History of Richland County, Ohio : (including the original boundaries) ; its past and present, containing a condensed comprehensive history of Ohio, including an outline history of the Northwest, a complete history of Richland county miscellaneous matter, map of the county, biographies and histories of the most prominent families, &c., &c., Part 142

Author: Graham, A. A. (Albert Adams), 1848-
Publication date: 1880
Publisher: Mansfield, O. : A. A. Graham & co.
Number of Pages: 968

USA > Ohio > Richland County > History of Richland County, Ohio : (including the original boundaries) ; its past and present, containing a condensed comprehensive history of Ohio, including an outline history of the Northwest, a complete history of Richland county miscellaneous matter, map of the county, biographies and histories of the most prominent families, &c., &c. > Part 142

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the business men of the town, and his work gives sat- isfaction wherever used. June 6, 1866, he was mar- ried to Miss Clara E. Hull ; they have three children- Charles, born Dec. 6, 1869; Ross, Feb. 23, 1876 ; Grace, Feb. 25, 1878.

SCHEAFFER, J. E., Plymouth ; was born in Penn- sylvania in 1845. April 13, 1861, he enlisted in Co. E, 1st Penn. Battery ; there remained until Aug. 21, 1863, and participated in the following battles : Green Briar, W. Va., and Bull Run, where he was wounded on the 30th day of August, 1862; then he returned to Pennsylvania, and, in 1864, started West; in Septem- ber, 1864, he hired to the Government to pack pro- visions, with headquarters at Leavenworth, Kan., where he traveled all through the territory and crossed the Rocky Mountains twice ; was in Salt Lake City for ten days ; in February, 1867, he returned to Pennsyl- vania ; in December of the same year, he went to Crest- line, Ohio. Was married, Dec. 22, 1868, to Miss Clara McKean, of Leesville, Ohio, whence he moved to Plym- outh, Ohio, and began to work at his trade, manu- facturing harness, saddles, etc., where he now lives. and is regarded by his numerous friends and patrons as a reliable and worthy man ; they have two children -Frederick, born Sept. 29, 1869; Cora May, Aug. 10. 1873. Mr. A. Mckean is a harness-maker with Mr. Scheaffer.

SHOUP, JOHN J., farmer ; P. O. Shelby ; was born in Pennsylvania in 1844; he has always lived at home and has helped to make the farm what it is to-day. Was married, Oct. 3, 1871, to Miss Adaline Miller, of Cass Township ; they have one child-Martha J., born Sept. 2, 1873. His father, John Shoup, was born in Franklin Co., Penn., within nine miles of Hagerstown, Md., Oct. 31, 1812; was raised on the farm till about 14 years of age; he then commenced to learn the carpenter's trade ; in June, 1833, came to Richland Co., where he remained two years, and returned to Penn- sylvania ; in 1845, moved back and located near his present farm, and, about one year after, he bought his farm ; the old log house still stands there that was built nearly fifty years ago ; the land was wild and very wet ; his corn-field is now where what was known as the " big marsh," and used to be considered worthless. They have quite a curiosity in the shape of a dirk- knife, which they found in a limb of a large tree, about seventy feet from the ground; they cut it down for rails, and, on trimming it up, they cut the limb and split it, and there lay the dirk-knife inside of the limb. and how it came there is a mystery yet unsolved, as the limb had the appearance of being nearly solid. They have a very productive farm ; have raised eighty bushels of shelled corn to the acre, and thirty-six bushels of wheat to the acre. Was married, Nov. 16, 1837, to Miss Logne; they had ten children, tour of whom are now living. Mr. Shoup remembers well when the old log court house and jail was standing iu Mans- field, and when they held court in it: his family all live with and around him ; they moved from Pennsyl- vania in wagons; were three weeks coming through : his farm is five miles south of Plymouth and is as fine and productive a farm as there is in the township.

