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 34
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JOHN L. BRINK is a representative farmer of Gorham township, is a scion of one of the pioneer families of the Buckeye common- wealth, and is one who honored the State by meritorious and gal- lant service in the ranks of the Union army during practically the entire period of the Civil war. He was born in DeKalb, Crawford county, Ohio, June 12, 1845, and is a son of Levi and Elizabeth (Robinson) Brink, the former of whom was born in Richland county, Ohio, and the latter in the State of Virginia. Both died in DeKalb, where the father had followed the vocation of tanner and shoemaker, their deaths resulting from typhoid fever. The father was born June 15, 1820, and died November 16, 1846, and his wife, who was born October 9, 1820, died March 17, 1847, so that in death they were not long divided. They became the parents of two children, of whom
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the younger, John L., subject of this sketch, was less than a year old when he became doubly orphaned. The elder child. Charles Wesley, was born October 31, 1841, and died on the 24th of the fol- lowing April. After the death of his parents, John L. Brink was taken into the home of his parental grandparents, Cornelius and Han- nah (Bodley) Brink, by whom he was carefully reared and educated. They were early settlers of Richland county, Ohio, and in 1858 they came to Fulton county and took up their residence in Gorham town- ship, where the grandfather gave his attention to farming until his death, which resulted from an accident. He passed away in 1863, at the age of sixty-five years, and his wife, who was born February 9, 1799, died at the age of eighty-four years, four months and twenty- five days. They became the parents of seven children, all of whom, but one, are now deceased. John L. Brink secured his early educa- tion in the common schools of Gorham township, where he was reared on the farm of his grandfather, with whom he remained asso- ciated until the outbreak of the War of the Rebellion, when he promptly manifested his loyalty and patriotism. September 1, 1861, at the age of sixteen years, he enlisted as a private in Company K. Thirty-eighth Ohio Volunteer Infantry, at Fayette, his command being assigned to the Army of the Tennessee. He was an active participant in many important battles and minor engagements, among which may be designated the following: Wildcat and Mill Springs, Ky .; siege of Corinth, Miss .; Perryville and Stone River; Hoover's Gap, Missionary Ridge, Resaca and Kenesaw Mountain; the Atlanta campaign, under General Sherman; Jonesboro, Ga., and the Georgia campaign; siege of Savannah; and the campaign through the Caro- linas, including the engagement at Raleigh, North Carolina, on the Ioth of April, 1865. He was mustered out at Louisville, Ky., July 12, 1865, and received his honorable discharge a few days later, in Cleveland, Ohio. He then returned to Gorham township, his grand- father having died in the meantime, and soon after he went to North- ern Michigan, where he was identified with the great lumbering in- dustry until 1868, when he returned to Gorham township, where he has since made farming his principal vocation, having a well-im- proved farm of eighty acres and being one of the honored citizens of the community in which he has so long made his home. In poli- tics Mr. Brink maintains an independent attitude, and in a fraternal way he is an appreciative member of the Grand Army of the Repub- lic, being a popular comrade of Stout Post, No. 128, at Fayette. Mrs. Brink is a member of the Methodist Episcopal church. Decem- ber 29, 1868, Mr. Brink was united in marriage to Miss Sarah A. Saltzgaber, who was born near Mansfield, Richland county, Ohio, January 19, 1841, being a daughter of John and Sylvia (Wise) Saltz- gaber, natives of Lebanon county, Pa. The father was born April 13, 1807, and died September 28, 1860, in Gorham township. His wife was born November 25, 1805, and died July 2, 1889. They were married in their native county and in March, 1836, located in Rich- land county, Ohio, where they remained until 1847. when they came to what is now Fulton county, passing the remainder of their lives
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in Gorham township, the father having devoted the greater portion of his active life to work at the cabinetmaker's trade. They became the parents of eleven children, concerning whom the following data are incorporated: Margaret, born May 6, 1827, died February 21, 1898; Jonathan, born September 16, 1828, resides in Prattville, Mich .; Eliza was born June 14, 1831; Henrietta was born July 24, 1833, and is the wife of James Brink, of Gorham township; John, who was born August 22, 1835, is deceased; Mary, born July 27, 1838, is the wife of Edward Coleman, of Fayette; Sarah A. is the wife of the subject of this sketch; William Henry, born June 1, 1841, resides in Helena, Mont .: George, born July 22, 1843, died September 25, 1888; Ma- tilda, born May 18, 1847, died September 27, 1902; and Thomas, born December 18, 1848, died January 10, 1852. To Mr. and Mrs. Brink have been born three children: Hugh C., born May 7, 1870, met his death by drowning, August 4, 1901. Earl E., who was born January 1, 1872, is a successful farmer of Gorham township. May 2, 1895, he married Miss Minnie Glime, of Williams county, and they have one child, Leila May, born April 16, 1896. Nelson L., youngest of the three children of Mr. Brink, was born September 6, 1875, and is engaged in farming in Gorham township. January 23, 1900, he married Jennie Lester, daughter of Isaac Lester, mentioned else- where in this publication, and they have one child, Lois, born Febru- ary 17, 1903.
