USA > Ohio > Henry County > History of Henry and Fulton counties, Ohio : with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers > Part 72
USA > Ohio > Fulton County > History of Henry and Fulton counties, Ohio : with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers > Part 72
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held some office within the township of Flat Rock, and rarely has he been de- feated, although at no time in all these years has there been a Republican ma- joriry therein ; first he was elected township clerk and justice of the peace, and held the last named office for three terms ; he has been township treasurer one term ; assessor two or three terms; road supervisor, school director, and, at the present time is school director, township trustee and justice of the peace. These several and long-continued political holdings in a Democratic township attest the honesty, integrity and faithfulness in the discharge of duty, of James E. Scofield, and place him in the enviable position of possessing the confidence of his fellowmen.
S CRIBNER, A. B. In the year 1818 there came to the Maumee Valley the family of Elisha Scribner, a native and former resident of Onondaga county, N. Y. The family did not, however, come directly to this locality upon leaving the Empire State, but went to Cincinnati, thence to Greeneville, Darke county, and from the last named place came to that part of the Maumee Valley that was, two years later, erected into the county. of Henry, and at the point then known as Prairie du Masque.
Elisha Scribner was the grandfather of the subject of this sketch. The pioneer lived only ten or twelve years in this county when he was taken away by the hand of death.
Edwin Scribner, the father of our subject, was one of the younger children of Elisha, and was some ten or twelve years old at the time of the family's settlement in this valley. At about the age of twenty-one Edwin Scribner married Lucinda Bucklin, of which marriage seven children were born, and of these children, Allen Bawher Scribner, the subject of this sketch, was next to the oldest. That Edwin Scribner was one of the most enterprising men of the county is fully shown by the following narrative of the events of the life of his son during the days of young manhood. He was, moreover, deeply interested in all that pertained to the welfare and education of his own family and the people of the county as well. For many terms he was a teacher of the schools of his vicinity, and among those who were his pupils can be named some of the most prosperous business men and farmers of the county.
Allen B. Scribner was born on the 25th day of March, in the year 1835, in what was then Damascus township, but is now included within the boundaries of Washington township. He was brought up on the farm, performing such work as could be done by a boy, and on every occasion possible attending school, with the desire of acquiring an education more extended than was given in the schools of the locality; but it seems that much of his time was re- quired by his father in the work on the farm and at the saw-mill, where he was chief assistant, not only at the work, but in keeping the books and attending generally to the business. When about twenty-three years of age young 80
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HISTORY OF HENRY AND FULTON COUNTIES.
Scribner obtained his father's consent for a course of collegiate study, and although the son had devised a plan whereby the necessary expense could be defrayed without parental assistance, nevertheless the father insisted upon paying the same, and made that the only condition of his son's action.
In the year 1859 Mr. Scribner entered Heidelberg College, at Tiffin, O., where he remained but a single year, and then, in the fall of 1860, entered the Ohio Wesleyan University at Delaware, taking a classical course. From this institution he did not graduate, but left during his senior year to accept a traveling situation with a large publishing house of New York city. This action was in part induced by one of the college faculty, by whom young Scribner had been highly recommended to the firm as a young man of supe- rior qualifications.
In the same year in which he left college Mr. Scribner was married to Mary Catharine Potter, daughter of John Potter, of Delaware county, O. Of this marriage five children have been born, three of whom are still living.
For a period of four years Mr. Scribner was connected with the publishing house, performing satisfactorily every duty to which he was assigned, and the experience acquired by him during these years was of benefit equal to his salary, as he was brought constantly into association with men of under- standing and recognized ability, by which he was enabled to readily judge of men and men's natures, which has proved of great value to him in business life.
After having severed his connection with this firm Mr. Scribner returned home, and for five years thereafter managed his father's farm. This, too, was a successful venture, and a source of profit. In 1871 he left the farm and moved to Napoleon, and engaged in manufacture connected with a foundry and machine shop, under the firm style of Scribner & Badeau, and was so continued for about one year when the firm became Scribner & James ; but, still later, was entirely owned and managed by our subject until it was finally closed. In 1875 he started a fire insurance business at Napoleon, and con- tinued it about two years, when he retired, and, in 1877, established an agri- cultural implement business, which he has since successfully managed. To this, in 1880, was added a general and extensive hardware stock, the com- bined interests requiring Mr. Scribner's whole time and attention.