SMITH, S. S., DR., manufacturer of Dr. Smith's King of Cure; was born in Canada Dec. 12, 1822; the

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Doctor came to Ohio in 1850, and to Plymouth in August, 1864: commenced the study of medicine when quite young, and in 1861 commenced the practice; he has read a great many medical works, and is pretty well posted in medicine of both schools, having spent many years in the study of each, and finally settled down on Homeopathy ; he attended the Western Homoeopathic College, of Cleveland, Ohio, in 1862-63, since which time he has been following his profession ; at the com- mencement of his practice, he found the need of a re- liable agent to act upon the secretions, and not finding it in the general catalogue, he began to study up a reni- edy. As a result of his years of study and practice, has succeeded in placing before the public and profes- sion his "King of Cure," which is well kuown where the Doctor has been making and prescribing it to his patients, improving and testing its merits for over ten years before putting it into market, except within the bounds of his practice, where it has won for itself a reputation at home never before equaled by any other remedy, as is shown by the thousands of testimonials which it has received. The Doctor is well known throughout the community, and has been very success- ful.

SYKES, W. H., DR., physician and surgeon, Plym- outh ; he was born in June, 1836, in Genesee Co., N. Y., and was raised a farmer; the family moved West when the Doctor was quite young, landing in Huron Co., Ohio. In 1857, he attended the University of Michigan, at Ann Arbor, receiving the degree of M. D in 1858 ; »fter practicing some eight years. he again took another college course, this time at the Cleveland Medical College, and received again the degree of M. D. In 1865, the Doctor came to Plymouth and has practiced medicine here ever since, and, it is safe to say, with marked success, he being well known throughout the country as a good and reliable physi- cian, and the only one in town who makes a specialty of surgery, consequently he gets the graater portion of this branch of the profession. Ile was Assistant Surgeon in the 166th O. N. G .; was in the hospital service for a long time. In 1860, he became a member of the Delamater Medical Society, and, in 1870, of the Ohio State Medical Society ; also, in 1874, of the Amer- ican Medical Society. Was married first Sept. 30, 1860, to Miss Sarah A. Stewart, of Bergen, Genesee Co., N. Y. ; they had three children-Ellen Ida, born June 18, 1863 ; Royal D., June 9, 1866 ; William S., March 15, 1876. Oct. 10, 1876, Mrs. Sykes died. Jan. 12, 1878, the Doctor was married to Miss Eliza Bevier, of Plymouth.

TRANGER, SAMUEL II., SR. (deceased) ; he was born on the west bank of the Delaware River, forty miles north by northeast of Philadelphia, Penn., on Oct. 2, 1795 ; he was raised a farmer, and fully under- stood it in all its brauches, as his prosperity and after- life would indicate ; in his youthful days, all farmers of that vicinity did all their marketing and trading at that city ; he always did a great deal of teaming to Philadelphia with four, and sometimes a six-horse team. In 1825, he was married to Miss Susannah Maust, with whom he lived happily for a period of more than fifty-four years ; but in May, 1879, she was

