bar by the district court, March 20, 1876, subsequently practicing his profes- sion at Columbus Grove and at Fremont, but he has now retired to his farm. He is a strong advocate of temperance, and in politics is a Republican. On November 16, 1876, he married Miss Annie Parker, of Green Spring, who was born there July 24, 1857. They are both members of the Seventh-Day Advent Church. The names and dates of birth of their children are Bertha Eugenie, December 15, 1877; Grace Eola, April 25, 1883; Roy Dana, April 2, 1886; Daisy Melita, June 3, 1889; and Ernest Eugene, October 20, 1892.

J. ELMER LOVELAND, an emyloye in the Carbon Works, was born at Fremont, December 22, 1862, and received his education in the Fremont city schools. His present residence is on a lot of land adjoining that of his father. On October 29, 1882, he was married, at Clyde, Ohio, to Miss Anna Murphy, who was born in New York city September I, 1864, daughter of Michael and Nora (Dillon) Murphy, and their children are: Martha Hazel, born April 22, 1884; Herman, born September 26, 1887; and John Talcott, born July 22, 1892.

OHN F. GOTTRON, proprietor of stone quarry, and dealer in building stone, lime, etc., at Fremont, San- dusky county, is a native of same, having been born there July 21, 1855, a son of Philip and Clara (Fertig) Gottron.

Philip Gottron was born September 12, 1812, in Mumbach, Germany, where he grew to manhood, and was engaged in the lime and the roofing-tile business un- til he emigrated to America. He was mayor of Mumbach, and at different times held other public offices, serving as a member of the city council. In 1854 he came to America, locating in Fremont,

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Ohio, where he conducted a hotel for some years and a brick-yard. About the year 1862-63 he did the first extensive business in lime in Fremont. He bought a part of the extensive quarries now owned by his sons, and carried on a prof- itable trade, retiring from business in 1878; he died in 1881. He was a Dem- ocrat in politics, and a Roman Catholic in religious faith. His wife was also born in Mumbach, Germany, where they were married, and she came with him to America, dying April 26, 1871. They had eleven children (two of whom were born in America), as follows: Margaret, wife of George Engler, of the firm of Engler, Baker & Co., stock and grain buyers, Fremont, Ohio; Clara, widow of Philip Setzler; Herman, who died at the age of thirty-four; Frank, who is foreman of the kilns in connection with his broth- ers' business at Fremont, Ohio; Anna, widow of Andrew Hodes; Anthony N., keeper of a restaurant at Fremont, Ohio; Rosa, wife of S. Geier, of Cleveland, Ohio; Barbara, wife of W. G. Andrews; of Cleveland, Ohio; Adam, who is a part- ner with his brother John F. in the stone quarry, of Fremont, Ohio; John F .; and Philip, who married Miss Ellen Hid- ber, and lives at Fremont, Ohio.

John F. Gottron was reared in Fre- mont, where he attended both parochial and public schools, and assisted his father in business. At the age of thirteen he was taken out of school to do work in lime-kilns, continuing thus until he was twenty, when he went to Cleveland, Ohio, and worked a year and a half on Broad- way and Central avenue, for a brother- in-law, after which, in 1877, he returned to Fremont, where he has been engaged in the lime business ever since. When the Gottron Brothers started in this busi- ness, our subject had only $20 and his brother $100. In 1890 they bought out all competitors, and now have full con- trol of the business. They furnish founda- tion stones for buildings and bridges,

employing twenty-five men in the sum- mer season in the quarries, and ship lime to various parts of Ohio, Michigan, In- diana, Pennsylvania and New York.

On October 3, 1882, John F. Got- tron married Miss Bertha Andrews, who was born June 13, 1859; she received a part of her education in a convent in Germany. Her parents were Christo- pher and Mary (Fertig) Andrews, the father born in North Germany January 8. 1828, and the mother June 11, 1824, in Bensheim. They both came to America in childhood. He died March 27, 1878; she is living with her daugh- ter at Fremont, Ohio. Their children were: William G., who married Barbara Gottron, and is in the milling business at Cleveland, Ohio, being vice-president and one of the principal stockholders in the Broadway Mills Co., of which he was one of the organizers; T. M., living at Cleveland; Catharine, wife of A. N. Got- tron, of Fremont, Ohio; and Bertha, wife of our subject.

