USA > Ohio > Wayne County > History of Wayne County, Ohio, Volume II > Part 5
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David I. Slemmons, son of Samuel and Ann ( McKee) Slemmons, was born in Milton township, Wayne county, Ohio, June 21, 1839. The place of his birth was the farm entered by his father in 1819. He was educated at Seville Academy, meantime assisting on the farm during vacations and learn- ing well all the routine of the business. After his marriage, in 1877, he took control of a farm and managed it for sixteen years, but in 1893 removed to Sterling, where he was engaged in the grain and warehouse business for ten years. During the last few years he has been practically retired. His political
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affiliations were always Democratic, and he has often been honored by his party with important local offices. For sixteen years he was elected and re-elected township clerk, and also served two years as township trustee. He has been an elder of the Presbyterian church for some twenty-five years and always regarded as one of the pillars of the congregation. October 23, 1877, Mr. Slemmons and Mary A., daughter of William and Rose Armstrong, were united in marriage ; they have two children, Howard A., a graduate of Woos- ter University, and Laura B., wife of Charles Frick.
WILLIAM WALLACE GARVER.
Among the progressive agriculturists of Chester township, Wayne county, Ohio, is William W. Garver, who was born on April 12, 1853, on the farm where he now lives, the son of John and Catherine (Shoemaker ) Garver, both natives of this state. The maternal grandparents of the subject were John and Catherine (Girl) Shoemaker. natives of Pennsylvania. The former died in 1855 : he was a strong Dunkard. In about 1818 or 1820 he and his family came to Chester township, Wayne county, Ohio, when this section was prac- tically a wilderness, and they entered a farm about a mile west of Lattasburg. Mr. Shoemaker cleared the place and lived here until his death. John Garver. son of David, came from Pennsylvania with his parents and located near Congress, Wayne county, and there David conducted a water and horse-power grist-mill, and also followed farming on a place which he entered from the government. He was a man of influence and a worker in the Dunkard church. He was the paternal grandfather of William W., of this review.
John Garver, father of William W., was born in Congress township and educated in the common schools. When a young man he followed farming. and after his marriage he bought one hundred and sixty acres where his son. William W., now resides. He improved the place and lived here until his death. Politically he was a Republican, and he held about all the Chester township offices; religiously the Dunkard church held his creed. His family consisted of nine sons and two daughters, namely : David W., who was a teacher when fifteen years of age and a practicing physician at nineteen, died April 6, 1907: John T. is a prominent lawyer at Sandusky ; Sarah married R. Shaw, of Medina county, Ohio; Jacob died in infancy; William Wallace, of this review : Samuel C., deceased, who was a leading lawyer at Sandusky. Ohio; A. M. has practiced medicine for the past thirty years at Lorain, Ohio ;
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W. W. GARVER
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Joseph E., a real estate dealer in Tennessee ; Bert is also a leading lawyer in Sandusky county. Ohio : George died in youth ; Mary married A. B. Hostetler, of West Salem, Wayne county, this state.
William W. Garver was educated in the schools at Smithville, Lodi and Savannah (Ohio) Academies. He received an excellent education and taught school in the winters and farmed during the summer months for a period of nineteen years. He became widely known throughout this locality as an edu- cator. He has always lived on the home place with the exception of four years spent in Wooster while serving as sheriff. He has followed general farming very successfully, and is one of the leading agriculturists of the county.
Mr. Garver was married on December 25. 1873. to Rebecca J. Dych, a native of this county and the daughter of a fine old family. To this union the following children have been born: Charles V .. a practicing physician at Lorain, Ohio; Arthur, a carpenter and living at home ; DeForest, who died in 1903 ; Mary, living at home : C. B., living in Wooster ; John S., who died when twenty years of age : Frank B., a teacher : Fred studied at Lorain, Ohio: True is a student at West Salem, this county; Wayne is also a student at West Salem.
William W. Garver is a loyal Republican and has long been influential in the local affairs of his party. In 1894 he was elected sheriff of Wayne county and so faithfully and well did he perform the duties of this office that he was re-elected in 1896; he has held most all of the offices in Chester township. On March 15, 1910, he was made postmaster at West Salem and took charge of the office on the Ist of May. Fraternally he is a member of the Free and Accepted Masons at West Salem, the Knights of Pythias at Wooster, the Im- proved Order of Red Men at Wooster and the Knights of the Maccabees at Lattasburg. In all these he takes a great deal of interest, and he has become well known throughout the western part of the county through his connection with these fraternal organizations and his political life.
