OHIO GENEALOGY EXPRESS

A Part of Genealogy Express
 

Welcome to
Morrow County,  Ohio
History & Genealogy

ANNETTE M. BARTLETT SCOTT is the daughter of Abner and Eliza Annette Adams Bartlett, and was born at the old homestead northeast of Mt. Gilead June 20, 1863. She first attended the country district schools and then the Mt. Gilead High School from 1878, and in which she was graduated in June, 1882; was then one year at the Normal College, Lebanon, Ohio, from which she was graduated in 1883, and the following year was librarian at the Normal College at Lebanon, Ohio. The following year she taught school in Warren county, Ohio, and in the latter part of 1885 she entered the State Normal School at Oswego, New York, and in February, 1887, she was graduated from the same with the highest honors of her class and was made valedictorian.
     At her graduation she was asked to become the principal of the Normal Mission School for girls of the Presbyterian church in the city of Mexico, Mexico, then vacant. After careful consideration of this call, and with the advice of friends at home, she decided to undertake this work of great responsibility. Some of the pleasant features of the work in this school were the amiability and loving and lovable dispositions of the girls; their instant and unquestioning obedience to every requirement of their teachers; their uniform politeness; their brightness of intellect and their success in their studies. She arrived at the city of Mexico in April, 1887, and took charge of the school, and within one year taught the classes in Spanish, though without knowledge of that language on her arrival. In the sixth, seventh, eighth and ninth years of her work classes were graduated, and the standing in scholarship of the young ladies was equal to that of young ladies graduated from normal schools in the United States.
     This article would be incomplete if no mention were made of Miss Bartlett’s rare excellence of character. We strew costly flowers when it is too late, and often withhold words of encouragement and praise that would have strengthened and cheered some fainting heart. Miss Bartlett was eminently fitted for the work she undertook, bringing to it a well trained mind, richly endowed by nature, to which had been added the graces of culture. That she was signally successful was no surprise to those who knew her. Modest and unassuming in a marked degree; shrinking from appearing in public, even when urged to do so, but when speaking of “her girls” impressing her hearers with her deep interest in their welfare and her sincere desire to benefit and uplift them. Gentle and refined in her nature, yet strong and self-reliant when occasion required.
     Well does the writer recall her feelings when Miss Bartlett left her northern home and friends to undertake grave responsibilities and duties in a distant land and among a strange people – the thought that a young life of much promise would be almost wasted came to her, but she has lived to feel rebuked that she ever entertained the thought that such strength and purity of character, such steadfastness of purpose and such earnest Christian endeavor could be wasted in any land or among any people.
     It is a gratification to Miss Bartlett’s friends to know that her work was and is appreciated. To many poor Mexican girls her example is a guiding star, leading them to truer and nobler womanhood. Long will she be remembered with gratitude and affection in many an humble home in that distant land.
     During the more than nine years of her teaching in the Mission School, besides acquiring a complete knowledge of the Spanish language, she also acquired the French language. The year's leave of absence in 1894 she spent at Wellesley College and the Summer School at Harvard University, continuing her study of modern languages and philosophy.
     The climate of the city and valley of Mexico, in which the city is located, and the altitude of the same, which is 7,435 feet above the level of the ocean, are both trying to the health of natives of the north, and she had repeatedly suffered in her health. In June, 1896, on account of her health and for other good reasons she resigned her position as principal of said school. For nearly five years prior to May 2, 1901, she was professor of music and mathematics in the State Normal School at North Adams, Massachusetts. She went to Europe in the summer of 1889 for a few months of travel and study.
     On May 27, 1901, she was married to Joseph Scott, of Miles City, Montana, at Trinity church, Chicago, by Dr. William C. Richardson (now of Philadelphia), in the presence of a few friends.
     For six months they made their home at Berkley, California, but business reasons required a change, and they made their home in Spokane, Washington.
     He was one of nature’s noblemen; of English and Scotch-Irish descent, and their married life of nearly five years was one of unalloyed happiness. He was taken sick in the fall of the year 1905, from over-exertion and exposure, and after partial recovery his physicians advised a trip to the Mediterranean as a means to complete recovery, and on December 18, 1905, with wife, nurse and physician, the trip from Spokane to New York was undertaken, and after a fortnight of rest from the journey, on January 9, 1906, the voyage to Naples, Italy, with wife and nurse, was undertaken, and thence to Cairo, Egypt, returning to Naples after a month at Cairo. Though at first he improved with the voyage, all that could be done was of no avail, and he died March 24, 1906, at Naples, Italy. His widow brought his remains to Spokane, and they are interred in Fairmount cemetery.
     She has yet her home in Spokane, Washington, going across, every few years, to the north of Ireland for a few months with her husband’s people at the old Scott homestead. Down to May, 1901, her home was Mt. Gilead.
Source:  History of Morrow County, Ohio by A. J. Baughman - Vol. II - Chicago-New York: The Lewis Publishing Co. - 1911 - Page 525-526.
Contributed by a Generous Genealogist

REVEREND SCHUYLER E. SEARS, pastor of Trinity Methodist Episcopal church, Mt. Gilead, Ohio, was born in Sharon township, Medina county, Ohio, April 7, 1868.  He is the son of Earl B. and Mary E. (Frizzell) Sears.  Mr. Sears traces his ancestry back to Richard Sears, of Yarmouth, Massachusetts, one of the early English settlers who located there in 1639.  His grandfather’s name was Calvin, son of Calvin, son of David, son of James, son of Silas, son of Silas, son of Richard Sears.  His grandmother on his father’s side was related to Commodore Perry and to Professor Samuel F. B. Morse, the great inventor of telegraphy.
     His father being a farmer, Mr. Sears passed the first eight years of his life on a farm.  Then the family home was changed to Wadsworth, Ohio, where he attended the graded schools and high school.  After his graduation from the Wadsworth high school, in 1886, he accepted a position as clerk in that town, and was thus occupied there until the fall of 1889, when he entered Baldwin University at Berea, Ohio.  He completed a course in this institution and graduated in 1893, with the degree of A. B.  His education was now being directed with a view to his entering the ministry, and following his graduation from the university he went to Drew Seminary, Madison, New Jersey, where he completed a theological course and graduated, in 1896.  After this Baldwin University conferred upon him the degree of A. M.  In the fall of 1896 he entered the North Ohio Conference, and was assigned work at Perrysville, Ashland county, Ohio, where he filled a charge three years.  He was ordained deacon at Wellington, Ohio, September 27, 1896, by Bishop Charles H. Fowler, and received his elder’s orders at Millersburg, Ohio, September 25, 1898, at the hand of Bishop Daniel A. Goodsell.  Reverend Sears was at Creston, Ohio, from 1899 to 1905; at Columbia, Ohio, one year; at Thirteenth Avenue church, Lorain, Ohio, three years; and since the fall of 1909 has occupied his present position as pastor of Trinity Methodist Episcopal church at Mt. Gilead.  Unabated zeal for his work, together with his special fitness for the ministry, has made Reverend Sears a potent force for good in the different pastorates he has filled.  He is a writer as well as a speaker.  Both prose and poetry from his pen have appeared in religious and secular papers.
     Mrs. Sears, formerly Miss Inez Gortner, is a native of Shelby, Ohio, and a graduate of the Shelby High School and Baldwin University, she having received the degree of B. L. from the latter institution in 1893.  The Reverend and Mrs. Sears have one son, Kingsley G., born August 1, 1902.
Source:  History of Morrow County, Ohio by A. J. Baughman - Vol. II - Chicago-New York: The Lewis Publishing Co. - 1911 – pp. 728-729
Contributed by a Generous Genealogist.

ADAM E. SELL. ––A prominent and prosperous citizen of Morrow county, Adam E. Sell has been for several years prosperously engaged in agricultural pursuits in North Bloomfield township, where he owns and occupies a highly improved and attractive farm of eighty acres.  Industrious, far-sighted and progressive, he has met with well merited success in his undertakings, and is held in high regard, his integrity and worth everywhere recognized.  A son of Adam Sell, Jr., he was born in North Bloomfield township, Morrow county, Ohio, January 24, 1863, coming from pioneer ancestry, his paternal grandfather, Adam Sell, Sr., having migrated from Pennsylvania to Ohio many years ago.
     Adam Sell, Jr., was born in Pennsylvania, and came with his parents to Ohio when young.  He became a farmer from choice, and was engaged in tilling the soil in North Bloomfield township until after the breaking out of the Civil war.  Enlisting then for service in the army, he, with other of his comrades, was captured at the battle of Chickamauga and died in Andersonville prison.  He married Lucy Garverick, a Pennsylvania girl, and to them were born the following children: Jacob G., a farmer in Jackson county, Missouri; Wesley, deceased; Mary, wife of Arthur Bookwalter, of Galion, Ohio; Franklin, deceased; and Harriett, deceased.
     Making the best of his opportunities to obtain an education, Adam E. Sell attended the winter terms of school, during the summer seasons helping in the care of the home farm.  Scholarly and ambitious, he made excellent use of his time, and at the age of twenty years was granted a teacher’s certificate.  Instead of entering upon a professional career, however, he learned the carpenter’s trade, which he followed for ten years.  Subsequently turning his attention to agriclture [sic], he bought forty acres of land where he resides.  Succeeding well in its management, he afterwards bought the forty acres across the road from where he resides, and is carrying on general farming and stock raising with satisfactory pecuniary results, his eighty acres of land yielding bountifully of the productions common to this region.
     Mr. Sell married, January 1, 1894, Clara Hirth, who was born in Morrow county, Ohio, June 28, 1870, a daughter of George and Elizabeth (Shire) Hirth, both of whom were born in Germany, came to this country when young, and were married in Morrow county, Ohio.  Mrs. Sell was educated in the district schools of Johnsville and at the Mount Gilead High School.  At the age of eighteen years she began teaching school, and taught eight terms in Morrow county, being a successful and popular teacher.  Mr. and Mrs. Sell are the parents of three children, one of whom died in infancy, while two are living, namely: Eugene, born November 17, 1900; and Mary E., born September 10, 1910.
     An active member of the Democratic party, Mr. Sell has served as township clerk six years, and is now filling that office.  Both he and his wife are valued members of the Reformed church, in which he is one of the deacons and in which he has served as Sunday school superintendent.  The attractive homestead of Mr. and Mrs. Sell is known as “Englewood.”
Source:  History of Morrow County, Ohio by A. J. Baughman - Vol. II - Chicago-New York: The Lewis Publishing Co. - 1911 – pp. 685-686
Contributed by a Generous Genealogist.

Tribute of Bethel Sunday School

      WHEREAS-It has pleased Almighty God to remove from us by death our beloved brother, Selby Sellars, Resolved, that while we deeply mourn the loss of our beloved brother, we bow in humble submission to Him who doeth all things well.
     Resolved, that in the death of Brother Sellars, our school has lost an efficient officer and a true Christian brother, our loss being his eternal gain. Resolved, that a copy of these resolutions be sent to the family and one to the Independent for publication, and that they be placed on the record of our school.

