USA > Ohio > Morrow County > History of Morrow County, Ohio; a narrative account of its historical progress, its people, and its principal interests, Vol. II > Part 44
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At this period of his life he learned the trade of a wheel- wright and there are, no doubt, stored in some of the attics of Delaware and adjoining counties, spinning-wheels, reels, swifts, cte. made by Mr. Wheeler. He only worked at this business but a short time when he went to Sunbury, Ohio, and began clerking in the store of a Mr. Atherton. While engaged in this capacity he was united in marriage to Mary Atherton, a daughter of the man for whom he was clerking, and he finally became a partner in the business.
About this time he felt that it was his duty to enter the ministry. He was ordained as a deacon in the Ohio Annual Conference at Springfield, Ohio, on the 23rd of August, 1835. On the 10th day of September, 1837, he was made an elder, or regularly ordained minister at Detroit, Michigan, and entered the Michigan Annual Conference, which at that time included a large portion of northern Ohio.
He now entered into the life of the itinerant preacher with all its cares, its trials and its pleasures. He would be from home for weeks at a time, compelled to ford swollen streams, to sleep out of doors with his saddle-bags for a pillow and preaching in the cabins or barns of the settlers, and oft times in the woods. Upon his return to his home from one of his long tours of preaching he found his wife very sick, her illness in a short time resulting in her death, and the remains were taken to her girlhood home at Sunbury for burial. On the 4th day of June, 1838, he was married to Miss Caroline Condit at Utica, Ohio.
In 1839 Mr. Wheeler was appointed as a missionary to the Wyandot Indians at Upper Sandusky, Ohio, and here remained for five years, when they were removed to the territory of Kansas by the United States government, and given a reservation where Kansas City, Kansas, is now located, but long before Kansas City was ever dreamed of. Mr. Wheeler accompanied the Indians on
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their trip and remained with them through the summer superin- tending their work in building their new homes and a church. In the fall he returned to Ohio, where he had left his family and early in the following spring left with the family and a few house- hold goods for the new home. They went by canal from Colun- bus to Portsmouth and then down the Ohio river and up the Mississippi and Missouri rivers to the mouth of the Kaw river, where the new home was to be. While yet in the Buckeye state and going down the Ohio canal, the boat was snagged and their goods were all soaked in water. They had no chance to either air or dry them till their long journey was ended, hence most of their effects were ruined. Mr. Wheeler's duties as missionary while in Kansas were not confined to the Wyandots alone, but he made frequent trips to the Shawnees and other tribes and- would often be a hundred or more miles from home, preaching to the red man. In all of his life among the Indians he was never molested but was always shown the greatest respect and was be- loved by them all. In fact, the Wyandots loved him so that they regularly adopted him and his family into their tribe and made him one of their chiefs. At the division of the Methodist church north, and south, the adjoining state of Missouri, and the Wyandot mission fell into the bounds of the portion that adhered to the South, and in May, 1846, Mr. Wheeler with his family returned to Ohio. In the folowing fall he united with the North Ohio Conference, of which he remained a member up to the time of his death. Soon after his return to Ohio Mr. Wheeler raised a fund to aid him in having the bodies of a number of the leading Indians, who were buried in different places, removed to the In- dian graveyard at the old mission church at Upper Sandusky. The body of Sum-mum-de-Wat was brought from Wood county, where he and his wife were murdered by white men. Mr. Wheeler also had stones erected at the graves of Between-the-Logs, Grey- eyes, Sum-mun-de-Wat, Reverend John Stewart, the first mission ary, and others. At the time Mr. Wheeler was adopted into the Wyandot nation he was given the name of Hetaseoo, which signi- fied "Our Leader," while his wife was called Queechy, owing to the faet that she wore shoes that squeaked when she was walking. The last execution of a Wyandot in Ohio, who was tried, convicted and sentenced to be shot, took place in October, 1840. The trial was before their highest tribunal, the assembled nation, and the question of life or death was decided by ballot. Although Mr. Wheeler did not attend the execution, vet his two sons, young lads, witnessed the affair.
