Commemorative biographical record of the counties of Sandusky and Ottawa, Ohio, containing biographical sketches of prominent and representative citizens, Part 36

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 36
USA > Ohio > Ottawa County > Commemorative biographical record of the counties of Sandusky and Ottawa, Ohio, containing biographical sketches of prominent and representative citizens > Part 36

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).

Dr. Campbell then went west, and with a partner opened a sanitarium at Dubuque, Iowa. Later he sold out, and, returning to New York City for a year at- tended lectures at the Medical Depart- ment of the University of New York, then went to Cincinnati and graduated in medicine with the class of 1877. He practiced medicine at Bedford, N. H., where he soon gained a large and lucra- tive practice. Dr. Campbell then came to Green Spring, where he located per- manently, and soon commanded a larger practice than any physician in this part of the State. His phenomenal success in- duced the proprietors of the Oak Ridge Sanitarium at Green Spring to solicit his professional services in that institution. In a few months he increased the attend- ance from two to 137, and when he sev- ered his connection the attendance fell off in a short time to one. The Doctor has again become interested in the sani- tarium, as a proprietor, and by his skill and indefatigable labors is again building up the institution to its former glory. The

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hotel building is an imposing four-story structure, elegantly furnished and finished throughout. It contains seventy large airy sleeping rooms, admirably ventilated, lighted by electricity and heated by steam. It has recently been completely renovated and refitted. For beauty and diversity of scenery the place is unexcelled. The "medicine water" for curative proper- ties is one of the most noted and valuable in the United States. Dr. David C. Bryan, of New York, in writing a work on " What Shall We Drink, or the Mineral Waters of America," requested a specimen of the water, and in a subsequent letter thus ex- pressed the result of a most careful analy- sis: " It is one of the richest waters (medi- cinally) that I have ever examined. It is exceptionally bright and clear, and there are no foul smells or gases held in solution. It is remarkable in being at once a sul- phur, salt, carbonate, alkaline and slightly ferruginous water. The digestive and urinary organs are benefited by alkaline water, the liver and alimentary canal by saline waters, the mucous, respiratory membranes and skin by sulphur waters, and iron waters have a special action on the blood." The color of the water is a beautiful emerald, and it is almost as transparent as air. Elegant bath rooms are provided, and hosts of visitors testify to permanent benefits received.

On June 22, 1878, Dr. Campbell mar- ried Miss Alice E. Waterous, and has one daughter-Grace T.

B ENEDICT EMCH, now retired, Woodville, Sandusky county, was born in the canton of Solothurn, Switzerland, June 8, 1829. It is probable that the Emch family had lived there for ages-this much, at least, is known, that his grandfather lived and died in the house in which Mr. Benedict Emch was born.

Our subject is the son of Jacob and Elizabeth (Kuntz) Emch, the former of

whom was also born in Switzerland, came to America in 1834, and settled in Wood county, Ohio, when that region was a pioneer wilderness. He died on June 1, 1859; Elizabeth Kuntz, his wife, was born in 1797, and died in 1862, both being faithful members of the German Reformed Church. They were the parents of four children: Jacob, who died in Berne, Switzerland, at the age of sixty-seven years; Benedict, subject proper of this sketch; John, who joined the Union army in Wood county, Ohio, and died in a hos- pital during the Civil war; Mary, who came to America and lived here about nine years, married one Benedict Emch, who by the way was not related to her family; he died, and she returned to Switzerland, where she now resides. By his second marriage, Jacob Emch had the following children: Stephen, Samuel, Elizabeth, Ann, Margaret, Rosa, Susan, Sophia, be- sides two that died in infancy.

Benedict Emch came to America in 1845. He remained in Wood county a year with his father, and then went to Perrysburg, Ohio, to learn the trade of harness-maker. This completed, he was prepared to face the world and battle for himself. He worked at his trade until 1852, when the great excitement in Cali- fornia attracted his attention, and he de- termined to cast his fate among those hardy adventurers who pushed their way across the great American desert, in cara- vans, in search of the yellow metal of the Pacific Slope. It took him and his party six months, lacking five days, to make their overland trip from Maumee City, Ohio, to Hankstown (now Placerville), the county seat of El Dorado county, Cal. Mr. Emch proceeded at once to prospect- ing, and a short time after his arrival found him located on a claim, and dig- ging for gold in El Dorado county. For the first year or so he made something over a living, but made quite a success of gold digging afterward. He remained in the gold fields until 1856, when he re-