FREDERICK BRINKMAN is one of those worthy representatives of the German fatherland who have contributed so materially to the stability and progress of the various communities in which they have located upon coming to America. He is the owner of one of the fine farms of York township, and is one of the leading agriculturists and stock-growers of this section of the county. He was born in Pyer- mont, Germany, on the 24th of April, 1845, and is a son of Frederick and Cathrine (Ritterbush) Brinkman, both of whom died in Ger- many, the mother in 1853 and the father in 1855. Fred- erick Brinkman was reared and educated in his native land, where he remained until the year 1869, when he immigrated to the United States, first locating in New York City, and he became a resident of Fulton county in 1870. In the centennial year of our na- tional independence, Mr. Brinkman purchased forty acres of land in York township, taking up his residence in a primitive log cabin, near the site of his present fine brick house, and setting himself vigorously and systematically to the task of reclaiming and improving his proper- ty. As prosperity crowned his efforts he added to the area of his landed estate, eventually becoming the owner of two hundred and eighty acres. He has since sold one hundred and twenty acres to his son, retaining the remaining one hundred and sixty acres, including the original homestead which he secured thirty years ago. His resi- dence is one of the best in the township and the other farm buildings are in harmony therewith. Though never a seeker of public office Mr. Brinkman is a stanch supporter of the principles and policies of the Republican party, and he and his wife are members of the United
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Brethren church. In 1873 Mr. Brinkman was united in marriage to Miss Mary Orth, who was born in Germantown, Montgomery county, Ohio, September 20, 1842, and they have four children, namely: G. William, who married Miss Nettie Mckibbens and is engaged in farmi- ing in Clinton township; Frederick C., who is a farmer at home : Mary, who is the wife of Sherman Russell, of York township : and W. Herman, who married Miss Fanny Ruhley and is engaged in farm- ing in York township, where he owns and operates a farm of eighty acres.
DAVIS BROWN, secretary and treasurer of the Fulton county Savings and Banking company, of Lyons, and also numbered among the leading farmers of Royalton township, is a member of one of the honored pioneer families of the county and is in all senses eligible for recognition in a publication of the province assigned to the one at hand. He was born in Royalton township, on the 4th of January. 1842, and is a son of George B. and Eliza Ann (Coyle) Brown, the former of whom was born in Connecticut, of old Colonial stock. while the latter was born in Monroe county, Mich. George B. Brown was reared and educated in his native State, and as a young man removed thence to the State of New York, where he followed the profession of teaching .. About 1840 he came to Fulton county, Ohio, and pur- chased eighty acres of wild land, in Royalton township, the property being located in Section II. For some time he worked by the day in Madison township, Lenawee county, Mich., and after his marriage he located on his farm, which he reclaimed and improved, and later he purchased an additional tract of eighty acres, clearing a portion of the same, and had the distinction of serving as the first sheriff of Fulton county. In 1870 he removed to Bedford, Monroe county, Mich.,in which locality he purchased a farm of one hundred and twenty acres, and there he passed the remainder of his long and useful life, having been eighty-three years of age at the time of his death, in 1898. He was twice married. His first wife, Eliza Ann (Coyle) Brown, who died in 1852, bore him three children, Davis, subject of this sketch; George D., a resident of Lyons, Ohio; and Lucy J., deceased wife of Frank Pierce. For his second wife Mr. Brown married Esther Rawson, who died two years previous to Mr. Brown, two children having been born of this union, Mary E., deceased; and Ida, wife of William Whitmill. Davis Brown was reared to maturity on the old homestead in Royal- ton township and is indebted to the common schools of the locality for his early educational advantages, while later he attended Adrian College, at Adrian. Mich., for a time, gaining his education largely through personal effort and application outside of the schoolroom. On attaining his majority he engaged in teaching, in Conway township, Livingston county, Mich., where he followed his pedagogic profession two winter terms, working on a farm in the intervening summers. With the exception of these two years he has passed practically his entire life in Royalton township, where he is now the owner of one of the finest farms in the county, the same comprising 160 acres, being under effective cultivation and being well improved, the build-
