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 81
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until eighteen years of age, when he began the brick-mason's trade, and at the age of twenty-one he commenced school teaching in Crawford county, Ohio, following that vocation through fourteen consecutive winter seasons, being em- ployed at brick laying in the summer. He built the first brick building in Galion, Ohio, and worked on the infirmary in Crawford county, and the Union school house in Bucyrus, Ohio.
In May, 1836, Mr. Carothers was married in Crawford county, to Madgalena Heiffer, who was born in Pennsylvania, in 1813, and was of Ger- man lineage, her father having immigrated to America from Germany, at the age of twelve years. In 1852 our subject came with his fam- ily to Wood county, and purchased 200 acres of land in Liberty township, this including the eighty-acre farm on which he yet resides. He has since carried on agricultural pursuits, al- though he has devoted some attention to other interests. In 1876 he went to Beaver county with his brother, where he engaged in brick lay- ing, drilling wells and setting boilers. In the summer of 1877 he went to Columbia county, Penn., where he was engaged in the con- struction of the Letonia Iron Works. He is, however, numbered among the leading and sub- stantial farmers of Wood county. and the suc- cess he has achieved is due entirely to his own efforts.
To Mr. Carothers and wife were born: Frank- lin, who died at the age of twenty-four; Eliza Jane, wife of W. H. Richardson, of Bowling Green; Matilda, wife of Montgomery Loomis, of Ashley, Mich. ; Sarah, who died at the age of seventeen; William Forbes, who died at the age of thirty-three; and Emina, who became the wife of Hiram Woodworth, and died in Cleveland, Ohio. After the death of the mother of this fam- ily. Mr. Carothers married Elizabeth C. Weaver, and they have one son, Reason Dawson.
Our subject has considerable local note as a composer of comic songs, and his rendition of the same is worthy of a professional. In politics he is a Democrat. Though a member of no Church, he has always been a close Bible student. He is also familiar with many of the standard works of literature. He is a man of scholarly tastes and broad general information, and his sterling worth has gained him the friendship of many.
BERNARD INDLEKOFER, the able and popular postmaster at Weston, was born in Norwalk, Huron Co., Ohio, May 5, 1856. His parents were both natives of Germany, and his father, Nicholas Indlekofer, cumne to America in 1853.
his mother, Rosalia (Kramer), a year later. They were married in Cincinnati, and settled in Nor- walk, where the father died in February, 1885, at the age of fifty-nine, and where the mother still resides .. Three children were born of this union: Bernard, Mary and Rosa.
Our subject, when fourteen years old, left home to learn cabinet making at Bellevue, Ohio. He followed his trade for some time in Decatur, Ind., and then returned to Norwalk, where he worked in the Lake Shore & Michigan Southern carshops for about eight years. In ISSo he came to Weston, and opened an establishment of his own. So well did he gain and hold the con- fidence of the community that, in 1885, he was appointed postmaster under Cleveland. Three years and six months later he was relieved on ac- count of his strong Democratic proclivities; but he was given a position in the railway mail serv- ice between Cleveland and Syracuse, which he held until another change of administration. Re- turning to Weston, he opened a restaurant and grocery, which he conducted until re-appointed postmaster, July 1, 1893. He is an influential political worker, and is prominent among the business men of Weston. In 1893 he built the handsome brick block in which the post office is now located.
On October 1, 1879, Mr. Indlekofer was mar- ried to Miss Catherine Cook, who was born at Weston, June 24, 1858. To this union were born four children, namely: Rosa, John and Maggie, who are living at home; and Carl, the second child, who died when an infant. Mr. Indlekofer and his family are leading members of the Roman Catholic Church.
HON. NATHAN HATFIELD, a leading agricult- urist of Perry township, and one of the best of the able men who have represented Wood county in the State Legislature, was born February 28, 1813, in St. Clair township, Belmont Co., Ohio, the son of William and Nancy (Mc Mahan) Hat- field.
