Brown Twp. -
H. L. BAKER, Mayor of Delaware, Ohio, is one of the self-made men of Delaware, and his position as chief officer of the city is evidence of his great popularity.  Personal mention of him is appropriate in this work.
     Henry L. Baker was born in Orange township, Delaware county, Ohio, October 30, 1841.  Early in life he was thrown upon his own resources and the success he has attained is due to his own efforts.  In the year 1863, he married Miss Mary A. Angle, a native of New Jersey.  After their marriage they located on a farm in the neighborhood in which he was born, where they remained one year, whence they removed to Worthington, Franklin county, Ohio.  A year later they took up their abode in Westerville, same county, where he engaged in the grocery and provision business, in partnership with Mr. H. Foos, and where he remained two years.  His next move was to Lewis Center, Delaware county, and for nine years he was employed there as agent for what is now the Big Four Railroad Company.  In 1876 he came to Delaware, and until 1878 remained with the Big Four, having charge of construction trains.  It was during that time that he built his property at the corner of Railroad and Sandusky streets, where since that time he has been engaged in the grocery and coal business.
     Mr. Baker has been elected to office by the Democrats, and is alike popular with both parties.  He has served three terms as Councilman of Delaware and is now serving his third term as Mayor of the city, having been elected Mayor the third time in 1894.  For twenty-two years Mr. Baker has been identified with the I. O. O. F. and he is also connected with the Masonic fraternity, having taken all the degrees up to and including the thirty-second.
     Mr. and Mrs. Baker have three children, viz.: William Frederick, who is in railroad employ at Tarlton Springs, Florida; Sue E., wife of T. C. Jones, son of Judge Jones; and Laura Etta, wife of Clifton W. Sears, of Delaware.
Source: Memorial Record of the Counties of Delaware, Union and Morrow, Ohio; Chicago: The Lewis Publishing Co., 1895, p. 47
Contributed by a Generous Genealogist.

REV J. W. BASHFORD, D. D., Ph. D., was born in La Fayette county, Wisconsin, May 25, 1849.  His father was born in New York city and studied medicine, was converted and entered the ministry of the Methodist Episcopal Church in Wisconsin.  He died in the pulpit, of apoplexy, when thirty-six years old.  His mother has been noted among her friends for common sense, industry and perseverance.  Four sons completed the college course at the University of Wisconsin.  Two of them studied law and two theology.
     The subject of this sketch made a public profession of Christ in a revival, in 1859.  Owing to a local church trouble the converts were not received into the church at that time: and while he never lost the habit of daily prayer he did not again confess Christ in public until the close of his freshman year in the spring of 1868.  The real battle was then over the quuestion [sic] of preaching.  He could get no peace until he surrendered his own plans of life and took up this apparently stern, hard duty.
     While in college he contended with illness and financial difficulties.  But enforced rest enabled him to recover from the one, and his native pluck and versatility provided amply for the other.  At the close of the freshman year he taught school for one year in his native town.  During the Sophomore year he also taught one term, achieving success where others had failed.  But he overworked to make up for his absence from the university.  This resulted in severe illness, which left him $300 in debt, and prolonged his college course another year.  On returning to college he accepted an invitation from another student, who had capital to invest, to unite in founding the University Press––the first college paper published at the University of Wisconsin.  The new enterprise was financially successful, enabling him to remain at college and complete the course in 1873.  He was at once elected tutor in Greek at his alma mater, and read, in connection with his work as an instructor, part of the New Testament in Greek and considerable church history.  In 1874 he was urged to remain as a teacher in the university and was offered the position of private secretary to the Governor of his State.  The position was an enviable one, but to him duty was “the stern daughter of the voice of God.”  Accordingly he entered the School of Theology of Boston University in order to prepare for his life work, completing the prescribed course in 1876.  He then entered the School of Oratory of the University and graduated in 1878.  The next year he delivered lectures on the English language and on the principles of public speaking at the School of Oratory.  At the close of the year he was offered by Professor Monroe, dean of the school, a half interest therein, with a guaranteed salary of $3,000 to continue in that work.  At the same time he was offered a full professorship by his alma mater in Wisconsin.  But although these offers were tempting, they did not turn him from the work to which he had consecrated his life.  In 1877 he entered the School of All Sciences in Boston University, and in 1879 received the degree of Ph. D., cum laude.  Indeed the three former degrees had been received with honor.