called from his side by death, at the advanced age of 80 years 3 months and 2 days, preceding him to the grave a little over five months; on Nov. 7, 1879, he was called to the spirit-world at the age of 84 years 1 month and 5 days; he said he was ready : he had no regrets ; he had done all the good he could, and was ready to go to the Father. There were born to Mr. and Mrs. Trau- ger five sons and four daughters; two of the latter died in early life; the remaining seven children were present and cared for them in their last affliction and death ; they lie side by side in Green Lawn Cemetery. In 1835, he and a cousin went West to buy land ; his cousin bought near Toledo, but Mr. Trauger returned and bought in Plymouth Township, three miles south- west of the village, of Col. Woolf, the best quarter- section of land in the vicinity ; it was all heavy forest. In April, 1836, he moved his family of nine persons, by wagon, from the place of his birth, over bad roads, swamps, rivers, hills and mountains, about 600 miles by the route traveled, to the farm on which he resided for forty-three years; he then in May erected his first cabin, near the "big spring;" the neighbors all worked till the house was ready to be occupied, and then for about twenty years the destruction of timber went on ; it was the heaviest-timbered land in this vicinity ; there was one poplar-tree from which was sawed 13,000 feet of lumber, by accurate measurement of the owner of saw-mill ; the largest oak-tree measured twenty-two feet around at eight feet above the ground, and was fifty feet without a knot or limb, and many other trees nearly as large. This farm is one of the best in the State, having been awarded the first premium at three different contests for the best farms in Richland Co., in the years 1853-55. He was an experienced farmer ; he raised a field of 8 acres of wheat that averaged 64} bushels to the acre, and has produced over 100 bushels of corn to the acre. In the forty-three years he -lived on the aforesaid farm, he lived well, and contributed liberally to many charitable institutions, and the poor never failed to be noticed by him ; every Thanksgiving Day he donated a grist of flour to them; he also gave much to churches; at one donation, about thirty years ago, he gave $600, which, with the other subscriptions to the same church, amounted to over $1,000 for the building of this church ; besides all his liberal dona- tions to charitable purposes, he distributed over $20,000 among his children. He was the first to be ca led, out of a family of six, two older and three younger than he- the oldest being 89. When young, he was a very pron- inent man in the community ; at the age of 21, was chosen Chaplain of a militia company, which commission he held till he moved to Olio. In his death the com- munity sustained a great loss. Ile was a good citizen- honest as the day was long; was a kind neighbor; obliging, friendly, warm-hearted and true; every one who knew him esteemed him.

TRAUGER, SAMUEL, JR., manufacturer of agri- cultural implements, Plymouth ; was born near Phila- delphia, Penn., on the 26th day of February, 1832. In April, 1836, he, with his father's family, came to Ohio, the whole distance about six hundred miles, by wagons, and settled on a farm three miles southwest of Plymouth. When 18 years of age, he began for himself by teaching school in the winter and carpen-

PLYMOUTH TOWNSHIP.

873

tering in the summer. This mode of life lie continued for seven years in the States of Ohio, Illinois and lowa. In the spring of 1855, he bought of the Government 310 acres of land in Boone Co., Iowa, about twenty miles from the capital of the State. Mr. Tranger then re- turned to Ohio and taught school the following winter, and in June he started for Lake Superior, but at Detroit, Mich., he learned unfavorable news which changed his course, and he there took a boat for Chicago ; he after- ward went to Iowa and was engaged in various busi- ness In May, 1860, he in company with forty others outfitted near Des Moines, Iowa, and traveled by wagon to what was then called Pike's Peak gold regions, a distance of about eight hundred miles, camping on the plains at night and doing their own cooking. They arrived at Denver, Colo., June 20. He and twenty others went on an exploring trip about eighty miles into the mountains, passing among and through the snow drifts larger than houses, crossing the range at Long's Peak, from which a magnificent view was had of mountains, valleys, plains, groves and cities, for a distance of more than a hundred miles. In the mines every foot of paying ground was claimed and held at fabulous prices. After searching a month for something that would pay, he and others purchased ranch claims in the valley and bought stock of emigrants and at the auctions in Denver, and drove it from the ranch to the mines ; they pastured the year round, cattle getting fat in the winter ; snow never lies on the ground more than two days at a time until there will be places where stock can graze again. While snow is on the ground, the stock have to live on "sage-wood" bushes and brush along the creeks. They also marketed hay and vegetables in the mines. While there, he descended a shaft where quartz was being mined, wishing to see one of the miners that was 125 feet under the ground. It appeared to him as though he had climbed a thousand feet and causes an unpleasant feeling to go into these places. Yet thousands go deeper every day. The mines in this country are mostly quartz mines. There being but little rainfall, and the main dependence for moisture is snow, which falls in the spring ; people have to irrigate their land to raise crops. It consists of dig- ging long ditches from the streams that come out of the mountains. In the spring of 1864, Indian troubles having begun, Mr. Trauger returned home. In 1865, he purchased 150 acres of land on the New Haven Prairie, intending to raise stock, but the war closed at that time and prices of stock declined. Then he, in company with a brother and S. B. Day, now of Mans- field, bought the "Plymouth Foundry and Machine Shops." After running them successfully for more than a year, they sold out to parties who moved the shops away. Then a joint stock company was organized, with a capital of $10,000, and built a new foundry ; he being a Director, Treasurer, and a member of the executive committee. After two years, he sold out his stock and retired from the company. He then made a trip to lowa and sold his lands at about $10 per acre ; also sold 200 acres in Crawford Co., Iowa, that he and his brother had taken on a debt. In 1872, he engaged in manufacturing agricultural implements, and has built up a prosperous and increasing business. He was married May 13, 1875, to Miss Sarah E. Hutchinson,

of Plymouth Township; they have one child, Grace Ann, born Feb. 8, 1878.