WILLIAM BURKHOLDER.
The emigrant ancestor of the family of this name came from Germany during the eighteenth century and located in Pennsylvania. Subsequently he migrated to Ohio, where he was engaged in farming until his death. His son Henry, who had married in his native state of Pennsylvania, accompanied the former to the west in the early forties, became identified with farming pursuits and followed that occupation until his death. He left a son named William, who married Mary, daughter of Daniel and Polly Smith, whose
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biographies are given elsewhere in this volume. William was born in Penn- sylvania .in 1830, came to Ohio with his parents in boyhood and was reared in the family of John Kinney, who took care of him until he was able to do for himself. He engaged in the threshing business, when the custom was to go from neighborhood to neighborhood with the old-fashioned threshing outfit, and, as the saying was, threshed from Wooster to Medina. He accu- mulated a little money in this work and later took up farming, which he followed until a few years ago, when he accepted employment with the Wa- bash Railroad Company, with which he remained until his death in 1907. He was rather fond of politics and active in the local campaigns, first as a Re- publican and later as a Democrat. His widow and four children, two sons and two daughters, are living, the former having reached the age of eighty-two years at this writing ( 1909).
William Burkholder, one of the two surviving sons of William, was born in Canaan township, Wayne county, Ohio, on November 13, 1857. His edu- cation was obtained almost exclusively in the Ben school house, one of the buildings devoted to the common school purposes of Canaan township. In youth and early manhood his work was confined to the farm, but later he spent twelve years with Horr, Warner & Company, a firm engaged in busi- ness at Wellington. At the expiration of that time he returned to Jackson and bought a farm of thirty-five acres, fifteen of which, however, he dis- posed of later and now confines his operations to the remaining twenty acres. He owns a fine residence in Jackson, has a good income and enjoys general respect as one of the solid and reliable citizens of the community. He is extensively engaged in the poultry business, having a very fine strain of White Leghorns. He belongs to the Presbyterian church at Jackson and his political affiliations are with the Republican party. In July, 1880, Mr. Burk- holder married Julia, daughter of Edward Edis, who is one of the early set- tlers of Wayne county and now living at Jackson, in the eighty-seventh year of his age. Mr. and Mrs. Burkholder have four sons : Clem, a conductor on the interurban railroad; Earl is also on the electric line as conductor ; Ray and Roy, twins, now attending the Creston high school.
NORMAN B. DAWSON, M. D.
It was about 1810, or 1812, that Thomas and Jemima Dawson migrated to the wilds north of the Ohio river from their native state of Virginia, reached the unbroken wilderness and became the second white settlers of
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Milton township. They bought a tract of wild land of three hundred and twenty acres from the government. The work of clearing and improving the place was entered upon in the true pioneer spirit, and after years of arduous labor and privation a smiling and productive farm had taken the place of the once wild woodland and roadless briarpatch. In the log cabin put up shortly after the arrival, this sturdy couple reared a large family, con- sisting of six sons and six daughters, and in the course of years were gath- ered to their fathers on the farm that had been the scene of all their labors. Eugene B. Dawson, one of their sons, who was born, like the other children, on the Milton township farm, grew to manhood after the fashion of pioneer boys, learning much of the hard work and seeing little of the frivolities of life. In the course of time he became a farmer on his own account and eventually accumulated one hundred and sixty acres of land in his native township. In 1879 he sold out and removed to Missouri, where he remained until his death, in 1903, at the age of seventy-three years. In early manhood he married Sarah Moses, of Massachusetts, whom he met while she was visiting an aunt in Wayne county. She was the daughter of Ambrose and Lydia Moses, the former a native of Scotland who settled at Westfield, Massachusetts, during the latter part of the eighteenth century. In 1849 he went with his wife to California during the gold rush and lived there until both their lives were ended by a tragedy near Sacramento, when each was over a hundred years old, which resulted fatally, terminating their long lives after they had lived to- gether more than eighty years. Mrs. Eugene B. Dawson is still living in Missouri at an advanced age. She became the mother of six children, of whom three sons and two daughters are living.
