USA > Ohio > Fulton County > The County of Fulton: A History of Fulton County, Ohio, from the Earliest Days, with Special Chapters on Various Subjects, Including Each of the Different Townships; Also a Biographical Department. > Part 12
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, were recognized by President Harrison, who appointed Judge Brown to the position of Consul to' Glasgow, Scotland, a place he filled with credit to himself and honor to the country he represented. Being relieved from duty at that post by the change in national ad- ministration, he returned to his home in Wauseon and still 'con- ;tinued his great interest in public affairs. He became a close stu- dent of economic questions and was a leading advocate of the free coinage of silver during the discussion of that question a few years ago. His convictions upon the subject of finance caused him to sever the political relations of a lifetime; and in the campaign of 1896 he boldly advocated the election of Mr. Bryan to the Presi- dency. He continued to reside in Wauseon until-1904, when ill health compelled a change of climate and he removed to North Carolina, where he now resides,
William W. Touvelle was born at Steubenville, Jefferson county, Ohio, in 1847, and received a liberal education.' He was appointed
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to a cadetship in the Naval Academy at Annapolis, Maryland, in 1864, but resigned two years later and began to read law. He was admitted to the bar in 1868, but continued as a student until 1869, when, on June 10, he settled in Fulton county, at Ottokee, for a short time and then at Wauseon (coming from Celina), and began the practice of his profession. He was originally a rabid Democrat, of the type called "Copperhead" during the civil war and for some years after, but he changed his allegiance and was elected prosecut- ing attorney in 1871 by the Republicans, serving until 1876, and was also a delegate to the convention at Chicago which nominated Gar- field for President. He served as city solicitor of Wauseon for three terms and filled other local offices. During his first adminis- tration, President Mckinley appointed Mr. Touvelle to the position of Consul to Belfast, Ireland. He filled the position for about seven years, when, owing to ill health, he returned home and later re- signed the office. He died at his residence in Wauseon, November 10, 1904.
Assistant Secretary of Agriculture .- Joseph H. Brigham, a his- tory of whose public services is given in the biographical depart- ment of this work.
State Senators .- From 1872 to 1874, Dresden W. . H. Howard; 1880 to 1882, John A. Wilkins; 1882 to 1884, Joseph H. Brigham; 1888 to 1890, William Geyser ; 1892 to 1896, John C. Rorick.
Dresden Winfield Huston Howard was born in the village of Dresden, on the east bank of Seneca Lake, Yates county, New York, November 3, 1817. In 1821, then being but four years old, with his parents and other relatives he came to the Maumee country. They came by wagons to Buffalo, where the party divided, a portion tak- ing passage on the thirty-ton schooner Eagle, while the balance continued the wagon journey overland. After an unpleasant voyage of eight days, the schooner arrived under the picketed walls of Fort Meigs on the evening of June 17. The land party were some weeks on the road before they reached their destination-the Maumee. It was the intention of these families to go to the new settlement at Ann Arbor, but the fatigue of the long journey and the dread on the part of the women to enter the dark and seemingly intermin- able forests, changed their plan, and they were easily persuaded by the few white settlers to remain on the murky waters of the "Miami of the Lakes," and they were soon provided with small log cabins and a few acres of cleared land on the river flats, on which they planted corn, potatoes, and other necessary earth products. During the next summer, lands were purchased on the right bank of the river, at the head of the rapids, or at Grand Rapids, as it is more commonly known. Here three log cabins were built for the accommodation of the families, and to which they moved in March, 1823. On the opposite side of the river was the Ottawa Indian village of between one and two thousand people, and the Indian children of the village were soon the companions and playmates of Dresden Howard, thus enabling him to soon learn to speak their simple language His association with them became so friendly