IVAH FARLEE
C. A. KENNER
Committee of Bethel Sunday School

     Wiley, the second of the living children of Mr. and Mrs. John Sellars, is another of the representative farmers of Cardington township. He married Miss Wealthy Schofield and they have two sons, Bernice, who is a farmer in Morrow county and who married Miss Gladys Clabaugh, and they have one little daughter; and Foid, who wedded Miss Vada Irwin and who likewise is a successful farmer of this county.
     Amanda, who is the wife of Thomas Underhill, a farmer and carpenter of Union county, Ohio, has one daughter, Ida, a graduate. Thomas Underhill’s first wife was Lucinda Sellars, a sister of his present wife, and the two surviving children of this union are Charles and John, both of whom are married. Charles is married to a lady of Union county, and has had a family of eight children, of whom one is dead.  John, who graduated in the public schools of Newton, Union county, Ohio, is also married, and has one little daughter.
     Isadora, the next of the children of Mr. Sellars, is the wife of George Van Shiver, a resident of Union county, Ohio.
     Leamon, who remains with his parents on the old homestead and who has the general supervision of the same, is numbered among the able and popular exponents of the agricultural industry in his native county and is influential in local affairs of a public order.
     Lovina, the deceased daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Sellars, was the wife of Samuel H. Paste. They had one son, M. Guy, who was educated in the common schools and is a farmer. His mother died about 1894. She was a Christian lady, being a member of the church. He married Miss Anna Key, and they have three children; Wesley, Inez and Alta, all of whom are students in the public schools. Mr. and Mrs. Sellars have reared their children to lives of usefulness and honor and all of them accord to the parents the most filial solicitude and affection.
     Mrs. Sellars was born in Clark county, Ohio, on the 9th of January, 1828, and is a daughter of William and Margaret (Arbogast) Curl of whose five children all are living except one. The Curl family has been one of prominence in Ohio, to which state the original representatives came from Virginia in the early pioneer days. The educational training of Mrs. Sellars was secured under the same conditions that compassed her husband, and their pioneer experiences have been similar in nearly all respects. It has already been noted that she proved herself eligible for the pedagogic profession when a young woman, but that her terms of one dollar a week in salary were so “excessive” as to give the distinction of one whose demands were less exorbitant. When Mr. and Mrs. Sellars began housekeeping their domestic appurtenances were meager in the extreme, the while their home was a log house of the time common to the locality and period. Side by side they have passed down the pathway of life, enduring their share of vicissitudes and hardships, joys and sorrows, and sustained and comforted by mutual love and sympathy. For more than sixty years has their companionship thus continued, and as the gracious shadows begin to lengthen from the golden west they can but feel that to them has been vouchsafed much of the good and many of the temporal blessings of life. Revered by their children and their children's children and residing in a community endeared to them by the memories and associations of the past, this venerable couple find that their lines are cast in pleasant places and that the gentle aftermath of the goodly harvest bears its own compensation and consolation. A true and devoted housemother has been Mrs. Sellars, and at the wheel and loom she labored, as well as in connection with other household duties, but she found time to inculcate, by precept and example, those high ideals that have found fruitage in the worthy lives of her children, who may, indeed, “rise up and call her blessed.”
     From the estate of his father Mr. Sellars received only thirty-two acres of land, but he had previously purchased a tract of forty acres, partially improved, and thus he had ample opportunity to exercise both brain and brawn in the earlier stages of his independent career. Indefatigable industry and good management on the part of Mr. Sellars and his wife enabled them to advance slowly but surely along the course to the goal of definite success, and eventually they became the owners of a fine landed estate of three hundred and forty acres, all in Cardington township. In 1883 they erected their present beautiful residence, which is one of the best in the township, and the other buildings on the place are of excellent type, giving evidence of thrift and prosperity. In addition to diversified agriculture Mr. Sellars has given attention to the raising of high grade live stock and has made a specialty of the breeding of fine horses. He attained high reputation in this line of enterprise and as a dealer and breeder of horses he was long one of the leaders in this section of the state. Many of his horses have gained wide reputation on the turf, and among the number may be mentioned “Mohawk Jackson,” “Pemberton,” “Coxey Boy,” “Hesperus, Jr.,” “Ravenna Bay” and “Roebuck,” all blooded animals and well known. His fine mare, “Leopard Rose,” created a distinctive sensation with her record of 2:15 1/4, and in her day she was pronounced one of the finest standard bred horses in the world. Mr. Sellars also had a pacer, “Charley R.,” which made a record of 2:09, and at the present time he has a fine mare, “Della Rocket,” that is bound to become a celebrity on the turf. Mr. Sellars has been a lover of horses from his boyhood days and it has been one of his great pleasures to breed fine types of this noble animal.
     In politics Mr. Sellars gave his support to the Democratic party until the beginning of the Civil war, when he transferred his allegiance to the Republican party, which represented the principles that most appealed to him at that climacteric period.  When, however, he found that this party would not definitely espouse the cause of suppressing the liquor traffic he showed the earnestness of his convictions by allying himself with the Prohibition party, of whose cause he has since continued a zealous advocate. He takes high ground on the subject of temperance, and believes that the curse of alcohol is a graver menace to the nation than was that of human slavery, taken all in all. He and his wife have been zealous members of the United Brethren church for fifty-seven years, and they have exemplified their abiding Christian faith in their daily lives. They have given their fullest power in the work of the divine Master and have done all they could to aid and uplift their fellow men. He has always made it his duty to attend the quarterly meetings of his church and has been earnest in winning souls to salvation, but the infirmities of advanced age now confine him to his home, where he and his devoted wife find ample opportunity for daily worship and to give thanks for the many beneficences conferred upon them. Tolerant in judgment and imbued with deep human sympathy, Mr. and Mrs. Sellars have been appreciative of their stewardships and have been kindly and gracious almoners. They have obeyed the divine behest, “To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction and to do good to all men,” and they have shown compassion upon all those “in any way afflicted in mind, body or estate.” The poor and needy have never been turned empty away, and this venerable couple have made their home not only their castle but also a place of generous hospitality. Each has attained to the age of eighty-three years (1911) and each is well preserved in mental and physical faculties, considering the weight of years. Gently and tenderly the days fall into the abyss of time and they find in the passing hours solace and hope and faith, secure in the love of all who know them and revered for their worthy lives and worthy deeds.
Source:  History of Morrow County, Ohio by A. J. Baughman - Vol. II - Chicago-New York: The Lewis Publishing Co. - 1911 – pp. 529-538
Contributed by a Friend of Genealogy.

  JAMES W. SEXTON. ––Though a native of England, this honored citizen of Canaan township has been a resident of Morrow county from his childhood days and here he has won independence and definite prosperity through his active association with agricultural pursuits, with which he is still identified.  He resides on his fine farm of ninety acres one-half mile east of the village of Denmark, but the active management of the place now rests largely in the hands of his only son, though he himself has by no means sought sybaritic ease and inactivity, as he is still a man of marked physical and mental vitality, keeping in touch with modern affairs and maintaining a more or less active association with the work and management of the home farm.  His life has been one of consecutive industry along productive lines of enterprise, and such men are never content to nullify in a personal way the old adage that “It is better to wear out than to rust out.”  Mr. Sexton has shown as insistent loyalty to American customs and institutions as could the most patriotic native son of our American republic, and this was significantly shown in his valiant and faithful service as a soldier of the Union in the Civil war.  He has guided his course on a lofty plane of integrity and honor and thus has ever been accorded the unqualified respect and confidence of his fellow men.
     James W. Sexton was born in Lincolnshire, England, on the 1st of October, 1847, and is a scion of stanch old families of the “right little, tight little isle.”  He is a son of Robert and Mary A. (Bothamley) Sexton, both of whom were likewise natives of Lincolnshire, where the father was an agriculturist and where he died when the subject of this review, the only child, was but one year old.  In 1854, when he was about seven years old, James W. Sexton came with his widowed mother to America and in June of that year they established their home in Marion county, Ohio.  Shortly afterward the mother became the wife of John Tweddle and they removed to .the village of Denmark, Morrow county, and here the mother continued to reside until her death, at the age of fifty-four years.
     James W. Sexton was reared to maturity in Morrow county, and is indebted to its common schools for his early educational training.  He was about fourteen years old at the initiation of the Civil war and as soon as he was eligible for military service he gave patent evidence of his intrinsic loyalty, as, on the 14th of July, 1863, about three months prior to his sixteenth birthday anniversary, he enlisted as a private in Company B, Fifth Independent Batallion [sic] of Ohio Volunteer Cavalry.  This command was assigned to the Army of the Cumberland and his principal service was in the states of Tennessee, Georgia and Alabama.  Mr. Sexton received an honorable discharge at the expiration of six months and promptly reenlisted, as a member of Company D, Sixty-fourth Ohio Volunteer Infantry, with which he saw active and arduous service in the Army of the Independent Organizations, and with which he participated in a number of spirited engagements, including a large number of important battles marking the progress of the great conflict.  He took part in the battles of Rocky Face Ridge, Dalton, Franklin, Nashville and Atlanta and in the ever memorable Atlanta campaign, after which he accompanied General Sherman’s forces on the historic march to the sea.  He continued with his regiment until some time after the final surrender.  He was mustered out at San Antonio, Texas, on the 18th of December, 1865, and received his honorable discharge, at Columbus, Ohio, on the 2nd of January, 1866.  His military service was marked by fidelity and gallantry and will ever reflect honor upon his name.
     After the termination of his service as a soldier of the Union Mr. Sexton returned to Morrow county and turned his attention to agriculture pursuits, with which he has continued to be identified through the long intervening years and through which he has gained definite success.  He has owned and resided upon his present farm since 1884 and upon the same has made the best of improvements, the while he has proved an energetic and resourceful exponent of the great basic industry of agriculture and stock growing.
     From the time of attaining to his legal majority and consequent right of franchise Mr. Sexton has given a stalwart support to the cause of the Republican party, and he has served four years as trustee of his township, though never manifesting any marked ambition for public office.  Both he and his wife are zealous members of the Methodist Episcopal church in the neighboring village of Denmark, where he is also affiliated with Daniel Linder Post, Grand Army of the Republic, of which he is past commander; and with Denmark Lodge, No. 760, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, of which he is past noble grand.
     On the 5th of December, 1867, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Sexton to Miss Sarah F. Worden, who was born and reared in Morrow county, and concerning the family history adequate data may be found in the sketch of the career of her brother, Samuel R. Worden, on other pages of this work.  Mr. and Mrs. Sexton have two children: Addie, who was born August 5, 1872, is the wife of John A. Oberdier, a prosperous blacksmith of Canaan township; and Richard E., who was born January 9, 1875, remains at the parental home and has the general supervision of the farm.
Source:  History of Morrow County, Ohio by A. J. Baughman - Vol. II - Chicago-New York: The Lewis Publishing Co. - 1911 – pp. 630-632
Contributed by a Generous Genealogist.