Norman B. Dawson, one of the surviving sons, was born in Hancock county, Ohio, January 22, 1857. He was educated at Lodi Academy and Baldwin University, but at the end of his junior year in 1876 he entered the Cincinnati Medical College and was graduated from that institution in the class of 1879. Locating at Sterling, he immediately began the practice of his profession, which he has continued up to the present time. He soon became acquainted, gradually secured business, which increased with the years, and has long been recognized as one of the leading physicians of the county. Though formerly a Republican, his inclinations are towards independence in politics, preferring to vote for measures and men rather than for party. He is a member of the Masonic order, belonging to Wooster Commandery, Knights Templar, and is also connected with the Knights of Pythias and Royal Arcanum. He is a member of the Wayne County, Ohio State and American Medical Associations, and enjoys high rank and popularity in his profession.
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On September 19, 1882, Doctor Dawson married Adeline, daughter of John and Katherine Petit, natives of France, who came to America about 1817, and settled in Milton township, Wayne county, where they reared their family and became prominent in social and business circles. Doctor and Mrs. Dawson have an only daughter, Emily, who is now the wife of Howard A. Slemmons, who is a graduate of Buchtel College and one of the progressive young men of Wayne county. Mr. Slemmons received the degree of Master of Arts from Wooster University and Mrs. Slemmons the degree of Bachelor of Philosophy from Buchtel College at Akron, Ohio. .
ELMER FRANCIS WRIGHT.
A man who boldly faces the responsibilities of life and by determined and untiring energy carves out for himself an honorable success exerts a powerful influence upon the lives of all who follow him. Such has been the career of Elmer F. Wright, one of Wayne county's substantial citizens, who was born in Wadsworth, Medina county, Ohio, in 1857, the son of Ephraim and Cath- erine (Wideman) Wright. His paternal grandparents were Jacob and Betsy Wright, natives of Lancaster, Pennsylvania, who came to Medina county, Ohio, in an early day, about 1836 or 1838, locating on a farm which they developed from the wilderness and on which they spent the remainder of their lives. The maternal grandparents were natives of Canada, who came to the United States before their daughter, Catherine Wideman, was born. Ephraim Wright was born January 22, 1825, and Catherine Wideman, his wife, was born in Medina county, Ohio, in 1829. They were married in the last-named county, and there Mr. Wright followed the trade of cabinetmaker when a young man. He later took up farming and at the time of his death owned one hundred and forty-two acres and became a fairly prosperous farmer. He was an active Republican and a member of the United Brethren church, in which both he and his wife took an active part. Later in life he took up the prohibition question and voted that ticket, having been the first man in Wadsworth township, Medina county, to discard the use of whisky in the harvest field. He was justice of the peace for twelve successive years, but he tried only one case, usually settling all difficulties amicably and out of court. He became well known as a peacemaker. He preferred to remain at home during the Civil war and hired a substitute. He and his wife were the
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parents of eleven children, seven of whom grew to maturity, six now living. Ephraim Wright died October 7, 1891, after a hard day's labor for William Mckinley ; his widow survived him until 1903.
Elmer F. Wright was educated in the common schools of Wadsworth township and worked on the home farm during the summer months. At the age of eighteen years he began learning the blacksmith's trade, which he followed very successfully twenty-seven years, when he gave up active work in that line. In October, 1881, he moved to Sterling and he has made his home here ever since. He is the owner of a fine farm of two hundred and fifty-two acres in Canaan township, which he rents. It is a model farm in every respect and one of the most valuable in the township.
Politically, Mr. Wright is a Republican, but not an aspirant for office ; however, he has always taken an active part in his party's affairs. Fraternally he is a member of the Knights of Pythias and the Royal Arcanum.
Mr. Wright was married June 20, 1880, to Adelaide C. Bechtel, a native of Jackson, Canaan township, this county, the daughter of Samuel and Eliz- abeth Bechtel, an old and highly respected family there, having come from Maryland and Pennsylvania, respectively, in a very early day. Mr. Bechtel (lied September 23, 1880, and Mrs. Bechtel joined him in the silent land December 25, 1894.