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and intimate that he as often slept in their wigwams, on their beds of blankets and skins, as in the comfortable cabin of his parents. His good mother was in a state of almost constant anxiety for the safety of her son in the camp of the dreaded Indian; but the boy soon learned to love the free, wild life in the woods, under no re- straint. The Presbytery of Massachussets had established an Indian mission (church and school) at a point eight miles down the river from the Howard cabin, and there Dresden attended school from the age of six to nine years, and, other than this, the days of youth and boyhood gave him but little chance for an education at school. Before he was ten years old, young Howard was taken from school and put at work far too important for one of his years. According to his father's idea, the life of an Indian fur trader was the best for his son, and therefore he was hired out to a merchant in the Indian trade, with the limited knowledge of the business which he had ac- quired in his father's little store of Indian goods. But the boy soon became an expert, and knew the value of all the articles of trade, accurately judging the quality and value of skins and furs brought into market by the Indians and the few white hunters of the region. These accomplishments, for such were they then considered, together with the understanding of the Indian languages which he possessed, made him an exceedingly valuable employe, so that at the age of fifteen he had a safe passport into any of the fur trading establishments of the country. In the early summer of 1827 or 1828, young Howard accompanied Benjamin F. Hollister with a pack train of horses laden with goods for the Indian trade, on a journey to the "treaty grounds," on the shores of Lake Michigan, near the mouth of the Chicago river (now the site of the great west- ern metropolis), where were gathered the various tribes-the Pot- tawatamies, the Sacs, the Foxes and the Winnebagoes-who were met in council with agents of the government for the purpose of treating upon various subjects. During the summer of 1831, young Howard's father sent him on an expedition down the Wabash river, thence through to the Mississippi, for the purpose of locat- ing bounty lands, to which the father was entitled as a veteran of the war of 1812-15. For this purpose our young hero-for such he was, being but fourteen years old at that time-was fully equipped and fully authorized to act. On this journey his route lay up the Maumee by boat with some French "freighters," thence down the Wabash, on the back of an Indian pony purchased at Fort Wayne, to the old trading post at Terre Haute, and thence across the prairie to the Mississippi. In the summer and fall of 1832 was com- menced the removal of the Indians from this section, the last of them making the journey west in 1838. Mr. Howard prepared to follow them, in 1840, taking a large stock of goods for the fur trade. He ascended the Missouri as far as Fort Leavenworth, where, in consequence of the shallowness of the river, he disem- barked, procured freight wagons with eighty mules and Spanish drivers, and followed the land trail up the river. One incident
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which occurred during this trip is deserving of mention in a chap- ter devoted to political affairs. It occurred on the day of the Presi- dential election, in 1840. There was gathered under a large cotton- wood tree a party of ten or twelve traders, trappers and hunters of the region, among them Mr. Howard, for the purpose of holding an election for president. General William Henry Harrison seems to have been the unanimous choice of this small assemblage. The oldest trapper was chosen chairman and the youngest trader sec- retary of the meeting, this latter calling into requisition the ser- vices of Mr. Howard who kept the poll on a piece of paper torn from a memorandum book. The votes were cast for the candi- date direct, and not for electors; and after all had voted the "poll-book" was mailed to the "President of the Senate of the United States." This was the first vote of Mr. Howard for a presi- dential candidate, and it may be remarked that the meeting was held near the ruins of old Fort Calhoun, beyond the jurisdiction of state or territorial government. The first public station to which Mr. Howard was called, was an appointment by the State Legislature, as commissioner, or one of the commissioners, to locate and construct a turnpike from Fort Meigs to Fort Wayne, or to the Indiana State line. This was about the year 1843. In 1870, he was elected a member of the State Board of Equalization for the real estate of Ohio. Then, in 1871, he was elected to repre- sent his district as senator in the Legislature of the State; and, in April, 1887, he was appointed by Governor Foraker, to the board of trustees of the asylum for insane persons at Toledo. These were the leading positions to which Mr. Howard was called; but he was identified as prominently with the growth and development of Fulton county and Northwestern Ohio as any resident within its borders.
State Representatives .- January, 1852, Lucius B. Lathrop; 1854, Samuel Durgin ; 1856, Lucius H. Upham; 1858, Samuel A. Raymond; 1860, Dennison Steele; 1862, Ezekiel Masters; 1864, Octavius Waters; 1866, E. Masters; 1868, Amos Hill; 1872, Ezra Mann; 1876, John Fenton; 1880, Charles L. Allen ; 1884, Albert Deyo; 1888, Estell H. Rorick: 1892, L. G. Ely; 1896, William A. Scott, Jr,; 1900, Charles L. Allen; 1904, Frank Briggs.
