OHIO GENEALOGY EXPRESS

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Morrow County,  Ohio
History & Genealogy

THOMAS W. BABCOCK. ––“Through struggles to triumph” seems to be the maxim which holds sway for the majority of our citizens and, though undeniably true that many a one falls exhausted in the conflict, a few by their inherent force of character and strong mentality rise above their environments and all which seems to hinder them until they reach the plane of affluence.  Such has been the history of Thomas W. Babcock, and in his life record many useful lessons may be gleaned.  Mr. Babcock resides at Marengo, Morrow county, Ohio, where he is recognized as a representative and influential business man of the most insistent order.
     Thomas W. Babcock was born in Bennington township, Morrow county, on the 6th of December, 1882, a son of I. A. and Mary E. (Wheeler) Babcock.  The parents are both living and maintain their home at Marengo.  They became the parents of six children, namely: Ora, who is the wife of William Blair, of Mansfield, Ohio; Grace, who wedded H. S. Cruikshank, of Mount Gilead, Ohio; Lydia, who remains at the parental home; Robert D., who is a resident of Sunbury, Ohio; Josephine, of Mount Gilead; and Thomas W., who is the immediate subject of this review.  Mr. Babcock was reared to adult age on the home farm in Bennington township and after completing the curriculum of the district schools he attended and was graduated in the high school at Marengo as a member of the class of 1897.  For one year thereafter he was engaged in teaching school and in 1899 he turned his attention to the hay and grain business.  In the latter enterprise he initiated operations with a team and wagon and a capital of fifteen dollars.  With borrowed money he launched into the business world buying and selling hay and grain, and with the passage of years he built up a large and enterprising industry.  At the present time, in 1911, he has offices and conducts business at Marengo, Ashley, Sunbury, Johnstown and Peerless, and his annual volume of business amounts to about two hundred thousand dollars.
     In the year 1907, at Mt. Vernon, Ohio, was recorded the marriage of Mr. Babcock to Miss Bessie Groff, who was born and reared in the city of Dayton, Ohio, and who is a daughter of Michael and Minerva Groff.  Mrs. Babcock was reared and educated in her native city and she is a woman of most pleasing personality and gracious refinement.  To Mr. and Mrs. Babcock has been born one daughter, whose birth occurred on the 18th of January, 1908.  Mrs. Babcock is a devout member of the Methodist Episcopal church, to which institution Mr. Babcock gives a loyal support.
     In politics Mr. Babcock is aligned as a stalwart in the ranks of the Republican party, and while he has never manifested aught of ambition for the honors or emoluments of public office of any description he gives most freely of his aid and influence in support of all measures and enterprises projected for the good of the general welfare.  In 1910 he was appointed guardian of the John C. Lewis estate, one of the largest estates ever taken through the probate court, the bond required of him being one hundred and twelve thousand dollars.  In addition to his other interests Mr. Babcock is a stockholder in the Ohio State Life Insurance Company, of Columbus, Ohio.  In a fraternal way he is affiliated with Marengo Lodge, No. 216, Knights of Pythias, and with other organizations of a local character.  In view of the phenomenal success attained in just a few years by this representative business man it is interesting to note that he started life with practically nothing except a spirit of pluck and a set determination to succeed.  He has led an upright life, guided by honorable principles, and his fidelity to duty is unquestioned.  He is a decidedly progressive business man, a genial and considerate friend and an honorable Christian gentleman, who in the community where he makes his home commands the unqualified confidence and good will of all those with whom he has come in contact.
Source:  History of Morrow County, Ohio by A. J. Baughman - Vol. II - Chicago-New York: The Lewis Publishing Co. - 1911 – pp. 885-886
Contributed by a Generous Genealogist.

DEXTER J. BABSON. ––Among the various profitable industries of our country that of the poultry fancier, raiser and dealer is fast forging to the front, the breeding of fine blooded birds having become both a science and an art.  Acquiring by observation and experience a practical knowledge of this business, Dexter J. Babson, whose name we have placed at the head of this brief sketch, is carrying it on successfully in Cardington, Morrow county, where he has a model chicken farm, which he devotes to the breeding and raising of pure blooded White Plymouth Rock and Langshan chickens.  A native of Ohio, he was born March 3, 1869, in Washington county, where the birth of his father, Hezelton Babson, occurred in 1841.
     Hezelton Babson has been engaged in agricultural pursuits throughout his active career, and has met with a fair share of success, being an extensive landholder in Washington county, one of his farms containing seventy-five acres of choice land, while his home estate is still larger and more valuable.  He is a citizen of worth, highly esteemed as a man, and is an active member of the Republican party and belongs to the Independent Order of Odd Fellows.  He married Diantha Johnson, who was born in the same county as himself and in the same year.  She is a woman of refinement and a valued member of the Universalist church.  Of the seven children born of their union six are living, namely: Daniel T., engaged in the insurance and loan business in Kansas; Dexter J.; Nora, the wife of John E. Pfaff, who is engaged in agricultural pursuits in Ashley, Ohio; Sylvester, a prosperous manufacturer in New York city; Clark, of New York city, manager of an extensive manufacturing business; and Ellen, of Washington county, Ohio.
     Reared on the home farm, Dexter J. Babson obtained the rudiments of his education in the district schools, after which he was graduated from the Normal School at Lower Salem and from the R. M. Bartlett Business College in Cincinnati.  For two years after his graduation Mr. Babson was engaged in professional work, teaching in Washington county.  Turning his attention then to mercantile pursuits, he spent two years as a grocer in Marietta, Ohio.  In 1894 he embarked in a new line of business in Cleveland, for ten years being a dealer in poultry food, in his venture making quite a sum of money.  On November 4, 1904, Mr. Babson located in Cardington, Morrow county, and having purchased ten acres of land within the corporate limits of the village has since built up a fine business as a poultry fancier, breeder and raiser.  He takes great pride as well as much pleasure in his operations, and as breeder of fancy stock has made fine exhibits at various state fairs and winter shows.  In January, 1909, at the poultry show in Cleveland, Mr. Babson carried off three first prizes on three different birds of the Langshan breed, of which he makes a specialty, another of his favorite breeds being the White Plymouth Rocks, both of which are good all-around birds, well worthy of a place in any modernly equipped poultry yard.
     Mr. Babson is likewise identified with an industry which has made rapid strides in regard to its development within the past few years, and has to a large extent changed the mode of life in both city and country, the automobiles having made their mark in agricultural as well as in manufacturing and commercial circles.  Interested in motor cars from the time of their introduction, Mr. Babson has represented different manufacturers, and is now agent for two firms, handling successfully the Maxwell automobile and the Brush.
     Mr. Babson married, August 7, 1902, Mary I. Williams, who was born May 15, 1880, in Cuyahoga county, Ohio, a daughter of John and Elizabeth (Harberson) Williams, neither of whom are now living.  She is a talented and accomplished musician, both in vocal and instrumental music, and is well educated, having completed her early studies at Berea College.  Four children have been born of the union of Mr. and Mrs. Babson, namely: Hezelton, a bright and ambitious student for his age, shows especial talent in drawing; G. Alton, Helen, and Daniel.
     Mr. Babson cast his first presidential vote for Benjamin Harrison, and has since been a loyal supporter of the principles of the Republican party.  Fraternally he belongs to Cardington Lodge, Knights of Pythias, of which he was formerly master of the exchequer, and his wife belongs to the Rathbone Sisters, of Cardington, Ohio.  Religiously Mrs. Babson is a consistent member of the Congregational church, while Mr. Babson is identified by membership with the Baptist church.  Both are highly esteemed throughout the community in which they reside, and their pleasant home on Mount Gilead street is a center of social activity, its hospitable doors being ever open to their numerous friends and acquaintances.
Source:  History of Morrow County, Ohio by A. J. Baughman - Vol. II - Chicago-New York: The Lewis Publishing Co. - 1911 – pp. 681-682
Contributed by a Generous Genealogist.

ISAAC SIMON BALLIETT is closely identified with the agricultural interests of Morrow county, being pleasantly located in North Bloomfield township, where he is profitably engaged in general farming on his mother’s estate, which he is managing with ability and success.  The worthy descendant of an honored pioneer of this county, he is especially deserving of mention in this volume.  He was born March 18, 1863, in Crawford county, Ohio, a son of Enoch Balliett.  His paternal grandfather, Daniel Balliett, a native of Pennsylvania, came to Ohio in pioneer days and located in Morrow county, where he improved a farm.
     Enoch Balliett was born in North Bloomfield township, Morrow county, in October, 1830, and was reared to agricultural pursuits.  During his early manhood he resided in Crawford county a few years, but in 1867 returned to Morrow county, and having purchased land in North Bloomfield township carried on general farming until his death, March 8, 1883.  His wife, whose maiden name was Elizabeth Klopfenstein, was born April 17, 1830, in Switzerland, a daughter of John Klopfenstein.  Seven children were born of their marriage five of whom are now living, as follows: Samuel E., of Galion, Ohio; Hannah, wife of M. J. Mackey, of Crawford county, Ohio; Sophia E., wife of Henry Muth, of North Bloomfield township; Isaac S., the subject of this brief sketch; and Amanda E., wife of William Cronowet, of North Bloomfield township.
     His parents moving from Crawford county to Morrow county when he was a child of four years, Isaac S. Balliett was here educated, attending the rural schools of North Bloomfield township until seventeen years of age, when he began doing a man’s work on the home farm.  A natural mechanic, with a liking for machinery of all kinds, he became interested in threshing machines when young, and for thirty-one years has handled a threshing outfit, doing much of the threshing in his locality and having now one of the best and latest improved threshing machines in this part of the county.  Mr. Balliett has charge of his mother’s farm, which contains one hundred and fifty-one acres of productive land, and constitutes with its improvements one of the best pieces of property in the neighborhood.  Mr. Balliett owns one and one-half acres of valuable land in Galion, and has other property interests of value.  He is a stanch supporter of the principles of the Democratic party, and for many years has been an active member of the local school board.
     On April 15, 1883, Mr. Balliett was united in marriage with Mrs. Sirrilley Howard, who was born on a farm in Morrow county, in April, 1862, being a daughter of John Park.  Into their pleasant household eight children have been born, seven of whom are living, namely: Grover, living in Crawford county, Ohio, married Lettie Bohl; Daisy M., who married Alva Walker, of Mahoning county, has one child, Lester; Lloyd R.; John C.; Alda D.; Hannah V.; and Dewey.  All of these children were educated in North Bloomfield township, acquiring their knowledge of books in the same school that their father attended when a boy.  Since 1879 Mr. Balliett has been a member of the German Reformed church at Galion, to which his wife also belongs.  He is a member of Galion Lodge, I. O. O. F., No. 215, of which he is noble grand, and both Mr. and Mrs. Balliett belong to the Rebekah Lodge, No. 284.
Source:  History of Morrow County, Ohio by A. J. Baughman - Vol. II - Chicago-New York: The Lewis Publishing Co. - 1911 – pp. 739-740
Contributed by a Generous Genealogist.

