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 25
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The childhood and youth of our subject were passed at Stony Ridge and in Lake township, where he was educated, and he remained under the parental roof until the outbreak of the Civil war, when, in 1861, he enlisted at Stony Ridge, in Company E, 72nd O. V. I., for three years. He was mustered into the United States service at Columbus, and was assigned to the Western army. He participated in the battle of Shiloh and the siege of Vicksburg, where he received a gunshot wound, and at the battle near Ripley. Miss., he was taken prisoner. After three months and a half confinement in Andersonville prison, he was sent to Florence, and later to Lawton. thus experiencing nine months of Rebel prison life. At Salisbury, N. C., he was honorably dis-
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charged in 1865, and returned to his home in Lake township, Wood county, where it took him some months to recuperate. He has since made his home upon his present farm.
In 1865, in that township, he wedded Miss Hannah- Akersberger, a native of Wood county, and a daughter of George Akersberger, an early pioneer of the township, who died in 1895, but upon the old home farm his widow still resides. Mrs. Furry died in 1868, leaving one child --- Edgar George. For his second wife our subject wedded, in 1869, Miss Hattie Wicks, a native of Sandusky county. Her parents, John and Sarah (Hartzel) Wicks, were born in Union county, Penn., thence removed to Wayne county, Ohio, and later to Sandusky county, where they were numbered among the earliest pioneers, and in 1868 became residents of Lake township, Wood county, locating upon a farm. In that township the father died in 1887, and the mother in 1891. Mr. and Mrs. Furry have had eight children: Jonas William, who is married and lives in Lake township; John James: Henry B. ; Floyd A. ; Pal- mer E .; Irvin E .; Ray R .; and Harry, who died in 1883, at the age of eighteen months.
For sixty-three years Mr. Furry has been a resident of Wood county, during which time he has witnessed its wonderful development, and has been of material assistance in its advancement. On his fine farm of sixty-five acres he is now en- gaged in general farming, and the place well in- dicates his careful supervision, enterprise and in- dustry. He takes considerable interest in polit- ical affairs, always supporting the Republican party. He and his wife are meinbers of the Methodist Episcopal Church, of Stony Ridge, and are faithful workers in same.
JOHN HARTMAN, who is one of the substantial agriculturists and prosperous men of Wood coun- ty, was born in Perrysburg, that county, Decein- ber 18, 1834, the eldest of the eight children of Jacob and Margaret (Lichtenberger) Hartman.
The parents of our subject were both natives of Germany, the father born May 24, 1808, in Wurtemberg, and the mother on March 12, 1812, near Strasburg. In 1834 they were married in Stark county, Ohio, and came to Wood county the same year, first locating in Perrysburg, after- ward, in 1836, removing to Bowling Green, in which vicinity he carried on farming. The father died April 8, 1890; the mother is still living. Their children are as follows: John; Frederick, a farmer in Plain township; Josephine, wife of F. Nobles, a farmer in Center township; David, a farmer in Plain township; George, also a fariner 1
in Plain township; Elizabeth, who resides with her inother in Bowling Green; Electa, also living at home; and Leonard, living on the old home- stead in Center township, Wood county. All of the sons are wealthy farmers, and have spent their lives in the vicinity of Bowling Green.
John Hartman was reared to manhood in Center township, and obtained the principle part of his education in the district schools, also at- tending two years at the Perrysburg High School. When sixteen years old he entered the employ of Lock & Peck, of Bowling Green, as clerk. In the fall of 1854, he studied one term in the col- lege at Berea, and he taught school successfully for six terms. After his marriage, he settled on a farm in Plain township, where he has lived some thirty-eight years. He first bought eighty acres of wild land, and now owns 150 acres. all of which he has brought to a high state of culti- vation, and by assiduous labor and careful atten- tion to the details of his work he has become a wealthy man. His example is one that ought to encourage any young man to go and do likewise. When only eighteen years old he was thrown upon his own resources, and he has been the architect of his own fortune. Many of the settiers at that early day depended upon hunting, trap- ping and fishing for their livelihood, and as the advance of civilization gradually destroyed these means of subsistence, they eventually drifted out to the frontiers, or took up some other desultory method of making a living. Our subject, on the contrary, turned his attention to tilling the soil. and, as the country grew up around him, found a reward for his labors in the products of his fields. and the enjoyments of social life. To-day he ranks among the wealthy and honored citizens of the county who have aided in her growth and progress, and who take pride in the great devel- opment of her wonderful resources. He has kept a diary for twenty-three years, on one page re- cording the weather and directions of the wind. and on the other his business transactions and events of the day.