" Uncle Nate " is a self-made man, and his well-known kindliness of heart may be the result of that fellow feeling for the less fortunate, which only those can know who have at some time felt the pressure of poverty. His father, a native of New York State, was at one time a wealthy mer- chant in Wheeling, W. Va .: but he lost his tor- tune in 1820, through becoming a surety to the extent of $90, 000, for parties who fiile I to meet their obligations. His property was sufficient to nieet the liability under ordinary circumstances; but a forced sale caused a sacrifice of values, which
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left him penniless. He might have saved some- thing from the wreck by certain manipulations; but he was too proud to attempt them. His brother, Capt. Nathan Hatfield, a veteran of the war of 1812, for whom our subject was named, was then living in Cincinnati, and he furnished means for the family to move to Hamilton county, and make a new home there. The journey was ac- complished on a flat-boat, which floated down the Ohio. Soon after their arrival our subject's mother, who had previously been healthy and ro- bust, died from the effects of the humiliation and anxiety, which she had undergone, leaving ten children, who were scattered among stran- gers, to make their way in the world. Nathan was but seven years old, and his childhood knew many hard experiences, which he bravely en- dured. His father married again, and by that union had four sons. He died at the age of six- ty-five, at the home of our subject, where his last years were made comfortable by the tender care of his daughter-in-law, Mrs. Hatfield.
Young Hatfield availed himself of such op- portunities for schooling as his time and locality afforded, and a bright intellect helped him to obtain a good education. He is now an earnest advocate of better schools, by which any child, no matter what the position of his parents may be, can, if he will, secure a thorough intellectual training. He is a lover of horses, and his first business venture was the purchase of a colt for $5.00, which he had saved, a few cents at a time. His employer allowed him free pasture, and, by careful attention, the colt was brought into good condition and traded for a larger animal, which the young speculator sold later for $50.00. With this sum he bought a good horse in Kentucky, of Bertrand stock. During the cholera epidemic of 1832, Mr. Hatfield, then nineteen years old, rode this horse to Richland county to escape the dis- ease, and there he began to work at plastering 'and bricklaying for a brother-in-law, James Wor- ley, with whom he worked on the first brick house built in Findlay-the residence of William Tay- lor, a merchant there. At that time Findlay was a fort. While on his way there from Richland county he learned of the cheap lands in Wood county, and he bargained for forty acres in Sec- tion 33, Perry township, for which he traded his latest acquisition in horse flesh, a vicious horse given him in exchange for his Kentucky-bred ani- mal. This land he visited in 1833; but he did not at that tinte occupy it, preferring to continue liis trade in Orange township, Richland county.
In 1834 our subject was married to Miss Sarah McHarry, a native of Ireland, who had come to !
America in childhood with her parents. Three children were born of this union: Jane A., who married John McMahan, and died in Perry town- ship; Nancy, who died when a child; and Louisa, residing at Fostoria, who was first married to Amos Norris, who was killed at Millgrove, in 1863, by the explosion of a cannon, and she sub- sequently wedded Walter McMahan, now also deceased. The mother of this family died in Au- gust, 1844, and her remains now rest in the cem- etery at Fostoria.
On February 9, 1845. Mr. Hatfield married Miss Angeline McMahan, an old acquaintance, who was a native of Hamilton county, born No- vember 16, 1813. Their wedding trip was the journey from her home to Wood county, made partly by stage and partly over the Mad River railroad, the first railroad constructed in Ohio. They have seven children: William, a resident of Hancock county; Andrew, of Fostoria; Emma, now Mrs. James Brandeberry, of Pemberville. Wood county: P. J., who lives in Perry town- ship; Angeline, the wife of Frederick Fruit, of Seneca county; Job, who resides at Portland, Ore .; and Sarah, Mrs. Myron Fletcher, of Perry township. Mrs. Hatfield is a woman of remark- able intelligence and sagacity, and her husband does not hesitate to avow, with manly pride in her abilities, that her help has been an important factor in his success. She possesses unusual vital- ity also, and, at the age of eighty-three, is hale and hearty, with scarcely a trace of gray in her hair. She was a daughter of Andrew McMahan, an ensign in the American army during the war of 1812, who was wounded while on the ramparts of Fort Meigs during the battle there. After the battle he was placed on a horse, and managed to take his way to his home in Cincinnati, where he lived many years, following the cabinet-mak- er's trade.
Mr. Hatfield is well preserved for his years, and has never worn spectacles. Mr. and Mrs. Hatfield celebrated their golden wedding Febru- ary 9, 1895, and their relatives and friends took advantage of the happy event to demonstrate the affection in which this worthy couple is held wherever they are known. They are both mem- bers of the M. E. Church, in which Mr. Hatfield was a class leader for a quarter of a century, and his donations to that Church and to other relig- ious canses amount to a fortune. Indeed, " Uncle Nate's" generosity and hospitality are proverbial. and no needy and deserving person has ever sought relief from hita in vain. His home has been for years a haven of rest to the weary trav- eler, and never has any charge been made.