TRAUGER, HENRY, farmer ; was born April 25, 1829, in Pennsylvania ; the family came to Plymouth Township in 1836, and purchased the farm that he now owns. In 1853, Mr. Trauger took a trip to California, Panama, and many other places of interest; has traveled from the Atlantic to the Pacific Oceans, and, as a con- sequence, is a well-informed man; his trip to the Isthmus, etc., took him a period of six months ; when he returned he lived six years in Iowa, going there in the fall of 1854, as a farmer, and various other trades ; run a thrashing machine for several years; in 1860, came back to the old homestead and has there remained ever since, buying the old farm of his father. Mr. Trauger raises a large amount of grain, and keeps a fine lot of stock ; theirs used to be the " premium " farm of the county. Was married Sept. 28, 1876, to Miss Stoutnour, of Mansfield ; they have one child, a little girl.

WAITE, T. D., blacksmith and agricultural imple- ment dealer, Plymouth; residence, warehouse and shop on Sundusky street ; was born in South Wellingham, Lincolnshire, England, April 11, 1825. A brother of his, Mr. William Waite, came to Plymouth in 1853, their being six children in the family ; their father, Thomas Waite, together with Mrs. Waite, and the balance of the children, came the following year, 1854, and all located in Plymouth and vicinity. The follow- ing are the names of the families and their occupation : William, a farmer; T. D., blacksmith and implement dealer ; John, carpenter ; Charles, carpenter ; Sarah, the only daughter, married William Loffland ; George, butcher, at. Shelby. The old folks are still living in New Haven Township : they follow farming ; three of the boys, John, Charley and George, were in the army ; John enlisted in Co. H, 163d O. N. G .; Charley enlisted in the spring of 1861, in Co. D, 32d O. V. I .; George was in the 11th O. V. C., and was all through the Western States and Territories, where he hoped to fight Indians and doing scout duty. Mr. T. D. Waite, the subject of this sketch, learned the blacksmith trade of his father and older brother, when quite a small boy, and has worked at his trade for twenty-five years, and it is safe to say that he is one of the best in the country, as he fully understands it in all branches ; in the spring of 1879, he added a full line of agricul- tural implements to his shop, consisting of wagons, carriages, sleighs and all kinds of farming implements, and the business has been very satisfactory to him ; he being well-known as a reliable man in every way, and people have confidence in him. Was married, in 1872, to Miss E. Ladow, of Auburn Township, Craw- ford Co .; they have one child-Jesse, born November, 1865.

WEBBER, FRED. H., farmer ; P. O. Plymouthi ; he was born Dec. 29, 1853; was raised and always lived at home on the farm ; the balance of the family have all left, and leaves him at home to take care of his mother, who is quite an old lady, and to look after the interests of the farm. He was married in 1876 to Miss Har- riet Kirkpatrick, of Plymouth Township; they have one little boy-Frank, born in 1877. Mr. Webber now owns the old farm where they live, it being the old

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homestead. His father, Mr. David B. Webber, was born in the State of Maine in 1800 ; came to Plymouth Township in 1817; the family located south of Plym- outh about two miles ; the county was but thinly set- tled at that time, and they were numbered among the pioneers of Richland Co., and have passed through all the hardships, privations, etc., incident to pioneer life and a new and unimproved country ; he has always been a farmer and a highly respected citizen. Ile was married in 1824 to Miss Lucy Conkling, of Plymouth Township; in 1837, they moved to their present farm, now owned by their son, Fred H., about three miles southwest of Plymouth ; when they came on to it, it was a dense forest, and, by hard and faithful labor, he suc- ceeded in making one of the finest farms in the Town- ship, and a very pleasant home. There were thirteen children in their family, and they are scattered from Plymouth to California; one son, Mr. M. Webber, is Postmaster at Plymouth, and another, Mr. T. J. Web- ber, druggist, in the same building. Mr. Webber died Nov. 5, 1874. Mrs. Webber is living at home with her son as above mentioned ; they have everything around them to make home pleasant and comfortable.