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turned home by the Nicaragua route. 1 Ohio he remained for a few months to visit, and, in July of 1856, returned to his native Switzerland. He made the voyage on a sailing vessel, and after landing, traveled through England, studying its interesting features, the great cities of Liverpool and London, thence by way of Rotterdam. Holland, up the River Rhine to Manheim, and to his home in Switzer- land. In May, 1857, he returned to America, bringing with him his mother and about twenty other friends. On his return to Woodville he engaged in busi- ness, keeping a grocery store until the spring of 1859, and then, during the Pike's Peak gold excitement, started for that land of promise across the Plains again, and remained there during the summer, digging for gold with good success. Hav- ing considerable gold on hand in the fall, he purchased a team and accountrements, and started back for the States. When he reached the vicinity of St. Joseph City, Mo., he left his team for keeping, with a farmer, and found more convenient trans- portation to Ohio. He soon afterward proceeded on his way to New Orleans, that city having the most convenient United States mint, and there he had the gold dust coined. Returning from New Orleans about the commencement of the year, he remained in Ohio, with his mother, until spring. In the spring of 1 860 he induced some friends to join him, and they went to St. Joseph, Mo., and rigged out his team, left there the fall be- fore, and again put forth across the west- ern sands to rob the rocks of the valuables hidden in their dusky caverns. They pros- pected in mining that summer in the vi- cinity of Denver City. The following fall Mr. Emch again returned to St. Joseph, Mo., and on his trip across the Plains he met the famous "Pony Express," that inade the fastest time ever made over the Plains by a team. They were carry- ing to the Territories the news of Presi- dent Lincoln's election. Mr. Emch pro-

ceeded from St. Joseph, Mo., to New Orleans again, to get more gold coined. The impending war was at this time grow- ing to a fever heat. He had difficulty in getting a place to deposit his gold in New Orleans, but finally succeeded. From there he went to Galveston, Texas, with the intention of spending the winter, but the Civil war was about to break forth, and the excitement was too intense to be pleasant. He immediately took his de- parture for New Orleans, drew his coined gold from the place of deposit, and started for Ohio. Remaining there until spring, and the war having broken out, he went to Pennsylvania to inspect the oil fields, soon returning to Ohio, however, and im- mediately left for the West, locating in the mountains around Denver City. The following spring he sold his claim there, and started for Oregon, locating on Pow- der river, where he built a cabin and stayed until December. It was at this

period that gold was discovered in Idaho, and he and his companions started for Idaho City with a team of oxen. There was from three to four feet of snow on the ground when they reached that place. The first thing they did was to butcher the ox-team in order to secure meat enough to live on during the winter. Mr. Emch states that the oxen were not over fat, but that their team, being old, was not the worst beef people had to eat there. A crowd of their companions butchered their ox-team and borrowed Mr. Emch's frying kettle to render the tallow. They placed the ingredients in the kettle, mixed with water, and, after having fried and cooked it and permitted it to cool, there was not a sign of tallow on the surface of the water. Mr. Emch says there was just enough on his own to grease one pair of boots. Besides the beef, Mr. Emch and his companions had with thein a keg of molasses and a small amount of flour. They remained in camp during winter, doing but little prospect- ing, and when the pack trains came in

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the spring, Mr. Emch paid $80 for 100 pounds of flour. During the following summer they all made some money, and remained until the fall of 1868. Mr. Emch paid $100 in gold for a stage ticket to Sacramento City, going thence to San Francisco, where he took a series of baths for rheumatism, which he had contracted in the mines .: He remained about four weeks in the city of the Golden Gate, when he bid a final adieu to the West, and returned to Ohio by the Panama route. He had been here, however, only about two months, when his roving spirit again got the better of him, and he de- termined to see more of his Fatherland than he had ever seen before. He started for Europe, going from New York City to Hamburg, and traveled all through north- ern Germany, studying its features and the habits of the people. On the trip he visited relatives of many of his old friends at Woodville, and was thoroughly grati- fied with the general information that he thus acquired. It was a pleasant recom- pense for the dreadful sea voyage, during which they had been almost wrecked, and which consumed twenty-eight days. On his return trip he remained in Switzerland from July until the following December, and then came back to his home in Amer- ica. Before going to Europe he had pur- chased the farm he now lives on in Wood- ville township; but farming was not to his taste, so on his return he located in Wood- ville, buying out Charles Powers' general store, which he conducted until 1874, and then sold out. He had also carried on an ashery for some time; but having accumu- lated wealth he did not enter heavily into business; he attributes his success in life greatly to the promptness with which he has always met his obligations. With the aid of his industrious wife he has cleared up the land that he purchased, and their excellent brick mansion, erected a few years since, is one of the finest in San- dusky county. At the present time, Mr. Emch is living retired, surrounded by an

intelligent family, with all the conven- iences of life at hand, and ample means to sustain him. After the varied career of his early days, he is a well contented man.

