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COLONEL E. WAGNER.
––One of the prominent residents of Mount Gilead, Morrow county,
Ohio, is Colonel E. Wagner, who, in company with his
brother, O. S. Wagner, is engaged in the buying and
shipping of grain. He is a loyal and public-spirited citizen,
whose influence has ever been exerted in behalf of the general
welfare and whose contribution to progress and development is of
the most insistent order. He was born in Wyandot county, Ohio,
the date of his birth being November 14, 1874, and he is a son
of Cyrus and Lydia (Wildermood) Wagner, the former of
whom was born in Germany and the latter in Ohio. John Smith
Wagner, grandfather of him whose name initiates this review,
was likewise born in Germany, whence he came to America with his
family in an early date. He settled on a farm in Wyandot
county, Ohio, where his death occurred about 1882. Mr. and
Mrs. Cyrus Wagner are still residents of Wyandot county,
where the father is identified with agricultural pursuits and
where he has maintained his home during his natural life.
Colonel E. Wagner, the fourth in order of birth in a
family of nine children, was reared to maturity on the old home
farm in Wyandot county, to whose public schools he is indebted
for his educational training. He received a good, practical
common education, and entered a railroad office at
McCutchenville, where he learned telegraphy. In 1889 he entered
the employ of the Toledo & Ohio Central Railroad Company in the
capacity of telegraph operator. After working at different
places in that capacity he finally came to Mount Gilead in 1894,
and here he has since resided. In 1906 he and his brother O.
S. Wagner purchased the N. J. Cover warehouse and
elevators and since that time they have been engaged in a
general feed business, also buying and shipping grain of all
kinds. In this line of enterprise the Wagner Brothers
are doing a thriving business and the same is most gratifying to
contemplate inasmuch as it is the direct result of their own
well directed endeavors.
On April 25, 1901, was recorded the marriage of Mr.
Wagner to Miss Dora Huffman, who was reared and
educated at McCutchenville, Ohio, and who is a daughter of
William and Rose (Baker) Huffman, prominent residents of
Wyandot county, Ohio. No children have been born to this
union. Mr. and Mrs. Wagner are zealous members of the
Methodist Episcopal church at Mount Gilead.
In politics Mr. Wagner is a Democrat and he is an
influential factor in the local councils of that party. At the
present time he is serving as a member of the city council of
Mount Gilead and it may be stated here that he has ever been
deeply interested in all matters projected for the general
welfare of the community. Fraternally he is affiliated with
Mount Gilead Lodge, No. 206, Free and Accepted Masons, and with
Charles H. Hull Lodge, No. 195, Knights of Pythias, in
the latter of which he is the present master at arms. Mr.
Wagner is a man of fine natural intelligence. His genial
manner, his unfaltering courtesy, his genuine worth of character
and strong personal traits have won for him the regard and
friendship of the vast majority of those with whom he has come
in contact and made him a representative citizen of Morrow
county.
Source: History of Morrow County, Ohio by A. J. Baughman - Vol.
II - Chicago-New York: The Lewis Publishing Co. - 1911 – pp.
800-801
Contributed by a Generous Genealogist.
SHARON WICK's NOTE: Per Records, including world war I
draft record and his death record the subject's middle name was
Ellsworth also spelled Elsworth. His actual given name WAS
Colonel. |
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REVEREND JAMES WHEELER
closed the many eventful years of a busy life as a resident of
Morrow county. He died as the result of an accident at Bucyrus,
Ohio, on the 27th day of February, 1873, in the seventy-second
year of his age. He was born in Luzerne county, Pennsylvania,
October 24, 1801, and came to Ohio with his parents when about
eighteen years of age. His people settled in Berkshire
township, Delaware county, Ohio. When about eighteen years of
age he was converted and united with the Methodist Episcopal
church.
At this period of his life he learned the trade of a
wheelwright and there are, no doubt, stored in some of the
attics of Delaware and adjoining counties, spinning-wheels,
reels, swifts, etc. made by Mr. Wheeler. He only worked
at this business but a short time when he went to Sunbury, Ohio,
and began clerking in the store of a Mr. Atherton. While
engaged in this capacity he was united in marriage to Mary
Atherton, a daughter of the man for whom he was clerking,
and he finally became a partner in the business.
About this time he felt that it was his duty to enter the
ministry. He was ordained as a deacon in the Ohio Annual
Conference at Springfield, Ohio, on the 23rd of August, 1835.
