Commemorative biographical record of the counties of Sandusky and Ottawa, Ohio, containing biographical sketches of prominent and representative citizens, Part 24

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 24
USA > Ohio > Ottawa County > Commemorative biographical record of the counties of Sandusky and Ottawa, Ohio, containing biographical sketches of prominent and representative citizens > Part 24

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politics he is a Republican. In June, 1888, Mr. and Mrs. Malcolm took a pro- tracted trip to California, visiting friends at Yuba City, Sutter county, and travel- ing extensively on the Pacific coast. He now lives a retired life in the full enjoy- ment of the comforts which have come to him after a busy and well-spent career.

A B. FRENCH. There are lives which rise so high above the level of the masses as to give to the disinterested spectator the impression of picturesque Alpine scenery, in contrast to the monotony of the prai- rie. Spirits are born to dwell in a human incasement of a fiber more delicate, of a strength more tenacious and of a mental force more subtle and elusive than falls to the usual lot of mortal man. The ca- reer of A. B. French, a prominent citi- zen of Clyde, is a most remarkable one, remarkable for the strange powers he has possessed and exercised among men; re- markable for its literary excellence; re- markable for the various channels in which his efforts have been successfully exerted. As lecturer, Spiritualist, orator, nurseryman, author and lawyer, in what- ever he has undertaken, he has excelled.

Mr. French was born in Trumbull county, Ohio, September 13, 1838, son of Samuel and Amelia (Belden) French, the former of whom still survives; the latter died in 1879. Samuel French was born in Oswego county, N. Y., October 2, 1815, son of Byron French, a New Englander of Puritan stock. Amelia Bel- den was born near Hartford, Conn., in 1812, daughter of Asel Belden. Byron French and Asel Belden were both early pioneers in the wilderness of northeastern Ohio, and here their son and daughter married. Samuel French is a representa- tive type of the sturdy Jacksonian-Demo- crat. In his school days A. B. French, the subject of this sketch, was a pre- cocious youth. He acquired his lessons

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without apparent effort, and easily led his class in mental attainments. It was dur- ing these days that perhaps the greatest crisis of his life occurred. Spiritual rap- pings began to be heard in his native town. The mother and sister of Mr. French were among the first to be in- fluenced. They were both highly me- diumistic. A. B. was at the age of six- teen a student at Western Reserve Semi- nary, at Farmington, with an enviable record, high ambition and the brightest prospects. During vacation he was at work on his father's farm one day, when, weary and athirst, he sought the house. Entering, he found mother and sister both entranced. To him it was a strange manifestation, and filled his mind with dread. He attempted to leave, but invisi- ble beings commanded him to stay. Power- less, he sat down. A strange spell, such as he had never before experienced, came over him. He seemed both asleep and

awake. Mortified and humiliated, he strove to shake off the influence, but it held him fast. He began to talk and he kept on talking. His destiny had come. His school days were over. The inspira- tion of the spirit world moved him. He found no rest save when obeying its be- hest. At schoolhouse and hall in neigh- boring towns he lectured. He constantly rebelled, for the public silently condemn- ed, and the sensitive boy, then without prophetic eye, keenly felt the ostracism to which he was subjected. Repeatedly he avowed that he would never speak again, but the influences held him fast. Before he was twenty years of age he had more calls than he could fill. His fame had widely extended. His charm of ut- terance and the new strange thoughts he voiced held spellbound the crowds that nightly greeted him. Wherever he went a revival of pentecostal times was in his midst. The operation of the psychic force is thus described. When Mr. French with closed eyes first began to speak he was almost unconscious. His

condition slowly changed till it blended with the normal state. Thoughts surged irresistibly for utterance at times, and the audience was carried along by the flood of thought. Mr. French's powers have been exercised mostly in speaking, but to some extent in writing, and there appear equally successful.

In the summer of 1859 Mr. French removed to Clyde. In 1863 he started a nursery, with an outlook not especially encouraging for the enterprise, as his means were limited, but by untiring energy and liberal dealing he has built up a com- manding business, which ranks among the largest in this line in the State, and now requires the services of fifty laborers and salesmen. In 1870 he began reading law, in 1871-72 attended the Law Department of the University of Michigan, at Ann Arbor, and was admitted to the bar at Tiffin in 1872. Mr. French began prac- ticing law at Clyde in partnership with Judge John M. Lemmon. Their clientele grew rapidly, and our subject was retained in many important cases; but his health failed, and in 1875, after three years' practice, he was compelled to retire. He has never, however, withdrawn from the platform. His services have been actively sought in many capacities. While devot- ing his attention to his nursery chiefly, he has lectured on Sundays, delivered various public addresses, including many funeral discourses, and has perhaps officiated at more funerals than any other speaker of his age. His happy manner of present- ing the glorious truths of immortality, and glimpses of a new and beautiful existence beyond the fleeting shadows of this life, has made calls upon his services very numerous. In 1876 Mr. French was unanimously nominated on the Republi- can ticket for representative, and made a noteworthy run, pulling the Democratic majority of 800 down to about 200, re- ceiving in his own township the largest vote ever given any one candidate. In 1878, when absent from home, he was

