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 78
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FRANK A. WHEELER. one of the well-known and successful farmers and stock-dealers of Amboy township, was born near the city of Three Rivers, St. Joseph, Mich., on the Ist of January, 1857,
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and is a son of John B. and Minerva (Clendenin) Wheeler. The for- mer was born in Michigan, having been a son of James Wheeler, a native of Germany and one of the very early settlers in Calhoun coun- ty, Mich., and later of Cairo, Ill., where he passed the closing years of his life. The mother of the subject of this review was born in the State of New York, a daughter of John Clendenin, who was born in Livingston county, that state, and who came to Fulton county, Ohio, in an early day, reclaiming a farm in Section 12, Amboy township, where he died, having been the owner of eighty acres of excellent land. The maiden name of his wife was Ann Hackett, and she like- wise was born in Livingston county, N. Y., and died on the homestead in Amboy township. John B. Wheeler rendered valiant service in de- fense of the Union during the Civil war, and was mustered out of the service as captain of Company M, Second Illinois Battery of Light Artillery. His four children are: Frank A., Charles H., John C., and Leverett B. Frank A. Wheeler was reared in Amboy township from the age of five years, while his educational advantages were somewhat limited, his attendance in the public schools having been somewhat ir- regular. When he was but nine years of age he was compelled to make his own livelihood. For two years he worked for his board and clothing and later was employed by the month, principally at farm work, thus continuing until he had attained the age of twenty-two years, when he invested his savings in a farm in Section 1, Amboy township, selling the property two years later. In 1882 he purchased sixty-five acres in Section 2, same township, a portion of the farm lying across the line in Lenawee county, Mich. He has made good improvements on this place, which constitutes his present home, and is known as one of the energetic and successful farmers of the county. He also raises and deals in live stock to a considerable extent. Mr. Wheeler is a stanch Republican and takes a loyal interest in local affairs of a public nature. He held the office of assessor of Amboy township five terms and was deputy-sheriff of the county six years, under three administrations. He is affiliated with Royalton Lodge, F. & A. M .; Royalton Chapter, R. A. M .; Wauseon Council, R. & S. M .; Swanton Lodge, Knights of Pythias, and with the Second regi- ment of the uniform rank of the same organization ; and with Meta- mora Lodge, I. O. O. F. February 16, 1882, Mr. Wheeler was united in marriage to Miss Annie Blanchard, daughter of Reuben and Lu- cinda (Shattuck) Blanchard, of Sylvania township, Lucas county. Mr. and Mrs. Wheeler have no children.
CALVIN V. PFAFMAN, B. Ph., was born near Kendallville, Ind., May 13, 1877. He is the son of Valentine and Mary (Striker) Pfaf- man, both natives of Rhinish, Bavaria, where they were reared, edu- cated and married. They emigrated to the United States and with their two children located on the farm on which Calvin V. was born. Here both still reside. To them have been born eight children, of whom seven are still living: Lewis, who has charge of the mail- wagons of the Philadelphia, Pa., post-office; David, an employee in the office of the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railway company at Chi-
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cago; Henry, who works on the home farm; Calvin V .; Pauline, the wife of Mr. Blenner, of Oklahoma Territory; Amelia and Mary. Frederick died at the age of twelve years. Calvin V. Pfafman gradu- ated with the class of 1902 from the Tri-State Normal University at Angola, Ind., prior to which he taught for several years in the Indiana public schools. In 1903 he was elected principal of the high school department of the Swanton schools and in 1904 he was re-elected. His work is to teach the different classes of this department. In Novem- ber, 1904, the Swanton school building was destroyed by fire and since that time the east and west trancepts of the Methodist church have been used for school purposes. The course of study embraces geom- etry, algebra, botany, German, Latin, English, and collateral studies. Professor Pfafman is a good teacher and quite popular with his stud- ents, patrons and the school officials. He is a Republican in politics and a member of the Christian church, although he was brought up in the Lutheran faith.
