L. G. Ely
|
HON.
LAFAYETTE G. ELY.
In the western part of Franklin township, Fulton county,
is the excellent farm and elegant home of the Hon. Lafayette
G. Ely, a man well known throughout this county and
northwestern Ohio, as a successful farmer, a thorough-going
business man, a trusted public servant, and a man of strict
integrity and moral worth.
All this is said of him by many persons whose
acquaintance with Mr. Ely is of long standing. The
father and mother of our subject were natives of Pennsylvania,
but at the time of their marriage were residents of Morrow
county, Ohio (then Knox county), and our subject was born in
that part of Knox county which afterward became a part of
Morrow county. In his father's family were eleven
children, of these Lafayette Gilbert Ely was the eldest, he
being born on the 3d day of April, 1834. Of these
children but seven grew to manhood and womanhood. George
Ely was the youngest of those that reached man's estate.
He enlisted in the service of his country, was a
non-commissioned officer in Company C, of the One Hundredth
Ohio Infantry, and was killed at Atlanta, Georgia, during
Sherman's memorable campaign.
George Ely, senior, the father of Lafayette G., was the
son of Asher Ely, who was of the fifth generation from
Joshua Ely, one of the Puritans of New Jersey, and who died at an
advanced age in 1704. Asher Ely was born in New Jersey
in 1788, and with his parents moved to Pennsylvania in 1795.
He was a soldier in the war of 1812 - 15. In 1826 he
moved to Knox county (now Morrow), Ohio, where George Ely was
married and where our subject was born. In the year 1835
the father, George Ely and his wife, Elizabeth (Folck)
Ely,
and their first-born, Lafayette G., then one year old, became
residents of Williams county, Ohio, and were among the very
earliest pioneers of that locality. Mr. Ely (George) was
prominent in the improvement and development of that county.
He assisted in the organization of Brady township, voting at
the first election held therein; and to him belongs much of
the credit of its early improvement and development. George Ely, at the age of seventy-eight years, died upon the
farm that he hewed out of the wilderness, and a little later
his wife followed, both being highly esteemed by all who knew
them.
The life of Lafayette G. Ely, up to the age of
twenty-three, was spent upon his father's farm, and in
attending school. After he was eighteen he worked upon
the farm during the farming season, and taught school in the
winters. The early education of this family was by no
means neglected, and while their father was unable to provide
each with a home, when they reached man's estate he saw to it
that the means and ability of earning a home was furnished, in
teaching them industry, frugality and economy. This is
well shown in the life and success of our subject.
On the 12th day of November, 1857, Lafayette G.
Ely was
united in marriage with Sarah S. Masters, the eldest daughter
of the Hon. Ezekiel Masters, of Franklin township, and in the
same year this young couple, with little financial means, but
full of hope and energy, become residents of that township.
From that time Mr. Ely has continually resided in
Fulton county, and his association with its civil and
political growth is so well known as to require but brief
mention in these pages, and in the township of his residence
there lives no man who does not enjoy his acquaintance.
His beginning here was necessarily small, for his means were
limited; but the visitor at his present home is at once
struck, not only with the attractiveness of its surroundings,
the large and comfortable dwelling and out-buildings, but with
the evidence of thrift and prosperity that everywhere around
him prevail.
His farm is known as one of the best and most
productive of the county, and now consists of about two
hundred acres. From his farm can be seen the home of his
boyhood days. The noble and devoted wife of Mr.
Ely
shared with her husband in the toil and economy that made this
comfortable home; she born him four children, all of whom are
now living, and have married and settled within a few miles of
their father's home. The family were two sons and two
daughters, and upon their marriage they were each quite
liberally provided for, in a financial way, by their father.
After a congenial and most pleasant married life of
nearly thirty years, Mrs. Sarah Ely, the wife and mother, on
the 16th day of May, 1885, answered the Master's call.
She was a most loving and devoted wife and mother, an
excellent neighbor, and a faithful worker in the Methodist
Episcopal Church, of which from her childhood she was a
member, and in the teachings of which she had carefully reared
her children. For nearly two years Mr. Ely lived a
widower. He was again married, on the 30th of December,
1886, this time to Mrs. Mary H. Wood, a most worthy lady and a
prominent teacher in the schools of Fremont, Ohio.
Lafayette G. Ely has been a resident and successful
farmer of Franklin township for upward of forty years, and
while in the main he has been devoted to agricultural life, he
has found time to participate in the events of the political
world to some extent, and although he cannot be classed with
the politician and office-seeker, he has taken deep interest
in the civil and political welfare of this county and State.
In the earlier days of his residence in the county he held
several offices of his township. In 1859 he was elected
justice of the peace, which office he filled for twelve
successive years.
In 1871 he was elected auditor of his county, and twice
re-elected, holding this important and responsible office six
years. Each renomination was by acclamation, and each
re-election by increased majorities, the last being much the
largest, which indicated his popularity as a public servant.
During the six years that he was the fiscal officer of the
county he maintained a temporary domicile, at the county seat,
but other than this he has resided upon his farm. In
1891 Mr. Ely was elected Representative in the General
Assembly of Ohio from his county, and re-elected in 1893,
filling this position four years. During the four years
he was a member of the Finance committee of the House, the
most important and responsible committee of the Assembly.
He also served upon various other committees. He was the
author of a number of important bills, several of which were
enacted into laws. He took special interest in all
legislation pertaining to the agricultural interests of the
State, so much so that in this particular he was recognized as
one of the leaders.
Just prior to the election of Mr. Ely to the
Legislature, he had served two years as a member of the State
Board of Agriculture, and at the close of his term in the
Legislature he was again elected a member of the State Board
of Agriculture. He is serving his fifth year upon this
board, and is now its vice-president. His term will
expire in 1900.
From the time that Mr. Ely chose farming for his
principal occupation he has always manifested a lively
interest in agriculture, and for forty years he has been a
member of the Agricultural Society of his county; and has been
a member of the County Board of Agriculture for the past
twenty years, is its president at this time and has been for
fifteen successive years. He has always labored to
elevate the standard of agriculture, and sought to instill
into the minds of the farmers and their families a true and
commendable pride and love for their occupation and calling,
and to his earnest, faithful and conscientious endeavor in
this direction may be ascribed no small share of credit for
the high standard to which agricultural education and
development have attained in Fulton county.
When about eighteen years of age Mr. Ely connected
himself with the Methodist Episcopal Church, to the faith of
which he has constantly adhered, although he is no strict
sectarian, as his contributions to many worthy causes outside
his own society will fully attest. All share his bounty,
and enjoy the benefits of his liberality and generosity, no
worthy charity ever appealing to him in vain. Mr.
Ely
has likewise always been a friend to the young people around
him, and shown a deep interest in their education and welfare,
and his library, one of the largest and most complete in the
county, has always been open to the free use of his numerous
warm friends among the young people.
Mr. Ely is one of those persons who feel strongly
attached to their children, and he manifests a constant and
deep interest in their financial, social and moral welfare,
feeling himself, however amply rewarded for all his labor of
love in their behalf in the full consciousness and realization
of their appreciation and return of love and obedience as
shown in their lives and their close and constant attention to
his welfare and happiness.
† Source: History of
Henry & Fulton Counties
edited by Lewis Cass Aldrich - Syracuse NY - Publ. D. Mason & Co.
1888
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616 |
