History of Putnam County, Ohio : its peoples, industries, and institutions, Part 26

Author: Kinder, George D., 1836-
Publication date: 1915
Publisher: Indianapolis, Ind. : B.F. Bowen
Number of Pages: 1744

USA > Ohio > Putnam County > History of Putnam County, Ohio : its peoples, industries, and institutions > Part 26

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Mr. and Mrs. Edwards reared their children in the faith of the Meth- odist church and were warmly interested in all the various beneficences of that organization. Mr. Edwards was one of the church's most zealous sup- porters and took an earnest part in its numerous lines of activity, giving not only liberally of money, but unsparingly of his time and the benefit of his great business ability, and the local congregation felt a sense of real bereave- ment upon his passage from this life.

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CHARLES H. JONES.

Among the worthy citizens of Columbus Grove, Putnam county, Ohio, whose residence here has contributed in no small degree to the prestige of the county, is Charles H. Jones, a well-known manufacturer. While laboring for his individual interests, he has not forgotten his obligations to the public, and his support of worthy measures and movements can always be depended upon. Although his life has been a busy one, his private affairs making heavy demands upon his time, he has never allowed it to interfere with his obliga- tions as a citizen and a neighbor. Through long years of residence in this lo- cality, he has ever been true to the trusts reposed in him, whether of a public or private nature. His reputation, in a business way, is unassailable. Pos- sessing in a marked degree those sterling traits which command uniform con- fidence and regard, he is today honored by all who know him and numbered among the representative men of Putnam county.

Charles H. Jones was born at Troy, Ohio, May 24, 1861. He is a son of Jeremiah F. and Martha Jane ( Hart) Jones. The Joneses were natives of Wales. John Jones was born in Virginia, and emigrated to Bath county, Kentucky, where he married a Miss Greene. To this union were born eleven children, Oliver, Goldsbury, John, Mary Ann, Elizabeth, George, Zechariah, Elihu, Artimesia, Isabella and Salem. George Jones was born in Bath county, Kentucky, June 9, 1808, and emigrated to Miami county, Ohio, about 1826. He was married in 1829 to Eleanor Gearhart, whose parents were originally natives of Germany. Henry Gerhart was born in Washington county, Mary- land, about 1767, and married Barbara Young. They emigrated to Rock- bridge county, West Virginia, and were the parents of the following chil- dren, John, William, Anna, Elizabeth, Eleanor, Henry, Lewis and Joseph. Eleanor was born in Rockbridge county, West Virginia, September 5, 1810, and emigrated with her parents to Miami county, Ohio, in 1816. She was married to George Jones in 1829. To this union five children were born, Jeremiah Fuson, Samantha Isabella, Simeon Gearhart, Anna Tabitha and Melyn Baker.

Jeremiah Fuson Jones was born on December 31, 1832. He married Martha Jane Hart, April 10, 1885. The Hart family were natives of New Jersey. John Hart, one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence, was one of the progenitors of the Hart family. Charles Hart was born in New Jersey, about 1770, and married a Miss Chamberlin. He emigrated with his family to Miami county, Ohio, about 1806. He and his wife were the parents of four children, Ellen, William Levi, Wilson and Henry.

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William L. Hart was born in New Jersey, in 1810, and emigrated with his parents to Ohio. He was married to Margaret Julien about 1832, a lady of French extraction, of Miami county, Ohio. They were the parents of several children, Martha Jane, Justin Cyprian, John Lyman Beecher, Charles, Clarence Edgar and Alice, the last two named being twins.

Martha Jane Hart was born in Miami county, Ohio, May 22, 1834, and married Jeremiah Fuson Jones, as stated above. To this union four chil- dren were born, Ada Luella, Delia Doris, Charles H. and George Edgar.

Jeremiah Fuson Jones attended the country schools, until he reached the age of eighteen, and then undertook a course in Linden Hill Academy, at New Carlisle, Ohio, at that time, under the direction of Prof. Thomas Harrison, a graduate of Oxford University, England. Mr. Jones remained in this school for two years, and in the fall of 1853, began to teach school in Champaign county, Ohio, after which he taught one year in the schools of Miami county, Ohio, and continued teaching here until 1863, when he re- moved to Putnam county, where he was employed as superintendent of the public schools, at Delphos. Professor Jones held this position until 1867, when he moved to Anderson, Indiana, and became principal of the first ward school, of that city. He became superintendent of the Pendleton, Indiana, schools in January, 1868, and after one year in that place, returned to Del- phos, Ohio, where he was superintendent of the schools for three years. Mr. Jones became superintendent of the schools at Columbus Grove, Ohio, in 1875, which position he filled for some years. Professor Jones retired from the educational field in 1883, having given thirty years of his life to that work. Before leaving the teaching profession in 1879, Mr. Jones had be- come interested in the manufacture of handles, a business in which he was to become associated with his sons, Charles H. and George E.