HONORABLE WILLIAM G. SHARP, Representative of the Fourteenth Congressional District of Ohio. ––It is true the world over that men refer with pleasant thoughts to the places of their birth, and Samuel Woodworth, in that unequalled poetic gem has most beautifully expressed the thought that comes to each of us when he says

                        “How dear to my heart are the scenes of my childhood
                        When fond recollection presents them to view.”

     The people who remain at the home place of one’s birth and childhood feel proud of the success and achievements of a daughter or son who has gone forth and, upon entering life’s duties, has “made good.”  Of the success of such an [sic] one the writer is proud to make a record for posterity.  While Mount Gilead claims him in his earlier boyhood, Elyria claims him in his successful career and maturer years.  Now, however, he not only belongs to Lorain and Morrow counties, but in a political sense to Ashland, Richland, Huron and Knox counties, whose people he represents in the highest legislative body of the Nation.
     The subject of this sketch, William Craven Sharp, is the son of George Sharp and Mahala C. (Graves) Sharp,*  and was born in Mount Gilead on the 14th day of March, 1859.  The maternal grandparents, William Graves and Effee (Shaffer) Graves, came to Mount Gilead from Reynoldsburg, Ohio, in 1840, and were among the most respected and substantial citizens of the village during their residence of more than twenty years among its people, where Mr. Graves successfully conducted a saddlery and harness business.  For many years afterwards, reaching over into the beginning of a new century, these early settlers of Mount Gilead paid visits to the former happy scenes of their life and to the birthplace of their three daughters, Mahala C., Orpha and Rosaline, all of whom are still living.
     The paternal grandparents were George W. and Caroline Sharp (the latter of whom died on May 24, 1889), who came to Mount Gilead in 1851, though originally natives of the state of Maryland, in whose political affairs Mr. Sharp had been prominent.  Here he became the proprietor and editor of the Democratic Messenger, and his son George (father of our subject) on the death of his father on September 17, 1854, assumed editorial management of that paper and continued it for several years.  It was during this period that the love ties of our subject’s mother and father were formed and welded by marriage on November 28, 1857.
     After moving to Elyria with his grandparents in the early ’60s, William (with his brother George, in later years a state senator in Michigan) attended the public schools in Elyria and was graduated therefrom in 1877, and from the law department in the University of Michigan in 1881, in which latter year he was admitted to the bar as an attorney.  Three years later he was elected to the office of prosecuting attorney of Lorain county as a Democrat––the first political event of such a nature that had occurred in that county in a half century.  Having filled that position with credit, he soon afterward became attorney for a Southern concern, which led him into a career as a successful manufacturer.  It is in this field that he has been very active for more than twenty years past, and during which time he materially assisted in building up and developing a large and prosperous iron and chemical business.  As a large employer of labor and as an associate with men of important affairs he has acquired a wide range of experience as a successful business man.  Though he has never let any political ambition interfere with the management of his business enterprises, he has nevertheless always taken a keen and active interest in local and state politics; and, while he has affiliated with the Democratic party, he has the reputation not only of being independent in his views, but also expressing such independence by his ballot when, in his judgment, it becomes necessary to carry them out.  The same course has been followed by him since his election to the Sixty-first Congress in 1908 upon all questions which involve the public good.  His election to Congress in 1908 and subsequent reelection in 1910 by a plurality of nearly seven thousand in the district has made him a prominent figure in the state.
     In 1895 Mr. Sharp married Miss Hallie Clough, of Elyria, from which union five children have been born.  It is in his domestic relations, surrounded by his family, in one of the fine old homes of Elyria, and in the town’s social affairs that he finds his chief delight.
----------
* [Note at the bottom of p. 888: *The writer of the above sketch was the childhood playmate, for a few months, of the subject’s mother before midsummer of the year 1847. – Editor.]

Source:  History of Morrow County, Ohio by A. J. Baughman - Vol. II - Chicago-New York: The Lewis Publishing Co. - 1911 – pp. 887-889
Contributed by a Generous Genealogist.

REVEREND ANNA SHELDON. ––Among the noble and representative women of Morrow county who have so materially contributed to the advancement and high standing of this section, none are more worthy of mention within the pages of this work than the Reverend Anna Sheldon, an ordained minister of the Christian church, residing at Sparta.  Her good works and fine abilities are known over a wide area.  For eleven years she was a lecturer of the Ohio Women’s Christian Temperance Union, giving nearly all her time to this line of Christian work.  She has been president of the Morrow county Women’s Christian Temperance Union for twelve years and in June, 1910, she was one of the delegates from this state to the World’s W. C. T. U. Convention, held in Glasgow, Scotland.  Later in the same month she represented the Women’s Home and Foreign Missionary Board, Christian church, of the United States and Canada at the World’s Missionary Conference at Synod Hall, in Edinburg, Scotland.  She is a woman of the highest and strongest character, is intensely interested in the different lines of work to which she is giving her life and lives only to serve the good causes which she represents.  She is of splendid pioneer stock, of the sort which gives patriots and stalwart citizen to the nation and her own and her husband’s forbears will receive mention in succeeding paragraphs.
     Mrs. Sheldon, whose maiden name was Rossilla Ann Linscott was united in marriage to Judson Sheldon, on January 5, 1868, Reverend Mills Harrod of the Christian church officiating.  They began housekeeping in Sparta, Ohio, April 2, 1868, and there the subject still resides on the same street where she has lived for forty-three years.  Two children came into the home: Ella, born June 21, 1870, and Alba, born September 16, 1874.  Both children graduated from the Sparta High School and Ella took a classical course at Antioch College, Yellow Springs, Ohio, graduating from that well known institution in June, 1891, and afterward teaching in the college for two years.  She was then for a time associated in deaconess work in Springfield and Dayton, Ohio.  On June 18, 1895, Ella Sheldon was united in marriage with the Reverend J. P. Watson, of Dayton, Ohio, and became the mother of three boys: Josiah, Judson and Ernest.  The father died May 20, 1908, and the mother with her boys went soon afterward to Wyoming where they now reside, she having two quarter sections of land in whose cultivation she engages while at the same time teaching school at Keeline, Converse county, that state.
     Alba Sheldon, the son, has been twice married, the maiden name of his first wife being Miss Jessie Knox, of Columbus, Ohio; and that of his second wife Miss Myrtle Nold, of Abilene, Kansas He has two sons, Raymond Knox (by the first marriage), and Vernon Dale.  He travels for a wholesale grocery concern in Abilene, Kansas, where he resides.  The Reverend Mrs. Sheldon’s husband was also a zealous member of the Christian church.  The demise of this gentleman occurred in Sparta, February 9, 1897, and his funeral sermon was delivered by Reverend Mr. Harrod, who thirty years before had officiated at his wedding.
     The father and mother of Reverend Anna Sheldon––Thomas Linscott and Sarah Anderson, were married by Elder Ashley, January 1, 1850, and on the 25th of November of the same year their daughter, Rossilla Ann, now known as Anna, was born.  In the spring of 1851 the father joined a large number of people who were seeking gold and journeyed overland to California, where he endured the hardships of mining with no results such as he had hoped to receive.  His wife died June 14, 1861, and the little girl was cared for in the home of her grandmother Anderson, who resided near this village.  The father returned to Ohio in 1874 for a visit, but made his home in Michigan until 1893, when he came to the home of his daughter and with her spent the remainder of his life, dying with cancer, October 13, 1906.
     Thomas Linscott’s parents, Samuel and Maria (Gould) Linscott were natives of New York and were married in New York City.  The mother was a cousin of Jay Gould, the railroad magnate.  They migrated to Ohio in 1820, locating in Trumbull county, and afterward removing to this part of the state.  Seven children were born to them: William, Eli, Jane, Elizabeth, Mary, Francis and Thomas.  The father was a farmer, and three sons were ministers in the Christian church.  Of the entire family only one survives, this being Francis, who resides in El Paso, Texas.  In politics the Linscotts were Republicans.
     Mrs. Sheldon’s maternal grandparents were David Anderson, of Vermont, and Elizabeth Taylor, of New York.  They were married February 2, 1812, and located near Bennington, New York, but migrated to Ohio in 1815, settling for a time near the city of Columbus, in a day when the stumps in that locality were far more numerous than the cabins.  Mr. Anderson’s parents came to Ohio with them, but stopped in Cuyahoga county.  In 1816 the father came to Columbus to visit David and decided to remove his family to that place, but while returning and when within ten miles of his home, he fell from a precipice and was so badly injured that he died alone.  In all probability while he was resting overnight, the bell on his oxen indicated that they were straying away, and in his efforts to reach them in the darkness, he lost his life.  Twenty-four hours later the oxen returned to the farm house where they had been fed, and it was then that search was made for the owner, but it was two days later that his body was found.  His immediate family, consisting of the wife, two sons, and two daughters were removed to David’s home and cared for until able to care for themselves.
     In June, 1817, David removed his family to this community and located one mile east of Sparta.  At that time the only clearing on his land was one made by cutting down the trees with which the cabin was built and here they endured the privations known only to the pioneers of that day.  Eleven children blessed their home, namely: Amasa and Mary, who were born in Vermont; James, Benjamin, Phillip, David, Harriet, Sarah, and Julia, and two who died in infancy.  The father was a blacksmith by occupation; in politics a Republican; and in religious belief, a Baptist.  Not one of this, family is now living.
     Upon glancing at the history of the family of the subject’s husband––the Sheldons––it is found that his parents, Alba and Eliza (Sanford) Sheldon were married in Poultney, Rutland county, Vermont, December 13, 1828.  They migrated to this part of Ohio in 1836, and located two miles south of Sparta, where they resided until April, 1866, when they removed to this village and here spent the remainder of their lives, the father dying May 10, 1887, aged eighty-five years, and five months, and the mother surviving until December 14, 1896, when she passed away, aged eighty-seven years, and eleven months.  They were the parents of six children: Judson, Mary, Caroline, Raymond, Ella and Sophia.  Raymond died at the time of the Civil war, in November, 1862, and the daughters survived him only a few years.  In religious belief the parents were Baptists, but as there was no church of that faith here, Mrs. Sheldon united with the Methodists until the Civil war broke out, when she joined the Wesleyans on account of their anti-slavery principles.  She afterwards joined the Christian church.
Source:  History of Morrow County, Ohio by A. J. Baughman - Vol. II - Chicago-New York: The Lewis Publishing Co. - 1911 – pp. 907-909
Contributed by a Generous Genealogist.

