|
BIOGRAPHIES
Source:
History of Defiance County, Ohio
containing a History of the County; Its Townships,
Towns, Etc.;
Military Record; Portraits of Early Settlers and
Prominent Men; Farm Views; Personal
Reminiscences, Etc.
Published at Chicago: Warner, Beers & Co.
1883
|
|
Noble Twp. -
JAMES PARTEE came with Perkins to
help to build the mill, married a daughter of Mr. Perkins,
bought lands, just above Brunersburg, cleared up a farm and
lived with his family thereon until his death a few years ago.
Source: History of Defiance County, Ohio - Published at Chicago:
Warner, Beers & Co. - 1883 - Page 335 |
|
|
Noble Twp. -
JOHN PARTEE was born May 15, 1812, in Ross
County, Ohio, and came with his parents, John and Nancy
Partee, to Defiance County in 1823. Their route was by
Sidney and Wapakoneta and by the Auglaize River, to old Fort
Amanda and Fort Jennings; thence down the river to old Fort
Defiance, which was yet partially preserved, as well as old Fort
Winchester, which at that time was a "stockade," not far from
the present site of the Russell House, on the west bank
of the Auglaize River. He staid all night at Brunersburg.
Mr. John Perkins had a mill at that place. It is
now the "Hilton" Mill. At that time there were but two
houses on Bean Creek, in which the town of Brunersburg is
located. These houses were occupied by John Perkins
and Joseph Partee. Mr. Perkins sold the mill
to Daniel Brunerin 1839. Perkins removed to
Pulaski, Williams County, and built another mill. From
what is now Brunersburg, Mr. Partee says he cut to the
place where he now resides. At that time there were large
numbers of Pottawatomie and Ottawa Indians in the county on what
was then called "Bean Creek," now the Tiffin River. He
says it was called that name because many French and Indians
resided along its bottoms and raised great quantities of beans
and corn, which were grown in patches along the rich bottoms and
eaten by the Indians and French for food. The old chief.
Occonoxee, often visited him. He also became acquainted
with an old Indian by the name of "Shane," who stated he was
born under the "old apple tree" across the Maumee River,
opposite Defiance. There were then but few buildings.
Old Fort defiance and Fort Winchester were then used as houses.
David Hull, a relation of the General, built the first
ferry-boat across the Maumee River at Defiance. Mr.
Partee states that large numbers of bullets were found on
the banks of the Maumee when he first came to the county, and
sometimes brass kettles were found hid in hollow trees, no doubt
left by the Indians during the campaign of Wayne in 1794.
Mr. Partee married Miss Mercy Brown, Oct. 10,
1839. Their family consists of Alvaro (dead),
Reuben (dead), Sirena, Mahala, Frank, Clara I. and
Warren A. Alvaro was killed at the battle of
Chickamauga, in the war of 1861-65. The first settlers
were Obadiah Webb, William Travis, Peter Blain, Thomas Carr,
John Perkins, Joseph, Enoch and James Partee, Sr., John
Lawrence, Enos Partee, William Buck, William Graham, Brice
Hilton, William Doty and John Whistler. Deer,
bear, wolves, wild cats and smaller game were quite plenty;
Wild honey was abundant. Mr. Perkins found three
bee trees in one day. At the time of the excitement about
the line of Ohio and Michigan, when the citizens of Defiance
expected war, he remembers that the line was surveyed by
Miller Arrowsmith and Sydney Sprague and others, and
of great charge upon them and their retreat, which proved quite
a rich joke, and was told with many exaggerations, at the time,
but the excitement died out and no harm was done. Mr.
John Partee died on the old farm owned by his son John
about 1844, aged about eighty years. He was a soldier in
the war of 1812; James and Joseph Partee were also
soldiers in the war of 1812. The first school was taught
by W. W. Sellick in a double log cabin where Enoch and
Joseph Partee's families lived. Mr. Brice Hilton
was also an early teacher. Cannot give the number of
schools taught in the township. There are two Methodist
Episcopal Churches, one United Brethren and one Evangelical
Churches, which cost about $1,000. Rev. Bechtol is
the United Brethren pastor. Mr. Partee attended
school when taught by Mr. Brice Hilton.