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again unanimously nominated, but refused the honor. From 1881 to 1888 he was engaged almost exclusively in lecturing, and from 1888 to 1890 was a member of the Lyceum Bureau of Chicago, and while lecturing before Spiritualistic audi- ences on Sunday, addressed many literary and church societies from Omaha to Bos- ton with marked success. He has every natural endowment of the popular orator, and has won an enviable reputation under difficulties known only to his most inti- mate friends. During the past few years he has devoted most of his time to his ex- tensive nursery business, and the building up and improvement of the village of Clyde, in which he takes especial interest and pride.

In 1892 there was published a volume of lectures entitled "Gleanings from the Platform, by A. B. French." The lec- tures included " William Denton," "Leg- ends of Buddha," "Mohammed, or the Faith and Wars of Islam," "Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon," "Conflicts of Life," "The Power and Permanency of Ideas," "The Unknown," "Probability of Future Life," "Anniversary Address," "The Egotism of Our Age," "What is Truth," and "Decoration Address." These lectures, which are artistic gems of literature, fairly illustrate the author's lucid literary style, and his originality of thought and expression. The volume has had an extensive circulation, and is a valuable addition to American literature. The voluminous contributions of Mr. French to the Spiritual Journal have been widely disseminated. In his busy life have been blended the expression of a rare psychic faculty and the exercise of business abilities of a high order. He has associated in the incorporation of Clyde, has served in the city council, and has ever been identified with its best inter- ests.

In 1859 Mr. French was married to Miss S. A. Dewey, and to them were born two children: William B., who died at

the age of twenty-nine years, leaving one child, and Miss L. L., who married A. Byers, and has two children. In Decem- ber, 1891, Mr. French was married to Mrs. Mary E. Thomas, of Cardington, Ohio.

F REDERICK FABING, gas and steam-fitter and plumber, Fre- mont, Sandusky county, is one of the oldest established business men in the city. He is a native of France, born in Lorraine June 14, 1832, a son of John and Mary Ann (Greiner) Fabing, who were also natives of Lorraine.

John Fabing in early life learned the trade of gunsmith and jeweler, which he followed until he came to America. In 1834 he emigrated, locating in Fayette- ville, Onondaga Co., N. Y., and there pursuing his trade until 1844, when with the sweeping tide of emigration westward he came to the village of Lower San- dusky, now Fremont, Sandusky Co., Ohio, and established a home. His death occurred July 2, 1845, his wife surviving until 1882, when she died, at Fremont, at the age of seventy-nine years. Their children were: Catharine, wife of John Young, of Pilot Hill, Cal .; John, a farmer of Jackson township, Sandusky county, who died at the age of fifty-two years; Lena, who married in 1845, and died in 1847, leaving two children; one that died in infancy; Frederick, subject of this sketch; and Barbara, wife of M. Hazel- tine, of Baker City, Oregon. Mr. Fabing was a Democrat and a member of the Roman Catholic Church.

Frederick Fabing attended the com- mon schools in Fayetteville, N. Y., until twelve years of age, when he came with his father's family to. Sandusky county, Ohio. He remembers distinctly the open winter of 1844, the voyage on shipboard from Buffalo to Sandusky City, the subse- quent trip to Lower Sandusky, all the way by boat, and the landing at that