FRANK SHIVELY. ––Among the generous, whole-souled, public-spirited citizens of Chesterville and its vicinity must assuredly be numbered Frank Shively, who in the useful capacity of a skilled blacksmith has contributed his share to the prosperity and progress of the community in which he is situated.  He was born November 30, 1852, near Johnsville, Ohio, and is the son of Jacob and Adaline (Lamb) Shively, the former a native of Franklin county, Pennsylvania, and the latter of Ohio.  The subject is one of a family of five children, the other members being John, who died in infancy; Martha; and two half brothers, Ben and Lew.
     In the year 1889 Mr. Shively was united in marriage to Miss Mary B. McCausland, a daughter of John and Henrietta (Smith) McCausland, of Chesterville.  The McCausland family consisted of nine children, three of whom were sons and six daughters, the following being an enumeration: David L., who died in infancy, B. Frank, Arthur V., Mary B., Izola, Gladys, Edith, Wastella and Anna K.  In youth Frank and Arthur McCausland were employed as clerks, and they now reside in Harney county, Oregon, where they have homesteaded three hundred and twenty acres of land.  Anna and Gladys became trained nurses, Marion being the scene of their activity.  The latter married Arthur Seffner and makes her home in Marion.
     Mr. Shively was reared in this vicinity and received his education in the schools of Richland county.  At an early age he embarked in the blacksmithing business, and when marriage had placed upon his shoulders new responsibilities he continued in the same field and chose for his permanent location Chesterville, in whose many-sided life he has ever since taken an active and useful part.  His geniality and kindliness have served to make him popular here and his thrift and industry have crowned his labors with prosperity.
     Mr. and Mrs. Shively share their pleasant and hospitable home with one daughter, Edith Franceine, now aged seventeen years, one of the admirable young women of the place, who with her father and mother enjoys the goodwill of their many friends and neighbors.
     In his political affiliation Mr. Shively gives heart and hand to the policies and principles of the Democratic party, which since his earliest voting days he has supported.  He is interested in all measures likely to result in benefit to the many and can ever be depended upon to give his support to the same.
Source:  History of Morrow County, Ohio by A. J. Baughman - Vol. II - Chicago-New York: The Lewis Publishing Co. - 1911 – pp. 781-782
Contributed by a Generous Genealogist.

LAFAYETTE BARTLETT SHURR. ––Simon Augustus Shurr with his brother Lafayette Bartlett Shurr are to be numbered among Ohio’s well-known summer resort men, and they are exhibiting a spirit of enterprise which bids fair to make of Rogers Lake, near Chesterville, one of the most attractive and popular summering places of this part of the state, sparing neither time nor money in the efforts which will result in additional prosperity to the whole community.  The name of Shurr and that of the maternal side of the house––Bartlett––are among the most distinguished and honorable to be encountered in this section, and for many years they have been identified with Morrow county interests.  The name of Bartlett, in particular, figures in most interesting fashion in early American history.  Hugh and Margaret (Shurr) Bartlett, grandparents of the subject, were natives of Salem, New York, and of Pennsylvania, respectively.  Their daughter Mary, mother of Mr. Shurr, was born December 24, 1825, and was affectionately called by her parents their Christmas present.  Hugh Bartlett’s father was Bartholomew Bartlett, and his brother, Josiah, was one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence.  Bartholomew Bartlett’s wife was Elizabeth Webb, an aunt of Mrs. Lucy Webb Hayes, the one-time popular and noble mistress of the White House.  Besides the daughter mentioned there were five sons in the family of Hugh Bartlett and his wife, namely: W. F., G. V., and C. T., who passed their lives as successful business men in New York city; Edwin W., deceased; and D. Lafayette.
     Hugh Bartlett migrated with his parents from his native Empire state during the war of 1812, and they located near Mount Vernon, Ohio.  At that time the country was principally dense forest, with blazed trails for roads, and many hardships were endured, which assisted in developing that sturdy manhood and womanhood which distinguished Morrow county’s pioneer stock.  William Bartlett was detailed to do patrol work from Zanesville to Mansfield and Upper Sandusky, the country at that time swarming with hostile Indians.  This William Bartlett had been a captain in the war of 1812, and Samuel Nye, who married his sister Mary, (Called by her adoring relatives Aunt Polly), was also made a captain in that service.
     On March 6, 1844, Mary Bartlett, above mentioned, was united in marriage to George W. Shurr, a son of Simon and Margaret (McCracken) Shurr, natives of Washington county, Pennsylvania.  The Shurrs had come to Ohio from Claysville, Pennsylvania, in 1836, bringing with them their two sons, John and George.  The late George Shurr was a farmer and merchant and one of the well-known citizens of the county.  He was the proprietor of the old and well-known Shurr General Merchandise Establishment, which for many years did a large and prosperous business in Chesterville.  To the union of George Shurr and Mary Bartlett were born two sons, named Simon Augustus and Lafayette Bartlett, and a child who died in infancy.  The boys received their education in the common and high schools of Chester and subsequently Simon Augustus went to New York city, where he engaged in business for thirty-five years.  In that metropolis he was united in marriage to Irene Durkee, and there they passed their wedded life until the death of the wife.  For several years after that lamentable event Mr. Shurr continued in business, but not long ago he disposed of his interests in the East and returned to his native Chester.  He has purchased Rogers Lake, a summer resort, and he is doing all in his power to improve and beautify this beautiful spot to make it attractive to those who desire to spend the heated season in healthful and delightful surroundings.
     Lafayette Bartlett Shurr, who owns Rogers Lake with his brother, was married on the 11th day of June, 1902, to Mary Gordon, a daughter of Sidney and Mahala Gordon, of Chesterville.
     The Messrs. Shurr, among their other important improvements, have erected a number of fine and commodious cottages, and the fame of Rogers Lake is constantly growing.  It promises, indeed, to become one of the most popular resorts of Central Ohio.  The father died several years ago and the widow resides with her children, who tenderly care for her.  She is an intelligent, fine woman, of winsome personality.  She and her family are united with the Presbyterian church.  Mr. L. B. Shurr is an enthusiastic lodge man, with membership in the Masonic Lodge and the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, in which latter the father was a charter member.
     As suggested before, .the names of Bartlett and Shurr stand for a spirit of progressiveness, and any community with which these families are identified profits therefrom.
Source:  History of Morrow County, Ohio by A. J. Baughman - Vol. II - Chicago-New York: The Lewis Publishing Co. - 1911 – pp. 801-802
Contributed by a Generous Genealogist.

BENJAMIN C. SMITH. -- Among the highly respected and representative citizens whose depth of character and strict adherence to principles excite the admiration of their contemporaries, Benjamin C. Smith is preeminent. For nearly half a century he was actively identified with agricultural and general mercantile interests in Morrow county, Ohio, and he is now living virtually retired at Sparta, this county. His efforts have been of such a nature that while promoting his individual success they have also advanced the general prosperity by increasing industrial and commercial activity. Captain Smith was born in Milford township, Knox county, on the 13th of December, 1840, and he is the son of Preserve Smith, whose birth occurred in the state of Connecticut about the year 1800. The father came to Ohio in 1828, locating in Knox county, where he reclaimed a fine farm of one hundred and seventy acres from the virgin forest and where he continued to reside during the remainder of his life. In his native state was solemnized his marriage to Miss Amelia Knowles, and of their ten children three were born in Connecticut and seven in Knox county, Ohio. Half of the number survive at the present day and are as follows: George L., residing at Mt. Vernon, Ohio; Sarah V., wife of Ira D. Hunt, of Columbus, Ohio; Emeline C., widow of J. R. Milligan, of Mt. Vernon; Charles G., of Mt. Vernon, Ohio; and Benjamin C., the immediate subject of this review.
     Captain Benjamin C Smith was reared and educated in Knox county, Ohio, and his early schooling consisted of such advantages as were afforded in the schools of the locality and period. He continued to reside at the parental home, where he assisted in the work and management of the farm, until the inception of the Civil war. On the 14th of October, 1861, fired by boyish enthusiasm, he enlisted as a member of Company A., Third West Virginia Cavalry, under Lieutenant S. B. Conger. At the time of his enlistment all the Ohio cavalries were filled, this fact accounting for his membership in a West Virginia regiment. He was mustered into service at Wheeling, West Virginia, and the first engagement in which he participated was at Cross Keys. He was assigned to General Freemont's body guard and the next important conflict in which he saw service of an active character was at the second battle of Bull Run. After the reorganization of the cavalry by Major General Hooker, Captain Smith was a member of that department of the United States army until the close of the war. His first military office was that of quartermaster sergeant, to which office he was appointed by the regimental commander, and in February, 1862, he was commissioned second lieutenant of his company and continued in that position for two years, at the expiration of which he was made first lieutenant. Late in 1864 he was promoted to the rank of captain of the company and as such figured prominently in many of the most important conflicts marking the progress of the war. During the battle of Gettysburg he was under the command of General Beauford and his regiment received the first fire, nine of his men being captured on the morning of the battle. The monument at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, known as the West Virginia Cavalry, was placed and dedicated under the direction of Captain Smith, about the year 1887. He was one of the officers under General Custer, of whom he was a personal friend, at the Grand Review, at Washington D. C., at the close of the war. During his lieutenancy he was, brigade quartermaster and at the close of the rebellion he was mustered out of service at Wheeling, West Virginia, on the 30th of June, 1865.  After being assigned to the command of General Custer, he participated in all the leading battles of the Virginia campaign, never being wounded in battle and never being taken prisoner.
     When peace had again been established, Captain Smith returned to his old home in Knox county, where was solemnized his marriage on February 15, 1865. After that important event he turned his attention to agricultural pursuits in his native county and subsequently he purchased a stock of merchandise at Brandon and continued to be idenitfied [sic] with the mercantile business for a period of two years, at the expiration of which, in 1872, he removed to Milford township, Knox county, where he purchased a fine farm. He sold that eventually and returned to the old homestead, where he remained for three years and then at the end of that period took up his residence in Delaware City, where he was located for two years. He came to Sparta, Ohio; and retired from active business life.
     Captain Smith's chosen lady was Miss Maria A. Mathias, of Delaware, Ohio. She was a daughter of John and Anne (Graham) Mathias, both of whom were natives of Pennsylvania, whence they came to the fine old Buckeye state of the Union in the early pioneer days. Captain and Mrs. Smith became the parents of four children, namely: Ida, born February 7. 1867, who is the wife of Sumner Pierce, a clerk in the post office at Mt. Vernon; Harry A., born August 3, 1868, is a merchant at Canton, Illinois; Jessie C., born February 13, 1870, is the wife of Hays Wilson, of Knox county, this state; and Ethel B., born July 23, 1876, is now Mrs. Pitt Struble, of Chesterville, Ohio. Mrs. Smith was summoned to the life eternal on the 17th of November, 1909. She was a woman of most gracious refinement and was ever a potent influence for good in the home.
     In politics Captain Smith is non-partisan, giving his support to men and measures meeting with the approval of his judgment, regardless of party issues. He has been incumbent of various important township offices, in all of which he has acquitted himself most creditably. He is a very prominent lodge man in Ohio, being connected with the time-honored Masonic Order, the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, the Knights of Pythias of Sparta, Ohio, and the Grand Army of the Republic. In the Knights of Pythias he has been a representative in the grand lodge of the state and on the 18th of December, 1910, he was commissioned aide-de-camp of the Union Veteran Legion of Columbus. Captain Smith is a loyal and public-spirited citizen and he stands to-day among the self-made men of Morrow county, whose life histories awaken for them the admiration and respect of all who know them.
Source:  History of Morrow County, Ohio by A. J. Baughman - Vol. II - Chicago-New York: The Lewis Publishing Co. - 1911 – pp. 599-601
Contributed by a Generous Genealogist

