USA > Ohio > Williams County > County of Williams, Ohio, Historical and Biographical > Part 56
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foundry. In the summer of 1864, Mr. Park sold out to John A. Garver, for whom Mr. Morrison worked till 1865, when, in company with George Garver and Eugene Leonard, he bought the property. The following May, E. G. Fay bought out George Garver's interest, and about eighteen months later Mr. Morrison and Mr. Fay bought out Mr. Leonard, and together they carried on the business until March, 1880, when, in conse- quence of failing health, Mr. Morrison sold out. He was an active and energetic man, and to his skill as a mechanic was largely due the success of the foundry. He devoted much time to the improvement of the Bryan plow, and hundreds of farmers can testify as to his success in that respect. He was of genial disposition, and affable alike in business intercourse and in society. At the time of his death, November 18, 1880, he owned one-third interest in the Bryan Manufacturing Company, and had made ample provision for the family left to mourn him. His widow still keeps her residence in Bryan, with her little family about her, and occupies a high position in the respect and affection of her friends and neighbors.
DAVID MORROW, son of Samuel and Margaret (Dysert) Morrow, is a native of Cumberland County, Penn., and was born September 29, 1814. He is of Scotch descent, and his father was a tailor by trade, but died when David was only an infant. His mother, with the family, moved to Wayne County, Ohio, in 1816, where she afterward married Oliver Day. Both are now deceased. They engaged in farming in Wayne, together with clearing, being among the first settlers of that county. David received only the limited education of a pioneer district, his school days being limited to those of a log schoolhouse, two and a half miles distant from home, with a clapboard roof, puncheon seats, greased papers for windows, etc. He lived with his mother and step- father until manhood, assisting in clearing, farming and improving the place. He learned carpentering and house-joining when a young man, and has worked at that considerably through life. He was married Feb- ruary 2, 1837, to Miss Ruth Mitchell, of Stark County, Ohio, and they made Wayne County their home until 1854, when he sold his interests in Wayne County, with the expectation of going farther West to build a home for himself and family. Liking the soil, timber and water advan- tages in Williams County better than any of the other counties he had seen, he purchased the old Stevens farm in Pulaski Township, on Sec- tions 12 and 13, consisting of 240 acres of land. It at that time was only partially cleared, and on this Mr. Morrow moved his family and engaged in farming and improving. As time passed on he gradually increased this farm, until at one time he owned about 700 acres, part in Centre and part in Pulaski Township. In 1872, he sold that property, and purchased his present place of 117 acres adjoining the corporate city
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limits of Bryan, and has since been engaged in general farm work. Since being a resident of the county he has dealt largely in grain and stock, taking special pains in the rearing of good and blooded stock, mostly sheep and cattle. Mr. Morrow has been quite fortunate in his career, making the greater part of what he now owns by his own exertions. He is one of the substantial citizens of Williams County, is a Royal Arch Mason, a Republican in politics, has held various positions of honor and trust, among which was that of Infirmary Director. He belongs to the Methodist Episcopal Church, and he and wife are parents of four children-Elmer, Charles, Ellen and Walter. Mr. Morrow was one of the men who established the County Agricultural Society, and was its first President. He is also a stockholder in the Bryan Bank. Charles married Lydia Fields, and resides in Missouri ; Ellen is wife of William McNary, of Bryan; and Walter married Effie Britton, and lives in Bryan.
GEORGE W. MYERS was born in Beaver County, Penn., December 24, 1808, and is one of two living children in a family of nine born to George and Susanna (Wenrich) Myers, natives of England and Pennsyl- vania respectively. The father came to this country when a small boy, and in the latter part of the Revolution served in the Colonial army, and again, in 1812, rendered the country effective service. In 1813, he came to Wayne County, Ohio, thence moved to Richland County, thence to Cranberry Township, Crawford County, in 1827, where he and wife ended their days. George W. Myers learned the carpenter and joiner's trade in Norwalk, Huron County, and in August, 1836, there married Emily Lewis, who was born in Erie County, N. Y., May 27, 1816. In 1835. Mr. Myers had visited Jefferson Township, Williams County, and entered 160 acres of land, cleared three acres, sowed in wheat, and put up a first-rate log cabin, and in 1837 moved his family and his few household goods upon the place, and thus began life in the woods. In connection with farming, he also worked at his trade, and erected many of the substantial buildings throughout this county and Defiance. In the spring of 1855, he sold his property in Jefferson, and removed to Bryan, with the intention of emigrating West. He made a prospecting tour through Illinois, Iowa and Kansas, but, finding nothing to suit him, returned home and resumed his old occupations, secured a comfortable fortune, and a few years ago retired from active life and is now a resident of Bryan. He and wife are parents of five children, viz. : Julia A., now Mrs. J. M. Welker ; Zilpha, wife of F. M. Carter; Amzi V., who resides in Colorado ; George W., who married Jennie Gilbert, and Elias, who married Caroline Reeves. The first farm owned by Mr. Myers in Williams is now owned by the county, and used as the Poor
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Farm. At present he owns 180 acres in this county, some valuable town property, 2,000 acres in Texas, and an orange farm in Florida. He is a Democrat in politics ; was Justice of the Peace nine years in Jeffer- son Township, and has filled various other offices ; is one of the few re- maining pioneers of the county, and is universally respected.