After marriage Mr. Gottron moved to his home in the Fourth ward of Fremont, and during the second year thereafter was elected to the city council, of which he was president from 1885 to 1889, and served as clerk for four years following. In 1894 Mr. Gottron completed one of the most beautiful homes in the city at the corner of Birchard avenue and Mon- roe street, where he now resides. He is a member of the Roman Catholic Church, the Catholic Knights of Ohio, the Order of Elks and of the German Aid Society. Mr. and Mrs. Gottron have two children: Mabelle and John F., Jr.

M ERLIN BABCOCK, one of the substantial and popular farmers of York township, Sandusky county, comes of pioneer stock. He was born in Ontario county, New York, June 27, 1819, son of Elisha and Prudence (Hinkley) Babcock, both natives

Merlin Bulovce

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of Stevens township, Rensselaer Co., New York.

Elisha Babcock was born in 1783, of remote Holland ancestry, but he himself always used to insist that he was a Yan- kee. He was a Whig in politics. In 1 823 he migrated by team with his family from New York to Green Creek town- ship, Sandusky Co., Ohio, where he purchased government land, and was among the earliest settlers, the family living for a few weeks in an old sugar shanty while a cabin was being erected. The parents went to their long rest many years later, after they had converted the wilderness into a fruitful farm. To Elisha and Prudence Babcock were born five children, as follows: Laura, who first married P. C. Chapel, and for her second husband wedded J. C. Coleman, a grocer of Fremont, where she died; Esther, who married George Waldorf, of Allegany county, N. Y., and died there; Clark, who married Ann Lee, and was a farmer of Porter county, Ind .; Hiram, who married Mary Ann Lay, and after her de- cease wedded Josephine Woodruff, and who died in Green Creek township, in 1886, leaving seven children; Merlin, the youngest child, is the only survivor of the family.

Merlin Babcock was but four years of age when he migrated with his parents to Sandusky county, He remained on the old homestead in Green Creek township until he was twenty-seven years old, in his youth attending school in winter about three months, and in summer two months. For his first wife he married Almira Dir- lam, a native of Massachusetts. She died in 1846, leaving three children: Sarah, wife of John J. Craig, of Coffey county, Kans .; Callie B., who married G. M. Kinney, by whom she had one child, Merlin, and who now keeps house for her father; and Frank, a resident of Gibson- burg, who has five children-Burton, Edith, Amy, Chauncey and Jesse. After the death of his first wife Mr. Babcock

left his father's homestead and moved to his present farm in York township. Here he married Agnes E. Donaldson, by whom he had one child, John C., now a resi- dent of Nevada. He engaged in general farming for a time, then removed to Wads- worth, Nevada, and there engaged in the hotel business. After his wife died in the western home he returned to Sandusky county, and has since resided on his farm in York township. In politics Mr. Bab- cock has been a Henry Clay Whig. He cast his first vote for W. H. H. Harrison, and also voted for his grandson, Benjamin Harrison, for President. Mr. Babcock remembers hearing Gen. Harrison make a speech at Old Fort Meigs in 1840. He remembers, too, with vividness, the re- markable change that has come upon the face of the country during the past fifty years, and among other things the three old mills on Coon creek, near Clyde, that ran several months each year, that stream then being filled from bank to bank, in striking contrast to the present attenuated flow of water. He served York town- ship for nineteen years as assessor, and has filled various other local offices. Mr. Babcock is an upright citizen, and is with- out an enemy. At his old home in York township he enjoys the serenity and com- fort which should crown a life so well spent as his has been, and he commands the highest respect and esteem of a wide cir- cle of friends and acquaintances.

A J. HALE, station agent of the Lake Shore & Michigan Southern railroad, Fremont, was born in Steuben county, N. Y., May 25, 1828, son of Samuel and Sarah Hale.

Samuel Hale was born in Massachu- setts, and his wife in Connecticut, whence she early removed to western New York, and there grew to womanhood. They were married at Albany. He was first a lumber dealer in various sections of the State of New York, and later a general merchant,

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doing business at Tyrone, Steuben county. He died in 1842, at the age of fifty-seven years, and she died at Lake Geneva, in 1857, at the age of sixty-three, a member of the Baptist Church. Ten children were born to them, nine of whom grew to maturity.

