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 26
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Her parents, Peter and Margaret (Meagley) Cranker, were honored pioneers of Perrysburg, where our subject was born November 13, 1840. and grew to useful womanhood, receiving an ex- cellent education, and early taking a prominent | family residence on Second street, a home where
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all that could minister to culture and refinement is gathered. Mrs. Williams, always a ready help- meet to her husband in his philanthropies, still continues the work in which he delighted, and gives freely of her means and sympathies to every worthy movement.
MRS. JANE DAVIS conducts a general mer- cantile establishment in Dunbridge, and well de- serves mention in the history of the county. She was born in Webster township, March 6, 1 848, and is a daughter of Hugh and Jennie (David- son) Stewart, both of whom were natives of Scotland. She attended school in Webster town- ship, and remained at home until 1872, when she became the wife of William Davis. Of their marriage were born six children-Anna M., who was born July 11, 1874, was educated in Dun- bridge and in Ada, Ohio, and was for two terms a school teacher, but now occupies the position of stenographer with the firm of Royce & Coon, of Bowling Green; Margaret J., born August 16, 1876, is at home; Frederick W., born August 19, 1878, and Maurice, born October 19, 1880, operate the home farm; Mary E., born October 13, 1882, and Daisy V., born December 9, 1884, complete the family.
Mrs. Davis remained on the farm until 1884. when she removed to Dunbridge and established the store which she still conducts, being one of the first citizens of the place. In addition to the care of the store she manages a farm of ninety-six acres in Webster township, which she owns, and which she has placed under a high state of cultiva- tion. She possesses excellent business and execu- tive ability, is enterprising and progressive in her business methods, and by her true womanliness and helpful spirit has won the respect of all with whom she has been brought in contact. She is certainly a mnost estimable lady, and is now a valued member of the Woman's Relief Corps and the Daughters of Rebekah.
ERASTUS MUSSER, one of the successful edu- cators of Wood county, was born in Section 25, Portage township, April 28, 1849, and is a son of Samuel Musser, a native of Columbiana county, Ohio. His paternal grandfather, Michael Mus- ser, became one of the prominent pioneers of Portage township, where he died in 1852, and his remains were interred at Millgrove.
Samuel Musser, the father of our subject was reared and educated in the manner of most farmer lads, and, after his marriage, located on the farm where he still resides. In the spring of 1836 he came to Portage township, and here
married Miss Hulda Tefft, a daughter of Ezekiel Tefft, a native of Rhode Island, and they became the parents of five children: Erastus, subject of this sketch; William, of Portage township; Mercy, now Mrs. James Waugh, of Webster township, Wood county; Ezekiel, a mason and farmer of southwestern Kansas; and Albert, who died while young. In 1856 Mrs. Musser passed away and was buried in Millgrove cemetery. For his second wife, Mr. Musser wedded Abbie Mader, who was born in Richland county, Ohio, May 27, 1836, and to them were born five children, namely: Rosetta, who died in childhood; David W., of Portage township; Hulda J., wife of William Dieken, of Montgomery township, Wood county; Charley, at home; and one daughter who died in infancy. The father died January 6, 1896, at the age of eighty-four years, and is interred in the cemetery at Millgrove. He thoroughly rep- resented the pioneers of the community, as he aided in its development and contributed gener- ously to promote its prosperity. By the aid of his sons he transformed his wild uncultivated land into a highly improved farm. In him the Democratic party had one of its most earnest supporters.
The school days of Erastus Musser were mostly passed in District No. 7, Portage town- ship, his first teacher being Marilla Lamson, and there he acquired a good education. £ Being reared on a frontier farm, he soon became famil- iar with the arduous tasks incident to such a life, and received a thorough training as an agricult- urist. Since the age of twenty-three, however, he has engaged in teaching, being employed in Portage, Bloom and Montgomery townships, Wood county, and has proved himself a capable and reliable instructor. He has taught every winter, and missed but few summer terms. IT. man of genuine worth, and more than ordinary intellectual attainments, he enjoys the respect and confidence of all with whom he comes in contact. He is identified with the Democratic party, and on that ticket was elected assessor of Portage township for two years.