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Mr. Hatfield came to Wood county to reside in 1836, locating upon his little forty-acre tract, where he built a log house, and followed farm- ing, working as opportunity came at his trade, this business sometimes taking him as far west as Fort Wayne. As he would get money to spare, he would go on foot through the woods to the land office and buy land, at $1.25 per acre. and in this way he added to his holdings until he owned at one time 1,000 acres, and he now owns nearly 700. Honor and fairness have character- ized his every transaction, no matter how small, and his integrity is never questioned. His landed estate forms but a part of his possessions, as he owns fine business property in Fostoria and North Baltimore. It is not often that a poor boy attains such worldly success, and still less fre- quently do we see nobility of character and good- ness of heart left untouched by the long struggle with worldly necessities.
In politics Mr. Hatfield is a Democrat, as was his fatlier before him, and although he never aspired to political office, his ability, public spirit and popularity among all classes has made him a leader in the party in this region. Quite with- out effort on his part, he was elected to the Legislature in in 1874, and the entire community took part in a grand barbecue at his home in honor of the joyous occasion. The celebration was of the genuine old-fashioned kind, with food in unlimited quantities, speech-making, bands of music, dancing, and games and diversions of all sorts; but the best part of the affair was the sin- cere and unaffected rejoicing of all over the eleva- tion of their honored neighbor.
WILLIAM WAUGH, senior member of the well- known mercantile firm of William Waugh & Co., of Tontogany, is a native of Wood county, hav- ing been born in Webster township, June 28, 1858.
His parents, James and Margaret (Forester) Waugh, were both born in Scotland in 1824, the father in January, the mother April 19, and in childhood they came to America, their respective families locating in the same neighborhood in Wood county. The first years of their married life were spent in Freedom township, near Pem- berville; but in 1850 they removed to a farin on the corner of Webster township, where our sub- ject's father built a large sawmill, which he oper- ated successfully for many years. He was a Re- publican in his later years, and was one of the leading men of the locality. He and his wife were active and faithful members of the Presby- terian Church at Scotch Ridge, and their children
adhere tothe same faith. His early death, in 1862. cut short a life of great activity and usefulness: Mrs. Waugh survived him many years, dying August 15, 1891. Nine children were born to them, of whom five lived to adult age; Ellen (de- ceased) was formerly the wife of B. Russell; and Margaret (who married C. W. Russell), James and Thomas, are all living on the old homestead: and our subject, who is the youngest in the family.
William Waugh. during his boyhood, attended the district school near his home, also the graded schools of Portage. He then taught for ten winters with great success. On March IS, 1879. he married Miss Maggie Dauterman, who was born October 2, 1860, in Portage township, Wood county, where her parents, Jacob and Cather- ine (Amos) Dauterman, were prominent residents. Three children were born to this union: Mabel I .. born November 16, 1881; Ralph D., born Octo- ber 16, 1884; and Harold W., born January 17. 1893, in Denver, Colo. Mr. Waugh bought the old Dauterman homestead, and until 1886 was engaged in farming in summer, and teaching in winter. He taught, in all, ten winters, three winters in his own district. Thinking, however, that a mercantile life would be more congenial. he, in 1885, opened a general store at Dunbridge; but sold it in the fall of 1889, and went into the grocery business at Bowling Green. His health failing, he again sold out and spent two years in the West, chiefly for his health, and on his return built a business block in Tontogany, and estab- lished his present general store, which, since June 30, 1894, has been a leading enterprise in that thriving town. Politically Mr. Waugh is a Re- publican, but is no office seeker, though he is the present efficient township treasurer. In 1887, he united with the I. O. O. F., Lodge No. 636. Bowling Green, and in 1894 was transferred to Tontogany Lodge No. 755. He is somewhat in- terested in the oil industry in Wood county, being among the first to develop the field about Ton- togany.
LEWIS NEWCOMER, one of Prairie Depot's substantial business men, was born near Free- burg, Stark Co., Ohio, March 26, 1846. and is the son of Adam and Margaret Bender) New . comer, both of whom were from Pennsylvania
Our subject attended school until seventeen years of age, when, work being plenty on his father's farm, he was employed there until he was twenty-four years old. On November 12, 1505 he was married to Miss Margaret Boucher, daugh- ter of Jesse Boncher, and a native of Senec county, where she was born January 22, 1810.
