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 34
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When the family took possession of the land now owned by our subject, which was in the year 1818, it consisted of eighty acres of dense forest. They made the first clearing. 'back from the river front, which was made in that locality, and which became known as the "hole in the woods." William Pratt ran the first schooner on the Maumee river, and followed boating for many years. He died February 3, 1824, and was buried on the farm: his wife died at Grand Rapids in July, 1858, and was buried in the cemetery at Perrysburg, where her husband's re- mains had been removed. Seven children were born to this estimable couple, namely: Jonas. who was a farmer, and died in Henry county. Ohio, in 1854; William served with his father in the war of 1812, and died in Grand Rapids in 1869; Hiram died in Wood county, in Janu- ary, 1854. his wife surviving him until Janu- ary, 1894; Amos was a steamboat captain of the lakes, and resided a part of his life in Maumee, near Fort Miami, Lucas county, and died in Buffalo, some time in the fifties: Sarah became the wife of Judge Jerome, and died in Lucas county; Jane married Francis Hinsdall, and lives in Toledo; James makes his home in Illinois, and Benjamin F. is our sub- ject.
Benjamin F. Pratt was reared in Perrysburg
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township, and assisted his father in clearing and improving the home farm which he now owns, and to which he has added until his property comprises 192 acres, all well-improved and valu- able land. He has built a comfortable residence, and is engaged in general farming. He was married in Perrysburg township, March 20, 1850, to Miss S. J. Perrin, who was born in Nova Scotia, and is a daughter of James and Nellie (Byers) Perrin, the father a native of France, the inother of Scotland. In 1838 her parents went to Indiana, where they both died in less than one week. After their deaths the children all returned to Wood county. Of these, Charles is deceased; Jane is now Mrs. Young, and lives at Albion, Mich .; Mary married Benjamin Langel, and is deceased: John resides in Roachton; Will- iam lives in Perrysburg township; Catherine married Stephen Langel, and is deceased.
Seven children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Pratt. as follows: Fred is living in New Mexico; Ella (now Mrs. Kerr) lives in Grand Rapids; Arthur is in New Mexico; and May, Guy, Clifton and Benjamin F., are at home. Mr. Pratt is a Republican, and a member of the M. E. Church. He is a man of fine character, devoted to his home and family, and has never cared to hold public office. As a representative of one of the old families in the county, and for his many sterling qualities, he is held in the highest estimation by all who know him.
WILLIAM LE GALLEY, SR., one of the oldest of the honored pioneers of Plain township, was born December 20, 1812, in Colerain, Mass. He was the son of John and Margaret (Wilson) Le Galley, both of whom were natives of Massa- chusetts.
When he was seven years old his parents moved to Ohio, and located in Lower Sandusky, where both died a few years later, and our sub- ject was left to make his own way in the world. He went to Seneca county, where he lived with an uncle for nine years, attending school for a short period, afterward working upon the farm. At the age of sixteen he began to learn the tan- ner's trade, which he followed for twenty-eight years in Seneca and Huron counties, where he also engaged to some extent in farming. He was married in Huron county, in 1836, to Miss Terry. who was born there in August, IST9. They had six children: Myron, John H., William T., Silia and Charles, all living; and Fannie, who died when six years old. In 1856 he moved to Wood county, and purchased 200 acres of land in Plain township, which was but little improved.
With the help of his sons, he succeeded in chang- ing this wilderness into a cultivated farm, ditch- ing, tiling, planting fruit trees, and building a good dwelling house, and commodious barns. He has divided seventy-five acres of his land between two of his sons, and still retains 125 acres, which is under the management of his son. Charles, who resides at the homestead. There are four oil wells in operation upon the property. developed by the Ohio Oil Company.