STEPHEN S. BARRE. ––The enterprising business man and popular citizen whose name introduces this article needs no formal introduction to the people of Morrow county.  For some years past he has been quite prominently identified with the financial and industrial interests of the town in which he lives, and, always manifesting an active interest in the public welfare, he has risen to a high place in business and social circles and earned an honorable reputation among the leading men of affairs in this section of the county.
      Stephen S. Barre, undertaker and furniture dealer at Sparta, was born in Green county, Ohio, on the 24th day of December, 1850, a son of John and Mary A. (Shafer) Barre.  The father was a native of Hagerstown, Pennsylvania, where his birth occurred on the 1st of April, 1791, and the mother was born in the state of Virginia, on the 12th day of May, 1818.  John Barre continued to reside under the parental roof until the inception of the war of 1812, in which he immediately enlisted, continuing to give service as a most gallant soldier in that struggle until its close.  Thereafter he was engaged in sailing for several years and about 1836 he came west to Ohio, locating in the vicinity of Mount Vernon, in which place he owned one of the first frame buildings there erected.  He was fifty-four years of age at the time of his marriage, in 1847, to Miss Mary A. Shafer, who was twenty-eight years his junior.  She was a daughter of Daniel and Betsy Shafer, both of whom were natives of Pennsylvania, whence they removed to Virginia, where Mrs. Barre was born.  Daniel Shafer was a millwright by trade and he came west to Ohio about the year 1830.  He settled near Springfield, where he built several mills on the Miami river.  John Barre was summoned to the life eternal in 1871 and Mrs. Barre passed away in September, 1905.
       Of the five children of John and Mary Barre, Stephen S. Barre, of this review, was the second in order of birth.  He was a student in the district schools of his native place until he had attained to the age of seventeen years, at which, time he entered upon an apprenticeship at the carriage trimming trade in Dayton, Ohio, becoming an expert journeyman after a period of, four years.  He first located at Cardington, where he remained for a short time, at the expiration of which he came to Sparta, where he was identified with the work of his trade for a number of years.  In 1885 his business headquarters were destroyed by fire and he then embarked in the undertaking and furniture business, in which line of enterprise he has been actively engaged during the long intervening years to the present time, in 1911.  In connection with his other business he also runs a carriage shop.
     On the 1st of October, 1876, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Barre to Miss Emma E. Bockoven, who was born in Morrow county on the 6th of November, 1859, a daughter of James and Mary (Salisbury) Bockoven, both of whom were likewise born and reared in Ohio.  James Bockoven was born on the 31st of July, 1834, and his wife on the 9th of May, 1830.  He was identified with agricultural pursuits during his active business career and he is now living in virtual retirement at Sparta.  Mr. S. S. Barre was interested in the building of the school house and church in Sparta, Ohio, and he and his wife are popular and highly respected citizens in this section of the county.  To them have been born two children, namely, Harry H. and Mary M.  Harry H. was born on 7th of September, 1881, was graduated in the Sparta high school and is now engaged with the Van Scoy Chemical Company, at Mt. Gilead.  He married Miss Myrtle M. Meiser, of Sparta, Ohio.  Mary M., born January 16, 1885, graduated in the Sparta high school with the class of 1901, and she attended the musical department of Delaware College, at Delaware.  She resides at home with her parents and is considered one of the best musicians and music teachers in Sparta.  Mr. and Mrs. Barre are devout members of the Methodist Episcopal church, in the various departments of whose work they have been most prominent factors; Mr. Barre was one of the three who built the beautiful Methodist church in this town.  Mrs. Barre’s great-grandfather, William Evans, was one of the first settlers at Chester, Morrow county, Ohio.  He was of Welsh extraction and was instrumental in building the first church at Chester, the same being of the Baptist denomination, in which he was a deacon.  Her maternal grandfather, Emness Salisbury, was a relative of Lord Salisbury, of England, and her grandfather Bockoven, held the office of magistrate in Sussex county, New Jersey, prior to his immigration to Ohio, where he settled on a farm in Chester township, Morrow county, being identified with the trade of blacksmith in addition to his agricultural pursuits:
     In politics Mr. Barre endorses the cause of the Democratic party, and he has been incumbent of many offices of public trust in Sparta.  For fourteen years he was a member of the school board and he has given efficient service in the offices of mayor, justice of the peace and post master of this town.  In the time-honored Masonic Order he has long been prominent in Ohio and he and his wife and daughter are all valued and appreciative members of the adjunct organization, the Order of the Eastern Star, at Chesterville.  He is also affiliated with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and the Knights of Pythias, the latter of which he represented in the Grand Lodge of the state at Cincinnati, Ohio, in 1896.  Mr. Barre is a thoroughly practical business man and because of his courteous manners, genial disposition and genuine worth he has won and retains a host of warm personal friends.
Source:  History of Morrow County, Ohio by A. J. Baughman - Vol. II - Chicago-New York: The Lewis Publishing Co. - 1911 – pp. 498-500
Contributed by a Generous Genealogist.

LAWRENCE A. BARRY, a teacher of the Black Bird School, Franklin township, Morrow county, Ohio, is one of the promising young men of the township in which he lives, and belongs to one of its highly respected families.  He was born in Union county, Ohio, September 5, 1886, a son of E. E. and Emily J. Barry, and grandson of Y. P. and Hannah Barry, all farmers.  His grandparents lived to ripe old age, and died in the same year, 1902.
     E. E. Barry was born near Cardington, Ohio, August 28, 1851.  Until he was twenty-one years of age he worked on his father’s farm.  Then he bought forty acres of land near Cardington, where he lived eight years, after which he sold out and moved to Union county and settled on a farm two miles from Marysville.  After five years spent in Union county he went to Van Wert county, this state, which was his home for six years.  In 1892 he moved over into Indiana and purchased a farm of eighty acres in Martin county, where the family home was maintained until 1898.  Then they came back to Ohio, and for a year and a half lived within Morrow county with Mrs. Long, Mrs. Barry’s mother, after which he bought a farm in Harmony township.  His first purchase there was fifty-two and a half acres, to which in 1904 he added by an additional purchase of forty-two and a half acres, making a tract of ninety-five acres, where he and his family have since resided.
     In August, 1880, E. E. Barry and Emily J. Long, daughter of John Long, were united in marriage, and the children born of this union are as follows: Della Berringer, Marion, Ohio; Lillie Earl, Cardington; John, Rochester, New York; Lawrence A., whose name introduces this sketch; Hannah, Columbus, Ohio; and Hazel and Lottie, at home.  Mrs. Barry was born March 30, 1856.
     Lawrence A. Barry is a graduate of the Cardington High School, received a certificate to teach in 1909, and is now teaching his second school.
Source:  History of Morrow County, Ohio by A. J. Baughman - Vol. II - Chicago-New York: The Lewis Publishing Co. - 1911 – pp. 611-612
Contributed by a Generous Genealogist.

PROFESSOR NATHAN H. BARTLETT. ––The subject of this sketch was born on a farm one and one-half miles east of Mount Gilead, Ohio, January 22, 1856.  Here he grew to the age of thirteen when his parents moved to a farm in North Bloomfield township, Morrow county, six miles south of Galion.
     He commenced to make a hand on the farm at the age of eleven years and continued to work in summer and go to school in winter for the usual four months until the fall of 1875, when he attended a term of school at Ohio Central College, at Iberia, Ohio, where he won the first honors in arithmetic and algebra.  He then returned home and taught the winter school of four months in his own district, and in the spring of 1876 went to Baldwin University, Berea, Ohio, where he spent two years in the classical course.  In the meantime he taught a winter school, in what was known as the “Colmery District” two miles south of Iberia.  The winter of 1878 and 1879 he taught the Bethel School, four miles northwest of Cardington, and in March, 1879, he went to Lebanon, Ohio, to attend the spring term at the National Normal University.
     After teaching and going to school by turns, he was graduated with the degree of Bachelor of Science at this last named university, July 30, 1884, and on August 6th of that year was married to Miss Cora A. Bartlett, of Cincinnati, Ohio, also a graduate of the National Normal University.  He was granted a Common School Life Certificate by the Ohio State Board of Examiners in 1890, and a High School Life Certificate in 1892.
     Professor Bartlett was principal of the Germantown High School at Germantown, Ohio, from 1890 to 1892, when he was elected superintendent of schools at Mount Healthy, a suburb of Cincinnati, where he remained for nine years.  At Mt. Healthy he established the high school and maintained it on a strong basis.  In 1901 he removed to Winfield, Kansas, seeking a milder climate for his wife’s health, and for the eight years from 1903 to 1911, he was superintendent of schools at Burden, Kansas.
     At this place he changed the high school course from two to four years, and raised the school to an accredited high school which secured for his graduates admission into the State University of Kansas without examination.
     Professor Bartlett is an accomplished scholar, a successful educator, is proficient in vocal music, and is a good singer.  Perhaps his character can be well summed up in brief, by quoting what his patrons of Burden, Kansas, have said of him in a printed article: “He is a man of high ideals, laudable ambitions, and rich intellectual endowments.  His influence has always been on the side of right, which means much when the moulding of character is considered as well as mental development.”
       The children are three: Helen Genevieve, now a stenographer at Los Angeles, California; Oscar Herbert, at Beatrice, Nebraska; and Ernest Dwight at home.
Source:  History of Morrow County, Ohio by A. J. Baughman - Vol. II - Chicago-New York: The Lewis Publishing Co. - 1911 – pp. 886-887
Contributed by a Generous Genealogist.

