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 59
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ter trade, which he followed until 1867, when he purchased forty acres of land, in Section 14, Royalton township, developing the property and there continuing his residence until 1880, when he purchased his present fine farm of eighty acres in Section-16, making the place his home until 1899 and effecting many improvements on the same. He then removed to the village of Lyons, where he has since resided, own- ing a good residence property here, and still giving his supervision to his farm. He is held in high regard in the township which has been his home throughout life, has served nine terms as township trustee, and his unqualified allegiance is given to the Republican party. He is a valued and appreciative member of Baxter Post, No. 238, Grand Army of the Republic, at Lyons, of which he is a past commander .. Mrs. Patterson is a member of the Church of Disciples. September 3, 1867, Mr. Patterson married Miss Mahala .Myers, daughter of John- son and Caroline (Runnells) Myers, of Amboy township, and of their children two are living-Alphonso, who married Miss Ann E. Rose; and Dellie Grant, who married Miss Laura Falor. Alphonso resides in Royalton township, three miles west of Lyons, engaged in farming on a farm purchased by him. He and wife have one daughter, Doris E., five years of age. . Dellie Grant Patterson resides in Royalton town- ship, on the homestead farm. He and wife have one son, Mark L. Patterson, eight years of age.
JOSIAH C. PAXSON, of Wauseon, is a representative member of the bar of Fulton county, and a scion of one of the old and prominent families of the county. He was born in Chesterfield township, this county, May 27, 1866, and after completing the curriculum of the pub- lic schools he entered the Fayette Normal University, this county, where he was graduated as a member of the class of 1892. He had previously been a successful teacher in the public schools, and he also taught a number of terms after his graduation, having devoted about a decade to the pedagogic profession. His endeavors in this line, how- ever, he considered merely as a means to an end; as he early deter- mined to prepare himself for the legal profession, initiating his study of the law while still engaged in teaching. This was supplemented by a course of preparatory reading under the preceptorship of M. B. Cot- trell, a representative lawyer at Delta, this county, and he finally was matriculated in the law department of the Ohio Normal University at Ada, where he was graduated in 1897, receiving the degree of Bachelor of Laws. He forthwith entered into a professional partnership with George A. Everett, the present mayor of Delta, and they were there associated in active practice until February, 1902, when Mr. Paxson came to Wauseon, where he has since been associated in practice with John Q. Files, under the firm name of Files & Paxson, the firm being recognized as a particularly strong one and controlling a representa- tive professional business. The ancestral history of Mr. Paxson, in both the paternal and maternal lines, traces back to the State of New Jersey, where the respective families, identified with the Society of Friends and contemporaneous with William Penn, were founded in the Colonial days. Branches of the respective families have adhered to the
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simple and noble faith ot the Friends or Quakers throughout several generations. The parents of Josiah C. Paxson were John and Rebecca (Mason) Paxson. The former was born in 1822 and came to North- western Ohio and settled near West Unity, Williams county, in 1847. In 1862 he removed with his family to Chesterfield township, Fulton county, where he passed the remainder of his life in agricultural pur- suits, his death occurring in September, 1894. He was left an orphan in early childhood and was reared by his paternal grandparents. He was a man of strong character and unbending integrity, and was held in high esteem in the community where he lived and labored so many years. His wife was a daughter of John and Charity (Borton) Mason, who located in Fulton county in 1837, passing the first four years in German township and then removing to a farm in Franklin township, where the father died in 1878, at the age of seventy-seven years. They were born in the vicinity of Camden, N. J., and both the Masons and Bortons were devoted adherents of the Society of Friends. The Pax- son family also was prominent in the ranks of this same society, but Elizabeth (Case) Paxson, paternal grandmother of the subject of this review, was a Baptist in her religious faith, and to this church the ma- jority of her posterity seems to adhere. In 1890 Josiah C. Paxson was united in marriage to Miss Mary Hallett, whose father, Ephraim Hal- lett, of Meramora, this county, lost his life in the Civil war, having been a member of the Sixty-seventh Ohio volunteer infantry. Mr. and Mrs. Paxson have two children, Florence and Edwin. In politics Mr. Paxson is an uncomprising Republican, taking an active interest in the furtherance of the party cause, and in a fraternal way he is identified with the Masonic order and the Knights of Pythias.
