Commemorative biographical record of the counties of Sandusky and Ottawa, Ohio, containing biographical sketches of prominent and representative citizens, Part 7

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 7
USA > Ohio > Ottawa County > Commemorative biographical record of the counties of Sandusky and Ottawa, Ohio, containing biographical sketches of prominent and representative citizens > Part 7

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L. W. Ward, insurance and real-es- tate agent of Fremont, Sandusky county, was born in Reading township, near Som- erset, Perry Co., Ohio, May 27, 1832, son of Amos and Polly (Shoup) Ward, who were natives of Pennsylvania. Amos Ward was born in 1797, and came at an early day to Perry county, Ohio, where he married and carried on farming. Late in the fall of 1834 he removed with his family through the wilds of Ohio in a large wagon loaded with household goods, provisions and grain for seed, to the northwestern part of Sandusky (now Ot- tawa) county, Ohio, and settled on 160 acres of land about midway between Port Clinton and Locust Point. He also bought 160 acres in Washington township. As the ground was then frozen solid, it was easy to get about with a team in the erection of a log cabin and sheds, the building of fences and the clearing of land for farm- ing purposes. Work progressed fairly well, but there were some drawbacks. The surrounding country being then a wil- derness, the family were often annoyed by the howling of wolves near their cabin before they secured substantial doors and windows, and for greater safety they built a high fence of rails and poles to keep off these midnight prowlers. One incident

in this connection is worthy of record. A pack of hungry, howling wolves came in- side the inclosure one night, and threat- ened an attack. Mr. Ward was alarmed for the safety of his family, and decided to test the mettle of his big brindle dog, "Lion," who crouched in a corner for fear of the wolves, by throwing him out of the cabin and making him fight or die. He did so. There was heard a sudden terrific snarling, an encounter for a few seconds, and then a running away and a howling which died off in the distance, the dog having made hasty tracks for Perry county, followed by the wolves, perhaps, for many miles, leaving the ter- rified family in quiet the rest of that night and for many nights thereafter. A few weeks later the family learned that "Lion " had indeed escaped the jaws of the wolves, and made his appearance at his old home in Perry county in an almost famished and exhausted condition. He had made the trip of about 150 miles in an incredibly short time, as was learned by comparing the records of the two fam- ilies. The dear old fellow was afterward taken again to Sandusky county, became a great pet in the family, and died of old age.

In the spring of the year, after the frost had disappeared, the family were distressed to find that the ground was so soft and spongy that they could not use their team to go to mill at Cold Creek, and for six weeks they were obliged to do without bread, except what could be made from grain pounded in a mortar or hollow stone. There were many other hindrances on account of the wet soil. After a residence of about six months in this marshy, malarious region, Mr. Ward died in June, 1835, leaving a widow and seven children in the wilderness. His family remained there for some time, and then moved upon the 160 acres in Wash- ington township, same county, on what is known as the Limestone Ridge, a few miles southeast of Hessville. The children of

As Ever L.A. Ward

COMMEMORATIVE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

Amos and Polly Ward, born in Perry county, were: Harriet, John, Hiram, Isaac, Eliza, Lewis W. (our subject), and Sarah.

Lewis W. Ward grew to manhood in Washington township, Sandusky county, amid the toils, hardships and privations of pioneer life, in a family bereft of a husband and father when they most need- ed his assistance. His physical powers were developed by a frequent and vigor- ous use of the axe, the mattock, the maul and wedge, and his love of sport gratified by the use of a trusty gun. On leaving his mother's roof, in 1847, he hired out to A. W. Green, a neighboring farmer, for six months, at $3 per month. He gen- erously contributed one dollar of the money thus earned to rebuild the Deal Block, in Lower Sandusky, which had been destroyed by fire. His brother Isaac took jobs of clearing land for farmers at $8 per acre, and sometime's the broth- ers worked on the Western Reserve and Maumee pike. Mr. Ward's schooling in the country was very limited, and in 1852 he resolved to get a better education by at- tending a school taught in town by James Smith, son of Sheriff Jonas Smith, of Ballville township. He managed to pay his board and tuition by clerking evenings, morning and Saturdays for John F. Wooster, a druggist. His Sundays he usually spent at home or in attendance at the M. E. Church and Sunday-school. He next engaged as clerk on probation with Mr. David Betts, general merchant, and suited his employer so well that he was entrusted with the most valuable papers and records. At the end of about three years the store was destroyed by fire. Mr. Ward was accustomed to sleep in the store, and when roused out of sleep by the aların of fire he was so intent on saving his employer's papers that he neglected to save his own valuables, consisting of a new suit of clothes and two watches. He next clerked about a year for Charles Haynes, and then started for California.

