Buck Twp. -
A. RAMSEY, farmer, P. O. Kenton, was born in Pleasant Township, Hardin co., Ohio, Oct. 8, 1844.  He is a son of George and Elizabeth (Pfeiffer) Ramsey, who came to America with her parents when children.  His mother was from Pleasant Township, and bore her husband four children, viz., our subject, George, Lizzie (wife of William Shingle) and Margaret (wife of Allen Garbow).  Mr. Ramsey died in Pleasant Township in August, 1850, and his widow subsequently married Adam Lutz, by whom she had two children - Barbara (wife of Lewis Woods) and Callie (wife of Joseph Felty).  Our subject was reared on a farm, received a common school education, and at the age of fifteen left home and worked out by the month, obtaining 25 cents a day.  When twenty-three years of age, he had accumulated $500, with which he began trading in stock in the States of Ohio, Indiana and Illinois.  He drove and shipped to eastern markets, and has been engaged in that, with other business, ever since.  From 1876 to 1879, he was a member of the firm - Kenton Packing Company - which proved to be an unfortunate enterprise, and he has since continued in trading and shipping, doing an extensive bsusiness.  Up to 1882, he has been the leading stock-dealer and shipper in Hardin County, and he ships annually from 2,000 to 3,000 cattle, and sometimes as high as 25,000 head of sheep.  In 1881, he admitted Frank Stewart as a partner, and the firm is now Ramsey & Stewart.  He has also been engaged in the retail meat business for the past five years, and is a member of the firm of Ramsey & Fall.  He gives some attention to farming, and owns 190 acres of land adjoining this corporation.  Mr. Ramsey has formed two marriages during his life; his first union was with Mary, a daughter of George Stern, who died in 186_,  leaving one child - Callie.  His second wife is Rosa Huffurgue, a native of Hardin County.  They have two children - Hattie and Anna E.  Mr. Ramsey was a member of the Agricultural Society Board for eight years, and in politics is a Democrat.
Source: History of Hardin Co., Ohio - Publ. Chicago: Warner, Beers & Co. - 1883 - Page 1049

Blanchard Twp. -
JOSEPH T. RAMSEY, farmer, P. O. Dunkirk, was born Aug. 30, 1830, in Jefferson County, Ohio.  His parents were Lloyd and Maria (Lynch) Ramsey, the former  a native of Maryland, the latter of Jefferson County, Ohio.  His father moved to Ohio and bought 100 acres of land in Delaware Township, Hancock County, where he died Jan. 16, 1870, at the age of seventy years and ten months.  The subject of this sketch was educated at the schools of Steubenville and Smithville, and was brought up to the occupation of a farmer.  He married, Oct. 20, 1857, Miss A. E., born in Belmont County, Ohio, Feb. 6, 1836, and a daughter of Thomas and Maria (Washington) Pointer, the former a native of Pennsylvania, the latter of Jefferson County, Ohio.  By this union there have been seven children, viz., Sarah J., Albert F., Alvin R., Emma M., Mary Arwell, Basil, Ellsworth and Leatha Llewellen.  Mr. Ramsey is the administrator of his father's and brother's estate.  He has one brother and four sisters living.  His wife also has four sisters and one brother.  He and his wife are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church, where the former for ten years has been trustee and Steward, is Class Leader and Sabbath school teacher; his wife and daughter, Sarah Jane, are also teachers in the Sabbath school.
Source: History of Hardin Co., Ohio - Publ. Chicago: Warner, Beers & Co. - 1883 - Page 885

