USA > Ohio > Williams County > County of Williams, Ohio, Historical and Biographical > Part 79
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DAVID SPANGLER is the son of Jacob and Eliza Spangler. He is the third of a family of eight children, and was born in Centre Town- ship, in this county, on the 6th of March, 1840, and has always lived here. He was married, March 12, 1862, to Sarah E. Smith, who was born in Wayne County, Ohio, January 26, 1842, a daughter of William and Sarah Smith. About one year after his marriage, he purchased the farm on which he now lives, on which he moved, and on which he has remained ever since. His farm comprises eighty acres of fine land, with improvements. Mr. and Mrs. Spangler have a family of four children- Clara D., Ulysses G., Dora E. and Charlie. Both are hospitable and worthy, and Mrs. Spangler is a member of the church.
J. K. STORER is a native of Maine, and was born May 25, 1888. September 27, 1860, he married Miss Anna R. Mclaughlin, also s native of Maine. He conducted a saw-mill at the place of his nativity from the time of his marriage until 1865, when he moved to Fayetteville, Lincoln Co., Tenn., where he remained about one year, then removed to War- rensville, Cuyahoga Co., Ohio; remained a short time, and then came to Williams Centre, this township, and engaged with Mr. C. W. Kittredge in saw-milling, which business they conducted together till the fall of 1868, when Mr. Storer bought out his partner's interest, and alone ran the mill until January, 1878, when Mr. W. S. Wilsey came in as partner and remained four years, when he withdrew. Mr. Storer has since con- tinued the business himself, dealing in and manufacturing native lumber, lath, fork, hoe and broom handles. Mrs. Storer died April 4, 1875, and December 6, the same year, Mr. Storer married her sister, Laura D. Mclaughlin, born in Maine May 22, 1845. His children are two in number-Frank . R., born August 7, 1877, and Anna M., born January, 4, 1880. Mr. Storer is a member of the Masonic fraternity, and is regarded by his townsmen as an upright and enterprising citizen.
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JOHN P. WERTZ, the son of Henry and Julia Wertz, was born in Germany November 22, 1822. His father was born about 1781, and his mother about 1786. They were married in Germany, and died there, she in May, 1881, and he about three weeks after. Henry Wertz was twice married, his first wife being Caroline Suber, who bore him three children ; his second was Julia Ogle, the mother of John P., who was the only child born of the second marriage. In 1840, John P. Wertz, in company with a half-sister, came to America, landed at Baltimore, and thence came to Morgan County, Ohio. One year later, John P. moved to Wood County,
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bought some property, remained a short time, and then went to Hancock, County, where he resided about six years, and then came to this township and purchased the farm on which he now lives on Section 14. He returned to Hancock County, and there married, in October, 1849, Mar- garet, daughter of Jacob and Catharine Grindle, who was born March 12, 1827. He shortly after returned to his farm in this township, where he has ever since resided. He has been a very successful manager, and has accumulated a great deal of land, which, however, he has liberally divided among his children. He still retains for his own purposes 137 acres, which are in a thorough state of cultivation, and improved with substantial buildings. All the country was a dense forest when Mr. Wertz settled in it, and all the improvements here have been made through the industry and frugality and enterprise of Mr. Wertz, who is now passing his declining days in retirement. He has a family of eight children-Henry P., Jacob, William M., Oscar, John F., Elizabeth A., Charles I. and David H. Mr. Wertz is a man of deep religious feeling, and is universally respected.
HARMON WIEMAN, is the son of L. and Mary Wieman, and was born in Germany January 15, 1811. He came to America with his par- ents in the year 1834. On June 23, 1847, he was married, in Mont- gomery County, Ohio, to Legina M. Kluse, born in Germany December 18, 1820. Soon after his marriage, he commenced to work in a woolen factory at Miamisburg, in Montgomery County, where he remained until 1841, when he removed to Williams County and purchased a farm in St. Joseph Township; here he remained until 1851, when he sold and moved on the place on which he now resides, in Centre Township, Section 30, having 125 acres, which he himself improved. Mr. and Mrs. Wieman have nine children-Sarah, Emily, Hannah, John, Mattie, Harmon, George, Edward and Samuel. Both himself and wife are members of the Lutheran Church. He is a cordial and very excellent man.