In 1870 Mr. Emch married Miss Louisa Sandwisch, who was born in Woodville township, Sandusky Co., Ohio, March 17, 1844, and five children have blessed their union: Edward, born De- cember 11, 1873, who is now working on his father's farm; William, born May 29, 1875, now a student at Capitol University, Columbus, Ohio, studying for the min- istry of the Lutheran Church; Carrie, born December 2, 1876, at home with her par- ents, and George and Gusta (twins), born December 25, 1879, now attending school at Woodville. Mrs. Emch is the daugh- ter of Harmon and Catherine (Mergal) Sandwisch, both of whom were born in Hanover, Germany, the father in 1811, the mother in 1809. Harmon Sandwisch died in Woodville township August 6, 1854, of cholera; he was a blacksmith by trade. Mrs. Sandwisch is still living, in Toledo. Their family consists of five children: Mary, widow of Jacob Bischoff, of Toledo, who has five children; Louisa, Mrs. Emch; William R., living in Fre- mont, who married Clorinda Swartzman, and has three children; John, of Wood county, Ohio, who married Almira Gal- lop, and has four children living, and Emma, Mrs. Charles Bradt, of Atlanta, Ga., who has one child.

W ILLIAM PRIOR, a prominent agriculturist of Rice township, Sandusky county, and superin- tendent of the De Mars Club House, on Mud creek, was born in Ball- ville township, Sandusky county, July 17, 1834, and is a son of John and Mary (Arh) Prior. The father was a native of Kentucky, and in his early life fought in the battle of Fremont under Col. Crogan; the mother was a native of Pennsylvania.

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In 1813, the parents of our subject came to Ohio, taking up their residence in San- dusky county, where they spent their re- maining days, the father dying in 1856, at the age of seventy-six years, the mother departing this life in ISSI, when seventy years of age.

In the usual manner of farm lads of the locality, William Prior spent the days of his boyhood and youth, obtaining his education in the district schools of his native town, and assisting in the labors of the home farm. He has carried on agricultural pursuits since attaining his majority, and to-day is recognized as one of the practical and progressive farmers of Sandusky county. He manages his business affairs with care, and is straight- forward and honorable in all his dealings, so that he has won the confidence and good will of everyone with whom he has been brought in contact. On June 19, 1859, in the county of his birth, he was married to Miss Ellen Tegar, a native of Pickaway county, Ohio, and three chil- dren came to bless their union, namely: Hattie, born June 13, 1860, died in 1865; Lottie, born January 13, 1862, died De- cember 16, 1879; and Elisha A., born May 16, 1864. Of these, Lottie was married February 26, 1879, to Oscar Pat- terson, and one child, Charlotte, was born to them December 14, 1879, who is now living with her grandparents, Mr. and Mrs. William Prior at De Mars Club House; she attends the Fremont public school, and is a very bright scholar. E. A. Prior is one of Fremont's bright, up- right young men; for the past seven years he has been a member of the Fremont Fire Department, and he holds a position in the Christain Knife Works.

In his political views, Mr. Prior is a Democrat, and has cast his vote in sup- port of the men and measures of the Democracy since attaining his majority, but has never sought or desired office. His entire life has been passed in this county, and the fact that those who have

know him from boyhood are numbered among his stanchest friends indicates an honorable and upright career, worthy the esteem in which he is held.

H ENRY JERVIS POTTER (de- ceased), who nobly gave his life for his country's cause in the war of the Rebellion, was born near the city of Oswego, Oswego Co., N. Y., October 27, 1836. His parents, Merritt D. and Maria Potter, lived on a farm near Oswego until Henry was about eighteen years of age and had received a common- school education.