In all his business relations and associations with men Mr. Scribner has been governed and actuated by principles of entire fairness, honesty and per- severance, and in his multitude of transactions no word is spoken against his integrity, and no man can well say to the contrary. These qualities have not only made him a leading business man of the county, but one who possesses the confidence, respect and esteem of his fellow-men.
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BIOGRAPHICAL.
T ROWBRIDGE, LYMAN. In the town of Pike, Wyoming county, State of New York, on the 3d day of December, 1822, the subject of this sketch was born. His parents were Asahel and Betsey (Murray) Trowbridge. He is descended from a highly respected family named Trowbridge, that have for more than a century past lived in Connecticut, where the name is more com- mon than in the west. The father of our subject was a farmer, and on the farm Lyman lived, attending school in season, and working during other months until he was about fifteen years old when the family moved to Niagara county. From this time until he was twenty-two years old Lyman worked out by the month, except for a period of about three years, during which time he was too sick to perform ordinary farm work. But notwithstanding his early sickness he managed to save some money while working, most of which was sent to his parents, they being in modest circumstances.
In 1845 on the 30th day of January, Lyman Trowbridge married Olive Cushing, a daughter of Charles Cushing, of Niagara county. This devoted wife and most estimable woman shared the trials and successes of her husband for nearly forty years, and died surrounded with all of the comforts of life on the 29th day of May, 1884. Two children were born of this marriage, one of whom died in infancy, the other, Cora, became the wife of Maximus Eugene Loose, a business man now residing at Napoleon.
In the year next succeeding his marriage Mr. Trowbridge became superin- tendent of the Niagara county poor house and farm, which property is known in Ohio as the Infirmary. After a year on the county farm he moved to Lock- port and engaged with his brother in the manufacture of shingles by machinery, using horse power. This they continued some three or four years, when they changed to the manufacture of barrel staves, which was successfully continued for twelve years, and then, in 1864, moved to Toledo, O. In the fall of 1866, Mr. Trowbridge came to Napoleon and erected a stave-mill, but did not make that point his residence until 1867. The business relations with his brother were continued until the latter part of 1870, when Lyman became sole propri- etor of the Napoleon factory, the brother taking that at Toledo.
The manufacture of staves and heading has been the recognized business that has engaged the attention of Trowbridge for many years, and in it he has been remarkably successful. Incidental to the business, and connected with it, he has handled large tracts of land, clearing off the timber and making fine farm- ing lands. During his twenty years of residence in Henry county he has here paid out for material and labor the gross sum of eight hundred thousand dol- lars.
In addition to his business interests at Napoleon, in the year 1878, Mr. Trowbridge established a stave factory at North Baltimore, and another at De- fiance, which were run by him for several years, but subsequently sold. After the sale of the North Baltimore factory, he purchased a large tract of wood-
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HISTORY OF HENRY AND FULTON COUNTIES.
land at Jewell, Defiance county, where he built extensive works and erected thirteen dwellings for employees. Again, in 1882, in company with his brother, he bought the stave works at Freeland, Mich., but after about two years be- came sole proprietor and still conducts it. In 1886 the Napoleon factory was removed to Henry township, Wood county, and its management given over into the hands of Mr. Loose. It will be seen from these facts that Lyman Trowbridge has not been, in any sense, a public man; he has had neither the disposition nor the time to indulge in the worry of political life ; he has sought no office nor station other than that to which he was clearly entitled-that of a leading business man of the community ; nevertheless, any enterprise, any public project that has seemed likely to promote the general welfare, has found in him a generous and efficient helper. For the erection and support of the Presbyterian church at Napoleon, he appears as one of the most liberal cash contributors, but his donations for charitable and church purposes have been by no means limited to these gifts alone, as many other similar institutions have been the recipients of his bounty and his generosity. While not a man claiming a finished education or exceptional brilliance, his fund of general knowledge is shown to be comprehensive and useful, and is underlaid by sound common sense and excellent judgment of men and affairs. Behind all of this a character noted wherever his name is known for sterling integrity and worth.
