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 33
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LEROY S. BRENNER is one of the representative business men and influential citizens of Fayette, where he is junior member of the well-known firm of Acker & Brenner, dealers in agricultural imple-
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ments and machinery, buggies, carriages, wagons, harness, etc., and manufacturers of harness and saddlery goods, as well as various other products in the line. The present firm was organized in 1893, and the concern has large and well equipped quarters, the establish- ment being the only one of the sort in the thriving town of Fayette. Mr. Brenner was born on November 3, 1855, in Medina county, Ohio, and is a son of Adam and Mary (Sitz) Brenner, both natives of Lan- caster county, Pennsylvania, whence they removed to Ohio in the early '50's, settling in Medina county and later removing to Lorain county, where the father died at the age of seventy-two years, having been a resident of the town of Wellington at the time. His widow passed the closing years of her life in Medina county, where she died in 1893, at the age of eighty-four years. They became the parents of ten children: George is deceased; Ephraim is a resident of Me- dina county; Frank and Emma are deceased; Theresa is the wife of Jay Beedle, of Medina county; Christopher is a resident of Cleveland, Ohio; Wade resides in Grand Rapids, Mich .; Mary is deceased; Le- roy S. figures as the immediate subject of this brief sketch; Martha is the wife of Henry Strong, of Battle Creek, Mich. Leroy S. Bren- ner was reared to maturity in Medina county, in whose public schools he secured that excellent training which so well equipped him for the duties and responsibilities of his later career as an active and success- ful business man. At the age of sixteen years, in Wellington, Lorain county, he entered upon an apprenticeship at the trade of harness- making, serving three years and three months and becoming a thor- oughly skilled artisan in the line. He then went to Hastings, Mich., where he was employed at his trade a short time, then locating in Bellevue, that State, where he followed his trade several years, a por- tion of the time having had a shop .of his own. Previously to this, however, he had been employed for a time in Union City, that State, in the shop of one of the town's pioneer business men, Edwin Lee, and after returning to Bellevue and conducting his own shop for a time he disposed of the same and removed to Delta, Fulton county, Ohio, where he was engaged in the hotel business for the ensuing seven months. He then returned to Wellington and entered into a contract to manufacture fifty sets of harness, completing the work in due course of time. In February, 1884, Mr. Brenner came to Fay- ette, and for the following six years was here associated in the har- ness business with Benjamin D. Durling. He then continued in the same line of enterprise individually, and he also opened a carriage and buggy emporium in connection, building up an excellent trade, and continued his operations in these lines, on Main street, for a period of twelve years. He then formed his present partnership, with Gary Acker, and they control a large and important business, extending over a wide radius of country. In the meanwhile Mr. Brenner had become identified with other business enterprises, hav- ing conducted a livery stable one year, and having had a grocery store about the same length of time, and he also became proprietor of a blacksmith shop. He is progressive and energetic and pos- sesses excellent business acumen, so that he has been successful in
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his efforts, and in his business career he has made a steady and sub- stantial advancement, gaining prosperity and independence through his own efforts, and his course has been such as to retain to him the esteem and confidence of those with whom he has come in contact in the various relations of life. He is public-spirited and loyal to the interests of his home town, where he has stock in several com- mercial and industrial corporations. He is a supporter of the prin- ciples and policies of the Republican party, and he served five years as a member of the village council of Fayette. He is affiliated with the Knights of Pythias and the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. At Olivet, Mich., December 28, 1882, Mr. Brenner was united in marriage to Miss Anna L. Adams, of Bellevue, that State, and they have four children-Clarence, Leta, Verna and Lucille.