GEORGE KIMBERLIN. Few men, indeed, are there who live out the period of man's allotted years here on earth, practically with one people. who can look back over an official life of nearly a third of a century, and say that, without au exception, the offices sought him. and not he them. Such is the record of the gentleman whose name introduces this sketch, and who is now passing the evening of a well-spent and use- ful life in a comfortable home, as a retired farmer
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and citizen of Bowling Green. Born January II, 1824, in Huntingdon county, Penn., of parents Henry and Sarah (Brewau) Kimberlin. Our subject on his father's side descended from Ger- man ancestors.
George Kimberlin, the paternal grandfather, was a member of Washington's bodyguard dur- ing the Revolutionary war, after which he settled in what is now Bedford county, Penn., and died in Huntingdon county, same State. He was an orphan, and, with the exception of his nationality and the few facts above mentioned, nothing is known of his family or of his early life. The paternal grandmother was a Miss Wagner, who also died in Huntingdon county. They left a large family, of whom the following are men- tioned: John, who became a Methodist minister and removed to New York State; George, who died young; Henry; Michael (deceased), who was a resident of Wayne county, Ohio; and David, whose death occurred in Wood county.
Henry Kimberlin, father of our subject, was reared in Huntingdon county, Penn., and took part in the war of 1812, entering from Pennsyl- vania, and being located at Fort Meigs. Just before the battle by Tecumseh he was taken ill with chills, having been subject to the ague, and was left in the rear, but insisted on going into battle. After the close of the war he went back to Pennsylvania, but in the spring of 1827 re- moved to Wayne county, Ohio, and in 1831 he came to Wood county, locating on the river just below Grand Rapids, where he died about 1867, at the age of seventy-eight years. He was an Old-line Whig, later a Republican. He was a member of the United Brethren Church, in which he was a local preacher, and was noted among the pioneers as the one who preached the greatest number of funeral sermons. While a man of only a meager education, he was a deep thinker, possessed good hard sense which made him prac- tical in business affairs, and a most useful citizen among the pioneers. His name frequently occurs on the records of the early history of the county. He was one of the justices of the peace who served in Weston township during the period be- tween 1831 and 1841. Sarah, his wife, died in 1878 at the advanced age of eighty-three years. To their marriage had been born ten children, named: Mary Ann (deceased), who was the wife of George Gihinore, of this county; Delilah, who was married to John Dull, and who also died in Wood county; John, now living near Grand Rapids, at the age of seventy-five years; Francis, the wife of George Older, a resident of Michigan; Amelia and Eliza, unmarried; Catherine, the i
wife of John W. Brown, of Grand Rapids: Martha Jane, whose death occurred at the age of eleven years; Jacob, now of Grand Rapids; and George.
George Kimberlin, the subject of this sketch. coming to a new country when a lad, had but meager educational advantages, receiving only such instruction as was usual to the pioneer chil- dren of that day. At the age of twenty-five years he received one year's training in the schools of Perrysburg, which, followed by subse- quent reading and self application, made him a well-informed and practical business man. His early life was passed on the farm of his father, whom he assisted in the general work incident to pioneers of Wood county. In 1856 he was mar- ried to Miss Adaliza Olney, a native of Saratoga county, N. Y., born March 25, 1829, and daugh- ter of Benjamin and Lucy (Emerson) Olney who were one of the pioneer families of Wood county, and whose history appears in the sketch of Samuel R. Junkins, of Bowling Green. Mrs. Kimberlin, who was a woman of many Christian virtues, was identified with the Baptist Church. Her death occurred at Bowling Green, January 15, 1892. There were no children born to the marriage.
After his marriage Mr. Kimberlin settled on a farin near Grand Rapids, this county, where he continued in agricultural pursuits until the fall of 1871, when he entered upon the duties of treas- urer of Wood county, to which office he had been previously elected. His election was for a period of four years, which term he served out. and a vacancy occurring in 1881 he served another year by appointment. While a resident of Weston township he had for fourteen years been the township clerk; was real-estate assessor of the township in 1870; and in 1890 served sim- ilarly in Plain township. So well, and with such care did Mr. Kimberlin serve the people of the township and county in transacting the business intrusted to his care, that, when his term of office had expired, they were loath to give him up, and his successors to the office of treasurer made him their deputy for ten years. Even this did not suffice, for he has been called to assist in the several county offices at periods from that time to the present. He brought to these various branches of county's business, intelligence, fit- ness, and a popularity that rendered him a most useful and safe official, and a satisfactory one Possessed of a patriotism inherited from an in- cestor of the war of the Revolution, and from his father, a soldier of the war of 1312. Mr. Kimber- lin in the dark days of 1864 left the plough in the
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furrow, shouldered his musket, and went to the front to bear an honorable part in the compaign of the command. He enlisted in May, 1864, in Company I, 144th O. V. I. He became second lieutenant of that company, and took part in the bayonet charge at Monocacy, Md. He was dis- charged in September of that year (1864).
