USA > Ohio > Wood County > Commemorative historical and biographical record of Wood County, Ohio : its past and present : early settlement and development biographies and portraits of early settlers and representative citizens, etc. V. 2 > Part 15
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WOOD COUNTY, OHIO.
Louis, Daniel, Ann, William and herself-lived to old age.
After their marriage, our subject's parents came to Ohio, locating at Lancaster, in 1820. Later they went to Maryland, where they re- mained two years, and then returning to Ohio, again settled at Lancaster. In 1832 they moved to Perrysburg, Ohio, and bought government land near Stony Ridge, in Wood county. At that time the old Western Reserve and Maumee turnpike was not built, and these courageous pio- neers had to make their way through the woods as best they could. Mr. La Farree was a cab- inet maker by trade, and carried on that business for some time in addition to his farm work. He was a Democrat, as every member of the family has always been, and he had at first only two fellow-partisans in the township. He and his wife were members of the M. E. Church. He died of cholera, August 2. 1852, his wife surviv- ing him until September 10, 1888. when she died at the old homestead. They had seven children: John, born March 20, 1820, was a resident of Troy township. and died December 12, ISSS; Augustus, born March 5, 1826, was a soldier during the first years of the Civil war, and died August 3, 1865: Cornelia, born March 31, 1831, is the wife of M. B. Richmond, of Crawfordsville, Ind .; Samuel, born March 22, 1834. lived at Umatilla, Oregon, and died May 16, 1866; James H. is the subject of this sketch; George W., born February 9, 1841, lives in Perrysburg; Frances, born April 12, 1844, is the wife of Samuel Swope, of Troy township.
James H. La Farree was educated in the district schools near his home, and in the public schools of Perrysburg. Not content with these opportunities, he has followed an extended course of private study, and kept well posted on the sub- jects which interest the best minds of the day. At the age of fifteen he learned the cooper's trade with a neighbor, Joshua Chappel, and after- ward taught school for some time. He then en- gaged in bridge building, and later became fore- man of the planing-mills at Perrysburg, holding that position thirteen years. In July, 1880, he came to Bowling Green, and became foreman in a planing-mill; but on becoming connected with the Natural Gas Co., he undertook the manage- ment of that business. Since July 1, 1886, he has had exclusive control of their interests.
In April, 1861, Mr. La Farree enlisted for three months in Company C. Bist O. V. I., and served in West Virginia; but after two months' service, being taken sick, he came home, and was sick for nearly two years. In February.
1865, he re-enlisted, in Company G, 189th O. V. I:, and served several months in northern Alabama and Tennessee, being discharged in September, 186;, with the rank of orderly sergeant.
In 1863, Mr. La Farree was married to Miss Ella G. Norton, who was born in Penysburg May 12, 1846, They have six children. all hiv- ing in Bowling Green: Lloyd, Erne, Alice, Kate. Daisy and Rex. Another daughter, Winifred, died in 18So, at the age of four years. Since 1863 Mr. La Farree has been a Mason, and he is a member of Phoenix Blue Lodge, Perrysburg, and Crystal Chapter, Bowling Green.
Chester Willis Norton, Mrs. La Farree's fa- ther, was in his day one of the leading men of Wood county. He was a native of Henderson, N. Y., born about ISzo, and came in an early day to Perrysburg, Wood county, with his father, Chester Norton, who was a merchant. Chester WV. Norton was married in 1842 to Theresa Curtis, who was born in New York State about 1827, daughter of Jairus and Susan (Alexander Curtis, natives of Vermont who settled at Perrys- burg in a very early day.
JOHN MCMAHAN. The subject of this per- sonal narrative is one of the most successful stock raisers and progressive farmers within the borders of Perry township, owning a good home- stead of eighty-five acres in Section 11. He has made his special field of industry an eminent success, and is highly esteemed and respected by those who know him best. A native of Ohio, he was born in Spencer township, Hamilton county, January 14, 1816, and is the eldest of the four children of Hugh and Elizabeth (Stump, McMahan, the others being Mary, wife of John McClow, of Cincinnati, Ohio: Andrew, who for over forty years ran a sawmill, and died in Cin- cinnati, in August, 1894: and Jane, wife of Ed- ward Collins, also of the same city. When only a boy, his father died, but his mother kept the family together, living in a small house given her by her father. She passed away in Hamilton county in 1836.