Mr. Hartman was married December 23, 1858. to Miss Estella Sholes, who was born in Huron county, Ohio, January 28, 1841. Her father. Alva Sholes, was of English descent, born De- cember 11, 1815, in Genesee county, N. Y., son of John and Phoebe (Pond) Sholes, who were natives of eastern New York. In ist they migrated westward to Illinois, settling in Kane county, where they passed the remainder of their lives, engaged in farming. They had seven chil- dren: Solomon, Steven, Roxanna, Alva, Sylvia, David and Hiram, Alva Sholes came to Huron
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Estella Martinan
John Hartmana
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county, Ohio, where he was married, December 6, 1839, to Eliza Jane Moore. They became the parents of five children, viz .: Estella (Mrs. Hart- man); Leuthera (Mrs. James Mann), of Plain township; Dalinda (Mrs. Frederick Hartman), who died in 1873; Alice J. (Mrs. Dr. Manville), of Bowling Green; and Frank, on the old home- stead. Alva Sholes came to Wood county in 1848, settling on a farm in Plain township, where he died in January, 1892. Politically he was a Republican. Mrs. Hartman's great-grandfather, John Moore, came from Germany to the United States with Lafayette, under whom he served as a soldier in the Revolutionary war.
Four children have blessed the union of Mr. and Mrs. Hartman, namely: (1) Josephine is the wife of J. W. Underwood, assistant cashier of the First National Bank of Bowling Green; they have two children-Estella and Esther. (2) Ern- est is a graduate of the Cincinnati College of Pharmacy, and is a druggist at Weston, Ohio. (3) Eugene, born April 17, 1869, was educated at Fayette and Wauseon Normal Schools, and was a teacher in the public schools one term; he is now farming at home. (4) Winifred, born March 14, 1877, lives at home with her parents. Mr. Hartman is a Republican in political belief; has served as township trustee and as school director of his district, but he is no office seeker, prefer- ring to devote his attention to his private interests.
JOHN LAYMAN, a pioneer agriculturist and lum- berman of Webster township, was born Novem- ber 1, 1839, in Berne, Switzerland. His parents, John and Martha ( Jacobs ) Layman, were both natives of that place, and were married there. In 1849 they came to Wood county, and purchased eighty acres of unimproved land in Webster town- ship. Our subject's father was a man of great energy and practical ability, a Democrat in poli- tics, and a consistent member of the Lutheran Church. He died in August, 1872, and his wife survived him until August 13, 1893. ' Their chil- dren were as follows: Barbara; Peter, a farmer in Webster township; Chris; William; John, our subject ; and Anne.
Mr. Layman was ten years old when he came to America, and he remembers well the scenes and experiences of pioneer times, when Indians, wolves and mosquitoes kept the settlers in con- stant dread and discomfort. The first home of the family was a little log cabin. and they nearly starved at times. Their wheat had to be carried thirty miles to mill. When he reached the age of twenty-two, Mr. Layman enlisted in Company I, IlIth O. V. I. ( Capts. Yeager and Norris com-
manding ). He took part in thirty-two hard- fought engagements, the principal ones being Stone River, Allatoona, Resaca, Lost Mountain, siege of Knoxville, Chattanooga, Cedar Rapids, Utoy Creek, Fort Anderson, Raleigh, and Atlanta. He was discharged at Salisbury, N. C., June 27, 1865. Returning home, he bought eighty acres of forest land near Luckey, and erected a saw- mill, which he operated for twenty years. In 1873. he was married to Miss Mary Smith, also a native of Berne, Switzerland. They have four children: Frank, Fred, Mary and Edward. In politics, Mr. Layman is a Republican, and he be- longs to Benedict Post, G. A. R., of Peinberville. He and his wife are prominent members of the Evangelical Church at Luckey.
JAMES S. SALSBERRY, who is numbered among "the boys in blue" of the Civil war, and now follows farming in Milton township, was born in Liberty township, Wood county, November 28, 1838. Jonathan Salsberry, his father, a miller by trade, was born in Coshocton county, Ohio, in May. 1786. He learned his trade in Pennsyl- vania, and was there married to Catherine Plott, a native of the Keystone State. They afterward removed to Ohio, locating on a tract of wild land in Liberty township. Wood county, where they lived until 1864, when the father purchased eighty acres of land in Milton township, and con- tinued its cultivation until his death in 1883. His wife passed away several years previous. Their children were: Sibylina, wife of W. H. Cotton, of Milton; Salinda Ann, wife of Jonathan L. Wheaton, of Nebraska; Salathiel Edwin. of San Antonio, Texas; Cinderella Phoebe, deceased wife of Langdon C. Hubbard; Stanilaus Rudolph, late farmer of Milton township (now deceased); James S., our subject: Sabina I., deceased wife of Edward Remington; Samaria, wife of Thomas Hill, of Milton township; Samaritan Mortimer, of Norwalk, Huron Co., Ohio; and Salva, who died in infancy.