CONRAD WINEGARDNER was born in Bedford County, Penn., October 24, 1816, and was the eldest of seven children born to William and Elizabeth Winegardner, natives respectively of Pennsylvania and New Jersey, and married in the former State. Some years after their marriage they moved to Wayne County, Ohio, and there ended their days. Conrad Winegardner was married, in Wayne County, May 23, 1839, to Jane Slater, who was a native of the county, and born August 28, 1816. For twelve years after his marriage, he remained in Wayne, engaged in blacksmithing ; he then went to Wilmot, Stark County, where he lost his wife April 8, 1851. He returned to Wayne a short time after, and Au- gust, 19, 1852, married Margaret Porter, a native of the county, and born April 14, 1824. Two years later he relinquished blacksmithing,
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and moved upon his father-in-law's farm in Wayne, and engaged in agri- culture for seven years; then moved to Putnam County, Ohio, bought a farm, worked it eight years, sold out, and moved to this township, where he now owns and operates a fine farm of 240 acres. Mr. Winegardner had born to him by his first wife the following-named children : Jane (deceased), Rachel A., Mary J. (deceased), William, Zachary T. and Ed- ward (deceased) ; and, by his second wife, Porter, Angeline, Elmira, Emerson, and Charles (deceased).
ELI WISMAN is a son of George and Susan Wisman, of Superior Township, this county. He was born in Williams County August, 25, 1845, and was next to the youngest of a family of eleven children. 'No- vember 7, 1867, he married Miss Elizabeth J. Courtney, who was born in Mahoning County, Ohio, June 27, 1852, and the daughter of Isaac and Sarah Courtney, now of Superior Township, this county. In 1872, Mr. Wisman bought and moved upon the farm where he still resides, and which consists of 240 acres of well improved land. His only child is a daughter, named Cora M., who was born November 27, 1870. In May, 1864, he enlisted in Company K, Sixty-eighth Ohio Volunteer Infantry, and served until the close of the war. Both he and wife are members of the Presbyterian Church. Mr. Wisman is regarded by his neighbors as an enterprising citizen and progressive young man, and they have called upon him to serve them as County Commissioner.
SAMUEL YANNEY was born in Switzerland, April 18, 1826, and was the son of Benedict and Barbara A. Yanney, who were respectively born about the years 1792 and 1799. In 1882, the family came to the United States and settled in Tuscarawas County, Ohio, where they respect- ively died in 1874 and 1876, the parents of ten children. Samuel Yan- ney was married in Tuscarawas County, October, 6, 1850, to Huldah Bowlby, who was born in Butler County, Ohio, May 9, 1885, and was the daughter of Joseph and Mary Bowlby, of Virginia, who were resi- dents of Butler County at the time of their death, and the parents of ten children, of whom Huldah was next to the eldest. Samuel Yanney sold out his property in Butler County in 1862, and came to Williams County, locating in Springfield Township and remaining about four years, when he came to this township and bought the eighty-acre farm on which he now lives, on Section 27. To Mr. and Mrs. Yanney have been born nine children, viz., John F. (deceased), Jacob, Mary, Jane, Ellen, Lovetta M., Elizabeth (deceased), a son who died in infancy, and Andrew J.
C. H. YOUNG is the son and only child of Asa and Mary A. Young, and was born in Portage County, Ohio, March 17, 1832. His parents were both natives of New Jersey, where the father was born May 28, 1801, and the mother July 8, 1802. They were married in Portage County, Ohio,
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January 3, 1881, and there resided until 1838, when they moved to Fulton County, where they made their home until 1865, when they came to Will- iams County and settled on the farm they still occupy. C. H. Young was married August 22, 1852, to Miss Ann Lozier, who was born in Holmes County, October 3, 1834, and by her has become the father of fifteen children, viz., Mary, Asa (deceased), John (deceased) Olive (deceased), Elizabeth, Eliza, William, Lucy, George, Franklin, James, Joseph, Delia, David and Samuel. Mr. Young has charge of the old homestead, which comprises 139 acres. He and wife are members of the Disciples' Church, and occupy a very high position in the esteem of their neighbors.
JAMES L. YOUNG was born November 11, 1846, in Crawford County, Ohio. His father, John Young, and mother, Hannah Young, were both natives of Columbiana County, Ohio, and were born in 1815 and 1814 respectively, and were married in the county of their birth. About 1842. they moved to Crawford County, and, in 1865, removed to Williams County, where the mother died in 1869, and the father in 1873. They had a family of eleven children, viz., Thomas, William, Jacob, Mary A., Elizabeth, Susan, James, John, Benjamin, Martha and Clara. James L. Young came to this township with his parents, and was here married, June 10, 1869, to Miss Elizabeth Calvin, who was born in this county April 4, 1852, the daughter of Joshua and Nancy Calvin. In the spring of 1873, he bought the farm on which he now lives. It comprises 100 acres of good land, and is well improved. There have been born to him five children, as follows : Osmond (deceased), Lena, John N., William and Loren. He is in quite comfort- able circumstances, and is one of the rising young men of the township.
