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BIOGRAPHIES
 Source:
A Portrait and Biographical Record of Allen & Van Wert
Counties, Ohio
Publ. Chicago: A. W. Bowen & Co.
1896
| ABRAM EARLY
Source: A Portrait and biographical record of Allen & Van
Wert Counties, Ohio - Publ. Chicago: A. W. Bowen & Co., 1896 -
Page 262 |
| DAVID EAST
Source: A Portrait and biographical record of Allen & Van
Wert Counties, Ohio - Publ. Chicago: A. W. Bowen & Co., 1896 -
Page 264 |
| SAMUEL EAST,
Source: A Portrait and biographical record of Allen & Van
Wert Counties, Ohio - Publ. Chicago: A. W. Bowen & Co., 1896 -
Page 263 |
| M. V. EATON
Source: A Portrait and biographical record of Allen & Van
Wert Counties, Ohio - Publ. Chicago: A. W. Bowen & Co., 1896 -
Page 265 |
ELIJAH EDMAN, retired farmer of Allen county,
Ohio, is a son of Paul and Hannah (Harris) Edman. Paul
Edman was a son of Samuel Edman, who was born near
Paterson, N. J. about the year 1760. Samuel
was one of the Revolutionary fathers, having been a soldier
under Washington. After the close of the war Mr. Edman
engaged for some time in rafting timber down the Delaware river,
and some time later he purchased a farm in Powhatan county, Va.,
upon which he lived for several years, or until 1814, in which
year he purchased 206 acres in Burlington township, Licking
county, Ohio. Upon this farm he died at the great
age of eighty-seven years. When he went to Virginia he was
without a dollar in the world, and he chopped 300 cords of wood
to obtain the means with which to pay for his farm in that
state. His first wife was Miss Dolly Paul, who died
some time in the thirties. By her he had the following
children, viz: Thomas and Peter, both of whom died
in Virginia; Samuel, who died in Licking county, Ohio;
William, who served with Gen. Hull in the war of
1812, and was with him at the time of his surrender at Detroit,
and died in Licking county, Ohio; John, who also died in
Licking county; Paul, who died in Allen county;
Catherine, who married John McKinley, and died in
Licking county, and Mary, who married James Hardin,
and died in Jackson county. Mr. Edman married, for
his second wife, Miss Sarah Chilcoat, by whom he had no
children.
PAUL EDMAN, the father of Elijah, was
born June 26, 1794, in Staunton, Va., in which state he learned
the trade of shoemaker. At the age of twenty-one he
removed to Licking county, Ohio, where he worked at his trade
for a year or two, and then purchased 106 acres of land in
Burlington township, that county. This land he improved
and lived upon it until 1851, when he removed to Shawnee
township, Allen county, where he purchased 176 acres in section
No. 19. This was for the most part timbered land, which he
cleared off, burning much of it in order to get it out of the
way, as was customary and indeed necessary in the olden time.
The remainder of his life was spent on this farm, and he died
March 20, 1873. In religious faith he was a Methodist, and
was one of the original members of the Shawnee Methodist
Episcopal church. Politically in early life he was a
democrat, but later he became a supporter of the republican
party, and he was one of the early trustees of Shawnee township.
His wife, Hannah Harris, was a daughter of William
Harris, of Virginia. She died February 20, 1875, and
both she and her husband lie at rest in the Shawnee Methodist
Episcopal burying ground. They were the parents of six
children, as follows: Thomas, of Calhoun county,
Iowa; William H., of Hutchison, Kans.; Rebecca,
wife of Samuel Dixson; Elijah, of Lima; Juliana,
deceased; and Oliver P., of Michigan.
Elijah Edman was born November 7, 1826, in
Licking county, Ohio, and was reared on the old homestead farm.
After being educated in the district school, and attaining to
manhood's estate, he located on a farm, upon which he remained
until 1852, when he removed to Allen county, where he united
with his father and assisted him in clearing up and improving
his Shawnee township farm. In fact all the improvements on
that farm were made by Elijah Edman. After his
father's death, he purchased the farm, and has added thereto,
until now it contains 276 acres. In 1889 Mr. Edman
retired from active life, and located in Lima, permitting his
sons, Wilson and Charles, to live on the operate
the farm.
In May, 1863, Mr. Edman enlisted in company C,
One Hundred and Fifty-first Ohio volunteer infantry, and served
therein 100 days. In 1864 he joined company C, One Hundred
and Ninety-second Ohio volunteer infantry, and served with this
regiment until the close of the war. He is now a member of
Mart. Armstrong post, No. 202, G. A. R. In politics a
seeker after office, has held the offices of township trustee and
school director, beside several minor offices of trust.