Immediately following the formation of Fulton county, Lucius H. Upham located at Delta and opened a law office. He was then in the prime of life, having been born in 1808, in Windsor county, Vermont, and receiving a thorough preliminary education for the active business of life at Chester Institute, in his native county. He then came to: Ohio and located and lived for several years at Wooster, Wayne county, and, in 1841, began studying law with Judge Levi Cox. In 1843, Mr. Upham was admitted to the bar, and for the first six years thereafter practiced his profession at Wooster; from which place he removed to Fulton county. Mr. Upham, R. C. Lemmon and Amos Hill became citizens of the county about the same time. In 1856, Mr. Upham took his seat as
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a member of the legislature of Ohio, and served one term in the House of Representatives thereof, his constituency being the counties of Lucas and Fulton.
Octavius Waters was of English birth, but left the land of his nativity to become a sailor at the age of fifteen years. He received his education at an institution called Guy's Academy, in Worces- tershire. During his career as a sailor he visited many portions of the globe, landing finally at New York city, in 1844. Immediately thereafter he came to Ohio and located in Wood county, where he engaged in the work of the Christian ministry, and for several years was known as a devoted and eloquent Methodist clergyman. In 1851, he located in Fulton county, and engaged for a short time in mercantile pursuits at the village of Delta. Occupying all his leisure time for the next five years in legal study, in 1856 he was admitted to the bar, and at once began practicing law at Delta, at that time the most enterprising and populous place in the county. He was prosecuting attorney of Fulton county for two terms, and a representative for one term in the Fifty-sixth general assembly of Ohio, and served as a Presidential elector at the elections of Grant and Garfield to the Presidency. At the date of his death, which occurred at Delta, he was sixty-four years old. Mr. Waters was very prominent as a Mason, and as a Republican politician.
On June 10, 1850, within a few months after the legal creation of the county, Hon. Amos Hill became one of its residents, and immediately opened a law office He was a native of Stark county, Ohio, and was born April 4, 1824. Early in life he removed with his parents to Williams county, where he grew to young manhood on a farm, receiving in the meantime a good common school edu- cation, and teaching school for a brief period. He studied law with the late Hon. S. E. Blakeslee, at Bryan, Ohio, and was admitted to the bar a few months previous to his settlement in Fulton county. He resided at Ottokee, the county seat, until 1870, when he removed to Wauseon, whither the seat of justice had just pre- viously been removed. For the first twenty years of his practice he was recognized among the very foremost of the attorneys of the Fulton county bar. In 1867 he was elected to represent Fulton county in the House of Representatives of Ohio, where he served his constituents with fidelity and ability for four years, having been . re-elected in 1869.
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John Fenton, who represented Fulton county in the Ohio legisla- ture of 1876, and also officiated as justice of the peace of Fulton township for a period of twelve years, was born in Scotland of Irish parents, in 1825. He was a sucessful farmer and a public- spirited citizen.
Recorders .- The following occupants of this office are given in the order of their service: C. C. Allman, Joseph Jewell, S. B. Darby, R. H. Howard, J. K. Newcomer, W: H. Stevens, Jr., Richard Tay- Jor, Albert S. Bloomer, Harrison E. Randall, A. M. Lee, George -- Lee, H. E. Prentiss and Frank W. Zerman.
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Samuel B. Darby, who was the third man to fill the position of Recorder of Fulton county, was one of the early pioneers. He was born in Rutland county, Vermont, May 28, 1807, and with his parents removed to Allegheny county, New York, in April, 1809. There he grew to manhood and began the life of a farmer, but, in the fall of 1836, sold his farm and removed west. He entered forty acres on the banks of the Tiffin river, where he lived the remainder of his life, in what was then Lucas county, but which was after- wards made a part of Fulton county. On February 15, 1838, he arrived with his family to take possession of their new home. His possessions were a wife and three children, two pairs of oxen and a wagon, one dollar and seventy-five cents in money and a little provision, with the sheltered side of a stump for a habitation. The country was low, wet and yet destitute of pure water-"water, water everywhere, but not a drop to drink." For neighbors it gave them plenty of Indians, and offered plenty of game, such as bears, wolves, turkeys, deer, etc. Mr. Darby shook his head and thought it looked forbidding, but Mrs. Darby was full of hope; so with stout hearts they pitched their tent and began pioneer life, disposed of one pair of oxen, replenished the stock of provisions, built a cabin home, opened up the woods and looked hopefully toward the future. The following winter, Mr. Darby and a few neighbors built a small school house and Mr. Darby taught, the winter school numbering twelve pupils. He was the first postmaster in the county, his office being on a mail route from Defiance to Medina, Michigan. Ger- man township was organized in 1840, and Mr. Darby was elected township clerk, soon afterward justice of the peace, which office he filled the greater part of the remainder of his life, with the ex- ception of three years when he was county recorder.