HON. FRANKLIN BRIGGS, a prominent and highly successful merchant of Delta, and a representative of one of the early established families of Fulton county, was born in Wayne county, Ohio, February 15, 1841. He is the son of Francis and Sarah (Cuffel) Briggs, both natives of Wayne county. Francis Briggs was a physician by profes- sion and followed that calling until his death which occurred at the age of fifty-five years in Ft. Wayne, Ind., his wife having died a few years earlier, aged fifty-two years. They were the parents of five children, all of whom are still living. They are: Mrs. Sarah J. Hill, a widow, of Wauseon, O .; Franklin; Margaret, now Mrs. Fluhart of Continental, O .; Matilda, now Mrs. Springstead of Spring- field, O .; Charles W., a mechanic of Bellefontaine, O. Franklin Briggs grew to manhood in his native county and was educated in the Water- ville, O., graded school. He began his independent life career by en- listing as a soldier in Company I of the Fourteenth Ohio volunteer infantry, serving three months, and then for three years in Company K of the Sixty-seventh Ohio regiment. Enlisting as a private he rose in rank step by step until he reached that of Captain, attaining to the command of his company before he was twenty-one years old, and serving as such for more than two years. Although he took part in forty-three engagements of greater or less degree, he escaped per- sonal injury. Among these engagements may be mentioned the fol- lowing : Phillippi, Cheat River, First Battle of Winchester and other ma- neuvers in Shenandoah Valley, Black River, Harrison's Landing, Siege and Battle of Petersburg, Siege of Charleston and the Storming of Fort Wagner. In November, 1864, he was mustered out of service and returned home, to embark soon after in the drug business, which he shortly after augmented by engaging also in the hardware busi- ness. Disposing of his drug establishment soon after he gave his undivided attention to the management of the hardware business; in which he met with unusual success, his trade extending to all parts of the county. He handles a general line of hardware, farm machin- ery, vehicles, etc. Mr. Briggs has always been an ardent Republican and has attained to an honored position within his party, having filled various offices in the town of Delta. In 1903 he was elected represen- tative from his county to the Ohio legislature, serving during the
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session of 1904, and his services were so acceptable to his constituents that he was re-elected on November 7, 1905, for another term. He was chairman of the Temperance committee, member of the committee on Fees and Salaries, also on that of Public Ways. In the counsels of the Masonic fraternity he has attained to the exalted position of a Thirty-second degree member. With the Grand Army of the Republic he is actively identified, being post commander of McQuillin Post, No. 271. Together with his family he is a member of the Methodist Episcopal church, taking an active part in all branches of church work. Mr. Briggs has been married three times. His first wife was Miss Laura Trowbridge, who died without issue. He next was wedded to Miss Mattie Hill, of Tuscarawas county. To this union two children were born, both of whom died prior to the mother's death. His present wife was Miss Emma Gelzer of Delta, who is the mother of four children. They are: Marion W., a graduate of the Electrical Engineering Department in Armour Institute of Technology, Chicago, who is interested in his father's business ; Earnest F., a graduate of the classical course of the University of Michigan, also a member of the firm of F. Briggs & Sons; Clara Louise, a graduate of the Woman's College of Baltimore, Md., who is still at home, and Bernice, a student at Evanston, Ill.
RUFUS BRIGGS, a representative of a prominent timber firm of Boston, Mass., was born in Penobscot county, Me., April 14, 1828. He is the son of Erastus and Cynthia (Holden) Briggs, the former, born in New Salem, Mass., in 1795, and the latter near Sedgwick,. Penobscot county, Maine, in 1814. In the fall of 1835 Erastus Briggs removed to Maumee, where he resided until April 1, 1837, when he came to Clinton township. He was a surveyor by occupation, having been thoroughly trained for that work, and had the honor of having taught the first school in Clinton township. At the time Mr. Briggs settled in Fulton county it was a part of Lucas county. His purchase of land of Elijah Humigton constitutes the first transfer recorded in that township. In the first election held in the township Mr. Briggs. served as clerk. Finally he moved back to Maumee River, where he died in 1839, forty-four years of age. After his death his widow moved back to Clinton township, where she reared her family on a farm. Here she died in 1898, at the ripe age of eighty-four years. The children of Erastus Briggs and wife are: Catherine, the wife of George Leonard of Napoleon, O .; Rufus, the subject of this sketch ; Maria, the wife of Ben Cooper of Covington, Ky .; Rowena, now Mrs. Miller of Covington, Ky., and Erastus, a resident of Judsonia, Ark., since 1870, where he is prominent in public and religious affairs, being identified with the Baptist church. William Holden, the father of Cynthia (Holden) Briggs, served as an officer in the Continental army during the Revolutionary war. The subject of this sketch, at the age of sixteen years, went to Covington, Ky., where he resided for seven years. From Covington he removed to Ohio and in 1854 located at Wauseon. He made this last journey on the first passenger train on the Lake Shore and Michigan Southern Railway. Since his residence
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in Wauseon he has quite actively engaged in the timber business, rep- resenting a prominent Boston firm. His territory consists of North- western Ohio, Northeastern Indiana and Southern Illinois. The mag- nitude of his business may be judged from the fact that he purchases annually from forty thousand to seventy thousand dollars' worth of timber for his firm. He takes great interest in the Pioneer Association of Fulton county, first organized by Col. D. W. H. Howard, who was the first president, holding the office as long as he lived. At the death of Colonel Howard the oldest settler in the county became his succes- sor, for it is one of the rules of the organization that whenever a vacan- cy occurs the oldest settler in the county becomes its presiding officer. For forty-four years Mr. Briggs has taken part in the propagation of the principles of Odd Fellowship. He married Miss Martha J. Bowen, the daughter of John and Nancy (Willett) Bowen, of Coving- ton, both natives of Virginia. In 1902 he was so unfortunate as to lose his wife, who died, aged seventy years. The family of the sub- ject of this sketch consists of the following children: Harvey O., of Toledo, O .; Julia P., now the widow of Charles Orral, of Wauseon; Ada M., now Mrs. F. S. Kissenger, and William W., of Toledo.
