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. 3 > Part 3
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904
WOOD COUNTY, OHIO.
JOHN C. BAKER. Occasionally one meets a man pursuing with apparent contentment some quiet calling, whose mental powers seem so far beyond any possible chance of development and use in his present surroundings, and so superior to those of some who fill a prominent place in the public eye, that one wonders what would have been the result had the man been given in youth a liberal intellectual training, and the op- portunity to bring his forces fully into play in contact with the world's best thinkers. Some such thought must cross the mind of any one who converses long with John C. Baker, a hard-work- ing and successful farmer of Bloom township. Born in Fairfield township, Columbiana county, April 5, 1831, of parents who were far from wealthy, his energies have, from an early age, been devoted to the task of securing a compe- tence. That he has done, and done well, as his 315 acres of fine farming land give convincing evi- dence; but had his strong will been fixed upon any other purpose. his success might have been even more remarkable.
John Baker, our subject's grandfather, came to Columbiana county in 1817, from Adams county, Penn., and settled as a pioneer farmer. He and his wife, Catherine (Mummert), reared a family of eleven children: Sarah, William, Elizabeth, Abraham, Catherine, Jonas and Moses (twins), Isaac, Samuel, Lydia and Rebecca. Abra- ham Baker, father of our subject, was born March 30, 1808, in Adams county, Penn., and when nine years of age accompanied his parents to Ohio. On June 22, 1830, he was married, in Columbiana county, to Elizabeth Cope, a native of Frederick county, Va., born October 13, 1808, whose parents, John and Mary (McCabe) Cope, came to Columbiana county in 1810. The ancestry of this family has been traced back to :
the time of the landing of William Penn, and W. T. Cope, the present State treasurer of Ohio, is one of its representatives. In the fall of 1854 Abraham Baker moved to Hancock county, where he rented a farm in Allen township for a year. In the spring of 1856 he came to Wood county and bought forty acres in Section 31, Bloom township, where he and his wife spent their remaining years. In politics he was'at first a Whig, later becoming an ardent Abolitionist and joining the Republican party on its forma- tion. He was a regular voter, but never sought or held office. He died May 27, 1888, his wife surviving him until August 15, 1894, and both now rest in Van Buren cemetery. Of their right children John C., our subject, was the eldest; Sarah A. is now Mrs. J. R. Slatterback, of Allen
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township, Hancock county; Joshua C. is a resident of the same locality; Elisha M. is a farmer at South Aubarn, Neb .; Jason was a member of Company G, 21st O. V. I., and was wounded at Chattahoochie River, Ga., July 9. 1864, dying two days later (he is buried in the Chattanooga cemetery); Joseph N. is a teacher at Bowling Green; Isaac P. enlisted February 2, 1862, in Company G, 21st O. V. I., and died February 6, 1863, at Nashville, Tenn., where his remains now rest; Mary C. married Frank Pattee, and they reside in Douglas county, Wis- consin.
John C. Baker grew to manhood at his native place, and was given the best educational advan- tages that the neighborhood afforded, in the sub- scription schools of the day. These he has since improved upon by reading and observation, his remarkable memory enabling him to gain a wide range of practical information. At the age of nineteen he began to learn the carpenter's trade, which he afterward followed for many years. On September 26, 1852, he married Miss Mary Haberstick, who was born in Salem township. Columbiana county, September 30, 1827, the daughter of Casper Haberstick, a native of Switz- erland. On October 1, 1861, Mr. Baker left his native county with his family and located in Allen township, Hancock county, where they remained until March, 1867, when he came to Henry town- ship, Wood county, and purchased twenty-seven acres of land, partly improved. For several years he followed his trade in connection with farming, and thus secured a start; bnt his atten- tion is now given to the management of his estate. He owns 235 acres in Bloom and Henry townships, and eighty in De Kalb county, Ind. His homestead near North Baltimore is an excel- lent farm, upon which he erected substantial buildings before he quit working at his trade. On September 26, 1864. he enlisted in Company FF, 47th O. V. I., and joined the regiment at Mari- etta, Ga. His first battle was at Fort McAllis- ter, and he participated in the other engagements of Sherman's campaign until he reached Beau- fort, S. C., where sickness compelled him to en- ter the hospital. On May 7, 1865, he left for Washington on the .. General Barnes," and en- tered Finley Hospital there. He was discharged on general order June 5, 1865, and five days later arrived home.