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ings including a handsome brick residence. Since 1902 he has been giving special and discriminating attention to the propagation of sugar beets and to the upbuilding of the industry. He was one of the pro- moters and organizers of the Lenawee County (Mich.) Beet Sugar company, of which he was president until it was merged into the Con- tinental Beet Sugar company, which is now building a plant at Bliss- field, Mich., at a cost of $600,000. He was also one of the organizers of the Fulton County Savings and Banking company, of Lyons, which initiated business in January, 1899, and he was vice-president of the company until November 1, 1904, when he was elected secretary and treasurer, since which time he has given even closer attention to the executive affairs of this prosperous institution. He is also interested in a capitalistic way in two cheese factories, one in Amboy, this county, and the other in Ogden Center, Lenawee county, Mich., each having a capacity for the output of sixteen cheeses a day. In politics Mr. Brown is a stalwart supporter of the Democratic cause, and while not formally identified with any religious organization he is a liberal supporter of church work and is charitable and tolerant in his views and associations. He is affiliated with Royalton Union Lodge, No. 434, F. & A. M .; Lyons Chapter, No. 175, R. A. M., of which he is high priest : and Wauseon Council, R. & S. M., as well as with the Order of the Eastern Star and the Knights of the Maccabees. In 1871 was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Brown to Miss Harriet A. John- son, daughter of Sullivan and Fidelia (Worden) Johnson, honored pio- neers of Amboy township, and of this union have been born four chil- dren : George S., Marvin D., Chloe (Mrs. Charles Fetterman), and Eugene A.
REV. GEORGE W. BROWN is the able and popular pastor of the Presbyterian church at Delta and it is consonant that in this volume be entered a review of his life and labors. George Wilbur Brown is a native of the old Buckeye State, having been born in Piketon, Pike county, Ohio, May 18, 1872, and being a son of Henry and Sarah A. (Duke) Brown, both of whom were likewise born and reared in Pike county, being representatives of sterling pioneer families of that sec- tion of the State. Henry Brown, who resides on his old homestead farm in Pike county, and who is also the owner and operator of a flour mill at Piketon, is a son of John Brown, who was an extensive landholder in the valley of the Sciota river, having inherited the property from his father, who was a prominent and influential pioneer of that beau- tiful part of the State. His name was Henry Brown, and he was a native of Loudoun county, Va., the family being of English origin, and the genealogy in the American branch is traced back to progenitors who came to the New World in the time of William Penn. Henry Brown was thrice married and became the father of twenty-six chil- dren. In a cognatic way the Brown family is related to the well-known Lucas family, prominent in the annals of Ohio, Governor Lucas, of this State, having been a great-uncle of the subject of this sketch. Henry Brown (2d), father of Rev. George W., has been prominent in the public and industrial affairs of Pike county for many years, and
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is now a member of the directorate of the First National Bank of Pike- ton, where he has varied other capitalistic interests. He resides on the old homestead, in company with his three unmarried daughters. His cherished and devoted wife was summoned to the life eternal on the 24th of March, 1884. Of their nine children two died in infancy. Charles E. is special agent for the Standard Oil company at Charles- ton, West Va., his home being in Portsmouth, Ohio. Anna L. is the wife of J. W. Bailey, of Anderson, Ind. Eudora B., Eliza L. and Sallie D. remain with their father, as before intimated. Harry K. is engaged in the hardware business in Spokane, Wash. Rev. George W. Brown completed the curriculum of the public schools in Piketon, after which he completed the work of the sophomore year in the Ohio University, at Athens, and in 1899 he was graduated in the University of Wooster, with the degree of Bachelor of Arts. In the spring of 1898, while in the junior year at this institution, he enlisted in Company D, Eighth Regiment of the Ohio National Guard, and on the 13th of the following May, with his command, was