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place on the 24th of December, 1844. The famous " Black Swamp" was then a wilderness, and only ten or twelve families had settled between here and Toledo. He used to engage in the sports of the time, hunting deer and other wild game in the deep forests. In 1850 Mr. Fabing joined a caravan to cross the Western Plains to California. This caravan was in charge of a Mr. McClure, who was familiar with the Indians and believed in treating them kindly, adopting military rule for the government of his men in or- der to prevent any mistreatment of the Indians. On one occasion a man of his party shot at a buck and squaw sitting on a log some distance away, but did not hit them; McClure at once had the offender arrested and tried by court-martial-by which the man was condemned to be tied across a wagon wheel during a half-day's travel over the sandy plain, so that his head and feet were alternately up and down. Most of the party remonstrated, but McClure was firm in carrying out the verdict, claiming that if the Indians had been shot or even slightly wounded the whole caravan might have been massa- cred. On being released the man was more dead than alive, but he soon re- covered, and it is needless to say that he did not shoot at the Redmen again during the journey. Another precaution of Mc- Clure for the safety of his party was that of not allowing any Indians into his camp. He posted his pickets outside, and when Indians came to beg food they were given coffee, sugar, salt, etc., which was divided up amongst them, and they went away peaceably. In this manner the caravan passed through the most pow- erful tribes of the West unmolested. The party fared well until near the end of their journey, when rations became short. From the time they reached the valley of the Humboldt river until they entered California each man got only one cup of soup (made from a cow so poor that there was nothing left upon her) and a handful

of crackers per day. Upon nearing points where supplies could be had a couple of men were sent ahead on the best horses they had, and they purchased flour, for which they were obliged to pay two dol- lars per pound, and eighteen dollars worth of it was cooked into cakes for the crowd for one dinner. The first appearance of white men after crossing the Missouri river was at Fort Laramie on the Upper Platte, where one company of United States troops was located. Mr. Fabing walked ali the way across the plains, ex- cept one day in each week, when he was obliged to drive a team.

On reaching California, in August, 1850, he engaged in gold digging, at Cold Springs, near Placerville, remaining there until fall, when he went to Shasto, on Clear creek, where he continued dig- ging with good success in 1854. He re- turned home by way of the Panama route and New York City, remaining a short time to visit with friends, returned to the gold field by the Tehuantepec route, lo- cated on the upper branch of the Amer- ican river for a time, and then returned to Shasto. Here he had fair success and secured enough gold to pay him for all his time. Mr. Fabing in 1857 returned to Fremont, and in 1862 became con- nected with the Fremont Gas Company, with which he continued about twenty- eight years, most of the time in the ca- pacity of superintendent. He became

interested and skilled in the gas- fitting and plumbing business, which he followed in connection with his other duties, so that on retiring from the office of president he found him- self controlling the chief trade in that line in Fremont. In 1865 Mr. Fabing and Mr. Heim jointly built the block which bears their names, Fabing & Heim, and the former still hold his in- terest in it. He is also one of the heavi- est stockholders in the Opera House Company. In politics he is a Repub- lican. In 1865 he joined the Masons,

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being a member of Fort Stephenson Lodge, No. 225, of Fremont, and ad- vanced in Masonry to Knight Templar, becoming a member of De Molay Com- mandery, No. 9, K. T., Tiffin, Ohio. In 1858 Mr. Fabing married Miss Mary J. Webber, who was born in Alsace, Germany, in 1833.

E DWARD H. RUSSELL, a real- estate and insurance agent, and manager of the Opera House, Fre- mont, Sandusky county, was born at Fremont June 14, 1855, son of Henry S. and Margaret (Hawkins) Russell.

Henry Shubel Russell was born in Morgan county, Ohio, in 1817, and came to Lower Sandusky, now Fremont, with his father, in pioneer days. He was a master builder and contractor. He served as sheriff of Sandusky county from 1865 to 1869; he married in Lower Sandusky, in 1843, a daughter of Thomas L. Haw- kins, a local preacher of the M. E. Church, from Franklin county, Ohio. Mr. Haw- kins and his wife were natives of Ken- tucky, and came in 1817 to Lower San- dusky, of which town he was one of the incorporators, and he was a man of re- markable pluck and energy. He was a cabinet maker, and to get water-power built the mill-race which is still in exis- tence at Fremont, and erected thereon a sawmill. In politics he was an Old-line Whig. In March, 1856, he moved to Vinton, Iowa, where he and his wife died at an advanced age. To Henry and Mar- garet (Hawkins) Russell were born four children: Frank W., who enlisted August 7, 1862, at Fremont, Ohio, in Company K, One Hundredth Regiment, O. V. I., went into active service, was captured at Limestone Station, Tenn., September 8, 1863, and died in a Rebel prison at Rich- mond, Va., July 24, 1864; Henry, who died at the age of fifteen years; Ella, wife of C. A. Freeman, a grocer of Fremont, Ohio; and Edward H., whose name intro-

duces this sketch. The father's death occurred May 18, 1876. In politics, he was a Democrat.