     While in the school of theology he accepted the pastorate of a mission and organized it into the Harrison Square Methodist Episcopal Church.  During his work in this field the membership grew from twenty-three to ninety-six, and a church costing $8,000 was erected and its cost entirely provided for.  At the close of three years he was appointed to the pastorate of the Jamaica Plain Methodist Episcopal Church, Boston, where a debt of $7,000 was paid and the membership trebled.
     In 1878 Dr. Bashford married Miss Jane Field, of Madison, Wisconsin.  She graduated from the university in 1874, with the highest honors in her department, and afterward taught in the high school of Madison.  After removing to Boston she was chosen first President of the Association of Collegiate Alumnae.
     In 1880 Dr. and Mrs. Bashford made a summer trip to Europe, visiting England, Scotland, France and Switzerland.  In 1881 Dr. Bashford became pastor of the Methodist Episcopal Church at Auburndale, a suburb of Boston, and seat of Lasell Seminary.  During this pastorate we find him delivering lectures before the school of theology of Boston University on oratory, and generally impressing leading educators with his worth.  It is not surprising then that at that time he was offered the presidency of one of the New England Conference seminaries, and of two of the colleges in the Methodist Episcopal Church.  At the close of this pastorate he vas offered the position of preacher and lecturer on ethics at the New England Conservatory of Music.  In 1884 he was transferred to the Maine Conference and stationed at the Chestnut Street church in Portland, Maine, the largest church in northern New England.  During this pastorate about two hundred and twenty members were received into the church.  He returned to Auburndale by invitation to deliver the lectures on Evidences of Christianity before the Lasell Seminary.  At the close of this pastorate he was approached by trustees with reference to the presidency of a strong Methodist college, but declined to entertain a proposition to leave the pastorate.
     In 1887 Dr. and Mrs. Bashford spent five months abroad, chiefly in Italy and visiting German universities.  It was while on the continent that he studied the methods of the world-famed schools, not however as a professional educator, as he had felt that his life work must be in the pastorate, but rather for the love of that higher culture of which he himself is so good an illustration.  Thus it would seem that, unknown to him his whole life thus far may have been planned for the position he has recently been elected to fill.
     At the close of this European trip he entered upon his work in connection with the Delaware Avenue Methodist Episcopal Church in Buffalo, one of the leading churches in Methodism.  Here he again was offered the presidency of three universities and a leading editorial position.  He prefers preaching to any other work.  But the Board of Bishops met in Delaware, Ohio, in the spring of 1889, and each member of the board present expressed the conviction that Dr. Bashford ought to accept the presidency of the Ohio Wesleyan University.  His brethren also of the Genesee Conference, regarded the call to his new and responsible position as providential, although they parted with him with the greatest regret.
     In the spring of 1889 Dr. Bashford delivered the lectures on theology before the first Itinerants’ Club at Lexington, Kentucky.  The Rev. Dr. Edwards, editor of the North-Western Christian Advocate, was present as a lecturer.  The following is a notice of Dr. Bashford’s work.
     *  *  *  “Hit where it may, we propose to give the palm to Rev. Dr. J. W. Bashford, of Buffalo, whose morning lectures on systematic theology were the clearest, simplest, ablest, and most elevating we have ever heard.  These words are deliberate.  Dr. Bashford, who is approaching middle life, is a royal teacher.  His topic is not supposed to be attractive to a general audience, but the early morning hours found the church occupied by citizens of Lexington, who waited almost impatiently for the lecture to begin.  The entire substructure of the exposition was biblical.  But the subject matter seemed the inevitable and unavoidable conclusion of a devout reader who did not search the Word for the sake of supporting a theory, but rather to discover what the Book says, and that only for the sake of the truth, and not for a human or personal theory.  During the addresses of the meeting all hearts were drawn out in devout rejoicings as the earnest speaker seemed to plead solely for the sake of revealing God the Father, Christ the Savior, and the Holy Spirit, the guide of men unto all truth.  We heartily wish every young man in our ministry could hear these marvelous lectures for the sake of their value as correct initial statements, and that every older minister could hear them as a golden review of his life reading.”
     The Ohio Wesleyan University is to be congratulated.  President Bashford by nature, grace and culture is peculiarly well fitted for his honors and responsibilities.