John McMahan attended the subscription schools, paying fifty cents a month tuition, and the wood used for fuel was also contributed by the pupils. He followed various occupations during his youth, and as he lived near where the Little Miami river flows into the Ohio, he often made a few cents by catching minnows for the gentlemen who came out from Cincinnati to fish. At the age of twenty-twe, he began to work at the carpenter's trade, at which he was able to
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WOOD COUNTY, OHIO.
earn $1 per day, and followed that business for many years.
In Hamilton county, in August, 1843, Mr. McMahan wedded Miss Martha Matthews, a na- tive of Indiana, and a daughter of George Mat- thews. To them was born a son-Walter, who died in Florida, in February, 1894. After the death of his first wife, our subject married Sarah Seaman, who was a daughter of William Sea- man, and was born in Hamilton county, Ohio, where she departed this life, leaving one child- Martha, now Mrs. Lewis Beckman, of Perry township.
In March, 1857, Mr. McMahan came to Wood county, walking fram Tiffin to Fostoria, and on his arrival in Perry township erected a house for Nathan Hatfield. In the following October he was united in marriage with Miss Jane A. Hatfield, a native of Ashland county, Ohio, and a daughter of Nathan Hatfield, and they became the parents of the following children -Sarah J., who was born November 4, 1859, and became the wife of Charles Shunk, of Perry township, where she died; Nathan E., who was born December 26, 1861, and died while young; Hugh, who was born . December 6, 1865, and is a farmer of Perry township; Louisa, who was born March 16, 1864, and died at the age of nineteen years; William H., who was born February 2, 1869, and lives at home; Warren P., of Perry township. born September 7, 1874; and Minnie D., born February IS, 1877. After ten weeks of illness, the mother of this family died August 2, 1895, and her remains were interred .at Fos- toria, Ohio. She held membership with the Evangelical Church.
In the fall of 1857, Mr. McMahan went to Cin- cinnati, where for two years he worked with his brother in a sawmill, but in March, 1860, re- turned to Wood county, purchasing forty acres of new land in Section 33, Perry township, only a few acres of which had been cleared. He erected a two-story frame house upon the place, IS x 32 feet, with a kitchen, 14 x 16 feet. and one story in height. For sixteen years he was en- ployed in the sawmill of Nathan Hatfield, but in April, 1878, removed to his present farm in Sec- tion 11, Perry township, where about half of his eighty-five acres had been cleared, and on the place stood a small log house, a short distance east of his present home. " The neat and orderly appearance of the property manifests to the most casual observer the thrift and care of the proprie- tor, and shows conclusively that he understands his business thoroughly. He has erected all the buildings upon his farm, and, besides general
farming, has been very successful in the raising of hogs, never having lost a single one by cholera, when they were dying all around him. His first vote was cast for William H. Harrison, later he became a Democrat, but for nearly twenty years has now voted with the Republican party. On that ticket he was elected justice of the peace in Perry township, where he served for three years. He joined the I. O. O. F. in Cincinnati, with which he held membership for a number of years, and for fifty years has been a consistent member of the Methodist Episcopal Church.
J. B. WILSON, of Bowling Green, the well- known deputy treasurer of Wood county, holds in a marked degree the esteein of the public as an able and energetic official, having served the county in several responsible positions. He is a native of Wood county, born in Grand Rapids, December 31, 1853.
His father's family was originally from Ger- many, but his grandfather, John Wilson, was born in Pennsylvania, and in early manhood came to Ohio, where he was prominent among the early settlers. He died in Stark county Septent- ber 27, 1866, at the age of seventy-five years. His son Matthew, our subject's father, was born in Fayette county, Penn., February 12, 1812. After coming to Ohio with his parents he married Miss Elizabeth Blythe, who was born in Jefferson county. Ohio, October 31, 1823, the daughter of a leading pioneer, Samuel Blythe. later of Wes- ton, Wood county. He was of mixed English and Scotch blood, and his parents settled in Jefferson county during the territorial period. Our subject's parents lived in Wayne county for four years after their marriage, and then moved to Grand Rapids, Wood county. From 1853 to 1867 Mr. Wilson, Sr., was employed in a store as clerk. They returned to Wayne county to spend the remainder of their lives, and died there-Mr. Wilson on January 27, 1887, and his wife on December 7. 1891. They were devout adherents of the Methodist Church.
