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SQUIRE CARLIN, was the second of eight children, and was born in Cayuga Co., N. Y., Dec. 25, 1801.  His parents came to Ohio when he was about six years old, and located at the mouth of Huron River, in Huron County, there being but one other white family in the county.  Here his father commenced farming, but after a residence of about a year at this place, he removed to Michigan, near the site of the present town of Monroe.  Here he remained but a few months, when he returned to Ohio, and located on the Maumee River, at the present town of Maumee City.  Mr. Carlin's father being a blacksmith, he was employed by the Government to work for the Indians.      Mr. Carlin's family remained here, Squire working on a farm, until the war of 1812 broke out.  After Hull's surrender, the family went to Urbana for safety.  They travelled through the wilderness country of Wood, Hancock, Hardin and Logan Counties.  All the goods that Mr. Carlin was able to save in his flight, were packed on two horses, and with these, and his wife and four children, he made the perilous journey.  When the family passed Findley, the Fort was occupied by soldiers.      After about two years, and before the close of the war, the elder Mr. Carlin and Squire returned to the Maumee.  When the war closed the family returned to their old home.  Mr. C. was employed about the farm, and in 1821 was married to Sarah Wolcott.  He had made numerous trips to Findley, buying furs and stock, or whatever was for sale, and in 1826, with his wife and oldest child, William D., who was about four years old, he took up his residence here permanently.  When Mr. C. first came, there was but one white family in the place.      Mr. Carlin's ancestors were Welsh, and were always noted for strong constitutions, and great powers of endurance, and Mr. C. himself has been a man of iron constitution, and has endured innumerable hardships and privations.      He followed trading with Indians, and made many excursions to their camps in the wilderness, sleeping on the ground, travelling in all kinds of weather, laying under the trees in winter, obliged to shake the snow from his blankets to prevent being entirely snowed under.   Mr. Carlin built the first frame house, and also the first brick house in Findley, both on the lot on which he now resides.  In 1826 he opened a dry goods store, and in 1828 his brother, Parlee became connected with him.  This partnership existed between these two brothers until 1852.  The firm of "S. & P. Carlin was known all over the country.      In 1849 Mr. Carlin was carried off by the California fever, and was one of the first who crossed the plains to that El Dorado, and endured the hardships of that long and severe trip equally well with the younger members of the company.  The journey occupied about six months.  After a residence of three years in California, without a day's sickness, he returned and continued in the dry goods trade until 1852.  Mr. C's wife died in 1850, whilst he was yet in California.      Mr. Carlin was elected Treasurer of the county in 1830, and by successive elections served eight years.  He was a voter at the first election held in the county for county officers.  Mr. Carlin was also Post Master for nineteen years.  Of an active energetic disposition he delighted to be out doors.  The brothers were for years the proprietors of a flouring and saw mill.  Mr. C. united with the Methodist Church in 1844, and has been a member ever since.      He has been extensively engaged in farming and railroading since he quit the mercantile business.  He has lived here long enough to witness the rise and fall of many business firms.  He has outlived nearly all his contemporaries, and is about the sole link between the past and present.  In 1854 Mr. C. married Mrs. D. B. Gardner, with whom he still lives.  He was the father of thirteen children, ten by his first, and three by his last wife.  Of the first there are but two, Elliott and Mrs. G. W. Myers, and of his second, Fred, who lives in Findley.  Dr. W. D. Carlin, son of Mr. C., died at Vicksburg as Surgeon of the 57th Regiment. †Source 1: History of Hancock County, Ohio By D. B. Beardsley, Findley, O. - Publ. Springfield, O. Republic Printing Company - 1881 Page 300

Findley Twp. - JOB CHAMBERLAIN.  Mr. Chamberlain was born in the State of Connecticut and was married there to a Miss Deborah Root, and with her removed to Cayuga Co., N. Y., where they lived for twenty-eight years.  They then emigrated to the west, and settled at Lawrenceburg, Ind., where after a residence at that place of two years, they came to Urbana, Ohio, and after a year's residence, they in 1822, removed to this township, and settled on what is known as Chamberlains's Hill.  At that time there were but six white families in the county, Benjamin Cox, Wilson Vance, William Moreland, ____ Smith, John Simpson, and George Lake, who lived at what is now Mt. Blanchard.      When Mr. Chamberlain arrived in the township, there were no buildings on his land, and he was compelled to unload his goods on the ground, but what few settlers were here, assisted him in building a cabin, and such was their expedition that Mr. Chamberlain occupied his new house on the third day from the time the building was commenced.      Mrs. Chamberlain died on the 8th day of January, 1829, and about a year afterwards Mr. Chamberlain married a Miss Sarah Criner, and removed about six miles west of Findley, in Liberty township, dividing his old farm between his two sons, Norman and Job.  Mr. Chamberlain died in 1848, and his wife in 1854. †Source 1: History of Hancock County, Ohio By D. B. Beardsley, Findley, O. - Publ. Springfield, O. Republic Printing Company - 1881 Page 259