HON. JOHN C. RORICK, of Wauseon, was born near Elmira, N. Y., February 13, 1834. His parents moved to Lenawee county, Michigan, in 1836, and commenced to help change the wilderness of that time to the splendid farming section of the present. His early educa- tion was mostly obtained by studying at home, but by a term and a half at the Medina Seminary, he was able to pass the required examination and commenced teaching at the age of eighteen. After graduating at the Gregory Commercial College at Detroit, in 1854, he went to the Lake Superior copper mines and took a position as "boss of the kills" for the Ridge mine at Ontonogan, but not liking the position, in com- pany with two other young men, he returned to the States, traveling 250 miles through an unbroken wilderness, on snow-shoes, guided by chart and compass, and he took up the occupation of teaching writing, drawing and book-keeping at Madison and other towns in Wisconsin. He chartered the first commercial college at Milwaukee, in 1855, but on account of failing health he sold out and located in Aurora, Ill., accumulating a fair margin, which was swept away by the financial disasters of 1860, after which he returned to Michigan. In 1864 he bought the Shuman house at Wauseon, then, in 1866, the Morenci Hotel; and in 1867 a spoke factory at Canandaigua, moving back to Wauseon in 1872. He was the patentee of the "Rorick System of Re-working Butter," which went into general use among the shippers in 1878, the Ohio Rug Machine, the Quadrant Bevel Square, an improved Air Pad Truss and several other devices. He was a member of the State Board of Equalization in 1881 from the Thirty-third Senatorial district and was nominated for State Senator in 1883, but was defeated, the district going largely democratic. He has held the office of justice of the peace, mayor. councilman, trustee and other minor offices, but never sought or desired a nomination until 1891, when he and Hon. T. H. McConick of Findlay were nominated for State Senators at the Toledo convention. They were both elected and renominated and again elected in 1893 by large majorities. In 1900 Mr. Rorick was nomi- nated at the State Board of Equalization convention at Napoleon, Ohio,
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for the Thirty-third Senatorial district, comprising the counties Lucas, Wood, Hancock, Putnam, Henry and Fulton, and was elected with Hon. H. C. A. Ehlert, the district being entitled to two members. The session which followed was made notorious by the organization of the "Cincinnati Combination," which, having the majority of votes on the board, proceeded to deduct from the duplicates of its members and add to the duplicates of others in a high handed manner, 30 per cent. being added to Fulton county farm lands. Dr. E. H. Rorick came to Colum- bus from Athens and a plan was formulated by the two and carried out by a conference at the Governor's office by which the combination was broken and a substitute report adopted and thereby the tax-payers of the northern part of the state were protected. Mr. Rorick is largely engaged in independent telephone construction in Texas and other states.
HON. ESTELL H. RORICK, Superintendent of the State Institu- tion for the Feeble Minded at Columbus, Ohio, was born in Lenawee county, Michigan, September 1, 1842. His father moving from Horseheads, N. Y., in 1836, was one of the early pioneers of that part of Michigan and was a large land owner when the subject of this sketch was a boy. Educational facilities were not good, but young Rorick, by close attention to his studies at the district school and at home pre- pared to enter the Medina Academy at the age of sixteen. He after- ward attended college at Kalamazoo, Michigan, but lacking means to finish his course, he taught two terms of district school, intending later on to return to college. At the Medina school, he formed the acquaint- ance of Dr. Weeds, a physician of note, and thereby conceived the idea of studying medicine and turned his studies in that direction. Dr. Weeds, who became a surgeon in the United States service was located at Nashville. Tenn., where Mr. Rorick joined him, in 1864, and served as hospital assistant until the close of the war. He then returned to Michigan and in due time entered the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor and graduated from the medical department in 1869 and located for practice at Tedrow. Ohio, and was rewarded with eminent success from the beginning. Three years later he sold out his practice to Dr. G. P. Campbell and bought out Dr. J. O. Allen of Fayette. He did much toward building up Fayette and making it one of the most pros- perous educational and business towns of its size in Ohio. He con- tributed largely toward the expense of establishing the Fayette Normal University and at his own expense furnished a room in the institution, fitting it up with manikins, models, charts and all other useful appara- tus and delivered regular courses of lectures on the subjects of anatomy, physiology and hygiene free of charge. He took a post- graduate course at the Detroit Medical College and graduated March 2, 1875. In 1877 he went to Scotland and took a partial medical course in the University of Edinburgh and after visiting and studying the principal hospitals of London and Paris returned to his practice in 1878. He again took a post graduate course at the Alabama Medical College at Mobile and graduated March 15, 1883. He was elected to the state legislature in 1887 and again in 1889, serving four years. His service as representative was satisfactory to his constituents and useful to the