Cessna Twp. -
WILLIAM A. REED, farmer and carpenter, P. O. Kenton, was born in Rose County, Ohio, Jan. 3, 1845, and is a son of Alexander and Eliza (Bowdle) Reed.  His father was a native of Virginia, and his mother of Ohio.  Our subject was educated at the common schools of Ohio, reared on a farm and learned the trade of a carpenter, at which he sometimes works, but is chiefly employed in farming.  He came to Hardin County in 1866, and married, Feb. 15, 1870, Lucinda, a daughter of Asa and Nancy Cooney, and a native of Champaign County, Ohio.  They have but one child, Leona.  Mr. Reed volunteered in the One Hundred and Fifty-fifth Ohio National Guards, and served a hundred days' campaign in Virginia.  HE and  his wife are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church. Mr. Reed was a member of the Patrons of Husbandry, which Grange is in a flourishing condition.  In politics, he is a Republican, and has served as School Director.
Source: History of Hardin Co., Ohio - Publ. Chicago: Warner, Beers & Co. - 1883 - Page 925

Cessna Twp. -
GEORGE HOUSER REID, farmer, P. O. Kenton, was born in Hardin County, Ohio, Dec. 31, 1849.  (For his parentage see sketch of S. A. Reid in this volume.)  He was educated in the common schools and brought up to farming.  He was married to Mary Elizabeth Bryan, born Oct. 5, 1849, and a daughter of John and Hannah (Huey) Bryan, of Jay County, Ind.  Her father was born in Allen County and was one of the first settlers of Jay County, Ind.; her grandfather was a native of Pennsylvania, and also a pioneer of Jay County.  Both of her parents helped to give decent burial to the soldiers' bones collected around Fort Recovery.  Mr. Reid and his wife are the parents of two children - Lewis Eugene, born Sept. 13, 1875, and Eva Loraine, born Oct. 27, 1877.  Mr. Reid is still young and occupied in farming, but so afflicted with rheumatism that he is often unable to do a good day's work.
Source: History of Hardin Co., Ohio - Publ. Chicago: Warner, Beers & Co. - 1883 - Page 927

Cessna Twp. -
SIMON ADIS REID, farmer, P. O. Kenton, was born in Columbiana County, Ohio, July 26, 1820.  His father, Manly Reid, a native of Monmouth County, N. J., was a son of John and Charity (Manly) Reid.  The latter was a daughter of John Manly, who was a Captain of the Minutemen of New Jersey during the Revolution, and whose family came originally from Holland.  John Reid, the grandfather of our subject, was a son of John Reid, of England, and Margaret Miller, of Scotland.  He was a soldier in the war of independence, and served part of the time as one of Washington's scouts.  Manly Reid, the father of our subject, fought in the war of 1812, and about 1817 came to Ohio, where he was married in 1819 and settled down in Columbiana County.  The subject of this sketch was raised on a farm, had a little common school education and by dint of hard study at nights, and the exercise of perseverance, he qualified himself to teach in after years.  At the age of twenty-four years, he emigrated to the teach in after years.  At the age of twenty-four years, he emigrated to the backwoods of Hardin County, to take a share in reducing her fertile lands to cultivation.  On Mar. 18, 1845, he was married to Eliza, daughter of John H. and Barbara (Bibler) Houser, born in Union County, Ohio, Aug. 25, 1825.  she came with her parents to Hardin County in 1828.  Her parents were pioneers of Hardin County, and the first election was held at their residence on the Scioto River below Kenton.  Mr. and Mrs. Reid had a family of nine children, viz., an infant, born Dec. 23, 1845, died the day following; John Manly, born Nov. 4, 174, married to M. A., daughter of David and Hannah Obenour, and now Principal in the Normal School at Morrill, Kan.; George Houser, whose sketch is given elsewhere; an infant, born Jan., 1852, died same day; Mary Adelaide, born Oct. 6, 1854, wife of Peter J. Bryan of Adams County, Ind.; Charity Ann, born Aug. 22, 1857, wife of John J. Macklin, of Hardin County, Ohio; Simon Adis, born Jun. 19, 1861, at home; Emma Eliza, born Aug. 26, 1864, at home; and Thomas Hiram, born Mar. 15, 1869, died Sept., 1869.  Mrs. Reid died Apr. 4, 1869, and Mr. Reid remarried Feb. 17, 1870.  His second wife is Rebecca E., daughter of Allen and Mary (Bell) Leeper a native of Richland County, Ohio, born Oct. 9, 1818, and an emigrant to Hardin County in March of 1833.  Her father was born in New Jersey, but removed with his father, James Leeper, to Pennsylvania at an early day.  James Leeper returned to New Jersey for the rest of his plunder, and died, leaving his wife with a family of little children in a wild, new country.  Mr. Leeper, while a small lad, while hunting cows one evening, was standing on a log to look for them, when he was shot in the arm by an Indian.  He dropped of the log, taking to his heels, and made his escape.  In the winter of 1844, and for four or five years following, our subject taught school in an old log house in District No. 1, Cessna Township.  He and his wife are members of the Church of Christ, of which he has been Elder for twenty years.  He is a Republican in politics and is now serving his third term as Justice of the Peace, his first two terms having been filled before the war.  He enlisted in the One Hundred and Thirty-fifth Ohio National Guards, and served a campaign in Maryland and West Virginia, having previously enlisted in the Eighty-second Ohio Volunteer Infantry, from which he was discharged for disability.  Mr. Reid has always followed farming, and still resides on his farm of 160 acres, which is under a high state of cultivation.  Although sixty-two years of age, he is still robust and hearty, his even life and temperate habits having contributed to his good health.  Respected by all, he stands out a bold bacon light to the young, saying "Go thou and do like-wise."
Source: History of Hardin Co., Ohio - Publ. Chicago: Warner, Beers & Co. - 1883 - Page 926