Union Twp. - WILLIAM CHURCH is the oldest of the eight children of Collis and Elizabeth Church, and was born in Potsdam, St. Lawrence County, New York, Feb. 4, 1818.  His father was a farmer, and William followed until he was twenty-one years of age, at which time he commenced learning the trade of blacksmith, and although he is now and has been for a number of years a farmer, he has not forgotten how to swing the sledge and weld the iron, and does all his own smithing, besides occasionally a job of repairing for his neighbors.      Mr. Church came to Ohio almost fifty years ago, the family and household goods making the trip in a wagon.  On their arrival in the state, they located in the northern part of Wayne County, near the village of Jackson.  Here Mr. C's mother died.      In 1834 the family came to the county and located on the land on which the town of Rawson now stands.  Mr. Church came to the village of Findley and learned his trade with David Webster.      In 1840 he married Martha J. Teatsorth, and followed his trade for thirteen years.  He then purchased the farm in Liberty Township, known as the Burkhead farm.  After a residence here of a few years, he sold out and removed to the farm on which he now resides in the township.  Mrs. Church died in 1873.      Mr. Church is the father of four children, three of whom are living.  He has always been a man of strict morals, but never united with any church organization.  He owns one of the finest farms in the county, on which are very tasteful and substantial buildings.  He has always been noted for his honesty and industry.  He practices economy without penuriousness, and hospitality without extravagance. †Source 1: History of Hancock County, Ohio By D. B. Beardsley, Findley, O. - Publ. Springfield, O. Republic Printing Company - 1881 Page 463

ISAAC COMER came to this township from Fairfield County, and located on the farm now owned by J. B. Wagner, about four miles west of Findley, on the Benton road.  Mr. Comer was one of those large, jolly, good-natured men that we occasionally meet.  Frank in all his sayings, kind and generous in his acts, honest and prompt in his dealings, he was universally liked, and his death was sincerely regretted. †Source 1: History of Hancock County, Ohio By D. B. Beardsley, Findley, O. - Publ. Springfield, O. Republic Printing Company - 1881 Page 389

Portage Twp. - JUDGE JOHN COOPER was a native of Fayette County, Pa., where he was born April 25, 1811.  He is the oldest son of James Cooper who came to Pennsylvania from New York.  Mr. Cooper's  ancestors on his father's side were Scotch, and on his mother's side were Low Dutch.  His father was a farmer, in which business the Judge has been engaged all his life, and very successful has he been.  In 1812 the family came to Perry County, Ohio, and settled near Somerset.  That part of the State was but sparsely settled, and the land which the Judge's father had entered had to be reclaimed from the wilderness, and here the Judge labored until 1832, when he came to this township, bringing with him his young wife, Jane Eliza, daughter of Daniel Cusac, whom he married in 1830.  There were but seventeen families in the township, which included Portage and the west half of Allen, when he came here.  He at once located on the same land on which he now resides.  Mr. and Mrs. Cooper celebrated their Golden Wedding, at the fiftieth anniversary of their wedded life, and all their children were present.      His first neighbors in the township were John Thompson, Robert Walters and John Howard, and they were about the only residents of what is now Portage township.  The Judge has held important offices in the township and county.  In 1849 he was appointed one of the Associate Judges of the county, and held that office until the adoption of the president constitution.  In 1862 he was elected County Commissioner, and served sic years as such.  He was also one of the first Directors of the County Infirmary.      Mr. Cooper had no other educational advantages than those furnished by a common country school.  He is not a member of any church, but in religious belief has a leaning towards the old school Baptists.  He has always been a friend to schools and churches, and has taken an active interest in both.  He is the father of nine children, six of whom are living. †Source 1: History of Hancock County, Ohio By D. B. Beardsley, Findley, O. - Publ. Springfield, O. Republic Printing Company - 1881 Page 435