On the old family homestead our subject was reared. While in Liberty township he acquired his education in the old-fashioned log school honse, with its fireplace and other primitive fur- nishings. In July, 1862, he enlisted in the Union army, becoming a member of Company B, Itth O. V. I. Going to the front soon after, his command was engaged in chasing Buell in Kentucky, and on November 16, 1863. he was taken prisoner and sent to Atlanta, afterward to Savannah, and thence to Richmond, where he remained until released, January 1. 1804. He then joined his regiment at Big Shanty, Ga. He
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took part in the battle of Kenesaw Mountain, the Atlanta campaign, also the siege of the city, and was once wounded by a minie ball in the right knee. He was discharged at Salisbury, N. C .. and while at Cleveland, Ohio, June 27, 1865, he was mustered out. At once returning home, he resumed farming.
On November 11, 1866, in Milton township, Mr. Salsberry was married to Susan D. Castle, who was born near Sandusky, Erie Co., Ohio, August 31, 1847, and is a daughter of Thomas Castle, a farmer, who was born in Greene coun- ty, N. Y., in 1818. When a young man Mr. Castle went to Wyoming county, Penn., where he wedded Elizabeth Philo, who was born in that county, March 26, 1821. A year later they came to Ohio, locating on a farm near Sandusky, and in 1855 they arrived in Wood county, making their home in Milton township, where Mr. Castle died July 26, 1892. His widow is still living in Custar. Their children were: Anna, deceased wife of Stanley O. Shaw; Malbon W., who en- tered the army, and died at Graysville, Ga .; Mrs. Salsberry; Isaac, deceased; Sarah J., de- ceased wife of Barnett Older; David H., who was drowned at the age of seventeen months; Caro- line, deceased wife of David Bredbinner: John F., a farmer of Jackson township; Alice C., wife of James Russell, of Isabel county, Mich ; and Henrietta, who died in infancy.
Upon their marriage, Mr. Salsberry and his wife located in Milton township. A year later they removed to Ironton, Mo., but after six months went to St. Francis county, Mo., where_ Mr. Salsberry purchased 100 acres of land, on which he lived for a year and a half. He then returned to Wood county, and after a short time took up his residence in Custar, where he en- gaged in clerking for two years. He next rented land for a few years, after which, in 1883, he purchased fifty acres, twelve of which were After his marriage, Mr. Harman rented four lots of his father in Prairie Depot, where he re- sided until the fall of 1889, when he located upon the home farm in Montgomery township. and there continued until his present comfortable home was erected in 1893, where they removed on October 5. He has twenty acres of rich and productive land, upon which he has placed many substantial improvements, and no happier or pleasanter home can be found anywhere. For nearly two years he was a pumper for the Hazel- wood Oil Company, in which position he re mained until January 31, 1896, when he took charge of the oil property for the Stitts, Pool & Harris Oil Co. He is a steady-going young man. cleared. In 1892 he erected his present com- modious and comfortable home, and in 1891 he built a large and substantial barn, which was de- stroyed by fire. August 26, 1895. To him and his wife have been born three children: (1) Elmo Earle, born April 27, 1868, in Missouri; he was married, October 19, 1891, to Fannie E., daugh- ter of Mr. and Mrs. Oliver Fellers, farming people of Henry township, and to them was born, October 18. 1892, a daughter. named Pearl; Elmo E. Salsberry is now teaching school in North Baltimore. (2) Elda B. (also a school teacher), born November 5, 1871, in Milton township; he was married, September 11, 1890, to Nora B., daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Winfield | destined to become a substantial farmer, and
Barber, farming people of Milton township, and to them have been born three children, their names and dates of birth being as follows : James W., February 25, 1892; Opal M., April 12, 1893; Malbon E., February 5, 1894. (3) Roland was born November 26, 1880, and is attending school in Custar. The parents are active members of the Disciples Church, and in politics Mr. Salsberry was a Democrat until the breaking out of the Civil war, when he became a stanch Republican.
A. J. HARMAN, a straightforward and indus- trious farmer, is a descendant of one of the old and respected families of Montgomery township. where he was born in Section 30, September 7, 1868, and is the youngest child of William and Mary (Kyser) Harman. He acquired his education in the district schools of the neighborhood- his first teacher being Erasmus Musser -and re- ceived a careful home training, remaining a member of the parental household until he had attained the age of eighteen years, when he en- tered the stave mill at Prairie Depot belonging to Smith. Hathaway & Co., where he was employed as fireman and at running the engine.
