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 68
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dred acres-eighty acres in Royalton township, eighty in Chester- field township, and forty acres in Lenawee county, Michigan, the homestead being all in one body, however, the Michigan portion being in the adjoining township of Seneca. Mr. Smith reclaimed this entire farm from the wilds, and in view of the conditions which are in evidence to-day, bespeaking all of thrift and prosperity, he has no reason to feel that he has been denied a due reward for his many years of toil and endeavor. In politics Mr. Smith gives his support to the Democratic party. May 25, 1856, stands as the date of the mar- riage of Mr. Smith to Miss Eleanor H. Smith, daughter of Charles D. and Jane B. (Helmes) Smith, of Royalton township, and they have four children: Edwin J., Charles E., William M. and Walter Scott, all of whom are well established in life, honorable and useful citizens in their respective fields of endeavor. Mrs. Smith's parents were both natives of Orange county, New York, and were numbered among the pioneers of Fulton county, Ohio, having taken up their residence in Royalton township about 1835. The father secured one hundred and twenty acres of government land, reclaiming the same to cultivation, and there he and his wife continued to reside until their death. Of their eight children six attained maturity, namely: Eleanor H., wife of the subject of this sketch; Martin; Louisa, wife of John Atkinson, of Delta, Ohio; Lotan, a resident of Royalton township; Margaret, wife of Dr. Selah W. Moulton; and Charles B., a resident of Royalton township.
JONATHAN SNELLBAKER, who is now living practically re- tired in his attractive little county home, in Swan Creek township, is a member of one of the pioneer families of Ohio, and it was his to render valiant service in defense of the Union during the War of the Rebellion, so that he has upheld the honors of the family name in the annals of the State. The original progenitors of the Snell- baker family came from Holland and settled in Pennsylvania, in the Colonial era, and from that State representatives came to Ohio in an early day. John Snellbaker, a great-uncle of the subject of this re- view, was one of the early mayors of the city of Cincinnati, in which city his son became chief of police, about a quarter of a century ago, having been killed while in office. Jonathan Snellbaker was born near Boliver, Tuscarawas county, Ohio, August 13, 1842, and is a son of Jacob and Christina (Hess) Snellbaker, the former of whom was born in Tuscarawas county and the latter in what is now Mor- row county. From the latter county they removed to Hancock coun- ty about sixty years ago, and in 1863 they came to Fulton county. The father bought a farm two and one-half miles east of Delta, but in 1865 he took up his residence in Wauseon, later removing to the little village of Westbar, where both he and his wife died, the former at the age of seventy-nine and the latter at the age of sixty- two years. Jacob Snellbaker learned the cooper trade in early life and followed the same as a vocation for a time, but the greater portion of his active career was given to agricultural pursuits. Of the six children in the family all are living except the eldest, Eli, who
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died in March, 1899, in Fulton county, where he had resided for more than forty years; Sarah Ann, widow of Henry Snyder, resides at Sand Lake, Mich .; Jonathan was the next in order of birth; Martin is proprietor of the Lincoln hotel in Delta, this county; John, when last heard from by his Ohio relatives, was in the employ of the Clover Leaf railroad, at Warren, Ind .; and Kate is the wife of a Mr. Bostwick, residing in the upper peninsula of Michigan. Jonathan Snellbaker was reared on the homestead farm, fourteen miles west of Findlay, Hancock county, secured his early education in the com- mon-schools of that locality, and it may be said that he has ever found the great basic industry of agriculture his field of labor, and through the same he has gained a competency. In 1862 he subor- dinated all personal interests to go forth as a Union soldier, enlist- ing as a private in Company, C, Eighty-seventh Ohio volunteer in- fantry, which was assigned to the Army of the Potomac and with which he served four months, having enlisted for a term of one hundred days. He received his honorable discharge and returned home, but on the 22d of February. 