A. J. Hale was reared in Steuben county, N. Y., and attended the public schools until thirteen years of age. He then served as clerk in a store, in New York State, for two years when, in 1842, he came to Bellevue, Ohio, and was there actively engaged in business until 1852, when he removed to Fremont, becoming agent for the Lake Shore & Michigan Southern railroad, in 1857, which position he filled until 1861. At the outbreak of the Civil war, in 1861, he helped to raise the first company of three-year men in Fremont, and entered the service as sec- ond lieutenant of Company E, Twenty- fifth O. V. I. After serving with the company a short time at Camp Chase, Columbus, Ohio, he was appointed and commissioned quartermaster of the Twenty-fifth O. V. I., under Gov. Tod, at the suggestion of Gen. R. B. Hayes. Mr. Hale had not sought the position, but was chosen on account of his fitness for the place. His regiment was assigned to duty with the army of Western Virginia and he became senior regimental and post quartermaster, in October, 1863, resigning his post and returning to Fre- mont, where he resumed his old place as ticket and freight agent for the combined offices of the Lake Shore & Michigan Southern and the Lake Erie & Western railroads. He continued thus until 1880, when the increasing business of the roads demanded that the business departments be separated, and he became freight and station agent for the Lake Shore alone, and is now acting in that capacity. His long period of service before the public and his excellent qualities as a citizen have made him one of the best known and most highly respected citizens in the

community. In fraternal affiliation he is a member of the Knights of Honor and of the Royal Arcanum. Mr. Hale was married, in Bellevue, Ohio, in 1850, to Miss Elizabeth A. Simkins.

A LBERT VOGT BAUMANN is a native "Buckeye," having been born in Fremont, in 1859, a son of Jacob and Elizabeth (Vogt) Baumann, natives of Switzerland, who came from their native country to Fremont in 1854.

Jacob Baumann, his father, has been identified with the business interests of Fremont since 1856, and by his persever- ance and strict attention to business has acquired a competency which places him in the front rank as one of the solid, sub- stantial business men of Fremont. He is and always has been an active Democrat in politics, but never seeking office. His wife died January 7, 1892, aged fifty-six years. Their children were: Jacob Bau- mann, Jr., of Fremont; Emma Baumann, who died recently; Elizabeth Baumann, at home; and Albert Vogt, our subject; they also had an adopted daughter, named Hattie.

Our subject grew to manhood in Fre- mont, attended the city schools, and then took a thorough business course at East- man College, Poughkeepsie, N. Y. He has been identified with the progress and de- velopment of his native city since his boy- hood days, and has taken an active in- terest in everything designed for the good of the county. He has recently become prominent among the oil and gas men of Sandusky and adjoining counties. In 1884 and 1885 he was principal owner and manager of the Democratic Messenger, the organ of the Sandusky County Demo- cracy at Fremont. He was elected city clerk in 1882, and served in that capacity for six years, having been twice unani- mously re-elected. In 1884 he received the nomination of the Democratic party

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for auditor of Sandusky county, and was defeated by William L. Baker. In 1887 he was again nominated by the Demo- cratic party for county auditor, and was elected over Mr. Baker, who defeated him three years previous. In 1891 he wasre- nominated and re-elected county auditor, receiving the largest majority of any on the county ticket. His whole time and attention is now devoted to his business interests, which have become extensive, mainly through his persevering nature and untiring efforts. He is largely interested in The Fremont Gas Company and The Fremont Electric Light Company, being a director in each and secretary and treas- urer of both companies. In January, 1889, Mr. Baumann was married at Fre- mont to Miss Anna Rose Greene, daugh- ter of Judge John L. Greene, of Fremont. To their union were born two children: Albert Vogt, Jr., and Elsie Elizabeth. To his wife and children he is devotedly attached.

C APTAIN O. L. SHANNON was born in Sandusky township, San- dusky Co., Ohio, March 30, 1848, grew up there and attended the district schools. Being a weakly child, the physicians ordered that he should take a voyage, hence he started on one on the lakes when he was a boy ten years old. He succeeded in sustaining himself from the outset, and sailed on the lakes every summer. He finally went before the mast, remaining in that capacity until his mar- riage, in 1873, to Miss Della Morrow, who was born in Sandusky City, Ohio, in 1854, and died in 1876, leaving one child, Le Roy, who is now a drug clerk in Fre- mont, Ohio. Our subject's second wife, Martha F. (Flinck), was born in Erie county, in 1867, married in 1882, in Lo- rain, Ohio, and has two children: Wilson O., and Westford F.