Source: Memorial Record of the Counties of Delaware, Union and Morrow, Ohio; Chicago: The Lewis Publishing Co., 1895, pp. 29-32
Contributed by a Generous Genealogist.

MATTHEW BEACOM, who owns and operates 350 acres of good land in Kingston township, Delaware county, is a native of Pennsylvania.  The place of his birth is in Beaver county, and the date is March 26, 1829.  His father, Matthew Beacom, was born on the Emerald Isle and when a child of seven years left that country for the New World.  During his youth he learned the cabinetmaker’s trade in Wheeling, West Virginia, and followed it for a time, but later turned his attention to agricultural pursuits.  In 1834 he removed to Delaware county and purchased 100 acres of land in Porter township.  The tract was wild and unimproved, being situated in the midst of the forest.  There were no neighbors in sight and the entire county was yet a frontier settlement in which the work of progress and civilization seemed scarcely begun.  With characteristic energy Mr. Beacom began clearing his land and in course of time developed a good farm.
     After he had attained to mature years Matthew Beacom, Sr., was united in marriage to Miss Elizabeth Henry, and they became the parents of two sons and a daughter, namely: Matthew, subject of this sketch; John, one of the prominent and influential farmers of Putnam county. Ohio: and Margaret, deceased wife of James Alexander.  The mother died in 1867; the father died in 1870, and many friends mourned their loss.
     Our subject received but meager school privileges.  He was reared amid the wild scenes of the frontier and aided in the arduous task of clearing and developing a new farm, giving his father the benefit of his services until he had attained his majority.  He then started out in life for himself.  He did not change his occupation, but as soon as possible made a purchase of land, becoming owner of a tract of sixty acres in Porter township.  To this he added until he had 130 acres, which he at length sold.  He then removed to Kingston township, where he now has a fine farm of 350 acres under a high state of cultivation and well improved.  In addition to this one he had l00 acres which he gave to his sons, and seventy-five acres to his daughter.  His life has been a busy and useful one, and by earnest application and honest, straightforward dealing he has gained a comfortable competence.
     In the year 1854 was celebrated the marriage of Mr. Beacom and Miss Caroline Mendenhall, daughter of William and Felicity Mendenhall.  By their union have been born eight children, five sons and three daughters, namely: Henry and Orville, both now deceased; Clinton, who resides upon a farm adjoining his father’s land; William, at home; Ida, wife of Richard Wood; Cora, who is yet under the parental roof; Clark, who is attending college in Delaware; and Lillie, now deceased.
     Mr. Beacom is a warm friend of the cause of education, and has given his children good advantages along that line, thereby fitting them for the practical and responsible duties of life.  His son William is a graduate of Delaware College.  Mr. Beacom is devoted to the interests of his family, and does all in his power to promote their happiness and welfare.  In this he is ably assisted by his wife, who is a most estimable lady.  Both are consistent Christian people, holding membership with the Methodist Church.  In politics Mr. Beacom is a Republican.
Source: Memorial Record of the Counties of Delaware, Union and Morrow, Ohio; Chicago: The Lewis Publishing Co., 1895, pp. 307-308
Contributed by a Generous Genealogist.

ROBERT BLACKLEDGE, a farmer of Porter township, Delaware county, was born on the farm where he now lives, December 14, 1849, a son of Hiram Blackledge, a prominent and well-known early settler of this township.  He was born in Greene county, Pennsylvania, August 21, 1816, and died on the old home farm December 10, 1885.  In 1838 he married Eleanor Mills, who was born in April, 1817, a daughter of William Mills.  In 1840 the Blackledge family came to Delaware county, Ohio, and located where our subject now resides.  Mr. and Mrs. Blackledge had eleven children, ––William, Jane, Harriett, Robert, Hiram, Isaac, John, Thomas, Lincoln, Edwin and Phoebe (deceased).  Isaac was a soldier in an Indiana regiment during the late war.  Mrs. Blackledge died in 1874.
     Robert, the subject of this sketch, left home for the West in 1871.  He traveled for a time in Indiana, Iowa and Nebraska, and spent two years in hunting buffaloes on the plains of Kansas, Indian Territory, Texas, and New Mexico.  With eight men he killed 1,200 buffaloes in one season.  Mr. Blackledge now owns a good farm of 150 acres in Porter township, Delaware county, all of which is under a fine state of cultivation and contains many valuable improvements.