Mr. Edman was married November 28, 1852, to
Martha J., daughter of John Wagner, who settled in
Licking county, Ohio, removing there from Lancaster county, Pa.,
and laying out the town of Chatham. Mr. Edman and
Martha J., his wife, became the parents of nine children, as
follows. Wilson, who married Miranda Blackburn,
and now lives upon the old homestead; Marion, who married
Miss Mary J. Bowser, and lives in Auglaize county;
Charles, who married Miss Josie McCoy; Amos,
who married Miss Ordella Arthur, who resides in Lima;
Alzeda, deceased; Eva J., wife of Lewis Neff,
of Lima; Martin F., of Lima, Grant and Ida.
All of these children, inheriting the good health and physical
strength of their parents, are now living but one, as will be
seen by the above record.
Source: A Portrait and biographical record of Allen & Van Wert
Counties, Ohio -
Publ. Chicago: A. W. Bowen & Co., 1896 - Page 268 |
GEORGE
S. ENSLEN, a prominent and successful young man, was born
in Sugar Creek township, Allen county, Ohio, July 30, 1868.
He is a son of John and Mary M. Enslen, and was reared by
his parents on the farm, to all kinds of farm work. His
education was received in the common schools of his county, and
so well did he improve the opportunities afforded him that he is
well prepared and qualified to meet all the practical duties of
life. So well satisfied was he with his home and with farm
life that it was not until 1893 that he determined upon an
independent course of life for himself, and in September of that
year he went to Allentown, where, in partnership with his
brother, J. H. Enslen, he established himself in
business, they together opening a general store, the only one in
Allentown, in which they kept a complete stock of everything in
the line of merchandise, dry goods, groceries, hardware, etc.,
that one would naturally expect to find in such a store.
They were in business more than two years, but in June, 1895,
the business was disposed of to C. Nelson, and Mr.
Enslen became connected with the Union Clothing house, of
Lima.
Politically George S. Enslen is a strong
democrat, and is one of the leading men in his party, as well as
one of the most popular, and in 1894 he was appointed postmaster
of Allentown. Mr. Enslen was married Oct. 25, 1893,
to Miss Lydia Sereff, daughter of William and Sarah
Sereff. She was born in German township. To this
marriage of the subject there has been born one child - Erwin.
Both Mr. and Mrs. Enslen are members of the Methodist
Episcopal church, and are highly esteemed members of general
society. Mr. Enslen is a class leader in his
church, and takes great interest in the work of the
Sunday-school.
Thus it will be seen that for a man yet on the sunny
side of the prime of life, Mr. Enslen has made a most
creditable record, and certainly ahs in store for him greater
successes than any he has yet achieved. The young men of
the county have thus before them an example worthy of all
emulation, and it is doubtless true that many are already
profiting thereby, either in their outward lives or in their
private plans; for an example is often a more powerful teacher
than any precept or collection of precepts that can be publicly
or privately taught or presented.
Source: A Portrait and biographical record of Allen & Van Wert
Counties, Ohio -
Publ. Chicago: A. W. Bowen & Co., 1896 - Page 274 |
JOHN
ENSLEN, one of the oldest settlers of Sugar Creek
township, Allen county, Ohio, and a prominent farmer, descends
from an old American colonial family of sturdy German origin,
and more proximately from the state of Pennsylvania.
ABRAHAM ENSLEN, grandfather of our
subject, came from Germany to America on a sailing vessel, which
was sixteen weeks on the ocean. He finally settled in
Luzerne county, in the Keystone state, and cleared up a farm
from the wilderness, became a substantial husbandman, lived to a
good old age, and left four children - Jacob, Conrad, John
and Henry. John Enslen, son of Abraham
and father of our subject, was born in Luzerne county, Pa., Feb.
3, 1780, was there reared to farming and married Catherine
Transil, the union resulting in the birth of eleven
children, of whom two died in infancy. Mr. Enslen
served in the war of 1812, and about 1813 came to Ohio and was
one of the very early pioneers of Franklin county, where he
cleared up a farm of forty acres, on which he resided until
1831, when he came to what is now Sugar Creek township, Allen
county, and here cleared up from the woods the farm on which his
son John, our subject, now resides - there being at the
time of his coming but two other settlers in the township, a
Mr. Jacobs and William Clevenger, and the township
being then a part of Putnam county. He at first entered
eighty acres, but, being a man of great nerve, industry and
thrift, he increased his possessions until he became owner of
240 acres in Putnam county - Allen not being then organized -
and was the first man to pay taxes in Kalida. Mr.