On the 10th day of September, 1837, he was made an elder, or
regularly ordained minister at Detroit, Michigan, and entered
the Michigan Annual Conference, which at that time included a
large portion of northern Ohio.
He now entered into the life of the itinerant preacher with
all its cares, its trials and its pleasures. He would be from
home for weeks at a time, compelled to ford swollen streams, to
sleep out of doors with his saddle-bags for a pillow and
preaching in the cabins or barns of the settlers, and oft times
in the woods. Upon his return to his home from one of his long
tours of preaching he found his wife very sick, her illness in a
short time resulting in her death, and the remains were taken to
her girlhood home at Sunbury for burial. On the 4th day of
June, 1838, he was married to Miss Caroline Condit at
Utica, Ohio.
In 1839 Mr. Wheeler was appointed as a missionary to
the Wyandot Indians at Upper Sandusky, Ohio, and here remained
for five years, when they were removed to the territory of
Kansas by the United States government, and given a reservation
where Kansas City, Kansas, is now located, but long before
Kansas City was ever dreamed of. Mr. Wheeler accompanied
the Indians on their trip and remained with them through the
summer superintending their work in building their new homes and
a church. In the fall he returned to Ohio, where he had left
his family and early in the following spring left with the
family and a few household goods for the new home. They went by
canal from Columbus to Portsmouth and then down the Ohio river
and up the Mississippi and Missouri rivers to the mouth of the
Kaw river, where the new home was to be. While yet in the
Buckeye state and going down the Ohio canal, the boat was
snagged and their goods were all soaked in water. They had no
chance to either air or dry them till their long journey was
ended, hence most of their effects were ruined. Mr. Wheeler’s
duties as missionary while in Kansas were not confined to the
Wyandots alone, but he made frequent trips to the Shawnees and
other tribes and would often be a hundred or more miles from
home, preaching to the red man. In all of his life among the
Indians he was never molested but was always shown the greatest
respect and was beloved by them all. In fact, the Wyandots
loved him so that they regularly adopted him and his family into
their tribe and made him one of their chiefs. At the division
of the Methodist church north, and south, the adjoining state of
Missouri, and the Wyandot mission fell into the bounds of the
portion that adhered to the South, and in May, 1846, Mr.
Wheeler with his family returned to Ohio. In the following
fall he united with the North Ohio Conference, of which he
remained a member up to the time of his death. Soon after his
return to Ohio Mr. Wheeler raised a fund to aid him in
having the bodies of a number of the leading Indians, who were
buried in different places, removed to the Indian graveyard at
the old mission church at Upper Sandusky. The body of
Sum-mum-de-Wat was brought from Wood county, where he and his
wife were murdered by white men. Mr. Wheeler also had
stones erected at the graves of Between-the-Logs, Grey-eyes,
Sum-mun-de-Wat, Reverend John Stewart, the first
missionary, and others. At the time Mr. Wheeler was
adopted into the Wyandot nation he was given the name of
Hetascoo, which signified “Our Leader,” while his wife was
called Queechy, owing to the fact that she wore shoes that
squeaked when she was walking. The last execution of a Wyandot
in Ohio, who was tried, convicted and sentenced to be shot, took
place in October, 1840. The trial was before their highest
tribunal, the assembled nation, and the question of life or
death was decided by ballot. Although Mr. Wheeler did
not attend the execution, yet his two sons, young lads,
witnessed the affair.
In 1860 several of the leading men of the Wyandots were in
the City of Washington, on business with the government, in
regard to the Indians becoming citizens of the United States,
and on their way back to Kansas, they stopped at the home of
Mr. Wheeler, who was then living in Mt. Vernon, Ohio, and
pleaded with him to take his family to Kansas, and become one of
them, promising them a share in the nation’s possessions; but
Mr. Wheeler could not see his way clear to comply with their
appeals. During Mr. Wheeler’s ministry he filled
appointments at Elyria, Norwalk, Ashland, Utica, Spring
Mountain, Homer, Fredericktown, Chesterville, Millersburg,
Martinsburg, Mt. Vernon, Galena, Gambier, Woodbury and a number
of other places. While with the Indians, both at Upper Sandusky
and in Kansas, he was not only the missionary, but the mission
school with its teachers, was under his charge, and during the
absence of the government’s agent he acted in that capacity.
