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Source:  The Historical Review of Logan Co., Ohio, Publ. Chicago, by S. J. Clarke Publishing Co., 1903 - Page 316

COLTON BROTHERS.     Robert and Joseph Colton, who constitute the Colton Brothers Company, are men of well known business capacity and marked ability, resourceful, enterprising and progressive.  Under the firm style here given they are controlling extensive and important milling interests and they are also connected with other business concerns of importance to the city, as well as to the individual owners.  They came to Bellefontaine from Stark county, Ohio, in 1869, and are natives of the vicinity of Waterford, New York, Robert having been born in 1845, and Joseph in 1848.  From their boyhood days their interests, especially along business lines, have been closely allied.  They are sons of Samuel and Eliza (Cutforth) Colton, who were natives of England, whence they came to America, and after residing for a time in the Empire state they became residents of Ohio, locating in Stark county in 1858.  There the father followed the milling business until his death, which occurred when he was fifty-six years of age, while the mother, long survived him., passing away at the advanced age of ninety years.
     The brothers received the educational advantages afforded by the common schools, and their advancement to the enviable positions which they occupy in the business world is due to their own inherent ability, foresight and determination.  They now represent large milling interests in Bellefontaine, being engaged extensively in the manufacture of flour, and from a small beginning they have developed their plant to meet the growing demands of their trade until it bears today little resemblance to that which they purchased of Jacob Pim.  It is supplied with the latest roller process and improved machinery of every kind needed in the business, and the  quality of their product insures a ready sale upon the market.
     Other important business affairs of Bellefontaine owe their successful conduct to the energy and resourcefulness of the Colton Brothers.  Robert Colton is the president of the Commercial and Savings Bank, of Bellefontaine, and vice-president of the Bellefontaine Bridge and Iron Company, and of the Bellefontaine Body Carriage Company.  Joseph  Colton is the president of the Bellefontaine Building and Loan Association.   Their large milling business was organized as The Colton Brothers Company, Jan. 1, 1900.
     In 1894 Robert Colton was united in marriage to Miss Gail Jackson, of California, and in 1893 Joseph Colton wedded Miss Mary Miller, of Bellefontaine.  Both gentlemen are members of the Masonic fraternity, in which they have attained the Knight Templar degree, and are pleasant, genial gentlemen, whose friends are many, and whose social acquaintance is among the best class of Bellefontaine's citizens.  while there is nothing exciting in their history, it is that of men, who, taking advantage of existing possibilities in the business world, have, by energy and straightforward dealing, gained places of prominence.
Source:  The Historical Review of Logan Co., Ohio, Publ. Chicago, by S. J. Clarke Publishing Co., 1903 - Page 506