Enslen was one of the organizers of Allen county, took part
in the erection of Sugar Creek township, and was otherwise
active and prominent in the early public affairs of his chosen
place of residence, holding the position of an early township
trustee and therefore being a factor in its elementary position
as a constituent portion of the county. In religion he was
an old-school Presbyterian, and also one of the founders of the
old-school Baptist church of his township, but prior to the
organization of these societies and the erection of their church
edifices, religious exercises of both congregations were held at
his own residence. He was an ardent friend of education
and among the first to found subscription schools and to aid in
the bringing about the present system of common schools.
The first school-house was where John E. Jones's brick
blacksmith shop now stands, one mile east of Gomer, and was a
round log structure, with split logs for seats, greased paper
for window-panes, a fireplace as wide as a barn door, and
otherwise primitively furnished. The tuition term lasted
for three months in the winter, with Elijah Lippencott as
the first tutor, in 1839, and this school even Mr. Enslen
attended, going and coming a mile and a half through the woods
and swamps. The children of John and Catherine Enslen
were born in the following order: Abraham, Frederick, Mary,
Betsey, Hiram, Sarah A., Catherine, Louis, Margaret, John
and Lydia. The father of this family lived until he
reached the age of seventy-six years and died in 1856, one of
the most respected pioneers of Allen county.
Of the above enumerated children John Enslen,
the subject proper of this biography, was born in Franklin
County, Ohio, Feb. 3, 1831, and was an infant when brought to
Allen county by his parents, the journey being made in a wagon
through the woods and through which the father had to cut the
greater part of the ay. Here Mr. Enslen grew to
manhood on the frontier farm of his father, which he assisted in
a great measure to clear from the forest, and here was educated
in one of the old fashioned log houses of that early day.
At the age of twenty-three years he married, in Delphos, Mar.
30, 1854, Miss Mary M. Shutt, who was born in Medina
county, Ohio, in 1832, a daughter of Henry Shutt, who was
a weaver by trade and came from Pennsylvania to Delphos, Ohio,
about 1852. Mr. Shutt was a member of the German
Reform Church and died near Delphos, an aged man and the father
of five children - John, Jacob, Daniel, Sarah, Mary M.
and Elizabeth.
After his marriage, Mr. Enslen settled on
the old homestead, where he has since made his home and on which
he has made extensive improvements and placed under a high state
of cultivation. On the death of his father he was
appointed executor of the estate and subsequently bought the
rights of the other heirs, and now owns a splendid farm of 160
acres, on which, in 1852, he built a modern residence and all
necessary farm structures. To his marriage with Mary M.
Shutt the following children have been born: Edgar
W., John H., Columbus E., Francis M., William M., Rosa
B., George S. and Carrie D.
In politics Mr. Enslen has been a life-long
democrat, and has filled the office of county infirmary
director; for four consecutive years he served as township
trustee, and also as trustee a single term, and has been a
member of the school board a number of years, being especially
interested in educational progress. He has also been much
interested in the roads of the township and has always been an
ardent friend of good and solid pikes, and was one of the first
to advocate their construction throughout the township. In
religion Mr. Enslen has for many years been a faithful
adherent of the Methodist Episcopal church, in which he has for
a long time officiated as class leader and steward, and in the
support of which he has always assisted liberally from his means
in the erection of church edifices and otherwise. The
death of Mrs. Mary M. (Shutt) Enslen took place Feb. 12,
1895. She was a woman of many Christian virtues and died
in the full profession of the faith of the Methodist church, of
which she had, since almost childhood, been a devoted member,
and in the faith of which she had reared her children to worthy
manhood and womanhood. Mr. Enslen still resides on
the old homestead, an honored citizen and respected for his
public spirit and the great service he ahs rendered his
fellow-citizens in redeeming the county from its original wild
and almost uninhabitable condition and in making it the center
of a prosperous and civilized community, such as it is found
to-day.