JOHN AND PHILIP NIEDERAUR. John Niederaur, of the manufacturing firm of Niederaur & Bro., of Bryan, was born in Bavaria, Germany, May 28, 1833, the son of John D. and Barbara (Young) Nie- deraur, who were the parents of eight children, of whom five are yet living. John Niederaur came to America in 1851, landing at New York, where for two and a half years he worked at his trade of cabinet-making; he then came to Ohio and located at Mansfield ; a few months later he moved to Tiffin, where he married Margaret Goffuy, in 1854. While residing at Tiffin, his parents and the rest of the family came over from the old country and joined him. Hearing of the superior advantages Williams County possessed, of its new county seat that would eventually make a city, of its splendid water facilities, etc., John and his brother Philip concluded to come to Bryan and locate, which they did in the spring of 1855, having paid the place a visit the previous fall, and hav- ing purchased property on which to locate. The Niederaurs have ever since resided here and have always engaged in active business. The father died in 1879, at the age of seventy-seven, preceded by his wife in 1870, at the age of sixty-five. The names of their children are John, Philip, Charles, Jacob and Barbara. On their arrival in Bryan, they all began working at cabinet-making, but after a year or two John branched off and engaged in carpentering, there not being sufficient business in Bryan to keep him employed at his trade. In 1866, John and Philip erected their present planing-mill, in which they have all the latest im- proved machinery, operated by a sixty-five horse-power engine. They give employment to ten or twelve men, and besides doing a general planing mill business, handle a full line of all kinds of lumber, doors, sash, blinds, etc., etc. They came to Bryan when it was a village, and have assisted it to become one of the leading country towns in the State. John Niederaur and wife are parents of one child-Flora. Philip Niederaur was born in the old country, October 26, 1836; came to America in 1852, and with his parents, to Bryan, where he was married in December, 1865, to Sarah Hineman, and by her has two children-Bertha and Frank. The Niederaurs have been Independent in their political views, inclining toward Democracy. They are of the Protestant faith in religion, and John is a member of the Masonic fra- ternity and the Knights of Honor. They have been fortunate in their business career, having acquired considerable property by hard labor and
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good management. John is one of the present Town Councilmen, and Philip is a member of the Town School Board. They have been identi- fied with the town's best interests ever since they came here, and are among the leading and substantial citizens of the place. The other two broth- ers, Charley and Jacob, emigrated West-the former in about 1858, going to Texas, where he married and is yet living; Jacob served in the late war in the Thirty-eighth Ohio Volunteer Infantry one year, as a musician, and in 1863 went to California, where he married and is yet living. Barbara married George Hineman, and resides in Centre Town- ship. John and Philip, besides their town property, own 232 acres of land in Williams County, 160 in Defiance County and 120 in Iowa.