Our subject was the youngest of their three children. David, the eldest, lives in Wayne county, and C. H. in Chicago, III. With the exception of a few years in Wayne county during boyhood, Mr. Wilson has spent his life in Wood county. In (879 he was made principal of the schools of North Baltimore, holding that post- tion until I881, when he resigned to accept the office of deputy auditor of Wood county. H.s faithful service was appreciated by the peopk. and after six years as deputy he was elected auditor, being re-elected on the expiration of bis
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first term. He has recently accepted the ap- pointment as deputy treasurer. He was married December 31, 1878, to Miss Catherine Simon, a native of Wood county. They have four chil- dren -- Milo D., Cecil B., Charles and Gladys. Politically he is a Republican, "dyed in the wool," his father having been an early supporter of that party. He was a delegate to the National Republican Convention at Minneapolis in 1892, and voted for Hon. Wm. Mckinley for President. He is a member of the I. O. O. F. and the K. of P.
DERASTUS LEE. It is an undisputed fact that Bloom township contains some of the lead- ing farmers of Wood county, and among the foremost of these is the gentleman whose name introduces this sketch. He is the representative of one of our pioneer families, those who endured the hardships, privations and difficulties attend- ing a settlement in the "Black Swamp" in the early "forties," and whose labor transformed the heavily timbered wilderness into productive fields. He passed his youth in the midst of the most primitive surroundings.
His grandfather, Lemuel Lee, was born in Connecticut. He was compelled to inake his own way in the world from an early age, owing to the death of his father and the scattering of the family, and when a young man he came to Ohio, locating in Columbiana county. At that time Ohio had not yet been admitted as a State; within its limits was to be found much land upon which no "pale-face " had ever set foot, and in fact it was only along the eastern border that it was safe for a white man to take up his abode. Lemuel Lee married a Miss Jackson, and they had a large family, of whom six sons and two daughters lived to adult age. He was not a man to accumulate property, and in his circum- stances there was but little opportunity to do so, but he made an honest living. He died about 1854.
George J. Lee, one of the older sons, born in 1806, was our subject's father. Reared on a frontier farm, liis schooling was very limited; in- deed, to use his own expression, he was *edu- cated with the grubbing hoe." During his boy- hood but few schools were to be found, and they were the subscription schools patronized by the well-to-do classes. He was a large boy before he ever attended one, and then the humiliation of reciting in classes composed of children much smaller than he almost drove him to leave school, which he would have done had it not been for the encouragement of the teacher, liis
uncle. James Gordon. This one term of three months was the limit of his educational advan- tages. On February 4, 1830, he married Miss Hannah Wollam, a native of the same county. born in 1805. Her father, Henry Wollam, was a well-to-do farmer of that neighborhood, own- ing an excellent farm which he had redeemed from its primitive state, and improved with some unusually good buildings for that time. Before his marriage George Lee had learned the tan- ner's trade; but an attempt to engage in it met with little success, and he settled upon a farm on Beaver creek, where our sub- ject first saw the light. As time passed, and the future of his children became an import- ant problem, he decided to go farther west where land was cheaper, and September 25, 1841, he started for Wood county with his household goods in a large wagon, on which his wife rode with the younger members of the family, which then included six children. This conveyance was drawn by two oxen, with two horses as leaders. Ten days later they arrived in Montgomery town- ship, having made a short visit in Richland county with friends, and a temporary home was made with John Vosburg until a suitable location was found. Mr. Lee entered 160 acres of land. which was in its primitive condition-not one tree having been cut upon it-and his first work was to clear a spot for the building of his log cabin. His brother, Henry, had accompanied the party, and he entered eighty acres adjoining, then returned home, where he died a few years afterward, having no direct heirs, and a one- third interest fell to our subject's father, who later bought the remaining two-thirds. He also bought another tract of forty acres, and at the time of his death owned 280 acres. He was a man of influence in his community, Democrat of the "Jacksonian stripe," and he took great in- terest in public affairs. For many years he and his wife were members of the Protestant Method- ist Church. This venerable pioneer couple lived several years beyond their "Golden Wedding Anniversary"; they died within two and one-half years of each other, both having passed four- score years, and their remains rest in West Mill- grove cemetery.
Ten children were born to them as follows: Henry, January 10, 1831, living in Jerry City: Derastus. April 27, 1832; Samuel, August 20. 1833, died in Bloom township, May 16, 1855, of consumption ; Mary J., April 7. 1835, married Adam Graham, of Montgomery township: Jack- son, June 19, 1837, enlisted August 15. 1861. in Company H, 49th O. V. I., was wounded at
7
Desastres Lec
Mary & Lee
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WOOD COUNTY, OHIO.