ARTHUR BECK. ––A enterprising and energetic citizen of the younger generation in Congress township, Morrow county, Ohio, is Arthur Beck, who is one of the popular and successful teachers in the public schools at Guiding Star.  Mr. Beck was born in Congress township on the 11th of May, 1890, and he is a son of Jacob and Elizabeth (Williams Beck).  The father was likewise born in this township, the date of his birth being June 13, 1849.  He was the youngest in order of birth in the famliy [sic] of seven children reared by Frederick and Katherine (Smith) Beck and in his youth he availed himself of the opportunities afforded in the district schools of this county.  In 1871 was solemnized his marriage to Miss Elizabeth Williams, whose birth occurred on the 20th of October, 1847.  She is a daughter of John and Juliana (Carr) Williams who were for a long time representative farmers in Morrow county.  In 1886 Jacob Beck moved to Galion, where for a period of twenty-two years he was actively engaged in the lumber business, moving at intervals to the country with his saw mill outfit.  In 1890 he purchased a farm of one hundred and forty acres in Congress township and later he bought an additional tract of twenty acres from his brother, Frederick Beck.  In 1901 he purchased a farm of one hundred and fifty-four acres from Clinton S. Rhodewick and Ebenezer Wood and in 1908 he purchased a strip of nine acres of land from C. M. Bowers.  In all he now owns farming land to the extent of three hundred and five acres, all of which is in a high state of cultivation, yielding him a fine profit.  To Mr. and Mrs. Jacob Beck were born seven children, concerning whom the following brief data are here recorded: Julia is the wife of Van Horn Davis and they reside at Galion, Ohio; Estella married Melville Myers, of Moline, Illinois; Catherine is now Mrs. Claude Hetrick, of Congress township; Frank is engaged in agricultural pursuits in Congress township, as are also Clyde and Charles; and Arthur is the immediate subject of this review.  In politics Mr. Beck is a stalwart in the ranks of the Democratic party and as a citizen he is prominent and influential in all matters tending to advance the general welfare of the community.  He and his wife are devout members of the German Reformed church and they hold a high place in the confidence and regard of all with whom they have come in contact.
     Arthur Beck was reared to maturity on the old homestead farm in Congress township, in the work of which he assisted his father during his vacations.  After completing the curriculum of the district schools he attended the Guiding Star High School for a time, after which he became a student in the high school at Mount Gilead, in which he was graduated as a member of the class of 1908.  When eighteen years of age he successfully passed the teachers’ examination in Morrow county and was immediately granted a certificate for teaching.  He initiated his work as a pedagogue in a school in Franklin township and in 1909 he procured a position as a teacher in a school at Guiding Star, where he has since been engaged in teaching.  Although very young, his alert mentality and broad information make him particularly eligible for pedagogic honors and whether he continues life as a teacher or later diverts his attention to other channels his well directed energies will make of success not an accident but a logical result.  In December, 1909, he was admitted to membership in the Pleasant Grove Disciple church, in the Sunday school department of which he was elected superintendent in 1910.  Mr. Beck takes pride in the latter honor, as he has the distinction of being superintendent one of the largest Sunday schools in Morrow county.  In politics he accords a stanch allegiance to the principles and policies for which the Demeoratic [sic] party stands sponsor and in a fraternal way he is affiliated with various organizations of representative character.
Source:  History of Morrow County, Ohio by A. J. Baughman - Vol. II - Chicago-New York: The Lewis Publishing Co. - 1911 – pp. 768-770
Contributed by a Generous Genealogist.

JAMES BENDER is one of the flourishing agriculturists of Morrow county and, better yet, one of its broad minded citizens whose support has ever been given to all measures likely to result in benefit to the whole of society.  He can say what it is given to few people to say, that he was born on the very farm upon which he lives at the present day.  The date of the birth of Mr. Bender was May 15, 1851, and he is a son of George and Elizabeth (Reath) Bender.  The family came to the Buckeye state from Pennsylvania, the father of him whose name initiates this review having been born in Cumberland county of the Keystone state September 1, 1799, and he lived nearly to reach the psalmist’s allotment, his demise occurring April 19, 1868.  His father was John Bender, who took for his wife Barbara Coke.
      In glancing at the maternal ancestry of Mr. Bender we find that the Reath family is of Irish origin.  Adam Reath, the grandfather of Mr. Bender’s mother, was born in Erin and came to the United States in 1801, to seek out the bettered fortunes he hoped to find for himself and his descendants in “the land of the free and the home of the brave.” He was twice married, first to Polly Door, who died in 1814, and second to Peggy Campbell.  They were well along in life when they came to Ohio, the year being 1840, but Adam was to have only a few months in the Buckeye state, for he was killed on the fallowing Christmas.  Elizabeth Reath was born April 12, 1807, in Indiana county, Pennsylvania, and was united in marriage to the subject’s father July 14, 1832.  The following children were born to them: Elizabeth, wife of Joseph Thompson; Sarah J., wife of Peter Ballmer; and James, (the above being those who survive); and those now deceased, Mary, wife of Henry Bardman; Margaret, wife of J. S. Ross; Barbara, who died at the age of fourteen years; David R., who married Anna M. Stull; and George W., who married Sarah Haldeman.
     The scenes amid which James Bender resides are very dear to him, for here he was born, here reared and here have come to him the principal events which make life significant.  He received his education in the district school and early came to the conclusion to adopt as his own the honorable calling of his fathers––agriculture.  His energy, thrift and integrity have brought him success and he owns one hundred acres advantageously situated in Troy township, the village of Steam Corners being situated on the southwest corner of his farm and ten miles southeast of Galion, Ohio.
     Mr. Bender laid the foundation of an exceptionally happy home life when on March 15, 1883, he was united in marriage to Elizabeth Yost.  To them were born five children, of whom two are living at the present time.  Clark Y, is engaged in farming, he married Edna Meckley, and they have one child, Mary Elizabeth; Maude M., is the wife of William F. Ench, and they have one child, James Edward Ench; Elena B., born May 12, 1891, died August 11, 1891; Boyd J., born July 12, 1894, died in infancy; George V., born March 14, 1897, also died in infancy.  Mr. Bender’s first wife was called to her eternal rest May 18, 1901.  On March 16, 1905, he took as his wife Jennie Coldwell, who was born in Springfield township, Richland county, January 10, 1862, the daughter of Jonas and Jane E. (Calvert Coldwell.  Jonas was the son of James and Jennie (Williams) Coldwell, and Jane E. Calvert was the daughter of Joseph and Catherine Calvert.
     Interested in all the good causes of the community, Mr. and Mrs. Bender are found as zealous members of the Methodist Episcopal church and the former holds the office of steward.  They are also pupils in the Sunday School.  In politics Mr. Bender gives his heart and hand to the men and measures of the Republican party and he is not unfamiliar with the duties of public life, having served as one of the township trustees.  Both Mr. and Mrs. Bender are widely and favorably known.
     Mrs. Bender’s father, Jonas Coldwell, was born in Springfield township, Richland county, and her mother, whose maiden name was Jane E. Calvert, was born in Cumberland county, Pennsylvania, in the year 1837, the date of her birth being that upon which American independence was born, namely July 4.  The Coldwells and Calverts have been men and women of high citizenship and enjoying general respect.
Source:  History of Morrow County, Ohio by A. J. Baughman - Vol. II - Chicago-New York: The Lewis Publishing Co. - 1911 – pp. 784-785
Contributed by a Generous Genealogist.

THE BENNETT-ROBESON FAMILY. -- As the successful growth of vegetation depends upon certain favorable conditions of sunshine and rain, so the growth of a great country's industries depend upon those inherent principles of sturdy manhood and womanhood that the passing years have bestowed with a lavish hand, and which to the one possessing them are a priceless legacy, stamping his life with a pleasing success. Such principles have been largely shown in the honored families of Bennett and Robeson, which enjoy universal esteem in the district in which their interests are centered. A. D. Bennett, deceased, was born in Morrow county January 16, 1834, his parents being Seeley and Lydia (Cook) Bennett, the former a native of New York and the latter of New Jersey. The family consisted of ten children, whose names were: Daniel, Josiah, Townsend, Jonathan, Andrew, Phoebe, Caroline, Sener, Charlotte and A. D.  The latter lived at home, assisting his father in farming and stock-raising until the time of his marriage, which happy event occurred May 1, 1878. The lady of his choice was Miss Sarah E. Robeson, a daughter of Joseph and Sarah (Roof) Robeson, who were descended from good old Virginia ancestry. Joseph Robeson and his wife emigrated from Virginia to Ohio at an early day and located in Knox county, where they reared and educated a fine family of eleven children.
     Joseph Robeson was born in Frostberg, Virginia, February 3, 1801. He was possessed of those sterling qualities which won for him the highest esteem of the community wherein he spent the greater part of his useful and active life. A man of the highest sense of honor, he was universally respected and he and his good wife exercised a careful judgment in rearing their children -- one of the most important duties of good citizenship. He loved the free, wholesome life of the open and greatly enjoyed the sport of hunting in which he was remarkably skilled and successful. His musket brought down the last bear that was ever killed in Knox county. He lived ten years longer than the psalmist's alottment [sic] of years, his demise occurring August 2, 1881. His wife, who preceded him by some years to the Great Beyond, died in March, 1863. She was born April 6, 1805, at Winchester, Virginia. Their family growing up to be honored men and women of sterling worth, filled numerous positions of trust, and always commanded the respect of the communities in which they moved. Their names were Calvin, Solomon, Thomas and Lyman, the latter dying in 1910, a retired farmer at Seattle, Washington.
     The next son of the Robeson family was Sherman, who graduated in the study of medicine and became a successful practicing physician of Canton, Ohio. The others were Fletcher, Elizabeth, Matilda and Alonzo, who was a successful horseman of Loudonville, Ohio; and Angeline, who married Jonathan Bennett, a brother of A. D. Bennett, who was considered one of the most estimable women of Morrow county.
     The remaining one was Sarah, the youngest of the Robeson family. After her marriage to A. D. Bennett they settled on the old Bennett homestead at Vail's Corners, where they spent their entire wedded life. The husband's occupation was farming and stock-raising. Being a successful business man of fine integrity of character, his judgment was often sought in matters of public and private interest, and his high sense of honor made him a friend to be relied upon. There was born to this worthy couple a son, whom they named Arthur, his natal day being November 26, 1881, and whose presence added greatly to the sunshine and joy of their home. In 1897 Mr. Bennett's health failed and on July 31, of that year his death occurred. His funeral cortege was one of the largest ever witnessed in this section, those who assembled to do honor to his memory attesting to his large circle of friends Among them were the Knights of Pythias, of Marengo, Ohio, of which he was a charter member. Representatives of the same lodge were also present from numerous other towns.
     Thus bereft, the widow removed from the home for a time with her son Arthur, but when sixteen years of age he longed for the old home, to which they returned. He assumed the management of the homestead, depending upon his mother for counsel. Their friends feared that he was too young for such a trust, but with youthful zeal and determination from year to year he grew more successful and surer of himself. He engaged principally in the handling of sheep and horses, taking especial pride in the latter and making a specialty of the buying and matching of teams. In fact, he has sold some of the finest matched teams which ever went out of this section.
     Mrs. Bennett and her son are honored members of the Vail's Corners Advent Christian church, and to their liberality the church is indebted for the fine location of ground donated by them. Mrs. Bennett is a most estimable and honored woman, public-spirited and a royal hostess, always taking an active interest in every social and religious movement that means an uplift to the community. Her rare good judgment, genial manners and pleasant smile make her one whose companionship is ever sought by those who prize association with this world's truest and best.
Source:  History of Morrow County, Ohio by A. J. Baughman - Vol. II - Chicago-New York: The Lewis Publishing Co. - 1911 – pp. 861-863
Contributed by a Generous Genealogist