CHARLES B. SMITH. -- A prominent and prosperous farmer and stock-raiser of Morrow county, Charles B. Smith is the owner of a large, well-appointed and well-managed estate in Bennington township, where he holds a good position among the active and progressive men who are contributing largely toward the development of the industrial interests of this part of the state. A son of David Smith, Jr., he was born in Peru township, Morrow county, October 20, 1864, of pioneer ancestry. His paternal grandfather, David Smith, Sr., a native of Pennsylvania, married Fannie J. Moore and settled in Bennington township, Morrow county, in pioneer days, and was here engaged in clearing and improving his land for many years, residing here until his death.
     David Smith, Jr., was born on the parental homestead in Bennington township and was educated in the pioneer schools of his day. Following in the footsteps of his ancestors, he became a tiller of the soil from choice, and having bought land in Peru township when ready to settle in life, was there successfully engaged in agricultural pursuits until his death. He was a quiet, unassuming man, and enjoyed to a high degree the respect and esteem of -the neighborhood in which he so long resided, his influence as an honest, upright citizen being felt throughout the community. He married Martha Powers, a daughter of Reverend Erastus Powers, a preacher in the United Brethren church, and of the five children born of their union, one child, a son, lived but six months. The four now living are as follows: Fannie J., Mary I., wife of Hamilton Butters; Lucy, wife of Samuel Smith, of Peru township; and Charles B., the subject of this brief personal record.
     Charles B. Smith received excellent educational advantages, attending school much of the time until twenty years old. Thoroughly enjoying the pleasures of rural life, he early turned his attention to agriculture, and when ready to establish a home of his own bought land in Bennington township, where he has since been extensively engaged in general farming, stock raising and dealing and in poultry growing, in each and all branches of industry receiving satisfactory returns for his labors. Mr. Smith now has title to one hundred and ninety acres of land, all in his home farm, from which he reaps abundant crops each year. He is a farmer of well known ability, and his extended practical experience has made him an authority on the various branches of agriculture. He is a man of sound judgment, upright in his dealings, and is often called upon to settle estates, and has served several terms as justice of the peace. He is a Republican in politics, and an earnest worker in party ranks.
      Mr. Smith married, November 25, 1886, Miss Minnie Conn, who was born March 15, 1856, in Delaware county, Ohio, where her father, B. F. Conn, was a well-known farmer. Two children have blessed their union, namely: Stanton, born July 29, 1889, was graduated from the Marengo High School, and is now devoting his energies to general farming; and Anna, born March 19, 1891, was graduated from the Marengo High School, was a student in the Ada Normal School, and is now a teacher in Bennington township. Mr. and Mrs. Smith are trustworthy and valued members of the Wesleyan Methodist church at Fargo, Ohio, and are active in its work, Mr. Smith being one of the trustees of the church and its treasurer.
Source:  History of Morrow County, Ohio by A. J. Baughman - Vol. II - Chicago-New York: The Lewis Publishing Co. - 1911 – pp. 846-847
Contributed by a Generous Genealogist

DANIEL GEORGE WASHINGTON SMITH, familiarly known to his large circle of friends and acquaintances as “Wash” Smith, holds a position of prominence among the prosperous and progressive farmers of North Bloomfield township, his highly productive farm comparing favorably in its improvements and appointments with any to be found in this part of Morrow county. He is a native and to the “manner born,” his birth having occurred, January 10, 1855, on the farm which he now owns and occupies, it having at one time been the home of his father, the late William A. Smith, and also of his grandfather, George F. Smith.
     George F. Smith was born and reared in Pennsylvania, and there married Margaret A. Albauch. A few years later he came to Ohio, bringing with him his young family and all of their worldly possessions, the journey being performed with teams, the only mode of transporation [sic] in those days. He located first about two miles east from the present home of “Wash” Smith, and subsequently purchased one hundred and twenty acres of land lying in the southeast quarter of North Bloomfield township. Selling that property to his son, William A. Smith, he continued his residence in the township until his death.
     Born in York county, Pennsylvania, December 20, 1818, William A. Smith was young when he came with his parents to Morrow county. He assisted in the clearing of the parental homestead, which he subsequently purchased and on which he lived a few years after his marriage, it being the farm now occupied by the subject of this sketch. He was an industrious, energetic man, as a tiller of the soil meeting with much success, and he continued his farming operations until his death, June 12, 1889. He married Catherine Sorrick, who was born August 23, 1824, and died April 5, 1901. They became the parents of seven children, namely: Ephraim, born January 10, 1848; Emmanuel, born November 25, 1849; Lydia M. A., born February 7, 1853; D. G. W., the subject of this brief biographical review; John P., born October 14, 1856; Mary A., born May 23, 1858; and Levi, born November 3, 1862.
     Daniel G. W. Smith, the sole survivor of the parental household, was reared on the farm where he now lives and educated in the township schools. Finding farming the occupation most congenial to his tastes, he located soon after his marriage on the original homestead, the one which his grandfather hewed from the forest, and was there a resident for two years, when he returned to his father's farm. On March 15, 1890, he once more assumed possession of the old Smith homestead, and continued its management until 1901, when he purchased the farm on which he was born and reared. Here Mr. Smith has one hundred and fifty-seven and a half acres of highly cultivated and productive land, which he is carrying on with very satisfactory results, his yearly crops being abundant and valuable. Mrs. Smith is also a landholder, owning eighty acres of good land about a half mile east of Mr. Smith's farm.
     Mr. Smith married, December 13, 1877, Catherine Gattner, who was born April 5, 1855, in Morrow county, Ohio. Her father, Jacob Gattner, a native of Baden, Germany, came with his parents to the United States and subsequently resided in Morrow county until his death, July 1, 1901. He married Christenia Cronewerth, a native of Baden, Germany. She is still living, in 1911, as are eight of her nine children, their names being as follows: Catherine, Christenia, Mary A., Jacob, John F., Elizabeth, George and William B. Four children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Smith, namely: Frederick, deceased; Charles, who married Laura Kinsey, has two children, Louisa M. and Helen I.; Clara M., deceased; and Jacob C., a farmer. Politically Mr. Smith is a firm supporter of the principles of the Democratic party. Religiously Mr. and Mrs. Smith belong to the Peace Reform church of North Bloomfield township, in which he is an elder, while Mrs. Smith is a member of the Ladies' Aid Society connected with it.
Source:  History of Morrow County, Ohio by A. J. Baughman - Vol. II - Chicago-New York: The Lewis Publishing Co. - 1911 – pp. 714-715
Contributed by a Generous Genealogist

LUCIANA SNYDER, who is a popular and successful teacher in the public schools at Liberty Center, Morrow county, Ohio, was born in Congress township, Morrow county, Ohio, on the 17th of April, 1888, and she is a daughter of George T. and Juliana (Steffey) Snyder. The father was born in Ohio and he is a son of John and Mary (Clay) Snyder, both of whom are deceased, the former having come to the fine old Buckeye state as a pioneer from Pennsylvania. George T., married Juliana Steffey, a daughter of George and Luciana (Bartner) Steffey, also of Pennsylvania. To this union were born five children, concerning whom the following brief data are here incorporated: Obel, is the wife of John Henry, who is engaged as a laborer at Mt. Gilead; Lola, is the wife of Carl Snyder, an agriculturist in the vicinity of Tabor church; Luciana is the immediate subject of this review; and Harold Clay and Lyrra both remain at the parental home. George T. Snyder is a farmer by occupation and he owns a fine little estate of forty acres in Congress township, the same being in a high state of cultivation. In politics he is a stanch advocate of the policies promulgated by the Prohibition party and he and his family are devout members of the Williamsport United Brethren church.
     To the public schools of her native place Luciana Snyder is indebted for her early educational training and the same was later supplemented by an effective course of study in the Johnsville High School, in which she was duly graduated as a member of the class of 1909. She received her teacher's certificate on the 3rd of April, 1909, just prior to her graduation from high school, and she inaugurated her efforts in the pedagogic profession in the ensuing September by taking charge of the schools at Liberty Center, Morrow county, this state. She attended a session of summer school at Otterbein University, at Westerville, Ohio, in the summer of 1910, and she is rapidly gaining headway and prestige as an able and successful teacher in this section of the county. Miss Snyder is exceptionally well read for one of her years, is studious by nature and has an excellent future in store for her in her chosen vocation. She is decidedly popular and is very prominent in the best social activities of the community.
Source:  History of Morrow County, Ohio by A. J. Baughman - Vol. II - Chicago-New York: The Lewis Publishing Co. - 1911 – p. 786
Contributed by a Generous Genealogist

SAMUEL S. SNYDER. -- As a successful agriculturist of North Bloomfield township, a trustworthy citizen and a man of strict integrity and high moral principles, Samuel S. Snyder is eminently deserving of special mention in this biographical work. A son of David Snyder, he was born March 28, 1862, in Sandusky township, Richland county, Ohio, coming from honored pioneer ancestry. His paternal grandfather, Henry Snyder, came from Pennsylvania to Ohio in the earlier part of the nineteenth century. Locating in Sandusky township, Richland county, he purchased one hundred and sixty acres of land, from which he improved a fine homestead, on which his twelve children were born and reared and on which he and his faithful wife spent most of their remaining years.
     David Snyder was born on the home farm in Sandusky township in 1825. Soon after his marriage he came to North Bloomfield township, and was here successfully engaged in agricultural pursuits until his death, in 1884, owning and managing a well improved farm. He married Mary M. McCollum, who was born in Ohio in 1828, and resides in Galion, this state, and they became the parents of four children, as follows: Harriet E., deceased, was the wife of the late Benton Mitchell; B. W., a prosperous farmer of Congress township, married Eva Dickerson; Samuel S., the subject of this brief sketch; and Frank C., who married Flora Day, is a rural mail carrier in Galion, on route No. 1.
     But a small child when he came with his parents to North Bloomfield township, Samuel S. Snyder attended the district schools during the winter terms and worked on the farm summers until nineteen years old, when he further advanced his education by an attendance at the Ohio Central College in Iberia. Fitted for a professional career, Mr. Snyder taught seven winter terms of school, being otherwise employed the remainder of the years. Preferring the occupation of his ancestors, he then turned his attention to agriculture, and has since devoted his time and energies to the tilling of the soil and the raising of stock, in both branches of industry being prominent and prosperous. He owns a farm of two hundred acres six miles southeast of Galion, and in its care and management is carrying on a thriving business, his operations as a general farmer being extensive and lucrative.
     On March 16, 1887, Mr. Snyder was united in marriage with Frances R. Flowers, who was born in Sandusky township, Richland county, Ohio, October 8, 1865, and came with her parents, John and Rebecca (Hassler) Flowers, to Morrow county in 1866, and was here educated. Two children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Snyder, namely: David A. and John H., twins, born January 5, 1888. These sons were educated in the public schools, and each taught school three terms when young. David married Rachel N. Rhodebeck. John H. married May Wolford, and they have one daughter, Dale N. Wolford.  A Democrat in his political views, Mr. Snyder has served many years as township treasurer, and is ever interested in the advancement of local affairs. Both he and his wife are valued members of the Methodist Episcopal church, of which he is one of the trustees and in which he has served as Sunday school superintendent.
Source:  History of Morrow County, Ohio by A. J. Baughman - Vol. II - Chicago-New York: The Lewis Publishing Co. - 1911 – pp. 709-710
Contributed by a Generous Genealogist