JOHN WINN COLTON.     John Winn Colton was born Oct. 2, 1839, in Horncastle, Lincolnshire, England.  His father also bore the name of John Colton, and in September, 1843 accompanied by his wife and children and his brother Samuel Colton and family sailed for America, arriving in this country in October.  He first located in Green Bush, New York, where he operated a mill for others, spending two years at that place.  He then went to Buffalo and thence crossed the lake to Cleveland, Ohio, and continued on his way into the state by canal to Akron.  He was there employed in the Old Cascade mill, receiving a salary of two dollars per day.  He occupied that position for about a year and then took charge of a mill at Canal Dover, Ohio, where he spent six years.  He next removed to Shanesville, where he entered into partnership with Albert Bates now a wealthy banker and landowner of New Philadelphia, Ohio.  Mr. Colton remained at Shanesville for two years and then purchased a mill at Limaville, Ohio, which he operated for fifteen years.  On the expiration of that period he took up his abode at West Liberty where he spent about a year.  He retired from business there and later went to Horicon, Wisconsin, where he died Feb. 26, 1872.  His wife, who bore the maiden name of Suzanne Glazier, was also born in England, whence she came to America with her husband.  Her death occurred at Chatfield, Minnesota, in 1886.  In their family were eleven children, of whom seven are now living, namely: Charles, Ann, Elizabeth, John W., Hannah, Mary and Jemima R.
     John Winn Colton came of a family of millers.  It was the pursuit followed by many representatives of the name for a long period and naturally he became interested in the same business.  He accompanied his parents on their various removals and after the father's death came to  Bellefontaine, arriving here in 1872.  He has since occupied the position of head miller with the firm of Colton Brothers, who are own cousins of our subject.  Mr. Colton thoroughly understands the milling business in every department.  His success is probably largely due to the fact that he has always followed the line in which as a young tradesman he embarked.  He made it his business to understand every part of the work intrusted to him and he gradually worked his way    upward until he has long occupied the responsible position which he is now filling.  He is one of the stockholders in the Commercial & Savings Bank.  He was also owner at one time of a farm in Union township, comprising eighty-six acres, but this he has sold.  His present home he built in 1893.
     On New Year's Eve of 1862, in Mogadore, Summit county, Ohio.  Mr. Colton was united in marriage to Miss Alice Greene, who was born in that county, Nov. 1, 1844.  Her father, B. B. Greene, was a well known business man of that locality.  His birth occurred in Portage county, Ohio, and his parents were from Providence, Rhode Island, and were of old Puritan stock.  Her father is a direct descendant of Roger Williams, through the latter's daughter, Mary Williams who married John Sayles.  Mrs. Colton has a family chart in her possession giving the ancestry back to the eighth century.  Her mother bore the maiden name of Nancy Vallandingham and was born in Summit county, Ohio.  It is on the maternal side that Mrs. Colton is descended from Revolutionary ancestry.  Her great-grandfather was Michael Vallandingham, who commanded a regiment during the war for independence and his son, the grandfather of Mrs. Colton, fought as a field officer during the war of 1812.  He went to the front as adjutant and took part in the battles of the Thames and Gaines Mills in Canada, and was present when the great Indian chief, Tecumseh, was killed.  After the war he engaged in drilling the militia for many years and was always known by the title of colonel.  The parents of Mrs. Colton were married in Portage county, and afterward removed to Stark county, where Mr. Greene  established the first steam pottery of that locality.  During the gold fever in California he went to the Pacific coast in 1850, spending about three years in that portion of the country.  He made the overland trip going with a party from Akron, Ohio, and he returned by way of the isthmus route.  It was then that he located in Stark county, just across the line from Portage county.  He was not only very active and prominent in business circles, but was influential in public office and served as justice of the peace and also as post-master.  He likewise conducted a country store.
     Unto Mr. and Mrs. Greene were born three children, but only two are now living.  The mother passed away and the father afterward married Emma Morse, a niece of New Hampshire's war governor.  Mr. Greene spent his last days in Decorah, Iowa, and was engaged in the grocery business at the time of his death which occurred in May, 1897.  Mrs. Colton has one brother, O. C. Greene, of St. Paul, Minnesota, who is a telegraph superintendent for the Northern Pacific Railroad Company.  He married a daughter of Earl Goodrich the founder of the St. Paul Press, afterward known as the Pioneer Press.  Unto Mr. and Mrs. Colton has been born but one son, Oscar Clement, whose birth occurred Dec. 14, 1863, in Limaville, Ohio.  He wedded Lena Belle Brand a daughter of J. C. Brand, cashier of the First National Bank, and they have one son Cyril, who was born May 23, 1896, in Quincy, Massachusetts, in which place Oscar Colton made his home for five years.  He is now living in Lorain, Ohio, and is general secretary of the Young Men's Christian Association, having been identified with that work since 1888.  Mr. and Mrs. Colton hold membership in the Methodist Episcopal church and he is a stalwart Republican, having been unswerving in his support of the party since casting his first presidentil presidential vote for Lincoln.  His position on any question is never an equivocal one, for he is fearless in defense of his honest convictions and does not hesitate to announce his belief and his policy.  All who know him entertain for him high regard because of his allegiance to his honest views and because of his upright character, and in Bellefontaine both he and his wife are widely known and have a very large circle of friends.
Source:  The Historical Review of Logan Co., Ohio, Publ. Chicago, by S. J. Clarke Publishing Co., 1903 - Page 785

Source:  The Historical Review of Logan Co., Ohio, Publ. Chicago, by S. J. Clarke Publishing Co., 1903 - Page 326

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