He was one of a company of seventeen who had agreed to go there together, but at the time appointed for starting he alone was ready, and so set out alone. It took him five days to reach New York, and having just missed going on the steamer for the Panama route he took a vessel going by the Nicaragua route, which had on board 400 filibusters, on their way to Granada, South America. In due time he arrived at 'Frisco, went up the Sacra- mento river, passed Marysville to Sierra county, and found work for about two years as an honest miner. In 1858 he returned to Ohio to visit and care for his mother, intending to go back to Califor- nia. Finding strong inducements for him to remain in Fremont, he clerked for Mr. Edgerton, who had taken the stock in Betts & Kreb's store, until Edgerton failed, after which he clerked for Mr. A. Gusdorf. In 1858 he bought out S. H. Russel, and for eight years carried on a grocery and saloon on Front street. In 1866, his lease having expired, he sold out his stock and engaged in the insur- ance and real-estate business, in which he has continued ever since. His mother, for whom he had kindly cared, died at her home in Elmore in 1879.

On October 31, 1858, Mr. Ward mar- ried Miss Julia E. Leppelman, daughter of E. J. Leppelman, who with his wife afterward lived in the family of Mr. Ward for twenty odd years. Mr. Lep- pelman was killed by the cars at a cross- ing of the L. S. & M. S. railroad, on Main street, Fremont, June 30, 1892; his wife died in July, 1893. Mr. Ward is a regular attendant at St. Paul's Episcopal Church, of which his wife is a member. Socially, he is a charter member of Fre- mont lodge No. 204, K. of P., and is also a member of L. W. Ward Division No. 87, Uniformed Rank, K. of P., which was named in honor of him. He was for many years a member of the I. O. O. F. Mr. Ward served four years as major of the Sixth Regiment, U. R. K. P., and was

COMMEMORATIVE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

reelected for four years, but declined to serve longer.

Our subject is one of the best pre- served specimens of physical manhood in Fremont, being six feet tall, with broad chest and shoulders, erect carriage, digni- fied appearance and commanding presence. His fondness for out-door sport and horse- back riding, from his youth, has con- tributed no little to his good health and marked cheerfulness, while his business ventures have secured for him a comfor- table competence.

P ROF. W. W. ROSS, superintend- ent of public schools, Fremont, Sandusky county, and one of the oldest established and most widely known schoolmen in Ohio, was born in Medina county, Ohio, December 24, 1824.

The Ross family descended from an- cient and time-honored Scottish blood. Our subject's great-grandfather, Capt. Alexander Ross, was an officer in Gen. Wolfe's army of invasion, and took part in the battle on the Plains of Abraham, Quebec, which resulted in the defeat of the French, and the conquest of all Cana- da. For gallant services he subsequently received a grant of lands from the Crown, and settled in Prince Edward county, Upper Canada, in 1785, where he lived until his death, in 1805. Ac- cording to the genealogy, as traced by the Canadian cousins of W. W. Ross, "Capt. Ross was a grandson of Alexan- der Ross, Laird of Balnagown, Ross- shirc, Scotland, who descended in direct line from Hugh Ross, of Rairiches, who was second son of Hugh, the sixth and last Earl of Ross, of the old family." The fifth Earl of Ross led the Ross-shire clans on the field of Bannockburn. In the an- cestral line was Rev. Alexander Ross, of Aberdeen, Scotland, Chaplain to Charles I, of England, and a distinguished author of inany religious works, both in English and Latin.

When Capt. Ross received the grant of lands in Canada he took his family from the Highlands of Scotland to live there. His son Alexander was the grand- father of our subject, W. W. Ross. He, Alexander was born in Ross-shire, in the Scottish Highlands, not far from the site of the castle of Macbeth, before the family went to Canada. It is said he spent his life on his father's estate in Canada, near Picton, Prince Edward Co., Ontario. The full details of his life history seem not to be recorded, for his son, Joseph Ross, the father of Prof. W. W. Ross, was born, it is known, near Saratoga, N. Y., in 1805, a few months after his father's death. Joseph Ross married Mary Harkness. He was a shoemaker by trade, and in his earlier days spent his time between New York State and Canada. He migrated from New York to Medina county, Ohio, in pioneer days, in 1830, and was one of the first set- tlers at Seville, where he worked at his trade until he was elected justice of the peace, in which capacity he served over thirty years. He was a man of good in- formation, broad views and discerning judgment. His probity and knowledge of law were universally recognized, and it became a proverb among the attorneys that if a case had been tried before Jus- tice Ross an appeal was useless. It is said that not a single case tried before him was ever reversed in the higher courts during his thirty years of service. His death occurred in 1876. Mary Hark- ness, the mother of our subject, was born in Salem, Washington Co., N. Y., in 1806, and is still alive, having her resi- dence with her son, W. W. Ross. She removed to eastern Ohio about the same time as her cousins of the same name (Harkness), who settled a little farther west, and who eventually became the multi-millionaire founders of the Standard Oil industry. She was a teacher in both New York and Ohio, and was married to Joseph Ross at Seville in 1831. To their