Source: History of Defiance County, Ohio - Published at
Chicago: Warner, Beers & Co. - 1883 - Page 335 |
|
|
Tiffin
Twp. -
LEWIS PARTEE,
Janitor of Central School building, also Special Policeman, who
born Nov. 6, 1845 in Tiffin Township, and was married.
Dec. 20, 1866, to Hannah Louisa Cassil, daughter of
John R. and Christina Cassil. She was born, Jan. 20,
1851, in Northwest Township, Williams County, Ohio, soon after
which the family removed to Kansas, the then far west, and came
back to this county with her mother in 1865, her father being
lost or murdered on the plains of Western Kansas in 1859.
Their family consists of four boys and one daughter.
Alonzo Clement Partee was born Dec. 13, 1867; Charles
Eddie, Sept. 26, 1869; Lewis Robinett, Sept. 1, 1872;
John Bernard, Mar. 24, 1877; Gertie May, Mar. 15,
1881. Lewis Partee, father of the subject of this
sketch, son of John and Nancy Partee, was born Feb. 15,
1802, in Colerain Township, Ross County, Ohio, and was married
in October, 1827, to Diana Webb, daughter of
Obadiah and Catharine Webb. She
was born in Berks County, Penn., Dec. 12, 1804. After this
marriage they settled in Tiffin Township in Section 34, where he
also built a saw mill on Webb's Run. This mill also had one run
of buhrs for grinding corn for the early settlers, at that time
their principal food. This family consisted of eleven
children; their names were Mary Ann, George,
Joseph, Rebecca, Jemima, Obadiah W.,
John, Ephraim, Lewis, Ann Maria,
Sarah Ann. Six are dead - George,
Rebecca, John, Ephraim, Ann Maria,
Sarah Ann. Three sons were in the war of the
rebellion; George was a private in Company G, One Hundred
and Twenty-fourth Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry, and is
supposed to have been captured and killed by guerrillas near
Manchester, Tenn., in 1863, as nothing has ever been heard of
him since. Obadiah W. was in Company _ ,
Forty-eighth Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry; served three
years; I was six mouths a prisoner, and came home all right, and
is now living in Defiance. John was in Company E,
Fourteenth Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry; enlisted in the
fall of 1861; was in several battles and was wounded at the
battle of Chickamauga and died of his wounds at Chattanooga,
Tenn., Sept. 30, 1863, in his twenty-fourth year.
Source: History of Defiance County,
Ohio - Published at Chicago: Warner, Beers & Co. - 1883 - Page
363 |
|
|
Noble Twp. -
JOHN PERKINS was the first settler in
Noble Township, and moved from near Chillicothe to the Maumee
Valley as a surveyor in 1816. He assisted in surveying the
lands of Northwest Ohio, under the contract taken by Gen.
Riley He purchased the lands upon which the
Brunersburg Mills now stand; soon moved on and commenced
building a saw-mill and built a dam. In 1828, he built a
grist mill at the end of the dam opposite the saw mill and
continued to run both until 1833, when he sold out, moving to La
Fayette, Williams County, where he built a mill. He was
one of the first Judges of Williams County. He raised the
first wheat in the township in 1826.
Source: History of Defiance County, Ohio - Published at
Chicago: Warner, Beers & Co. - 1883 - Page 335 |
|
|
Milford Twp. -
WILLIAM G. PIERCE was born in New
Hampshire June 20, 1808. He was married, in St. Lawrence
County, N. Y., Oct. 29, 1832, to Miss Ada,
daughter of Oney and Amelia Rice.
Mr. Pierce is of English and Irish
descent. While a boy, he attended school in Wentworth, N.
H., where he resided with his parents until six years of age.
