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	Defiance Twp. - NATHANIEL B. ADAMS was born June 17, 1802, in Lisbon, Conn.  He lived in a farm with his parents until he was of age, and then engaged himself as a clerk to a firm from Boston, who were doing a manufacturing business at Norwich, Conn.; in connection with which they had a store, doing a general mercantile business.  He continued as clerk in this firm for nearly two years, then bought the stock, and remained in business four years.  He then sold his stock of goods and removed to Seneca County, Ohio, in October, 1832, where he remained about three years.  In January, 1836, he came to Defiance, and again commenced mercantile business, in company with his brother-in-law, N. F. Emmons, and continued in the same two years, when his health became so poor, he was induced, by the advice of his friends and family physician, to move on his farm, then in Henry County (now Defiance), which he had purchased about a year before locating at Defiance, and which at this time was but partially cleared, thinking by assisting in clearing the land, burning logs, brush, etc., his health would be better; but in this undertaking he was sadly disappointed, as his health grew gradually worse, until he was obliged to give up this experiment and return again to Defiance, where he commenced to build a residence in North Defiance (it being the first brick built on that side of the river), which was partly completed when he died of consumption Aug. 9, 1843.  Mr. Adams was married to Miss Mary Carpenter, of Norwich, Conn., Sept. 13, 1831, who was born in that village June 3, 1808.  There were born, to them four children, who died in youth and infancy, except Ellen E., their first born, who grew up to womanhood, and was married to George C. Backus, of St. Lawrence County, N. Y., in May, 1856, who had born to them seven children—Minnie, Kate, John A., George Dwight, Nellie (who died in infancy), Nathaniel B. and Nellie (who died aged five years).  Mrs. Backus passed away Feb. 15, 1871, and five weeks after her husband followed her to her "long resting-place," leaving five children (the eldest nearly fourteen years) to the care of their grandmother, whom God, in His good providence, has seen fit to spare them until all have positions suitable to support themselves.  The two eldest, Minnie and Kate, are teachers; the two boys have good positions in the machine shops, while the youngest boy, of fourteen years, is going to school.  Mrs. Adams married, for her second husband, Sereno Lyman, March 18, 1840, having two children by this husband, who both died in early childhood.  Mr. Lyman died in 1858.  Mrs. Lyman is now living, and is remarkably active and well-preserved, and, at the ago of seventy-six, her memory, sight and hearing are good.  When Mr. and Mrs. Adams came to Defiance, they were members of the Congregational Church, but there was no church of that denomination, neither was there any Presbyterian organization at that time.  Soon after (in 1837), the few members of the two churches united in forming an organization, and adopted the Presbyterian form of government, at which time, Nathaniel B, Adams and Curtis Holgate were chosen Elders and Sereno Lyman, Clerk.  Mrs. Adams, also, was one of the number at the time of the organization. Source: History of Defiance County, Ohio - Published at Chicago: Warner, Beers & Co. - 1883 - Page 218
	Hicksville - JOHN M. AINSWORTH,  a merchant of the firm of Ainsworth, Bow & Bevington, is one of the most successful and respected citizens of Hicksville.  He was born at West Jefferson, Madison Co., Ohio, Sept. 10, 1835, and is the son of William and Susan Milton Ainsworth.  He lived at West Jefferson till thirteen years of ago, and in 1848, went with his parents to Van Wert County, Ohio, where he remained working on a farm till 1853, when he went to Fort Wayne, Ind., and became a clerk in a mercantile firm in that city, N. B. Freeman & Co., by whom in 1857 he was sent to Hicksville to open and conduct a store of general merchandise.  He remained with this firm till it closed out its business in Hicksville, when he established the firm of J. M. Edgerton.  This firm, under the exclusive management of Mr. Ainsworth, did a successful business, and after two years he purchased the interest of his partner and continued the business on his own account.  Mr. Ainsworth remained in Hicksville during its darkest business period, but by his energy, fidelity and foresight he kept the business of the country around at Hicksville which otherwise would have slipped away to competing points then having railroad advantages, while Hicksville had none till 1874.  