     In 1876, in this township, he was united in marriage with Eugenia A. Thomas, who was born in Chester county, Pennsylvania, April 12, 1854, a daughter of Frederick and Sarah (Wilson) Thomas.  The father, a native of Maryland, departed this life in 1861, and the mother died in 1865, leaving one child, Eugenia A.  The latter was reared by her aunt, Mrs. Jane Hall.  Mr. and Mrs. Blackledge have had nine children, namely: William, who died in 1877; Clifton, born July 14, 1878; Lizzie, born July 27, 1880; Missouri, October 29, 1882; John Sherman, September l0, 1885; King, January 1, 1887; Arthur A., October 17, 1889; Frank, November 20, 1891, and Eleanor Jane, born May 10, 1894.  In his political relations Mr. Blackledge is identified with the Republican party.  Mrs. Blackledge is a member of the Advent Church.
Source: Memorial Record of the Counties of Delaware, Union and Morrow, Ohio; Chicago: The Lewis Publishing Co., 1895, pp. 302-303
Contributed by a Generous Genealogist.

WILLIAM B. BLAYNEY was born in Wheeling, West Virginia, October 13, 1829, and is a son of James and Rebecca Blayney.  On the maternal side he is of Irish descent, his mother having been born in Ireland.  His father was a native of Ohio county, West Virginia, and there upon a farm was reared to manhood.  When about twenty-five years of age he began dealing in coal in the city of Wheeling, where he made his home until 1845, when he came to Ohio.  A short time after, however, he purchased land in Iowa, and removed to the Hawkeye State, where his last days were passed.
     In the Blayney family were six children: Margaret Jane, now the widow of Robert Massingham; George, who resides in Iowa; John, who is also living in that State; Rebecca, wife of Jerome Merritt, a resident of Jones county, Iowa; and Mary Elizabeth, wife of Jacob Starry, who is living in the Hawkeye State.
     William B. Blayney spent the first nineteen years of his life in the city of his nativity, and acquired his education in schools which were conducted on a subscription plan.  With his father he came to Ohio in 1848, and for nine years lived in Morrow county.  On the expiration of that period he removed to Iowa, where he lived for two and a half years, during which time he purchased 413 acres of land.  He then returned to Ohio and bought his present farm.
     In 1854 Mr. Blayney was joined in wedlock with Miss Jemima J. McCammon, daughter of John and Jane McCammon, residents of Delaware county.  They now have a family of four children, three sons and a daughter, namely: John C., Henry C., Fannie M. and Reuben McCammon.  Finally Mr. Blayney removed to the city of Delaware in order to better educate his children, and there made his home for seven years.  The children were thus fitted for the practical and responsible duties of life and have become useful members of society.
     Mr. Blayney belongs to the Knights of Pythias fraternity, his membership being with Porter Lodge, No. 640, and also holds membership with Big Walnut Lodge, No. 794, I. O. O. F.  In religious belief he and his wife are Presbyterians and take an active interest in church work.  Mr. Blayney gives his hearty support and co-operation to all enterprises calculated to prove of public benefit, for he is a progressive and public-spirited man.  For some years past he has resided upon his farm which comprises 224 acres of rich land in Kingston township.  Possessed of good business and executive ability he has carefully managed his affairs and is now numbered among the substantial citizens of the community.
Source: Memorial Record of the Counties of Delaware, Union and Morrow, Ohio; Chicago: The Lewis Publishing Co., 1895, pp. 481
Contributed by a Generous Genealogist.

HENRIE E. BUCK, who is intimately concerned in a line of industry which has important bearing upon the progress and stable prosperity of any section or community, ––that agency which implies operations in the way of real-estate transactions and the negotiating of financial loans, ––occupies a distinctively representative position among the business men of Delaware, Ohio, and for this reason, as well as that of the wide range of his operations, it is eminently befitting that he be accorded due recognition within the pages of a volume whose province is the consideration of the lives of the representative citizens of the section with whose interests he is closely identified.