Source: History of Hardin Co., Ohio - Pub. Chicago: Warner, Beers & Co. - 1883 - Page 858

Buck Twp. -
JOHN P. RICHARDS, farmer, P. O. Kenton, was born in Seneca County, Ohio, Feb. 27, 1827.  He is a son of James and Matilda (Pearl) Richards.  His father was born in New Hampshire Aug. 10, 1791, his mother in Virginia July 27, 1797, and were marred in Pike County, Ohio, Dec. 21, 1817.  His maternal grandfather, John Pearl, with his family, removed to Pike County, Ohio, in 1800, and, died there.  The parents of our subject located in Seneca County, Ohio, about 1825, in 1830 removed to Pike County, thence, in 1834, to Ross County, and finally, in 1848, came to Hardin County and lived there for two years in Pleasant Township.  In 1851, they came to Buck Township and bought fifty acres of land, on which they resided till their decease.  Mr. Richards died Dec. 4, 1868, and his wife on Mar. 31, 1872.  Mr. Richards was a local minister in the Methodist Episcopal Church for thirty-five years.  He was the father of ten children, five living, of whom are subject is the fifth.  Our subject was married Mar. 27, 1851, to Sarah M. Harbison,  Her father was born in North Carolina Dec. 12, 1796; died in 1849, aged fifty-three years.  Her mother was born in South Carolina Apr. 23, 1800, and is still living.  They removed to Greene County in 1835, and to Hardin County in 1842, settling in Pleasant Township, where Mr. Harbison died.  Mr. and Mrs. Richards have two children, one living [ Marion F., born Oct. 20, 1858, married to Viola Butler, by whom there are two children, Neva Blanche and Pearl; and Jessie B., born Jan. 19, 873, died May 5, 1879.  Mr. Richards and his wife have belonged to the Methodist Episcopal Church for forty years.  Mr. Richards is a member of the Grange, with which he has been prominently connected since its organization.  He has served as Township Trustee and Treasurer for one year.
Source: History of Hardin Co., Ohio - Publ. Chicago: Warner, Beers & Co. - 1883 - Page 1050