His father then located in Chittenden Comity, Vt., in the town
of Colchester, afterward removing to St. Lawrence County, N. Y.
After his marriage, he came to near Cleveland, Ohio, where he
remained about fifteen months, and then removed to what was
afterward Farmer Township, Defiance County, in 1836. He
helped organize that township in 1836. Mr.
Pierce settled in what is now Milford Township in 1837, and
was present at the organization of that township. The country
was then very new and wild. The Ottawas, some Wyandots and
many Miamis were yet in the township. They were a harmless
people, but somewhat troublesome to the new settlers in
consequence of their visits. They traded their pelts to
agents at Defiance and other points, and used a good deal of
whisky, and when under its influence were quite noisy and
somewhat dangerous. They often camped near the settlers
and ranged the forests in search of game. The Ottawas left
some time prior to the emigration of the Wyandots in 1843.
Mr. Pierce states that schools were taught in
cabins built for the settlers at that time. The first
school in the township was taught in his cabin by Margaret
Brace, now District 3, in 1844. The next teacher
was Harriet Ellis. Then followed Jerusha
Andrews in 1846, then Uretta Hopkins and Sabrina
Hopkins in 1847. There were but few scholars and a
small fund. The schools were largely by subscription. At a
later day, schoolhouses sprang up in every district in the
township. The houses are very comfortable, and frame or
brick.
Mr. Pierce states that the township was
heavily timbered, and much hard work was required to clear up a
farm. By the time a pioneer passed through such toil he
began to show age and grow old. The diseases of the early
settlers were fever and ague, bilious fevers and the like.
The early doctors were distant, and the settlers had to travel
through the forest many miles to get a physician.
Preaching was generally in the cabins of the settlers, and each
denomination had its teachers, who occasionally addressed the
people.
Mr. Pierce was a noted hunter. Many
very amusing anecdotes are told concerning his adventures with
deer, bear and wild cats. He generally killed from twenty
to thirty deer a year. Of wildcats, about forty or fifty.
They were brindle, gray and spotted. They were very
numerous and large, weighing from forty to fifty pounds.
He shot many wolves and deer from the door of his cabin.
Wolves were very destructive to sheep, and quite bold. Of
bear he killed many. He states that on one occasion, after
dark, he took his ax and went into the forest to hunt coons,
which were very numerous. After passing into the forest,
not far from his house, he heard the crushing tramp, as he
supposed, of a cow or horse in the forest. His dog soon
raised the usual howl. Mr. P., with ax in hand,
sought the place, and to his surprise the dog had a bear, which
was brought to a stand. Mr. P. rushed for the bear,
ax in hand. The bear fled a few rods and seated himself,
and commenced to cuff the dog. Mr. P. hallowed
lustily for a neighbor to bring his gun, which attracted the
attention of Mrs. Pierce, who hastened to his
relief with a torch. Mr. P. told her to hold
the light, so he could attack the bear with his ax. Mrs.
P., finding it to be a bear, was much alarmed, and covered
her retreat by getting behind Mr. P., which rendered the
torch useless. Mr. P. urged his dog forward, when
the bear retreated a few rods and began to fight the dog. Mr.
P. felt confident if he could get a lick at him with his ax
that he could kill the bear; but every attempt failed, and
finally bruin made his escape.
Mr. Pierce had a fine lot of young shoats
that fed on mast in the forest. One afternoon these pigs
came up the path very much frightened—bristles up. He
observed that something had happened the pigs. He took his
ax and went down the path with his dog, who was a good hunter.
It was not a great while till his dog raised a fierce yell.
Mr. P. hastened to the spot, and found that his dog had
brought a large bear to a halt, the dog seizing him in the rear
whenever he moved. By urging his dog, the bear was made to
climb a large tree, having two branches, or a fork. Bruin took a
seat in the fork, and looked defiantly about. Mr. P.
looked about to see if he could find a tree that would dislodge
the bear, but no tree would reach his position. He made a
careful examination, and found that the bear tree would reach a
large sycamore, across which he proposed to cut the bear tree,
so that the fork would strike the bear and dislodge it.