T YLER, HON. J. H. Justin Howard Tyler, the fourth child and third son of Peter and Eunice (Hebard) Tyler, was a native of Massachusetts, born at Leyden, in Franklin county, on the 15th day of November, in the year 1815. When Justin was but one year old the family moved to Oswego county, N. Y. Here our subject passed the days of boyhood and youth, attending the common district schools and the academy, laying the foundation for an edu- cation that stood him in good stead in later years. After passing his eight- eenth year, Justin found employment on the farm during the summer months, and in teaching during the winter. In the year 1839, then being arrived at the age of twenty-four years, young Tyler left Oswego county, and came to Circleville, Pickaway county, O., where an elder brother was engaged in teach- ing, and by whom he was induced to come to that locality. For a period of about three years he was enployed in teaching school, devoting his leisure time, however, to the study of the law under the instruction of Daniel Lord Smith, a leading lawyer of the place, and in the fall of 1841, at Mt. Vernon, O., he was regularly admitted to the bar, but he continued teaching, and was so engaged more or less of the time until the year 1845.
Although Mr. Tyler had formed a determination to, and did prepare himself for and enter the legal profession, he was, however, prevented, for a time at least, from engaging in active practice ; his means were limited, and the pro-
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fession at that time gave but little promise of abundant remuneration. In 1843 he was called back to the home of his parents in Oswego county, by a serious accident to his father. Here he remained for about one year, when the prop- erty was sold, after which, accompanied by his father and mother, he returned to Ohio, and made for them a home at Huron, where he established his father in a business which proved quite successful, and enabled them to live comforta- bly during the remainder of their lives. In 1844 Justin moved to Huron, Erie county, and continued to reside there until 1852, engaged in the practice of law.
In 1847 Mr. Tyler returned to Oswego county, and, on the 9th day of June, of that year, was married to Miss Alice Olmsted. Of that marriage seven children were born, five of whom died during infancy. Romaine Tyler, one of the children that survived, was well and popularly known in this locality. He served four months in the army, and died at Napoleon, in the year 1879. Jus- tin Arthur Tyler, the other son, is now engaged in a successful business at Fort Wayne. Mr. Tyler's first visit to Napoleon was made in the year 1844, but was of only a few days' duration, and while on his way to Indiana, where he in- tended to locate, and where he had some property. He remained there but about two months, when in deference to his wife's wishes, he returned to Hu- ron, and resumed his practice. Here he continued with moderate success until the latter part of the year 1852, when he determined to locate at the county seat of Henry county, to which place, with his family, he immediately moved, and took his place among the members of the Henry county bar.
Then being a young man, in the enjoyment of excellent health, possessing a good understanding of the law, and being, withal, an able advocate before the court and jury, Mr. Tyler at once took a front rank among the leading law- yers of Northwestern Ohio; a position to which he was justly entitled by every professional consideration, and one that he maintained so long as he was en- gaged in active practice. As a lawyer he is cautious and methodical. It has always been his policy to discountenance rather than to promote litigation, and in his intercourse with his clients mature deliberation always precedes counsel. In presenting a case to the jury he addresses himself to the understanding of his hearers, rather than appealing to their passions, and approaches the subject in hand with dignity, self-possession, and in the light of principle and common sense. A noticeable feature in his professional life has been the interest he has taken in fitting young men to become lawyers, and it is a conceded fact that more attorneys have obtained their early legal education in his, than in the office of any other practitioner in the county ; and among the many who may be said to have been graduates from the office of Justin H. Tyler, there may be named some of the brightest legal minds in Henry county. Naturally enough being possessed of much personal and professional popularity, Mr. Tyler could not well avoid being drawn somewhat into the arena of politics, but he has by no means been an office-seeker, as his nature is directly the opposite of whatever
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HISTORY OF HENRY AND FULTON COUNTIES.
constitutes that character. In 1854, after a residence of but two years in the county, he was elected to the office of prosecuting attorney, and re-elected at the expiration of his first term. In 1881 he was chosen to represent the county in the State Legislature, being nominated and elected by the Republican party, and receiving a majority of six hundred and sixty-five, while the standing ma- jority of the opposition party in the county reached about twelve hundred.