Mr. Kimberlin is one of the most widely known and highly respected citizens of Wood county, and a thoroughly representative business man of the community, in which he has mingled so many years. He is identified with the Bap- tist Church, and in politics is a Republican. He possesses a fine, well-improved farm of nearly 150 acres in Grand Rapids township.
A. R. MATHEWS, who has served as agent at Webb for the Pennsylvania railroad since his ap- pointment, on January 5, 1876, is probably the oldest employe on the division, and his long- continued service certainly indicates his faithful discharge of duty. He is a native of Ohio, born in Ashland county in 1836, and when five years of age was taken to what is now Bryan, Will- iams Co., Ohio, by his parents, George and Mar- garet (Hamilton) Mathews. The father was born in Pennsylvania, and was married in Ashland county, this State, where he followed his trade of blacksmithing until his removal to Bryan, in 1841. There he began the cultivation and improvement of a farm, but was not long permitted to enjoy his new home, as he died in the year 1844, leaving two children-our subject, and his brother George, who enlisted in Williams county in 1862, in Company D, 38th O. V. I., and veteranizing served until the close of the war, during which he was twice wounded. He still makes his home in Williams county. In 1847 the mother became the wife of Henry Caszett, who by his first union had four sons-Adam, who was in the three- months' service during the Civil war, and now inakes his home in Michigan: Franklin and Ker- ry, also residents of the saine State; and John, who died in Williams county, Ohio. By her sec- ond union the mother of our subject had two children-Andrew P. and Deborah, both of Isa- bella county, Mich. Her death occurred on the old home in Williams county, in 1860.
In that county our subject was reared to man- hood, and the first school he attended was taught in the old log court house of Bryan. On leaving home, in 1854. he went to Boscobel, Wis., where he was employed at rafting lumber down the Wisconsin and Mississippi rivers, and during his stay of seven years also went sonth. He re- turned to Williams county in 1860, and the fol-
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lowing year at Stryker, Ohio, enlisted in the three-months' call, serving with Company E, 14th O. V. I. He later re-enlisted for three- years' service, this time becoming a member of Company E, 38th O. V. I., and was mastered in at Camp Dennison. He participated in the bat- tles of Phillips, Laurel Hill, Cary's Ford, Wild Cat, Ky., Lyons Cross Roads, Nashville, Pitts- burg Landing, Corinth, Iuka, Tuscumbia, and then went on the march to Louisville. Later he was in the engagements at Milledgeville, Stone River, Chickamauga, Chancellorsville, Mission- ary Ridge, Lookout Mountain, and at Chatta- nooga became a veteran of the same company and regiment. He went with Sherman on the celebrated march to the sea, was in the Carolina campaigns, and took part in the grand review at Washington, D. C., after which he received an honorable discharge at Cleveland, Ohio, in June, 1865, and returned to his home in Williams county. For four years he had faithfully fol- lowed the old flag on Southern battle fields, en- during all the hardships and privations of army life, but was ever found at his post of duty.
In 1865, in Defiance, Ohio, Mr. A. R. Math- ews led to the marriage altar Miss Mary Hanna. who is a native of that county, and four chil- dren have come to bless their union-J. W .. who is married. and is a telegraph operator of Toledo, Ohio; Orlando R., who is also married and is telegraph operator for the Nickel Plate railroad at Bellevue, Ohio; Mrs. Fannie M. Hathaway, of Pemberville, Ohio; and Mamie C., wife of Frank Berndt, of Troy township. Wood county.
After his marriage, Mr. Mathews engaged in farming in Williams county until 1871. at which time he removed to Genoa, Ottawa Co., Ohio. where he was in the employ of the firmn of Webb and Brown, in their washboard manufactory. He was then sent by that firm to Webb Station. Wood county, where he helped to construct two mills, and, in connection with railroad- ing, also kept boarders for some three years, having as many as forty-four mill hands as well as transient boarders. In 1873 he came to Troy township, where he built a house on railroad land. it being the first dwelling erected at Webb. His present fine residence was erected in 188: Besides his duties as station agent he is also en- gaged in the cultivation and improvement of his farm. He bought eighty acres of heavily tim- bered land in Lake township, Wood county. which he at once began to clear and develop. making it one of the best places in the locality. In politics, Mr. Mathews is an ardent Republicar.