In addition to Mr. Ainsworth's business at Hicksville he formed the partnership of Payne, Ainsworth & Co., at Fort Wayne, which built a mill and was extensively engaged in the manufacture of staves.  The firm continued in operation several years, and on its dissolution Mr. Ainsworth established the present firm of Ainsworth, Bow & Bevington.  Mr. Ainsworth has always enjoyed the highest reputation for business integrity and capacity.  In his business and social intercourse he is always the considerate gentleman, whose moral and Christian character could be followed to great advantage by the young men of the country.  He is one of the men who make towns, and give them success and character.  On the 29th day of December, 1859, Mr. Ainsworth worth married Sarah Parker, daughter of Allen Parker and Esther Osborn, whose marriage twenty years before was the first in Hicksville Township.  They have four children - Carrie (Mrs. Bassett), Nattie, Alda and Susie. Source: History of Defiance County, Ohio - Published at Chicago: Warner, Beers & Co. - 1883 - Page 266 Portraits facing Page 305
	Farmer Twp. - THOMAS M. ALEXANDER was born July 17, 1813, in Trumbull County, Ohio, and removed to Wayne County with his parents in 1815.  He remained there until he was twenty-five years of age.  He married Miss Sarah Firestone, Feb. 25, 2839.  His family consists of Harriet E. Solomon F., George F., Eleanor A., John A., William S., Willard O., Frank E. All grown and living but Sarah C., but none married.  Mr. Alexander came to Farmer Township in 1855.  He purchased a farm of eighty acres and added 160 acres to it.  He then sold eighty aces of that and purchased 292 as a homestead.  He has a good house and improvements.  He possesses the oldest barn in the settlement.  He has a fine orchard, having many trees from nurseries planted by the eccentric "Johnny Appleseed."  The trees are very large, and hear very well.  The diameter of two trees is six feet and six feet three inches.  Mr. Alexander went to the polls at the Presidential election in 1880, at the head of five sons, and voted for the candidate for President.  It is rare that a pioneer heads such a delegation.  Mr. A. has done much labor in clearing up and preparing his farm.  He attends mill at Hicksville, as it is the most convenient place for trade and milling at all seasons. Source: History of Defiance County, Ohio - Published at Chicago: Warner, Beers & Co. - 1883 - Page 270
	Farmer Twp. - MRS. HARRIET M. ALLEN, wife of Darius Allen was born Dec. 27, 1819, in St. Lawrence County, N. Y., and came with her parents, Oney Rice and Ammarilla (Clark) Rice of Rutland, Vt., in 1836, from St. Lawrence, N. Y., and landed in what is now Farmer Township, and located on Section 17, southeast quarter.  Mr. Allen died Feb. 8, 1869, aged sixty-two years.  The members of her family are Oney (deceased) and Ephraim C.  The early settlers were John Rice, Oney Rice, Sr., Jacob Conkey, Laura Hopkins, Randall Lord, W. G. Pierce, Edward Lacost, Harrison Conkey, Lavinus Bronson, Lyman Powell, Isaac Wartenbe, William Wartenbe and Nathan Farmer.  Levinus Bronson came Mar. 6, 1836, with his parents, Levi and Sarah Bronson, and was present at the organization of Farmer Township, and was election first Clerk.  He married Almira Powell Nov. 24, 1833.  Almira, his wife, died June 17, 1851, aged fifty-seven years. Source: History of Defiance County, Ohio - Published at Chicago: Warner, Beers & Co. - 1883 - Page 270
G. C. Armstrong & Mrs. G. C. Armstrong	Delaware Twp. - GEORGE C. ARMSTRONG was born Feb. 18, 1 820, in. Connecticut.  His mother died when he was a small boy.  His father, Lee Armstrong, married again, and when George was about eight years of age, 1834, they took their departure for the West, and settled in Noble Township, Ohio, on what is now known as the Charles Krotz farm, on the Tiffin River, near Brunersburg, where Mrs. Armstrong died in February, 1835.  Soon after the death of his stepmother, the children were bound out.  George O. was bound to Peter Blair, of Delaware Township, with whom he lived till he was seventeen, when he compromised with Mr. Blair for his time, and, penniless, started out in the world to shift for himself, his father having moved to Indiana, where he died in 1850, aged about sixty-one years.  Mr. Armstrong the subject of this sketch, by his industry and economy, soon saved enough to purchase a team of horses and a threshing machine.  