On all the political questions of the times Mr. Tyler entertains clear and well settled convictions, and is perfectly frank and open in the expression of them ; still he is inclined to adhere to the established order of things, and not easily led by any of the isms of the day. As the county's prosecutor he was elected upon the Democratic ticket, but, with the general disintegration of parties, about the time of the organization of the Republican party, and the dissolution of the old Whig party, he found an acceptable candidate in Mr. Lincoln, and has since been identified with the Republican party, and was elected representative as the nominee of that party in 1881, being the only Republican ever elected to that office from Henry county. Prior to that organization's coming into ex- istence he was a liberal Whig.
In every measure looking to the advancement and progress of the village of Napoleon, and the county as well, Mr. Tyler has taken an active interest, and contributed of his means to every worthy cause. In the proceedings that re- sulted in the incorporation of Napoleon he engaged actively, and was elected the first mayor of the village, and was subsequently re-elected to the same office. For some years he was president of the local board of education, and did his full share in advancing the schools of the village to their present high standing. In matters pertaining to the church, and to the erection of church edifices generally throughout the entire county, he has contributed liberally of his means, without regard to denomination. The lot on which stands the Presbyterian Church edifice at Napoleon, was his free gift to the society, and added thereto was a goodly cash donation.
In connection with his extensive law practice he has made many invest- ments in real estate, and profited by the gradual increase in values, until now, having passed the seventieth year of his life, he has given his law practice into the charge of his son, and devotes himself to the care of his other business in- terests, still retaining, however, an advisory position among his old clients.
While the professional and business life of our subject have been entirely successful, his home and fireside have been invaded by the destroyer, death. Of the seven children born of his first marriage, one only now survives. His wife, Alice (Olmsted) Tyler, died on the 2d day of January, 1860, leaving to the father the care of two children. After living a widower for more than a year, Mr. Tyler in February, 1861, married Hattie M. Peck, of Franklin county, Mass. Of this marriage four children have been born, viz .: Julian Howard, a young and active attorney of Napoleon; Willie Peck, now a law student in his brother's
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office; Nathaniel Pickens, now living at home, and George Hebard, now in Boston, Mass.
V AUGHAN, JAMES C. There are but few, if any, of the residents of Fulton county that have a more extended and favorable acquaintance therein than the present member of the board of county commissioners, whose name appears in the heading of this sketch. Mr. Vaughan was born at Ai, in Fulton township of this county, on the 30th day of August, 1835. His father, Alexander Vaughan, was one of the pioneers of that locality, having settled here in April, 1835, on lands then in the State of Michigan, or, as will be more clearly understood, on the "disputed strip." Alexander Vaughan was a Pennsylvanian by birth, being a native of Westmoreland county, but, at the age of eighteen years, came to Holmes county, this State, and from thence to Fulton in 1835. In his family were nine children, of whom the subject of this sketch was the fourth, in the order of seniority.
In the year 1847, when James was but twelve years old, his father died, but about one year later his mother married again. James continued to live at home until he attained his fifteenth year, at which age he started out to make his own way in life. He worked on a farm during the summer, and attended the district school in the winter until about twenty years old, when he went to Toledo and filled the position of turnkey, and one year thereafter that of deputy sheriff, at the county jail. After three years he returned to Ai and be- gan improvements on the land that came to him through his father's death, and also cleared and improved other lands that he had purchased here.
About this time, and on the 20th day of March, 1860, Mr. Vaughan was married to Harriet A., daughter of William Taylor, of Lucas county. Of this marriage eight children were born, and six of them are still living. After a pleasant married life of over seventeen years, Harriet A. Vaughan was taken away by the hand of death. Some two years later, and on the 15th day of January, 1879, Mr. Vaughan married Julia Turney, of Lucas county. Two children, both of whom are living, were the fruit of this marriage.