In 1860 several of the leading men of the Wyandots were in the City of Washington, on business with the government, in re- gard to the Indians becoming citizens of the United States, and on their way back to Kansas, they stopped at the home of Mr. Wheeler, who was then living in Mt. Vernon, Ohio, and pleaded
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with him to take his family to Kansas, and become one of them, promising them a share in the nation's possessions; but Mr. Wheeler could not see his way clear to comply with their appeals. During Mr. Wheeler's ministry he filled appointments at Elyria, Norwalk, Ashland, Utica, Spring Mountain, Homer, Frederick- town, Chesterville, Millersburg, Martinsburg, Mt. Vernon, Galena, Gambier, Woodbury and a number of other places. While with the Indians, both at Upper Sandusky and in Kansas, he was not only the missionary, but the mission school with its teachers, was under his charge, and during the absence of the government's agent he acted in that capacity. Several of the old familiar hymns of the Methodist hymn book were translated by him into the Wyandot language. ITis remains rest in River Cliff cemetery, Mt. Gilead.
ORSON A. LEE .- A man of keen intellect and excellent judg- ment, far-sighted and sagacious, Orson A. Lee has been pre- eminently successful in life, his name being synonyomous with thrift, enterprise and prosperity not only in Peru township, his home, but throughont Morrow county. He was born November 17, 1830, in Peru township, which was then a part of Delaware county, but is now included within the limits of Morrow county, a son of Asa Lee, a pioneer settler of this part of the state.
Asa Lee, a son of Benjamin Lee, was born in New York state, of English aneestry, being deseended from a family that settled in in New England on coming to the United states from England. Soon after assuming the responsibilities of married life, he came with his bride to Ohio, locating about 1823 in Peru township, Mor- row county, where he took up heavily timbered land and begun the pioneer labor of reelaiming a farm from the wilderness. H subsequently lived for a comparatively brief time in Columbus, Ohio, from there moving to Blendon township, Franklin county, where he was engaged in tilling the soil until his death. Prior to coming to Ohio he was a cloth-dresser, following the fuller's trade, at which he had served an apprenticeship.
Asa Lee married Sarah Meacham, a daughter of Paul and Roxanna Meacham, who were also of New England stock, and of English aneestry. Five children were born of their marriage, namely : Newton D., M. D., was engaged in the practice of medicine in Saginaw, Michigan, until his death ; George A., M. D., deceased, settled as a physician in Bowling Green, Missouri, and there spent his last days; Charles B., deceased, was for many years a farmer in Peru township, and died in Ashley, Ohio; Harriet A. married Amasa Grant, and both died on their home farm in Peru township ; and Orson A., the subject of this sketch.
The son of a farmer, Orson A. Lee was edueated in the com- mon schools of Morrow county, and at an early age began life as a farmer, assisting in the management of the home estate. At the
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age of twenty-four years he bought out the interests of the remain- ing heirs in the parental homestead, which contained eighty-four acres of good land, and began enlarging his operations. In addi- tion to general farming he made a specialty of stock raising and dealing, and as his money accumulated he wisely invested in land, owning at the present time between seven hundred and eight hun- dred acres of as fine agricultural land as can be found in this part of Ohio. Mr. Lee lived for a number of years in Ashley, Ohio, where he loaned money, carrying on a banking business on a small scale, his financial ability winning him success in his venture. Of recent years Mr. Lee has spent his winters in Florida, renewing his youth and vigor beneath its sunny skies. Politically he has always been a zealous champion of the principles which have guided the Republican party's members.
REVEREND ANNA SHELDON .- Among the noble and representa- tive women of Morrow county who have so materially contributed to the advancement and high standing of this section, none are more worthy of mention within the pages of this work than the Reverend Anna Sheldon, an ordained minister of the Christian church, residing at Sparta. Her good works and fine abilities are known over a wide area. For eleven years she was a lecturer of the Ohio Women's Christian Temperance Union, giving nearly all her time to this line of Christian work. She has been presi- dent of the Morrow county Women's Christian Temperance Union for twelve years and in June, 1910, she was one of the delegates from this state to the World's W. C. T. U. Convention, held in Glasgow, Scotland. Later in the same month she represented the Women's Home and Foreign Missionary Board, Christian church, of the United States and Canada at the World's Missionary Con- ference at Synod Hall, in Edinburg, Scotland. She is a woman of the highest and strongest character, is intensely interested in the different lines of work to which she is giving her life and lives only to serve the good causes which she represents She is of splendid pioneer stock, of the sort which gives patriots and stal- wart citizen to the nation and her own and her husband's forbears will receive mention in succeeding paragraphs.
