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 71
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their efforts are indicated in the fine appearance of the farm and its live stock, buildings, etc. Mr. Tappan gives his support to the cause of the Republican party and is prominent in public affairs in his town- ship. He served thirteen consecutive years as township clerk, was land-appraiser for the township in 1900, and was for nine years de- puty State supervisor of elections. He was for several years presi- dent of the board of education of Pike township. He also served as secretary of The Fulton County Farmers Insurance Company for one year and refused re-election. His elder son served four years as township clerk and is the present treasurer of Pike township. On the 18th of January, 1870, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Tap- pan to Miss Harriet Wood, who was born in Medina county, Ohio, on the 15th of February, 1849, being a daughter of William and Laura Wood, who came to Fulton county in 1854, locating on a farm in Pike township, where they passed the remainder of their lives, the father dying in July, 1900, and his wife passed to the life eternal on the 11th of November, 1904. Mr. and Mrs. Tappan have two sons- Walter A., born October 27, 1870, and Erwin M., born February 3, 1879.
JESSE S. TAYLOR is numbered among the honored pioneers of Pike township and is now nearing the age of four-score years, being admirably preserved in body and physical powers and exem- plifying the results of right living through the long years which rep- resent his life span. He has the unqualified esteem of the commu- nity in which he has so long lived and labored to goodly ends, and is living practically retired, having retained a homestead of eighty acres out of his former large landed estate and having one of the fine places of this section of the county. Mr. Taylor comes of stanch old Puritan stock and claims the old Bay State as the place of his nativity, having been born in Franklin county, Massachusetts, on the 18th of January, 1828, and being a son of Orrin and Anna S. (Hall) Taylor, both of whom were likewise natives of New England. In 1836 Orrin Taylor came to what is now Fulton county, where he entered claim to three eighty-acre tracts of government land, the most of which was in Pike township. In 1850 he came with his family to this country and instituted the development of his land, becoming one of the successful and influential farmers of his day. He died on his home farm, in 1875, and his devoted wife passed away in 1883. He was a Republican in his political proclivities. Jesse S. Taylor was mainly reared to manhood in Ohio, where he received good educational advantages. He accompanied his parents on their removal to Fulton county, having been twenty-one years of age at the time, and for ten years thereafter he was a successful and popular teacher in the common schools of the county, and during the summer seasons he customarily gave his attention to farm work during this decade. Since retiring from the pedagogic profession Mr. Taylor has made farming and stock-raising his vocation, and he accumulated a fine landed estate of four hundred acres, to which he gave his supervision for many years, and the major of the tract still
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remains in the possession of members of the family, to whoin he has deeded the property, retaining in his fine homestead eighty acres, whose operation he still manages, though he has essentially retired from the active labors which marked so many years of his success- ful and honorable career. No man in the community is held in higher esteem, and he has wielded no slight influene in public affairs of a local nature. The political views of Mr. Taylor are indicated in the stanch allegiance he accords to the Republican party, and both he and his wife are valued members of the United Brethren church. In 1857 Mr. Taylor was united in marriage to Miss Harriet E. Knowles, who was born and reared in this county and who died in December, 1865, being survived by one daughter, Lillian E., who is now the wife of Solomon L. Valentine, of Wauseon, Ohio. On the 28th of De- cember, 1869, Mr. Taylor married Mrs. Ellen N. Casson, who was born in the state of Georgia. Her first husband met his death while serving as a soldier in the Civil war, and she later came to Fulton county with her two sons. Of this second marriage no children have been born.