This was his first investment, and in a short time he made a purchase of sixty acres of choice land from Christopher Platter, in Section 31, Delaware Township, of fine bottom land on the Maumee River, on which he now lives and to which he has continued to add acre by acre, until he has now about 600 acres in a body, in Delaware and Mark Townships, with a fine farmhouse and large, commodious bank barn, and now, at the age of about fifty-seven years, is surrounded with all the comforts of life, the result of industry and economy, Mr. Armstrong was married to Miss Blary Platter in October, 1851, who died in 1853.  He was married again, Nov. 20, 1854, to Miss Caroline Platter, a relative of his first wife. The fruits of this marriage were Harriet, William, Eda, Elizabeth, John and Edward.  The two latter died when about four or five years of age.  Harriet married Stewart Miller, of Sherwood; William, the oldest and only son living, remained at home helping carry on the farm. He was married to Miss Bell Simpson, of Delaware Township, and has one child —George Armstrong, born Jan. 1, 1882.  Mrs. Caroline Armstrong died Aug. 20, 1871.  Married for his third wife Parmelia Simpson, Nov. 24, 1870, with whom he is still living.  She is the eldest daughter now living of William Travis, deceased, and was born in what is now Delaware Township, Jan. 10, 1830, and is probably the oldest woman now living that was born in the township.  Mr. Armstrong thinks there is no doubt as the to old Indian orchard in Delaware "Bend" being the result of seeds planted by old Johnny Appleseed, and was set out or replanted by Montgomery Evans and a Frenchman by the name of Lumbard.  Evans and Lumbard owned the farm.  Lumbard was drowned and Evans became its possessor. Mr. Armstrong says the early settlers along the Maumee River in Delaware Township were William Travis, George W. , John, Daniel and Thomas Hill, Mr. Mulligan, Thomas Warren, George Snook and brothers, James Shirley, Montgomery Evans, Samuel Hughes, Joseph Miller, Lewis Platter, George Platter and Guy Hamilton.  Mr. Armstrong says the first school was on the west end of his farm, taught by one Smith, in 1828, as he was informed by Peter Blair, to whom he was bound as heretofore spoken of.  His farm is watered by Maumee River on the south, Gordon Creek and Platter Creek, these creeks deriving their names from William Gordon and Jacob Platter, who were the first persons to settle at or near the mouth of each. Source: History of Defiance County, Ohio - Published at Chicago: Warner, Beers & Co. - 1883 - Page 266 Portraits facing Page 264
M. Arrowsmith	Farmer Twp. - MILLER ARROWSMITH, of Farmer Township, was born in Champaign County, Ohio, Mar. 14, 1808, and was married in the same county, July 1, 1832, to Miss Celinda Caraway, also a native of the same county.  Mrs. A. died at Defiance, Aug. 10, 1847.  The first visit of Mr. Arrowsmith to the Maumee Valley was in June, 1833.  He then bought land near Defiance, on which he settled in October following.  Judge John Perkins was then County Surveyor, and, from age, and being engaged in other pursuits, he did not wish to perform the work of the office, and appointed Mr. Arrowsmith Deputy County Surveyor, the duties of which he discharged with accuracy and fidelity during a period of fifteen years.  He is one of the oldest Surveyors in Northwestern Ohio.  The General Assembly of Ohio, at its session of 1845-46, elected Mr. Arrowsmith a member of the State Board of Equalization, and he proved one of the most efficient members of that, body.  From 1848 to 1852, he was Auditor of Defiance County and Postmaster at Arrowamith's, during a period of about fifteen years.  Excepting minor offices, those enumerated fill the measure o£ his public life.  Mr. Arrowsmith might have continued in office, and filled a larger space in the public eye, but his tastes and inclinations led him, in 1852, to engage in agriculture, and in this favorite pursuit, on his well-cultivated acres, and among books and friends, in Farmer Township, he is spending the evening of his days.  He is now in his seventy-sixth year, and quite vigorous and active.  The pioneers of the valley are ever specially welcome under his hospitable roof. Source: History of Defiance County, Ohio - Published at Chicago: Warner, Beers & Co. - 1883 - Page  (INSERTED LATE)
	Defiance Twp. - SAMUEL S. ASHBAUGH Source: History of Defiance County, Ohio - Published at Chicago: Warner, Beers & Co. - 1883 - Page 235
	Defiance Twp. - MRS. RUTH AUSTIN Source: History of Defiance County, Ohio - Published at Chicago: Warner, Beers & Co. - 1883 - Page 201