Edward H. Russell was reared in the city of Fremont, and educated in the pub- lic schools. On leaving school he trav- eled as business manager of a theatrical company for a period of eight years, and then returned to Fremont to engage in the insurance business. In 1890 he took stock in the Fremont Opera House Com- pany, and became its business manager. Socially, Mr. Russell is one of the charter members of Fremont Lodge No. 204, Knights of Pythias; a charter member and Past Exalted Ruler of Fremont Lodge No. 169, B. P. O. E. ; a charter member and first financial secretary of Sherman Lodge No. III, A. O. U. W. ; a member of Edna Council No. 64, National Union; and a charter member and first presiding officer of Onoko Tribe No. 140, Improved Order of Red Men. On January 9, 1883, Mr. Russell married Miss Laura L. Sny- der, daughter of Maj. S. A. J. Snyder, of the Seventy-second Regiment, O. V. I., ex-postmaster of Fremont, who died in 1889, and whose widow, Clementine (Creager), resides in Fremont, Ohio. The children of E. H. and Laura L. Rus- sell are: Arthur McKnight, Major Henry, Harry Allen and Paul Edward Russell. Mrs. Russell is a member of St. Paul's Episcopal Church.

S TARR & TUNNINGTON, pro- prietors of the Fremont Steam Laundry, are well-known business men of Fremont, Sandusky coun- ty, and have been engaged in their present enterprise since 1890. Their excellent work, especially in the line of shirts, col- lars and cuffs, has gained for them an ex- tended reputation, and been the means of establishing a trade which comes to them from all over Northern Ohio, and also from Michigan and Indiana, within a radius of 150 miles. They have the

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finest plant and the best equipments for a laundry that the most advanced ideas in machinery and methods have been able to perfect. Besides these almost perfect appliances and skilled operators, Fremont affords them a quality of water not to be found elsewhere. With these advantages and the well-known business ability and integrity of its managers, the success of the enterprise is assured. Of the proprietors themselves, the following sketches will be of interest.

H. J. STARR was born in Elyria, Ohio, in 1857, and is the son of Horace Starr, of Starr Brothers, who were for years among the leading merchants of north- ern Ohio, and were very prominent in Elyria. He was educated in the public schools of his native place, and on arriv- ing at manhood took charge of a Boston mining company. Later he filled the po- sition of commissary for a railroad con- struction company in Virginia. When this work was completed he decided to take up some business more permanent in its nature, and with Mr. Tunnington purchased the laundry which they are now operating. Mr. Starr is a man of excellent business abilities, very accommo- dating, and of a quiet, pleasant disposi- tion which makes him friends wherever he goes. He is very popular with the people of Fremont, and is a good citizen.

F. M. TUNNINGTON, the other partner in this firm, is a native of this State, hav- ing been born in Cleveland, December 19, 1858. He grew to manhood in Elyria, and learned the trade of a printer in the office of the Republican in that place, working at this about seven years in Elyria and Cleveland. He subsequently embarked in the laundry business in Cleveland for a short time, and then went to Friendship, N. Y., where he perfected himself in the details of the business, carrying on a laundry there for two years. He then sold out and went on the road for a year, selling laundry fixtures and machinery. Returning to Elyria he purchased a

laundry, but subsequently disposed of it, and with his present partner, Mr. Starr, came to Fremont, where they have estab- lished the fine plant which has already been spoken of. Mr. Tunnington is an expert in his line, and it is mainly due to his advanced methods of doing work that the Fremont Steam Laundry has acquired its enviable reputation.

M ARK THRAVES, farmer and dealer in live stock, Ballville township, Sandusky county, was born in Nottinghamshire, England, December 7, 1832, a son of William and Marilla (Graves) Thraves, whose history appears elsewhere.

Our subject came with his parents to America when he was eleven years of age, and grew up on a farm in Washing- ton township, Sandusky Co., Ohio. In the latter part of 1859 he went to Fre- mont to learn the trade of blacksmith, serving an apprenticeship under Solomon Lansing, who afterward removed to Mich- igan, and after whom it is probable the city of Lansing was named. In Decem- ber, 1851, Mr. Thraves started for Cali- fornia by way of the Panama route, tak- ing passage on a steamer at New York bound for the town of Chagres, at the mouth of Chagres river, on the Isthmus of Panama. The trip was a most haz- ardous one, the steamer losing one of her side-wheels and being nearly wrecked, making it necessary to put in for repairs on the way. Upon reaching the Isthmus of Panama, the passengers were rowed and poled up the river Chagres, in small boats, by the natives, and were some- times obliged to land and walk while the boats were carried around the rapids. After leaving this river the passengers had to make an overland trip of twenty- five miles before reaching the Pacific coast. The men walked, while the wo- inen rode mules furnished by the citizens. To the consternation of Mr. Thraves and