Richard Taylor was born in Canandaigua, Ontario county, New York, July 1, 1838, and settled with his parents in Fulton county, Ohio, in 1843. He was elected county recorder in 1872.
County Auditors .- 1850, Mortimer D. Hibbard; 1850, Alfred C. Hough; 1864, Jason Hibbard; 1866, Ozias Merrill; 1870, L. G. Ely; 1877, Isaac Springer ; 1883, A. W. McConnell; Thomas Kel- ley, by appointment ; 1888, A. W. McConnell; 1889, William W. Croninger ; 1895, Harrison W. Ely; 1901, James E. Merrill.
County Commissioners .- The record of the proceedings of the board of commissioners properly begins with the June term, 1850, when the first meeting was held after the organization of the county, but owing to the records having been destroyed when the court house was burned, in 1864, it is impossible to give the dates of the election of the gentlemen who were members of the board prior to that time. However, the names of the commissioners are here given, with the year in which each was inducted into office, since 1864. In 1850, the first board was composed of Christopher Watkins, William Sutton and Jonathan Barnes. Then followed Warren Mccutchen, Stephen Houghton, E. Masters, George Taft, Joel Brigham, James Cornell, William Dye, Henry Jordon, and
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Elias Richardson, the latter entering upon the duties of the office in 1864; 1865, Joseph Ely; 1866, A. B. Gunn; 1867, Milton O. McCaskey; 1868, Joseph Ely; 1869, A. B. Gunn; 1870, A. B. Thompson; 1871, H. A. Canfield; 1872, Joseph Shadle; 1873, A. B. Thompson ; 1874, D. B. Allen; 1875, Joseph Shadle; 1876, A. B. Thompson ; 1877, E. L. Barber; 1878, Richard H. Scott; 1879, Charles Blake; 1880, E L. Barber; 1881, Richard H. Scott; 1882, Charles Blake; 1883, Charles H. Van Ostrand; 1884, James C. Vaughan; 1885, Henry H. Williams; 1886, Sylvester W. Baum; 1887, James C. Vaughan; 1888, Daniel T. Biddle; 1889, George W. Walters; 1890, Jonathan C. Cornell; 1891, Daniel T. Biddle; 1892, George W. Walters; 1893, J. C. Cornell; 1894, William A. Fenton; 1895, James K. Campbell; 1896, Leander Buxton; 1897, William A. Fenton; 1898, James K. Campbell; 1899, Leander Buxton; 1900, Edgar Ritchie; 1901, George D. Newcomer; 1902, Charles H. Stutesman; 1903, E. H. Ritchie; 1904, George D. New- comer.
William Sutton, a member of the first board of commissioners of Fulton county, was born, May 2, 1808, in Seneca county, New York, and after reaching manhood lived in Ontario county of the same State until 1835, when he removed to Morenci, Michigan, and engaged in the hotel business. He purchased a farm of 320 acres
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1. in Fulton county, and in 1838, removed thereon, where he resided ! until 1868, when he removed back to Michigan. Mr. Sutton's , general business during life was farming, but he was also a first- class carpenter; and when he first came West he was engaged as agent for selling lands by different companies, and was also em- ployed as agent for fine wool sheep. In these occupations he traveled all through the northern and western States.
James Cornell was born in New Jersey and settled in Fulton county in 1839. He was one of the early county commissioners and served in that capacity three terms.