LUCIUS H. TAYLOR, a progressive farmer and popular citi- zen of Pike township, is a member of a family whose name has been identified with the annals of Fulton county for more than half a cen- tury, and the name has stood for all that is worthy in the various relations of life, the subject of this review being a representative of the third generation of the family in Fulton county. Orrin Taylor, who is to be designated as the founder of the family in the Buckeye State, was born in Franklin county, Massachusetts, in 1789. In that State, in 1812, was solemnized his marriage to Miss Anna Hall, who was born in Connecticut, in 1795. They came to Ohio in 1831, locating in Portage county, and in 1836 he came to what is now Ful- ton county and secured three eighty-acre tracts of government land, in the midst of the virgin forest-two of the places being taken for his sons. In 1850 the family removed to this county, where Orrin Taylor and his noble wife passed the remainder of their lives, his death occurring on the old homestead farm, in 1875, and his wife passed to the life eternal in 1883. He held various offices of public trust, having been justice of the peace for twenty years, and having served as township treasurer after he was eighty years of age. He was a man of fine character and much ability and was prominent and influential in local affairs, commanding the unstinted repsect and confidence of all who knew him. Orrin and Anna Taylor became the parents of six sons and three daughters. Two of the sons were valiant soldiers of the Union during the Civil war, Luther having enlisted in the Tenth Ohio Cavalry and having met his death while on the field; James was a member of the Thirty-eighth Ohio vol- unteer infantry. Three sons and one daughter are still living, namely: Lucius P., who was born in 1817; Mary Ann, who was born in 1825 and who is the widow of German Stanley; Jesse S., who is individually mentioned in the preceding review; and James, who was born in 1830. Lucius P., father of him whose name initiates
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this review, is one of the venerable citizens and honored pioneers of Fulton county, where he has maintained his home since. 1843, when he took up his abode on the farm where he now resides, the same having been the land secured in his name by his father. He was born in Franklin county, Massachusetts, on the 15th of August, 1817, and was reared and edcuated in the old Bay State. He reclaimed his farm from the wilderness and has ever retained a strong hold upon the confidence and regard of the people of the community in which he has maintained his home for more than sixty years. In Summit county, Ohio, on the 13th of February, 1840, he was united in marriage to Miss Susanna M. Ozmun, who was born in Liverpool, Medina county, Ohio, on the Ist of March, 1815, and who remained his devoted and loved companion until her death, in 1892. They be- came the parents of three sons and six daughters, and one son and five of the daughters are still living, namely: Lucy A., who was born April 4, 1841; Emma, who was born February 20, 1848, and who is the wife of Milo Barnum: Ida, who was born February 4, 1850, and who is the wife of Edwin Harriott; Susetta, who was born November 9, 1853; Olive L., who was born December 29, 1855; and Lucius H., who is the immediate subject of this sketch. The two deceased sons are Orrin and Jesse T. The former was a loyal and efficient soldier in Company F, Sixty-seventh Ohio volunteer in- fantry, in the Civil war, and was killed in an engagement with the enemy about ten minutes before the surrender of General Lee. Jesse T. was a member of the same company and regiment, and he never recovered from the effects of his arduous service in the ranks, though he lived for many years after the war, his death having occurred.on the 17th of November, 1903. The daughter Charlotte died at the age of six years. Lucius P. Taylor was originally a Whig in his polit- ical allegiance, but he has been identified with the Repubilcan party from the time of its organization. He was township trustee at the time of the organization of Fulton county, and has held other local offices. His religious faith is that of the Presbyterian church, of which his wife also was a devoted member. He has lived a life of signal honor and usefulness, and is well preserved in his mental and physical faculties, though he is eighty-eight years of age at the time of this writing, in 1905. He assisted in the building of the first gov- ernment pier in the city of Cleveland. Lucius H. Taylor was born on the homestead farm, in Pike township, this county, on the 8th of November, 1858; in his youth he duly availed himself of the advan- tages afforded in the public schools of the locality, and he has never severed his allegiance to the industry of agriculture, of which he is a successful representative in his native township, where he has charge of the old homestead on which he was born and which is one of the valuable farms of the county. He is a Republican in politics and takes a deep interest in all that concerns the progress and pros- perity of his home township and county. In 1893 he was united in marriage to Miss Cora B. Falor, who was born in Fulton county, on the 5th of October, 1873, being a daughter of Joseph and Mary M. Falor.