This was done, and when the tree fell, unfortunately it did not
impale the bear, but broke the fork and tore down a large number
of trees, and during the fall bruin made his escape. Mr.
P. found, on futher examination, that bruin had dined
on his missing pig.
About that time, he had cleared a field near the
forest, and sowed it in wheat. There was a bog in one
corner, which was the receptacle of brush and other rubbish.
The deer often came in to eat the growing wheat in the evening.
Mr. P. adopted a plan to catch them while thus feeding on
his wheat. He possessed an old hat with a wide rim, in the
crown of which he cut large holes and securely placed a candle,
which he lighted, and carefully, gun in hand, approached the
deer. The deer stared at the burning candle, while the
body of Mr. P. was shaded by the broad rim. He
carefully raised his gun and succeeded in getting the game.
On one occasion, a misty evening, he approached the bog, when a
buck with a large pair of horns saw the light and approached it.
Just as he got within a short distance of Mr. P., a drop
of rain struck the lighted candle, when it commenced to hiss, at
which the buck took the alarm, and hurried away at a hop, skip
and jump, and entering the bog it commenced to flounder and
struggle till it got loose and fled, which so amused Mr. P.
that he could not shoot for laughing at the capers of the
buck. The children of William G. and Ada Pierce are
eight in number—William N., Hiram W., Fanday H., John B.,
Mary A. and Charles G., living, and Zelma D. and
Malinda M., deceased. William N. and Hiram
were in the late war of the rebellion. Mr. Pierce
has held most of the township offices, and is now the possessor
of 210 acres of well-improved land. He is a member of the
Universalist Church.
Source: History of Defiance County, Ohio - Published at
Chicago: Warner, Beers & Co. - 1883 - Page 325 |
|
|
Delaware Twp. -
JACOB PLATTER, with Nancy, his
wife, and children, cause to Defiance County, from the southern
part of Ohio, about the year 1824. They had four sons -
Jacob, Jr., Louis, George and John, and four
daughters - Betsy, Anna, Hannah and Mary. Jacob
Platter, sr., was killed by an accident while building a
flat boat on the Maumee River. Louis was the only
one of the family of children that settled in Delaware County.
He was married Feb. 24, 1831, to Elizabeth Gordon, of the
same township. They had two sons, Oliver and
William, and three daughters, Caroline, Harriet and
Mary. William enlisted in the Fourteenth Regiment
Ohio Volunteer Infantry, and died July 21, 1862, at Corinth,
Miss. Louis Platter was born Mar. 1, 1799, and died
July 21, 1842. Of the children, but two are living -
Oliver is now in Washington Territory, and Harriet
Dysinger is still living in the county.
Source: History of Defiance County, Ohio - Published at Chicago:
Warner, Beers & Co. - 1883 - Page 266 |
|
|
Noble Twp. -
JOHN PLUMMER also came wiith Perkins,
helped build the mill, bought land in Tiffin Township, and
cleared up a farm. The next settlers were William Buck,
W. Kibble, John Partee, John Lawrence, O. Webb, Enoch Partee,
and S. Hughes who came here as a millwright.
Source: History of Defiance County, Ohio - Published at
Chicago: Warner, Beers & Co. - 1883 - Page 335 |
|
|
Defiance -
POKE-SHAW, a
Pottawatomie Indian, married Oc-co-nox-ee's sister, a
lady who had been married to a French gentleman by the name of
Lumbar, who had a farm at Delaware town on the Maumee
River. They had two children, a boy and a girl, and then
parted, he keeping the boy Peter, and she taking the
girl, who made a fine Indian lady or squaw, while Peter
Lumbar sold dry goods to the Indians and whites.
There were several children in the Pokeshaw family,
and Poke-shaw was buried on Six-mile Creek, and
his widow and her brothers, Oc-co-nox-ee and Se-gatch-a-way,
went to the far West.