Chickamauga, September 19, 1863, and died the next day, his body never being recovered; Milo, March 15, 1839, died in Bloom township, April 30, 1858, of consumption; Sarah A., October 18, 1840, married Philip Brubaker, of Bloom town- ship; Susanna, May 9, 1842, is the wife of Ben- ton Musser, of Gratiot county, Mich .; John H., September 11, 1844, died of consumption, Janu- ary 13, 1862, in Bloom township; and Benjamin F., October 27, 1846, died March 23, 1847.
Derastus Lee was about nine years old when he came to this county, but there was plenty of work upon his father's farm, and even at that age he could " pick brush " in the clearing. With no modern machinery and but few tools, and those of the rudest sort, the work of the farm and household required the help of all, and schools were but little thought of, so that his educational opportunities were very limited. After he attained his majority he for one term attended the select school taught by Alfred Kelley, the pioneer teacher of West Millgrove. His own experience has given Mr. Lee a great desire to see facilities for education brought with- in the reach of everyone, and he is the ardent supporter of any improvement in the schools of to-day. On September 25, 1858, he married Miss Mary E. Vallance, a native of Ashland county, born June 22, 1837. Her parents, James and Elizabeth (Brubaker) Vallance, came to Wood county in September, 1849, settling in Perry township. She had fared no better than her husband in educational advantages, attend- ing the schools of her day for about three inonths. At the time of his marriage Mr. Lee had by work and "dickering" secured a team of horses, a wagon, a plow, and a harrow, the first horse, which he bought of his uncle, Lemuel Lee, being paid for by $30 in money and the chopping of ten acres of timber. With this outfit he started in business on his own account, taking the old homestead on shares. His resi- dence for the first eleven years was in an old log school house which he had fitted up. There were many days of toil and but few of recreation in those years; but he and his wife were young, strong and ambitious, and their mutual affection made their old cabin a happy home. During this period Mr. Lee bought 160 acres of timber land in Section 12, Bloom township, which he still owns although he has never lived there. In the spring of 1871, he purchased eighty acres in Section 10, to which he moved. For twenty years he was engaged in threshing, in additionto farming, sometimes with a partner, sometimes without. His work was always faithfully done,
and while thus employed he gained a wide circle of friends in different parts of the county. He did not spare himself over his tasks, and frequent- ly when he had been busy up to a late hour of the night, he has crawled up to the side of a straw stack to sleep till morning. He has added to his land at various times until he now has nearly 800 acres, making him one of the largest landowners in Wood county, and most of his property is good farming land, which can not be said of some other extensive holders. Probably there is not another instance in Wood county of a poor boy becoming, through his own efforts, the owner of so large an estate. Industry, wise and economical management, and shrewd bar- gaining have made this progress possible, his estimable wife deserving, also, a large share of credit.
Of their ten children, eight are now living in Bloom township. The names of all, with dates of birth, are as follows: James W., February 17, 1860, is a prosperous young fariner; Laura E., March 3, 1861, married Abraham Loe; John F., September 25, 1862, is a well-to-do farmer; Jacob E., July 31, 1864, is at home: Charles W., October 11, 1867, died February 2, 1868; Hattie E., February 6, 1869, married Samuel Dennis, of Bloom Center; Perry M., March 12, 1871, is a progressive young farmer: Florence, June 4, 1873, married Elza Wright, of Bloom township; Mary Ettie, October 1, 1875, died March 21, 1876; and Rhoda V., December 25, 1878, is at home. Among the foundation stones of Mr. Lee's tasteful and commodius residence is a relic of pioneer times - the top stone of an old hand- mill once belonging to his father's neighbor, Peter Painter, and many a time during his boy- hood did Mr. Lee walk through the woods which lay between the two farms, carrying corn which he converted into meal with the aid of that stone.