WINFIELD S. STANLEY. ––A prominent citizen of Cardington and one whose varied business interests have added materially to the progress and development of Morrow county, Ohio, is Winfield S. Stanley, who was born at Harriette, Wexford county, Michigan, on the 4th of July, 1880.  He is a son of J. Z. Stanley, who is engaged both in agricultural pursuits and the hardware business in the old Wolverine state, and the maiden name of his mother was Ida A. Fox.  Mr. and Mrs. J. Z. Stanley became the parents of four children, three of whom are now living.  Mrs. Charles Radford resides in Danville, Michigan; A. J. Stanley is a resident of Harriette, Michigan; and Winfield S. Stanley is the subject of this sketch,
     Winfield S. Stanley was reared to the invigorating discipline of the home farm, in the primitive log cabin which represented the early home of his parents.  He attended the district schools of Wexford county until he had attained to the age of eight years, after which he was a student in the graded schools of Harriette until his sixteenth year, at which time he began a course of study in a business college at Ypsilanti, Michigan.  In this institution he was graduated in the stenographic and bookkeeping department and thereafter he entered the employ of The Modle Hoop and Stave Company, of Milan Michigan, in the capacity of stenographer and bookkeeper for two years at Milan and for one year at New London, Ohio.  In 1902 he became manager for the above company, and continued to be thus engaged for a period of two years.  In 1904 he decided to launch out in the business world on his own account and he accordingly organized The Ohio Stave Company, locating the plant at Marysville, Union county, Ohio.  In 1906 he removed the plant to Cardington, Ohio, where a large and flourishing business has been built up.  The company was incorporated under the laws of the state of Ohio in 1904, with a capital stock of twenty thousand dollars and its official corps is as follows: W. S. Weston, president; J. G. Reynolds, vice president; and W. S. Stanley, secretary, treasurer and manager.  This concern manufactures hoops and lumber and its finely equipped plant is a credit to the industrial world of Morrow county.
     Mr. Stanley is aligned as a stalwart supporter of the cause of the Republican party and though he has never manifested aught of ambition for public office of any description he is ever on the alert and enthusiastically in sympathy with all measures and enterprises advanced for the general welfare of the community.  In a fraternal way he is affiliated with the time-honored Masonic Order, in which he holds membership in Milan Lodge, No. 323, Free and Accepted Masons.  Both he and his wife are popular factors in the best social circles of their home city.
     At New London, Ohio, in the year 1903, Mr. Stanley was united in marriage to Miss Iva M. Doud, who was born and reared at Brownhelm, Ohio.  They have three children, whose names and respective dates of birth are here entered: Maxine, April 4, 1905; Geraldine, July 2, 1909; and Norman J., February 16, 1911.  Mrs. W. S. Stanley is a graduate of the high school of Ottawa. Ohio, and is a member of the Mildred Chapter, No. 85, O. E. S., of which she is conductress.
Source:  History of Morrow County, Ohio by A. J. Baughman - Vol. II - Chicago-New York: The Lewis Publishing Co. - 1911 – pp. 626-627
Contributed by a Generous Genealogist.

SOLOMON P. STULL. ––Clear-headed, enterprising and progressive, Solomon P. Stull is numbered among the prosperous business men of Troy township, and, with his keen conception of the needs of each community as regards road making and repairing, care of county buildings and property, and the thousand other matters pertaining to the public welfare of Morrow county, he is amply qualified for the responsible position, which he is now filling; as county commissioner of Morrow county.
     He was born March 12, 1860, in Clarion county, Pennsylvania.  His father, Frederick Stull, was born in the same state, in the year 1830.  His mother, Mary (Sheckley) Stull, was also a native of the Keystone state.
     In the year of 1866 the Stull family came to Ohio.  After locating at Steam Corners, Frederick purchased a saw mill, which he operated successfully for many years.  Solomon started to school, where he learned to be thoughtful and studious, his education being limited to the elementary subjects.  After some years of schooling he became engaged in the lumber business.  His father then bought a tile plant, and he and his son carried on a large business under the firm name of Stull & Company.  After Solomon became older his father sold his interest in the lumber and tile business to his son P. F. Stull.  This changed the firm name to S. P. Stull & Brother.
     On the 8th day of September, 1887, Mr. Stull was united in marriage to Anna E. Rummel, the oldest daughter of Peter Rummel.  She was born on the 3rd of October, 1863.  Her father was born in Germany, where he lived but four years when he and his parents came to the United States.  Six children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Stull, namely: Rolly H., dying at the early age of one year and two months; Laura E., a graduate of the Troy township high school, has taught one term of school; Belva E., who was also a graduate of the same school; Leland S., a schoolboy; Bessie M. and Lucy L., who are still going to school.  The father died shortly after his son’s marriage, aged sixty years.  Mr. and Mrs. Stull are among the active and faithful members of the Methodist Episcopal church, of which he is now a steward.  He has served as superintendent of its Sunday school and also has been a teacher of the several junior classes.  When the new church edifice was erected he was a member of its building committee.
     Mr. Stull has acquired a considerable property in addition to his manufacturing interests.  He owns a farm of forty-seven acres in Troy township.  A straightforward Republican in politics, Mr. Stull is popular with all political parties, as was shown in the year 1908, when, after having served two terms as clerk of Troy township, he was elected county commissioner, being the only Republican commissioner elected in that year.  As G. F. Stull then moved to Mansfield, Solomon bought, his interest in the milling and tiling plants, and has since been sole proprietor of both industries.  On the 20th day of September, 1909, assuming the responsibilities of his position, he labored so efficiently for the good of the general public as far as his office was concerned that at the expiration of his term, on November 8, 1910, he was reelected to the same office, and is serving with characteristic ability.  He is energetic, industrious and honest, having a quick eye for business.  He is a kind husband, a loving father, and a good neighbor.
Source:  History of Morrow County, Ohio by A. J. Baughman - Vol. II - Chicago-New York: The Lewis Publishing Co. - 1911 – pp. 647-648
Contributed by a Generous Genealogist.

ELMER S. STULTZ. ––Most of the successful men of America are self-made and it is one of the glories of our republic that this is so.  It shows that opportunities are afforded to the citizen of the United States and that they possess the courage, determination and strength to make the best use of the advantages which surround them.  An enterprising and progressive citizen of the younger generation in Morrow county Ohio, is Elmer S. Stultz, who is preparing himself to launch forth on the sea of life as a representative of the pedagogic profession.  He was born at Richmond, Jefferson county, Ohio, on the 10th of January, 1890, a son of Adam and Delilah A. (Harper) Stultz, both of whom were born and reared in Ohio.  George and Mary A. (Fendrick) Stultz, paternal grandparents of him to whom this sketch is dedicated, were natives of Germany, whence they immigrated to America about the year 1845, locating at Columbus, Ohio.  George Stultz was a shoemaker by trade and he was identified with that line of enterprise at Columbus during the remainder of his life.  He died in 1880 and his wife passed away in 1895.  Adam Stultz attended the public schools of Columbus until he had attained to the age of fifteen years, at which time he entered upon an apprenticeship at the turner’s trade.  In. 1885 was solemnized his marriage to Miss Delilah A. Harper, who was born in this county on the 16th of January, 1865, a daughter of William H. and Mary J. (Bower) Harper.  Mr. Harper was a carpenter by trade and for a time he conducted a general merchandise store at Bloomfield.  Mrs. Adam Stultz was summoned to eternal rest on the 21st of October, 1902, being survived by her husband and three sons: Albert L., born June 3, 1886, is now employed in a railroad office at Crestline, Ohio; William H., born August 11, 1888, is engaged in business at Sparta; and Elmer S., the immediate subject of this review.
     Immediately after their marriage Mr. and Mrs. Stultz established their home at Mount Gilead, where he was identified with the work of his trade for a period of ten years, at the expiration of which removal was made to Richmond, Ohio, where they remained seven years and whence they came to Sparta, in 1902.  Mr. Stultz is a Democrat in his political proclivities and while he has never been ambitious for the honors or emoluments of public office he is most loyal and public-spirited in his support of all measures and enterprises advanced for the general welfare.  His religious faith is in harmony with the tenets of the Methodist Episcopal church.  In 1895 he affiliated with the local lodge of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, in which he has filled all the official chairs and in which he is treasurer at the present time, in 1911.
     Elmer S. Stultz was reared and educated at Mount Gilead and at Richmond, later supplementing his preliminary training by a course in the high school at Sparta, in which he was graduated as a member of the class of 1907.  For the past three years he has been engaged in teaching in this township and he is gradually fitting himself for work as a high-grade teacher.  In the fall of 1911 he will begin to study in the Ohio State University.  He is a young man of most exemplary habits, is highly esteemed in this town and it may be said concerning him that his circle of friends is coincident with that of his acquaintances.  He is a successful and popular teacher and his entire career thus far has been active, progressive and determined.  He carries forward to successful completion whatever he undertakes and he is a young man whose strong individuality is the strength of integrity, virtue and deep human sympathy.
Source:  History of Morrow County, Ohio by A. J. Baughman - Vol. II - Chicago-New York: The Lewis Publishing Co. - 1911 – pp. 924-925
Contributed by a Generous Genealogist.