WALTER C. BENNETT, M. D. -- Of all the professions that of medicine gives the widest scope for keen, scientific analysis, practical, skill, sympathy and broad judgment of human nature. Physical and soul-ills are so mingled in the mortal temperament that it requires the deepest student, the keenest diplomat and the Christian, in the truest and broadest sense of the word, to determine a course of treatment, a method of conduct, which shall effect an alleviation, to say nothing of a cure, of the sufferings which are brought to him by all sorts and conditions of men, women and children. The pioneer physician had his hardships of a rugged, wearing nature, which he met with the fortitude of the hero, but the more modern brother of the profession, in the more complex state of society, has as great difficulties with which to contend, far more varied and quite, different in character. The human ills with which he has to deal are far more difficult of diagnosis than if living were more simple, and with the great strides made in medical and surgical methods, with the rapid progress which is of almost daily movement, the physician of to-day must also be a man of iron constitution to keep abreast of the complicated theory and practice of his profession. It is generally admitted by those who have given thought to the subject that the physician who has entered active professional work any time within the last quarter of the nineteenth century and earned and retained a high standing could have grandly succeeded in any other field calling for ability and true manhood.
     Dr. Walter C. Bennett, of Mount. Gilead, Morrow county, justly falls in this honored class of American citizens, and he has the additional distinction of having achieved prominence in judicial and civic life. Born in Cardington township, that county, September 16, 1853, he is a son of Samuel and Elizabeth (Bovey) Bennett, his father being a sturdy Ohio farmer, than whom there are no better in the country. The son received his early education in the common schools near his home. Subsequently he pursued a course in the Cardington High School, and went to Cleveland, Ohio, where he completed his professional education in 1877, receiving his degree of M. D. in the latter year and locating for practice at Iberia. He thus continued for nearly twenty years, and in 1896 the general confidence with which he had inspired the community at large found official expression in his election to the office of probate judge. His personal popularity is strikingly evident in the fact that he is the only Democrat who ever served a second term in that position. For a time he was also a member of the United States Pension Board, an appointive position which he filled until he resigned on account of taking the office of probate judge.
     Upon retiring from the probate judgeship, in 1903, Dr. Bennett resumed the practice of medicine and surgery at Mount Gilead, to which place he had moved to discharge his official duties. Since that year he has been alone identified with the profession which he loves and in which he is a leader, and his numerous patients are all his warm and admiring friends. His professional fraternalism connects him with the County, State and American Medical Societies; in the Masonic Order he has advanced to the Mystic Shrine, being a member of Mt. Gilead Lodge, No. 206, F. and A. M., Mt. Gilead Chapter, R. A. M., Marion Council, No. 22, R. and S. M., Morrow Commandery, No. 36, K. T. and Aladdin Temple of Columbus, Ohio.
     Dr. Bennett and his family reside in a comfortable home on West High street, in which centers not only a happy domestic circle but which is the nucleus of a widely-extended and elevating sociability. His wife, formerly Miss Belle Reed, is a daughter of William Reed and a matron of charming and strong character; a faithful Christian mother to eight children. The three married daughters are: Mary E., wife of Carl Beebe; Aura, widow of George Smiley; and Helen, who married C. Q. Carlisle, of Saginaw, Michigan. Those living at home are Margaret, Reed, Elizabeth and Edith, and four of the children -- Aura, Helen, Edith and Elizabeth -- graduated from the Mt. Gilead High School. The Doctor and his family are members of the Presbyterian church.
Source:  History of Morrow County, Ohio by A. J. Baughman - Vol. II - Chicago-New York: The Lewis Publishing Co. - 1911 – pp. 601-603
Contributed by a Generous Genealogist

SAMUEL BISHOP. ––A prominent and successful agriculturist of North Bloomfield township, Samuel Bishop has spent his entire life within its boundaries and holds a high position among the active and progressive men who have contributed largely towards the development of its industrial interests.  Ever interested in local affairs, he has served ably and faithfully as township trustee, and is now filling the office of township treasurer with characteristic ability.  A son of James Bishop, Jr., he was born in North Bloomfield township March 12, 1845, coming of substantial Irish ancestry.  His grandfather, James Bishop, Sr., was born, reared and married in Ireland.  Emigrating a full century ago to this country, he located first in Washington county, Pennsylvania, where all of his children were born.  Deciding to make another change of residence, he loaded all of his worldly goods into a wagon and started with his family for the Buckeye state, finding his way through the almost trackless roads by means of blazed trees.  He bought a tract of wild land in what is now North Bloomfield township, five and one-half miles from his nearest neighbor, his purchase consisting of two hundred and forty acres of timber.  Clearing a space, he began the erection of a log cabin, living in the meantime in the wagon until the cabin was completed.  In common with the few inhabitants of Morrow county, he endured all the privations of pioneer life, and on the farm which he redeemed from the wilderness spent the remainder of his years.  His wife came with him from the Emerald Isle as a bride.  She survived him, attaining the remarkable age of one hundred and one years.
     James Bishop, Jr., was born in Washington county, Pennsylvania, and as a boy came across the country with his parents to Morrow county, Ohio.  At the age of fourteen years he began teaming on the pike.  Industrious and thrifty, he accumulated money and embarked in farming on his own account, improving the estate now owned and occupied by his son Samuel.  On April 4, 1844, he married Elizabeth Henton, and to them eight children were born, as follows: Samuel, the special subject of this brief personal record; Mary E., wife of Craig Logan; Eliza J., wife of Hiram Keeler, of Galion; James, of Congress township, married Alice Hiskey; John, married Elizabeth Scrafield, of Kansas; William, married Ida Baldwin, of Toledo; Archibald, living in the west; and Arkenson, of Troy township, married Mollie Fultz.
     Brought up on the farm where he now lives, Samuel Bishop attended the district school regularly until eighteen years of age, since which time he has been engaged in agricultural pursuits.  His farm of one hundred and sixty-five acres is pleasantly located two and one-half miles south of Blooming Grove, and the improvements which he has placed upon it are of a good, practical and substantial character.  Mr. Bishop is a man of superior business qualifications, earnest and thorough in his work, wise in his judgments and well merits the esteem and respect accorded him by all neighbors and friends.
     On September 3, 1868, Mr. Bishop was united in marriage with Mary Schenefield, who has proved a true helpmate to him in every sense implied by the term.  She was born September 28, 1846, in Pennsylvania, and at the age of ten years came with her parents, Henry and Elizabeth (Painter) Schenefield, to Morrow county, where she was brought up and educated.  Mr. and Mrs. Bishop are the parents of nine children, namely: Irvin, born March 30, 1872, is a resident of Mansfield, Ohio; Myrtle, born August 29, 1873, is the wife of Webster Garverick; Melvin, of North Bloomfield township, was born May 9, 1875; Earl L., is a mechanical engineer in Rock Island, Illinois; Clarence, born November 1, 1879, is foreman in the Twist Drill Works, in Cleveland; Floyd, born August 5, 1881, is in the employ of the Baxter Stove Works, in Mansfield; Elizabeth, born October 24, 1882, is the wife of H. S. Kelley, of Franklin townhip [sic]; Mabel, born September 28, 1884, married J. K. Appleman, of Troy township; and Grover, born August 29, 1886, lives at home.  Politically Mr. Bishop is a straightforward Democrat, and takes an intelligent interest in local matters.  His farmstead is known as “The Pleasant View Farm.”
Source:  History of Morrow County, Ohio by A. J. Baughman - Vol. II - Chicago-New York: The Lewis Publishing Co. - 1911 – pp. 688-689
Contributed by a Generous Genealogist.