In the spring of 1854 the whole family started in large moving wagons for Steu- ben county, Ind., and got as far as the house of Mr. Daniel Dawley, in Green Creek township, Sandusky Co., Ohio, when Mrs. Potter was taken sick. Mr. Dawley offered them the use of an unoc- cupied house, into which they moved, and they raised such summer crops as they could until fall when they completed their journey. Mr. Potter bought a farm in Steu- ben county, Ind., and for several years his son Henry assisted him in farm work dur- ing the summer months, and taught coun- try schools in the winter time. In 1857 Mrs. Potter died, and our subject soon after returned to Ohio to work as a farm hand for Daniel Dawley, whose daughter, Zeruiah Ann, he married September 15, 1857. Not long after his marriage Mr. Potter bought a farm of eight acres of heavily-timbered land adjoining that of Mr. Dawley on the west, and began mak- ing improvements on it. During the winter seasons he taught school at the Powers schoolhouse, about two miles west. Wishing to secure the ready serv- ices of a farm hand, he gave permission to Daniel McNutt to build a log cabin at the rear end of his farm. This cabin was destroyed by fire in the absence of the family; but out of its ashes Mr. Potter picked up some lumps of clay which had

HENRY J. POTTER.

MRS. ZERUIAH A. POTTER.

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been burned to a bright red color, and gave him the first hint that the subsoil was excellent material for the brick and tile making.

In the summer of 1863 a volunteer company of Home Guards for the mili- tary defence of the State of Ohio during the Civil war was organized in Ballville township, in which Mr. Potter took an active part. This organization was known as Company K, under command of Capt. Jeremiah C. Mudge, later becoming a part of the Fiftieth Regiment O. V. I., which was organized at Fremont, Ohio, under Col. Nathaniel E. Haynes, and in Sep- tember of that year attended a grand mili- tary review at Toledo, Ohio, in presence of Gov. Brough and some military officers who feared an invasion of Ohio from Canada. A few weeks later Mr. Potter went with his company to aid in guarding Johnson's Island, in Sandusky Bay, where some Rebel officers were confined as pris- oners of war.

The "scare " was soon over and the company was recalled, but Mr. Potter had become so aroused in regard to his duty to his country in its hour of peril that he decided to enlist in the Seventy- second Regiment, O. V. I., for three years or during the war. All the men of that regiment who had agreed to re-en- list for three years were granted a vet- eran furlough, and were then on their way home from Memphis, Tenn. Mr. Potter and his friend, Henry Innis, were assured that if they enlisted they would get the benefits of this furlough, and thus have plenty of time to settle their home matters before going to the front. They enlisted at Fremont, Ohio, Febru- ary 27, 1864, in Company F, Capt. Le Roy Moore, Seventy-second Regi- ment, under Col. R. P. Buckland, whose headquarters were at Memphis, Tenn., and on March I following went to San- dusky City, there to be mustered in and receive their township bounty money. They next proceeded to Columbus, Ohio, 16

to get their State bounty, supposing they could return to go with the veterans. In this they were disappointed. They were sent to Tod Barracks, refused leave of absence to visit their friends, and were hurried on to the front in company with thirteen other raw recruits. Their squad proceeded down through Cincinnati, Louisville, Nashville, and Chattanooga to Stevenson, Ala., then back to Cairo, Ill., and thence down the Mississippi, to Mem- phis, Tenn. Mr. Potter wrote many letters to his wife descriptive of the scenes he passed through. At Memphis he did guard duty at the Navy Yard; saw wounded men from Fort Pillow; refused a roll of greenbacks as a bribe from a Rebel spy, and kept a full diary of every day's happenings. He went out on sev- eral raids into the enemy's country, tak- ing part in the Sturgis raid, but did not like the business. The last letter his wife ever received trom him, he wrote when he was near Ripley, Miss., in which he told her not to be uneasy about him. In the unfortunate battle at Guntown, Mr. Potter and Mr. Innis were captured by Rebel cavalry in a thicket of scrub oaks while trying to make their escape. Mr. Innis advised Mr. Potter, who was fleet of foot, to make his escape, and he tried to do so, but soon returned saying: "Hank, I hate to leave you in this way!" They were taken to Andersonville prison, which they entered June 17, 1864, and were there stripped of all their valuables as well as some of their clothing. It rained, almost constantly during the first two weeks, and they had neither shelter from the alternate drenching down-pour and hot sun, nor comfortable covering during the chilly nights, and Mr. Potter had only pants, blouse and cap to wear. There were then 38,000 men in the en- closure, which had recently been enlarged. Rations of food were very scant, and most of what there was had to be eaten raw. After a month's confinement Mr. Potter was taken sick with scurvy and

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diarrhoea. and had no medical treatment except what his comrades could give him. On the 21st of August gangrene set in, and, at his request, his faithful comrades, J. P. Elderkin and Henry Innis, carried him outside the stockade where he hoped for better air and treatment; but he died two days later, in charge of an Illinois comrade, to whom he entrusted the pic- tures of his wife and children, with a re- quest that they be forwarded to the dear ones at home, with his own hand direct- ing the package. On the day of his death 108 Union soldiers were carried out and buried in one long trench, he among the rest. Their graves were marked with slabs giving their name, company and regiment. When the news of Mr. Pot- ter's death reached his home, a funeral service was held in his memory at the Dawley schoolhouse, November Ist, by Rev. James Long, who seven years pre- vions had solemnized the deceased's mar- riage.