     Reverting in brief to the more salient points in the early life of Mr. Buck, we find that he is a native of Delaware county, Ohio, where he was born March 1, 1849, the son of Israel E., who died August 30, 1854, and Sarah W. (Van Deman) Buck, who is now living.  The father, Israel F. Buck, was a prominent member of the bar of Delaware county.  Our subject was educated in the common schools of the city of Delaware, and was enabled to supplement this preliminary training by a course of study in the Ohio Wesleyan University, located in the same city.     Attaining maturity, and being of active and alert nature, he was not long in identifying himself with local business interests, engaging in the enterprise of coal dealing, and thus continuing for a period of three years.  At the expiration of this time he became intimately concerned in railroading operations, serving in various capacities about fourteen years.  In this line we may note that he was in turn conductor on the Cleveland, Cincinnati, Chicago & St. Louis Railway (the Big Four route), the Columbus, Hocking Valley & Toledo, and the Cincinnati, Jackson & Mackinaw; later he was superintendent of construction on the New York, Chicago & St. Louis Railway, and also the New Orleans & Northeastern (now the Cincinnati Southern, or Queen & Crescent), and finally became trainmaster on the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe.
     Returning to Delaware in 1887, Mr. Buck identified himself with that line of enterprise in which he is now engaged, soon developing a fine business, with a representative clientage.  By his progressive methods, his discriminating knowledge of real-estate values, and his marked fidelity to the interests of those represented upon the books of his agency, he has brought the enterprise to a point where it stands in position scarcely subordinate to any of like order in this section of the State.  The agency gives special attention to the reliable and facile discharge of all its functions, ––in the way of negotiating loans, collecting rents, exchanging of property, buying and selling of mortgages, placing of insurance, conveyancing and making abstracts of title, and the management and administration of estates.  Real estate and business property in divers sections of the Union are represented, and the agency affords a wide range for transfers in all lines.  Mr. Buck platted an addition to the city of Delaware in 1891, and at successive intervals has platted three additions to the city of Toledo, one each in the years 1889, 1892 and 1893.
    The confidence in which our subject is held in the community has been clearly shown on several occasions, though he has been in no sense an office-seeker.  He served one term (1887-1888) as Mayor of the city of Delaware, and in 1892 was Presidential Elector on the Democratic ticket, representing the eighth Congressional district of Ohio, maintaining at all times a consistent interest in the political affairs of the city, State and nation.
     In his fraternal relations Mr. Buck is identified with the Masonic order, Knights Templar degree; with the I. O. O. F., being a Past Grand; is also a member of the Encampment; of the Knights of Pythias, in which he is Past Chancellor; and of the Elks.  He at present holds the preferment as secretary of the Delaware County Agricultural Society.
     Mr. Buck was united in marriage to Miss Jennie Glenn, of Urbana, Ohio, September 20, 1876, and they are the parents of three children: Anna D., aged fifteen years (1894); Clara G., aged thirteen; and Joseph Henry V., aged eight.
Source: Memorial Record of the Counties of Delaware, Union and Morrow, Ohio; Chicago: The Lewis Publishing Co., 1895, pp. 63-64\
Contributed by a Generous Genealogist.

JOHN BUDD, a prominent farmer of Harlem township, Delaware county, was born in this township, October 15, 1830, a son of John and Mary (Adams) Budd, natives of Pennsylvania.  They were among the early pioneers of Harlem township, having settled in the dense woods.  The mother died at the age of seventy-six years, and the father died at the age of eighty-seven years.  He was a lifelong farmer, a Republican in his political relations, and both he and his wife were members of the Methodist Church.  Mr. and Mrs. Budd had ten children, namely: Miner, Inman, Remembrance, Eli, Abram, Elijah, William, John, and James.
     John Budd, our subject, was early inured to the labors of a pioneer farm.  After reaching year of maturity he was engaged for twelve years in buying and selling stock.  He now owns 132 acres of fine farming land, on which is located a good brick residence, barns, and all other necessary farm improvements.  In his political relations Mr. Budd is identified with the Republican .party.  He served as Justice of the Peace for a number of years, and has also been a delegate to conventions many times.
     Mr. Budd was married at the age of twenty-two years, to Ellen Seaburn, a native of Genoa township, Delaware county, and a daughter of Obadiah and Esther Seaburn.  They have five children, as follows: Harriet, wife of Allen Borden, of Rich Hill, Ohio; Clifford, Adelbert, and Howard, at home; and Emma, wife of Frank Flavil, of Harlem township.  Mr. Budd attends the Methodist Church.
Source: Memorial Record of the Counties of Delaware, Union and Morrow, Ohio; Chicago: The Lewis Publishing Co., 1895, pp. 493-494
Contributed by a Generous Genealogist.