COMMEMORATIVE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

union were born seven children: Alex- ander DeWitt, who died at the age of seventeen; Zaccheus, who died in in- fancy; McDonough, who died in child- hood; Zachary, who now resides in Fre- mont; Mary R., wife of William Decker; Albert, a farmer, of Sandusky county, and W. W.

Prof. W. W. Ross received his school training almost exclusively in the com- mon and academic schools at Seville, Ohio, one term only, 1852, having been passed at the Twinsburgh Institute, Twinsburgh, Ohio. His parents gave him and his elder brother, Alexander De Witt Ross, their entire time for school work, besides rendering them much assistance and encouragement at home. Under the inspiration and guidance of Charles Foster, a graduate of Dartmouth College, who was eminent as a preceptor and educator, and who taught a flourishing school for years at Seville, he made rapid progress, and in his earliest "teens" was well along in algebra, geometry and other studies, in all of which he excelled. [His teacher, Mr. Foster, died during the war of the Re- bellion, in which he was serving as cap- tain. ]

Our subject commenced teaching when sixteen, in Seville, and for fourty-four years since has been engaged, almost un- remittingly, in school work, giving thirty- one consecutive years of this time to superintending the schools of Fremont, Ohio. After a first trial in a small, select school at home, he taught two winter schools in the country, and then in the fall of 1853 organized a select and nor- mal school at Spencer, Medina Co., Ohio, over which he continued to have charge for four years, building up a large and flourishing school which drew pupils from thirty miles around. He immediately thereafter took charge of the academy in his native village, which he taught for three years, beginning with the fall of 1857. In both these schools he established a reputation as a most successful teacher.

He again taught in Spencer in the fall of 1860, and in Wadsworth in 1861-62; in the fall of 1862 he took charge of the pub- lic schools of Clyde, Ohio, and after two years of successful work there was, in 1864, elected superintendent of the Fre- mont public schools. Thirty-one years have rolled away, and still Prof. Ross is holding his position of superintendent. Under his supervision great improvement and progress have been made, and Fre- mont boasts that no city is her peer in school equipment.

During the vacations of his school work in Spencer and Seville Prof. Ross studied law under J. C. Johnson, of Se- ville, Herman Canfield, of Medina (who fell, while serving as lieutenant-colonel of the Seventy-second Ohio Regiment, at Shiloh), and in the office of Noble & Pal- mer, Cleveland, Ohio, and was admitted to the bar in 1861. More or less famil- iar from childhood with law proceedings in his father's courts, where he was ac- customed to hear such distinguished men as D. K. Carter (afterward chief justice of the District of Columbia) and John McSweeney (one of America's most bril- liant bar orators), his early aspirations were all in the line of the legal profes- sion. His health had partially failed him some years before his admission to the bar, and the apprehension that his health and strength would not justify the labors necessary to eminent success in a new profession he continued to work in a field with which he was already familiar, and in which he was already assured of suc- cess. It was nearly a score of years be- fore he fully abandoned the study of the law, but he was eventually well satisfied with his chosen work, into which, from the first, he threw his whole soul and all his energies. He never recovered vigor- ous health, and has said that he had not seen a perfectly well day in forty years. Although achieving an immense amount of work, he has always found it necessary to restrain his ambition within prescribed

COMMEMORATIVE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

limits, in order to avoid nervous exhaus- tion.

He early evinced, through the inspira- tion of his father, his academic school life and the environments of ante-bellum pioneer times on the Connecticut Western Reserve, a love for historical, dramatic and forensic literature, for public debate and general politics. In his earliest "teens" he had read, re-read and re- written Plutarch's Lives and gone through Gibbon's three thousand stately pages. Always punctual in his school composi- tion and declamation work, he early laid a foundation for subsequent success in public speaking on the lecture and polit- ical platform, and in general literary work. In his earlier school work he prepared many dramas, Shakespearean and others, for presentation on the school stage, and found in the preparatory work excellent elocutionary drills both for himself and pupils. He was always an active partici- pant in the debating societies, and the mock congresses that on the Connecticut Western Reserve were wont to discuss, in the years before the war, the great ques- tions growing out of slavery, and was an active public speaker in the Douglas cam- paign of 1860. His services were always in demand on the Fourth of July occa- sions, which were unfailingly observed in his native village.