Abraham B. Thompson was born in Lincolnshire, England, March 5, 1831. When he was but three months old his mother died, and about a year later his father left England and migrated to the United States, leaving three small children entirely depend- ent upon the kind charity of relatives. The father did not return to England until the year 1848, and at that time Abraham was seventeen years old. Upon the return trip to America he accom- panied his father, and they came to Royalton township, Fulton county, where the son lived until he attained his majority, and then started out determined to work his own way in life, and, above all other considerations, to acquire, at least, a fair business education. After working out by the month for nearly a year, Mr. Thompson attended school at Maumee City, and there he remained as long as he had money to pay his board and tuition, but was finally obliged to give up further study for want of funds. About this time there was considerable excitement over the wonderful gold fields of California, and, in 1854, then being twenty-three years old, young
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Thompson made the journey by the Nicaragua route. Upon reach- ing San Francisco he was entirely out of money; but by no means discouraged, he borrowed thirty dollars from a friend and started for the mines full of hope and expectation. For about four years he endured the hardships, privations and disappointments of life in the mines, when, in the fall of 1858, he returned to Ohio, having. accumulated about $2,000 in money as the result of his toil. With this he purchased a farm of one hundred and sixty acres, in Amboy township, the improvement and cultivation of which he immedi- ately commenced. He soon became recognized as one of the town- ship's most thrifty farmers and enterprising business men. In 1869, he erected a suitable building and commenced the manufac- ture of cheese, which industry he continued for years with the most favorable results. In 1875, Mr. Thompson moved to York township, where be built another extensive cheese factory, and, until 1883, operated both this and the one in Amboy township, when the latter was sold. While Mr. Thompson was a very busy man in conducting his business affairs, he nevertheless found time to show a patriotic interest in the welfare of his township and county; and in the political history of each he was a prominent figure, as is shown by his various political holdings. He filled with entire satisfaction the offices of township road supervisor, school director (fifteen consecutive years), treasurer, trustee, jus- tice of the peace, and in connection with the county's affairs he filled the important and responsible position of commissioner for nine consecutive years.
Heman Arza Canfield was a native of New York State, born in the town of West Bloomfield, Ontario county, January 25, 1816. Soon after arriving at the age of twenty-one years he came to Ohio and took up a tract of land, two hundred and forty acres in extent, located in Chesterfield township, and which was a part of what has ยท been styled the "Oak Openings." As a farmer Mr. Canfield was thrifty, thorough and practical. His farm, when first purchased, was of such land as abounded in the region, forest lands and oak openings, but, through his persevering efforts, it was made one of the best and most productive of the locality. In connection with. his agricultural pursuits he is remembered as having been an extensive cattle dealer and drover at an early day, taking live stock as far east as Syracuse, in New York State, and to other mar- kets in that State. At a later period, being found capable and worthy of confidence, he was entrusted with the management of several estates, and in each and every trust reposed in him he answered fully and faithfully its requirements. In the matter of the drainage of the Carroll swamp Mr. Canfield was a prime mover, and although a long and tedious litigation followed, he held firmly to the project and became, eventually, successful. In the political history of the county, and of his township, too, Mr. Canfield was an influential though not conspicuous person. He never asked for or sought an office, but held nearly every position within the
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gift of the people of the township. From 1871 to 1874, he filled the position of county commissioner, and performed his part with exceedingly good judgment and to good purpose.
Joseph Shadle was one of the first settlers of Dover township. He was born in Lebanon county, Pennsylvania, August 16, 1815, and in 1836, removed to Wayne county, Ohio. For several years there he worked a farm upon shares, and then came to Fulton county, where he purchased 160 acres of land upon section two in Dover township, upon which he moved his family, November 13, 1845, and immediately erected a log cabin. He afterwards added to his first purchase several times, until at one time he was the owner of six hundred acres of land, the major portion of which he cleared. He was many times honored by his township with the offices of trustee and constable, once with the office of land ap- praiser and later with that of justice of the peace, but for the latter he did not qualify. He was twice honored with the office of county commissioner and served his people six years, during the time being instrumental in establishing an infirmary for Fulton county.
David B. Allen was born in East Windsor, Connecticut, March I, 1809, upon a homestead which came into the possession of the Allen family in 1630. Mr. Allen settled in Clinton township, Ful- ton county, in 1855, and in addition to the office of county commis- sioner he served as justice of the peace for ten or twelve years.
County Treasurers .- The gentlemen who filled this responsible position prior to 1864, were, in the order of their service, Nathaniel Leggett, Isaac Springer, Julius Marsh and L. L. Carpenter. Their successors have been : 1866, A. B. Canfield; 1870, David Ayers; 1874, H. L. Moseley; 1878, Jared M. Longnecker; 1879, Thomas A. Kelley; 1881, James W. Howard; 1885, John B. Schnetzler ; 1889, Jacob S. Newcomer; 1893, A. C. Daniels; 1897, J. F. Grove; 1901, C. E. Guilford.
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