In that village, April 21, 1888, Mr. Harman married Miss Amanda Amos, the ceremony being performed by Steve Angus. The lady is also de- scended from a respected pioneer family of Wood county, who were early settlers of Portage town- ship, where she was born October 18, 1868. However, she accompanied her parents, George and Sarah A. (Jackson) Amos, to Montgomery township when a small child, and was there reared. Three children grace the union of our subject and his wife: Mabel M., born October 31, 1889; Hazel L , born February 27, 1891 : and Pearly J., born February 3, 1895, and these. compose an interesting little group.
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bears an excellent reputation throughout the community, where he has always made his home. In political sentiment he is a stalwart Democrat, ever casting his vote in support of the principles of that party.
A. B. MILLER. The subject of this sketch stands second to none among the prominent citi- zens of Jerry City. The place of his nativity is Upper Paxton township, Dauphin Co., Penn., where he was born March 30, 1816; he was christened Amos, but later for convenience took the initial B, and is now known as A. B. Miller.
His parents, Daniel and Magdalene (Kanaga) Miller, were of Swiss extraction, their ancestors having come from Switzerland many generations ago, locating in Lancaster county, Penn., during its pioneer days. Our subject was nineteen years of age when the family left the Keystone State, making the long journey, by way of Pitts- burg, to Scipio township, Seneca county, where the father had previously purchased 182 acres of land and erected a cabin. He and his wife came in a carriage, while our subject drove a one-horse wagon containing bedding and provisions, and his brother Simon drove a four-horse team hitched to a covered wagon. It was two years after the parents left their home in Pennsylvania before they located in Seneca county, as they had stopped at Mrs. Miller's father's farm in Stark county, Ohio, there making a temporary home while the father looked up a suitbale loca- tion. His death occurred in Seneca county at the age of sixty-eight years and nine months, while his wife had reached the very advanced age of ninety-three years and three months, at the time of her death. She was a woman of the greatest vitality, always active up to the tinie of `her death. In the family were five children, namely: Simnon, who died in Seneca county ": when nearly eighty years of age; Elizabeth, who became the wife of George Shaffner, and died when past the age of sixty years; A. B., of this sketch; Fannie, who died in Pennsylvania at the age of thirteen; and John K., of Seneca county.
The early education of our subject was such as the subscription schools of Pennsylvania af- forded at that early day, when manual labor was considered of more importance than literary studies. His boyhood and youth were passed on his father's farm, and one of the first important steps toward the establishment of a home of his own, was his marriage which took place in Bucy- rus, Ohio, February 23, 1841. his bride being Miss Nancy Shaffner, who was born in Dauphin county, Penn., September 21, 1822. She was |
the next to the youngest in the family of nine children, three sons and six daughters, born to Martin and Sarah (Flischer) Shaffner. While a resident of Pennsylvania, her father followed tanning; but on locating in Crawford county, Ohio, in 1828, he took up farming, which he fol- lowed until his death at the age of eighty-four. The mother of Mrs. Miller died in 1824, after which Mr. Shaffner was three times married, and became the father of twenty-one children, one of whom died in infancy, but the others all lived to adult age, the youngest dying at the age of nineteen.
The union of our subject and his wife has been blessed by the advent of twelve children, namely: William H., who served for three years during the Civil war as a member of Com- pany H, IoIst O. V. I., and is now living in Portage township, Wood county; Isaiah S., a resident of the same township; John W., a mer- chant of West Millgrove, Ohio; Mary M., wife of John Johnston, Jr., of Portage township: Sarah E., wife of John Reese, of Bloom town- ship; Martha J., now Mrs. Levi Butturf, of Craw- ford county, Ohio; Amanda, who died at the age of six years; Annie M., who became the wife of John Todd, and died in Portage township; Amos A., who died in infancy; Nannie, who died at the age of eighteen years, was the wife of Cyrus Johnston; Ida A., widow of Henry Brown, of Jerry City, Ohio; and a son who died in infancy. The family is one of prominence, and its men- bers have become useful and respected citizens.
Mr. and Mrs. Miller began housekeeping on an eighty-acre farm in Seneca county, partially cleared, where they made their home until Feb- ruary, 1864, when they came to Section 10, Portage township, Wood county, buying 160 acres of land. There they continued to reside until March 4, 1880, since which time they have found a pleasant liome in Jerry City, though they still own fifty-eight acres in Section 32, Portare township. For over fifty-five years they have traveled life's journey together, strengthening each other during the trials and vicissitudes of life. but are now resting after their labors, sur- rounded by a loving family and many warm friends. Both are earnest Christians, being men- bers of the Radical United Brethren Church. For many years Mr. Miller was a Republican, but now supports the Prohibition party.