Prof. Ross has ever kept abreast with educational progress in both local and national matters. He has served three terms as a member of the Ohio School Board of Examiners, and was president of the same most of the time. He was a candidate for State School Commissioner in 1871, but being a Democrat was de- feated. He has served as president of the Ohio State Teachers' Association, and also as president of the Tri- State Teachers' Association, composed of the States of Ohio, Indiana and Michigan, and has been quite a regular attendant of the National Teachers' As- sociation. The honorary degree of M. A.

was conferred upon him by Western Re- serve College, Hudson, Ohio (succeeded by Adelbert University). As an educator Prof. Ross has few peers. He is a man of broad general knowledge, a close stu- dent of economics, and, like most public economists, is an ardent advocate of tariff reform. He has published a series of masterly pamphlets on tariff reform, in which he shows the absurdity of pro- tection, and handles Mckinleyism with- out gloves. The titles of some of the pamphlets are: "Tariff Reform " (pub- lished October 15, 1888), "Indirect Tariff Taxation," and "Governor Mc- Kinley, at Fremont," etc. His paper entitled "Free Text Books," read before the Ohio Teachers' Association, at Chau- tauqua, N. Y., and published in the Edu- cational Monthly, Akron, Ohio, and in the School Commissioners' Report to the Ohio Legislature, is an able treatise in favor of the idea it suggests. Prof. Ross is a lecturer of ability, and his patriotism and true Americanism are evident in all his writings and lectures. In the Con- gressional campaign of 1894 his name was urged by his party friends for con- gressional honors; but he declined to allow its use, stating that he had outlived all personal political aspirations, and was conscious that he had not the health and strength to stand the wear and worry of a congressional campaign, especially the labors of the stump. Mr. Ross is the inventor of a set of dissected mathemati- cal forms, and the author of an accom- panying treatise for illustrative instruction in mensuration and concrete geometry, which have been received with unqualified commendation by the leading educators of the country.

Prof. W. W. Ross was married, in 1863, to Miss Julia Houghton, of Well- ington, Ohio, and they have three chil- dren: William DeWitt, who has charge of the high school at Fremont, Ohio; Clara J .; and Harry Houghton. In re- ligious connection Prof. Ross is a member

COMMEMORATIVE BIOGRAPHIICAL RECORD.

of the M. E. Church, and has had charge of the Sunday-school about thirty years. Socially he is a member of the Masonic Fraternity.

J UDGE JOHN I. GARN. If history teaches by example, the lessons in- culcated by biography must be still more impressive. We see exhibited in the varities of human character, under different circumstances, something to in- struct us in our duty, and to encourage our efforts, under every emergency. And, perhaps, there is no concurrence of events which produce this effect more certainly, than the steps by which distinction has been acquired through the unaided efforts of youthful enterprise, as illustrated in the life of Judge John I. Garn.

Our subject is by birth a Pennsylvan- ian, having been born in Bedford county October 27, 1833, a son of C. M. and Elizabeth (Ickes) Garn, both also natives of the Keystone State, the former born in Bedford county, in 1799, the latter in York county. The father was a lifelong farmer in Bedford county, dying there at the advanced age of eighty-four years, the mother passing away when a few months older; they were members of the Lutheran Church, and in politics he was originally a Whig, later a Republican. Frederick Garn, father of C. M. Garn, came from his native country, Holland, to America, settling in Pennsylvania. Judge Garn is the third, in the order of birth, in a family of eleven children, a brief record of the others being as follows: Susan (now de- ceased) married E. Conrad, and lived in Blair county, Penn .; Catherine married S. Mauk, and resided in Bedford county, Penn .; George lives in Sandusky county, Ohio; Daniel also lives in Sandusky coun- ty; Hannah married John Kesoberth; Mar- garet lives in Bedford county, Penn .; the other four are deceased.

Judge Garn received a liberal educa- tion at the public schools of his native

place, and assisted his parents on the farm until he was twenty-one years old, when he came to Sandusky county and bought an eighty-acre farm in Jackson township which he cleared with his own hands and carried on some eighteen years. He then entered the service of the Penn- sylvania Railroad Company as ticket and freight agent at Millersville, Sandusky Co., Ohio, a position he filled with effi- ciency the long period of twenty-one years, when he came to Fremont. In November, 1893, he was elected, on the Republican ticket, probate judge of San- dusky county, taking his seat February 12, 1894. While at Millersville he served as justice of the peace some fifteen years, which gave him good insight into the laws of the State, thereby well qualifying him, in that respect, to fill the position of probate judge.