Mr. Potter's high sense of honor, his pure, home life, his attachment to his family, his true friendship in time of trial, and his unflinching patriotism, led his former comrades, in forming a Grand Army Post at Green Spring, Ohio, July 9, 1881, to name their Post after him. He was a man of good natural and ac- quired abilities, and had a mind well stored with general information on many practical subjects. He had been a care- ful reader of the New York Tribune, the Fremont Journal and the Religious Tel- escope. He had been a close observer of the events and causes which led to the Rebellion, as viewed from a Northern standpoint, and was intensely loyal to the flag of his country, and opposed to se- cession. In religious matters he was conscientious, but quiet and unassuming. He was an active member of the United Brethren Church, and one of the trustees of Mt. Lebanon Chapel. Reared a strict Methodist, he adhered to that denomina- tion until coming into the Dawley neigh-

borhood. To the last he maintained his Christian character, and conscientiously sacrificed home comforts, and even life, on the altar of his country.

D ANIEL M. POTTER, brick and tile manufacturer, located in Ball- ville township, Sandusky county, was born near his present resi- dence, April 19, 1860. His parents were Henry Jervis and Zeruiah Ann (Dawley) Potter, who formerly owned and resided on a farm adjoining the one he now occu- pies and forming a part of it. Here Dan- iel spent his childhood and youth, and at- tended a common school on the southeast corner of their farm, and also at Green Spring, Fremont and Clyde. His father having perished at Andersonville prison in 1864, Daniel early learned those lessons of industry, economy and thrift from his widowed mother, in the management and care of the farm, and in the raising of live stock, which were of great service to him in after life.

On December 25, 1881, he married Miss Ettie O., daughter of Chaplain R. and Ellen (Morrison) Huss, of Green Creek township, and entered upon life for himself on the farm he now occupies. After farming two years he decided to embark in the brick and tile business. He began in a small way, and, as the de- mands for his tile increased, enlarged his facilities from year to year, until in 1893 he gave constant employment to nineteen hands, several teams, and turned off about five hundred thousand tile, of all sorts and sizes, adapted to the needs of the farmers in his vicinity. He also did some shipping of tile abroad. He was led to engage in the brick and tile busi- ness from having heard in his childhood a remark made by his father to the effect that if he ever built a new house on that farm it should be of brick burned by him- self, as he had noticed that the clay mor- tar used in the construction of a log cabin

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on a corner of his farm by a renter had turned to a bright red color when the cabin was burned to the ground by acci- dent. Mr. Potter is a member of Green Spring Lodge, I. O. O. F., at Green Spring, Ohio, and in politics is a Repub- lican. The children of Daniel and Ettie Potter are: Mabel Ellen, born August 30, 1884; Henry J., born May 30, 1886; and James C., born August 31, 1891.

Mrs. Potter, the mother of our sub- ject, was born September 8, 1838, in Sandusky county, in which county she was for some time a teacher in the public schools. To Mr. and Mrs. Henry Potter were born three children: Jervis, born in 1858, and died in infancy; Daniel, our subject, and Clara M. (Mrs. C. M. Wolf), born August 2, 1861.

Mrs. Daniel Potter, the wife of our subject, was born July 24, 1860, in Green Creek township, Sandusky Co., Ohio. She was educated in high school at Green Spring, and was a teacher in Sandusky county for nine terms. Her father was born February 11, 1838, in Sandusky county; his wife was born March 18, 1838, in Sandusky county; they were of Scotch and Irish descent. To them were born three children, as follows: Mrs. Potter; Eva Huss (Mrs. Chas. Ruth), born April 21, 1863; and Burton W. Huss, born April 23, 1869. The mother died Sep- tember 19, 1894. Mrs. Potter's paternal grandparents, Christian and Catharine (Rathburn) Huss, were born February 21, 1815, and March 3, 1818, respectively; he died August 3, 1864; she died August 20, 1893. Her maternal grandparents were born in Ireland, and came to Amer- ica in 1830.

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Commemorative biographical record of the counties of Sandusky and Ottawa, Ohio, containing biographical sketches of prominent and representative citizens, Part 36

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