JOHN W. NELSON, banker, was born in Portage County, Ohio, April 10, 1840, and was the son of David and Esther (Garrard) Nelson. The father was a native of the north of Ireland, and when about fifteen years old crossed over to Canada; shortly after, he went to Pittsburgh, Penn., where he was employed in the construction of a canal in the vicinity, his superior skill soon securing for him the superintendency of a division. He was there married, and shortly after went to Kentucky, where he superintended the construction of a dam across Green River. About the year 1839, he removed to Portage County, Ohio, where he had a contract to build a feeder to the Ohio & Pennsylvania Canal. Some years later, he purchased a farm in Portage County, and followed agricult- ure till 1856, when he sold out and moved to Geauga County. In 1861, he returned to Portage, where he ended his days in 1873-his wife having died in 1855. Of his eight children, John W., our subject, was the eldest. The latter, until seventeen years of age, was employed upon the home farm and in attending the district school; then for two years he attended an educational institution at Hiram, and afterward the Law Department of the University at Ann Arbor, Mich., graduating in 1862. In the fall of 1863, he came to Bryan, and entered the law office of Foster & Pratt, with whom he remained till 1867, except that, in August. 1864, he went to Tennessee, and remained there one year, acting as chief clerk to Capt. Robert McQuilkin, Commissary of Subsistence. In July, 1867, he formed a law partnership with A. M. Pratt, which was continued till 1870, when the Bryan Bank was instituted, and he was elected its Cashier. The bank is now known as the Farmers' National Bank, and was chartered under that name in June, 1880. Mr. Nelson retained the position of Cashier till January, 1882, when he became its President. In April, 1868, he was elected Mayor of Bryan, and was re-elected in 1869. He has been a number of times elected to the Common Council, and is now a member of that body. In 1873, he was elected by the Democracy to the Lower Branch of the State Legislature, and he was also
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a delegate to the National Democratic Convention held at Cincinnati in 1880. May 31, 1871, he married Miss Lou Ritchie, who was born in Columbiana County, Ohio, August 28, 1848. Mr. Nelson is a Knight Templar, and has always been active in the promotion of enterprises tending to the improvement of the town in which he resides.
ELISHA M. OGLE was born in Carroll County, Ohio, September 16, 1839, and is the seventh child of a family of nine, three of whom are yet living, born to William and Isabelle (Lyons) Ogle, who were natives of Jefferson County, Ohio, and Washington County, Penn. William Ogle's parents moved to Jefferson County, Ohio, at an early period in the history of Eastern Ohio, and he was among the first-born children of Jefferson County. He was reared a farmer. He and family moved from Carroll County to Williams County, Ohio, in 1850, locating on Section 1, in Northwest Township. Mr. Ogle here engaged in clearing and farming, and this was his home until his death, which occurred in the spring of 1863. He was one of the early settlers of North West Town- ship, although not among the first. He was a hard-working and indus- trious man ; was a Captain in the State Militia while a resident of Carroll County, and was a man self-made in every respect. His wife survived his death until April, 1881, when she, too, died. Elisha M. Ogle came with his parents to Williams County when eleven years old, and this has ever since been his home. He received a common school education, and, October 22, 1861, enlisted in Company K, Sixty-eighth Ohio Volunteer Infantry as private. They left Camp Chase in time to be present, although not actively engaged, in the battle of Fort Donelson. From here he went to Crump's Landing, where he was taken sick. After remaining at the hospital at Camp Dennison for a time, he received a furlough, went home, and then rejoined his regiment while they were at Bolivar, Tenn. From here, he was in all the movements of his regiment, until he was wounded at the battle of Atlanta, on the 22d of July, 1864, where he was shot directly through the head, the ball entering below the right eye, and passing out back of the left ear. He was left for dead on the field of battle, and was so reported to his comrades. On the retreat of the union forces, he was taken prisoner, sent to Atlanta, and from there to Andersonville, remaining at the latter place seven months, where he saw the suffering that only those know who realized Southern prison life. He and one other, one dark and rainy night, climbed the fence, and, by a miracle, escaped the guard, took to the swamps, and, after traveling all night, found they were within eighty rods from where they got out. The next night, they started again, and continued this some five or six days, when they were recaptured by a detachment of Hood's army, and were then sent to Macon, Ga., where they remained two months; and, on Lee's
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surrender, were paroled, and finally regained their liberty. Mr. Ogle re-enlisted, and was veteranized in December, 1863, when his first enlist- ment had expired. He received his final discharge from the service at Camp Chase June 20, 1865, as Corporal. After the war, he returned to Williams County, and engaged in farming. He was married, October 1, 1868, to Miss Amanda Starr, and, in 1875, was elected to the office of County Treasurer, and re-elected in 1877. He moved his family to Bryan in 1876, and, in 1878, became a partner of Simeon Gillis in the proprietorship and publication of the Bryan Press. Mr. Ogle is a Republican in politics ; a member of the Presbyterian Church, and he and wife are parents of two children-Wilbur and Maud. Mr. Ogle owns the old homestead, consisting of 160 acres, besides 83 acres in Florence Township, and town property in Bryan.