Although Mr. and Mrs. Le Galley have passed the allotted three score and ten years, both are hale and hearty, and happy in the enjoyment of the fruits of their past labors. Their children occupy useful and honorable positions in life, and their declining years are without a cloud. They have been for many years leading members of the Baptist Church in Bowling Green. Mr. Le Galley votes the Prohibition ticket, and he has always taken an influential part in local affairs. In 1860 he was elected justice of the peace, serv- ing for one term, and he was school director for a number of years.
TITUS BECK was born in New Rumley, Harri- son Co., Ohio, March 9, 1845. His early life was spent in Ashland county, Ohio, where he studied the elementary branches of an English education in the district schools. He enlisted in the Union army at Ashland during the Civil war, joining. on February 28, 1864, the Western army, with which he stayed for twenty-two months, being most of that time connected with the artillery corps at Fort Steel, Ark. In 1865 he returned to Ashland county, and on March 5, 1868, was married to Miss Laura E. Campbell, a daughter of James and Is- abell (Robertson) Campbell. They movedto Wood county, where he at once settled on eighty acres of land he now owns, adjoining the corporation of Bowling Green. The property contains three oil wells, which he has leased, and he is occupied in general farming. Mrs. Laura E. (Campbell Beck was born in Ashland county, Ohio, July 8. 1847. They became the parents of thirteen children. namely: Allen Sanford, born January 30, 1860. Myrtle E., born October 13. 871; Alice G. born June 27, 1872, was accidentally burned to death November 19. 1876; George Campbell, born March 18, 1874, married to Miss Maud Case, of Toledo, June 15, 1896, a niece of President Gut- field; Mattie May, born December 13, 1875. wife of Gilbert Harriss: Ida L., born February p. 1878; John L., born November 17. 18;0; Earl J. born November 23, 188t: Walter B., born May 19, 1884; Verah E., born June 20, 1886. Benson Foraker, born December 19, 1887; Orlie
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C., born August 6, 1892; Hazel Bell, born Jan- uary 27, 1894.
George Beck, father of our subject, was born in New Brunswick, on the St. Johns river, Feb- ruary 23, 1815. He came to the eastern part of Ohio when sixteen years old, and settled in Har- rison county with his mother and family, where he lived until 1848, when he went to the northern part of Ashland county, and there died March 20, 1890. He was a farmer by occupation, and was a member of the United Brethren Church. In politics he was a Democrat until the beginning of the slave agitation, when he became an anti-slave agitator. His wife was a Miss Delila Miller, who was born and reared in Harrison county, Ohio, and died at Troy, Ashland Co., Ohio, at the age of seventy years. To this couple were born the following children: Martha, born October 2, 1840, is now the wife of John Porter, of Lorain county, Ohio; William, born June 20, 1842, died in 1864, at Tullahoma, Tenn. (he was a member of Company K, 102nd O. V. I.); Titus is our subject; Mary, who married William Latham, died at Sullivan, Ashland county; David and George died in infancy; Eliza, the wife of George Pixley, re- sides in Troy, Ashland county; Ollie is the wife of John Criss, of Lincoln county, Kans .; Enoch Goliah lives in Ashland county.
Our subject's grandfather died in New Bruns- wick, and his great-grandfather Beck was a sol- dier in the German army. Although a small man, he was very powerful and was able to put five barrels of flour on top of one another, being the only man in the army who could accomplish this feat of strength. His wife was a Miss Sherman, of Yankee descent. Mr. Beck's father was one of seven children, the others being: Titus, Mar- tha, Margaret, Mary, Austin and Elizabeth. All of them are deceased except the two latter, who live in Ashland county.
James Campbell, the father of Mrs. Beck, was born May 20, 1820, in Ashland county, and the mother was born in Steubenville, Ohio, De- cember 22, 1828. They were married June 10, 1846, and settled in Wood county, April 4, 1868, where he died in 1876. He was a Democrat be- fore the war, and afterward became a Republican. During the war he enlisted in Company K, 82nd O. V. I., for the first three-years' volunteer serv- ice. He served until February 24, 1863, when he was discharged on surgeon's certificate of dis- ability. He participated in the battles of Bull Run, Shiloh, and others. He lost his health while in the army, and died after returning home; he received a pension, which his widow, who still survives, now draws. Two of their five children
grew to maturity-Laura and Almer; George E., John W., and Nettie E., all died while young.