CHRIS BITZER. —Examine the life records of self made men and it will always be found that indefatigable industry forms the basis of their success. True, there are other elements that enter in – perseverance of purpose and keen discrimination, which enable one to recognize business opportunities – but the foundation of all achievement is earnest, persistent labor. At the outset of his career Chris Bitzer recognized this fact and did not seek to gain any short or wondrous method to the goal of prosperity. He began, however, to work earnestly and diligently in order to advance himself in the business world and though he started out as a factory hand he is now general manager of the Mount Gilead Lumber Company, a branch of the J. S. Peck & Son firm of Cardington, Ohio.
     Mr. Bitzer is a native son of Cardington, Morrow county, Ohio, the date of his birth being December 16, 1859, and his parents were Chris and Catherine (Mauch) Bitzer, both of whom were born and reared in Germany, whence they came to America in early youth, settling at Cardington, where was solemnized their marriage about the year 1855. The father was a veteran of the Civil war and he died at the Soldiers' Home, Dayton, Ohio, in November, 1898. His wife, who preceded him to the life eternal, died in 1888.
     To the public schools of Cardington Chris Bitzer, of this review, is indebted for his early educational training. When thirteen years of age he began work in the factory of J. S. Peck & Son. There, in time, be became expert as a woodwork mechanic and eventually was made foreman, a position of which he continued incumbent for a period of fifteen years. When the Mount Gilead Lumber Company, a branch of the J. S. Peck & Son business was opened up at Mt. Gilead, Mr. Bitzer was transferred to this place and made its general manager, in which capacity he has served with all of ability and success for seven years, in fact, from 1904 to the present time, in 1911. In politics Mr. Bitzer is aligned as a stalwart in the ranks of the Republican party and it is interesting to note here that his first presidential vote was cast in favor of President Garfield. He is not active in politics, however, and never has been, his entire time and attention being devoted to the business in which he is engaged. Fraternally he is a member of the Charles Hull Lodge, No. 195, Knights of Pythias, in which he has passed all the chairs except that of chancellor commander. He is also affiliated with Lodge No. 169, Knights of the Maccabees, at Cardington, and he and his wife are connected with the Pythian Sisters.
     On the 23rd of May, 1889, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Bitzer to Miss Addie Poland, who was born in Little Rock, Arkansas, on the 15th of December, 1870, and who is a daughter of Professor J. C. Poland and granddaughter of Samuel Poland, for many years representative citizens of Morrow county. Samuel Poland was the first county auditor of Morrow county. When a mere child Mrs. Bitzer's parents returned to Mt. Gilead, Ohio, where they had formerly lived, and she was reared and educated in Marion county, Ohio. She is bookkeeper for the concern of which her husband is general manager. She is a woman of rare business ability and is very prominent in the work of the Pythian Sisters. To Mr. and Mrs. Bitzer was born one child, Jesse J., whose natal day was June 10, 1890. He was possessed of an unusually bright intellect and after completing the curriculum of the public schools of Mt. Gilead he went to Cincinnati, where he began study in art and music. He was not destined to remain long in this world, however, for on the 10th of November, 1907, he died from an attack of appendicitis and resulting peritonitis.
     Jesse Bitzer had been a student in the Cincinnati Art Academy at Cincinnati for several months prior to his death. On the Monday preceding his demise he was stricken with an attack of appendicitis. Friends telegraphed his parents of his illness and his mother went to him Tuesday, scarcely leaving his side for a moment until his death. The only hope of recovery was through the chance of an operation and before the father had arrived at the Good Samaritan Hospital in Cincinnati the operation had been performed. The invalid rallied nicely but peritonitis developed and he passed away with great suffering on the ensuing Sunday morning. From the first he did not expect to recover and Saturday morning he said, "Stay with me, Mamma, all the time, for this is my last day on earth." The funeral services were held at the Methodist church at Mt. Gilead and the interment was made in Cardington cemetery. Jesse Bitzer was possessed of most extraordinary talent along the lines of art and music and great things were expected of him. He was a lad of noble character and early manifested those traits which distinguish great personalities. His sudden death was a great blow to his devoted parents. "The sympathy of the Knights of King Arthur, the Sabbath school, his Sabbath school class, Trinity Aid Society, groups of close friends and many individuals was expressed in the mass of floral offerings sent to the desolated home."
Source:  History of Morrow County, Ohio by A. J. Baughman - Vol. II - Chicago-New York: The Lewis Publishing Co. - 1911 – pp. 586-587
Contributed by a Generous Genealogist

WILLIAM FARIS BLAYNEY is actively identified with farming and stock-raising in Washington township, Morrow county, Ohio.  He is interested in community affairs and his well directed efforts have been a potent element in the progress and development of this section of the fine old Buckeye state of the Union.  He has with ready recognition of opportunity directed his labors into various fields wherein he has achieved success and he is recognized as one of the loyal and public-spirited citizens of this county.  He was born in Gilead township, Morrow county, Ohio, on what was long known as the Jonathan Maxter’s farm, the date of his nativity being August 29, 1852.  He is a scion of the Scotch-Irish nobility and is a son of Charles and Mary Jane (Blayney) Blayney, both of whom are now deceased.  The ancestry of the Blayney family is traced back to Lord Thomas Blayney, who was born and reared in Ireland.  John Blayney, son of Lord Thomas Blayney, became the father of four sons, namely: John, George, Edward and Charles, the youngest of whom, Charles, was the grandfather of him whose name initiates this review.  John Blayney, great-grandfather of William F. of this sketch, immigrated to the United States about the year 1870, and he located in Washington county, Pennsylvania, where he resided for a number of years and where he was identified with agricultural pursuits.  Charles Blayney, Jr., wedded Mary Jane Blayney, and they became the parents of the following children: Fulton I., Clement, George E., Mary Elizabeth, Evaline I., and William F.  Mary became the wife of M. M. Iden and they reside at Caledonia, Ohio; an Evaline I. married J. L. McAnall, of Morrow county.
     William F. Blayney was reared to the invigorating discipline of the home farm and he early became associated with his father in the work and management thereof.  As a boy he attended the district schools of his native township and when he had attained to years of discretion he turned his attention to agricultural pursuits, in which he is engaged at the present time on his farm, eligibly located four miles north of Edison.  In addition to diversified farming he raises a large amount of good stock.  He is a stanch supporter of the cause of the Democratic party in his political proclivities and in religious matters is a devout member of the Presbyterian church.  He is a stockholder and director in the Peoples’ Savings Bank at Mount Gilead and has other financial interests of importance.
     On September 7, 1875, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Blayney to Miss Georgiana M. Newson, a daughter of A. B. Newson, of this county.  She was born and reared in Gilead township and the date of her birth is November 19, 1857.  To this union has been born one daughter, Jesse Belle.  The daughter was afforded a good common school education and she remains at the parental home.  The farm of Mr. and Mrs. Blayney is known as “Maple Springs” and will be known as such in Morrow county.
Source:  History of Morrow County, Ohio by A. J. Baughman - Vol. II - Chicago-New York: The Lewis Publishing Co. - 1911 – pp. 770-771
Contributed by a Generous Genealogist.

RANSOM T. BOCKOVER. ––It can not be other than gratifying to note that within the gracious borders of Morrow county there yet remain many of her native sons who are scions of pioneer families of the county and who have found ample scope for productive effort along normal and beneficient [sic] lines of productive enterprise.  Such a citizen is Ransom T. Bockover, who has maintained his home in Morrow county from the time of his nativity and who has here lent added prestige to a name honored in connection with the civic and material development and upbuilding of this section of the fine old Buckeye commonwealth.  To his credit stands a long and active identification with the great allied industries of agriculture and stock-growing, and he continued to reside on a fine homestead of one hundred acres, in Chester township, until impaired health rendered it imperative for him to resign the cares, labors and responsibilities that had so long been his, and he thus disposed of his farm and established his home in the village of Chesterville, where he has lived virtually retired since the opening of the twentieth century.  He was one of the loyal sons of Morrow county who went forth to aid in defense of the Union in the climacteric period of the Civil war, and in the “piping times of peace” he has shown the same loyalty that prompted him thus to enter the military service of his country when he was a mere youth.  His success in temporal affairs has been the direct result of his own energy and ability and his high sense of personal stewardship has been manifested in a life of signal integrity and honor, so that he has not been denied the fullest measure of popular confidence and esteem in his native county, where his circle of friends is limited only by that of his acquaintances.  In his pleasant home, surrounded by friends that are tried and true, he is now enjoying the well earned rewards of former years of earnest toil and endeavor.
     Ransom T. Bockover was born on the old homestead farm of his father, in Chester township, Morrow county, Ohio, on the 8th of December, 1846, and is a son of Jonathan And Elizabeth (Adams) Bockover, both natives of New Jersey, where the former was born in the year 1797 and the latter on the 24th of October, 1818, she having been a daughter of Una and Ritta Adams.  Jonathan Bockover and his wife were reared to maturity in their native state, where their marriage was solemnized, and they came to Ohio about the year 1835.  They numbered themselves among the pioneers of Chester township, Morrow county, where he secured a tract of fifty acres of land, two miles south of the present thriving little town of Chesterville.  He reclaimed the major portion of this tract from the forest and eventually developed the same into one of the productive farms of the county.  He was a man of energy and well directed industry, and he gained independence and measurable prosperity, the while he made the best possible provision for his children and was true to all the responsibilities devolving upon him as a citizen.  He was influential in local affairs of a public order and was a man of superior intelligence and broad views.  He continued to reside on his old homestead until death, in 1882, at the venerable age of eighty-five years, and his cherished and devoted wife survived him by twenty years.  She was summoned to the life eternal on the 17th of April, 1902, at the age of eighty-three years and six months.  The names of both merit enduring place on the roll of the honored pioneers of Morrow county, where they lived and labored to goodly ends.  They became the parents of eight children, whose names are here entered in the respective order of birth: James, Jacob, Ira, Isaac, Minerva, Rebecca and Ransom T. (twins), and Jason.  James, Jacob and Ransom T. still survive.
     Ransom T. Bockover gained his early experiences in connection with the work of the pioneer farm on which he was born, and in the meanwhile he duly availed himself of the advantages of the common schools of the locality and period.  He has profited by the lessons gained through years of active association with men and affairs and is known as a man of broad information and well fortified opinions.  At the inception of the Civil war he was too young to be eligible for military service, but his youthful loyalty and patriotism eventually found definite manifestation.  In the month of May, 1864, when seventeen years of age, he enlisted as a private in Company F, One Hundred, and Thirty-sixth Ohio Volunteer Infantry, and with this command he served until the close of his one hundred days’ term enlistment, his company having been commanded by Captain Meredith.  For a considerable portion of this term he was engaged in garrison service, and he was mustered out on the 31st of August, 1864, after which he duly received his honorable discharge.  In later years the government has shown recognition of his services as a soldier of the republic by according him a pension of thirty dollars a month.
     During the major portion of his military career Mr. Bockover was with his regiment in the state of Virginia and after receiving his discharge he returned to Morrow county and engaged in farming on his own responsibility, in Chester township.  Here he applied himself with all of energy and zeal, and in the course of years the tangible results of his well directed efforts were shown in his ownership of a well improved and highly productive farm of one hundred acres.  He continued there to be actively identified with farming and stock-growing until 1900, when impaired health compelled his retirement from active labors.  He met this exigency by selling his farm and he then removed to Chesterville, where he purchased the attractive residence property that has since continued to be his place of abode.
     In all ways has Mr. Bockover shown a deep interest in the material and social progress of his native county, and he has thus given his cooperation and influence in support of measures and enterprises tending to further the well being of the community.  In politics he maintains an independent attitude, by giving his support to the men and measures meeting the approval of his judgment rather than by following strict partisan dictates.  He and his wife are zealous members of the Methodist Episcopal church, and both have secure place in popular confidence and esteem.  He has retained a definite interest in his old comrades of the Civil war and manifests the same by his membership in the Grand Army of the Republic.
     In the year 1871 was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Bockover to Miss Mary K. Lanning, who was born in Chester township, Morrow county, on the 12th of May, 1851, and who is a daughter of Richard and Elizabeth Lanning, who were well known and highly esteemed pioneers of the county, where they continued to reside until their death.  Mr. and Mrs. Bockover became the parents of four children, of whom the first-born, Artemas, died at the age of seven months; Carper, the second son, is individually mentioned in an appending paragraph; Alice is the wife of Charles Fitzgeralds, who is identified with the oil business in Wood county, this state; and Burton, who resides in Chesterville, follows the vocation of an auctioneer.
     Carper Bockover, the second in order of birth of the children of the honored subject of this review, was born on the 21st of April, 1874, and he was reared to adult age under the sturdy discipline of the home farm.  He continued to attend the district schools of Chester township at intervals until he had attained to the age of eighteen years, and he then secured employment for three months on the farm of A. L. Caton, in the same township.  He continued to be variously employed until he had attained his legal majority, and soon afterward, in the year 1896; he was united in marriage to Miss Ruth Webb, who was born in this county, on the 15th of March, 1876, and who is a daughter of Henry and Lydia (Shaffer) Webb, both of whom were born and reared in the state of Pennsylvania.  After his marriage Carper Bockover engaged in the buying and selling of horses and other live stock, and he built up an extensive and prosperous enterprise in this line, in addition to which he also conducted a well equipped meat market in Chesterville for a number of years.  He has recently been giving much attention to the investigating of the agricultural advantages of the northern part of the lower peninsula of Michigan, where he has purchased a tract of one hundred and sixty acres of land and in the year 1911 he removed to that section of the Wolverine state and established his home in Lake City, Missaukee county, where he now resides.  He is affiliated with the Masonic fraternity, in which he held various official chairs in the lodge at Chesterville, and both he and his wife are members of the adjunct organization, the Order of the Eastern Star, in which Mrs. Bockover was worthy matron of the Chesterville Chapter in 1910.
Source:  History of Morrow County, Ohio by A. J. Baughman - Vol. II - Chicago-New York: The Lewis Publishing Co. - 1911 – pp. 881-884
Contributed by a Generous Genealogist.