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JOSEPH W. BACK was born in Chaplin, Conn., December 7, 1824, and was the youngest of seven children of Erastus and Anna (Flint) Back, also natives of Connecticut. The father brought his fam- ily to this township in 1838, purchased 160 acres of land, and thereon ended his days in the fall of 1847. Joseph, who had received a good education, began teaching a week before his twenty-first birthday, and taught eleven terms consecutively. He is fully posted as to the condi- tion of the early schools of the township, and tells of one in which there were seven different text-books in arithmetic; and he still takes great interest in educational affairs. He has been twice married. Both his wives were teachers, and four of his children have acted in the same capacity. In 1849, he married his first wife, Mary A. Shorthill, a
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native of Pennsylvania, and then teaching in this township. She died August 22, 1850, aged about nineteen, the mother of one child, which died young. Four years later, he married Rebecca J. Thomas, also a teacher from Pennsylvania, who has borne him six children-Edward E., Flora A., Mary E., Albert J., Sarah E. and Cornelia J. Mr. Back still owns and resides on the eighty-acre farm presented to him by his father, and has besides bought and deeded to his sons over one hundred acres additional. He is one of the earliest pioneers, having come to the township only one year later than the first settler. He held the office of Township Clerk for ten years, and for six years was Justice of the Peace, and also Postmaster for the same length of time. He has been Class Leader in the M. E. Church for thirty-two years, and Sunday School Superintendent over half the time since 1849; was President of the Township Sunday School Convention, and Vice President of the County Sunday School Convention, and in politics is a Republican and Protec- tionist.
J. C. BLACKFORD was born February 28, 1842, in Portage Coun - ty, Ohio, and is one of eight children born to Jacob and Mary (Copp) Blackford, the former a native of Virginia, and the latter a native of Pennsylvania. Mr. Blackford was educated at the common schools in his youth, and was also taught the carpenter's trade. He remained with his parents till twenty-three years of age, and November 5, 1865, mar- ried Miss Nettie McCarty, a native of this township. He then moved to Pioneer, this county, where he worked at his trade about thirteen years, and then moved to Bridgewater and located on his present farm, which comprises forty acres of good land, which, as a rule, he hires farmed. He is a first-class carpenter, as the frequent demands for his services clearly indicate. He has been a member of Pioneer Lodge, No. 461, I. O. O. F., and of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and was always a Republican in politics, at the present holding, through the suffrage of that party, the office of Justice of the Peace. He is the father of one child -Alta; he is esteemed as a conscientious man and public-spirited citizen.
ABNER K. BROWN is the eldest of a family of eight children, and. was born in Hancock County, Ohio, August 10, 1838. His father, Jacob Brown, was born in Pennsylvania, and his mother, Catharine (Brenner) Brown, was a native of Germany. When Abner was ten years of age, his father came to Williams County and bought 300 acres of land in Centre Township, on which he still lives. January 1, 1861, Abner married Amanda Bollinger, who was born in Seneca County, Ohio. Her parents, Jacob and Mary A. (Stoner) Bollinger, are natives of Pennsyl- vania and Ohio respectively, and came to Williams County, January 9, 1851, and settled on 160 acres in Centre Township. Abner Brown and
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his wife lived with his father for three years after marriage, and then came to this township and settled on a 120-acre farm, which he has increased to 140 acres, improved with excellent buildings, and made it one of the finest in the township. Mr. and Mrs. Brown were educated at Williams Centre High School, then the best in the county, are members of the United Brethren Church, and the parents of eight living children-Ora L., Reuben G., Lydia B., Jacob A., Orton K., Melvin, Harry O. and Ira E., whom they are taking great pains to educate. Mr. Brown has been Township Trustee for a number of years, and he is looked upon as one of the most intelligent and enterprising citizens of the township.