1864, when the integrity of the Union still hung in the balance, he enlisted as a member of Company G, Tenth Ohio Cavalry, with which he continued in service until the close of the war, receiving his honorable discharge, at Lexington, N. C., on the 27th of July, 1865. He was with Sherman in the Atlan- ta campaign and in the memorable "march to the sea," having been continuously on the march from the 14th of November, 1864, until the 5th of the following April, when the command reached Mount Olive, N. C., when they started in pursuit of Johnston, being at Greensboro, N. C., at the time of that famous general's surrender, and they there learned of the surrender of General Lee's army, in Virginia. The Tenth Ohio Cavalry is on official record as having done about the last fighting of the Civil war. Mr. Snellbaker escaped wounds, but was injured in line of duty, in recognition of which fact he was granted a pension about twenty years ago. On the 15th of September, 1862, he was captured at Harper's Ferry, but was soon paroled. In the spring of 1866 Mr. Snellbaker located on a farm, which he still owns, one and one-half miles west of his present home, and there he continued to be actively engaged in general farming until 1892, when he purchased ten acres of land where he now lives, liere erecting an attractive modern residence and other good build- ings, and in this pleasant home he has since live practically retired. His other place comprises forty acres of excellent farming land, well- improved and under a high state of cultivation. Politically, Mr. Snellbaker is a stanch Republican, and, fraternally he is a popular comrade of Quiggle Post, No. 289, Grand Army of the Republic, at Swanton. Both of his sons are members of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. On the 23d of February, 1864, the day after his second enlistment, Mr. Snellbaker was united in marriage .to Miss Nancy Snider, who was born and reared in Hancock county, and they have six children: Herma is the wife of Daniel Moughler and they reside on the previously-mentioned farm of her father, west of his present home; Miriam resides in the city of Cleveland; Park is
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a farmer of Swan Creek township and resides in the village of Swan- ton; Dency is the wife of Frank Potts, of Cleveland; Frank is a tele- graph operator and railroad employe at Garrett, Ind .; and Nora is the wife of Peter Grube, a farmer near Butler, Ind.
HENRY B. SNYDER, head of the well known Snyder Grocery Company, of Delta, is a native of Hancock county, Ohio, having been born there on September 6, 1855. He is the son of David and Sophia (Gasman) Snyder, who came to Fulton county in 1861 and are now residents of Delta. David Snyder was born in Bolivar, Ohio, and was during his productive years a farmer by occupation. He and his wife, a native of Maryland, are both advanced in years. They are the parents of nine children, only five of whom are now living. Their names are: Henry B .; Ella, now Mrs. Rowan of Denver, Colo .; David and Emerson, both of the Snyder Grocery Company; Mary, still at home: Drusilla (deceased), Samuel (deceased), Elmer (de- ceased), and Dora (deceased). Of the deceased the first three died at the threshhold of mature life and the fourth at the age of three years. Henry B. Snyder was educated in the public schools of Han- cock and Fulton counties, but a large share of his business qualifi- cations was acquired in the school of "experience." He grew to manhood on his father's farm and began his commercial career as a clerk in a dry-goods store, after which for a number of years he was engaged in various commercial ventures which finally culminated in the establishing of the Snyder Grocery Company, with his brother Emerson and his son Frank as partners. This business is one of the largest and best-managed in Delta and enjoys a liberal patronage. Henry B. Snyder is identified with the Masonic fraternity and the order of Knights of Pythias. In political affiliations he is a Re- publican and wields a potent influence locally in the counsels of the party. Though in no sense an office-seeker, he has held various offices within the corporation and is at present a member of the village council. On January 21, 1879, he was wedded to Miss Nora A. Fish- baugh, a sister of a former partner in the marble and granite business. Three children have been born to these parents. They are: Frank A., Clarence H., and Pearl E., the latter being the wife of Charles Longnecker, owner of the Delta electric light plant. The children have all enjoyed excellent educational advantages and are well known and popular.
JOHN A. SPAULDING, a representative farmer and stock-grow- e1 of Fulton township, was born on the fine farmstead which he now owns and operates, one mile west of the village of Swanton, on the 20th of October, 1869, and this old homestead was likewise the birthplace of his father, Dexter Spaulding, who died in 1873, at the age of thirty-three years. Dexter Spaulding married Miss Minnie Cowls, who was born in Lorain county, this State, and who still re- sides on the old home place. She is now the wife of George Hollis, John A. Spaulding having been the only child of her first marriage, and she has one son, Otis, by her marriage to Mr. Hollis. John A.