Maggie Maugh 2,
Hra Naugh Toblogany
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WOOD COUNTY, OHIO.
and where she taught six terms in the public schools. In 1870 Mr. Newcomer moved to Montgomery township, and, with his brother, Levi, bought 125 acres of land in Section 18. He lived in this township four years, and then rented a farm in Hancock county for one year, and later occupied another farm of 120 acres that he had previously bought, remaining there three years. Then, as the parties to whom he had sold his farm in Montgomery township conld not pay for it, he returned to Section 18, and lived there until October, 1887, when he moved to Prairie Depot, broken down in health and obliged to quit farming. In June, 1888, he engaged in the hardware business with S. J. Dern, and after two years this firm sold out to the Buckeye Sup- ply Co., and for the following eighteen months our subject retired. In January, 1892, he bought out the Buckeye Supply Co., which is now known by the firm name of L. Newcomer & Co. Our subject owns the business block in which his store is situated, and besides has some of the best business property in Prairie Depot.
To Mr. and Mrs. Newcomer have been born these children: Irwin B., who is in business with his father, married Miss Maud Pittenger, and they have one child, Fern. Bertha L. is now Mrs. John Carr, of Bradner, Ohio, and has two chil- dren, Lewis R. and Clair. Mr. Newcomer is a Democrat, but is not bound by party ties, as he selects the man according to his ability, regard- less of his politics. Our subject and his family were for fifteen years members of the German Baptist Church, and gave liberally to its cause, and Mr. Newcomer gave an acre of ground to- ward a site for a new church in Hancock county. For the past fourteen years he has been an in- valid, suffering from rheumatism, which necessi- tated his going into mercantile business. He has a comfortable competency, and is one of Prairie Depot's most respected citizens. His good wife has been of great help to him, and has stood nobly by him in his hours of trial.
county; Diana, now Mrs. Samuel Thomas, of Hancock county; Lewis, our subject; Sylvanus, a resident of Michigan; Lydia, the wife of Heury Bowers, of Findlay; Samuel, residing in Han- cock county; Margetta, wife of William Shubert. of Hancock county; and John, of Kansas City.
JERRY BORDNER was born in Stark county, Ohio, June 26, 1835, and is a son of Jacob and Liddy (Guess) Bordner, the former a native of Harrisburg, Penn., the latter of Stark county. Ohio, where they were married. Subsequently they removed to Crawford county, in the same State. and, about 1850, located on a farm of 125 acres in Liberty township, Wood county. There the mother's death occurred, and the father after- ward was again married, his second union being with Catherine Shutt, who still lives in Liberty township. His death occurred on the old home- stead farm in May, 1879. To Mr. Bordner's first marriage were born the following children: La- vina; Washington, who died in childhood; Jerry: Catherine, who died at the age of seventeen ; and Hiram. The children of the second mar- riage, were: Joseph, a farmer of Liberty town- ship; Isaac, who follows farming in Henry coun- ty, Ohio; John, of Freeport, Ohio; Frank, of Portage, Ohio; and Hettie, who died in childhood.
Jerry Bordner, the subject of this review, was educated in the public schools of his locality. He was reared on a farin, but to some extent has followed carpentering. During the Civil war the country numbered him among its loyal defenders, having enlisted at Bowling Green, August 29. 1861, in Company C, 21st O. V. I. He partici- pated in the battles of Ivy Mountain and Chick- amaugua, in which latter engagement out of his company of forty-eight men, who went into bat- tle in the morning, only thirteen responded to roll-call at night, and a corporal of that company was the only one of the officers (either com- missioned or non-commissioned), of the regiment that escaped uninjured; but at the battle of Jones- boro, this corporal was literally cut to pieces by a shell. At the battle of Stone River our sub- ject received a slight flesh wound in the right cheek, and in the spring of 1862, he returned regiment at Huntsville, Ala., at the expiration of his term, he was honorably discharged Septem- ber 18, 1864. He then began work on a farm, which he continued for some time.