DUANE SWETLAND is one of Morrow county’s most prominent and successful representatives of the agricultural industry, which Daniel Webster has called the most important labor of man.  His splendid two hundred acre farm is located four miles southwest of Fredericktown and is adorned with a fine country home, which is widely renowned in a region for its fine country homes.  As a citizen he enjoys high regard, for his ideas are public-spirited and progressive, and he is ever ready to give his support to all good measures likely to result in the attainment of the greatest good to the greatest number.
     The name of Swetland is one held in high honor in this part of Ohio, and William Swetland, father of the subject, is one of Morrow county’s best known citizens.  The family is one which has long been founded in America, the first Swetland having arrived on our shores about 1676, and its history is well worth consideration.  At an early date the Swetlands are found on Pennsylvania soil and it was from the Keystone state that the family came to Ohio.  The Swetlands seem to have come into unusually interesting and sometimes disastrous contact with the Indians.  The great-grandfather of the subject on the maternal side was killed by savages.  Luke Swetland, his great-grandfather on the paternal side, was taken captive by the Indians at the time of the Wyoming massacre.  The redmen took him with them to Cayuga Lake, New York, their headquarters, and as the winter was severe they suffered with hunger.  Before spring, in fact, the Indians had killed and eaten every horse and dog they possessed, and Luke, learning of necessity, came to eat the horse flesh with a relish.  Upon one occasion the Indians killed a deer, which without being dressed was cut up, hide and all, and put in the camp kettles to boil.  He said he could have eaten even that had not the mullen [sic] leaves with which they had covered the meat while cooking, given it such an unpleasant flavor that he found it impossible.  Luke hunted for his captors and was as useful and faithful to them as he could be and gradually he won their confidence.  He often went out alone into the forests and remained longer and longer, but always returned and was apparently reconciled to his fate.  In course of time he came to be fully trusted and decided to make his escape.  He carefully secreted some provisions and one day, about eighteen months after his capture, when he started cut for a hunt he took these with him and made a break for liberty and home.  Facing the perils of the forest and not daring to fire a gun or build a fire, he wandered for a long time and after enduring many days of privation he came upon General Sullivan’s army.  The officers doubted his story and believed him to be a spy and at first were unkind to him, but one day one of the soldiers recognized him as an old acquaintance, after which he was treated with every kindness.  During his captivity he kept a dairy on birch bark, which many years afterward was published by a Mr. Osborne of Pennsylvania, who had married one of the young women of the Swetland family.  Luke’s son Artemus, who was a boy at the time of the terrible massacre, came to Ohio in pioneer days.  He was a soldier in the war of 1812 and of the stuff that the typically valiant pioneer was made of.  He married Lydia Abbott, also a Pennsylvanian.  The subject’s grandparents were Giles and Sarah (Lewis) Swetland, who located in South Bloomfield township, and it was there that the father, William Sweetland [sic], farmer and stockman, was born, the year of his birth being 1838.  The maiden name of the mother was Cornelia.  The parents of Mr. Swetland were married in 1861 and settled upon the old homestead which was owned by the grandparents, and their prosperity, worldly and spiritual, has been of the highest character.  The subject is one of a family of five children, he being the eldest.  Minnie R., married Frank Wolf, of Centerburg, Ohio, and their present residence is in Seattle, Washington.  Selinda, deceased, became the wife of Dr. C. A. Levering, of Mohicanville; Manning L. and his wife reside near the parental home; and Burton V., engaged in the tinning and roofing business, resides at Centerburg.
     Duane Swetland was born upon the parental homestead on the first day of August, 1863.  He received his education in the Gardner district school and in the matter of choosing a life work followed in the footsteps of his father, becoming a successful farmer and stockman.  His fertile and valuable farm is most advantageously situated.  He is an optimist in his views and believes in enjoying the good things of life instead of waiting until age hinders him from enjoying them.  With his wife he has taken several extended summer journeys, their last including the Seattle Exposition, the Pacific coast, Vancouver, Victoria, British Columbia, Portland, Denver, Colorado Springs and many other points of interest in the west.  They returned with a particularly interesting collection of pictures and other souvenirs from the places visited.
     On the 19th day of November, 1884, Mr. Swetland laid the foundation of a happy home life and congenial marital companionship by his marriage to Miss Clara Roods, daughter of Harrison and Maria (Bell) Roods.  Their union has been blessed by the birth of three children, Edith, Roscoe A and Florence.  The average age of the Giles-Swetland family is eighty years.
Source:  History of Morrow County, Ohio by A. J. Baughman - Vol. II - Chicago-New York: The Lewis Publishing Co. - 1911 – pp. 712-714
Contributed by a Generous Genealogist.

  JOSEPH CARPER SWETLAND. ––It is decidedly a matter of gratification to the publishers of this work to here enter a brief sketch of the Swetland family, one of prominence and long standing in connection with the development of Morrow county.  Joseph C. Swetland at one time owned as much as nine hundred acres of most arable land in Chester and South Bloomfield townships, and in connection with his extensive operations as a sheep raiser he has handled as many as one thousand head.  His participation in public affairs has extended to the office of county commissioner, of which he was incumbent for a period of six years, during which time he was influential in securing various important improvements to the county.  Although he has attained a ripe old age Mr. Swetland is alert on all matters touching the general welfare, and his almost boyish enthusiasm makes him a popular and well beloved citizen.
     In South Bloomfield township, Morrow county, Ohio, on the 5th of June, 1828, occurred the birth of Joseph C. Swetland, who is a son of Giles T. Swetland and a grandson of Artemus and Lydia (Abbot) Swetland.  Giles Swetland was born on the 19th of August, 1799, and in 1822 was solemnized his marriage to Miss Sarah Lewis, whose birth occurred in 1798.  The father died in 1881 and the mother, who preceded her honored husband to the life eternal, passed away in 1864.  The grandparent of him to whom this sketch is dedicated were in the Wyoming Massacre, in 1777, they being children of nine and seven years of age at the time.  They were the only ones spared by the Indians and subsequently they removed to Ohio, where was solemnized their marriage.  Of their grandchildren five are now living, namely: Byron L., who has attained to the age of eighty-six years and who lives at Mount Vernon, Ohio; Joseph C., the immediate subject of this sketch, eighty-two years of age; Emily, who is in her eightieth year and who maintains her home at Evansville, Indiana; Warren, aged seventy-six, a sketch of whose career appears elsewhere in this volume and William, a resident of Sparta, aged seventy-two years.  Lambert died aged twenty.  Giles Swetland was identified with agricultural operations during the major portion of his active business career and he was a man of prominence in Morrow county during his lifetime.
     Joseph C. Swetland was reared to maturity on the old home farm and his preliminary educational training consisted of such advantages as were afforded in the schools of the locality and period.  He remained under the paternal roof until he had reached the age of twenty-five years, at which time he was married.  After that important event he turned his attention to farming on his own account, the scene of his operations being in Chester township.  As time passed he accumulated an estate of nine hundred acres of fine farming land and gave the same his personal supervision.  In 1878 he was honored by his fellow citizens with election to the office of county commissioner, remaining in tenure thereof for some six years, during which time the present county jail was erected.  During the process of construction the architect died and Mr. Swetland finished the work at a cost of twenty-four thousand dollars.  Mr. Brooks and George Hershner were the other commissioners that Mr. Swetland served with during the early part of his incumbency of that office.  Later he was associated with Mr. Atkinson who was subsequently elected a commissioner and William G. Brenizer, and these were connected with Mr. Swetland in the building of the county jail at Mount Gilead.  In addition to his farming interests Mr. Swetland and his brother William conducted a general merchandise business at Mt. Vernon for nine years.  They were eminently successful as merchants and their large and representative patronage were good indications of their popularity in that section of the country.  Mr. Swetland continued to reside on his farm in Chester township, until 1906, in which year he established his home in Chesterville, where he and his wife are passing the declining years of their lives in full enjoyment of former years of earnest work and endeavor.  While on his farm Mr. Swetland had all the latest devices introduced in order to simplify the work thereof.  He had pipes carrying water from the many springs to different parts of the estate, making it convenient for the raising of stock, he having had as many as one thousand head of sheep at one time.  He has won renown for his many excellent exhibitions in the stock shows at the county fairs.
     Mr. Swetland has been thrice married, his first wife having been Miss Emily Howard, a daughter of Jesse and Mary (Burns) Howard, of West Virginia.  She was born in 1832 and prior to her marriage she taught school for two terms in Morrow county.  Mrs. Swetland spun the last tow in this part of the country.  Her Grandmother Howard was a woman of remarkable vitality.  She would knit and sew on her travels to and from different places, and while at home would walk a mile and a half to milk every day.  To Mr and Mrs. Swetland were born six children, whose names are here incorporated in respective order of birth: one child who died in infancy; Truanna, Averilla, Elzina, Henry W. and William H.  Mrs. Swetland was summoned to her reward on the 2nd of January, 1892, and subsequently Mr. Swetland was united in marriage to Miss Mattie Gordon, a daughter of Silas Gordon.  She died in 1904, without issue.  For a third wife Mr. Swetland chose Mary E. (Slater) Struble, who was born on the 14th of October, 1847, and who is a daughter of John and Sarah A. (Jones) Slater, of Licking county, Ohio.  The Slater family consisted of three daughters––Carrie, Belle and Mary.  Mrs. Swetland was first married to J. A. Struble, by whom she had two children––Charles and Laura Mae, both of whom are now deceased.  Charles Struble married Miss Adda Jones, of Cardington, and they became the parents of two sons––Richmond and Lloyd, both deceased.  The father died on the 8th of November, 1902.  Laura Mae Struble passed away on the 9th of March, 1902.
     In his political convictions Mr. Swetland accords a stalwart allegiance to the principles and policies promulgated by the Republican party, in the local councils of which he has ever been an active and interested factor.  As previously noted, he held the office of county commissioner for six years and in discharging the duties thereof he acquitted himself with all of honor and distinction.  He has held other important offices of public trust and in the early days paid out seven hundred dollars to clear the township draft.  He has always manifested a great concern for the welfare of the community and county in which he resides and no citizen in Morrow county is accorded a higher degree of confidence and esteem by the inhabitants of this section of the state than he is.  He is eighty-two years of age at the present time, in 1911, but his activity makes him pass for a man much younger.  In their religious adherency he and his wife are devout members of the Methodist Episcopal church, in the various departments of whose work they are deeply and sincerely interested.  Mrs. Swetland is a woman of gracious refinement and she is affiliated with the Missionary and Ladies Aid Society and the Women’s Christian Temperance Union.
Source:  History of Morrow County, Ohio by A. J. Baughman - Vol. II - Chicago-New York: The Lewis Publishing Co. - 1911 – pp. 676-681
Contributed by a Generous Genealogist.