Mr. Baker's first wife died September 22, 1875, leaving three children-Jeremiah. a ros- ident of Garrett, Ind., and an engineer on the B. & O. R. R. : Joshua, a farmer of Garrett, Ind. ; and Vine (now Mrs. Loren Eyler), of Henry
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John 6. Baker
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WOOD COUNTY, OIIIO.
township. On December 5, 1878, Mr. Baker married Mrs. Amelia Erb, the widow of Peter Erb, and daughter of Andrew and Leah (Christ) Simon. In politics Mr. Baker has been a Re- publican from his first vote for John P. Hale. He is no office seeker, but was once elected su- pervisor against his wish, his well-known ability, his capacity for hard work, and genial nature, having made him the choice of his friends through- out the community for that position.
JAMES D. ANDERSON, a leading agriculturist and stock-dealer of Wood county, now residing in Bowling Green, is a native of the county, born in Center township, December 25, 1845.
The grandfather of our subject, James Ander- son, was born in Ireland, and came to America in early manhood. He married Catherine Mc- Mullen, of Trumbull county, Ohio, and they had ten children. James Anderson lived on a farm, although he was a school teacher by occupation. He died in about 1828, in Trumbull county. The father of our subject, the late Stewart An- derson, was born in 1811, in Trumbull county, Ohio, where he lived until 1833, when, having learned the cabinet-maker's trade, he came to Wood county and established himself in that business, and also worked at the carpenter's trade, making specialties, as trade developed, of chair- making and undertaking. In the latter branch of his business he had a practical monopoly for many years. For some time previous to his death, which occurred in 1885, he gave his atten- tion to agricultural pursuits. His sterling quali- ties of character made him influential among a wide circle of acquaintances, and he was locally prominent as a member of the Republican party and in all progressive movements. He married
Miss Eliza Phillips, who was born in Stark county, Ohio, in 1820, and is still living. They had three children, of whom Albert, the eldest, enlisted un- der Capt. Day, of Bowling Green, in the 11th O. V. I., and died at Raleigh, N. C., after he had served his time and received his discharge. Mary, the youngest, is the widow of Aaron Drum- heller, of Center township.
The subject of our sketch, the second of the family, received his early education in the dis- trict schools near his birthplace. In the spring of 1864 he enlisted in Company F, 144th O. V. I., for one hundred days, under Capt. Cook, of Perrysburg, and spent the greater portion of his term of enlistment at Annapolis Junction, Md. He was the youngest member of his company. On his return home he engaged in the lumber business, and ran a sawmill for nine years in Cen-
ter township. He then turned his energies to farming, beginning with a tract of forty acres, and to fattening and shipping cattle, in which business he has ever since continued. Of late years he has dealt chiefly in sheep, and in both these lines he is among the most prominent in the county, having 473 acres of land under cultiva- tion, and fattening annually about 1,600 head of sheep, besides other live stock in small lots; this year he fattened 3,500 head. He also deals heavily in stock, shipping on an average three car-loads a week, principally to Buffalo. Mr. Anderson has been the architect of his own fort- une, and this simple record of results accom- plished speaks more convincingly of thrift and wisely-directed energy than could any words of praise.
In 1878 Mr. Anderson was married to Miss Isabella Reed, who was born in Wood county. March 8, 1854, and they have two children : Louis and Florence. In July, 1891, the family moved to Bowling Green, where they have a fine home, though Mr. Anderson still conducts his farm. Politically our subject is an Independ- ent, and in 1878, he was nominated for sheriff of Wood county on the Greenback ticket. Socially he is a member of the I. O. O. F., of Bowling Green, and of the Royal Arcanum.
Mrs. Anderson's parents, Robert and Isabella (Forester) Reed, were both born in Scotland, the father in 1804, the mother in 1812. They came to the United States in 1833, settling in Perrys- burg, Wood Co., Ohio, where he conducted a store and bakery, he being a baker by trade. He died in 1855, the mother in December, 1861. They had a family of ten children : £ John, Thomas, Ellen, Robert, William, Archibald, James, Elizabeth, Isabella, and one that died in infancy in Scotland. Only three of this large family now survive : Robert, who lives in Mich- igan; William, near Findlay, Ohio; and Mrs. Anderson. Five of the sons served in the army during the Civil war; Thomas and Robert were members of a Michigan regiment; William of the 2Ist O. V. I., and Archibald and James of the 72nd O. V. I. After the battle of Stone River, James, being ill, was put on a boat to be sent home, and was never heard from afterward.