Several of the old familiar hymns of the Methodist hymn book
were translated by him into the Wyandot language. His remains
rest in River Cliff cemetery, Mt. Gilead.
Source: History of Morrow County, Ohio by A. J. Baughman - Vol.
II - Chicago-New York: The Lewis Publishing Co. - 1911 – pp.
904-906
Contributed by a Generous Genealogist. |
 |
FLORENCE R. WHITE, M. D.
––To few women has it been given to achieve such noteworthy
success as that gained by Dr. Florence R. White, who is
engaged in the active practice of her profession at Cardington,
Morrow county, Ohio. For nearly a quarter of a century she has
been identified with the medical profession and the years have
told the story of a successful career due to the possession of
innate talent and acquired ability along the line of one of the
most important professions to which one may devote his
energies––the alleviation of pain and suffering and the
restoration of health, which is man’s most cherished and
priceless possession. This is an age of progress in all lines
of achievement and Dr. White has kept abreast of the
advancement that has revolutionized methods of medical practice,
rendering the efforts of physicians of much more avail in
warding off the inroads of disease than they were even at the
time when she entered upon her professional career.
Dr. Florence R. (Smith) White was born in Marion
county, Ohio, on the 17th of November, 1861, and is a daughter
of Seneca A. and Nancy E. (West) Smith, both of whom were
likewise born in the fine old Buckeye state, the former at
Westfield, Marion county, and the latter at West Rushville,
Fairfield county. Mr. Smith was born on the 5th of
October, 1836, of Scotch-Irish parentage, and the date of
Mrs. Smith’s birth was October 13, 1839, her ancestors being
of English extraction. Mr. and Mrs. Smith were married
on the 10th of October, 1858, and began housekeeping in a log
cabin which he had prepared on sixty acres of heavily wooded
land in Marion county. There they continued to reside until
1876, when Mr. Smith disposed of his farm and removed to
Westfield township, Morrow county, where he resided for one
year, at the expiration of which he established his home in
Lincoln township, this county, in order to obtain better
educational advantages for his children. There they have
resided during the long intervening years and they became the
parents of seven children four sons and three daughters,
concerning whom the following brief record is here incorporated:
Claremont R. is a master mechanic and resides in the city
of Indianapolis, Indiana; Dr. White, of this review, is
the next in order of birth; Charles W. is a farmer and
dairyman in Whatcom county, Washington; James S. is
engaged in agricultural pursuits on the old home farm; Daisy
A., .who is unmarried, is a seamstress at Laramie, Wyoming;
Arthur A. is a resident of American Falls, Idaho, where
he is a member of the Fall Creek Sheep Company; and Imogene A.
is a nurse and maintains her home at Los Angeles, California.
She was graduated from the Lakeside Hospital Training School for
Nurses at Cleveland, Ohio, in 1896.
Dr. Florence White received an excellent common
school education in her early youth and after attending the high
school at Cardington she taught school for one term in Morrow
county, Ohio. In 1881 she began reading medicine under the able
preceptorship of Dr. M. M. Sheble, at Ashley, Ohio, and
one year later she was matriculated in the Cleveland
Homoeopathic Hospital College of Medicine, at Cleveland, Ohio,
in which excellent institution she was graduated as a member of
the class of 1884, with the degree of Doctor of Medicine. One
month after her graduation she entered upon the active practice
of her profession at Cardington and here she has built up a
large and representative patronage, soon gaining recognition as
an able and alert physician. In 1891 she journeyed to Europe,
where she pursued post-graduate work in Germany and Austria.
Since her return her success has been of most unequivocal order
and she holds a high place in the confidence and esteem of her
fellow citizens as a woman of refinement and ability. In
connection with her work she is a valued and appreciative member
of the American Institute of Homoeopathy and the Ohio
Homeopathic Medical Society, and she is a stockholder in the
Ohio Sanitarium Company at Marion Ohio. She has served as a
member of the board of education for a number of years and she
manifests a deep and abiding interest in all matters tending to
advance the general welfare of the community. She has some
valuable real estate holdings in Cardington and the same are
highly improved. Her religious faith is in harmony with the
tenets of the Protestant Episcopal church and she is a member of
the Order of the Eastern Star.
On the 1st of May, 1892, was solemnized the marriage of
Dr. White to Theodoric S. White, a native son of
Cardington, Ohio, the date of his birth being October 3, 1854.