Adain Newcomer, father of our subject, was born in Pennsylvania, and, in 1851, moved to Big- lick township, Hancock county, making the journey in a farm wagon. He was in poor circumstances financially, and took his farm of , home on a thirty-days' furlough. Rejoining his 160 acres when it was in a pretty rough condi- tion, uncultivated and containing only a log cabin. It was there that Mrs. Newcomer died at the age of sixty years. Mr. Newcomer is alive and hearty at nearly seventy-five years of age. Mr. Bordner was married in Liberty town- ship, September 10, 186g, to Miss Bina Hall. who was born in Summit county, Ohio, Novem- ber 23. : 845. Her parents were Joel and Polly He has been a successful man, and has a good competency. To him and his wife were born the following children: Levi, living in Hancock 82
4
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(Huxly) Hull, the former a native of Massachu- setts and the latter of Ohio. Mr. Hull died in Liberty township, in April, 189 !; but his widow is still living. In their family were the following children: Bina, Mrs. Bordner: William; Electa, wife of George Jackson, of Lorain county, Ohio; Sarah, wife of Arthur Harrison, of Bowling Green; Sylvester, twin brother of Sarah, of Lib- erty township; and Alonzo and Lorenzo, twins, now living in Milton Center. To the union of Mr. and Mrs. Bordner have come ten children: Adella, born July 13, 1870, now the wife of Daniel Levers, of Liberty township; Blanche, born November 8, 1871; George, born November 16, 1873; Belle, born December 5, 1876: Earl, born September 8, 1877, and died July 6, 1878; Maggie M., born May 27, 1879; Maud M., born November 9, 1881; Nellie, born October 6, 1883; Roy, born April 3, 1886; and Frank, born Feb- ruary 23, 1888, died March 8, 1891.
Mr. Bordner is the owner of a good farm of eighty acres, highly cultivated and well im- proved, and he owes his financial success in life entirely to his own well-directed efforts and good business ability. In politics he is an active worker in the ranks of the Republican party. He has served as school director for many years, and the cause of education finds in him a warm friend.
OSWALD BROTHERS, the well-known proprie- tors of the planing-mill and lumber-yard at Wes- ton, are natives of Ashland county, Ohio, sons of Levi Oswald, who was born in 1818, in Berks county, Penn. Their mother, Catherine Zeither, is a native of the city of Worms, Germany, and came in early life to Wayne county, Ohio, where the two were married. The father died there in 1878; the mother survives him, and resides with her sons in Weston. Their five children are: J. W., Carrie, George W., and the two subjects of this sketch-Jacob M., born January 5, 1852, and S. C., born July 31, 1859.
Both of these young and thrifty business men came at an early age to the vicinity of Weston, and, after obtaining a good elementary English education, they each engaged in the employment which was, for the time being, most convenient. For a while they worked with their father in Weston, shipping hardwood timber, and in 1880 -. 8t they purchased their present business, then being carried on in a limited and indifferent manner. They set to work to make it a success, and increased their stock, put up a new building, and bought machinery of the most approved sort for manufacturing all kinds of building material.
This they have made the most prosperous and beneficent industry in Weston, and the hum of its machinery is welcome music to the force of workmen to whom they furnish constant employ- ment. As citizens, the Oswald Brothers are counted among the most substantial and public spirited, every local improvement receiving from them due support.
JACOB M. was married to Miss Sarah Shively. a native of Hancock county, born in April, 1853. and they have one child living: Lee Thomas: their daughter. Maude, died at the age of six- teen. He belongs also to the Lumberman's Na- tional society the "Hoo Hoos," or the "Con- catenated Order of the Black Cat."
S. C. OSWALD was married October 4, 1882, to Miss Lucy M. Brown, who was born May 1, 1860, in Weston township. Both brothers are stanch Democrats, and leading members of the Presbyterian Church, and of the fraternal order of Odd Fellows, and the Knights of Pythias.
WALTER OSTRANDER, who is living in Section 20, Montgomery township, is successfully cit- gaged in agricultural pursuits on a valuable farm of seventy-seven acres. He has spent much of his life about horses, giving him a chance to study and learn them, and this association and knowledge has developed in him an ability that classes him among the prominent handlers of horses in northwestern Ohio. He is probably as good a judge of that animal as any man in Wood county, and many have benefited by his advice and counsel. He has trained many excellent horses, and his skill as a driver has often been witnessed.
Mr. Ostrander was born June 15, 1845, in Montgomery township, where his father. John Ostrander, a native of New York, was one of thie pioneer settlers. The mother of our subject bore the maiden name of Sarah Burk, and by her marriage she had four children: Hiram, who makes his home in Iowa; Harriet, who became the wife of James Carter, and died in Montgom- ery township; Matilda, who first married Frank- lin Diver, and after his death wedded Philip Wammes, of Fostoria, Ohio; and Walter, who completes the family. The father's death oc- curred in 1845, and his widow now lives with her son in Iowa.
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