Grandfather Campbell came from Pennsyl- vania and died in Ashland county. He married a Miss McKinsie, who was of Scotch-Irish de- scent. The maternal great-grandmother's name was Elliot, and she and her husband were Scotch- Irish, and lived and died in Steubenville. The Robertsons were from Jefferson county, Ohio, and were of Scotch-English descent. The pa- ternal grandmother's name was Paterson.
WILLIAM B. KERR, who has been a trustee of Grand Rapids township since its organization, was born in Point Creek township, Holmes Co., Ohio, July 9, 1835. His grandfather, William Kerr, a blacksmith by trade, married Margaret Miller, and lived for some years after his mar- riage, in Pennsylvania, where his son Jesse, our subject's father, was born in ISIo. Three years later the family moved to Holmes county. Ohic, and there Jesse Kerr grew to manhood, and fol- lowed the occupation of farming. He was there married to Miss Jane H. Barton, who was born in Jefferson county, Ohio, November 12, 1812, the daughter of one of the earliest settlers of that county. Our subject was the eldest of their family of eight children; Eliza, the second child, married Isaac Van Horn, a prominent resident of Wood county, Ohio; Nancy died in 1846; James E. is an ordained minister of the U. P. Church, at Coulterville, Ill. ; Mary married Perry Heeter, a well-known agriculturist of Grand Rapids township; Joseph W. is a minister of the United Presbyterian Church in Piqua. Ohio; Villa married John Caton, of Grand Rapids township; the youngest child died in infancy. From 1850 to 1886 the family lived upon a farni in Wood county, where our subject's mother died in 1886, and his father seven years later, at the age of eighty-three.
William B. Kerr was started on the road to knowledge in his native county, and afterward attended the schools of Wood county. He worked upon his father's farm until he attained his ma- jority, when he bought thirty acres of land. which he improved. In 1861 he enlisted at Napoleon. Ohio, in Company H, 68th O. V. I. (Col. H. Steed- man and Capt. J. J. Vorhees, commanding . which was assigned to the 17th Army Corps, with Gen. McPherson as Dept. Commander, and Gen. Logan as Commander of the Division. On the expiration of his term of service, Mr. Kerr re-en- listed at Vicksburg, and served throughout the war. He was in a number of hard-fought battles. among them the engagements at Fort Donelson,
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Fort Henry and Vicksburg, and he took part in the Atlanta campaign, and " marched down to the sea " with Sherman. On receiving his final discharge at Cleveland, he went to Henry county and bought ninety acres of land which he culti- vated for eight years, when he returned to Wood county, and purchased eighty acres near Grand Rapids, upon which he has made many improve- ments, and provided a comfortable home for his family.
On October 10, 1865, he was married to his first wife, Miss Jennie Culbertson, a daughter of J. G. Culbertson, a well-known citizen of Henry county. They have had three children: James H., born December 23, 1868, resides in Henry county; John W., born December 4, 1872, is now attending the Western Reserve Medical Col- lege at Cleveland; the youngest child died in infancy. Mrs. Kerr died in 1875, and our sub- ject married again, choosing for a second wife Miss Mary J. Mitchell, of Knox county, Ohio, who was born August 18, 1840.
Mr. Kerr and his family attend the United Presbyterian Church, and are among the leaders in its various lines of work. In politics Mr. Kerr is a Republican, and his influence in the local organization is widely recognized. He is noted for his sound judgment and upright character, and has been intrusted with many public duties, which have been discharged with energy and dis- cretion. Throughout his eight years residence in Henry county, he was justice of the peace in Damascus township, and since coming to this county he has been assessor of Grand Rapids and Weston townships for four terms, and has held the office of trustee in the former since 1891. He is a member of the G. A. R., Bond Post No. 24.