CURTIS COGSWELL, one of our early settlers, was born in Litchfield, Conn., May 20, 1805, and was one of the eleven children of Joel and Tamar (Wright) Cogswell, natives of the same State. Curtis, when a small boy, was removed to Pennsylvania by his parents, and in that State they died. Here Curtis educated himself by the blaze of pine knots, and at the age of twenty had become one of the best teachers in the country, and for ten years following taught in grammar and town schools in New York State. There he married Rebecca Truesdell, a native of Steuben County, and removed to eighty acres of not very good land near Toledo, Ohio, where he remained five years. Thence he came to this township, where he entered 400 acres, built a log cabin and be- came a pioneer, with the only five families who had settled in the town- ship before him. He now possesses but eighty acres, having presented a considerable part of the original entry to his boys and having sold the remainder. His children numbered ten, as follows: Joel, Charlotte, Albert, Daniel, John, Hiram, Erie, Mary, Eliza and Jane. Charlotte and John are now dead. He became a Master Mason while in New York, but during the famous Morgan excitement he withdrew, and has ever since been bitterly opposed to the order. He joined the M. E. Church, but, on account of the prevalence of the Masonic element in that denomination, left it and affiliated with the United Brethren Church. He was the first man in his township to volunteer at the call to arms dur- ing the late war, but was rejected on account of his age. He is strongly Republican in his political views, and has served as Justice of the Peace, School Examiner and in more other town offices than he desired. He formed a resolution when young never to go in debt, and he has kept the pledge to the letter, although, strange to state, discouraged in it by his father.
WILLIAM FOLLETT was born September 20, 1835, in Lenawee County, Mich., and is one of the eight children of Robert and Julia (Turner) Follett, who are both natives of Massachusetts. He remained at home until about twenty-one years of age, attending the common
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schools and learning to be a carpenter. He then traveled in the West a few years, and on his return married, March 14, 1857, Loretta Osborn, a native of Stark County, Ohio. He now bought seventy acres of land in this township, on which and ninety-three added acres he has since made his home, and is equally successful in farming and in carpentering. Mr. F. has been a resident of the township longer than any man at present living in it, and has always had the full confidence and respect of his townsmen, whom he has served in several offices of trust and also as Second Lieutenant in the militia. He has always voted the Republican ticket and been foremost in all measures of public interest. He has two children living-Florence J. and Charlotte B.
JOHN C. HAGAMAN was born March 9, 1831, in Fayette County, Penn., and was one of nine children born to Michael and Sarah (Cope) Hagaman, both natives of Pennsylvania, the former having been born near the site of the battle of Gettysburg, and both members of the So- ciety of Friends. The elder Hagaman was a shoemaker and farmer, and in 1845 he emigrated with his family to Stark County, Ohio, and thence, six years later, to Hillsdale County, Mich., where he and wife died in 1868. John C., in his young days, received a high school education at Marlboro, this State. April 13, 1851, he married Anna Britton, a native of Stark County, Ohio, and daughter of William and Elizabeth Britton. The same year, the young couple moved to Michigan, where John C. taught school and farmed. In 1854, they removed to Elkhart County, Ind., near Elkhart City, where he worked at carpentering. Here he lost his wife, and in 1861 enlisted in the Forty-eighth Indiana Volunteer Infantry. He was in the battles of Shiloh, Iuka, Corinth and Vicksburg to Mission Ridge. In the spring of 1864, he was assigned to duty in the general hospital at Evansville, Ind., where he remained till his enlistment expired, December 6, 1864, when he returned to Elkhart. June 1, 1865, he took for a second partner Mrs. Esther Hover, of Elk- hart, widow of Garret Hover, of Geauga County, Ohio. In 1865, he moved on a farm in Hillsdale County, Mich., and thence, in the fall of 1869, to this township, where he farmed till January, 1882, when he rented his farm and engaged in the grocery business at Bridgewater Centre. Mr. Hagaman served as Justice of the Peace while in Indiana, Michigan and Bridgewater Township, and is now a Notary Public. He is a Greenbacker in politics, and he and wife have been Good Templars for twenty-five years. In religion, they are Disciples. They have three children-Earl J., Eliza A. and George E.