JOEL BRIGHAM, JR., the pioneer hardware merchant of Wau- seon, was born in Dunkirk, Chautauqua county, N. Y., January 10, 1818. He is the son of Joel Brigham, Sr., and Polly Ann (Durkee) Brigham, the former a native of Massachusetts and the latter of Connecticut. Joel Brigham, Sr., was born in Worcester county, Mass., September 12, 1785, and married Polly Ann Durkee, the daughter of Benjamin and Susan Durkee. He served as a soldier of the War of 1812 with the rank of lieutenant. In 1833 the family removed to Ohio and located near Lodi, Medina county, where both died. Seven children were born to their marriage, one of whom, Winfield, aged ninety years, has resided in Fulton county for more than fifty years. The Brigham family trace their ancestors back to the year 1635, when Thomas Brigham came to America from London, England, and settled at Marlboro, Mass. His son, Thomas Brigham, Jr., was born in 1640 and married Miss Mary Rice. Their son, Jonathan Brigham, born February 26, 1674, married Miss Mary Fay and served as select- man and moderator of Marlboro in 1715. Their son, Joel, a select- man of Marlboro in 1763, married Miss Mary Church, in August, 1762. Samuel, the grandfather of the subject of this sketch, born December 3, 1765, married Phoebe Davis of Worcester, and moved to Madison, N. Y., where he died in 1811. Their son, Joel Brigham, Sr., was born September 12, 1785, and married Polly Ann Durkee. Joel Brig- ham, Jr., the subject of this sketch, was reared on a farm and educated in the schools of his home county. In 1848 he embarked in business in Chatham Centre, Medina county, operating a general store and serving as postmaster, having received his appointment to that office from President Taylor, and remained there five years. In 1853 he removed to Clinton township, Fulton county, where for the next four years he engaged in farming and lumbering. He then became interested in the milling business, being a member of the firm of Brigham & Spring-
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er. In 1859 he removed to Wauseon and began his career as a hard- ware merchant, which business he conducted with marked ability and phenomenal success up to the date of his retirement from active duty. The present brick building on Main street used by the Brigham hard- ware store was built in 1871. Joel Brigham, Jr., has been equally active in public affairs, having served as justice of the peace three terms, as mayor of the city two terms and as county commissioner two terms .. While always very busy attending to business and official duties, he has found considerable time to devote to the management of the Wauseon cemetery. In 1877 he was first elected a member of the board of cemetery trustees, in which capacity he is still serving. Un- der his skillful management, for he has practically been the superin- tendent, the Wauseon cemetery has been made one of the most beau- tiful in Northern Ohio. Since 1877 the sale of every lot has been made by him. The business and official career of Joel Brigham, Jr., has been marked by the strictest integrity and the most pronounced success. In his declining years he still gives time and attention to public affairs, and is happy in the enjoyment of the esteem and re- spect of his fellow citizens, not only of Fulton county but of the neighboring counties. His friendship, hospitality and good citizen- ship are well known to all. In 1838 he married Miss Betsy Lyon, born in 1820, the daughter of Elias and Relief Lyon, who located at Chat- ham, Medina county, in 1835. W. S. Brigham, their eldest son, was for some years city clerk of Wauseon and he is now serving as post- master, having been appointed by President Mckinley and reap- pointed by President Roosevelt. He married Miss Ellen E. Buchanan, of Norwalk, O., the daughter of Henry and Phillinda (Chamberlain) Buchanan. They have two children : Luretta, now Mrs. B. W. Crissey, of Oak Park, Chicago, Ill., and Ralph W., who is now with his father in the postoffice. H. T. B. Brigham, the second son, was born in Chatham Centre, Medina county, and educated in the Wauseon public schools. He began his business career in the book, stationery and jewelry business and followed that calling for four years. For two years he served in the Eighty-sixth Ohio volunteer infantry, his regi- ment being a part of the Army of the Cumberland. His command helped to capture the Confederate general, John Morgan. For some years he has been successfully conducting a telephone construction business. . In the affairs of the Masonic fraternity he takes a deep interest. He married Miss Elizabeth Lucas, of Madison, N. Y., and by her has two children, Lawrence and Helen. Clarence E. Brigham, the youngest son, has succeeded to his father's hardware business and is. conducting the same with marked success. He is the husband of Inez Scott, the daughter of W. C. Scott, of Wauseon. Harriet Brig- ham, the elder daughter is the wife of W. H. Schrowe. They have one child, Harvard B., born March 29, 1886, now a student of Oberlin college. Cecelia, the younger daughter, was joined in wedlock to Dr. C. E. Bennett, one of Wauseon's leading physicians. Walter, a student of the Lima Military Academy, and Florence H. are the names of their two children. Col. J. H. Brigham, a nephew of the subject of this sketch, who recently died, was the son of Winfield Brigham, a