HON. J. E. STEVENS, the able and popular mayor of Grand Rapids, was born May 29, 1851, in Huron county, Ohio. He is a son of John A. and Linda (Heath) Stevens, prominent residents of Grand Rapids township, and has lived in this county since he was three years old, receiving his education mainly in the schools of Weston. learned the blacksmith's trade with S. Sterling, of Weston, and remained with him for sixteen years, when he moved to Grand Rapids and worked for eight years with T. J. Sterling in the same trade. In 1892 he bought out his employer, and has since conducted the business for himself. enjoying the patronage of the entire community.
In 1873, he was married to Miss Mary Bee- man, who died some years later, leaving two chil- dren: Sylvester, who has already made a start
in life as a blacksmith, and Louisa, who lives at Muncie, Ind. In 1882, Mr. Stevens married his second wife, Miss Emma Carson, daughter of the late John Carson, of Grand Rapids. Five children were born of this union: Alma, Ruth and Harry, who are now attending school, and Guy and Ruby, both of whom died in infancy. Mrs. Stevens is one of the most active workers in the Relief and Aid Society Cof the Presbyterian Church, of which her husband is a prominent member, and she is a ready supporter of any philanthropic movement.
Mr. Stevens holds in an unusual degree the confidence and respect of his fellow citizens, and is a leading member of the Republican party. He has twice been elected councilman of Grand Rapids, and in 1895 was chosen mayor by a large majority, fully justifying the faith of his friends by a wise, honest, and business-like admin- istration.
FRED HEETER, the able young postmaster of Grand Rapids, who is one of the most enterpris- ing and prosperous business men of that locality, is one of the " Wood county boys " who are do- ing credit to the place of their birth. Born in Grand Rapids. September 2. 1865. he attended the excellent public schools there during boyhood. and later took a course in a business college. After graduating, he returned to his native town, and engaged in mercantile business, dealing in groceries, glassware and crockery, and has achieved a success which speaks well for his abil- ity, judgment and fair dealing. His reputation in financial circles is of the best, and in local politics he is also among the foremost, being an influential worker in the Democratic party in his vicinity.
Mr. Heeter was married June 12. 1895, to Miss Etta Thomas, born June 8, 1876, one of the most attractive young ladies of Grand Rapids. and a member of one of the leading families in the Methodist Church there. He is a member of the fraternal order of the K. of P. and of the I. O. O. F. With hosts of friends and so firm a vantage ground gained for success in business and political life, Mr. Heeter's future is confidently expected to bring to him still greater opportuni- ties to give proof of his ability.
JUDGE GEORGE C. PHELPS, one of the old- est and most prominent citizens of Bowling Green, has been identified with the leading in- terests of this county ever since 1853, when he came to Webster township with his bride of a year, and established a home in the clearing. He
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is descended from an old New England family. His grandfather, Abel Phelps, lived in Tolland county, Conn., and reared a large family, among whom were: Sallie, born February 28, 1792, who married Mr. Manley, and died in Pennsyl- vania; Abby, born June 1. 1794; Harriet, born January 7, 1797; Patty, March 21, 1799-all of whom died in Connecticut; George A., born Oc- tober 10, 1804, who died in Medina county, Ohio; and Abel, our subject's father, who was born October 10, 1804. He was married in Hebron, Conn., to Miss Sallie Barber, born April, 1807. In 1834 they moved to Brunswick, Medina county, Ohio, where they spent the rest of their lives, honored and influential citizens, and leading members of the Congregational Church. Mr. Phelps was a Democrat before the war, but in later life was a Republican. He died Septem- ber' 13, 1887, and his wife February 8, 1891. They reared a family of four children, of whom our subject is the eldest now living. Of the others, Elizabeth is the wife of George Hamilton, of DeKalb county. Ind. ; Ralph lives in Medina county, Ohio, and Mary Jane is the wife of Hiram Davis, of Cuyahoga county, Ohio.