JAMES SMITH, deceased. The subject of this sketch, formerly a well-known given of Howhin. Green, was born in the North of Indland In the year 1815. He came to America when twenty years of age, and for two years lived in Nov
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York City, but finally located at Little Falls, Herkimer Co., N. Y., where he remained thirty years engaged in merchant tailoring. He married a native of Little Falls, Miss Phally Den- nis, who was born August 15, 1824, the eldest daughter of Cornelius and Betsy (Simmons) Den- nis. They were natives of Connecticut, but came to New York in early youth, where they met and married. Mr. Dennis was a prominent resident of Little Falls, a millwright by trade. He lived to the age of eighty, but Mrs. Dennis died at the age of forty years. Of their four children, Mrs. Smith is now the only survivor. The others were Thomas, a resident of New York State; Mary, who died in childhood, and Eleanor. After their marriage Mr. and Mrs. Smith continued to reside at Little Falls, where children were born to them as follows: Edmund, born June 30, 1847, died in childhood; Clarissa, born July 20, 1849, who married George West, and died June 19, 1872, leaving one daughter, Mabel, now Mrs. Strouse, of Fostoria, Ohio; George, born June 5, 1853, who married Miss Maggie Tisseur, and died August 11, 1892, leaving three children -Floyd, Laminne, and Marie; Julia A., born March 29, 1858, who married Frank H. Boughton, of Bowling Green, and has three boys, Wal- ter, Solon and LeRoy. Two great-grandchildren of Mr. and Mrs. Smith-Phally and Clara Strouse-live with their parents at Fostoria.
After thirty years of active business life at Little Falls, Mr. Smith moved with his family to Bowling Green, where he had made some profit- able investments, and spent the remainder of his days there in retirement. Politically he was a Democrat, and although he was never a politi- cian, he took an intelligent interest in all public movements. His death occurred in 1883, and since that time Mrs. Smith has lived in her own home, only two blocks from her daughter, Mrs. Boughton. Her few remaining relatives take delight in her occasional visits. She has been a member of the Presbyterian Church for twenty years; but her age prevents her from taking an active part in Church work.
MRS. MARY CRANKER WILLIAMS, of Perrys- burg, the widow of Alfred Gillette Williains, who was for many years a leading business inan of Wood county, is a member of one of the oldest families of her vicinity.
part in social, religious and philanthropical circles. On December 30, 1866, she was united in marriage with Mr. Williams, a man in whom all the sterling uprightness and courage of his Welsh ancestry was revealed in daily life. He was born in Steuben, N. Y., November 21, 1832, but his parents moved to Adrian, Mich., in the following year, and there he remained up to the age of seventeen. Having decided upon a mer- cantile calling, he served an apprenticeship, by clerking some years, in Fayette, Ohio, and Grand Rapids, Mich., and afterward traveled as a salesman for a firm in Maumee City, gaining valuable experience of which he made good use in later years. In 1860 he camne to Perrysburg. and, in partnership with his brother, engaged in the dry-goods business, in which they built a substantial and profitable trade. After some years he withdrew from this firm and devoted his time to other enterprises, notably the oil in- dustry. He was also extensively engaged in the manufacture of wooden-ware, and in the inter- est of his business he traveled extensively. His efforts in every line were rewarded with success, but his generous nature made him a liberal dis- penser of the wealth which flowed in his busy hands.
A devout and consistent member of the M. E. Church, to which he gave faithful service as steward, trustee, class-reader and Sunday-school teacher, he was also a ready financial supporter in every emergency. Religion was not with him a form: it was an essential part of his life. In early manhood, while at Maumee City, he had experi- enced a deep spiritual awakening which left no doubt within him as to the transcendent value of the higher life. It was his delight to serve the cause of the Church in any capacity, and when elected in 1891 as lay delegate from the Central Ohio Conference to the General Conference, he regarded it as the greatest honor of his life. In politics he was a Republican, though his father was a Democrat, and for several years he served on the school board, but was no office seeker. Socially he was a Master Mason. He passed away October 17, 1892, after a short illness, in full assurance of the faith of Christ. Only the day before liis death he exclaimed, his face radi- ant with happiness, "Oh, I have received such a blessing this week." He left three sons. Alfred R., born September 5, 1868, who married Clara Chappuies, and has two children-Alfred Russell, Jr., and Elbert J .; Ernest Roy, born June 11, 1879, and Arthur G., born October S. 1882, both of whom live with their mother at the
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