The factory at Columbus Grove specializes in second-growth hickory handles for tools and axes. All the handles are shaved and no turned han- dles are produced. The goods from this factory are sold all over the United States, chiefly on the Pacific coast. The firm name is now J. F. Jones' Sons, and is composed of C. H. Jones and George E. Jones. Charles H. Jones became a partner in 1884, and George E. Jones came into the firm about ten years later. About twenty years ago, J. F. Jones retired from the active management of the business and, since that time, has lived in Toledo, Ohio.

Charles H. Jones received his education in the schools at Columbus- Grove, where he graduated. He has been engaged in the handle business since 1884. He is president of the Northern Ohio Cooperage & Lumber

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Company, of Parkin, Arkansas, and is also engaged in numerous other business enterprises.

Charles H. Jones was married on June 23, 1887, to Alice Rebecca Wy- man, who was born and reared at Sidney, Ohio, and who is a daughter of Judge N. R. and Mary Wyman. Her father's name was Nathan Russell Wyman, he was born in Vermont, in 1821, and moved to Ohio in 1840. Nathan Wyman was in business in Sidney, Ohio, for many years, and was prominent as a Democrat, having been probate judge for several terms. He was appointed superintendent of the Soldiers' and Sailors' Orphan Home at Xenia, Ohio. At the time of his death, August 29, 1886, he was manu- facturing buggy spokes in Sidney.

Her mother was mary Hale Wyman, born in New York state in 1822, and died in Sidney, Ohio, November 3, 1905, at the advanced age of eighty- three years. To this union two daughters have been born, Edith R. and Jeannette. Edith is a teacher of Latin and German in the Columbus Grove schools. She attended the Western College for Women, at Oxford, Ohio, and then attended Wooster University, where she graduated in 1910. She is also a graduate of the music department of the latter institution. Jeanette is a junior in the University of Wisconsin, at Madison, Wisconsin. She is a member of the university orchestra. Previously, she took one year at Wooster.

Charles H. Jones is a Republican, and served four years as postmaster of Columbus Grove, during President Harrison's administration. He is a prominent Mason, having attained to the thirty-second degree of the Scot- tish Rite, and is also a member of the Mystic Shrine. He is a member of the Presbyterian church, and takes an active interest in the work of that. denomination, being a trustee of the church at this time, at Columbus Grove.

George Edgar Jones, the third member of the firm of J. F. Jones' Sons, was born March 24, 1872, at Delphos, Ohio. He grew to manhood at Co- lumbus Grove, and after leaving the public schools, took a business course at Cincinnati, Ohio. He then entered business college, where he spent a short time at Chicago as an electrician. He became a member of the firm of J. F. Jones' Sons about 1894, and has devoted his time to this business since that date.

George Edgar Jones was married on May 22, 1894, to Grace Adelaide Dye, who was born at Columbus Grove, and who is a daughter of Willis Hance and Fannie Adelaide (Dann) Dye. Her father was a native of

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Miami county, Ohio, and her mother a native of New Haven, Connecticut. Mrs. Jones' parents moved to Putnam county forty-one years ago, from Sidney, where they had lived one year after their marriage. They lived at Columbus Grove until the death of Mrs. Dye in 1899, after which Mr. Dye moved to Van Wert, Ohio, and engaged in the grocery business. From there he went to Florida, where he is now living. He was engaged in the grocery business during all the time he was living in Columbus Grove, ex- cept ten years, which were devoted to the interests of a milling business.

To Mr. and Mrs. George E. Jones three children have been born, Gran- ville Dye, Robert Edgar and Jeremiah Franklin. Granville is now a junior at the University of Michigan, and prior to going there, was a student at the University of Wooster for one year. George E. Jones and family are ac- tive and earnest members of the Presbyterian church. Mr. Jones is a mem- ber of the Free and Accepted Masons, having attained to the thirty-second degree, in that time-honored order. He is also a member of the Nobles of the Mystic Shrine.

The Jones family is among the best known of Putnam county, they are leaders in the commercial, religious and social life of this section of Putnam county, and are well worthy of representation in the annals of their county.

JUDGE JULIUS SINCLAIR OGAN.