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and for seventeen years served as postmaster at Webb, when he resigned, and in 1895 the office was discontinued. He has taken an active part in promoting the welfare of the community, and always lends his aid to every worthy enterprise.
THOMAS JUNKINS. The subject of this sketch, who is known and revered throughout Wood county as the oldest living pioneer of Weston township, where he has resided for sixty-two years, was born in Fayette county, Penn., April 27, 1822.
Samuel Junkins, the father of our subject, was born in Maine, of Scotch and Irish parentage, and when a young man went to Pennsylvania, where he engaged in the manufacture of brick. He was there married to Nancy Smith, and four children were born to them, as follows: Clarissa, the widow of John Pugh, of Weston; Thomas; Julia Ann, the wife of Henry Bernthistle, deceased, and Samuel, deceased. The family afterward removed to Guernsey county, Ohio, where the father died in 1829, when our subject was but seven years old. The mother, with her children, returned to Pennsylvania, and in Washington county was married to John Rice. They then came back to Ohio, in 1833, in company with John McKee and a man by the name of Storts -- there being three families in all. They set- tled in Weston (now Grand Rapids) township, Wood Co., Ohio, where the father of Mr. Rice had taken up land. Here Mr. Rice died in the fall of 1833. His widow subsequently re- moved to the farm owned by John McKee, where she remained until 1838, in which year she moved on the Carson farm, where she died in 1851.
Thomas Junkins had only a limited education, and after the death of his step-father, although a mere lad, he had to go to work in order to hielp support his widowed mother. His boyhood was spent in clearing up a portion of the McKee farm, and a greater part of the Carson farm. Here he spent seventeen years of hard work, and he re- calls with gratitude the kind and encouraging words given him by Alexander Brown, who in those days of toil and hardships acted as a father, and cheered the boy in his daily toil. In 1843 Thomas Junkins bought 160 acres of land, being the S. E. } of Section 29, Weston township, where he still resides. On this he placed many improvements, and in 1877 built his present fine residence, most of the lumber used in its con- struction being obtained from his own timber. For forty years the subject of our sketch resided on this farm, during which long period of time, and even longer, not a single death in the house-
hold, or family occurred (although they reared a family of six children), Mrs. Junkins being the first to pass away, her death occurring in 1895. forty-two years from the time of her marriage. This is a remarkable record, for which Mr. Jun- kins expresses his sincere gratitude.
About the year 1847 our subject bought 160 acres of land on Hull's Prairie, at seventy-five cents per acre, which comprised the ground on which the railway station now stands. This he sold for $2,000, and then bought 320 acres from Mr. Bucklin, in Milton township, for which he paid $2,08o. Eighty acres of this he sold, and eighty acres of this farm he exchanged for a part of the Ward farm, and the remaining 160 acres he gave to his two sons, Eber W. and Charles L. (eighty acres each), while to Raymond S. he gave a part of the Ward farm. Mr. Junkins has always been a great lover of fine stock, having in his younger days been an extensive breeder of fine Shorthorn cattle, and to him much credit is due, for, through his enterprise, his neighbors and the citizens of Wood county, generally, have reaped rich returns from the improved stock they were enabled to secure, and did se- cure, from him. Owing to advanced age, and the depreciation of the cattle industry, Mr. Jun- kins has abandoned the business.
When the Civil war broke out, no citizen was inore ready to assist the government in its efforts to sustain the Union than the subject of this sketch, and in 1863 he enlisted and was mustered in at Cleveland as a member of Company F. 86th O. V. I., under Col. Charles Lennert and Capt. Squires. He was present at the capture of Morgan, and at the battle of Cumberland Gap; served for eight months, and was mustered out at Cleveland in 1864. As a result of his soldier- ing he has ever since been afflicted with deafness.