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JOHN G. WELLS, a prominent livery- man of Wauseon and Archbold, was born in Ripley township, Holmes county, Ohio. He is the son of James and Nancy (Lee) Wells, both natives of Ohio. His grand- father, William Wells, was a native of Maryland, and a pioneer settler of Ripley township, Holmes county. The father of William Wells served in the Revolutionary war. James Wells was born in Ripley township, Holmes county, in 1819. In 1858 he removed to Fulton county and bought a farm in Clinton township, where he lived until 1886, the year of his death. His wife was the daughter of James Lee, a native of the same township, where he was one of the earliest settlers. The sketch of the Lee family is found in another part of this work. Only one child, the subject of this sketch, was born to James Wells and wife. John G. Wells was only six years old when he came with his parents to Clinton township, Fulton county. He was reared on the home farm and educated in the public schools of Fulton county. So well was he pleased with farm life that he chose farming as his avocation. In 1886 he removed to Kansas, where for twelve years he resided in Coffee and Osage counties, following his chosen calling. On his return to Wauseon, in 1898, he embarked in the livery business, which he has ever since so successfully conducted. His experience on the farm and his thorough knowledge of horses are of great assistance to him in the management of his business. His popularity is largely due to his readiness at all times to accommodate his many patrons, making only the most rea- sonable charges. He keeps nothing but good horses and the traveling public shows its appreciation of that fact by patronizing him liberally. John G. Wells is actively identified with the Modern Woodmen and the Ancient Order of United Workmen. He married Miss Sophronia D. Murphy, of Seneca county, Ohio. Her mother was a native of Canada and she was the daughter of Robert and Arellia (Becox) Murphy, who came to Ohio from Canada, settling first in Seneca and afterwards in Fulton county. John G. Wells and wife have five children. They are: Curtis C., deceased; Clare B., a liveryman of Lima, Ohio; Ray M., a liveryman of Archbold; Robert G., of Wau- seon; Howard, of the same city, and John L., deceased.
ADDISON BROOKS THOMPSON, a well-known business man of Delta, is a native of Fulton county and a representative of one of the earliest pioneer families of that county, his birth occurring on the parental farm, October 1, 1860. Here and in Delta his life has been spent in various lines of successful business endeavor. His father, Abraham B. Thompson, a native of Lincolnshire, England, was born March 5, 1831, and when an infant three months old was ยท bereft of a mother's tender care, and a little over a year old when his father came to the United States, leaving behind three helpless children, who were entirely dependent upon the charities of rela- tives. In 1848 his father returned to England, and when he again
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left for America he took Abraham, then a lad of seventeen, with him and established a home in Royalton township, Fulton county, where the son lived until he attained to his majority. His chief con- sideration when about to start out in life for himself was the ac- quirement of at least a fair business education. This he accom- plished by working out by the month to earn the means to enable him to attend a school at Maumee City, only suspending his studies `when his means were exhausted. At this time, when he realized so strongly the need of means to prosecute his studies at school, the California "gold fever" was rampant all over the country and young Thompson decided to seek his fortune in the far West. In 1854 he made the journey by way of the Nicaraguan route, but was prevented from landing for some time because of small-pox on ship-board. Upon landing he found himself entirely out of money, but this fact did not long discourage him. Borrowing thirty dollars from a friend he made his way into the mining districts with renewed hope. After enduring all the hardships and privations incident to pioneer life and practicing the closest economy for four years he accumulated about two thousand dollars. In the fall of 1858 he returned to Ohio and invested his money in a farm of one hundred and sixty acres in Am- boy township, which he at once began to improve and cultivate. Abraham Thompson was one of the most prominent and progressive farmers of Amboy township, was honored with all of the township offices and for nine years served as county commissioner. In 1869 he erected suitable buildings on his farm and commenced the manu- facture of cheese, in which industry he continued during the balance of his life-time, and which is now operated by his son, the subject of this sketch, who in fact has been interested in the plant since 1880, and since 1888 has been the business head of the industry. By the establishment of this industry the farmers of the community have been greatly benefited, the annual distribution of cash among them averaging for many years fifty thousand dollars. While a rival in- dustry at Delta has diminished this amount, the volume of business transacted is still an important item of dairying interests. In 1875 he removed to York township, one half-mile north of Delta, and two years later erected an elegant residence on the place in which he lived until a short time before the death of his wife, when he built a handsome residence in Delta. He built an extensive cheese fac-