mustered into the volunteer service of the United States. The regiment rendezvoused at Camp Alger, Va., and on the 5th of July left for New York City, where the command embarked for Santiago on the evening of the following day. The trans- port arrived off the port of Santiago on Sunday, July 10, and fell back to Siboney, where the soldiers disembarked, marching across the province of Santiago and reaching the firing line on the night of July II. Mr. Brown's command was placed in the entrenchments, as re- inforcement. He witnessed the surrender of Santiago, from the trenches of San Juan Hill, on Sunday, July 17. August 18, he left the island, and after various detentions arrived at Montauk Point. He and his comrades were on the cattle-ship Mohawk for eleven days while enroute home, there being much illness on board and much suffering being entailed through other causes, so that a large number of the soldiers had to be borne out on stretchers when the vessel finally reached Montauk Point. After remaining nine days in detention camp Mr. Brown started with his regiment for Ohio, reaching Cleveland on the 8th of September and being granted a furlough of sixty days. The victory of the American forces was such that he was not again called into service, and he was mustered out, at Wooster, on the 21st of November, 1898, by Harry R. Lee, first lieutenant of the Sixth United States Infantry. Upon his return to Ohio Mr. Brown passed a week at the paternal home and then resumed his regular work in the University of Wooster, losing but four weeks of the college work, though he was in the military service seven months during the Span- ish-American war, as just noted. Immediately after his graduation Mr. Brown went to the Pacific coast and shipped as a sailor for Alaska, on a vessel chartered by the Presbyterian synod of the State of Wash- ington. Sailing from the city of Seattle, the vessel visited the various mission stations of the Presbyterian church in Alaska, and the trip proved both enjoyable and educational to Mr. Brown. Upon his re- turn he entered the Presbyterian theological seminary of San Francisco, continuing his ecclesiastical studies later at San Anselmo, that State, and finally entering the Western Seminary, in Allegheny, Pa. He was
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ordained to the ministry of the Presbyterian church on the 28th of April, 1902, at Venedocia, Ohio, by the Lima presbytery, the Rev. R. J. Thompson, of Lima, preaching the sermon, and the Rev. D. Evans Jones, of Venedocia, delivering the charge. His first pastoral charge was in Monticello, Ohio, and in October, 1902, he accepted a call to the First Presbyterian church of Tipton, Ind., where he remained for two years, doing a very successful work in his pastorate. In October, 1904, Mr. Brown received a call to the First Presbyterian church at Delta, Ohio, and he resigned his charge in Tipton to accept the pastor- ate in which he has since served with so much of zeal, consecration and success, infusing vitality and inspiration into both the spiritual and temporal affairs of the church and gaining the unqualified regard of his people. The church has one hundred and fourteen communi- cants, and the Sunday-school has an enrollment of more than one hun- dred, with ten teachers. Mr. Brown has unbounded enthusiasm in his work, being a forceful and eloquent speaker and being a man of broad and practical ideas, striving ever to bring the cause of the Divine Master into the daily lives and works of those who come within the sphere of his pastoral or personal influence. He has voluntarily ex- panded the scope of his pastorate by taking up the work in neighboring localities, preaching three and often four sermons each Sunday. He is much interested in the opening and establishing of local missions of his church and also in general Sunday-school work in the county. During his pastorate in Tipton, Ind., he was president of the board of childrens' guardians of Tipton county. In politics he gives his allegi- ance to the Republican party, and fraternally is identified with the In- dependent Order of Odd Fellows and the Knights of Pythias. June 20, 1901, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Brown to Miss Inez Vennette Riddile, of Barnesville, Ohio. She was born in Cambridge, Guernsey county, Ohio, October 7, 1876, and is a daughter of Dr. Garrett V. and Margaret (McCall) Riddile, her father being a lead- ing dentist of Barnesville, Ohio. She was a classmate of her husband in Ohio University, taking the musical course, and was assistant in- structor in piano work in the institution. Mr. and Mrs. Brown have two sons, Henry Van Emen, born September 18, 1902; and George W., Jr., born July 6, 1904.