WESTFALL, HANEY, was born in Beverly, W. Va. May 27, 1796; in his early youth, he came West to Lancaster, Ohio, to live with his uncle, David Pugh, and with him served an apprenticeship at the tanning business; upon the breaking-out of the war of 1812, he enlisted in Capt. Housker's company, Ohio militia, and served until the close of the war; after the close of the war, he came to Man-field and worked in the tan-yard of his uncle, John Pugh, which was locat- ed just north of where the European Hotel now stands. He afterward removed to Plymouth, then- known as Paris, and engaged in the tanning business there for a number of years. Ile was married there to Hannah Coneklin, who now resides with her daughter, Mrs. D. W. Gibbs, at Toledo ; he died Aug. 25, 1869, on his farm, one-half mile west of Plymouth. Mr. Westfall was a man of sterling integrity and most exemplary habits, and honest and upright in all his business relations. Politically, he was a Democrat of the old Jackson kind, but, during the late civil war, differed from his old party on the question of the conduct of the war, but returned to the party at the close of the war and died in the political faith in which he was reared; at the time of his death, he was a member of the Lutheran Church at Plymouth ; he was a warm and intimate friend all his life of Father John Wiler and very seldom came to

Mansfield without calling on his old friend. He left one son. Jacob Westfall, who resides on the old farm, and four daughters, all of whom are married and now living and located as follows : Mrs. Starr and Mrs. D. W. Gibbs at Toledo; Mrs. Nimmons at Butler, Ind., and Mrs. Whitehead at Kansas City, Mo. Mr. Westfall always took great pride in the growth and prosperity of the city of Mansfield ; the following taken from the fly leaf of his family Bible was penned by him a few years before his death and just at the close of the war of the rebellion, viz .: "I love my family and this Holy Book first, and my beloved Government of the United States second ; I hope to stand by her as long as I live ; I hope she will come out of her present trouble in triumph, and the Stars and Stripes wave over every foot of her territory, and that this blamed and wicked rebelling shall be put down never to rise again. May 1, 1864. H. WESTFALL."

WOLF, M. L., miller, Plymouth ; he was born in Ashland Co., Ohio, near Haysville, in 1854 ; he learned the trade when a very small boy ; he commenced when he had to stand on a half-bushel measure to pack flour in a barrel; he came to Plymouth with his father, something over four years ago, and he and his father are counted as good men at their business as there is in the country, and their large business shows them to be men who thoroughly understand milling in all its branches. He was married in 1873 to Miss Messamore, of Wyandot Co .; they have two children-Florence Lulu, born Sept. 2, 1874 ; Charley, Sept. 20, 1879.

WOLF, HENRY, proprietor flouring mills, Plymouth ; he was born in York Co., Penn., near Little York, in 1831 ; came to Ohio in the spring of 1849; he learned the trade of milling, near Haysville, Ashland Co., Nov. 1, 1875; he came to Plymouth, and first purchased and con- ducted a hotel in town, and, in April, 1876, he bought the mill ; it has four run of stones, and his mills are known throughout the community as turning out the best of flour ; the mill has been built nearly fifty years, and is perhaps one of the oldest mills in the county ; it has been rebuilt and remodeled, and does not look like the same old mill. Mr. Wolf was married in 1851, to Miss Carpenter, of Ashland Co .; they have three chil- dren-M. L., born in 1854; Barbara, in 1856.

WOLF, WILLIAM H., engineer and miller, Plym- outh ; he was born in 1858, and has always been in the mill with his father, and has learned the business, from engineering to milling, and is a steady, industri- ous young man.