Mrs. Sheldon, whose maiden name was Rossilla Ann Linscott was united in marriage to Judson Sheldon, on January 5, 1868, Reverend Mills Harrod of the Christian church officiating. They began housekeeping in Sparta, Ohio, April 2, 1868, and there the subject still resides on the same street where she has lived for forty-three years. Two children came into the home: Ella, born June 21, 1870, and Alba, born September 16, 1874. Both child- ren graduated from the Sparta High School and Ella took a class- ical course at Antioch College, Yellow Springs, Ohio, graduating from that well known institution in June, 1891, and afterward teaching in the college for two years. She was then for a time
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associated in deaconess work in Springfield and Dayton, Ohio. On June 18, 1895, Ella Sheklon was united in marriage with the Reverend J. P. Watson, of Dayton, Ohio, and became the mother of three boys: Josiah, Judson and Ernest. The father died May 20, 1908, and the mother with her boys went soon afterward to Wyoming where they now reside, she having two quarter sec- tions of land in whose cultivation she engages while at the same time teaching school at Keeline, Converse county, that state.
Alba Sheldon, the son, has been twice married, the maiden name of his first wife being Miss Jessie Knox, of Columbus, Ohio; and that of his second wife Miss Myrtle Nold, of Abilene, Kansas. Ile has two sons, Raymond Knox (by the first marriage), and Vernon Dale. He travels for a wholesale grocery concern in Abilene, Kansas, where he resides. The Reverend Mrs. Shel- don's husband was also a zealons member of the Christian church. The demise of this gentleman occurred in Sparta, February 9, 1897, and his funeral sermon was delivered by Reverend Mr. Harrod, who thirty years before had officiated at his wedding.
The father and mother of Reverend Anna Sheldon-Thomas Linscott and Sarah Anderson, were married by Elder Ashley, Jan- uary 1, 1850, and on the 25th of November of the same year their danghter, Rossilla Ann, now known as Anna, was born. In the spring of 1851 the father joined a large number of people who were seeking gold and journeyed overland to California, where he endured the hardships of mining with no results such as he had hoped to receive. His wife died June 14, 1861, and the little girl was cared for in the home of her grandmother Anderson, who resided near this village. The father returned to Ohio in 1874 for a visit, but made his home in Michigan until 1893, when he came to the home of his daughter and with her spent the remainder of his life, dying with cancer, October 13, 1906.
Thomas Linscott's parents, Samuel and Maria (Gonld) Lin- scott were natives of New York and were married in New York City. The mother was a cousin of Jay Gould, the railroad magnate. They migrated to Ohio in 1820, locating in Trumbull county, and afterward removing to this part of the state. Seven children were born to them: William, Eli, Jane, Elizabeth, Mary, Francis and Thomas. The father was a farmer, and three sons were ministers in the Christian church. Of the entire family only one survives, this being Francis, who resides in El Paso, Texas. In politics the Linscotts were Republieans.
Mrs. Sheldon's maternal grandparents were David Ander- son, of Vermont, and Elizabeth Taylor, of New York. They were married February 2, 1812, and located near Bennington, New York, but migrated to Ohio in 1815, settling for a time near the city of Columbus, in a day when the stumps in that loeality were far more numerous than the cabins. Mr. Anderson's parents came to Ohio with them, but stopped in Cuyahoga county. In
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1816 the father came to Columbus to visit David and decided to remove his family to that place, but while returning and when within ten miles of his home, he fell from a precipice and was so badly injured that he died alone. In all probability while he was resting overnight, the bell on his oxen indicated that they were straving away, and in his efforts to reach them in the darkness, he lost his life. Twenty-four hours later the oxen returned to the farm house where they had been fed, and it was then that search was made for the owner, but it was two days later that his body was found. His immediate family, consisting of the wife, two sons, and two daughters were removed to David's home and cared for until able to care for themselves.
In June, 1817, David removed his family to this community and located one inile east of Sparta. At that time the only clearing on his land was one made by cutting down the trees with which the cabin was built and here they endured the priva- tions known only to the pioneers of that day. Eleven children blessed their home, namely: Amasa and Mary, who were born in Vermont; James, Benjamin, Phillip, David, Harriet, Sarah, and Julia, and two who died in infancy. The father was a black- smith by occupation ; in politics a Republican; and in religious belief, a Baptist. Not one of this family is now living.