The subject of this sketch was born at the old home in Connecticut, October 25, 1827, and at the age of seven came to Ohio with his par- ents. He grew to manhood upon the farm in Medina county, and July 7, 1852, married Miss Emily A. Park, who was born in New York State March 1, 1827. Her father, William Park, was a native of Canandaigua, N. Y., and was descended from some of the early settlers of East Bloom- field, N. Y. Her mother was Miss Axa Reed, a native of Massachusetts, whose father, Uriah Reed, was a soldier in the Revolutionary war, and a life-long resident of Taunton, Mass. They settled in Medina county, Ohio, in 1837. and there their five children grew to maturity; Phoebe, Mrs. Joseph Siminons, of Cuyahoga county, Ohio; Emily A., Mrs. Phelps; Albina, deceased; Evaline, Mrs. Isaac Dake, of Medina county, and William, deceased. After their marriage Judge Phelps and his wife remained in Medina county, for a year, and then moved to Wood county, settling upon a farm where they lived for twenty years.
Our subject's rare fitness for public life was speedily recognized, and he was not permitted to remain in obscurity; for many years he held various township and county offices, school di- rector, justice of the peace, township clerk and probate judge. To the last position he was elected three times, and held it, in all, over nine years.' During this time the contest over the re-
moval of the court house to Bowling Green took place, and he was one of the leaders. He has been engaged in various business enterprises also. He helped to build the old Tontogany railroad, and of later years he has been interested in the gas business, as his farm in Webster town- ship lies within the "oil belt."
In September, 1876, he moved to Bowling Green, where he and his wife spend their de- clining years in well-earned repose, surrounded by their family of five children, three of whom are married and settled near by: (1) Albina A., born September 15, 1854, married William Muir, and has two children-Emily and Darwin. (2) George A., born November 16, 1857, married Margaret Wiley; they have four children- Clara, Bessie (deceased), Wiley and Helen. (3) Effie M., born May 9, 1862, is the wife of Charles Southwell; they have one son-George C. (4) Mary A., born September 17, 1865, and (5) William A., born July 11, 1869, are still at home.
SAMUEL R. JUNKINS belonged to one of the pioneer families of the Maumee Valley, and was numbered among those to whom the present gen- eration is indebted for the high position Wood county has attained among the sisterhood of counties of Ohio.
His father, Samuel Junkins, was a native of Maine, descended from Scotch and Irish parents, and when a young man removed to the State of Pennsylvania where he engaged in the manufacture of brick. Here he was married to Nancy Smith. and to them were born children as follows: Clar- issa, Thomas, Julia Ann, and Samnel R. Later the family removed to Guernsey county, Ohio. where at Fairview, March 30, 1829, was born the subject of this sketch. The father dying here in 1829, the family returned to Pennsylvania. and in Washington county, of that State, the widow was subsequently married to John Rice. In April. 1833. the latter with family removed to what was then Weston township (now Grand Rapids, this county, and settled in Section IS. where they resided some six months when Mr. Rice died, and the family removed to Section 21. and occupied a small honse built by John Gin- gery, which was owned by a relative, John Mc- Kee. Mr. Rice had entered land from the gov- ernment, but his affairs were in such a shape that it was lost to the widow, and so she with her children had to work out the problem of life alone; but well they accomplished it, for aH have so lived as to become useful members of society and highly respected citizens of the communities
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S. R. Junbilly
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in which they resided, and all have been pos- sessed of a full share of this world's goods. The mother died in 1851. Samuel R., when old nongh, assisted his older brother in the support of his widowed mother, and grew up to habits of industry and economy. He assisted in clearing up considerable land, and in every sense was not only the son of a pioneer, but a pioneer himself, for in his boyhood the primeval forest was here in all its density and wildness, and in growing up he played a conspicuous part in converting it into the fertile and beautiful fields of to-day. His educational privileges were, of course, limited, and as a boy he had only such advantages as fell to the lot of country boys of that period and sur- roundings. Later he attended for a time the common or high schools of Perrysburg, and with such a foundation, by frequent reading and study, he became a well-informed man, and practical in business affairs. He ever took a deep interest in the educational affairs of the county, and served as school director in his township.