Phraves

Mark

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his fellow travelers, upon reaching the port on the Pacific, they learned that the regular steamer was already so loaded with passengers that they could not get aboard, and that nothing remained for them but to take a sailing vessel for the voyage to San Francisco. The Vander- bilt Line, with whom they had shipped from New York, had no steam line on the Pacific, and so they took passage on the brig "Margaret." They put out to sea with a fair wind, but when within one degree of the equator struck a dead calm, in which they were obliged to lie helpless for two weeks, during which time twelve of the passengers took sick and died. They finally succeeded in pulling into the harbor of San Blas, Mexico, where the brig lay for a week, to the no small solic- itude of the 250 passengers. The re- mainder of their voyage was tedious in the extreme. Perhaps apprehending further trouble, the captain of the brig put it in charge of the mate, and himself remained behind. Provisions ran short, and for the last three weeks each person had to live upon three spoonsful of cooked rice and a pint of coffee per day ; and up- on reaching San Francisco there was not a half bushel of rice left on board the brig, and no other article of food what- ever. They had been thirteen weeks up- on the sailing vessel, whereas only four- teen days were requisite to make the trip by steamer.

Unlike most other men who went to California at that period, Mr. Thraves turned his attention at once to farming, the raising of wheat and other grains in Sacramento county, as on account of the high price of flour ($50 per sack) it was more profitable than gold mining to one who knew more about farming than about mining. In the month of June, 1856, Mr. Thraves returned home to Ohio, and remained among his friends until the fol- lowing April, when, with his brother William, he started back for California. On crossing the Isthmus of Panama they

met with a sad accident. The train upon which they were riding was wrecked, and William Thraves, with sixty others, was crushed to death; more than 360 were in- jured. All those who were killed were buried on the Isthmus. Controlling his grief as best he could, our subject com- pleted his journey to California, where he followed gold mining in Yuba county, on the American river. In 1858 he made a trip into British Columbia and Vancou- ver Island. In December, 1860, he re- turned to Ohio, where he has since that time been engaged in his favorite pursuit of farming and stock raising, in which he has been remarkably successful.

In politics our subject is a Democrat, and though not an office seeker has held various offices in his township, where he is justly recognized as one of the leading and most enterprising citizens. He has for many years been a member of the I. O. O. F., at Green Spring, Ohio.

On April 3, 1862, Mark Thraves was married to Miss Sarah Hufford, who was born April 17, 1834, daughter of Cornel- ius and Mary Jane (Zook) Hufford, with whom she came to Sandusky county, Ohio, when two years old, and has since lived here. Her education was obtained in the district schools of Ballville town- ship, and, with the exception of two years previous to her marriage, she resided with her parents. Her father was born in 1806 in Kentucky, became an early pio- neer of Ohio, and died in Ballville town- ship, Sandusky county, March 14, 1884. being buried in Washington Chapel Cem- etery, Washington township, Sandusky county; he was a blacksmith by trade, and a model farmer. His wife was born in 1809 in Pennsylvania, died in 1882, and was also laid to rest in the above- named cemetery. Their children were: Sarah (Mrs. Thraves), Simon, Elizabeth (Mrs. N. Rathbun), Catharine (Mrs. J. Emerson), and Martha (Mrs. Ferrenberg), all of whom are living. Mrs. Thraves' paternal grandfather, Jacob Hufford, was

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born in Kentucky in 1770, and died in Ohio in 1850; his wife, Catharine Crea- ger, was born in Ohio about the same date. Her maternal grandfather, Abram Zook, was born in Pennsylvania in 1765. The children of Mark and Sarah Thraves were Delphin, born February 28, 1863; William, born May 15, 1865, and married to Ida, daughter of Walter F. and Emma (Young) Huber; Mattie M., born October 30, 1869, and Ida F., born August 15, 1867.

THE THRAVES FAMILY. Samuel Thraves, the great ancestor from whom are descended the Thraves families in Sandusky county, Ohio, lived and died in Nottinghamshire, England. He married Miss Ann Moult, and their children were: John, Elizabeth, William, Thomas, Grace, George, Faith, Robert and Mark. About the year 1830 Thomas came to New York city, where he died, leaving one son. George came to America in 1833, and settled in Virginia, where he died in 1882, leaving several sons, one of whom, Joseph, went to California.

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Commemorative biographical record of the counties of Sandusky and Ottawa, Ohio, containing biographical sketches of prominent and representative citizens, Part 24

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