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resident of Fulton county for more than fifty years. Colonel Brigham was also a resident of this county and was the owner of a large farm at Delta. During the Civil war he was lieut .- colonel of the Sixty-ninth Ohio volunteer infantry and commanded a brigade in General Sher- man's march from Atlanta to the sea. He always took a great interest in agriculture and was at one time an active member of the Ohio State and the National granges. For three terms he was sheriff of Fulton county and for one term he represented his county in the State senate. At the time of his death he was assistant secretary of the agricultural department of the National government.
ROY S. BRIGHAM, a young and prosperous farmer of Swan Creek township, was born at Wauseon, July 2, 1873. He is the son of Col. J. H. and Edna (Allman) Brigham, both natives of Ohio. Col. J. H. Brigham was born in Lodi, Medina county, O., December 12, 1838. He grew to manhood, receiving a very liberal education in the public schools of his home county, Berea college and the Lebanon, Ohio, Normal. On the breaking out of the Civil war he entered the Union army as a private, serving at first in the Twelfth Ohio and after- wards in the Sixty-ninth Ohio regiment. Of the latter he became Lieutenant-Colonel, having passed through all of the intermediate grades. All of his promotions came to him as a reward of meritorious conduct on the field of battle. Returning from the army at the close of the war, he located in Fulton county, where for many years he was extensively engaged in farming, and during that time held many prom- inent official positions. For three terms he filled very satisfactorily the office of sheriff of Fulton county and one term he served in the State senate. He was a candidate for Congress on the Republican ticket, but was defeated in a district that was largely Democratic. In the work of the Grange movement Colonel Brigham took a very active part, serving as Master of the National Grange for five successive terms. For six.years he was a member of the Ohio State board of agriculture, being its president one year. During his whole life he was very active in politics, being in close touch with the National leaders of the Republi- can party. Hewas an intimate personal friend of President Mckinley and followed that national chieftain throughout his illustrious career. Af- ter serving on the Ohio State board of managers of the penitentiary, he was, in 1897, appointed by President Mckinley Assistant Secretary of Agriculture, a position he held until his death. By virtue of his office he was prominently connected with the Pan-American Exposi- tion at Buffalo and the Louisiana Purchase Exposition at St. Louis, having charge of much of the detail work of each. While on his way from Washington to St. Louis, in June, 1904, he stopped off at his farm home near Delta to visit his son, Roy S., and while there was stricken with heart failure, a malady from which he had been a suf- ferer for a number of years, and died very suddenly on June 29, 1904, his wife, who was born in Swan Creek township, June 17, 1840, having died one year before. They were the parents of six children, two sons and four daughters. The children are: Kate, now Mrs. Higgins of Ashley, Mich .; Bessie B., now Mrs. Dunbar of Toledo, O .; Roy S .;
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Harry H., connected with the Board of Government Managers of the St. Louis Exposition, who married Miss Mabel Cofin, of Wauseon ; Mary B., the wife of Sheldon S. Cline, of the Washington (D. C.) Post, and Josephine, who makes her home with Mrs. Cline. Colonel Brigham was so long and so prominently before the public that his death occasioned universal grief, not only among his old friends and neigh- bors but throughout the State and nation. A committee was appointed by the United States Board of the Louisiana Purchase Exposition to draft suitable resolutions of condolence, and Major William H. Mich- ael was appointed as the representative of that body at the funeral. A like action was taken by the officials of the Agricultural Department, who were represented by a committee at the burial services. As he was very successful in his business transactions, he left a large estate, consisting