In 1862 Mr. Vaughan established a mercantile business at Ai, in partner- ship with Ozias Merrill, and continued for about two and one-half years, when Mr. Merrill succeeded to the proprietorship thereof, and our subject moved to a farm, or tract of wild land in Fulton township, which he cleared and made valuable for agricultural purposes. Here he resided until the fall of 1884, when he was elected to the office of county commissioner, and in March fol- lowing moved to the village of Swanton, where he has since resided.
Having held this important county office for three years, and performed its duties with entire satisfaction to the people, and with credit to himself, Mr. Vaughan was renominated for a second term, and in November, 1887, was again re-elected by a good majority.
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HISTORY OF HENRY AND FULTON COUNTIES.
In the political affairs of the county Mr. Vaughan has taken an active part in the interest of an honest and faithful administration of public trusts. In his preferences he adheres to the principles of the Republican party, although not radical in his views, or loud in his advocacy of party theories. As a resident of Fulton township he has been equally interested in its affairs, and frequently held township offices ; from 1858 to 1860 he was postmaster at Ai. It is no flattery to say in concluding this sketch, that among the people of Fulton county James C. Vaughan is a man highly respected for straightforward hon- esty and integrity ; and one whose every transaction in life, both public and private, will bear the closest investigation and scrutiny.
V ERITY, HON. O. B., was descended from parental stock who emigrated to Long Island, N. Y., in the reign of Oliver Cromwell, of England. James Verity, on the paternal side, was a Frenchman born in the north of France, and belonged to the French army on the confines of Turkey, in the reign of Louis XIV of France. He was a prisoner upon Turkish soil. While a pris- oner he had formed an attachment with a Turkish woman, and by some means got away from the Turks, and with this woman came back to France, where they were married, and soon afterward came to Long Island, as above stated.
The grandfather of our subject, James Verity, was born in 1760, in Queens county, L. I., and, in 1781, was married to one Hannah Gritman, of German descent, and born in the same county. James G. Verity, father of O. B. Verity, was the third child of this union, and was born in Queens county Jan- uary 21, 1786. At the age of fourteen years he was apprenticed to a Quaker, a weaver by trade, living at Nine Partners, Dutchess county, N. Y., at which trade he worked until the age of twenty-one years, when he went to Rensselaer county, N. Y., and worked in the cotton factories then running at Schaghticoke Valley, on the Hoosick River, in said county, for several years. In the year 181 I he formed the acquaintance of Miss Eunice Banker, of Pittstown, Rensse- laer county, and was married to her February 12, 1812. The mother of our subject was the youngest child of Adolphus and Ruth Banker, whose maiden name was Ruth Oakley, of the city of New York, but of English parentage. Oliver B. Verity, the subject of this sketch, was the first child of this union, and was born in Pittstown, Rensselaer county, January 8, 1815. He may be called a St. Jackson man, having been born on the day and in the year that Andrew Jackson fought and whipped the British at New Orleans. In 1830 his parents moved from Lansingburgh, and lived for a short time in the town of Sempronius, Cayuga county, between Skaneateles and Owasco Lakes, and, in 1831, again moved to the town of Lysander, Onondaga county, N. Y., where his mother, Eunice Verity, died in 1834, and his father, James G., in 1840. Both were buried in the cemetery at Plainville, in the town of Lysander.
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Oliver B. Verity was married to Celome Scofield, at Plainville, town of Lysander, Onondaga county, February 28, 1838. In 1843 they came to Gor- ham township, Lucas, afterwards Fulton county, O., and first settled on section nine, but later upon section sixteen. In the fall of 1857 Mr. Verity was elected to the office of probate judge, and moved to Ottokee, then the county seat of Fulton county, on February 17, 1858, where he now resides. There were six children born of their marriage, only two of whom are living: Amasa B. Verity, at Bay City, Mich., and Oliver A. Verity, at Toledo, O. Celome, the wife of Judge Verity, was the daughter of Amasa B. and Polly (Lee) Scofield, both from Connecticut, who were married in 1817, at Marcellus, Onondaga county, N. Y., and who, in 1819, moved to Plainville, town of Lysander, in that county.
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