MICHAEL HAINES was born in Maryland, February 10, 1810, and was one of the seven children of Abraham and Elizabeth (Flickinger) Haines, natives of said State. Michael lived with his parents in Mary-
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land and in Columbiana County, Ohio, until twenty-six years of age, when he married Rebecca Lowe, a native of Maryland. There are now nine living children born to this marriage, five sons and four daughters- Jonathan M., Eli, Abraham, Jr., Charles and Hiram T., Melissa J., Lucretia, Elmira and Anna. About eighteen years after his marriage, Mr. Haines (having in the meantime tried other localities) came to this township and bought 160 acres of land which now, like those of the other old settlers, is a model farm. For some time he has retired from active work, and the farm is now superintended by his youngest son, Hiram T. Four of the sons, Jonathan M., Eli, Abraham and Charles, were soldiers in the late war, and Mr. Haines himself is a patriotic and reliable citizen. Hiram T. Haines, now in charge of the homestead, was born June 17, 1850, in Stark County, Ohio, and when about four years old, was brought by his father to his present home, where he has passed his life and acquired a fair common-school education. He is a promis- ing and enterprising young man, and in politics is Independent, while his father, who had been a Democrat, is now inclined to Greenbackism.
JONATHAN M. HAINES, the eldest of a family of twelve chil- dren, was born in Columbiana County, Ohio, June 15, 1838. His parents, Michael and Rebecca (Lowe) Haines, were natives of Maryland. and removed from Columbiana to Williams County when our subject was about fifteen years old. At the age of twenty-one, he started in life on his own account; went to Indiana; worked there till the war broke out, and then enlisted in the One Hundredth Indiana Volunteer Infantry. He served over three years, and was engaged in the Shiloh, Vicksburg and Chattanooga campaigns. and was with Sherman in his march to the sea. On his return home, he assisted on his father's farm for awhile, and then bought eighty acres, to which he soon added forty more, and this farm is now one of the best improved in the township, with first-class outbuildings, wind pump, etc. His residence is a large, tasteful and ex- pensive brick, and was finished in the summer of 1881. After. his purchase of this land, he returned to Indiana, where he remained about two years. He then came back, and in a short time after married Mary Waterson, a native of Richland County, who was educated in Bryan, where she taught school several terms. To this marriage have been born four children-Alexander C., Walter L., Harriet and Emerson E. Mr. Haines is an influential and useful citizen, and in politics is a Re- publican.
ALONZO HART was born in Connecticut November 14, 1806, and was one of the eight sons of Abner and Alma (Thompson) Hart, natives of the same State. Alonzo received a high school education : and, at the age of sixteen, began clerking in a wholesale and retail store in Hartford.
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He was also for a time engaged in teaching, and when twenty years of age left his father's home and went to clerking in Pennsylvania. He was also employed as a canal and railroad contractor, and in the latter capacity helped build some of the first railroads in the State of New York. November 14, 1837, Mr. Hart married Rachel Willyard, a native of Ravenna, Ohio, and, in 1843, brought his wife to this township, where he bought forty acres of land, which he has since increased to eighty acres, on which he has ever since resided. He has also owned other land in the county, as well as some town lots. He is the father of eleven liv- ing children-Thompson W., Homer C., Alonzo F., Leffert S., Aaron P., Alma A., John S., Oron O., Dayton F., Bion L. and Oliver W. Five of these sons served in the late war. All the male members of his family are Republican in politics, and he has served as Township Clerk for sixteen or seventeen years; as Justice of the Peace for three years, and as Postmaster for about fifteen years. Mr. and Mrs. Hart are both Grangers and members of the Good Templars' Order, and among the leading families of the township.
ROSWELL HICKOK, SR., is a native of Monroe County, N. Y .; was born October 20, 1819, and is the youngest of the three children of David C. and Lucy (Tillotson) Hickok, natives of New York and Con- necticut respectively. About the year 1820, the elder Hickok moved to Lorain County, Ohio, where he bought a farm of fifty-three acres, on which he lived till his death February 17, 1849, Roswell being then with him. April 22, 1845, Roswell Hickok married Polly Shephard, who was born in Nunda Township, Allegany County (now Livingston), N. Y., April 14, 1824, and was the daughter of Clark and Polly (Johnson) Shephard, natives respectively of Massachusetts and Connecticut. The Hickoks were among the early settlers of Ohio, being the seventh family to locate in Huntington Township, Lorain County, when the Indians were far more numerous than the whites. Roswell Hickok, who had taken charge of his father's farm in 1841, remained upon it till 1853, when he came to this township and purchased 160 acres of land, his present home- stead, with the exception of forty acres presented to his son Thomas M. Mr. and Mrs. Hickok are members of Grange 441, at Pioneer, and in politics he is a Republican. He has served as Justice of the Peace for three terms, and has filled nearly every office in the township. Until within the past three years, he was an extensive cattle-dealer and stock- raiser ; but being, like his wife, in the decline of life, has relinquished his more active pursuits for needed rest.
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