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Spaulding was reared on the farm and secured his educational disci- pline in the public-schools of this locality. He inherited one hundred and sixty-six acres, to which he has since added a one-half interest in 160 acres in Monclova township, and he is also known as one of the most progressive farmers and stock-raisers of Fulton county. A considerable portion of the land which he has thus accumulated has been or is covered with good timber, and for the past five years he has devoted special attention to cutting off the timber and manufac- turing the same into lumber and railroad ties, which he has handled upon a somewhat extensive scale, particularly in the handling of railroad ties. His farm lands are given over principally to the raising of the various cereals best adapted to the soil and climate of this section. For the past year he has been carrying through a contract in the removing of rock from the bed of ten-mile creek, this work being done for the purpose of opening an adequate waterway. In politics Mr. Spaulding is a Republican, and fraternally he is identi- fied with Swanton Lodge, No. 588, Knights of Pythias, with the uni- form rank of the same, and his religious views are in harmony with the tenets of the Methodist Episcopal church, which he and his fam- ily attend. On the IIth of February, 1887, Mr. Spaulding was united in marriage to Miss Margaret Hepfinger, of Fulton township, who was born and reared in this county, being a daughter of Jacob and Margaret Hepfinger, both of whom were born in Germany. Mr. and Mrs. Spaulding have five children, namely: Viva, Lena, Mar- garet, Dexter and Minnie. Reverting to the genealogy of the subject of this review, it may be said that the Spaulding family was founded in New England in the Colonial era, and from the State of Maine, in 1829, Africa Spaulding, father of Dexter S., came to Fulton coun -.. ty, locating in the midst of the forest, on a portion of the homestead farm now owned by his grandson, and he was one of the earliest settlers and most influential pioneers of this section. He was one of the organizers of Fulton county, and was for a number of years engaged in the fur-trade with the Indians, having been very success- ful in his business operations, which included extensive real-estate transactions, as the early records of the county clearly indicate. He was well-known through Northwestern Ohio and lived to the age of four score years. His son, Dexter, was likewise prominently identi- fied with the civic and material progress of this locality, but his life was cut short in the very prime of his manhood. The Cowls family originally came from the Isle of Man, John Cowles, grandfather of Mr. Spaulding, having come to America in 1850, and having pre- viously followed a sea-faring life. He was a soldier in the Union ranks during the entire progress of the Civil war, and he passed the closing years of his life in Fulton township, being about forty years of age at the time of his death, leaving a wife and four children: Minnie, Rosa, Lillie and John. Two died in infancy, Minnie and Lillie still living. His wife lived until March 7, 1905, her age being seventy-four years.
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JOHN W. ROSEBOROUGH, a promi- nent lawyer and an exemplary citizen of El- mira, was born on a farm about one mile east of the present site of West Salem, Wayne county, Ohio, on July 3, 1829. This farm was formerly owned by Samuel Hart- man, but is now the property of John Repp. Mr. Roseborough is the son of John and Jane (Ewing) Roseborough. His paternal grandparents were William and Susannah (Johnson) Roseborough, the former born in the northern part of Ireland, about 1760, and the latter in Pennsylvania, about 1770. On the maternal side his grandparents were Samuel and Jean (Neal) Ewing, the former a native of Scotland. Jean Neal was the daughter of John and Susie (Sharp) Neal. John Neal having been killed in the Revolutionary war, his widow, a woman of fearless disposition and untiring zeal and industry, conducted the home farm with unusual success and reared her large family in the most satisfactory manner. William Ewing, a son of Samuel and Jean Ewing, and grandfather of John W. Roseborough, was born in Sher- man Valley, Pa., November 7, 1775. He married Miss Agnes White, the daughter of James and Judith (Bird) White, and the aunt of the late Samuel White of Bryan. She was born in Sherman Valley, Pa., December 8, 1775. John W. Roseborough was reared in his native township and was educated in the common schools of the day. On February 4, 1838, his father died, leaving the mother with five children, four sons and one daughter. The eldest son having died before his father, John W., then in his ninth year, was the eldest of the living children. In June, 1846, he began to work at the blacksmith trade with Samuel Caskey, on the Cleveland pike, six miles north of Wooster, at which trade he worked until January 1, 1848, stopping during the three, winter months to attend school. After working one month as journeyman in the spring of 1848, he quit the trade and entered school at Mechanicsburg, Fulton county. This summer school was conducted by William C. Downing, a