Blanchard Twp. -
J. J. RIPLEY, farmer, P. O. Dunkirk, was born June 28, 1830, in West New Bedford, Coshocton Co., Ohio.  His parents were Solomon and Anna Mason (James) Ripley, of German descent and natives of Pennsylvania, where they emigrated, settling in Coshocton County, Ohio.  They moved thence to Hancock County, where they spent the remainder of their days.  His mother died when he was four years of age, and he was afterward brought up by his step-mother.  For three or four years he was engaged in milling, but is now occupied in farming.  On Jan. 17, 1854, at a place three miles west of Forest, he was married to Eliza, born Mar. 27, 1832, native of Pennsylvania and a daughter of William and Mary Ann (Tressler) Higgins.  By this union there have been four children, viz, Amanda M., wife of S. C. Doll, of Hardin County; S. S., married; Emma L., David F. and William A., the three latter at home.  Mr. Ripley and his wife are members of the United Brethren Church.  Mr. Ripley is the owner of 160 acres of land in Pleasant Township, forty-one and a half acres in Forest; 120 in Delaware Township, Hancock County; and twenty-two in Dunkirk, where he also has one-half interest in four lots.
Source: History of Hardin Co., Ohio - Publ. Chicago: Warner, Beers & Co. - 1883 - Page 885

Cessna Twp. -
GEORGE D. ROBERTS, farmer, P. O. Kenton, was born Feb. 6, 1847, and is a son of John and Ann (Mahan) Roberts.  His father was born Oct. 17, 1817, in Virginia and came to Carroll County, Ohio, in 1828, and was one of the pioneers of that county.  He was a member of the Church of Christ, and died Sept. 30, 1882, after a life of service to God and his fellow men.  Our subject was married Aug. 30, 1873, to Miss Eva Thorpe, born Apr. 1, 1854, daughter of Milo and Mary (McCord) Thorp, of Sandusky County, Ohio.  Mr. Roberts was educated at the common school of the county, and he and his wife are members of the Church of Christ.  They have four children - Myrtie B., born Jul. 15, 1874; Eddie, born Jan. 25, 1876; Clarence Emmet, born Apr. 20, 1878; and George Elgin, born Jun. 16, 1883.  Mr. Roberts follows farming for an occupation, and owns eighty acres of land.  He is a Democrat in politics, and has served as Trustee of his township.  He is a man of sterling worth and reliable character, well worthy of the estimation in which he is held by the community where he resides.
Source: History of Hardin Co., Ohio - Publ. Chicago: Warner, Beers & Co. - 1883 - Page 927

Source: History of Hardin Co., Ohio - Publ. Chicago: Warner, Beers & Co. - 1883 - Page 954

Hale Twp. -
JACOB A. RUMER, lumberman, Ridgeway, was born in Virginia, Apr. 15, 1853.  His parents, John S. and Edith E. Rumer, were natives of Virginia, whence they emigrated, coming to Ohio in1855, and settling in Fayette County; from there they came to Hardin County, where the father died May 15, 1875.  Mrs. Rumer is still living, and resides in Ridgeway, Ohio.  They were the parents of nine children, of whom eight survive, all residing in Hardin County, and all married, except three who are living in the residence of J. A. Rumer with their mother.  The subject of his sketch engaged in the lumber business in April of 1879, under the firm name of Koplin and Rumer.  On June 27, 1881, he bought out his partner and has since continued alone in the business.  He owns a large saw mill and the lots surrounding, and employs a force of about thirty hands.  He also owns two nice pieces of property in Ridgeway, besides 195 acres of land near Mount Victory, and on Apr. 10, 1883, he opened a store for hardware and agricultural implements.  He is a member of the Knights of Pythias and of the I. O. O. F.  Mr. Rumer is an enterprising and active young business man of Ridgeway.
Source: History of Hardin Co., Ohio - Publ. Chicago: Warner, Beers & Co. - 1883 - Page 942

Source: History of Hardin Co., Ohio - Publ. Chicago: Warner, Beers & Co. - 1883 - Page 954