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state. As a member of the Finance committee of the House he was required to visit frequently the State institutions, this giving him an opportunity to carefully study their conditions and to note their require- ments. His education and professional experience as well as his interest in and familiarity with the state institutions became so well known that he was recognized throughout the state by those in authority as a man well adapted to assume the difficult management of a state hospital, for which his name was prominently mentioned in connection with the superintendency of several institutions, but at the close of his second term in the legislature he returned to his practice in Fayette. after taking a course of studies at the Polyclinic in New York, and graduating in 1892. Under the first administration of Gov. Asa S. Bushnell, he was elected by the board of directors to the superintendency of the State Hospital at Athens, Ohio, which institution he took charge of in June, 1896. His administration was a successful one and his business management a great saving to the state. The grounds and buildings were vastly improved, and at the same time the per capita cost of maintenance was reduced to the lowest figure in the history of the state for a similar institution. A vacancy occurring by the death of Mr. Doren, Dr. Rorick was requested to take charge of the Institution for Feeble Minded at Columbus by Gov. Myron T. Herrick, which he did in May, 1905. The same business methods used at Athens were employed at Columbus, resulting in a saving to the state of $13,222.58 for the months ending October 15, as compared with the same months for the year 1904. Dr. Rorick's father, who was of German descent, was born in New Jersey, March 30, 1805, and died at Morenci, Mich., January 15, 1898. His mother, Phoebe Ann Breese, was of English parentage, born at Horseheads, N. Y., October 27, 1811, and died in Seneca, Michigan, September 1, 1858. He was united in marriage to Mary P. Acker, August 20, 1868. They have but one child living- Mabel, who is attending the university at Columbus. The eldest child, Clark, died at the age of eight and Georgie at the age of twenty. Dr. Rorick has been financially successful, being a large real estate owner as well as having controlling interest in the First National Bank at Morenci.
J. S. RYCHENER, a member of the firm of Rychener & Gigax, general hardware, of Elmira, Fulton county, Ohio, was born in German township of that county on October 24. 1859. He is the son of Christian and Magdalena (Grieser) Rychener, the former born in Bern. Switzerland. on September 1. 1813. and the latter a native of Alsace Loraine, Germany. Christian Rychener, in 1833, emigrated to America, and coming to the state of Ohio located in Wayne county and then followed blacksmithing, a trade he had learned in his native land. In about 1836 he removed to Fulton county, and on August 21, 1837, he purchased a farm and at once began clearing the same. He was married in 1841, the first marriage ceremony pronounced in what is now known as German township, and he died on December 24. 1899, his wife having died on August 22, 1898. To them eleven children were born. as fol-
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lows: Christian, a resident of Swan Creek township; Saloma, de- ceased, the wife of David Nofzinger of German township; Mary, the widow of Jacob Nofzinger, of German township; Joseph of German township; Danie! of Swan Creek township; Magdalena the wife of Jefferson Schumaker of German township; Godeon of German township; Barbar, now Mrs. Joseph D. Nofzinger: Henry, of Clinton township; Fanny, of German township; and the subject of this sketch. J. S. Rychener grew to manhood on the home farm and was educated in the public schools of Fulton county and the Fayette, O., Normal. At the age of twenty-one years he began teaching in his native county and continued in that calling for nine years. In 1890 he removed to Enterprise, Dickinson county. Kas., where for the next seven years he clerked in a hardware store. Re- turning to Ohio, he entered in partnership with Frank B. Rey- nolds in the same line in Wauseon for five years. In 1902 he came to German township and with Mr. Gigax as a partner embarked in the hardware business in the new town of Elmira, their store building being the first in that town. Here this firm carries a full line of hardware, wagons, buggies and farm implements. In the same year he organized the Elmira Elevator company. with Eli Short and Joel Myse as partners, and began buying and ship- ping grain. Mr. Rychener also owns a third interest in the Pettis- ville, O., Grain company. On September 25, 1890, he was joined in wedlock to Miss Elizabeth Seiler of Enterprise, Kas., a native of Franklin township, Fulton county, and the daughter of Michael and Margaret Seiler, the former at present a resident of Wauseon. One child, Frieda, has been born to J. S. Rychener and wife.