ABRAM FIRE, a prominent merchant and bus- iness man of Prairie Depot, was born in Ashland county, Ohio, May 14, 1847. When he was quite young his parents moved to Osceola, Crawford county. Samuel Fike, his father, married Miss Mary Heltman, and engaged in the mercantile business in Osceola, where, through the dishon-
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WOOD COUNTY, OHIO.
esty of others, he became greatly reduced finan- cially. In 1860 the family came to Wood coun- ty, and located in Montgomery township, along the "Mccutchenville pike," on an eighty-acre tract, known as the "Schuman Farm." Mr. Fike was one of the early settlers in the town- ship, and was at that time in comfortable cir- cumstances, having sold his farm in Crawford county for a good price. He remained on the "Schuman Farm " until his death, which occurred when he was forty-eight years of age. His widow is now Mrs. Dennis Pember, of Prairie Depot. The children born to Mr. and Mrs. Fike were as follows: Frank, a druggist, of Prairie Depot; Abram, our subject; Fianna, now Mrs. B. O'Dell, of Jerry City; and Nellie, married to Dr. Brooke, of Prairie Depot. Samuel Fike was a Democrat, but took only a voting interest in politics. He was a member of the Disciples Church, a respected citizen and a good neighbor.
Our subject attended the district schools, acquiring such education as it was possible to ob- tain in those days, and was twelve years old when his parents came to Wood county, from which time he was reared as a farmer's boy. On De- cember 10, 1868, he was married in Fostoria to Miss Jerusha E. Hays, who was born May II, 1847, in Fostoria. Her parents were James and Emily S. (Chapman) Hays, the former of whom was born July 15, 1816, and was a son of Henry and Hetty (Marshall) Hays, early pioneers of Perry township. He was in his "teens " when his father brought him to Perry township, where he was reared as a pioneer farmer's boy. On May 9, 1844, he was married in Fostoria to Miss Emily S. Chapman, who was born in Montville, Ohio, daughter of George and Lois (Bates) Chap- man; when a girl she came to Fostoria, attended school there, and worked at the trade of a tailor, which she had learned; she also taught school for a time. James Hays had been teaching school before his marriage, after which he lived in Fos- toria for awhile. He was a well-known instructor, having taught school for forty-nine years, at dif- ferent places in Wood county. On May 10, 1854, he and his family left Fostoria for Polk county, Iowa, where he taught school, later teaching at Hartford, same State, where he built a home. His wife died in Polk county March 15, 1857, and was buried in DesMoines, Iowa. Two children came to them: Edward T., born July 12, 1845, a minister in the Christian Church at Lawrenceburg, Ind .; and Jerusha E., born May 11, 1847, wife of our subject. James Hays married, for his second wife, in Hartford, Iowa, Miss Elizabeth K. Middleton, a native of Indiana,
and the following children blessed this union: Arthur B., born November 8, 1859, an attorney of Ogden, Utah; Mary, born July 19, 1864, who died in infancy; and Bertha Z., born April 2, 1872, now Mrs. L. V. Petre, of Wells, Minnesota.
In 1860 Mr. Hays returned to Ohio and located in Fostoria, where he had owned prop- erty since his first residence there. While in Iowa he had lived at Des Moines, Hartford, Palmyra and Wheeling, and he taught school in each place. After his return from Iowa he lived in Fostoria continuously until his death, on July 31, 1888. Mrs. Hays now lives in Wells, Minn., with her daughter. Mr. Hays was an excellent disciplinarian in the schoolroom, and was most successful in training the young mind. At seventy- two years of age, but a few weeks previous to his death, he taught in the public schools of Fostoria. He was a thoroughly systematic man, and the chores around his house were all performed with the same care and precision that characterized his work in the schoolroom. He was a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, was superin- tendent of the Sunday-school for years, and was at one time a licensed exhorter, but throat trouble compelled him to abandon that. Politically he was at one time a Republican, but in his later years was a Prohibitionist.
After his marriage our subject lived on the home farm, which he rented, until about 1875, when he removed to Prairie Depot. At this period of his life he was only a common work- man, being employed as a hand in his brother's sawmill. Subsequently, however, he formed a partnership with David Reed, and opened a tin- ware store, with a stock worth about $300, to which they afterward added a small line of hard- ware. Later Mr. Fike sold out his business in- terests to a Mr. Childs, from Norwalk. Ohio, and, again renting the home farm, resumed the tilling of the soil, remaining there for some time, and then going again to Prairie Depot. At this time he could command some capital and he engaged in various business enterprises, among others that of butchering. Then he was em- ployed as a clerk in the store of Addison Lans- dale, where he remained two years, or until his employer sold out. . Mr. Fike then went to Ris- ingsun, Ohio, where he was in the employ of a merchant named Ensminger for about six months. Returning to Prairie Depot, he embarked in the brokerage business, having his residence a part of the time in Toledo. He was then for two years in partnership with O. A. Diver, dealing in general merchandise in Prairie Depot, and was instrumental in starting the first exchange bank
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WOOD COUNTY, OHIO.