WILLIAM B. PETERSEN, one of the representative farmers of Fulton township, is a native son of Fulton county, having been born on the old homestead farm, three miles east of the village of Delta, in Swan Creek township, on the 22d of October, 1866. He is a son of John and Sophia C. (Winklesett) Petersen, both of whom were born in Germany, the former on the 22d of September, 1814, and the latter on the Ist of September, 1824, and both came to America in 1845, their marriage being solemnized in a Methodist Episcopal church in New York City in 1852. Thereafter they resided on Staten Island until 1861, the father having there followed his trade, that of cooper. In the year' mentioned they came to Ohio and located on a farm in Swan Creek township, Fulton county, where they made their home for the long period of twenty-one years, and the father then purchased a farm in Fulton county, there continuing to reside until his death, in 1892. His wife is now a resident of Fulton township. They became the parents of three sons and two daughters: John N. resides in Delta and is individually mentioned on another page of this publication; Annie is the wife of Wallace Smith, of Fort Wayne, Ind .; Henry re- sides in Wauseon, Fulton county, Ohio; Teresa is the wife of Eugene Wales, of Swanton, this county ; and William B., of this review, is the youngest. William B. Petersen secured his educational training in the public schools of Swan Creek township, where he was reared to man-
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hood under the sturdy discipline of the farm, and he has been consecu- tively identified with agricultural pursuits save, for a period of three years, during which he was engaged in teaming in Swanton. In 1885 he was united in marriage to Miss Laura Schrock, who was born in Fulton township, being a daughter of Levi and Delilah (Hostetter) Schrock, both of whom were born in Pennsylvania, of stanch German lineage. Mr. and Mrs. Schrock became the parents of nine daughters and two sons: Josiah met his death while serving as a Union soldier in the Civil war; Catherine is the wife of Jacob Everett, of Fulton township; Susan resides in this township, unmarried; Lucinda is the wife of Saul Frybarger, mentioned elsewhere in this work; Mary is the wife of Joseph Baldwin, of Lytton, this county; Lavina is the wife of Elias Sigsby, of Pike township; Delilah, wife of John Harger, is deceased; Eli resides at Whitehouse, Lucas county, where he is en- gaged in the general mercandise business; Ella is the wife of Martin Collins, of Richfield township; Sarah is the wife of Charles Gates, of Lyons, this county; and Laura, wife of Mr. Petersen, is the youngest of the children. Mr. and Mrs. Petersen have four children, namely : Ora, born February 27, 1886; Fredie, born November 16, 1891 ; Ollie, born February 10, 1901 ; and Ella, born August 12, 1904. Mr. Peter- sen is a Republican in his political adherency and takes a loyal interest in public affairs of a local nature. He has charge of the old home- stead, which he cultivates, and he resides on a neighboring farm of one hundred and sixty acres, which he rents, the same being owned by resi- dents of Toledo. He devotes his attention to mixed farming and stock-raising, is being prospered in his labors, and he is regarded as one of the foremost and most_enterprising young men of the com- munity.
HENRY W. PIKE has been identified with the agricultural inter -. ests of Fulton county for more than two-score years, and is now num- bered among the prominent farmers and influential citizens of Clinton township. Mr. Pike claims the old Empire State of the Union as the place of his nativity, having been born in Monroe county, N. Y., on the 8th of September, 1838, and being a son of Joseph and Lydia (Simons) Pike, both of whom were born in the State of Vermont, of stanch old Puritan stock. The father served as a soldier in the War of 1812, and died in the State of New York, in 1857. His widow came to Fulton county, Ohio, with her son, Henry W., subject of this sketch, and she died at Tedrow, this county, in 1862. Henry W. Pike was reared to manhood in the State of New York, having secured his early educational training in the common schools of Alleghany county, and his vocation throughout his entire active career has been that of farming. He came to Fulton county in 1860, first locating in Dover township, and later passing five years in German township, after which he located on his present fine farm, of sixty-two acres, in Clinton town- ship, where he has since maintained his home, and he has made excel- lent improvements on the place, which is one of the attractive rural demesnes of this part of the county, thrift and prosperity being indis- tinctive evidence. In his political proclivities Mr. Pike is a stanch Re-
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publican, taking much interest in the supremacy of the party, has served two terms as township trustee, and has also rendered effective service in the offices of road supervisor and member of the school board. The church relations of himself and wife are Methodist. On the 8th of September, 1861, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Pike to Miss Maria Long, who was born in Ashland county, Pa., April 4, 1841, being a daughter of John and Margaret (Carr) Long, who were likewise natives of Pennsylvania, whence they came to Fulton county, Ohio, in 1848. To Mr. and Mrs. Pike have been born six children, concerning whom the following brief data are entered: Frederick V. married Miss Eliza Wells and is engaged in farming in Dover town- ship; Ida M. is the wife of Herman Glade, of Chicago, Ill .; Addie died in infancy ; Charles H. married Miss Rosa Stuttsman, and is a prosper- ous farmer of Dover township; Minnie is the wife of William Stubbins and they reside in Wood county ; and Pearl L. remains at the parental home.