In January, 1855, Judge Garn was united in marriage in Sandusky county with Miss Maria Garn (no blood relation), and seven children were born to them, to wit: Elizabeth J. married Abram Rinebolt, and they have two children- John and Minnie. Anna Mary married Henry Madison, and they have six chil- dren-Lottie, Anna, John, Charles, Ida and Grace. Delilah married Robert Mc- Caul, and has one child, Minnie. Han- nah is the wife of Alexander Claycom, and has one child, Delilah. Sarah C. is at home. Minnie is at home. John mar- ried and is now deceased; he was a tele- graph operator. In religious faith Mr. and Mrs. Garn are members of the Evan- gelical Church, and they are both highly respected in the community; socially he is affiliated with the Knights of Honor.

A R. FERGUSON, M. D .- The old-time pioneers of the far-famed Black Swamp, who transformed a howling wilderness into the gar- den spot of northern Ohio, are fast pass- ing away. Especially is this noticeable

COMMEMORATIVE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

in the case of the pioneer preachers, doctors and lawyers, who traveled on foot or on horseback through dense forests, along winding obscure roads or Indian trails, to visit their patrons in lonely cabins, to administer their primitive rem- edies for the ailments of mind, body and soul. As an example of one of the best preserved medical gentlemen of those early days, who is now an octogenarian, and whose tales of adventure and privation, experienced and observed among the early settlers in Woodville township, Sandusky county, Ohio, would fill a volume, we in- troduce the subject of this sketch.

Dr. A. R. Ferguson, Ballville town- ship, Sandusky county, was born in Trumbull county, Ohio, on September 20, 1814, a son of Samuel and Mary (Ralston) Ferguson. Samuel Ferguson was born in Antrim county, Ireland, and came to America with his parents when he was sixteen years of age, settling in Beaver county, Penn. He was the young- est of the family, a farmer by occupation, a Democrat in politics and a member of the Seceders, a branch of the Presbyte- rian Church. About the year 1808 he married Mary Ralston, who was then living at the home of her uncle, Nathaniel Ralston. In Trumbull county, Ohio, during the war of 1812, Samuel Ferguson and Nathaniel Ralston were drafted into the U. S. military service, and were sent under Gen. Wadsworth to guard the mouth of the Sandusky river. Mary Ralston was born in Pennsylvania, in 1776, and died in Trumbull county, Ohio, in 1854. The children of Samuel and Mary Ferguson were: (1) James, a car- penter and joiner, of Warren, Trumbull Co., Ohio, born in 1810, died in 1840; (2) Andrew, a farmer, same locality, born in 1812, died in 1889; (3) Archibald R., our subject; (4) William, a lawyer, who went to the West and died there; (5) John, born in 1816, who died in Kansas.

Our subject grew to manhood in Trum- bull county, where he attended common

schools, and spent several years at Farm- ington Academy. He studied medicine about four years under John W. Seely, one of the pioneer doctors of Trumbull county, who became one of the leading stockholders in the Western Reserve Bank at Warren, Ohio. In the fall of 1839 Dr. Ferguson located and began the prac- tice of medicine in Woodville, Sandusky Co., Ohio. Here he kept a small drug store, and served the country people as family physician for many miles around, during a period of about twenty years, traveling usually on horseback. His practice was nnusually lucrative, netting him $1,000 the first year. In addition to his medical projects, the Doctor also found time and means to engage in sev- eral other enterprises which were profit- able. He was for a time proprietor of an ashery, a dry-goods store, a saw and grist mill, and he built at Woodville the nicest tavern stand then known in Sandusky county. He owned the first buggy ever used in Woodville, for which he bought the wood-work of a wagon-maker at Tiffin, Ohio, had the ironing done at Lower Sandusky, and did the painting of it himself. During the construction of the Toledo, Norwalk & Cleveland rail- road through Sandusky county, Dr. Fer- guson was employed by the projectors of the road to assist in securing the right of way through Woodville township, and to solicit subscriptions to stock from indi- viduals and trustees in Ballville and Green Creek townships. When the route was changed so as to pass through Elmore instead of Woodville, the Doctor lost no. time in selling out his property in Wood- ville and locating in Ballville township, which has been his permanent home since that time. The Doctor's enterprise and public spirit were recognized by his neigh- bors in his election to the office of justice of the peace two terms in succession, and to the office of sheriff of Sandusky county, two terms. During the past twenty years he has devoted most of his time to the

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Commemorative biographical record of the counties of Sandusky and Ottawa, Ohio, containing biographical sketches of prominent and representative citizens, Part 7

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