An attorney of Ottawa, Putnam county, Ohio, and one of the largest landowners of the county, is Judge Julius Sinclair Ogan, who has been a resident of Ottawa since the fall of 1882. He was born and reared in this county, and with the exception of the years which he spent in college, has lived his whole life within its precincts. After graduating from the classical course at Oberlin College, he graduated from the law department of Michi- gan University, and has been engaged in the active practice of his profession since 1878. He has never been an aspirant for public office, and has never held but one, being appointed judge of the common pleas court for a period of eleven months. He has preferred to give his time and attention to his private practice and to the management of his large landholdings in this county.

Julius S. Ogan, the son of Noah W. and Nancy (Custer) Ogan, was born in Pleasant township, Putnam county, Ohio, June 9, 1850. His father was born in Green county, Ohio, October 21, 1821, a son of Peter Ogan and

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wife. Noah Ogan came to Putnam county about 1834 with his parents and located in Pleasant township and there he spent his youth and young man- hood. After his marriage to Nancy Custer, a daughter of Daniel Custer and wife, Noah W. Ogan located on the farm next to that of his father, in Pleasant township, and lived there until the latter part of the fifties, when he moved to Columbus Grove, where he engaged in the grain and grocery business, remaining there until the opening of the Civil War. He enlisted, in September, 1861, and was made captain of Company K, Fourteenth Regi- ment Ohio Volunteer Infantry. He served for about three years, and was discharged after the battle of Jonesboro, Georgia, on account of total dis- ability, arising from the loss of his left arm. After the close of the war, Noah Ogan returned to Columbus Grove and engaged in various pursuits. He was engaged in the internal revenue service for some time, and also owned a farm near the village. He also practiced law in Columbus Grove, where he spent his declining years, his death occurring there on May 29, 1906. His first wife died about 1869, and some years later he married Emma Elliott. By his first marriage there were four children, two of whom died in infancy. The others were, Jennie, who became the wife of Daniel Henley, and lived in Cleveland, Ohio, until her death, and Julius S., whose history is here pre- sented. By the second marriage of Noah W. Ogan were born two children, Servitus Wesley and Silas Jerome.

Julius S. Ogan grew to manhood, at Columbus Grove, and after receiv- ing his elementary education in the schools of that village, he entered Oberlin College, graduating with the degree of Bachelor of Arts, in 1876. He at once entered the University of Michigan, at Ann Arbor, and graduated from the law course, in the spring of 1878. With this excellent training, it is no won- der that he was a successful lawyer, from the beginning. He began prac- ticing at Columbus Grove immediately after his graduation, and he and his father were in partnership in that place, until 1882. In the fall of that year he moved to Ottawa and went in partnership with John M. Sheets, who has since become the attorney-general of Ohio. Mr. Sheets was elected common pleas judge in 1894, and at that time Mr. Ogan went into partnership with William H. Handy, who had just retired from the common pleas bench. Mr. Ogan and Mr. Handy continued in partnership until the latter part of 1905, when Mr. Ogan was appointed judge of the common pleas court. He held this office for about eleven months, and since then has practiced alone.

Mr. Ogan was married on December 25, 1882, to Estella Turner, who was born in Pleasant township, Putnam county, and is the daughter of Will-

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iam M. and Martha Jane (Kuhn) Turner. Her grandfather was probate judge and died soon after he went out of office. Mr. Ogan and his wife are the parents of five children, four of whom are living: William Wesley dying at the age of six. The four children are Martha Jane, Myrtle, Mildred and Julius S. Myrtle is the wife of Dr. Joseph Shaw, of Coshocton, Ohio, while the other two children are still living with their parents. Julius is now attend- ing the Ohio State University at Columbus. Mildred married J. F. Donart, who is in the real estate and loan business at Ottawa.

Mr. Ogan was appointed a member of the Putnam county Building Com- mittee in 1909, which had general charge of the construction of the new court house. He remained on this committee until the court house was finally completed and contributed his full share to the laborious duties of this com- mittee. He is president of the Ottawa Home and Savings Association and one of its largest stockholders. He owns nine hundred and thirty acres of land in Putnam county, from which he derives a very profitable income annually. He is a member of the Free and Accepted Masons, being a member of the blue: lodge, chapter and council.

WILLIAM HENRY HANDY.

A distinguished citizen of Ottawa, Putnam county, Ohio, a veteran of the Civil War and a former judge of the common pleas court, William Henry Handy is eminently entitled to representation in the history of his county .. He enlisted for service in the Civil War, when he was only sixteen years. of age, and served until the fall of 1865. Studying law, after the close of the war, he was admitted to the bar in 1868, and has been in continuous practice since that time. He has been a resident of Ottawa since the spring of 1894, and has taken active part in the life of the county seat of Putnam county since that time.