JOHANNES ERNST PLETTNER, a retired farmer and an influ- ential citizen of Swanton, was born in Berlin, Germany, on April 16, 1832. He is the son of Ferdinand and Wilhelmina (Litting) Plettner, both natives of Prussia, where their lives were spent, the former dying at the age of seventy-two years and the latter at fifty-six. They were the parents of the following children, two of whom died in infancy: Theodore A., for two years a soldier in the Prussian army, died in German township, Fulton county, leaving a large family; Bertha, Mahlow and Ida Fitting died in Berlin; Johannes Ernst Arnold, a bachelor residing in Berlin, who also served in the Prussian army, in the same company in which the subject of this sketch served, and Amanda Aurora, unmarried, who is a resident of Berlin. Johannes E. Plettner remained in his native country until twenty-five years of age and served for three years as company clerk in the regular army of Prussia. Although a soldier at the time of the Crimean war, he was not called into active service in that conflict. He emigrated to America by himself in 1857 and located at the village of Ai, Fulton county. In the spring of 1859 he went to Colorado and remained there engaged in mining until October, 1861, making the trip and returning to Ohio in a wagon. On this trip Mr. Plettner acted as hunter for a party of twenty-seven, en route to the gold fields. On May 1, when about eighty miles west of Fort Riley, a cyclone struck the train, seriously injuring several of the party, one fatally, and demolishing the wagons. Break- ing loose from the wagons the cattle sought safety in flight. The bag- gage that was left was later transferred to Denver by another train. On the return trip the party had some miraculous escapes from drown- ing in the Platte river, losing most of the baggage at Floating Island. On May. 2, 1864, Mr. Plettner enlisted for the period of one hundred days in Company H of the One Hundred and Thirtieth Ohio volunteer infantry, serving until September 22, when he was discharged. His command was with the Army of the Potomac and took part in the bat- tle at Deep Bottom. For six weeks the regiment was under continu- ous artillery fire. After his marriage he located on a farm and for eight
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years was actively and successfully engaged in general farming. Then he went to Macon county, Mo., where he farmed until 1872, when he returned to Fulton county. After retiring from the farm he resided for several years in Ai, and in 1900 located in Swanton, where he built the substantial residence he now occupies. Mr. Plettner is the in- ventor and patentee of the Fulton Washing machine and the Twin washer, the former of which is in general use in the State of Ohio. In politics he is a stanch Republican, having served as assessor of Fulton township. He was a charter member of the Robert O. Nobbs Post of the Grand Army of the Republic at Ai, and now holds membership in Quiggle Post, No. 289. In 1861, on April 14th, he was wedded to Miss Eva Fashbaugh, a daughter of Peter and Elizabeth Fashbaugh, each now deceased, who were early settlers of Fulton county. To Mr. and Mrs. Plettner there have been born seven children, four of whom are living. Those living are: Otto, a machinist of Continental, O., who married Miss Minnie Holmes and has two daughters: Mildred and Ruth. Augusta, the wife of Alfred Smith; Elizabeth Eva, now Mrs. Edward J. Hoodless, who have one child, Otto; and Amanda, the wife of Frank Harger, who have three children living: Hope, Harold and Garland. The three deceased died in childhood. Mr. Hoodless and family now make their home with her father, who together with his wife is a devout member of the United Brethren church.