Upon glancing at the history of the family of the subject's husband-the Sheldons-it is found that his parents, Alba and Eliza (Sanford) Sheldon were married in Poultney, Rutland county, Vermont, December 13, 1828. They migrated to this part of Ohio in 1836, and located two miles south of Sparta, where they resided until April, 1866, when they removed to this village and here spent the remainder of their lives, the father dying May 10, 1887, aged eighty-five years, and five months, and the mother surviving until December 14, 1896, when she passed away, aged eighty-seven years, and eleven months. They were the parents of six children: Judson, Mary, Caroline, Raymond, Ella and Sophia. Raymond died at the time of the Civil war, in Novem- ber, 1862, and the daughters survived him only a few years. In religious belief the parents were Baptists, but as there was no church of that faith here, Mrs. Sheldon united with the Methodists until the Civil war broke out, when she joined the Wesleyans on account of their anti-slavery principles. She afterwards joined the Christian church.
WILLIS T. PHILLIPS .- A wide-awake, brainy man, full of vim and energy, Willis T. Phillips, of Bennington township, holds a place of prominence among the foremost agriculturists of Morrow county, and has made his mark in insurance circles, in the year 1910 doing an especially large business as agent for the Ohio State Life Insurance Company. He was born April 27, 1872, in Coshi- octon, Ohio, a son of Reverend W. L. Phillips, a well known Methodist Episcopal minister.
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Born in Pennsylvania, Reverend W. L. Phillips was educated for the ministry, and subsequently came to Knox county, Ohio, and was assigned to the Northern Ohio Conference. He preached in different places, spending the larger part of his time, however, in Morrow county, where he held various pastorates. He was a regularly ordained preacher at Iberia, and likewise at Fulton, where he built up a large church. Ile was a man of great intelli- gence, publie-spirited and progressive, and while in Morrow county represented his district in the State Legislature. He married Mary Madden, who was born in 1840 in Perry county, and came with her parents to Morrow county in 1841.
The only child of his parents, Willis T. Phillips attended first the graded schools, completing his early education in the Marengo High School. As a young man he began his active career as an agriculturist, and now owns, in Bennington township, a well im- proved farm of one hundred acres, which he devotes to general farming and stock raising, meeting with good success in these lines of industry. On October 1, 1909, Mr. Phillips accepted a position with the Ohio State Life Insurance Company, and the following year was credited by the company with doing more business along certain lines than any other of the company's representatives.
At the age of nineteen years, on February 19, 1891, Mr. Phillips married Jennie Randolph, who was born in Stantontown, Peru township, Ohio, December 22, 1871, a daughter of Hiram and Anna (Chase) Randolph. Mr. and Mrs. Phillips are the parents of three children, namely: William, born November 1, 1892, was graduated from the Marengo High School with the class of 1911; J. Foster, born May 29, 1894; and Leno L., born August 7, 1898. Politically an earnest supporter of the principles of the Republi- ean party, Mr. Phillips is an active worker in its ranks, and is now one of the supervisors of election. Both he and his wife are congenial, pleasant people, prominent in social affairs, and are held in high esteem throughout the community.
SANFORD D. POWELL .- Numbered among the substantial and progressive citizens of Morrow county is Sanford D. Powell, farmer and stockman, who also devotes a part of his well-improved farm of eighty-five acres to the profitable keeping of bees. He is one of the loyal citizens of Morrow county and has paid this favored portion of the Buckeye state the compliment of remaining within its borders throughout nearly the entire course of his life. By the circumstance of birth Mr. Powell belongs to Auglaize county, for it was there that his eyes first opened to the light of day November 28, 1865. His parents were John and Mary (Stevens) Powell, and his paternal grandfather, Peter Powell, was a well- known and highly honored elder of the Baptist church and a native of the state of Virginia. John Powell, like his son, our subject, was a farmer and stock-raiser and the owner of an ad-
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vantageously situated farm of one hundred and seventy-one acres, upon which were reared his family of six children. They are as follows: Peter Christian, deceased; George Monroe Powell, resid- ing in Perry county, Ohio; Isaiah Douglas Powell, of St. Louis, Missouri; the subject, who is third in order of birth; Maria, wife of Marion Hart, near Stanton, Ohio; and John W. Powell, who makes his home in Lineoln township.