On May 2, 1864, Mr. Junkins enlisted in Com- pany I, 144th Regiment, O. N. G., and served as a corporal under Capt. John Mckee until mustered out with company, August 31, of the same year. While the period of the regiment's service was short, yet it was an honorable one, and bore well its part in the Shenandoah Valley. on the Peninsula in the operations about the James river, and about Petersburg, the trials of all of which our subject participated in.
spected citizens of the county in which he had passed upward of half a century. He died February 27, 1887, fully reconciled to the change of Worlds, and with perfect confidence in the Lord. His death was caused by stomach and kidney complaints after a sickness of nearly three years, during the last two of which he was confined to his room. His widow, who in her maidenhood was Miss Mary Olney, is a daughter of Benjamin and Lucy (Einerson) Olney, and to her he was married March 12, 1857. She now makes her home with her brother-in-law, George Kimberlin, Esq., of Bowling Green. There were no children born to the marriage. Mrs. Junkins is identified with the Baptist Church.
The Olney family was one of the early and conspicuous families of Colonial days. Thomas Olney, the ancestor of the Olneys in America, was born in the city of Hertford, Hertfordshire. England, which city formed a part of the Parish of St. Albans, the seat of one of the most an- cient monasteries, and long celebrated in Eng- lish history as the center of spiritual influence. He received a "permit to emigrate to New Eng- land, " April 2, 1635, and came to Salem, Mass., by the ship " Planter." He was appointed a sur- veyor in January, 1636, and granted forty acres of land at Jeffrey Creek, now known as Man- chester, near Salem. Hc was made a freeman the same year, and early associated with those who accepted the peculiar views of Roger Williams. With a number of others he was excluded from the colony March 12, 1638. Previous to this. however, in company with Roger Williams, he visited Narraganset Bay while seeking some place where they might live outside the jurisdic- tion of the Massachusetts Colony, and had de- cided upon the west side of the Seekonk river. Accordingly, with eleven others, they formed a new settlement at the head of the bay, which they named . Providence." in grateful remem- brance of their deliverance from their enemies. They thus became the original thirteen proprietors of Providence.
Mr. Junkins was in every sense a self-made man; beginning with nothing save a determina- tion to make for himself a home and a name, he by strict attention to business, and by industry and economy, became a man of means and in- fluence. He had so successfully managed his own affairs that the people of the county selected him as a good man to care for the interests of Wood county, and, in 1882, he was elected a county commissioner. For more than a year he was actively engaged in attending to the duties of this office. Ill health, however, stepped in and prevented him from serving out his term, and The father of Benjamin Olney, Stephen Olney, was a native of Rhode Island, but re- moved to the State of New York and there made his permanent home. Benjamin Olney, the son of Stephen, and father of widow Junkins, was born in Saratoga county, N. Y., May 23. 1797. He was twice married, first to a Miss Elizabeth C. Berry, whose birth occurred in 1;9;, and to the marriage were born: Mary M. July 14. Dag. died October 10, 1Szo; an | Stephen, bern O-to- ber 13, 1821, died in 1888. The mother of these in the fall of 1885, after being confined to his bed for several months, he resigned. In politics he was a Republican, though when chosen to the office of commissioner it was by means of the People's party. He was a Granger in the days of the Grange movement, and a member of Milton Center Lodge of Odd Fellows. While during life Mr. Junkins had not identified himself with any Church, he was a moral man and ever prided himself upon an upright life; he was consistent in all things, and was one of the most highly re- passed from earth in 1824 and Benjamin Olney
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