in the place, in 1893, forming a partnership in that business with A. F. Basey, and is at present carrying on the same. In 1884 he built the comfortable home where he now resides, and he also owns his store building. Mr. Fike has been a shrewd, careful business man, and has amassed a competency in his later years. He has always been considered an excellent buyer, and has been very successful in his trades in land and other property. His reputation as an honorable citi- zen is of the highest, and he is popular with all classes of men. Mr. Fike is a Democrat, but has never mixed up much in political matters, beyond casting his vote for the men he considers best qualified to hold office, and he has served as a member of the city council of Prairie Depot. Socially he is a member of the I. O. O. F., Lodge No. 402, of Toledo. Mrs. Fike was before her marriage a school teacher in Wood county, having secured a teacher's certificate before she was eighteen years old. She is a most estimable lady, and shares with her hus- band the regard of their fellow citizens.
JOSIAH RICHARDSON, a well-known and sub- stantial farmer of Perry township, is a native of Vermont, born April 3, 1823, in the town of Weston, Windsor county.
The parents of our subject were Josiah and Ann (Davis) Richardson, the former born in Temple, N. H .. October 25, 1786. The mother was a native of the same State, born about 1800.
They came west in the spring of 1834 with their family of four children, their destination be- ing La Porte, Lorain Co., Ohio, and their journey being made via the Erie canal from Troy to Buffalo, and from there by lake to Cleveland, thence to La Porte. Here the father rented land for a time, afterward purchasing a tract in La Grange township, which was heavily timbered, and required much labor to clear. This was afterward sold at a profit, and forty-two acres, also timber land, purchased in Grafton township. In three years this land was almost entirely cleared, and here the mother died in 1842, leaving the following children: James M., residing in Richland county, Ohio; Isaac W., who died in February, 1893, in Granger township, Medina Co., Ohio; Josiah, the subject of this sketch; Betsey A., who married a Mr. Gray, and on his death became the wife of Hiram New- hall, who is also deceased (she resides at Bright- on Center, Lorain county). After the death of the mother the father came to Wood county. and made his home with our subject until he, too, passed away, January 8, 1862, his remains be-
ing interred in the cemetery at Center. He was a man of robust health until his last illness, which baffled the best inedical skill. He was in his early years a Democrat, but afterward be- came a Republican.
Our subject was eleven years old when his parents removed front Vermont, and his school- ing was such as was common in those early days; after coming to Ohio he experienced the hard- ships and privations of the pioneers, whose et- forts were given to wresting from the forests the land on which they intended making their homes, and whose virgin soil was to blossom with fruit- ful fields and glow with golden harvests. To this work his youthful days were given, and he remained on the home place until his marriage. which event took place December 5, 1844, when he was united to Miss Elmina Crane. She was born in Schoharie county, N. Y., August 9, 1829, daughter of Charles and Lydia (Fuller) Crane, who came to Ohio in the fall of 1834 and located in La Grange township, Lorain county, where Mrs. Richardson was educated in the dis- trict school and grew to womanthood.
At the time of our subject's marriage he had the management of the home place of forty-two acres, but in the spring of 1853 he removed to Perry township. Wood county, where the previ- ous fall he had purchased 120 acres of partially improved land in Section 21. He made the journey by rail to Fremont, and from there by team. He remained on that farm until the spring of 1860, when he purchased 146 acres in Sec- tion 31, Perry township, where he has since made his home. During this time he has sold a por- tion of his land, which is now part of two other farins, retaining 103 acres, which are under a state of good cultivation. Politically Mr. Rich- ardson was for many years a stanch Republican, but his bitter enmity to the liquor traffic has caused him to take an active interest in the suc- cess of the Prohibition party, and the highest ambition he has is to see the sale of intoxicating liquors, as a beverage, abolished. He is a well- informed man, and while not a Church member. he is a Christian in his belief and practice, and is greatly beloved and esteemed by all who know him. His wife joined the Free-Will Baptist Church when she was ten years old, but at pres- ent is a member in good standing of the United Brethren Church. This worthy couple have spent over fifty years of happy wedded life together, sharing each other's joys and sorrows, and prov- ing by their devotion and faithfulness that mar- riage is not " a failure." Now that the shadows are growing longer in the west, they are enjoying
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in their pleasant home the well-earned rest after years of labor, and await the going down of the sun in peace and contentment.