Mr. Junkins was married October 7, 1853, at Weston, to Elizabeth, daughter of Jacob Long, who was born October 15, 1827, and who died February 5, 1895. Six children blessed this union, namely: (1) Alzina Adelaide, born July 24, 1854, married April 7, 1874, to James Black- burn; (2) Charlotte Alma, born July 3, 1856, married to William Walters; (3) Eber W., born August 10, 1858, is a farmer in Milton township; (4) Raymond S., born July 28, 1861, is a farmer of Weston: (5) Charles L., born September 25, 1863, is a farmer in Milton township, and (6) Perry C., born August 31, 1866, has the manage- ment of the homestead of 218 acres. Among the reminiscences of early days, Mr. Junkins relates that, in 1850, he in company with Aaron P. Treadwell, who was known as " Live Yankey."
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THOMAS JUNKINS.
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and " Jim " Crago, drove 150 head of cattle from Weston township, Wood Co., Ohio, to Bridge- port, Conn., the trip occupying several months' time.
The death of his beloved wife, which was the first one to occur in the family, as above related, was a severe blow to Mr. Junkins. They had been companions for nearly half a century, and she had been to him a faithful helpmeet, sharing his bur- dens, and by her loving care making his home a blessed retreat from the cares and trials of life. She was a devoted mother, counting no sacrifice too great, if by it she could secure the welfare and happiness of her family. Thoughtful of their comfort, and anxious for their future, she trained her children to become useful citizens and an honor to the parents who did so much for thein; and now that she has gone to her reward they "rise up and call her blessed." In his political preferences, Mr. Junkins is a Republican, and for three terms he held the office of supervisor. In religious faith, he attends the Universalist Church, and is a consistent Christian. Socially, he be- longs to the G. A. R. Post at Weston, and April 28, 1870, was made a Master Mason in Grand Rapids Lodge No. 289, F. &. A. M., Grand Rapids, Ohio, of which lodge he is still a mem- ber. He has resided on his present farm since 1855, though he bought it in 1843, and is known and beloved throughout the community, of which he may be called "one of the old land marks." His life has been one of useful endeavor, marked by integrity of purpose, upright dealing and a be- lief in the Fatherhood of God, and the brother- hood of humanity; and, now that for him the shadows are lengthening, he can look back over the eventful years with the consciousness of work well-done, and a trust that the future will bring him the reward promised to those who are faith- ful to the end.
. RICHARD PRIEST. Among the leading farm- ers of Troy township is the subject of this sketch, whose name stands high on the military records of the Civil war, as well as in the annals of Wood county. By perseverance and industry in this locality he has gained a foothold in the world. He is a self-made man, having reached his pres- ent prosperous condition by his continual strug- gles from youth. He is pleasantly located on a tract of five acres in Section 28, Troy township, adjoining the village of Luckey. On his arrival in Wood county, in 1854, he located in Webster township, where he owns sixty-four acres of fertile and highly cultivated land.
Mr. Priest was born in Little Milton, Oxford-
shire, England, in 1842, and is a son of James and Harriet (Wyatt) Priest, both natives of the same shire, and on coming to the New World lo- cated in Webster township, Wood county, in 1854, but later removed to Perrysburg township. In the former township, however, the father died in 1881, and his wife passed away in February, 1893. In their family were seven children- John, a resident of Webster township, who was in the one-hundred-day service during the Rebel- lion; Richard, of this review; Charley, of Web- ster township; William, who was born in this county, and also makes his home in Webster township; Mary, who died in Wood county; Mrs. Ann Walker, of Michigan; and Mrs. Rachel Flowers, of New Zealand.
Our subject was about twelve years of age when he left his native land and came to Wood county, and being reared upon a farm has al- ways followed that vocation. While quietly as- sisting his father, the Civil war broke out, and. filled with patriotic ardor for his adopted coun- try, he enlisted at Perrysburg in August, 1862. becoming a member of Company D, 11Ith Reg- iment O. V. I., for three years or until the close of the struggle. He was assigned to the army of the Tennessee, and participated in the following battles-Stone River, Huff's Ferry, Lenoir, Campbell's Station, siege of Knoxville, Ft. Saunders, Dandridge, Strawberry Plains, Blain's Cross Roads, Rocky Face, Resaca. Pumpkinvine Creek, Burnt Hickory, Lost Mountain, Kenesaw Mountain, Nickajack Creek, Chattahoochee River. Decatur, Peach Tree Creek, Atlanta, Utoy Creek, Jonesboro, Stone Mountain, Allatoona, Duck River. Franklin, Nashville. Ft. Anderson, Town Creek, and Raleigh. He was twice slightly wounded, and received an honorable discharge at Salisbury, N. C., and was paid off at Cleveland. Ohio, in July, 1865.
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