DAVID BRATTON. ––One of the best known and most highly respected residents of Canaan township, Morrow county, is David Bratton, who is distinguished not only for his manliness and good citizenship but for the brave service which he rendered his country during the Civil war, taking active part in many of its most hardly contested battles, willing, if need be, to sacrifice his life to save the honor of his country’s flag.  A son of James Bratton, he was born March 22, 1843, in Delaware county, Ohio, coming on the paternal side of old Virginia stock.
     A farmer by occupation, James Bratton lived in Delaware county, Ohio, until 1853, when he removed with his family to Marion county, Ohio, where he bought land and was engaged in agricultural pursuits until his death.  He married Mary Kyle, a life-long resident of Ohio, and she proved a true help-mate, sharing with him the toils and privations incidental in those days to farm life and assisting him in training their children to habits of industry and thrift.
     Brought up on the parental homestead, David Bratton assisted on the farm during seed time and harvest, attending the long winter terms of the district school, where he acquired a practical education.  In the early part of the year 1863, although a beardless boy of eighteen years, his patriotic ardor was aroused, and he enlisted as a private in Company D, Sixty-fourth Ohio Volunteer Infantry, which was assigned to General Sherman’s army.  Under command of this brave general he fought in numerous engagements, being with his company in the battles of Rocky Face Ridge, Peach Tree Creek, Franklin and many others of note, fearlessly meeting the foe whenever opportunity occurred.  At the close of the conflict, being honorably discharged from the service, Mr. Bratton returned to Ohio and continued work on the home farm for about three years after being mustered out on December 3, 1865.
     Coming to Morrow county in 1868, Mr. Bratton settled in Canaan township, about six miles northwest of Mount Gilead, where he owns and occupies a finely improved and productive farm of eighty acres.  Here he is carrying on general farming with good results, his estate comparing favorably in its appointments with any in the vicinity.
     Mr. Bratton married, in 1868, Charity Reed, who was born February 28, 1852, in Morrow county, Ohio, a daughter of William and Margaret (Linder) Reed, who owned and occupied a farm in Canaan township.  Five children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Bratton, namely: Ida, who died in 1894; Elizabeth, wife of Frank Martin; Fremont; Oscar; and Hannah L., living with her parents on the home farm.
     A stalwart Republican from his youth up, Mr. Bratton takes an intelligent interest in local and national affairs, and is a loyal supporter of the principles of his party.  He is still as true to the interests of his country as in those days when the dark clouds of war overshodawed [sic] our fair land, and is a faithful member of Hurd Post, G. A. R., of Mount Gilead, a patriotic organization whose members are every year decreasing in numbers, each season death claiming many veterans of the Civil war.
Source:  History of Morrow County, Ohio by A. J. Baughman - Vol. II - Chicago-New York: The Lewis Publishing Co. - 1911 – pp. 847-848
Contributed by a Generous Genealogist.

WILLIAM C. BRENIZER. ––Occupying a conspicuous position among the foremost agriculturists and business men of Westfield township is William C. Brenizer, who has long been an important factor in promoting and advancing the prosperity of the community in which his entire life has been passed, and in which he is held in high repute as a man and a citizen, his straightforward course in life winning him friends everywhere.  A son of William G. Brenizer, he was born in the house which he now owns and occupies September 10, 1866.  His paternal grandfather, Jacob Brenizer, was born July 1, 1793, in Pennsylvania.  In early life he moved to Maryland, but after living there a few years he came with his family to Ohio, locating in Westfield township, Morrow county, in 1829.  Purchasing a tract of timbered land, he labored with unceasing toil to improve a homestead, performing no inconsiderable part in helping to develop the resources of this part of the state.  He married, December 6, 1821, Margaret Griffith, who was born in Pennsylvania March 4, 1803, and like him was of German descent.  They reared a family of eleven children, as follows: John C., born November 21, 1822; Adam, born June 8, 1825; William G., born February 26, 1827, father of William C.; Maria J., born August 11, 1829; Benjamin G., born July 22, 1832; Margaret A., born April 19, 1835; Henry H., born August 29, 1837; Mary C., born January 9, 1840; Cicero H., born June 25, 1842; Martha L., born March 5, 1845; and Francis M., born March 22, 1850.
     Born in Maryland, February 26, 1827, William G. Brenizer was scarce two years old when brought to Morrow county by his parents.  He grew to manhood on the homestead, but had no school advantages.  Developing his mechanical tastes by learning the trades of a carpenter and cabinet maker, he became on expert workman and acquired a goodly share of this world’s wealth, in the later years of his life being prosperously engaged in agricultural pursuits on his large and well-managed farm.  He died, an honored and respected man, December 21, 1910.  He was active in political circles, holding various township offices, and was serving, with William Brooks and Carper Swetland, as county commissioner when the county jail was erected.  He married, February 17, 1853, Beulah Dr. N. O., who was graduated from the Otterbein University, at Westerville, Ohio, and from the Cleveland Medical School, is a practicing physician in Austin, Texas; Jesse T. died in infancy; and William C.
     Brought up on the home farm, William C. Brenizer laid a substantial foundation for his future education in the district schools and the Cardington High School, and afterwards entered the Otterbein University.  Forced to leave on account of ill health, he decided to try life in the open, and returned to the old home farm, on which he has since resided.  As an agriculturist Mr. Brenizer has met with eminent success, his farm of two hundred and ten acres being now in an admirable state of culture and one of the most valuable and attractive estates in Morrow county.  Owing to his sound judgment and persistent energy, he has accumulated considerable property, owning in addition to his home estate a business block in Cardington.
     Mr. Brenizer married, September 28, 1887, D. Ella Shaw, the ceremony which united them for life being performed by Rev. A. Orr, presiding elder of the United Brethren church.  She was born in Westfield township, Morrow county, February 16, 1865, a daughter of Jonathan and Mary A. (Barry) Shaw.  Six children have made their advent in the home of Mr. and Mrs. Brenizer, namely: Iva M., who died in infancy; Laura B., born June 5, 1890, was graduated from the Cardington High School and is now a teacher in the public schools; Myra B., born June 25, 1892, was graduated from the Cardington High School, and is now a student in the Otterbein University; Anna G., born June 25, 1900; Ella M., born September 29, 1901; and Wilma E., born February 6, 1908.  In his political affiliations Mr. Brenizer is a Republican, and has served most satisfactorily to all concerned as justice of the peace for Westfield township.  Both Mr. and Mrs. Brenizer are faithful members of the Fairview United Brethren church, of which he is a trustee and the treasurer.
Source:  History of Morrow County, Ohio by A. J. Baughman - Vol. II - Chicago-New York: The Lewis Publishing Co. - 1911 – pp. 771-772