He was a prominent lawyer in Morrow county during his life time
and gave efficient service as prosecuting attorney of the county
for a number of years. He was a member of the Methodist
Episcopal church and was a Mason of high standing. In his
political convictions he was ever a stalwart Republican and he
was active in the local councils of the party. He was summoned
to the life eternal on the 5th of April, 1905, and his death was
a cause for deep grief to his fellow citizens. He lived a life
of usefulness such as few men know. God-fearing, law-abiding,
progressive, his life was as truly that of a Christian gentleman
as any man’s can well be. Unwaveringly he did the right as he
interpreted it and he ever held a high place in the regard of
his fellow men. Mr. and Mrs. White had no children.
Dr. Florence White, is a cultured lady and her
library comprises about one thousand volumes of medical and
choice standard literature. Her surgical department is complete
as to instruments and operating chair, and she has her own
laboratory of medicines, fresh, and of the latest compounds.
Source: History of Morrow County, Ohio by A. J. Baughman - Vol.
II - Chicago-New York: The Lewis Publishing Co. - 1911 – pp.
606-611
Contributed by a Generous Genealogist. |
| |
AMZA
WHITNEY - A prominent and influential citizen of Mt.
Gilead, Morrow county, Ohio, and one whose contribution to the
commercial and industrial affairs of this section of the fine
old Buckeye state has been of most important order, is Amza
A. Whitney, who is a native son of this county, his birth
having occurred in South Bloomfield township on the 18th of
Jan., 1852. He is a scion of an old New England family
early established in the state of Connecticut, whence his
grandfather, Samuel Whitney, immigrated to Morrow county,
Ohio, about the year 1845. Samuel Whitney later
removed to Delaware county, this state, where he was engaged in
farming as a vocation and where his death occurred.
Amza A. Whitney's parents, Lyman B. and Elizabeth Ann
(Vail) Whitney, resided in the city of Columbus, Ohio, for a
time and in that place occurred the death of the father in
18542, at which time the subject of this review was a child of
but eleven months of age. Mrs. Whitney was a
daughter of Benjamin T. and Mary A. Vail, who kept a
country tavern in the southern part of Morrow county, the same
being known as Vail's Cross roads or Vail's
Tavern. She died at Mt. Gilead in 1872.
Amza A. Whitney attended the public schools of
Mt. Gilead, Ohio, until he had attained to the age of sixteen
years, at which time he began to clerk in a dry goods store at
Sparta, where he was in the employ of his uncle for one year.
Thereafter he was connected with the same line of enterprise at
Mt. Vernon for a period of ten years, at the expiration of which
he returned to Sparta, where he purchased the store from his
uncle, which he conducted with most gratifying success for the
ensuing ten years. In 1889 he was elected auditor of
Morrow county, as a Democrat, the county being strongly
Republican. He assumed the responsibilities of his office
in October, 1890, and served for a period of three years, at the
expiration of which he was elected to that office as his own
successor, serving for another term of three years. In
1891 he became one of the organizers of the Mt. Gilead Goods
Company, of which he was made president. After retiring
from the office of county auditor he became general manager of
the dry goods concern, of which he later became sole owner, the
firm being goods concern, of which he later became sole owner,
the firm being known under the name of A. A. Whitney &
Sons and consisting of the following members: Amza A. Whitney,
of this sketch, Allen B. Whitney, Clarence C. Whitney and
Horace W. Whitney. Aside from his mercantile
business Mr. Whitney ahs other financial interests of
broad scope and importance. He is one of the directors in
the National Bank of Morrow county, at Mt. Gilead; is president
and was one of the organizers of the Morrow County Telephone
Company; was also one of the organizers of the Electric Light &
Water Power Plant of Mt. Gilead, in which he is a stock holder
and a director; and is a director in the Galion, Ohio, Telephone
Company. In 1909 he was appointed by Governor Harmon
as one of the trustees of the Ohio State Sanatarium at Mt.
Vernon, Ohio, in which capacity he is serving at the present
time, in 1911. He is also a stock holder in the Marengo
Bank of Morrow county, in the Commercial Bank, at Galion, Ohio,
and in the Commercial Bank at Upper Sandusky, Ohio.
Mr. Whitney has been twice married, his first
union having been with Miss Mary V. Henderson, who was
the mother of his three sons, mentioned above. Mrs.
Whitney was summoned to the life eternal in 1885, and in
1888 was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Whitney to
Miss Ella E. Henderson a sister of his first wife. No
children have been born to the latter union.