To Mr. and Mrs. Wright three children were born : Elta Ephraim, a well- known blacksmith in Doylestown; Floyd Samuel was educated in the Sterling public schools and worked in the electric plant in Sterling, being an electrician of much promise ; Don Franklin, at home and attending school.
Mr. Wright is one of the best-known men in his township, his popu- larity being richly deserved because of his genuine worth and his genial dispo- sition.
JOSEPH MILLER.
How rapidly time is thinning the ranks of the brave boys in blue who went forth in defense of the nation's integrity during the dark and stormy epoch of the Civil war is evident to even the superficial observer, and the silvered heads of those who appear in the ranks of the veterans at the various encampments of the Grand Army of the Republic show whither the line of march is tending. The younger generation may well look in admiration and honor upon these valiant sons of the republic who saved to the world a grand and united country, and though time has thrown its beneficent influence over
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the story of the great conflict and the animosities of the past have been softened and chastened. yet never can there be aught but appreciation of the services of the men who followed the stars and stripes on the sanguinary battlefields of the South. One of the honored veterans of the war of the Rebellion was the subject of this review, who passed away at his home in Burbank in 1905. A valiant soldier in battle, a high-minded citizen, a loving husband and kind father, and a faithful friend,-he was during his life con- sidered one of the strong, virile men of the community, and society in general would be better if there were more like him.
Joseph Miller was born in Baltimore, Maryland, on the 2d day of May, 1828, and is a son of John and Mary Miller, who were early settlers in that city. They were of German descent and in the subject were embodied many of the elements which have made citizens of that nationality such a desirable addition to our great cosmopolitan population. Mr. Miller was educated in the public schools of the city of Baltimore. In 1852, when about twenty-four years old, he came to Wayne county, Ohio, and for a while worked at farm work for others. In 1855 he began working for himself and thereafter he successfully carried on farming operations until his death. He was a man of progressive ideas and kept in close touch with the most modern ideas relating to the science of agriculture and therefore was able to reap abundantly where he had sown. In 1899 he moved from the farm to the town of Burbank, where he lived until his death, though still maintaining a personal supervi- sion over his farming operations.
Mr. Miller's private life was rudely interrupted in the early sixties when the tocsin of war was sounded throughout the land, and in response to his country's call for aid he enlisted, in 1861, in the Sixteenth Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry, under the immediate command of Captain Horn, and during the following three years he rendered valiant and faithful service in defense of his country's integrity. He took part in a number of heavy en- gagements, besides many minor battles and skirmishes, and gained an en- viable record as a faithful and courageous soldier.
On the 7th of July, 1853, Mr. Miller married Sarah E. Stoops, a native of Franklin county, Pennsylvania, and a daughter of John and Elizabeth Stoops. The father died in his native state and the mother brought her family to Ohio in 1853, her death occurring here in 1884. To this union were born ten children, named as follows: Margaret Jane, Elizabeth, George, Rebecca, Christopher (deceased), Charles, Edward, Lee Della and Clara. In politics Mr. Miller was an ardent Democrat and took a deep interest in the success of his party at the polls. He was a quiet and unassuming man him-
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self, however, and made no effort to secure public preferment for himself. He was a man of steady and commendable habits and had the happy faculty of winning friends wherever he went, his friends being in number as his ac- quaintances.
BENJAMIN EDWARD HASKINS.
Among the enterprising and progressive citizens of Canaan township, Wayne county, Ohio, none are held in higher esteem than he whose name appears at the head of this brief sketch. He is one of the solid and sub- stantial citizens of his community and his influence has ever been found in support of every movement calculated to benefit the community morally, educationally, religiously or materially. Such men constitute the backbone of our great American civilization and to them are we indebted for the stability of our present-day institutions.