After his first marriage Mr. Shannon located in Fremont, where he served in

various occupations until 1874, when he passed the examinations in Cleveland, Ohio, and received his certificate as mas- ter seaman and first-class pilot on the Great Lakes. He has sailed a boat near- ly every summer since after his location in Fremont, also operated his farm in Sandusky township in connection with sailing; but five years since he located per- manently in Fremont. He is still com- manding a steamer. He is a member of the I. O.O. F. and of the Disciples Church of Lorain, Ohio. His wife is also a mem- ber of that Church. Capt. Shannon is well known on the lakes and around Fre- mont.

John Shannon, father of our subject, was born March 2, 1813, in the " Block House " at Scioto, which was erected as a fortress during the war of 1812. The name Shannon is of Low-Dutch origin, descending from our subject's great-grand- father, George Shannon. He came to America in the seventeenth century, lo- cated at Schenectady, N. Y., and was well-to-do financially. He died about the year 1828, at an advanced age. He had two children: John and George, the lat- ter of whom, our subject's grandfather, came west to Ohio in 1809. Soon afterward he was married, in Sandusky county, to Mary Whittaker, who was born in that county in 1799, and died in 1827. She was the daughter of James and Elizabeth (Fulks) Whittaker, who were both stolen by a party of In- dians from the Mohawk Valley, New York State. The great-grandfather of our sub- ject was about two years old and his great- grandmother about four years old when they were taken to Lower Sandusky (now Fremont), which was then the headquar- ters of the Indians in this section. They were reared by Indians, and by some means were made head of the Indian tribes. They were married by Indian ceremonies. In due course of time they established a trading post on the Whit- taker Reserve, which was given them by

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the Indians. They also had a trading post at Upper Sandusky. Mr. Whittaker kept that post, and Mrs. Whittaker the one on the Whittaker Reserve. The In- dians traded, from many miles around, at Lower Sandusky, and recognized the Whittakers as their rulers and chiefs. Mr. Whittaker had a partner at Lower Sandusky, and was poisoned by him so that he died; he was burried on the Whit- taker Reserve. Our subject's grand- mother died in the spring of 1832. They had children as follows: Isaac, Nancy, Mary (subject's grandmother), James, Rachel, Charlotte and George. Our sub- ject's father saw and knew all of them except Nancy, who was married early in life to a Mr. Wilson, and moved to Canada. In 1832-33 two of her daughters visited here, and afterward a young man came and staid a short time; he was here at the time of grandmother's death, but was never seen afterward. The rest of that branch of the family died in Canada, or, at all events, all trace of them has been lost. 'Isaac died in Indiana; James died in White Pigeon, Mich., where he had been a merchant (our subject's father was there at that time); Rachel married James A. Scranton, of Lower Sandusky, and was a prominent figure here for years; Charlotte died single; George, the young- est, died in Indiana.

Our subject's paternal grandfather never knew what became of his uncle John. Grandfather married a second time, but nothing positive is known of their history. He was a farmer and a great hunter. He made hunting his chief occu- pation, and employed others to operate his farm. He died at the age of forty- two, and his wife at thirty-six. They had eight children, six of which grew to ma- turity: Elizabeth, married to Samuel Hubble, a ship carpenter at Fort Miami; James, who died near Oregon; John, sub- ject's father; William, a farmer, who died at Genoa, Ohio; Rachel, who died young; Samuel, who died at Plaster Bed, Ottawa

Co., Ohio, and Jacob, who died in Fulton, Ohio. Our subject's father, John Shan- non, is the only one of these now living.

Capt. Shannon's paternal grandpar- ents went away for safety from the war in the fall of 1812, and subject's father was born in the block house built at Scioto, to protect the whites against the Indians. While a party of whites were digging potatoes and tending other crops they were attacked by Indians, and the paternal grandfather of our subject was so badly wounded that he had to crawl two days and nights to reach a friendly Indian's cabin, and was assisted back to Scioto. He was severely wounded in the back, from which he suffered two years, during which time the doctor took thirty- one pieces of bone from his back. He was a strong man and a great hunter. Our subject's father grew up among the Indians, was a great hunter in the early days, and is still a noted duck shooter. On October 1, 1840, he was married to Miss Eveline Patterson, who was born in Onondaga county, N. Y., in 1824. She died October 9, 1893. They had ten children: Sarah, Emma Jane, Julia (who married Andrew Franks, and lives in Michigan), Capt. O. L. (our subject), John W. (who lives in Sandusky township), and Fannie (wife of Frank Scheffler, of Fre- mont, Ohio); the rest of the children died young. After the death of our sub- ject's mother, his father, John Shannon, married Mrs. Sophia Peter, who was a widow at that time.