CHARLES L. GINGERY, of Swan Creek township, is one of those progressive farmers and stock-growers who are upholding the high prestige of the industry of agriculture in Fulton county, and he is known as a citizen of sterling worth and utmost loyalty. He was born in Wood county, Ohio, on the 5th of December, 1868, and is a son of Emanuel and Margaret Ann (DeWitt) Gingery. the former of whom was born in Seneca county and the latter in Huron county. this state. In 1879 they came from Wood county to the present homestead of their son, Charles L., the place at that time being entirely unimproved, and a large portion of the tract was covered with water, being of a swampy character. The family lived on this place only one year, and the father then purchased one hundred and twenty acres of more elevated land, one-half mile east, where he maintained his home for nearly twenty years and where his first wife died, in middle life. He later consummated a second marriage and finally returned to Wood county, where his death occurred on the 28th of April, 1905. Of the six children of the first marriage five are living. Clinton DeWitt resides on a farm adjoining that of Charles L .; Louisa died at the age of twelve years; John A. resides with Clinton, both being bachelors; Hattie L. is the wife of Patrick Foley, a farmer of Swan Creek township; Charles L. was the next in order of birth; and Arthur W. is also a prosperous farmer of the same township. Charles L.
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Gingery secured his early educational training in the public schools of Wood and Fulton counties, and his entire life has been identified with agricultural pursuits and stock-raising. In 1891 he purchased his present homestead of eighty acres, the place being now well improved, nearly the entire tract having been reclaimed and made available for cultivation, thus presenting a radically different appearance than it did when his father first took up his residence on the property. He has been associated with his father and brothers in the reclaiming and improving of more than three hundred acres of land in this county. principally swamp and brush land. They also have done many miles of ditching on their own lands and for others, and have assisted in the construction of most of the roads in this part of the county, to whose development and civic advancement they have materially contributed. About a score of years ago the three brothers became associated in the raising of high-grade live-stock, including horses, cattle and swine, operating in conjunction for seventeen years, since which time Charles L. has continued in the same line of enterprise in an independent way. He owns thoroughbred Belgian horses, polled shorthorn cattle and Poland-China hogs, and the fine stock of the Gingery brothers has taken many premiums at the county fair within the last several years. Charles L. is an active, energetic and able business man, his success in his chosen field of endeavor has been excellent, and he commands the high regard of the people of the community in which he has lived from his childhood days. He has been an active worker in the local ranks of the Republican party ever since attaining his legal majority and is a member of the county central committee of the same at the present time. He has served as ditch supervisor and constable of Swan Creek township and is now a valued member of the school board. It may be noted that his father also was a stalwart supporter of the Republican party and its principles, having espoused its cause at the time of organ- ization, when it stood as the exponent of the principle that the Union must be preserved, and he was one of the.Ohio men who served with utmost loyalty as a soldier in the Civil war, it being altogether prob- able that his death was hastened by wounds which he received in service. In 1891 Charles L. Gingery was united in marriage to Miss Jennie Soles, whose death occurred only three months later. In March, 1893, he wedded Miss Addie Sanders, who was born and reared in Swan Creek township, being a daughter of the late John Sanders, an honored pioneer of the county. Mr. and Mrs. Gingery have three children : Don, Dora J. and Herman A.
STEPHEN E. HINKLE, one of the representative farmers and honored citizens of Royalton township, was born in this township, April 10, 1853, a son of Ephraim and Mary Susan (Haughton) Hinkle, the former of whom was born in Cuyahoga county, N. Y., January 25, 1823, and the latter in Stephentown, Rensselaer county, N. Y., January 6. 1829. The paternal grandfather, John Hinkle, settled in Royalton township in 1833, having been among the early pioneers of Fulton county, and he became the owner of 240 acres of land, much of which he reclaimed, continuing his residence here until his death, in July,