medical student, six feet and four inches tall, and a man of superior ability as a teacher. Here he first began to study English grammar, and geography, using Kirkham's grammar and Olney's geography as text books. Having secured a teacher's certificate he taught the Felger district, Chester township, during the winter of 1848-49, the term consisting of four months of twenty-four days each. By way of compensation he "boarded around" and received twelve dollars per month. Some of the pupils who attended that school, fifty-two. years ago, now live in and near West Unity. The following summer he attended for five months the Vermillion institute at Hayesville, where he studied algebra and philosophy in addition to the common branches, and then taught the New Pittsburg village school. He next attended school at the academy in Wooster, where the Hon. John Brinkerhoff, the noted civil engineer and mathematician,
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was one of the professors. This distinguished man died at Wooster, in December, 1900, aged eighty-seven years. Here Mr. Roseborough first studied latin and geometry. After teaching one term in Franklin township he again became a student of this school. His next school was for a term of six months near Mt. Hope, Holmes county. After his marriage to Miss Rebecca C. Mccullough, one of his former pupils, he settled in Stark county, where he taught several terms of school near Canton. In 1853 he began the study of law under Hon. Alexander Bierce, a learned and able attorney of Canton, and on May 21, 1855, he was admitted to the bar as a legal practitioner. The same year he removed to Fulton county, where he has since resided. By his wife, who died February 5, 1877, he had twelve children, four sons and eight daughters, all of whom, except three daughters, are now dead. Demos- thenes H., the eldest son, was killed by a horse on July 4, 1866, when twelve years old. Cicero E. G., a college graduate and a brilliant young lawyer, had just located at Wauseon, when he was stricken down by consumption. John G. W., a promising student, died of the same disease at the age of twenty-two years, and William C. S., aged twenty years, and excellent teacher and popular clerk, was the third son to succumb to that insidious disease. The three sons were devoted Christians and ardent Prohibitionists, Cicero having served two years as superintendent of the Methodist Sabbath School. One daughter, Jennie, was poisoned by her husband, E. S. Blydenburg, on May 24, 1903, at Eldora, Ia., and died five days later. The trial resulted in the conviction of the accused, who is now serving a life-sentence in the Iowa State Prison. Two of the daughters, Armine and Arminda, died in infancy, and three, Antoinette J., Mary E. and Jennie, after they became adults and had been married. The three daughters living are : Alice A., the wife of William Hagerman, of Fayette, Ohio; Wilmie, now Mrs. William Montgomery, of Portland, Ind., and Cora D., the wife of Walter L. Keller, a merchant of Eldora, Ia. After coming to Fulton county, besides practicing law, Mr. Roseborough taught many terms of schools, teaching in both the German and English languages. In 1864 he was elected prosecuting attorney of the county and was twice re-elected. His administration was noted for the energetic, faith- ful and successful enforcement of the liquor laws. Up to 1854 he acted with the Democratic party, but owing to its pro-slavery leaning he re- pudiated it and contributed his part to the formation and support of the Republican party. When the leaders of that party became closely allied to the liquor power, he refused to act longer with it, and became a member of the Prohibition party. By one or the other of these, or by all united, he has since been nominated three times for supreme judge, three times for attorney-general, twice for circuit judge and once for congress .. He is now, and always has been, pronounced in his hostility to rum-shops, and has ever wielded the ballot as his conscience and judgment dictated, regardless of mere partisian behests. During the Civil war he was enrolling officer of German township. In church matters he is identified with the Methodist church and is now serving as superintendent of the Sabbath-school. He is also a class-leader and trustee of that organization, and was chairman of the building com-
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mittee that built the present fine new church edifice, receiving liberal aid from the wide-awake woman's society. For fifty years he has cor- responded freely for the newspapers, writing on moral, social, re- ligious, educational and political topics. After the death of his first wife, in 1877, he married Miss Mary C. Stuller, of Edon, Ohio, with whom he still lives at Elmira. When eighteen years old he was menaced with lung trouble and at once determined to resist the progress of the disease by all the means in his power. By a life-long practice of walking and standing erect and by regular and persistent lung expansion he has cured himself effectively of that dread des- troyer, consumption. He is now in the enjoyment of excellent health, and, excepting mere office-work, has practically retired from law practice.