William Henry Handy, an attorney, of Ottawa, was born on January 29, 1847, in Pike township, Fulton county, Ohio. He is a son of Michael and Mary A. (Bryan) Handy. Michael Handy was born at Danby, Tomp- kins county, New York, in December, 1812, and was a son of Michael Handy, Sr., an old resident of the saine county. The name was originally spelled Hendee, and two brothers with that name came from Wales during the seventeenth century, one settling in Vermont and the other in Virginia. William H. Handy is a descendant of the Hendee who located in Vermont.

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Michael Handy, the father of William Henry, was a school teacher in Canada, but during the period of turmoil in that country was driven out and went to Algonac, Michigan, where he was married on September 22, 1836, to Mary A. Bryan. She, too, had been a teacher in Canada, and had come to Michigan, and she, likewise, was born in Tompkins county, New York, where her husband was born. In the winter of 1839-40, Michael Handy and wife moved from Michigan to Fulton county, Ohio, and located on a farm. He taught school, farmed and also cobbled shoes. He was a very industrious man and taught school by day and pegged shoes by night, and shook with the ague between times. In addition to his teaching school, shoemaking and farming, he also operated a blacksmith shop, did some cabi- net making, and at odd times studied law, and it can be seen that he was a man of great industry and of no inconsiderable intellectual ability. After Putnam county was set off as a separate county in 1850 Michael Handy moved to Ottokee, the new county seat, and followed the practice of law. He moved to Wauseon, Ohio, in 1871, the new county seat of Fulton county, and lived there the remainder of his life. He served as prosecuting attorney of Fulton county, and also as mayor of Wauseon. He died on March 6, 1885, his wife having passed away on April 1, 1880.

William Henry Handy was educated in the schools of Fulton county, Ohio. When he was only sixteen years of age, on June 16, 1863, Mr. Handy enlisted in Company H, Eighty-sixth Regiment, Ohio Volunteer Infantry, and was mustered in for the six months' service After serving in Ken- tucky, Tennessee and Virginia, he was discharged on February 10, 1864. He re-enlisted, April 15, of the same year, in Company H, Sixty-seventh Regiment, Ohio Volunteer Infantry, and was in continuous service until September 10, 1865, when he was discharged as sergeant. He served in the campaigns against Petersburg and Richmond, and was at Appomattox when Lee surrendered.

Immediately after the close of the war, Mr. Handy returned home and began the study of law with his father. He was admitted to the practice of law, at Toledo, Ohio, in 1868, being twenty-one years of age at the time. He took up the practice of his profession with his father at Ottokee, the county seat of Fulton county, Ohio, and the father and son practiced to- gether until the first of January, 1875. At that time Mr. Handy and Frank H. Hurd started the Democratic Expositor, and operated this newspaper until in March, 1877, when it was sold to J. C. Balmeier. Mr. Handy at once returned to the practice of law at Wauseon, to which place his father had moved, upon the change of the county seat of Fulton county. He was

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in the continuous practice of his profession, in Wauseon, until February 10, 1885, when he assumed the duties of common pleas judge, to which office he had been appointed by Governor Hoadly. He filled this office by appoint- ment and election, until May 10, 1894, a period of more than nine years, during which time he gave satisfactory service to the citizens of the three counties which composed his jurisdiction. At that time Putnam, Fulton and Henry counties combined in one judicial district. At the expiration of his term of office, in the spring of 1894, Mr. Handy moved to Ottawa, where he has since resided. He resumed the practice of his profession in partner- ship with A. S. Ogan, and the firm continued together until in December, 1899. At that time Mr. Unverferth became the partner of Mr. Handy.

Mr. Handy was married on October 16, 1869, to Isabelle J. Van Ars- dale, who was born at Marseilles, Wyandot county, Ohio, and is a daugh- ter of John and Marietta (Norton) Van Arsdale. Her parents moved to Ottokee about 1867, where she was living at the time of her marriage. Mr. Handy and his wife are the parents of three children, Harry L., Clive C. and May B. Harry married Maude Snyder, and is a locomotive engineer. Clive C. is an attorney in the legal department of the Lake Shore & Michigan Southern Railway Company, at Cleveland. He married Herma Orth, of Wauseon, and has one son, William O. May B. is a stenographer, and makes her home in Ottawa with her parents.

Mr. Handy has long been a leading factor in Democratic politics, but he has never held any other position than that of judge of the common pleas court. He is a Free and Accepted Mason and has attained the Royal and Select Masters degree. He is a genial citizen, fond of a good joke, and well known, not only throughout Putnam county, but throughout this sec- tion of the state.

WILLIAM T. COLE.