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1853. The maiden name of his first wife was Mercy Reed, and they had five children-Ephraim, Elmer, Sally (Mrs. Chauncey Gannon), and Harriet (Mrs. Alpheus Fenner). For his second wife John Hinkle chose Alvira Hartshorn, and they had four children-Jane (Mrs. Milo Warner), Richard, Martin, and Louisa (Mrs. Salem Hartshorn). Ephraim Hinkle was reared in Royalton township, under the influences of the pioneer epoch, and in early manhood, in company with his brother, Elmer, took up three hundred and twenty acres of land. Upon the death of his brother mentioned he purchased eighty acres of the latter's land, but later sold this and also another portion of the original tract, so that the homestead at the present time comprises 157 acres. He cleared this property from the primitive wilds, developing one of the valuable farms of the county, and in 1853 he erected on the place what was admitted to be at .that time the finest residence in the county, the house being still in use and in a fine state of preservation, and few of the modern homes excel it in its air of gracious hospitality and general attractiveness. Ephraim Hinkle was twice married. his first wife having been Ruth, daughter of George and Polly (Richardson) Welsh, of Royalton township, and they became the parents of two children. Melvin and Mary, the latter being the wife of Charles Mann. His second wife, mother of the subject of this review, was Mary Susan, a daughter of Stephen and Huldah (Smith) Haughton, who came from Rensselaer county, N. Y., and settled in Lucas county, Ohio, in 1833, in what is now Amboy township, Fulton county. They passed the closing years of their lives in Wauseon, where the father died at the age of eighty-six and the mother at the age of seventy-three. Mr. Haughton served as commissioner of Lucas county, and when Fulton county was organized, in 1850. he was one of its first commissioners. Of the children of Ephraim and Mary Susan Hinkle two attained maturity, Stephen E., of this sketch, and Manley. Stephen E. Hinkle was reared on the old home farm, where, with the exception of seven years passed in Lucas county, he has made his home from the time of his birth. He secured his early education in the schools of Royalton township, and later attended the public schools of Toledo and Maumee. His vocation throughout life has been farming, and he has well upheld the prestige gained in this line by his father and grandfather. He is a Republican in his political proclivities, and has served three years as a member of the village council of Lyons, his farm lying contiguous to the town. He and his wife are members of the Universalist church, and he is affiliated with Lyons Lodge, No. 622, I. O. O. F. April 10, 1872, on his nineteenth birthday, Mr. Hinkle was united in marriage to Miss Hattie Cass, daughter of Joseph and Mary (Wilson) Cass, of Lucas county, and they became the parents of five children: Ephraim C. is deceased; Lena is the wife of Horton Ferguson; Herbert H., Stephen E. and Homer.
M. C. PALMER, an extensive stock-dealer of Archbold, was born in Knox county, Ohio, March 18, 1842. The first representative of the Palmer family to emigrate from England to the United States was John Palmer, who settled in Chester county, Pa., in 1714. M. C.
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Palmer is the son of Morris and Mary Ann (Lukens) Palmer, the former a native of Baltimore, Md., and the latter of Winchester, Va. Morris Palmer in an early day removed to Knox county, O., where he resided until 1858, when he removed to Fulton county, settling on a farm in Franklin township. After retiring from farming he resided in the village of Fayette, O., and there died in 1901, aged seventy-one, his wife having died the year before, aged sixty-six years. Of the six children born to them M. C. in the eldest. The other five are: Sarah, the wife of Austin Jones; Athelrenda. now Mrs. John Russell, of West Unity; Abraham (deceased): Mary Olive, the wife of Frank Crookson; and William, of Saginaw, Mich. M. C. Palmer grew to manhood on a farm and received such an education as the common schools of that day afforded. On August 18, 1862, when still at home, he enlisted in Company A of the Sixty-seventh Ohio volunteer infantry regiment and served until July 1, 1865, when he was mustered out at Columbus, O. His military service was a very strenuous one. He joined his regi- ment, a part of the army of the Potomac, at Suffolk, Va .. where he was first under fire. After the battle of Black Water the regiment was sent to the Carolinas. During the month that the command was engaged in the siege of Petersburg, \'a., his company was one of nine to make a desperate charge which resulted in the killing and wounding of fully one-half of the men. He was also in the battle of Mare's Island and at Gen. R. E. Lee's surrender at Appomattox Court-house. After the war he returned to the home of his parents in Franklin township and engaged in farming. About thirty years ago he came to German township, where he owns a fine farm of one hundred and sixty acres, three-fourths of a mile west of Elmira. He followed general farming until 1900, when he engaged in buying and selling live stock. Mr. Palmer has never been too busy to neglect public affairs, and for ten years served as township trustee. He is a Democrat in politics a member of the Defiance Commandery of Knights Templars, the Wau- seon Chapter and Council, the Blue Lodge of West Unity, the Odd Fellow Lodge at Archbold, the Grand Army of the Republic Post at Wauseon, the Relief Association of Toledo, and the Horse Owners' Association. On August 16, 1866, he was wedded to Phidelia Dye of German township, who died in August, 1904. Seven children were born to these parents, as follows: Charles, of Williams county; Annie, the wife of Frank Reeves, of Elmer; Etta, now Mrs. Harvey Smart, of Franklin township; Nellie, the wife of Charles Johnston; William, of Elmira; Lizzie, who married Fred Laurence of Elmira; and Myrtle, the wife of Charles Roop, of Montpelier, O.
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