WILLIAM GRIFFITH BRENIZER. ––A venerable and highly respected man was taken from the community, when the close to the holiday season of 1910, William Griffith Brenizer, a man long and favorably known here, passed on to the Undiscovered Country.  Although a native son of Maryland, he had passed practically his entire life here and among his other distinctions was his record of having given valiant and faithful service as a soldier in the northern army at the time of the Civil war.  Mr. Brenizer was born February 26, 1827, and thus at the time of his demise on December 21, 1910, he was thirteen years beyond the psalmist’s span of life.  He was the son of Jacob and Margaret (Griffith) Brenizer, both of whom were natives of the state of Pennsylvania.  They removed to Maryland and when the subject was an infant but two years of age they came across the intervening hills and vales as pilgrims to Morrow county, Ohio.  Mr. Brenizer was one of a family of eleven children.  The father, Jacob Brenizer, was long a representative agriculturist in Westfield township and his demise occurred October 25, 1869, his wife, Margaret surviving him for nearly a decade, or until March 31, 1879.
     William Brenizer was reared under the invigorating influences of farm life and he early became associated with his father in clearing and cultivating their farm of eighty-seven acres.  He completed the curriculum of the district schools, to which his father furnished wood in order to pay for his children’s tuition.  When a young man he worked in the fanning mill factories and he was employed in this business for two years in Indiana, one in Newport, Kentucky, and one in Lima, Ohio.  When twenty years of age he went into the cabinet business, with which he was identified for a period of five years, at the expiration of which he turned his attention to agriculture.  He purchased a tract of fifty acres of land in Westfield township, which he subsequently sold.  In 1853 he bought a tract of one hundred acres in the same township, later adding thereto until he owned an estate of two hundred very valuable acres.
     At the beginning of the Civil war Mr. Brenizer was a strong sympathizer with the cause of the Union and in 1862 he enlisted as a soldier in Company C, Eighty-eighth Ohio Volunteer Infantry, in which he served until the close of the war.  For some time previous to his death he received twenty dollars a month pension as a reward for his former services, and he was a member of St. James Post, No. 82, Grand Army of the Republic.  In addition to his farm, Mr. Brenizer owned a beautiful home in Cardington where he resided from the year 1890.
     On February 17, 1853, occurred the marriage of the subject to Miss Beulah Ann Shaw, a daughter of John and Permelia (Messenger) Shaw, Reverend Deerholt performing the ceremony.  Mrs. Shaw’s parents were prominent and influential citizens of Westfield township where the father was an agriculturist. The subject and his wife became the parents of two sons: Nelson O., was born in 1854, and received his higher education in Otterbein College at Westerville, Ohio, being graduated from that institution with the class of 1878.  After two years in a medical college in Cleveland, he received the degree of Doctor of Medicine and is now engaged in the active practice of his profession in Austin, Texas.  William C., the second son, who was also afforded excellent educational advantages in his youth is now a farmer in Westfield township.  Mr. Brenizer’s wife, Beulah A., preceded him to the spirit land July 31, 1909, her death being deeply mourned by a wide circle of friends and acquaintances.
     In polities Mr. Brenizer gave his allegiance to the cause of the Republican party and he held the office of county commissioner at the time of the building of the jail at Mount Gilead, the judicial center of Morrow county.  He was converted in 1844 and baptized in June of the same year by Reverend Mr. Moon.  Three years after their marriage he and his wife joined the United Brethren church at Fairview under the pastorate of Reverend F. Clymer.  He was a constant worker in his church and he held at different times all the offices in the local church, only giving them into other hands when old age came upon him.  Although Mr. Brenizer had attained to the great old age of eighty-three years, nine months and twenty-five days, his age rested but lightly upon him and to the last he retained in much of their pristine vigor, the alert qualities of his youth.  He was a man of genial disposition and much kindliness of character and he held high place in the confidence and regard of his fellow men.  Besides his sons and daughters-in-law, he left to mourn him, eight grandchildren, and two great-grandchildren, two sisters, and a large number of relatives and friends.
     The Cardington Independent in an appreciation of his life, concluded with this paragraph: “The services were held Friday forenoon.  A short service was conducted at the home by the Grand Army of the Republic, of which post he was a member, and afterward the body was taken to the Fairview church where his pastor, Reverend J. G. Turner, conducted the service in the presence of a large and attentive audience.  The choir furnished excellent music.  The body was interred in the cemetery near by to await the resurrection.  He will be greatly missed by his children, grandchildren, friends, the church and his fellow citizens.”
Source:  History of Morrow County, Ohio by A. J. Baughman - Vol. II - Chicago-New York: The Lewis Publishing Co. - 1911 – pp. 916-917
Contributed by a Generous Genealogist

FREDERIC FANT BRIGGS, the elder son of the late William H. Briggs and wife, was born in Mt. Gilead, Ohio, September 6, 1868.  His childhood and early youth were passed in his native village with his parents and younger brother Charles.  He attended the public schools and was graduated in a class of seven in 1886, he and Dr. Frank G. Wieland, now of Chicago, being the only boys in the class.
     The paternal grandparents of Mr. Briggs were James M. Briggs, an honored physician of Morrow county, Ohio, for many years, who was a native of Washington county, New York, and Sarah Layton Briggs, a native of Erie county, New York.  The maternal ancestors were Stephen Fant, a pioneer circuit rider of the Methodist church in Ohio, and Hannah S. Fant, a native of Canada.  Our subject’s mother was Mary Fant Briggs, who was graduated from the Ohio Wesleyan Female College in the class of 1864.
    Frederic F. Briggs received many high ideals from his father and mother.  His father served nearly three years in Company D, Ninety-sixth Regiment, Ohio Volunteer Infantry, and in the V. R. C.  For two years, after completing the high school course, he remained at home for rest and study, taking up the study of Greek and other branches with his former instructor, Professor M. W. Spear.  In 1889 he entered the University of Michigan, completing his course and taking his degree of A. B. in June, 1893.  During his junior and senior years he became active with others in reviving interest in the “Inlander,” a literary monthly magazine established a few years previous by the higher classes of the university; during both years he was on the editorial staff.  During his senior year he was managing editor with Professors F. N. Scott and John Dewey (now of Columbia) as advisory board.  The magizine [sic] had among its regular contributors men and women who are now stars in the literary world.  I. K. Friedman, Steward Edward White, Harry Carleton Porter and George Wesley Harris, are names familiar to magazine readers.  So that, this little College Monthly came to rank among the first, as a production of high literary merit.
     Mr. Briggs was elected Professor of English and History at Heidelberg University, Tiffin, Ohio, in 1894, and remained two years, when he resigned to accept a professorship in St. John’s College at Annapolis, Maryland, founded in 1784.  He taught at this historic old school for four years, when he resigned to go to Chicago to enter the University there, to pursue advanced study in English.  At the end of one year there he removed to Los Angeles, California, to join his father’s family.  Since going there he has been engaged constantly in educational work and has met with marked success.
Source:  History of Morrow County, Ohio by A. J. Baughman - Vol. II - Chicago-New York: The Lewis Publishing Co. - 1911 – pp. 911-912
Contributed by a Generous Genealogist.

WILLIAM A. BROLLIER. ––Eligibly located at a point six miles northwest of Mount Gilead, in Gilead township, is the fine farmstead owned and operated by Mr. Brollier, who is known as one of the progressive agriculturists of Morrow county and whose standing in the community is such as to entitle him to representation in this historical compilation.
    William A. Brollier was born in Ashland county, Ohio, on the 13th day of July, 1856, and is a son of Levi and Mary (Rowland) Brollier, the former of whom was born in the state of Pennsylvania, and the latter in Ohio.  The father was a farmer by vocation and both he and his wife are deceased, the father dying in Allen county and the mother in Morrow county.  They were earnest and industrious folk of sterling character and ever held the esteem of all who knew them.  William A. Brollier was about four years old at the time of the family removal to Knox county, this state, where he was reared to adult age on the home farm, in the work of which he early began to lend his aid, the while he duly availed himself of the advantages of the district schools.  At the age of sixteen years he came to Morrow county, and at the age of eighteen years he initiated his independent career by securing work as a farm hand.  He was thus employed by the month for a number of years and finally he purchased his present homestead, which comprises one hundred and two and one-half acres of excellent land, nearly all of which is under effective cultivation.  Energetic and progressive in his methods, Mr. Brollier exemplifies the best modern systems and methods in the various departments of his farming industry, and he gives his attention to diversified agriculture and the raising of high grade live stock.  He has been indefatigable in his efforts and his success has been worthily won, the while his course has been so guided as to retain to him at all times the confidence and good will of his fellow men.  In politics he accords a stanch support to the cause of the Republican party and he is at the present time serving as a member of the school board of his district.  He takes a vital interest in all that conserves the industrial and social wellbeing of the community and is one of the representative exponents of the agricultural enterprise in his township.  He has made excellent improvements on his farm, including the erection of good buildings, and he avails himself of the best modern facilities in the various departments of his farm work.  Mrs. Brollier is a member of the Presbyterian church in Mount Gilead.
      On the 2nd of September, 1880, Mr. Brollier was united in marriage to Miss Mary Ada Elliott, who was born on her father’s farm in the northwest corner of Gilead township, Morrow county, on the 21st of July, 1859, and who is a daughter of the late Asa Elliott, one of the honored pioneers of the county.  Concerning the four children of Mr. and Mrs. Brollier the following brief record is given: Lester E., who married Miss Minnie Rife, resides in Bellevue, Huron county, where he is engaged in the restaurant business; Minnie E. is the wife of Rene Dailey and they reside on a farm in the vicinity of Cleveland, this state; George, who is engaged in railroad work, resides at Napoleon, Henry county; and Miss Nevada remains at the parental home.
Source:  History of Morrow County, Ohio by A. J. Baughman - Vol. II - Chicago-New York: The Lewis Publishing Co. - 1911 – pp. 729-730
Contributed by a Generous Genealogist.