LEAMON S. PLUMMER, a successful merchant-tailor of Swan- ton, is a native of Lapeer county, Mich., where he was born on Novem- ber 24, 1860. He is the son of Charles and Margaret (Siver) Plum- mer, the former a native of England, and the latter of German an- cestors, born in the United States. Charles Plummer was a farmer by occupation and in 1869 removed from Michigan to Troy, Ontario, Canada, where he was drowned the following year while on a hunting expedition. His widow survives him and is now residing with her husband's parental family in Canada. Two sons were born to these parents. They are: Leamon S., and Eugene, a merchant-tailor of Delta. Leamon S. Plummer was reared and educated in Michigan and Canada. Having learned the tailor's trade in Blenheim, Ontario, he followed that occupation in Canada until 1891, when he removed to Toledo, O., and there plied his trade for the next two years. In 1893 he changed his residence to Swanton, which has been his home ever since. In 1904, having up to that time lived in rented property, he purchased a property that answered the double purpose of residence and store room. As he has no competition in his line, he has with little difficulty established a highly profitable business. Being an expert workman himself, he sees to it that only first-class work is put upon the market. Mr. Plummer is a member of Swanton Lodge, No. 555, Free and Accepted Masons (having joined that fraternity in Blen- heim), of the Odd Fellows and of the Modern Woodmen of America. While independent in politics, he leans strongly towards the principles advocated by the Republican party. His choice of a helpmeet on life's journey was Miss Margaret E. Hilts, a native of Chatham, Ontario, where she was reared and educated. She is the daughter of William
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and Nancy (Davidson) Hilts, the former of German and the latter of French descent. Of the six children that have been born to Leamon S. Plummer and wife four are now living. They are named, Eugene Irwin, Charles, Miles Ashton, Percey Guy, Louis S., and Robert. Charles and Louis are deceased. The first four named were born in Canada and the others in Swanton. Mr. and Mrs. Plummer are ac- tively identified with the Order of Eastern Star. They are not con- nected with any religious organization.
LOUIS N. PILLIOD, president of the Farmers' and Merchants' Deposit Company and the Pilliod Lumber Company, of Swanton, was born in Napoleon, Henry county, Ohio, on May 24, 1859. He is the son of Augustin and Amelia (Harris) Pilliod, both deceased, the former a native of France and the latter of Genesee, N. Y. Augustin Pilliod was a miller and merchant by occupation, which business he conducted with unusual success, amassing quite a fair competency. They were the parents of seven children, five sons and two daughters, of whom the subject of this sketch is the eldest. Louis N. Pilliod was educated in the public and parochial schools of Toledo, O., and at the Univer- sity of Notre Dame, Ind. He began his business career in the milling business, following that occupation successfully for fifteen years, and then took up his present line of work. The Pilliod Lumber Company, with a capitalization of $25,000, was incorporated in 1901. This es- tablish ment does wholesale lumber business and manufactures all kinds of building material, giving regular employment to twenty-five skilled workmen. Mr. Pilliod was the principal organizer of the Merchants' and Farmers' bank at Swanton, an institution capitalized at $25,000, and of which he is the head. He is the owner of considerable prop- erty and the director of extensive business interests. All recognize him as an active and progressive business man and one of the leading citizens of Fulton county. While he has always led a strenuous busi- ness life, he has, nevertheless, found time to look after public matters, having served on the village council. In politics he is identified with the Democratic party and in secret society affairs with the Knights of Pythias. Louis N. Pilliod was first married to Miss Emma Hill, of Swanton, who died in August, 1890, leaving her husband one son, Thomas J., to mourn over her demise. His second wife was Miss Lil- lian Mabry, of Swanton. This union has been blessed with three chil- dren. Their names are: Lawrence L., Esther Lucile and Agnes Lorine. Thomas J. Pilliod is at present engaged as manager of the Pilliod Milling Company.
SAMUEL J. POMMERT, who was formerly the genial proprietor of the Pommert House of Delta, was born in Caledonia, Ohio, October 4, 1852. He is a son of Adam and Sarah (Burkhardt) Pommert, the former a native of Germany and the latter of Pennsylvania, being also of German extraction. Adam Pommert was a tailor by occupa- tion and frequently changed his residence to better promote his busi- ness interests. He married in Galion, Crawford county, Ohio, and he and his wife died in LaGrange county, Ind., neither having attained
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to old age. They had a family of seven children, four of whom are now living, one having died in infancy, one in childhood and Rosa in young womanhood. The living are: Charles, a barber of Auburn, Ind .; Joseph, in business with his brother Charles; Nettie, a resident of Goshen, Ind., and Samuel J., the eldest of the family. Samuel J. Pommert was reared and educated principally at Edgerton, Ohio, where be became an apprentice to the barbers' trade and completed his ap- prenticeship at Sandusky, Ohio. For two years he followed his trade at various places and then located at Auburn, where he resided for eighteen years. In 1874 he was wedded to Miss Eliza Swander, who was born on a farm near Auburn, February 7, 1858. Her family are among the pioneers of that section of the Hoosier state. Her father, Jonathan Swander, who lived to a ripe