JUDGE SELWYN N. OWEN, son of Horatio and Clarissa (Ran- som; Owen, is a native of Steuben County, N. Y., his birth occurring July 5, 1836. Horatio Owen was a native of New York State where he was reared, educated and married. He served an apprenticeship at the tailor's trade, and afterward worked as a journeyman tailor. He came with his family to Columbus, Ohio, in about 1837, shortly afterward moving to Huron County, where he engaged in merchandising and dealing in grain. He was killed October 6, 1860, at one of his elevators in Havana, Huron County, by the breaking of a rope used in drawing cars of wheat up in the elevator on an inclined track from the office below. His widow yet survives him, and resides with a daughter in Butler, Ind. Judge Owen is the second of a family of eight children, five of whom are yet living. He was reared to manhood in Huron and Seneca Counties, receiving a good common-school and academic education. For four years he was a student of the Norwalk Institute, paying for his tuition and books by acting as janitor. He finished his literary education by an elective course at Antioch Col- lege. The winters of 1856-57, he was Principal of a seminary in Clark County, Ky., succeeding which he came to Norwalk and began the study of law with Kennan & Stewart, attorneys of that place. He attended the Cincinnati Law School, beginning in 1861, and graduating in 1862. Mr. Owen began his career as an attorney at Fremont, Ohio, but re- mained there only until November, 1863, when he came to Bryan and engaged actively in law pursuits. This has been his home ever since, and, with the exception of one year, he has followed his profession alone. Ile is a Democrat in politics, and in 1876 was elected without opposition Judge of the Common Pleas Court for five counties of the Third Judicial District. He served his first term of five years, and during this time the Territory of which he was then Judge was redistricted. In 1881, he was re-elected, and was assigned to the Judgeship of the subdivision, at
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present comprising Paulding, Defiance and Williams Counties. In 1880, he was elected one of the Judges of the Inter-State Oratorical Contest, comprising the States of Ohio, Illinois, Missouri, Indiana, Wisconsin and Iowa. His Associate Judges in this contest were Elihu B. Washburne, of Illinois, Gov. Foster, of Ohio, and Thomas A. Hendricks, of Indiana. Judge Owen has been one of the leading lawyers of the bar of Williams and neighboring counties. He was united in marriage in 1870, with Miss Beulah B. Barrett, of Rochelle, Ill., and to this union has been born one daughter-Gertie L. Judge Owen owns, besides a valuable town property, a farm of seventy-five acres adjoining the city of Bryan. He is a member of the A., F. & A. M., and the Universalist Church, and is one of the most prominent men of Northwestern Ohio.
ROBERT N. PATTERSON, editor and proprietor of the Bryan Dem- scrat, is a native of Delaware, Ohio, his birth occurring January 19, 1831. His father. Gen. A. H. Patterson, was a native of Huntingdon, Penn., his father being a native of Scotland. This gentleman, Thomas Patter- son, came to America in 1773, a single man, served the colonies in the war of the Revolution and was wounded at the battle of Brandywine. After the war, he married a Quaker lady, Jane Slack, a native of En- gland. There was a large family born to this union, Andrew H., father of Robert N., being the fourth son. Andrew H. learned the saddler's trade, was an active politician thirty or forty years ago in Ohio, and held various positions of honor and trust-among them being that of State Representative. He married our subject's mother, Roxanna Vining, for his first wife, and by her had six children. This lady was a direct de- scendant of the Vinings and Carters of Puritanical fame, who settled in Massachusetts. She died in 1839, and Gen. Patterson then married Miss Lucy Bixby, who bore him three children. Gen. Patterson died in Bryan in August, 1863, aged fifty-five years. Robert N. Patterson lived with his father until the age of seventeen, when he began learning the printer's trade in the office of the Buckeye Eagle at Marion, Ohio. Since that time, he has worked on different papers in Ohio until 1862, and the spring of 1863 came to Bryan and established the Bryan Democrat, of which he has ever since continued publisher and proprietor. The Demo- rat has flourished and thriven under his management, and is the leading Democratic paper of Williams County, and among the best newspapers of Northwestern Ohio. Mr. Patterson was married, in 1852, to Miss E. J. Fulkerson, and to this marriage were born six children, only the fol- lowing named yet living : Cora, Addie, Medary M. and Mary. Mr. Patterson is a Democrat in politics and principles, is a Knight Templar of the Masonic fraternity, a. Patriarch of the I. O. O. F.'s and a member of the K. of H. He is a charter member of the Grand Temple of the
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Patriarchcal Circle, has served nine years as Secretary of the County Agricultural Society, and is the present incumbent.