Source: A Portrait and biographical record of Allen & Van Wert
Counties, Ohio -
Publ. Chicago: A. W. Bowen & Co., 1896 - Page 270 |
JOHN
H. ENSLEN, the leading merchant of Elida, Allen county,
Ohio, who forms the subject of this biography, has been engaged
in business for the past twelve years. His first entrance
into the mercantile field was in company with G. R. Leist,
who was one of the old and reliable merchants of this place; he
however had a number of years of experience as a clerk and was
not a novice in the trade. When he entered partnership
with Mr. Leist, his capital consisted of a few
hundred dollars, but a fortune of pluck and courage. That
he succeeded even beyond his most sanguine ambition is evidenced
by a look at his handsome store, with its well-filled shelves,
of which he is now sole proprietor. At present he carries
about $8,000 in stock, and a sewing needle or a harvest-binder
can be obtained here without advance notice. The genial
proprietor is enterprising and successful, and is one of the
most popular men of the town, and altogether the one necessary
man. In 1892 he erected his handsome brick block - 20 x 80
of brick - the upper story being a hall. Mr. Enslen
is a native of Allen county, Sugar Creek township, and was born
March 20, 1859. He was reared on a farm and educated in
the district schools, and at twenty years of age began clerking
in a dry-goods store. On December 6, 1883, he was married
to Miss Ella Laumillerb, daughter of Andrew and
Catherine Laumiller, of Marion township, both
pioneers of the county. Two children have born to Mr.
Enslen and wife - Orlo C. and Critoria.
Mrs. Enslen is a member of the United Brethren
church, in which she is an active and energetic worker.
Our subject is an Odd Fellow in his fraternal affiliations and
an enthusiastic member of the order.
Mr. Enslen was the second son and third-born
child in a family of nine children which blessed the union of
John and Mary M. (Shutt) Enslen, who were both natives of
the Buckeye state, each of them coming to Allen county in
childhood with their parents and here reared among the pioneer
scenes of the northwest. It is evident that the parents of
Mr. Enslen were early taught the valuable lessons of
industry and economy, which they have practiced through life and
which have caused them to be numbered among the representative
citizens of Allen county. The father, JOHN
ENSLEN,
has been identified throughout his life with agricultural
interests, he being one of the progressive and practical men of
his day as well as liberal in all public enterprises and
encouraging every movement that had the welfare of the community
in sight. He was married on the 30th of March, 1854, to
Miss Shutt, who was born in Medina county, Ohio, June 9,
1833, and in early childhood came to Allen county, where she was
educated, and from 1849 up to the time of her marriage, in 1854,
she was one of the prominent school-teachers of her county.
As previously stated, there were born nine children unto this
marriage, named as follows: an infant deceased, unnamed;
Edgar W., a farmer; John H., the subject of this
sketch; Columbus E., and Francis M., (twins), both
now employed as firemen on the P., F. W. & C. R. R.; William
M., practicing physician of Fort Wayne, Ind.; Rosa B.,
at home; George S., who was of late in the employ of his
older brother, John H., the merchant, and was located at
Allentown, and Carrie D., at home. John Enslen,
the husband and father, is one of the representative men of
Sugar Creek township, where he has resided since 1831, having
been born in Franklin county, Ohio, on January 3, of the same
year; he was the son of John Enslen, Sr., who was a
native of Pennsylvania and one of the early pioneers of Franklin
county. Mrs. Enslen, after rearing her children to
manhood and womanhood, was called to her long home on the 12th
of February, 1895, she having been a true and faithful
companion, a fond wife, and loving mother, and a lady of many
good traits of character which endeared her to all those she
came in contact with, and at her death she left a husband and
eight children to mourn her loss.
Source: A Portrait and biographical record of Allen & Van Wert
Counties, Ohio -
Publ. Chicago: A. W. Bowen & Co., 1896 - Page 271 |
| WILLIAM H. EULLER
Source: A Portrait and biographical record of Allen & Van
Wert Counties, Ohio - Publ. Chicago: A. W. Bowen & Co., 1896 -
Page 273 |
| C. A. EVANS, M. D.
Source: A Portrait and biographical record of Allen & Van
Wert Counties, Ohio - Publ. Chicago: A. W. Bowen & Co., 1896 -
Page 274 |
| THOMAS F. EVANS
Source: A Portrait and biographical record of Allen & Van
Wert Counties, Ohio - Publ. Chicago: A. W. Bowen & Co., 1896 -
Page 274 |
| DANIEL EVERSOLL
Source: A Portrait and biographical record of Allen &
Van Wert Counties, Ohio - Publ. Chicago: A. W. Bowen & Co., 1896
- Page 566 |
| FRANK EWING, M. D.
Source: A Portrait and biographical record of Allen &
Van Wert Counties, Ohio - Publ. Chicago: A. W. Bowen & Co., 1896
- Page 565 |
WILLIAM T.