In his political convictions Mr. Whitney is
aligned as a stalwart supporter of the principles and policies
of the Democratic party, and while he has not been an active
participant in politics he has been on the alert to do all in
his power to advance the general welfare of the community.
In the time-honored Masonic order he has passed through the
circle of Scottish Rite Masonry, having attained to the
Thirty-second Degree. He is also a valued member of
Aladdin Temple, Ancient Arabic Order of the Nobles of the Mystic
Shrine, besides which he holds membership in the Independent
Order of Odd Fellows. He and his family are zealous
members of the Methodist Episcopal church, in the various
departments of whose work they have been active factors.
The three sons of Mr. Whitney were all afforded excellent
educational advantages in their youth, having been graduated in
the Ohio Wesleyan University, with the degrees of Bachelors of
Arts.
~ Since this biography was written, Mr. Whitney died at
his home Aug. 20, 1911 - Editor
Source:
History of Morrow County, Ohio by A. J. Baughman - Vol. II -
Chicago-New York: The Lewis Publishing Co. - 1911
- Page 637 |
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EDWARD M. WILLITS —In
view of the nomadic spirit which dominates so many Americans
of today, it is pleasing to find a locality whose residents
spend their industrious and useful lives in the place of
their nativity, give their energies and abilities to the
advancement of their home communities, and spend their years
in labor and ever increasing comfort, prosperity and mutual
respect. A fine representative of this enviable class of
American citizens is Edward M. Willits, who was born
in Cardington township, Morrow county, Ohio on the 7th of
November, 1867, a son of William and Lucinda (Grandy)
Willits, the father being a native of the same township
and the mother, of the state of New York. William Willits
was born January 19, 1831, and Joel, his father,
was a Virginian, the date of whose birth was 1804. Tracing
the genealogical line still further into the past it is
found that the great, grandfather of Edward M., Samuel
Willits, emigrated to America at an early day from his
native, Wales.
When he was a mere boy Joel Willits, the
grandfather, accompanied his parents from the Old Dominion
to Ohio, and he was reared on a Knox county farm. By his
marriage to Cynthia Lewis, daughter of John
Lewis and a native of Pennsylvania, he became the
father of John, William, Samuel, Elvira, Deborah, Wendell
P., Esther Ann, Clayton and Sarah Ellen Willits;
of the sons, William, Clayton and Wendell were
gallant Union soldiers, the first named (father of Edward
M.) serving in the ranks of Company I, Third Ohio
Volunteer Infantry.
William Willits married Lucinda
Grandy, who was born in New York July 12, 1834, a
daughter of William and Celinda (Brockway) Grandy,
early settlers of Cardington, Ohio. To this union were born
Estella and William Arthur, both deceased ;
Edward Martin, the immediate subject of this
review, and one who died in infancy. The faithful and good
father of this family passed to his reward April 20. 1904,
in the seventy-fourth year of his age.
Edward M. Willits was reared to maturity on the
old home farm three miles west of Cardington and received
his education in the district schools of his native township
and in the high school at Cardington. After leaving school
he entered-the First National Bank of Cardington as teller
and bookkeeper, continuing in that capacity for six years,
or until the organization of the Citizens' Bank. Of this
substantial institution he was one of the promoters and
original incorporators, his associates being J. S. Peck,
W. B. Denman, C. F. Hammond and H. W. Curl.
The Citizens' Bank had a large and substantial list of stock
holders and was incorporated under state laws with a capital
stock of twenty-five thousand dollars. It organized with the
following officers : J. S. Peck, president; W. B.
Denman, vice president ; and E. M. Willits,
cashier. While the grim reaper has removed many of the
original stockholders of the bank, Mr. Willits
continues to hold and to honor his position as cashier. He
has also served for nine years as secretary of the Morrow
County Building and Loan Association of Cardington, and for
six years was locally prominent in Masonry as secretary of
Cardington Lodge No. 384, Free and Accepted Masons. He has
had unbounded faith in the reliability of his home town ; is
a practicing advocate for home investment and has become one
of the largest real estate holders in the village.
The above outline record of Mr. Willits' life
and characteristic activities points to the energies and
abilities of an honorable and successful career, which have
sprung from a strong and sterling character. A glance at the
political and public phases of his life shows him to be a
firm Republican, a public spirited citizen, and especially
interested in the advancement of public education, his work
and influence in the field last named being accomplished and
wielded as a member and as president of the Union School
Board. Both Mr. and Mrs. Willits are earnest and
active members of the Methodist Episcopal church, in which
he is giving efficient service as treasurer and member of
its official board.