WARREN SWETLAND. ––Many people gain wealth in this world, many gain distinction in the learned professions, and many are honored with public offices of trust and responsibility, but to few is it given to attain so high a place in the esteem and affection of their fellow citizens as that enjoyed by Mr. and Mrs. Warren Swetland, who are known throughout Morrow county as Uncle Warren and Aunt Margaret.  Their spacious and comfortable residence in South Bloomfield township is widely renowned for its generous hospitality and is often referred to as the “Orphans Home,” hospice having frequently been given to those unfortunates, who at an early age, have been bereft of their parents.  Farming and sheep-growing have ever been Mr. Swetland’s chief occupation and he is prominent throughout the state as an authority on wool.
     A native son of the fine old Buckeye state, Warren Swetland was born in South Bloomfield township, Morrow county, on the 24th of April, 1834, and he is a son of Giles and Sarah (Lewis) Swetland, the former of whom died in 1881 and the latter of whom was summoned to life eternal in 1864.  Of the six children born to Giles and Sarah (Lewis) Swetland, five are living in 1911, namely; Byram, aged eighty-six; Joseph C., aged Eighty-two years, is mentioned on other pages of this work; Emily is eighty years, of age; Warren, aged seventy-six, is the immediate subject of this review; and William, who is represented elsewhere.  Lambert died at the age of twenty-two.  The Swetland families living in Morrow county are the edscendants [sic] of Artemas and Lydia (Abbott) Swetland, who immigrated from Pennsylvania to Ohio in 1810, location having been made in Delaware county, whence removal was made to South Bloomfield township, Morrow county, Ohio, in 1818.  Artemas Swetland engaged in farming and resided in South Blomfield [sic] township until his death.  He was survived by a family of four sons and one daughter: Augustus W., Giles (father of Warren), Fuller, Seth and Marilla.  Concerning some of the early adventures of the Swetland family the following extract is here incorporated from an article which appeared in a history of Morrow county, under date of 1880.
     “Artemas Swetland, the grandfather of Warren, when a boy was in the fort at the Wyoming massacre and escaped death only by remaining with his father, Luke, who was on picket duty inside.  Warren’s great-grandfather, Abbott, was murdered shortly after this by the savages.  When the Indian scare was over the settlers began to return to their farms.  One day, while at work in the field with another pioneer, Mr. Abbott saw the Indians coming and started to run, but was shot, crippled, overtaken by them, and dispatched with a tomahawk.  Artemas Swetland was in the war of 1812, enlisting while in Delaware county, Ohio.  He was one of the first settlers in South Bloomfield township, and his sons, Augustus, Giles and Seth, vividly remember the hardships through which they passed in their new home in the wilderness.
     Luke Swetland, the great-grandfather of Warren Swetland, was known during his life time as the Seneca captive.  While returning home from a mill in the Wyoming Valley, in Pennsylvania, he was taken prisoner by the Seneca Indians and carried off to Seneca Lake, in New York, where he was detained for one year and two days before he managed to make his escape.  He was taken into camp and adopted by an aged squaw as her son.  Not exactly pleased with that state of affairs he was constantly on the alert for a chance to make his escape and finally he met with a detachment of Continental soldiers, commanded by Captain Robert Dunkle and Samuel Ransom, in 1777.  This force of soldiers gave him the succor required and subsequently he was conveyed to New Jersey, where he joined Washington’s army and saw active service in the war of the Revolution.  He was at Valley Forge during the strenuous winter of 1777-8 and saw a great deal of service before the close of the war.  Relief was sent to Wyoming at the time of the massacre, in 1878, but the soldiers arrived too late to be of any assistance.
     As a youth Warren Swetland availed himself of the advantages afforded in the district schools of South Bloomfield township and thereafter he engaged in agricultural operations.  He has resided on his present fine estate of one hundred ad eighty-six acres in South Bloomfield township, Morrow county, since 1857 and is still giving the work of the place an active supervision.  In connection with diversified agriculture he has devoted considerable time to sheep-growing, being known the county over for his success in the breeding of Delaine sheep.  On different occasions he has been requested to send samples of his wool to the state wool commission, and he has in his own possession samples from every prominent wool-grower in the world.  During his extensive travels he has visited important sheep ranches throughout the universe and each place has contributed some new idea to his vast fund of knowledge in regard to sheep-raising.  Mr. Swetland, besides the raising of a fine grade of sheep, has sheared sheep each year himself for sixty-six years without the loss of a single year.  Possibly there is not another man in the Middle West who has such a record.
     On the 1st of February, 1857, was celebrated the marriage of Mr. Swetland to Miss Margaret A. Thomas, who was born in Chester township, Morrow county, on the 31st of July, 1836, and who is a daughter of Daniel and Mary Ann (Davis) Thomas.  The mother was a daughter of David and Margaret Davis and she was born in the little country of Wales on the 6th of December, 1813.  She was called to her reward on the 8th of January, 1902, and an interesting fact about her personality is that just prior to her death she wrote her own obituary.  She was one of the pioneer teachers in this section of the state, walking one mile and a half to the scene of her labors and receiving in. return for her services the meager salary of one and a half dollars per week.  David and Margaret Davis, grandparents of Mrs. Swetland, came to America from Wales and landed at Baltimore, Maryland, in 1820.  Mary Ann Thomas was born December 6, 1813, and died January 8, 1892.  She, with her parents, David and Margaret Davis, and one brother came to America in 1820, landing at Baltimore, Maryland, where they resided for six years.  Then they started for Ohio, coming via Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, where Mr. Davis died in 1827.  After his death the grandmother married Henry George, in 1833, and they resided on a farm in Chester township during the remainder of their lives.  Mr. and Mrs. Thomas were devout members of the Baptist church, in whose faith Mrs. Swetland was reared, but she became a member of the Methodist Episcopal church in 1858.  Mr. Swetland joined the Methodist Episcopal church in 1855, and he and his wife are very prominent factors in all activities of a religious nature, he having been class leader and a steward in the Sparta church of that denomination for the past fifty years.  Mr. and Mrs. Swetland have no children of their own but they raised and educated an orphan girl, named Arrilla Lewis, who is an own cousin of Mr. Swetland and who became the wife of Daniel Potts in 1869.  She now resides near Sparta, Ohio.
     In politics Mr. Swetland was originally a Democrat but he now accords an uncompromising allegiance to the Prohibition party, and while he has never been moved with a desire for political preferment of any description he is ever on the alert and enthusiastically in sympathy with all projects advanced for the good of the community and county at large.  Mr. and Mrs. Swetland have traveled extensively in various parts of the world and they can relate many interesting incidents in connection therewith.  They are both very kind hearted and hospitable, contributing generously of their time and means to all worthy philanthropical movements, and no one who solicits their help is sent away unaided.  Their place of abode is known as the “Orphans Home” and they are everywhere known as Uncle Warren and Aunt Margaret.  Their broad human sympathy penetrates every nook and corner and nothing but goodness radiates from their hearts.  It may truly be said concerning them that the circle of their friends is coincident with that of their acquaintances.
Source:  History of Morrow County, Ohio by A. J. Baughman - Vol. II - Chicago-New York: The Lewis Publishing Co. - 1911 – pp. 761-764
Contributed by a Generous Genealogist.

WILLIAM L. SWETLAND. —The world though sometimes slow in acknowledgement of merit, is usually keenly appreciative of those whose recognition of its possibilities in unerring and who possess the power to grasp the golden opportunities and mould them for their good and the good of their fellow men. Success when it redounds to the general prosperity is of the highest order and such has distinguished the career of William L. and Cornelia Swetland, of Sparta, Ohio. William L. Swetland, farmer and stockman, was born in South Bloomfield township August 31, 1838, the son of Giles and Sarah (Lewis) Swetland. His grandparents, Artemas and Lydia (Abbott) Swetland, emigrated with their elders from Pennsylvania in pioneer days and located in Ohio, where they established their home and did their share toward paving the way for latter day prosperity. In those days the Indian had not yet abdicated his lordship of hill and dale, and he looked with hostile eyes upon the invasion of what he considered his domain. Artemas, who was a boy at the time of the Wyoming massacre, was in the fort at the time of the frightful affair and escaped death by remaining with his father, Luke, who was on picket duty. In later years he served in the war of 1812. He landed in Delaware county, June 18, 1810, and began work in South Bloomfield township in 1815. He came in February, 1817, to Morrow county. Mr. Swetland's maternal grandfather was shot and tomahawked by the savages.
     Giles Swetland, father of him whose name inaugurates this review, was a farmer by occupation and he is still well remembered in the community which was the scene of his usefulness. He and his wife reared a family of six children, five of whom were sons and one, a daughter. Byram L., the eldest, is a retired merchant of Mount Vernon, Ohio; Joseph Carper is a retired farmer and banker and makes his home in Chesterville, Ohio; Emily, wife of Carper Helt, is deceased, and she wedded Mr. Abner Bartlett, who is also deceased; Warren is a prosperous farmer of Sparta, Ohio; Dannie Lambert is deceased; and Mr. William Swetland, the subject of this review.
     William L. Swetland received his education in the district school, and remained until manhood beneath the paternal roof-tree, under his father's excellent tutelage learning many of the secrets of successful agriculture. On December 25, 1861, he laid the foundation of a happy married life by his union to Miss Cornelia E. Hulse, daughter of Jabez and Mariah (Slack) Hulse, and with his bride he settled upon the old homestead and assumed its management and the care of his parents, whose failing health was cared for and declining years made easy by their kind and solicitous ministrations. They lived with the elder people until their demise, and they have continued upon the fine old place until the evening of their own life. In other days they worked with youthful energy to improve and beautify the place, building fine barns and a large commodious house, and to-day they have one of the finest country homes in this part of Ohio. They have prospered exceedingly and are well-to-do and highly regarded. Their union has been blessed by the birth of five children. Duane, the eldest son, married Clara Roods and is a successful and progressive farmer and stockman, living in the vicinity of Fredericktown. Their three children are Edith, Roscoe A. and Florence. Minnie R. and Silenda, the two bright and winsome daughters of the household, attended the high school at Sparta and also engaged in the study of music, Minnie attending the Conservatory of Music of Waynesburg, Pennsylvania. The latter married Frank Wolf, of Centerburg, Ohio, and their present residence is in Seattle, Washington. Selinda married Dr. C. A. Levering, of Mohicanville, and died June 1, 1900, the mother of one son and one daughter, Burton and Laurel. Manning L. Swetland took as his wife Miss Bessie Rinehart, of Centerburg, Ohio, and they reside upon the old home place not many rods from the home of the subjet and his wife. Their children are Tennie and Ralph. Manning L. has for a number of years superintended the work of the farm, which consists of four hundred and fifty acres. Burton V., the youngest member of the family married Miss Winnie Hewitt, of South Bloomfield township, and they reside at Centerburg, where Mr. Swetland owns and operates a prosperous tinning and roofing business. All of his children the subject endeavored and that successfully to provide with the truest principles of manhood and womanhood.
     Mr. Swetland, who possesses a memory of unusual vividness, is able to recall events which happened many years ago, and can give days and dates with remarkable accuracy, this gift having proved useful on numerous occasions not only to himself but to his neighbors. He stands for the highest type of good citizenship and with his estimable wife enjoys the esteem of the community where they have spent their lives, to whose members they are endeared by their never-failing sympathy and kindness. They may thus look back over life's journey with a pardonable degree of pride.
     Mr. and Mrs. Swetland keep open house the year around for the benefit of their many friends and acquaintances. The Swetland and Lewis reunions are frequently held upon their spacious grounds, and have ever proved occasions long to be remembered. The family has always taken pride in preserving their genealogical history, which they can trace back through many fruitful years. In many generations those who have borne the name have taken an active part in the building of the great commonwealth. Their immigrant ancestor was a sea captain—William Swetland, who with his good wife, Agnes, became residents of Salem, Massachusetts as early as 1676.
Source:  History of Morrow County, Ohio by A. J. Baughman - Vol. II - Chicago-New York: The Lewis Publishing Co. - 1911 – pp. 567-569