The early days of Sanford D. Powell were passed amid rural surroundings and to the schools of the county is he indebted for his educational advantages. When he was about twenty years of age he had the misfortune to lose his father and much of the responsibilities of the operation of the farm fell upon his youthful shoulders. He remained upon the homestead with his mother until her death, which occurred in 1904. This admirable lady was previous to her marriage Miss Mary Stevens, daughter of Benjamin Stevens, and she was born in Ohio, in the year 1828, being seventy-six years of age at the time of her demise.
Upon the settlement of the property after the death of his parents Mr. Powell received one sixth of it, and he has added to his share, now owning eighty-five acres. As previously mentioned, in addition to his general farming and stock-raising he also cul- tivates honey for the market, and has twenty-two stands of bees. His agricultural methods are of the most advanced and enlight- ened sort and have been crowned with abundant success.
Mr. Powell is a prominent member of the time-honored Masonic Order, his membership being with Mt. Gilead Lodge, No. 206, Free and Accepted Masons; and with Cardington Chapter, No. 163, Royal Arch Masons; while he is also affiliated with Fulton Lodge, No. 433, Independent Order of Odd Fellows. In addi- tion he is identified with the Crystal Lodge of Rebekahs, Lodge No. 487, of Fulton, Ohio. In his political proclivities he is Demo- cratic and at one time served as justice of the peace of Lincoln township. He is a man of more than ordinary ability, a wide reader, who studies current events and keeps abreast of the times. He is well known in this section of Morrow county and that favor- ably, for his honesty and integrity are unswerving, and in conse- quence he enjoys the respect of the community in which he has spent almost his entire life. His parents removed from Auglaize county to Morrow county in the year 1866.
Mr. Powell comes from a sturdy old Virginia family, and his forbears were prominent in the life of the Old Dominion. His grandfather was a noted clergyman, and although Mr. Powell is not united with any church, he is a liberal supporter of them. Ile finds his lodge relations a source of great pleasure. Mr. Powell is unmarried.
FREDERIC FANT BRIGGS, the elder son of the late William II. Briggs and wife, was born in Mt. Gilead, Ohio, September 6, 1868.
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His childhood and early youth were passed in his native village with his parents and younger brother Charles. Ile attended the public schools and was graduated in a class of seven in 1886, he and Dr. Frank G. Wieland, now of Chicago, being the only boys in the class.
The paternal grandparents of Mr. Briggs were James M. Briggs, an honored physician of Morrow county, Ohio, for many years, who was a native of Washington county, New York, and Sarah Layton Briggs, a native of Erie county, New York. The maternal ancestors were Stephen Fant, a pioneer circuit rider of the Methodist church in Ohio, and Hannah S. Fant, a native of Canada. Our subject's mother was Mary Fant Briggs, who was graduated from the Ohio Wesleyan Female College in the class of 1864.
Frederic F. Briggs received many high ideals from his father and mother. Ilis father served nearly three years in Company D, Ninety-sixth Regiment, Ohio Volunteer Infantry, and in the V. R. C. For two years, after completing the high school course, he remained at home for rest and study, taking up the study of Greek and other branches with his former instructor, Professor M. W. Spear. In 1889 he entered the University of Michigan, completing his course and taking his degree of A. B. in June, 1893. During his junior and senior years he became active with others in reviving interest in the "Inlander," a literary monthly magazine established a few years previous by the higher classes of the university ; during both years he was on the editorial staff. During his senior year he was managing editor with Professors F. N. Scott and John Dewey (now of Columbia) as advisory board. The magizine had among its regular contributors men and women who are now stars in the literary world. I. K. Fried- man, Steward Edward White, Harry Carleton Porter and George Wesley Harris, are names familiar to magazine readers. So that, this little College Montlily came to rank among the first, as a pro- duction of high literary merit.
Mr. Briggs was elected Professor of English and History at Heidelberg University, Tiffin, Ohio, in 1894, and remained two years, when he resigned to accept a professorship in St. John's College at Annapolis, Maryland, founded in 1784. He taught at this historic old school for four years, when he resigned to go to Chicago to enter the University there, to pursue advanced study in English. At the end of one year there he removed to Los Angeles, California, to join his father's family. Since going there he has been engaged constantly in educational work and has met with marked success.
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