FRANK SPENCER, one of the representative farmers and popu- lar citizens of York township, is a scion of one of the pioneer families of Fulton county, his grandfather, Rev. Uriah Spencer, having come from the State of New York and located in York township, this coun- ty, in 1835. He was a man of marked intellectual attainments, and was a zealous member of the clergy of the Methodist Episcopal church, though he followed various other vocations in the pioneer community, including that of farming. He wielded much influence in public affairs in the early days, and he served as auditor of Fulton county and in other positions of trust. He was twice married and became the father of several children, all of whom are now deceased except Martha and Emma, the former being a resident of California and the latter of Michigan. William Spencer, son of Rev. Uriah Spencer, was born near Canandaigua, Ontario county, New York, and was reared to maturity in the old Empire State, where he re- ceived a common-school education and where he was engaged in farming and teaming prior to his immigration to the wilds of Fulton county, Ohio, whither he accompanied his honored father. In 1837 he was united in marriage to Miss Emma Donaldson, daughter of James Donaldson, another of the sterling pioneers of York township and a veteran of the War of 1812. Mrs. Spencer taught the first term of school in York township, this being after her marriage, in her own house. William Spencer became a prosperous farmer and highly-honored citizen of York township, where he continued to re- side until his death, which occurred in 1889, and his cherished and devoted wife was summoned to the life eternal in 1891, both having been consistent members of the Methodist Episcopal church. They became the parents of eleven children: Ellen, who remains on the old homestead; George, who is deceased; Jane, who likewise remains on the old homestead, she and her elder sister never having married; Wilson, who is a resident of Bowling Green, Ohio; Ann, who is de- ceased; Marion, who died in childhood; James, who is a farmer of York township; Andrew, Alice and Mary, who are deceased; and Frank, who is the youngest of the family. Frank W. Spencer was born on the old homestead farm, in York township, on the 23d of June, 1861, and here he has ever since continued to reside, being
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now the owner of a fine farm of eighty acres. He secured his edu- cation in the public schools of his native township, has been identified with agricultural pursuits from his youth to the present, and he has well upheld the honors of the name which he bears. He exercises his franchise in support of the principles and policies of the Republican party. In 1894 was solemnized the marriage of Frank Spencer to Miss Armena Fowler, daughter of William Fowler, another of the pioneer settlers of York township. No children have been born of this union.
SYLVESTER I. SPRING represents a family which was founded in Fulton county more than a half-century ago; it was his to render valiant service as one of the Fulton county men who went forth in defense of the Union when rebellion threatened its integrity; and he is now one of the prominent and influential farmers of Dover town- ship, being also a valued member of the board of directors of the county infirmary. Mr. Spring was born in Portage county, Ohio, August 9, 1840, and is a son of Milton and Eunice A. (Hall) Spring. His father was born in the State of Massachusetts, June 9, 1806, and at the age of twenty-one years he came to Ohio, locating in Portage county, where, on the 5th of November, 1834, was solemnized his marriage to Miss Eunice A. Hall, who was born in that county, on the 19th of March, 1810, her parents having located in that county at a time when the white families within its borders did not number more than seven. In 1854 Milton Spring came with his family to Fulton county, locating in the village of Tedrow, where he followed the carpenter trade during the remainder of his active career, and at/one time he was a member of the State militia. Both he and his wife were very earnest and active members of the Methodist Episco- pal church, which had only five members in Tedrow at the time when thev located there, and they assisted in building up a numerous' and prosperous congregation, with the settling and development of the town and surrounding country. Milton Spring died, June 23, 1888, at the age of eighty-two years, and his father lived to the venerable age of ninety-five years, longevity being characteristic of the family. Mrs. Eunice A. (Hall) Spring was summoned to the eternal life on the 24th of September, 1864. Of the five children in the family the following is a brief record: Sarah E., born July 31, 1835, died April 28, 1859; Ellen M., born November 26, 1836, is the wife of Barney H. Anderson, of Spring Hill, this county; Sylvester I. is the imme- diate subject of this sketch; Cornelius M., born December 13, 1842, is a resident of Wauseon; and Nial C., born March 28, 1847, resides in Tedrow. Sylvester I. Spring passed his boyhood days in the little village of Tedrow, receiving such advantages as were afforded in the local schools, and being employed at farming and carpentry until the time of the Civil war. August 7, 1862, he enlisted in Company I, Sixty-seventh Ohio volunteer infantry, which was assigned to duty in the campaigning about the city of Norfolk, Va. His command took part in a number of spirited engagements, including numerous skirmishes. The first skirmish was at Blackwater, Va., and the regi-
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