old age, was a prominent and active citizen of that locality. He married Christina Row of Summit county, Ohio, where his mother's people were early settlers. They had a family of nine children, seven of whom lived to years of ma- turity. Their names follow:' Susanna, John, Elizabeth, David (de- ceased), Minerva (deceased), George, Sarah, Eliza and Emanuel. They lived together for fifty-six years, his wife dying at the age of seventy-three years and he at eighty-eight. Samuel J. Pommert and wife removed from Auburn to Orland, Ind., where they resided for six years. Then they moved to LaGrange, Ind., and finally, in 1896, to Delta. Prior to coming to Delta he had purchased the hotel property now known as the Pommert House. To the work of successfully con- ducting a hotel he and his excellent wife are especially adapted. The keeping of the house is up-to-date in every particular, the table being supplied with the very best of everything in the market and the charges extremely moderate. Mr. Pommert is a genial, accommodating land- lord, whose chief concern is the comfort and convenience of his guests. He is devoted to his work and takes pleasure in collecting curios and in training his pets during leisure hours. Having no children of their own he and wife have made a home for several children, for whom they provided educational privileges. In politics he is independent, al- though he was reared in the faith of the Democracy. He has never sought office and thus is enabled to exercise the right of suffrage without the restraint of the party lash. Mr. Pommert is a member of the National Union and of the Auburn, Indiana, Lodge of the Knights of Pythias, which organization he joined in 1871. His wife is a mem- ber of the Rathbone Sisters, and the Woman's Relief Corps of Delta, in which she takes the deepest interest. In religious matters she is identified with the Methodist-Episcopal Church.
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WILLIAM W. PRATT .- We of this twentieth century, repre- senting the most electrical progress in all lines of material activity, are too prone not to give due heed to those elemental valuations which touch upon the deeper essence of human life and human achievement. We can not afford to hold in light esteem those who have wrought nobly in any field of endeavor, no matter how humble and obscure, nor should we withhold respect and honor from those who have given or are giving an heritage of worthy thoughts and
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worthy deeds. Duty to posterity implies that records of the lives of honest and loyal citizens should be perpetuated in publications of this nature, and those who would withhold such records have neither appreciation of the labors of their ancestors, immediate or remote, nor can they deserve more of appreviation on the part of their own children and later generations. William W. Pratt, who has been for many years engaged in the blacksmithing and wagon- making business in Delta, and who still continues actively identified with the enterprise which he established so many years ago, though he has attained the age of four-score years, is a citizen whose life has been marked by industry, earnestness of purpose, inflexible in- tegrity and loyal citizenship, so that none is more clearly entitled to representation in this work than he. . Mr. Pratt was born in Erie county, N. Y., on the Ist of April, 1825, and is a son of Robert and Abigail (Wiles) Pratt. The father was likewise a native of the old Empire State and was a blacksmith by trade, as had also been his honored sire. William W. Pratt received limited educational ad- vantages, being bound out at the age of fifteen years and serving an apprenticeship at the trades of blacksmithing and wagon-mak- ing. He was released by his employer at the expiration of eighteen months and then went to Perry, Wyoming county, N. Y., where he finished learning his trades, and in the autumn of 1847 he came to Ohio. For a short time he worked as a wagon-maker in Maumee, Lucas county, and in the spring of 1849, he located in Delta, where he has ever since made his home. For many years he devoted his attention to wood-working, manufacturing and repairing wagons, and since about 1865 he has worked in both wood and iron, also done wagon and carriage painting, and he is still actively employed in this way, having a well equipped shop in which he may be found each working-day, and bearing the weight of his many years most lightly. Few men of his age can be found thus actively engaged in such mechanical work and many of half his age can not turn out better or more work in a given length of time than can this sturdy and honored octogenarian. He has worked indefatigably from child- hood to the present day, and the most serious illness which he has ever experienced was that of the prevalent "fever and ague" of the early days. He erected his present shop in 1860, and in all the inter- vening years he has here been found actively and cheerfully engaged in the work of his trades. The first wagon which he manufactured in Delta was utilized as the conveyance which bore to their destination the commissioners who selected the site for the county-seat of Ful- ton county. This vehicle was made and finished after the New York style and was unique in this section at the time. Its utilization as noted not only served as an advertisement of Mr. Pratt's business but also brought his mechanical ability to the attention of the public. In 1850 Mr. Pratt was united in marriage to Miss Susan Tom, who was born in Holmes county, Ohio, in 1830. They became the par- ents of six children: Edward E. is engaged in the drug business in Delta; Jennie is the widow of William H. Dillman, of Bryan, Will- iams county, and now resides with her father; Jacob is superintendent
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