WILLIAM BROOKS.—This venerable and honored citizen of Morrow county has here maintained his home for nearly half a century and, after long years of earnest toil and endeavor in connection with agricultural pursuits, he is now retired and is enjoying well earned repose in a pleasant home in the village of Edison. He has ever been accorded that, unqualified popular confidence and respect that are the objective appreciation of sterling character, and he has been called upon to serve in various offices of local trust, including that of county commissioner and also that of township trustee of Gilead township.  His liberality, loyalty and public spirit were especially shown forth during his incumbency of the office of county commissioner, and in this connection he did much to further the material and social advancement and prosperity of the county. Further interest attaches to his career as one of the representative citizens of this section of the state by reason of the fact that he is a scion of one of the honored pioneer families of Ohio, which has been his home since the days of his infancy and in which it has been given him to attain to independence and substantial prosperity through his own well directed endeavors.
     William Brooks was born in Cayuga county, New York, on the 3rd of March, 1831, and is a son of Jonathan and Rebecca (King) Brooks, both of whom were likewise natives of the old Empire state, where the respective families settled in an early day. The parents of Mr. Brooks were reared to maturity in their native state, where they remained until 1833, when they came to Ohio and numbered themselves among the pioneers of Seneca county. The father purchased a tract of land six miles east of the present city of Tiffin, in Clinton township, and there reclaimed a productive farm from a virtual wilderness. There he and his wife continued to reside for twenty years, secure in the high regard of all who knew them, and they passed the closing years of their lives in Seneca county, Ohio. Their eight children, four sons and four daughters, reached years of maturity and of the number, two sons and three daughters are now living. In politics the father was originally a Whig and later a Republican. He was fifty-five years of age at the time of his death and his devoted wife passed to the life eternal at the age of fifty-three years.
     As already noted, William Brooks was a child of two years at the time of the family removal to Ohio, and he was reared to adult age under the discipline of the pioneer farm of his father in Seneca county. From his boyhood onward there was no paucity of work assigned to his province, and he has ever been appreciative of the lessons of consecutive industry that he thus learned and which he later applied most effectively in fighting the battle of life on his own responsibility. He recalls the old log school house in which he gained his early education and in these days of opulent prosperity and splendid educational facilities it is difficult for the younger generation to understand how primitive were the schools of that time. The puncheon floors and slab benches, the wide fire place and other appurtenances of this old-time “institution of learning” are adverted to by Mr. Brooks in pleasing reminiscence. He assisted in the reclamation and other work of the home farm until he was twenty years of age, and thereafter he worked for others at a compensation of fifty cents a day, and when working by the month as a farm hand he commanded the stipend of thirteen dollars for the month. Honesty, industry and frugality, those great cardinal virtues were much in evidence in those days, in which were solidified the stanch foundations of the great state of Ohio, and these traits were admirably exemplified by him to whom this, review is dedicated.
     Mr. Brooks was finally enabled to rent a farm in Seneca county, and under these conditions he there continued his assiduous labors as an agriculturist for a period of eight years, at the expiration of which he purchased a farm of forty acres in Eden township, that county, and thus initiated his career as an independent property holder. The land which he thus purchased was in the main covered with virgin forest, and he put forth the required labor to compass its reclamation. He finally disposed of this property and in 1863 he came to Morrow county, where he purchased a farm of eighty acres in Canaan township. As the years passed he developed this into one of the productive and valuable farmsteads of the county, making high grade improvements of a permanent order and so directing his energies as to reach the goal of generous and stable prosperity. Hard work and careful management made of success not an accident but a logical result, and the active career of Mr. Brooks stands to his perpetual credit as one of the world’s noble army of productive workers. There has been no parasitic element in his course and he has put much into life, with the result that he has gotten much out of it. Such a man and such a career discourage pessimism and offer both lesson and incentive. Mr. Brooks continued to give his active attention to the management of his farm until 1887, when he removed to the village of Edison, where he has an attractive and comfortable home and where, retired from active labors but well preserved in mental and physical faculties, he is enjoying the rewards of former years of assiduous application, the while he is surrounded by friends who are tried and true.
     Mr. Brooks rendered service as a loyal soldier of the Union during the latter part of the Civil war. On May 2, 1864, he enlisted for the one hundred days’ service as a member of Company A, One Hundred and Thirty-sixth Ohio Volunteer Infantry, with which he proceeded to the front and with which he was in active service for a period of four months, at the expiration of which he received his honorable discharge. His principal service as a soldier was in the state of Virginia, and he remained with his regiment until the long and sanguinary struggle between the North and South had reached its close. The more gracious memories and associations of his military service are perpetuated through his identification with Hurd Post, No. 14, Grand Army of the Republic, in Mt. Gilead, where both he and his wife are also zealous and valued members of the Presbyterian church, in which he is an elder.
     A man of broad mental ken and mature judgment, Mr. Brooks has naturally been called to take an active part in public affairs of local order, and no citizen has shown more civic loyalty or public spirit. He has been an active worker in behalf of the cause of the Republican party and in 1876 he was elected a member of the board of county commissioners, and by successive re-elections he continued incumbent of this office until 1882. His service was far from perfunctory, as he gave generously of his time, thought and energy to furthering the best interests of the county, the while he advocated progressive policies and due liberality in administering the affairs of the county and in the making of public improvements. His efforts did not lack for popular appreciation and he was one of the best commissioners the county has had. Within his tenure of this office the present county jail was erected and other noteworthy improvements made. He is at the present time a trustee of Gilead township, and his entire service in this office covers a period of fully sixteen years, marked by the same devotion to the general welfare as was his work as county commissioner.
     On the 18th of December, 1854, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Brooks to Miss Hannah Braden, who was born in Morrow county, Ohio, on the 17th of October, 1836, and who is a daughter of William and Susannah (Mack) Braden, who were numbered among the sterling pioneers of Morrow county, Ohio, where they continued to reside until their death. Mr. and Mrs. Brooks became the parents of three children, and concerning them the following brief data are given in conclusion of this article: Emma S., who was born on the 11th of May, 1857, is the wife of Judge Archibald W. Frater, of Seattle, Washington; Nellie, who was born on the 1st of May, 1861, became the wife of Franklin Coe and died in the state of Washington, in 1908; and Victor L. who was born November 20, 1867, and who married Miss Sarah Feigley, of Canaan township, Morrow county, resides upon and has charge of his father's old homestead farm in Gilead township.
Source:  History of Morrow County, Ohio by A. J. Baughman - Vol. II - Chicago-New York: The Lewis Publishing Co. - 1911 – pp. 549-552
Contributed by a Friend of Genealogy

            “ ‘The inner half of every cloud
            Has a bright and silver lining;
            I therefore turn my clouds about
            And always wear them inside out
            To show their pretty lining.’ ”

     “In commenting on the above quotation, she said: ‘I think it is our duty to be as cheerful as we can, and always look on the silvery side of the cloud.  I try to make my friends happy and the world better for having lived in it.’  She told her husband a short time before her death that if she should not live it would be all right, for it would be only a while until they should meet again.  The funeral was held at her residence in Mount Gilead and her remains are interred at River Cliff.  She leaves a husband, mother, father, two brothers and a host of friends and relatives who deeply mourn her seemingly untimely departure.”
Source:  History of Morrow County, Ohio by A. J. Baughman - Vol. II - Chicago-New York: The Lewis Publishing Co. - 1911 – pp. 616-622
Contributed by a Generous Genealogist

WINTERS M. BUMP. ––A prominent member of the farming community of Bloomfield township, Winters M. Bump is widely and well known throughout this section of Morrow county as an upright, honest man, of sterling worth.  He is held in high respect by his fellow-men, and has a host of friends, among whom is Captain Robert F. Bartlett, editor of this volume.  A son of Hiram Bump, he was born, January 13, 1843, in Morrow county, which he has always claimed as home.
     Born in New York state, June 15, 1803, Hiram Bump came with his parents to Ohio at an early day, and for many years was successfully employed in tilling the soil in Morrow county.  He died when in the prime of life, in 1843.  His wife, whose maiden name was Sally Hultz, was born, October 12, 1801, in New Jersey, a daughter of Thomas and Leah (Weatherby) Hultz, who came to Ohio in an early period of its settlement, locating first in Knox, county, but afterwards removing to Morrow county.
     Winters M. Bump remained on the parental homestead until after the breaking out of the Civil war, when he enlisted in defence [sic] of his country, and remained in active service, taking part in many of its more important engagements, until receiving his honorable discharge from the army, June 13, 1865.  Returning then to his native county, Mr. Bump has since been profitably engaged in agricultural pursuits.  He is an excellent neighbor, a sincere friend, and a genial companion, but he has never assumed the responsibilities of married life.
Source:  History of Morrow County, Ohio by A. J. Baughman - Vol. II - Chicago-New York: The Lewis Publishing Co. - 1911 – pp. 921-922
Contributed by a Generous Genealogist.

MILES BYRD, of the firm of Byrd & Company, liverymen, Mt. Gilead, Ohio, was born in De Kalb county, Missouri, January 10, 1867, a son of John and Jane (Hull) Byrd.  When a babe he was brought by his mother to Morrow county, Ohio, and here, in the village of Williamsport, he grew to manhood, attending the local schools until he was eighteen years of age.  Then he obtained employment in a general store in the village, and subsequently ran a huckster wagon for Mark Cook and bought and sold produce.  Next we find him at Mt. Gilead, in charge of the livery barn of Vanatta & Weiland, with whom he remained one year, following which he spent three years in a similar business at Marion, Ohio, and was for a time in the livery business at Newark, this state.  Disposing of his business at the last named place he returned to Mt. Gilead, and has since conducted a livery establishment here, under his own name, with a barn on East Center street.  And in connection with the livery business he gives some attention to farming, owning and operating forty-one and a half acres in Gilead township.  He built the barn occupied by his livery, and he owns the comfortable home he lives in on Union street.
     Mr. Byrd married Miss Rose M. Rule, of Woodview, Morrow county, daughter of Dr. Amos Rule.  They are the parents of eight children: Roma, born January 15, 1887; Caroline, March 4, 1889; John A., June 15, 1891; Charles M., December 15, 1893; Glenn N., September 14, 1897; Harold R., August 17, 1898; Anna R., August 27, 1901, and Robert W., March 5, 1910.  Caroline is a graduate of the Mt. Gilead High School.
     Although not active in politics, Mr. Byrd has always been a conscientious voter, and has cast his franchise with the Democratic party.  Mrs. Byrd’s religious faith is that of the Lutheran church, of which she is a consistent member.
Source:  History of Morrow County, Ohio by A. J. Baughman - Vol. II - Chicago-New York: The Lewis Publishing Co. - 1911 – p. 685
Contributed by a Generous Genealogist.