Findley Twp. - JUDGE DAVID J. CORY Is a native of Warren County, Ohio, and was born April 17, 1801.  His parents were of Dutch descent, and came to Ohio, the North-West Territory, in 1796, and settled eight miles above Cincinnati.  Mr. Cory's father was a farmer and stock raiser, and also a large land dealer.  Indeed the Judge says that his father invested all his money in lands, for the reason as he said, that water would not drown it, and fire would not burn it, hence it was safer than any other kind of property.  The Judge himself has been a farmer and dealer in real estate ever since his boyhood.      In 1803 the family moved to Honey Creek, in the vicinity of Dayton, in which locality they remained until 1834.  The Judge was married in April, 1827, to Mrs. Martha Meek, and with her he removed to William County, in what is now a part of Henry County, on the Maumee River, about eighteen miles above Perrysburg.  Here he remained until November, 1848, when he came to Findley.  He had passed through this county in 1816, with a drove of cattle, and had slept in the old Fort.  When the Judge's family removed from Dayton to the Maumee, they did so with teams, passing through on Hull's Trail, and were fifteen days on the road, or rather in the woods, as there was not much that could be called a road on the entire route.      When Mr. C. came to Findley, he engaged in farming and real estate transactions, his father having been one of the proprietors of the town, left a valuable landed estate to look after.  The Judge was also a large stockholder in, and President of the Bank of Findley, the first institution of the kind organized here.  He was also one of the leading spirits in the projection, location, and building of what is now the Lake Erie & Western Railroad, and was for many years a Director in that organization.  Indeed there were but few public enterprises that he was not prominently identified with, and took the lead in.  Liberal, just, honorable and far-seeing, he was always a safe leader.      He signed the petition to the Legislature praying for the formation of a new county of Henry, and helped to organize the same, and was appointed one of the first Judges of the Common Pleas Court of that county.  His associates were Pierre Evans and - Waite, a brother of the present Chief Justice of the United States  On his emigration to the Maumee, he found out very few families in the present bounds of Henry County, but during his fourteen years residence there, much of the county was improved, roads opened and numerous settlements made all over the county, and especially along the river.      He had only the advantages of a common school education, but being a man of more than ordinary natural ability and good judgment, he has been a most successful business man, and has added largely to the fortune left him by his father.  He is, perhaps, the largest land owner in the county, holding twenty-three hundred acres of land in this and Wood County, together with quite a considerable valuable town property.  The Judge's public benefactions to churches and schools and charitable objects, amounts to thousands of dollars.  His liberality in gifts to all worthy objects in proverbial.      He is now and has been ever since 1842, a member of the Methodist Church, to the support of which he has contributed more than any other man in the county.      Mrs. Martha Cory died Feb. 26th, 1868, and in September, 1869, the Judge married Miss Ann M. Wright, of Urbana.  He is now in his declining years, quietly looking after his business interests, and enjoying life pleasantly. Source: History of Hancock County, Ohio By D. B. Beardsley, Findley, O. - Publ. Springfield, O. Republic Printing Company - 1881  - Page 311

Union Twp. - PHILIP CRAMER lived to a very old age, and was the pioneer minister of the United Brethren Church.  He was a man of some ability, zealous in his "Master's work," a good neighbor, honest in all his dealings, and much respected by all his acquaintances. †Source 1: History of Hancock County, Ohio By D. B. Beardsley, Findley, O. - Publ. Springfield, O. Republic Printing Company - 1881 Page 442

DANIEL CUSAC was born in Mifflin County, Pa., in January, 1790.  His parents were natives of Ireland, and were married before leaving that country.  Mr. Cusac came to Perry County, Ohio, when quite a young man, and there married Sarah Sellers, who died in October, 1881, at the advanced age of eighty-eight years, having survived her husband about fourteen years.  Mr. Cusac came to this county in 1838, and took up his residence in this township, on the farm on which he died.  He and ten children, nine of whom are still living.  John and Mrs. Judge Cooper, two of the children, reside in Portage township.  Two of them, Capt. Isaac Cusac and Mrs. Mulford, are in Pleasant township.  The others, William, James, Mrs. John Reed, Mrs. James Cooper and Mrs. Robert Poe reside in Liberty township.  Mr. C. had a limited common school education, but was a man of good strong common sense.  He was a consistent member of the Presbyterian Church for fifty years, and led an upright, honest life, respected by all who knew him.      Unassuming and domestic in his habits, he made no figure in public, and although his counsel and advice was sought for, it was given with modesty and fairness, and for the best interests of those desiring it.  He died at a good old age, loved and respected, and left to his children a good name, and to his wife a good home. †Source 1: History of Hancock County, Ohio By D. B. Beardsley, Findley, O. - Publ. Springfield, O. Republic Printing Company - 1881 Page 390

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