JAMES PAUL, civil engineer, is a native of Portage County, Ohio. his birth occurring June 16, 1844. His mother, a widow lady, married Jacob Byers in about 1850, and this couple, to better their circumstances, moved west in 1853, locating in Superior Township, Williams County, Ohio. They purchased eighty acres of land, partly paying for the same, and engaged in agricultural pursuits and are yet residents of Superior Township. James Paul was but nine years old when he came to Will- iams County, and he made his home with his parents until twenty-five years of age. His educational advantages were very limited, but through the influence and persuasions of his mother and a cousin, J. M. Welker. of Bryan, he succeeded, by close application, in obtaining an excellent practical education. Having an ardent liking for mathematics, he passed many hours in the study of that science, and while a student at the Normal School in Bryan perfected his knowledge in civil engineering. Mr. Paul has for many years been one of the most successful school teachers of Williams County. He taught the schools of Pulaski a num- ber of terms, and in 1870 went to Stryker as the Superintendent of the schools of that place. Through his influence and mangement, the schools of Stryker became second best to none in the county, which reflects much credit on Mr. Paul as an educator, as he took charge when they were considered in very poor shape. Mr. Paul is a Republican in politics, and has served two terms as Surveyor of Williams County and one term as School Examiner. He is chief engineer of what is known as the " Forty- five-Mile Ditch," now attracting much attention in the county. In 1873. he married Miss Emma J. Carver, who became the mother of three chil- dren-Mary N., Charles C. (deceased) and Alice M. Mrs. Paul was a a member of the Presbyterian Church ; she died March 1, 1881, and her remains now repose in Bethesda Cemetery, Superior Township. April 27, 1882, Mr. Paul married his present wife, Miss Dr. Jennie Buckley. a graduate of the Woman's Medical College, of Chicago. Mr. Paul is a member of I. O. O. F. Lodge, No. 611, of Stryker, and is a popular man in his party, and with the community in general.
MARTIN PERKY, Probate Judge of Williams County, was born it: Westmoreland County, Penn., January 18, 1819, one of ten children. five yet living, born to Christopher and Elizabeth (Slater) Perky, who were also natives of the Keystone State. Christopher Perky was a farmer, and at an early day emigrated to Seneca County, this State, and there died in 1833, his widow surviving him till 1852. Martin Perky was reared and educated in Seneca County, and followed farming there till 1839, when he came to this county and located in Florence Town-
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ship, where he entered 140 acres of Government land and resumed his vocation as farmer. In 1843, he married Catharine Gaudern, whose parents came to the county in 1840. He joined the M. E. Church in 1843, and in 1853 joined the North Ohio M. E. Conference, and from that time till about 1865, was engaged in pastoral work over Northwestern Ohio. In 1861, he was appointed Chaplain of the Sixty-eighth Ohio Volunteer Infantry, and remained with them until the fall of 1862, when ill health caused him to resign. In 1865, he engaged in mercantile pur- suits in Pioneer ; he sold out in 1878, and was elected Probate Judge of Williams County, and re-elected in 1881. The Judge is a Democrat, a member of the Masonic and Odd Fellows orders, and he and wife are old and honored members of the M. E. Church. He is the father of two daughters, viz., Eugenia (now Mrs. Hilton), and Abbie L. (now Mrs. Lewis). The Judge is widely known because of his long residence in the township (there having been but thirteen voters in it when he located here), and is universally respected and esteemed.
C. W. PITCAIRN is a native of New Lisbon, Columbiana Co., Ohio, and was born March 23, 1849. His father, John Pitcairn, is a native of Scotland, a tailor by trade, and he came to the United States when about eighteen years of age. He married Catharine Small, a native of Colum- biana County, Ohio, and of German descent. He followed his trade till about 1864, when he retired from business, and he and wife are now liv- ing in New Lisbon. They were the parents of nine children, C. W. being the eldest son and second eldest child. C. W. was reared in his native county, receiving a fair education. When in his sixteenth year, he enlisted as a member of Company H, One Hundred and Ninety-fifth Ohio Volunteer Infantry, and served one year in the Army of the Shenan- doah Valley. After his discharge, he returned home and engaged in clerking. In 1870, he began the study of law in the office of Clark & McVicker. He attended the Law Department of the University of Michi- gan, at Ann Arbor, the winter of 1872-73, and on April 1, 1874, was admitted to the bar. In December, 1874, he came to Bryan and began practicing his profession. In August, 1881, he discontinued practicing and accepted the Secretaryship and Treasurership of the Morrison & Fay Manufacturing Company. of which he was a stock-owner, at which he is yet employed. He is a Republican in politics and has been Mayor of Bryan about two years, having been elected in 1878. He was elected Prosecuting Attorney in 1879, but resigned to fill the position he now occupies. He was married October 8, 1878, to Miss Ella Garver. daughter of John A. Garver. Mr. Pitcairn is an Odd Fellow. and Mrs. P. is a member of the Universalist Church.
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