EXLINE, one of the prominent citizens of Delphos, and
ex-auditor of Van Wert county, Ohio, is a native of Tuscarawas
county, born Sept. 22, 1837. His father was
VALENTINE EXLINE, who was a native of Bedford county,
Pa., born April 4, 1809, the son of Bernard Exline, a
Virginian by birth. The Exline family was
originally from Switzerland, and came to America before the
Revolutionary War, settling in the Shenandoah valley in
Virginia. Adam Exline, the great-grandfather of our
subject, had four sons. He went to Bedford county, Pa.,
and bought each of his sons a farm and they all settled in the
Keystone state. A brother of his, John Exline,
remained in Virginia, and his descendants, as they became
American, Anglicized their name of that of Axline.
In 1825 Bernard Exline sold his farm in Pennsylvania and
moved to Ohio, settling in Muskingum county on Muskingum river,
and the land he purchased including the present site of
Conesville, and here death occurred a short time afterward.
A short time following the death of Bernard Exline, his
son Valentine was apprenticed by his brother and guardian
to learn the cabinetmaker's and wheelwright trade at Carlisle,
Ohio. While there he was married to Evaline Thompson,
who was a native of Coshocton county, born Aug. 31, 1814.
Valentine Exline returned to the old home from Carlisle
and bought the interest of the other heirs in the home place,
and for about three years made his home there. He then
sold out the place, and removed to Tuscarawas county. In
1846 he came to Allen county, settling about three and a half
miles south of Lima. Previous to his settling in the
county he traveled through this part of Ohio as a Minister of
the Evangelical Lutheran church. His death occurred Jan.
8, 1887, and his wife died July 8, 1894. There were eleven
children born to these parents, three sons and three daughters
of whom are living.
William T. Exline was in his ninth year when he
came to Allen county. He received his education in the
common schools; in his eighteenth year he began teaching, and
for five winters preceding the war he followed the vocation of
Van Wert and Mercer counties, Ohio. In 1852 the family
removed to Van Wert county, in the south part of which
Valentine Exline had entered 316 acres of land in 1837, of
which he still owns 160 acres. In July, 1862, our subject
was commissioned by Gov. Tod as second lieutenant of
company A, Ninety-ninth Ohio volunteer infantry. The
regiment left Camp Lima Sept. 1, 1862, and in the following
November he was promoted to first lieutenant. At
Murfreesboro, Tenn., in 1863, where his captain was killed, he
was commissioned captain of company A. After the battle of
Nashville, Tenn., in December, 1864, the Ninety-ninth and
Fiftieth Ohio regiments were afterward known as the Fiftieth
Ohio regiment, and of this Capt. Exline was
captain of company A, until they were mustered out of service at
Salisbury, N. C., June 26, 1865, but the regiment was not
disbanded until the 17th of the following month. At the
storming of Lookout Mountain, Nov. 23, 1863, Capt. Exline
was wounded in the right hip by a sharpshooter, and for a time
was in the hospital at Bridgeport and Nashville. He
returned to Van Wert county, Ohio, Thursday, July 22, 1865, and
the following Saturday was nominated by the republicans for
auditor of Van Wert county, and was elected for the term of two
years; leaving the office he removed to the farm. In 1878
Capt. Exline was re-elected auditor of Van Wert
county, for a three years' term, and was re-elected at the
expiration of that term. He returned to the farm in 1885,
where he remained until the spring of 1894 when he removed to
Delphos to take the position of general manager of the Ohio
Wheel company.
Capt. Exline was married, Dec. 21, 1865, to
Esther Scott, of Putnam county, who was born in Warren
county, Ohio, daughter of Richard and Margaret Scott.
To this union seven children have been born, two sons and five
daughters, all living. Capt. Exline is a member of
the Royal Arcanum, and of the G. A. R., and is one of the most
prominent men in the county, both socially and politically.
Following are the names of Capt. Exline's children, in
order of birth: Eva May, wife of J. A. Foore, of
Saint Mary's; Scott L., of the First National bank,
Cleveland, Ohio; William Grant, book-keeper of the
Enterprise Printing & Lithography company, of Cleveland, Ohio;
Margaret G., assistant book-keeper of the Ohio Wheel
company; Estella, Ethel and Georgia E., at home.
Source: A Portrait and biographical record of Allen & Van Wert
Counties, Ohio -
Publ. Chicago: A. W. Bowen & Co., 1896 - Page 277 |
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