tory on this farm and operated it in connection with the one in Am- boy township until 1883, when the latter was sold. While successful both as a farmer and manufacturer, he was notably so in the cheese industry, accumulating a comfortable fortune. The product of these factories, all of the very best quality, was marketed mostly in Toledo, O., and Adrian, Mich., although a fair proportion was used to supply the home demand. The home farm is owned and occupied by his daughter, Mrs. J. W. Miller, and the village home is the property of the other daughter, Mrs. Grandy. Abraham Thompson was an ac- tive and zealous member of the Masonic fraternity and attained to a high rank in the counsels of that time-honored organization. What- ever he found to do.he did with all his might, and from 1863 until the day of his death he was a faithful adherent to the teachings of
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Free Masonry. In his intercourse with men he was ever fair and honorable, and the passing of this venerable pioneer was the occa- sion of universal mourning. On November 27, 1859, he was mar- ried to Miss Susan Ann Powlesland, a native of Devonshire, Eng- land, who had accompanied her parents to this country in 1849. To this marriage five children were born. They are: Addison B .; Cara Dora, born May 18, 1862, now Mrs. J. W. Miller; Evaline Fancetta, the wife of Fred Grandy, and Ira J., who is married and lives at Swanton. His first wife having died in Delta, he chose as his sec- ond wife Mrs. Mary J. Huntington of Delta, who died in 1901. Add- ison Brooks Thompson is prominently associated with the business affairs of Delta and the surrounding country. He settled up the business of his father's large estate and distributed the property among the heirs on the most equitable conditions. His own per- sonal interests being quite extensive, he is one of the busiest men in the county. Realizing the need of another bank in Delta, he suc- ceeded by dint of constant agitation of the question in interesting other capitalists in the project, and in 1900 the Farmers National Bank of Delta was organized and incorporated with a capital of twenty-five thousand dollars. Since its organization it has paid regu- larly a semi-annual dividend of two per cent. and has a surplus capi- tal of five thousand dollars beside, the stock being worth one hun- dred and thirty, and every dollar sold since the organization has realized more than par value. In addition to his banking business, Mr. Thompson is busy superintending his large farming and dairy interests. For about five years he was actively engaged in the mer- cantile business in Delta. Desiring a central location, where he might always be found by those wishing to do business with him, he accepted the agency of the Toledo and Indiana electric railway com- pany at Delta when the road was first built, and he still holds that position. When twenty-one years old he became a member of Fulton Lodge, No. 248, Free and Accepted Masons. In 1890 he received the degrees in Octavius Waters Chapter, Royal Arch Masons, and three years later became a member of the Toledo Commandery, Knights Templar. He and family are attendants at the services of the Presbyterian church, of which organization his wife is a member. In politics he is a Republican, as was his distinguished father before him, believing it to be the party of progress and sound government. Being a public-spirited and progressive citizen his efforts in favor of the advancement of public interests have always been felt in the community. On May 9, 1883, he was married to Miss Harriet R., the daughter of W. K. and Harriet D. Gilbert, of Delta, her ances- tors being of English stock. W. K. Gilbert, a very prosperous busi- ness man in his life-time, is now deceased and his widow lives with her daughter, where she finds a hearty welcome, her presence add- ing cheer to the happy family. They are the parents of four children, three of whom are still living. They are: Arthur B., born in April, 1884, is a graduate of Delta high-school and at present a very suc- cessful teacher in the public schools; Winnie A., who was born in May, 1886, and died in November, 1894; Fred G., born in November, 1894, and Floyd E., born in October, 1896.