Five children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Richardson, as follows: Melissa J., born Febru- ary 20, 1846, died in infancy; Orrin S., born No- vember 28, 1848, enlisted March 1, 1865, in Company G, 189th O. V. I., and died four weeks later at Huntsville, Ala., of measles, his body being brought home and interred at Perry Center; Anna A., born June 5, 1861, is the wife of J. A. Perrine, of Perry township, and has three chil- dren; Etta M., born May 13, 1865, died July 13. of the same year; and Herbert O., born October 29, 1873, was married March 28, 1895 to Miss Melinda Taylor, and they reside with his parents.
ALEXANDER E. LASHUAY, a retired farmer and highly respected citizen of Bowling Green, was born July 8, 1839, in Monroe county, Mich. His father, Alexander E. Lashuay, Sr., was of French descent, and was a native of Canada, where he married. Removing to Monroe county, Mich., he carried on farming there for a number of years, and came to Wood county when our subject was about fifteen years old, settling on a farm in the timber of Weston township. There he passed the remainder of his life, dying at the advanced age of eighty years. The mother of our subject died in 1842, leaving three children: John and James, who are farmers in Weston township; and Alexander E. The father married, for his second wife, Miss Rebadue, and one child of this union is living, David, who resides in Washington town- ship.
Mr. Lashuay was only about four years of age when his mother died, and he was bound out to a family at Petersburg, Mich., with whom he re- mained until he was some ten years of age. He then ran away and hired out to a farmer near Adrian, Mich., there remaining till about 1853, when his father brought him to Ohio. In his early years he attended the common schools for some time. He assisted his father upon the farm, and also did farm work for others until able to commence for himself. On March 10, 1865, he was married to Charity E. Mercer, who was born in Liberty township, daughter of Abraham and Harriet (Rice) Mercer. The young couple set- tled on a farm near Rudolph, which was their home for nearly thirty years. This place com- prised eighty acres, on which he carried on gen- eral farming, and on which are now ten produ - cing oil wells, from which he derives a handsome income. On September 12, 1894, Mr. Lashuay removed to Bowling Green, where he is living a
quiet life, enjoying the results of many years of ac- tive labor, and the respect and esteem of a large circle of friends and acquaintances. He has been a Republican ever since attaining his majority, and cast his first Presidential vote for Abraham Lin- coln. Both he and his wife are active members of the Church of Christ, better known as the Dis- ciples Church, to which his wife has belonged since she was fifteen years of age. While resid- ing in Rudolph they were members of the Mis- sionary Society, and have always taken a great interest in Church work.
To Mr. and Mrs. Lashuay have come the fol- lowing children: Abraham M., born October 4, 1867, married Inella McMahon, and lives on the old home place; they have two children -- Flossie B. and Eldon Stanley. Hattie I., born June 22, 1870, married William A. Kidd, of Juniata, Penn., and died November 27, 1894, leaving one child-Kenneth, who lives with Mr. Lashuay. Cline, born February 6, 1873, died September I of the same year. Clarence B., born Septein- ber 2, 1875, resides with his parents.
JOHN B. LINHART, one of Bloomdale's lead- ing citizens, is well-known throughout Wood and Hancock counties, owning a large farm in the latter locality, to which he devotes much of his time. He is a native of Pennsylvania, born in Baldwin township, Allegheny county, January 7, 1836, the son of Philip and Eliza (Huttenhower) Linhart. Our subject is the second in a family of eighteen children, of whom fifteen are still living, all occupying useful and honorable posi- tions in society. He attended the district schools near his birthplace, and learned to work upon the farm in the days when labor-saving machin- ery was not yet in use. His father, a man of great shrewdness and enterprise, and a fariner by occupation, determined to give his boys a good start in life, by securing farms for them in north- western Ohio, where land was cheap, and in 1856 he came to Seneca county, and bought 160 acres, ten of which were improved. February 11, 1858, our subject was married to Miss Elizabeth Yohe, a daughter of Isaac Yohe, a prominent farmer of Washington county, Penn., and early in April he brought his young bride to this new home. For six years he labored to bring the property into condition for farming: having ac- complished the task, and becoming the possessor of same, he sold it, and bought an improved farm of eighty acres in Washington township. Hancock Co., Ohio. His father had moved some years before to Cass township, in that county, and in 1872 Mr. Linhart went there with
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