Source: History of Defiance County,
Ohio - Published at Chicago: Warner, Beers & Co. - 1883 - Page
210 |
|
|
Defiance Twp. -
DR. W. S. POWELL
Source: History of Defiance County, Ohio - Published at
Chicago: Warner, Beers & Co. - 1883 - Page 245 |
John M. Preisendorfer |
Defiance Twp. -
JOHN M. PREISENDORFER
Source: History of Defiance County, Ohio - Published at
Chicago: Warner, Beers & Co. - 1883 - Page 237 |
H. N. Prentice |
|
Mr. & Mrs. John Price |
Farmer Twp. -
JOHN PRICE, farmer, P. O. Farmer Center,
Ohio, was born in Dauphin County, Penn., July 27, 1814, and is a
brother of William Price, whose sketch appears above.
In 1850, he purchased eighty acres of land where he now resides,
to which he has added by purchase, and at present owns 410 acres
of well improved land. He was married, in 1837, to
Rachel, daughter of Caleb Beals, of Wayne County,
Ohio, who has born him eight children, six of whom are living,
viz.: Amanda, Sarah, Mary E., Margaret, Elijah J. and
Annabel M.; Solomon and Oliver, the second and
fourth children, deceased. Mrs. Price departed this
life Aug. 27, 1882. Mr. P. has filled the offices
of Assessor and Trustee, and is a member of the Farmer Township
Detective Association. He is one of the successful and
intelligent farmers of the county, and has been the architect of
his own fortune.
Source: History of Defiance County, Ohio -
Published at Chicago: Warner, Beers & Co. - 1883 - Page 274
Portraits on Page facing Page 272 |
William & Sarah Ann Price |
Farmer Twp. -
WILLIAM PRICE, farmer; P. O. Williams
Center, Ohio, was born in Dauphin County, Penn., Aug. 9, 1820,
and is a son of John and Sarah Price, natives of
Pennsylvania, who settled in Stark County, Ohio, in 1823; moved
to Wayne County, Ohio, and in 1834 located in Hancock County,
Ohio. In 1845, the subject of this sketch settled one mile
north of Farmer Center, this township, where he purchased a farm
of 160 acres, to which he has since added 130 acres, owning now
290 acres of well-improved and valuable land. In 1846, he
was married to Sarah A., daughter of Isaac L. Tharp
who bore him the following children: Orley F.
(deceased), L. A. (deceased), John H. (deceased),
Mary E. (deceased), Rachel M., Laura I.
(deceased), and Orpha I. (deceased). Mrs. P.
died Aug. 31, 1878. His second marriage was celebrated
with Mrs. Fanny D. Wolford, widow of Emanuel Wolford,
May 19, 1880. Mr. P. has been clerk of the township
six years; he has been blessed with success and good health, and
for fifty-one years he has not lost a day's work on account of
sickness. His second wife is a daughter of Thomas J.
Sweet, a native of New York, who settled in Farmer Township
in 1845, in which he resided for a number of years. Mr.
P. is a member of the Farmer Township Detective Association,
and a Trustee of the society.
Source: History of Defiance County, Ohio -
Published at Chicago: Warner, Beers & Co. - 1883 - Page 274
Portraits on Page facing Page 272 |
|
|
Noble Twp. -
JOHN PLUMMER
Source: History of Defiance County, Ohio - Published at
Chicago: Warner, Beers & Co. - 1883 - Page 335 |
|
|
Hicksville Twp. -
L. R. PUTNAM is also especially proud of
his patriotic record during the war. He enlisted at
Lockport, N. Y., a private in the Twenty-third New York
Independent Buttery on Feb. 7, 1864, for three years or during
the war. He was discharged at Washington, D. C., June 28,
1865, by reason of compliance with telegram A. G. O., May 3,
1865.
Source: History of Defiance County, Ohio - Published at
Chicago: Warner, Beers & Co. - 1883 - Page 305 |
|
...
|