Coming from a family in which consumption has claimed several members, Mr. Lee's death has been often predicted, yet he is hale and hearty, and bids fair to live many years. At the age of sixty-four he can perform a day's work which would do credit to one twenty years his junior. In October, 1894, he met with a serious injury. While nailing a board on a fence the nail broke and a flying piece struck him in the left eye, entirely destroying the sight. He is a good neighbor, kind-hearted. out-spoken, and a man of strict integrity. In politics Mr. Lee is a Democrat, and he is one of the chief counselors of the party in his locality. He formerly atten- ded conventions and cancuses with great regular-
,
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ity, but he has never been an office seeker, and, although he has served creditably as trustee of his township, he has often declined to become a candidate for other positions. He once led the " forlorn hope " against the overwhelming Re- publican majority in the county, having been selected by his party as the candidate for county commissioner, and he succeeded in reducing the majority -- a notable achievement, as things stood.
FREDERICK YEAGER, a prominent citizen of Perrysburg, and a brave veteran of the Civil war, was born in Perrysburg, Wood Co., Ohio, Feb- ruary 22, 1844, a son of John J. and Elizabeth (Helfrich) Yeager. The grandfather, also named John J. Yeager, was a soldier in the French army, and died in France. The grandmother, whose maiden name was Margaret Liber, came with her second husband, Lorenze Hirtzel, to this country in 1854, and both died of cholera at Perrysburg eight weeks after their arrival. Mr. Hirtzel had also been a soldier in the French army. The inaternal grandparents of Mr. Yeager were farmers in Lucas county, Ohio, where they died and were buried. They were members of the Roman Catholic Church.
John J. Yeager, father of our subject, was born June 7, 1821, in Alsace, France (now in Germany), and was married to Elizabeth Hel- frich, a native of Germany, born November 19, 1819, in Hessen-Darmstadt. In 1840, prior to their marriage, they came to America, becoming acquainted at Perrysburg, where their wedding took place May 16, 1843. He was a farmer by occupation, and was thus employed until the breaking out of the Civil war, when, loyal to the interests of his adopted country, he decided to offer his services in defense of the government. Accordingly he organized a company, of which he was made captain, and which became a part of the ILIth O. V. I. He entered the service in the fall of 1862, remaining therein some eighteen months, during which time he was present at the siege of Knoxville and in other noted engage- ments. In February, 1864, he was taken so ill that he was obliged to resign his command and return home. In 1868 he was made commis- sioner of Wood county, which office he held nn- til 1871. His death took place at Perrysburg April 27, 1891. In religious faith he was a Methodist, in politics a Republican, and he was a most worthy citizen. His wife died January 16, 1890, leaving their only child, the subject of this sketch.
Frederick Yeager attended the common schools of his native village during his boyhood,
and had entered Baldwin University at Berea when Gov. Brough called out the 100-day men to serve in the war of the Rebellion. The patri- otic impulses of the young student would not al- low him to remain inactive at a time when the youth, as well as the grey-haired men, of his State were pressing to the front, and, like his father, he joined the Union forces, enlisting in Company F, 144th O. V. I., in which he served until August 24, 1864. On October 5. same year. he re-enlisted, this time in Company E, 18Ist O. V. I., and took part in the battles of Murfrees- boro, Decatur, and Nashville, after which he be- came a member of the 23rd Army Corps, 2nd Di- vision, 3rd Brigade; he was present at Raleigh. N. C., where Johnston surrendered to Sherman, April 20, 1865. He was honorably discharged at Salis- bury, and returned to his home at Perrysburg. where he carried on farming for three years, em- barking in mercantile business, in which he was engaged for the succeeding twenty-two years.
In politics a Republican, he has filled public positions of honor and trust, including township clerk (one year), to which office he was elected in 1870, though the township is strongly Demo- cratic; township treasurer four years, from 1877 to 1881; was on the school board eleven years, and mayor of Perrysburg two years. In I891 he was elected county treasurer, and was the second man born in the county to hold that office. In 1893 he was re-elected, and has filled the respon- sible position to the satisfaction of the public, and with credit to himself. He is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and is prominent in the G. A. R., filling all the chairs in that order. On December 5, 1865, he was married at Perrys- burg to Miss Fidelia E. Kreps, who was born September 1, 1844, and four children have blessed this union, as follows: Minnie E., born January 16, 1867, now the wife of S. H. Sanford (both are teachers in Little Rock University, Lit- tle Rock, Ark.); John O., born April 6. 1870. employed in a mercantile house in Toledo /he married Sarah Lindsey, and they have one child -Madeline); Merton F., born September 12. 1873, stili at home; and George Legrand, born July 7, 1876, also at home. Mr. Yeager has al- ways held a prominent place in the community. and is highly esteemed as a loyal and public- spirited citizen.
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