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ELI THOMPSON, who maintains his home in the village of Fayette, is a veteran of the Civil war, and is a well-known and popu- lar citizen, having been for nearly a quarter of a century employed as section-foreman on what is now the Lake Shore and Michigan Southern Railroad. He was born in Sunbury, Northumberland county, Pa., December 17, 1833, and is a son of William and Mary (Campbell) Thompson, both of whom were likewise born in that same county of the old Keystone State, the original ancestors of the Thompson family in America having come from Scotland and set- tled in Berks county, Pa., prior to the War of the Revolution. The Campbell family also is of pure Scottish strain, and the original American representatives settled in New Jersey, near the Pennsyl- vania line, later removing over into the latter State, prior to the Revolution. William Thompson was the youngest in a family of nine children, and all are now deceased. In 1835 he came with his family to Ohio and settled in Knox county, where he worked at his trade, that of carpenter and joiner, for the following eleven years. In 1846 he returned to Northumberland county, Pa., where he re- mained until 1850, when he came again to Ohio, and located in Morrow county, whence, in 1853, he came to Fulton county, settling on a farm two and one-half miles south of Fayette, in Gorham town- ship, and there remaining until his death, which occurred October 20, 1887, at which time he was nearly seventy-five years of age. His wife passed away in 1872, at the age of sixty-three years. Of their eight children Eli is the eldest; Alba died in 1855, aged twenty years; Elizabeth remains on the old homestead farm, never having mar- ried; Sarah is the wife of Charles Gorsuch, of Waldron, Hillsdale county, Mich .; Mary died in infancy; Phynanda became the wife of Frank Spencer, and she died in Fayette, Ohio, in 1901, her hus- band having previously died on a farm near Cleveland, O. William operates the old homestead farm; and Bartlett is a resident of Bryan, Williams county. William Thompson was a leader in the local ranks of the Democratic party for many years, and both he and his wife were worthy members of the Methodist Episcopal church. Eli Thompson secured his early educational training in the common schools of Pennsylvania and Ohio and also attended a select school for a time. As a young man he commenced work at the trade of carpenter and joiner, in Morrow county, Ohio, learning the trade under the direction of his father, with whom he was associated in this field of labor until the removal to Fulton county. Here Eli continued to work at his trade independently, and he also taught in the district schools of the county for three winter terms. In 1861 he was employed as clerk in a general store in Fayette, after which he returned to Pennsylvania for a visit. On the Ist of November, 1862, he there enlisted as a private in Company H, One Hundred and Seventy-third Pennsylvania volunteer infantry, in which he was forthwith made quartermaster-sergeant, in which office he continued until the close of his term of enlistment. He was with his regiment at Norfolk, Va., and after the battle of Gettysburg the command was attached to the Second Division of the Eleventh Corps of the
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Army of the Potomac. He received his honorable discharge, August 10, 1863, and he then located in Pottsville, Pa., where he was em- ployed three years as outside foreman of a colliery. In 1872 he came to Fayette, Fulton county, and in that year purchased his present attractive little homestead of fifteen acres, lying within the corporate limits of the town on the south side. The first three years he worked at his trade and he then entered the employ of the Canada and Chi- cago railroad, continuing with the line after the road became a part of the Lake Shore and Michigan Southern Railroad, with which he has been section-foreman for thirty years, having served under five different track-masters and being one of the trusted employes of the system. He is an uncompromising Republican, takes a lively in- terest in public affairs, and he served four years as a member of the village council of Fayette. He was a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows for more than twenty years. October 25, 1863, Mr. Thompson was married to Miss Mary A. Aregood, of Pottsville, Pa., in which State she was born and reared, and they have eight children, namely: William I., a resident of Elkhart, Ind .; Eli B., at the parental home; Joseph F., of Detroit, Mich .; Olive M., at the parental home; Osman A., likewise a member of the home circle; John H., of Delta, this county; Alva A., of Morenci, Mich .; and Sadie S., of Detroit, Mich.
IRA J. THOMPSON, a prominent manufacturer of Swanton, is a native of Royalton township, Fulton county, born May 10, 1868. He is a son of Abraham B. and Susan (Powlesland) Thompson, and a brother of Addison Brooks Thompson, of Delta, a full sketch of whose life and family history appears elsewhere in this work. Ira 'J. Thompson when seven years old accompanied his parents to the farm near Delta, where his early manhood years were spent. He received his education by attending the Delta public schools and Fayette Normal University. After attaining his majority he farmed the old homestead for six years and then purchased a farm of his own, located one half-mile north of it. Here he resided until 1900, when he leased the farm and removed to Swanton. For the next four years he was engaged in the transfer business. In the spring of 1905 he embarked in the business of manufacturing cement blocks for building purposes, a business that he has since conducted with marked success. Mr. Thompson is the inventor of a machine for mixing the sand and cement, by means of which the mixing process is more quickly as well as more thoroughly done than by hand. This machine is operated by the same gas-engine that pumps the water to wet the blocks and to make the mortar. The stock on hand and ready for use consists of about twenty-five hundred blocks, the daily capacity of the plant being three hundred blocks. In addi- tion to his plant he also operates a steam wood-sawing outfit, and contemplates erecting a mill for grinding feed. Mr. Thompson is a Republican in politics and a member of Swanton Lodge, No. 555, Free and Accepted Masons. On December 25, 1890, he was wedded to Miss Ada E. Haynes, of Ai, the daughter of Jacob and Nancy
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