A veteran of the Civil War and a business man of Leipsic for a quar- ter of a century, who was the postmaster of that city, William T. Cole had been connected with the history of Putnam county since 1869. He en- listed in the Civil War when he was sixteen years of age, and after his en- listment had expired re-enlisted and served until the close of the war. He came to this county in 1869 and after farming for three years, located in Leipsic, where he has clerked in various stores and engaged in business for himself for more than twenty-five years. He had been the postmaster of Leipsic since 1907.

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William T. Cole, the son of Alonzo and Sarah (Caldwell) Cole, was born in what was then called Frankleton, now West Columbus, Franklin county, Ohio, November 9, 1847. His father was born in Vermont and came to Columbus in childhood with his parents. His mother was born in Franklin county, Ohio, and was a daughter of William Caldwell and wife. His father was a life-long farmer.

Alonzo Cole was a school teacher in early life, and afterward engaged in farming. He moved to Delaware county, Ohio, while William T. was yet a child and remained there until 1871, when he moved to Putnam county. He bought a farm two miles east of Leipsic and farmed there until his de- clining years, when he retired and moved into Leipsic, where he died. Alonzo Cole and wife were the parents of nine children, Oscar, deceased; Charles, of Leipsic; Malissa, deceased, who was the wife of Justus Butler; Elisa, deceased, who was the wife of Mason Beardsley; Mary, the widow of George Whitman, who now lives with her daughter at Wheeling, West Vir- ginia; William T., of Leipsic, deceased, and three children who died in infancy.

William T. Cole was reared in Delaware county, Ohio, and was living there at the time of the opening of the Civil War. He was large for his age and, although only sixteen, succeeded in becoming a member of Com- pany H, One Hundred and Forty-fifth Regiment, Ohio Volunteer Infantry. He served with this company for four months around Washington, D. C., and was then discharged with his company. He returned home and went to school one winter and in the following March enlisted again in Company B, One Hundred and Ninety-sixth Regiment, Ohio Volunteer Infantry. He was sent with his regiment to Winchester, Virginia, where the regiment was divided up and his company sent to Fort Federal Hill, near Baltimore, and he remained there the seven months which elapsed until the close of the war.

After the close of the Civil War, Mr. Cole returned to his home in Delaware county and worked on a farm and in a saw-mill. He married in 1867 and located in Delaware county, but in 1869, he and his brother, Oscar, and two brothers-in-law, Justus Butler and George Whitman, came to Put- nam county where the four of them bought a half section of land, two miles east of Leipsic. Mr. Cole cleared his share of the land, but only lived on it for three years. He then moved to Leipsic and engaged in business, and until he became postmaster in 1907, he was either clerking in stores in the city, or engaged in business for himself. He was commissioned postmaster of Leipsic, December 16, 1907, and was re-appointed in 1912 for four more years.

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Mr. Cole was married on December 29, 1867, to Olive Critchet, who was born in Licking county, Ohio, November 18, 1851, and is a daughter of Benjamin and Susan (Slutz) Critchet. Her father was a farmer and for forty years was a justice of the peace in Licking county. To this union were born four children, two dying in infancy, and two sons, Alvin M. and Charles Ray, who are still surviving. Alvin M. was born on December 23, 1874, and is now assistant postmaster of Leipsic. He married Nellie Schroeder. Charles R., born July 23, 1880, is now a clerk in the postoffice. Charles married Nettie Altekruse, of Ottawa, and they have two daughters, Margaret and Thelma.

Mr. Cole and his wife and son, Ray, attended the Disciples church. He was a member of the Knights of Pythias. He had long been identified with the Republican party, and has served as township treasurer and town- ship assessor, rendering his fellow citizens faithful and efficient service in both capacities. William T. Cole died on February 27, 1915.

WILLIAM LEWIS WERNER, M. D.

Although William Lewis Werner, M. D., has been a resident of Leipsic, Putnam county, Ohio, since the spring of 1908, he has already built up a large practice in the city and surrounding community. He is a man of exceptional training, along medical lines, as is attested by the number of diplomas from many of the most eminent schools of medicine in the United States. Not only has Doctor Werner met with pronounced success as a physician, but he has also taken an active part in the civic life of his com- munity.

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History of Putnam County, Ohio : its peoples, industries, and institutions, Part 26

Author: Kinder, George D., 1836- Publication date: 1915 Publisher: Indianapolis, Ind. : B.F. Bowen Number of Pages: 1744

Author: Kinder, George D., 1836-
Publication date: 1915
Publisher: Indianapolis, Ind. : B.F. Bowen
Number of Pages: 1744