SANDUSKY TOWNSHIP.

BAILEY, JAMES H., farmer ; P. O. Corsica; was born near Shelby, in this county, on July 4, 1830; his father removed from Adams Co., Penn., to Hamilton Co., Ohio, in 1819, and thence to this county in 1826, and, with his sons and other pioneers, aided in clearing

up the forest and making old Richland what it now is. James H., when quite young, had earned enough by hard labor to purchase 76 acres near his father's farm, which he improved, and after the death of his father, in 1869, bought the old homestead ; in 1871, he sold both farms

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and paid $12,570 for the elegant farm of 229 acres on which he now resides in Sandusky Township. His im- provements on the farm have made it one of the best in the township, and he is acknowledged to be one of our most successful farmers. He was married April 6, 1865, to Miss Amanda, daughter of the late John Root, who then lived on the farm adjoining the one now occu- pied by Mr. Baily. Mr. Root died Oct. 21, 1869.

BAKER, EMMAUS, farmer; P. O. Corsica; was born on the farm where he now resides in Sandusky Township, on Jan. 30, 1822; his father, Joseph Baker, was born in Vermont in 1789; removed to this county in 1820, and died in 1833. Emmaus and his brothers were among the pioneers who assisted in clearing up the forests, and converting the wilderness into fertile fields ; he owns the old homestead, embracing 160 acres of well-improved land, and is well fixed for enjoying life. He was married in 1847 to Matilda, daughter of James Dunlap, of Morrow Co .; she died in 1862. On March 12, 1863, he was married to his present wife, Amanda, daughter of the late Daniel Logan.

BENNETT, MARCUS W., farmer; was born in Can- ada West on July 11, 1817, and came to this county in 1838, settled in the vicinity of Blooming Grove Village. Was married May 20, 1841, to Miss Mary Maranda, daughter of the late Tryan Harding, and has continued to reside in the same neighborhood ever since. Tryan Harding was one of the sons of Amos Harding, who removed from Susquehanna Co., Penn., to this county in 1819, and the family were among the pioneers who took an active part in clearing up the forest and making Richland Co. what it now is-one of the best agricul- tural counties in the State.

BOOKWALTER, JOHN, JR. (deceased). He was born in Cumberland Co., Penn., Sept. 16, 1826 : came to Ohio in 1835. Was married Aug. 80, 1849, to Abi- gail M. Crothswaite, who was born March 24, 1823 ; they had the following family : Alexander, born July 6, 1850 ; Elvira, born May 26, 1852; John, born Dec. 12, 1853 ; Samuel T. and Washington S., born Sept. 14, 1859; Leroy F., born Nov. 26, 1862; Eva May, born May 6, 1868. John, Jr., died Sept. 17, 1872; Samuel T. died Oct. 2, 1855. John Bookwalter came to San- dusky Township in 1865; resided here till his death. Alexander is engaged in the study of law with James Colter ; Elvira married Wm. Sherry ; Mrs. Bookwalter resides with her children on the home farm in this township.

CASSEL, JOHN, P. O. Crestline ; was born in Frank- lin Co., Penn., Aug. 26, 1815, and removed to the vicinity of Ontario, in this county, in 1833, and from thence to the farm on which he now resides in San- dusky Township, in 1843; the improvements on his land at that time consisted of a cabin house, log barn, and about 15 acres partly cleared. He has since, by industry and perseverance, made it one of the best im- proved farms in the country, with an orchard of choice fruit, fine buildings, etc .; it is thought he raises the best horses and pigs in the county ; the old gentleman says he has all of this world's goods he needs, and feels thankful that God has blessed him and his family ; he !

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Author: Graham, A. A. (Albert Adams), 1848- Publication date: 1880 Publisher: Mansfield, O. : A. A. Graham & co. Number of Pages: 968

Author: Graham, A. A. (Albert Adams), 1848-
Publication date: 1880
Publisher: Mansfield, O. : A. A. Graham & co.
Number of Pages: 968