Tracing the ancestral history of the Haskins family, it is learned that Pere Haskins, grandfather of the subject, was born in 1781, and that he was a soldier in the war of 1812. Eventually he came to Wayne county, Ohio, and settled on a farm of one hundred and sixty acres, which he had bought June 6, 1843, of Joseph Stratton. This farm he and his sons proceeded to clear and put into cultivation and it now is one of the best farms in the township, being the one on which the subject now resides. Here Pere Has- kins continued to reside until his death, which occurred in 1854. He mar- ried Louisa Williams, who was born in 1795, and whose death occurred in 1887. To them were born the following children: Sidney, born December I, 1806; Erastus, born December 23. 1812; Abigail, born January 25, 1815; William, born July 24, 1817; Laura, born March 11, 1821 ; Maxcy, born Sep- tember 5, 1824; Rhoda, born June 29, 1822; Frederick Newell, born Febru- ary II, 1829; Alex C., born February 26, 1827: Charles Alexander, born March 6, 1832.
Of these Charles was a soldier during the Civil war, having enlisted in Company K, Sixteenth Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry, and rendered valiant service for his country. Frederick Newell Haskins was a captain in the Home Guards during the same period, and as a result of exposure while suffering from typhoid fever, he was made an invalid for life. Maxcy Has- kins was an expert millwright by trade, and owned a mill at Canaan Center, the first in this part of the county. He married Sybil Turner on March 8. 1856, she being the daughter of Jesse Turner, and to this union were born
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two children, Ella Serene, born December 17, 1856, and Ernest Clifford, born October 27, 1860. Maxcy Haskins died on April 4, 1863, and on March 24, 1867, his widow married his brother, Frederick Newell Haskins. He was a mason by trade, but always lived on and managed the home farm. He died March 12, 1902. He was a man of excellent parts and enjoyed the esteem of the entire community. To Frederick and Sybil Haskins were born three children, as follows: Frederick William, born April 29, 1868; Ber- tha, born June 18, 1874; Benjamin Edward, born May 28, 1871. Of these children, Ella S. and Benjamin E. now reside on the home farm. They attended the public schools during their youth and received a fair educa- tion. They live in the comfortable and attractive home in Canaan township and maintain it at the same high standard for which it has always been noted. They are both members of the Methodist Episcopal church, to which they give an earnest and generous support. Benjamin E. Haskins is the pos- sessor of many fine personal qualities which win for him the esteem and friendship of all who come in contact with him. He is public spirited in his attitude towards local enterprises and gives his support to all worthy enterprises.
MICHAEL S. GISH.
This venerable pioneer and representative agriculturist of Wayne county . has been a resident of the county from his infancy, thus having witnessed and taken an active part in the development of this section of the state from a sylvan wild to its present condition as an opulent agricultural and industrial community, with admirably improved farms and thriving cities and villages. From the rude forest lodge of the early days, the primitive schools and the meagre advantages of the pioneer epoch, he has seen the varied transitions and in the evening of his life is enabled to enjoy the fruits of his long years of earnest toil and endeavor. He early began to contribute to the work of clear- ing the land from its heavy forest, later assisted in the establishment of bet- ter schools and better public improvements, while his life course has ever been so directed as to retain to him the unqualified approval and esteem of the community in which he has passed his entire life. As a sterling representative of one of the pioneer families of this section of the Buckeye state, it is impera- tive that a due tribute be incorporated in this work.
Michael S. Gish was born in Milton township, the locality now being known as Rittman, Wayne county, on the 9th of May, 1839, and is a son of
M. S. GISH
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Jacob and Fannie (Shank) Gish. His paternal grandparents, Abraham and Anna (Longenecker) Gish, who were descended from Swiss ancestry, were both born in Lancaster county, Pennsylvania, where they were married and reared their family. The husband died in that state and his widow then brought her family to Greene township, Wayne county, Ohio, where she lived the remainder of her days and died. This worthy couple were patriotic in spirit and during the trying days of the Revolutionary war they furnished as far as they were able the colonial soldiers with clothing, cattle and provisions, thus contributing in a material way to the success of the patriot army. The subject's maternal grandparents, John Shank and wife, were natives of Switz- erland and in 1717 they came to America, locating near Lancaster, Penn- sylvania, where they lived the remainder of their lives. The subject's ances- tors in both paternal and maternal lines were Mennonites in religious belief and were consistent people in their lives. When, in 1812, the second war with Great Britain broke out. Abram Gish was engaged in the building of his house, but he promptly laid aside his tools and went to the defense of his country. At the termination of hostilities he completed the house and it is still standing and in use.
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