mostly of farms in Fulton county. He was a generous, open- hearted friend, a kind and loving father, whose tragic end came as an irreparable bereavement to his family. Roy S. Brigham was educated in the Delta public schools and has lived on the farm which he now occupies since his sixth year. Of the home estate, consisting of three hundred and eighty acres, one hundred and sixteen, in a high state of cultivation, are in the farm of Mr. Brigham. General farming, dairy- ing and stock-raising constitute his occupation, and the surround- ings show that he has been unusually successful. He is a member of Fulton Lodge, No. 248, Free and Accepted Masons, of Octavius Waters Chapter of Royal Arch Masons and Aurora Chapter, No. 75, Order Eastern Star, his wife also being a member of the last named organization. Politically he is identified with the Republican party. On March 26, 1896, he was married to Miss Carrie E. Mason, a native of Cleveland and the daughter of Charles Mason, deceased. Her mother was Evelyn Clark, now the wife of John G. Rorabeck, a druggist of Delta. Roy S. Brigham and wife are the parents of one interesting daughter, Helen, now in her eighth year and attending the Delta schools.
BYRON BRINK is another of the representative farmers of Chester- field township who is properly accorded specific consideration in this his- tory, his postoffice address being Morenci, Lenawee county, Mich., from which village his home is three miles distant. Mr. Brink is a member of one of the well known pioneer families of Fulton county, and was born on a farm near Fayette, in Gorham township, this county, oh the 6th of December, 1847. His father, Jacob Brink, was born in Rich- land county, Ohio, where he married Miss Phoebe Taylor, and they came to Fulton county in 1847, locating on a farm west of Fayette, where the father passed the remainder of his life, having reclaimed his farm from the wilds and made good improvements on the same. He died on the homestead, in 1853. His wife was born in the State of New York, and she accompanied her parents on their removal to Richland county, where she remained until her marriage and removal to Fulton county, as noted. She died in 1875, having survived her husband by more than a score of years. They became the parents of four children, of whom Byron was the first born; Bartley died on Jan-
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uary 20, 1894; Bainbridge died in 1905; and Jacob B. is a prosperous farmer of Gorham township. Byron Brink passed his boyhood and youth on the old homestead farm which was the place of his birth, and his educational training was secured principally in the common schools of the village of Fayette. In 1872 he purchased a farm of sixty acres, and he has since made several additional purchases, as well as sales, and is the owner of three hundred and ten acres of very fine land, his farm being well drained and very prolific in cultivation. He devotes his attention to diversified agriculture and to the raising of high-grade live stock, having made a specialty of thoroughbred and registered Poland-China swine since 1877 and of thoroughbred Hol- stein cattle since 1900. He has erected good buildings on his estate, including a commodious and attractive residence, and is one of the wideawake and progressive farmers of the county. In political affairs his support is given to the Republican party and he has held various local offices, including that of township trustee, of which he was in- cumbent six terms, while he has also been road supervisor and a valued member of the school board. In 1870 Mr. Brink married Miss Sarah A. Powers, who was born in Fulton county, in 1849, being a daughter of Peter and Julia (Canneda) Powers, who were natives of Con- necticut and who came to Fulton county in the pioneer days, here pass- ing the remainder of their lives. Mrs. Brink was summoned to the life eternal in 1872, having become the mother of one child, George E., who died at the age of twenty-one years. In 1873 Mr. Brink married Miss Elizabeth Rutledge, who was born in Williams coun- ty, Ohio, August 19, 1854, being a daughter of William and Sarah (Lipey) Rutledge, the former of whom was born in Pennsylvania and the latter in Richland county, Ohio, whence they came to Williams county, where they remained until death, the mother passing away December 27, 1884, and the father on the 7th of May, 1892. Mr. and Mrs. Brink have eight children; Sarah J. is the wife of Arthur Smith, of Lyons, this county; Phoebe M. is the wife of Edwin Powell, of Morenci, Mich .; Bertha A. is the wife of Everett Smith, of Chester- field; Harry married Miss Laura Crow, and is engaged in farming in Chesterfield township; Maye and Ray (twins), and James W. and John H. remain at the parental home.
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