B YRON R. DUDROW, a resident of Fremont, Sandusky county, is a native of Ohio, born March I, 1855, in Adams township, near Green Spring, Seneca county, and is a son of David W. and Mary J. (Rule) Dudrow, the former of whom was born October 25, 1825, in Frederick county, Md., a son of David and Elizabeth

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(Hines) Dudrow, also natives of Mary- land, born of German ancestry.

David W. Dudrow settled in Seneca county, Ohio, in 1845, becoming the owner of a large farm there, which he conducted up to the time of his decease, prospering himself and assisting others to prosper, his life presenting a striking ex- ample of industry, integrity and unselfish- ness. On January 8, 1853, he was mar- ried to Miss Mary J. Rule, who was born in Seneca county, Ohio, daughter of Daniel and Jane (Grosscost) Rule, to which union were born eight children, four of whom died in infancy, and three sons and one daughter are yet living, to wit: Byron R., in Fremont, Ohio; Will- iam and Fred, in Adams township, Sene- ca county, engaged in farming and stock- raising; and Jennie, with her mother on the old homestead. On May 16, 1888, the father, David W. Dudrow, met with a fatal accident, being instantly killed by the kick of a horse.

Daniel Rule, grandfather of Byron R. Dudrow, was born October 28, 1801, on the banks of the Susquehanna river, in Perry county, Penn., was of Teutonic de- scent, and spoke the German language fluently, while his wife, Jane (Grosscost), was of Scotch-Irish lineage. In the fall of 1824 he moved to Seneca county, Ohio, at which time the Seneca Indians lived on the Seneca Reservation, and he became well acquainted with many of them, some of whom were Redmen of note in their day, including the famous warrior chief Small Cloud Spicer, who at that time was a resident of the Sandusky Valley. Samuel Rule, brother of Daniel, owned and improved a large farm in Me- nard county, Ill., dying there November 7, 1884, while George, a half-brother of Daniel, was one of the pioneers of San- dusky county, Ohio. £ Daniel Rule's grandfather was a soldier in the Revolu- tionary war, serving under Gen. Wash- ington, and participated in the siege of Yorktown; after the surrender of Corn-

wallis he returned to his home in south- ern Pennsylvania, and there succumbed to an abscess which had formed in his side.

Byron R. Dudrow, the subject proper of these lines, received his elementary education at the district schools of the neighborhood of his place of birth, which was supplemented with a course of study at the Union schools of Tiffin and Clyde, Ohio. This for a few years occupied his winter days, his summers being passed for the most part in assisting on his father's farm in Adams township. In the autumn of 1872 he entered the Pre- paratory Department of Baldwin Uni- versity, Berea, Ohio, remaining there continuously until June, 1877, returning home only for his vacations. By close application and hard study he gained one year upon his class, and did not require to attend college during the session of 1877- 78; but in the latter year he returned to Berea, and on June 6th graduated from Baldwin in the classical course, receiving the degree of B. A. On June 9, 1881, the degree of M. A. was conferred upon him.

On June 18, 1877, Mr. Dudrow com- menced the study of law in the office of Basil Meek, at Clyde, Ohio, and was ad- mitted to the bar by the District Court, April 26, 1879. He did not, however, at once enter into active practice, but served as deputy clerk of courts of San- dusky county from the time of his ad- mission to the bar until April 26, 1880, at which time he commenced the practice of the law. He has been engaged in the trial of some prominent cases, and with success. One of the most important trials in which he has engaged was the defense of Mrs. Lizzie Aldridge, who was charged with the murder of her husband, John Aldridge, the trial taking place at Hastings, Neb., in June, 1889. Mrs. Aldridge was acquitted, and of Mr. Dud- row's efforts in this case the Hastings (Neb.) Republican said: "Mr. Dudrow,

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Commemorative biographical record of the counties of Sandusky and Ottawa, Ohio, containing biographical sketches of prominent and representative citizens, Part 21

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