DAVID LEWIS BULER, a retired citizen of Wauseon, was born in the Canton of Bernes, Switzerland, on January 4, 1816. He landed in New York City December 18, 1819, with his mother, Mary Ann Bu- ler, his father and an only brother having died on the ocean voyage. With his mother he came from New York to Lucas county, O., in 1834, locating near Toledo, where he remained three years. Then in 1838 he removed to Royalton township, very sparsely settled at that time, and settled on wild land. Then he bought land of the United States gov- ernment at Monroe, Mich., and lived on it until 1852, when he removed to California. Three years later he returned to Ohio, locating in Am- boy township, where he lived on a farm purchased by him until 1881. From Amboy township he removed to Wauseon, where he bought land and built a home in which he has lived ever since. As a pastime he
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has engaged in bee culture, a business in which he has always taken a deep interest. In school affairs and church work he has always taken an active part, having served for many years as a school director and having been instrumental in building a number of churches. He has been an active member of the Methodist Episcopal church since he was twenty-one years old, having held official positions in that organi- zation for many years. Six churches and three parsonages have been built in this and Lucas county in which he was very active in building. In the building of the church in Royalton township he served alone as building committee, so fully was his ability and judgment recognized by his fellow-members. He first married Miss Mary Skinner, the daughter of Henry S. Skinner, a native of Vermont, who lived on a farm in Amboy township. She died in 1889. To this marriage five children were born. They are: Adelia, the wife of Celah Buck of Amboy township, and Lewis D. Buler, deceased. In 1890, in Wauseon, David L. Buler married Miss Mary Linfoot, born in Clinton town- ship, the daughter of John and Jane (Millspaugh) Linfoot, pioneer settlers of that township. John Linfoot was born in Lincolnshire, Eng- land, and his wife in Perry, Wyoming county, N. Y. Lewis D. Buler, deceased, son of the subject of this sketch, married Miss Hattie Wood, a native of Lenawee county, Mich. They had one child, Bertha Buler, who married Reverend Olive, a minister of the Methodist Episcopal church, and the name of her only child is Flossie Olive. Adelia Buck is the mother of two interesting children, named Ella and Walter. Walter Buck married Miss Nellie Smith and has one child, named Oakley. The picture of all the family, including the children and grandchildren, taken when the subject of this sketch was eighty-five years old, is a fine likeness. Daniel Lewis Buler has never used to- bacco or liquor and he attributes his good health to his abstinence from these narcotics.
JAMES F. BURROUGHS is the owner of five well-improved farms in Royalton township and is numbered among the large landholders and influential citizens of this section of the county, where he has made his home the greater portion of the time for nearly three-score years, being thus numbered among the pioneers of this section of the State. He was born in Palmyra, N. Y., April 4, 1835, and is a son of Patrick and Ann (Forrester) Burroughs, both natives of Ireland, the father having been born in County Carlow and the mother in County Armagh. Their marriage was solemnized in the State of New York; and in 1835, a few months after the birth of the subject of this sketch, they came to Ohio, making the trip by way of Lake Erie and landing in the city of Toledo, which was then a diminutive village. From that point they went to Michigan, and in the following year the father. came to what is now Fulton county, Ohio, purchasing 130 acres, in two tracts, in Sections 22 and 26, Royalton township. Here the family resided one year, when illness in the family circle, caused by malarial conditions, led to a return to Michigan. In 1837, however, they came again to the embryo farm in Royalton township, and Patrick Burroughs set him- self vigorously to the herculean task of reclaiming the land to cultiva-
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tion, meeting with success as the years passed and conditions improved, through the development and rapid settling of the county, and he re- mained on his old homestead until his death at the age of seventy-five years, his wife being seventy-three at the time of her death. They reared a family of six children : James F., to whom this sketch is dedi- cated; Catherine, wife of John Dowling ; Alice, wife of William Mack; Mary, wife of Mathew O'Neill; Ellen, wife of George O. Robb; and Michael, who married Delia Dodge, and resides in Toledo, Ohio. James F. Burrough was reared on the pioneer homestead in Royalton township, and being the eldest of the children he early began to assume a full quota of responsibility, aiding his father in the clearing of the farm and otherwise contributing to the support of the family. He attended the common schools of the primitive sort common to the locality, and made specially rapid progress in his studies, while he ap- plied himself diligently in a private way also, thus becoming eligible for effective work as a teacher. He taught fifty-nine terms of school, in Fulton and Lucas counties, each term being that of the three winter months, and he also taught two terms in Missouri, where he resided about 1860, for two winters. His vocation, however, has been spe- cifically that of farming from his youth to the present time, and he has been progressive in his methods, thus gaining the best returns from the effort expended, and his course has been such, in all the relations of life. that he has ever commanded the respect and good will of those with whom he has come in contact. The aggregate area of his five farms is three hundred and twenty acres, and all are well improved, yielding a good income. In politics a stanch Democrat, Mr. Burroughs has never been neglectful of the duties and responsibilities of loyal citi- zenship, though never an aspirant for public office. He is a com- municant of St. Mary's Catholic church, at Cararghan, Ohio, and his parents were likewise devoted members of the Catholic church. Jan- uary 21, 1861, Mr. Burroughs was united in marriage to Miss Calista Pray, daughter of Archibald and Harriet (Myers) Pray, of White- house, Lucas county, and of the six children of this marriage all at- tained maturity : Edward W., James P., Grace, Hattie, Ella, and. Frederick. Grace became the wife of Alva Edgar and is now de- ceased, being survived by one son, James S. Ella is the wife of William Kahle.
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