On the 8th of October, 1890, was solemnized the
marriage of Mr. Willits to Miss Daisy M. Wolfe,
a native of Cardington and a daughter of A. H. Wolfe.
Mrs. Willits is a graduate of the Cardington High
School, is deeply interested in musical and educational
matters, is president of the Public Library Association, and
is an energetic, broadly cultured woman whom it is a
pleasure and an inspiration to meet. Of the three sons of
the family, William H. is 'a graduate of the
Cardington High School, class of 1911; Rodney W. is
still pursuing his course in that institution ; and
Howard D. is a pupil in the public school.
Source: History of Morrow County, Ohio by A. J. Baughman -
Vol. II - Chicago-New York: The Lewis Publishing Co. - 1911
– pp. 595-596
Contributed by a Generous Genealogist |
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WILLIAM
ELSWORTH WILSON - In South Bloomfield township,
Morrow county, Ohio. William Elsworth Wilson is
engaged in diversified agriculture. There in the midst
of highly cultivated fields stand good buildings and an air
of nearness and thrift pervades the place, indicating the
careful supervision of hte practical and progressive owner.
He represents one of the pioneer families of the fine old
Buckeye state and is numbered among the native sons of Knox
county, his birth having there occurred on the 15th of
August, 1863. His parents, William and Sarah
(Hayes) Wilson, were both natives of Pennsylvania,
whence they came to Ohio about 1850, settling in Knox
county, slightly east of Sparta. Location was made on
a farm of two hundred and twelve acres, where Mr. and
Mrs. Wilson received a family of thirteen children,
namely: Elizabeth, Annie, Joseph R., Wesley H., William
E., John M., Emma A., Oliver D., Clara, Richard B., Arthur
M., Bertha M. and Hattie D., all of whom are
living in 1911, except Elizabeth, who was summoned to
the life eternal in 1904. The father was a general
farmer, was a stanch Republican in his political
proclivities and during his life time was connected with the
Methodist Episcopal church, in which he was a prominent
worker. He died about 1896, and his cherished and
devoted wife passed away about 1898.
William E. Wilson, the immediate subject of this
review, grew up on the old home, in the work and management
of which he early began to assist his father, and he
continued to reside at home until his marriage, in 1888.
Immediately after that event he established his home on a
farm in Knox county, where the family home was maintained
for a period of eleven years, at the expiration of which, in
1899, removal was made to the fine farm of two hundred acres
in South Bloomfield township, Morrow county, where he has
resided during the long intervening years to the present
time. In politics he accords a stalwart allegiance to
the principles and policies of the Republican party and he
has served with efficiency for eight years on the township
board of trustees. His religious faith is in harmony
with the tenets of the Methodist Episcopal church, in which
he a trustee. Mr. Wilson has been a cooperant
factor in many movements which have been of marked benefit
to the township and county. Honored and respected by
all, the high position which he occupies in public regard
has come to him not alone because of his success in
business, but also because of the straighforward,
honorable policy he has ever followed. Honor and
integrity are synonymous with his name and there is no
citizen in Morrow county more highly esteemed than is
William E. Wilson.
On the 14th of March, 1888, was solemnized the marriage
of Mr. Wilson to Miss Lulu Mitchell, who was
born in Morrow county on the 12th day of May, 1866.
She is a daughter of Lewis and Lenora (Osborn) Mitchell,
both of whom were natives of Ohio. Mr. and Mrs.
Mitchell became the parents of six children - Charles
M., Ellen M., Lulu M., William D., Edwin W., Elmer C.
all of whom are living. Mr. Mitchell was
identified with the great basic art of agriculture during
the major portion of his active business career. He
and his wife were members of the Disciple church and he was
a member of the board of school directors. In politics
he was aligned as a stalwart in the ranks of the Republican
part and he was incumbent of various public offices of
important trust and responsibility. Mr. and Mrs. Wilson
have three children - Hazel G., born on the 9th of
March, 1891, as educated in the Sparta high school and she
is now residing at home; Ernest H., born Feb. 8,
1897, is a student in the Sparta high school; and Homer
E., whose birth occurred on the 20th of May, 1903, is
attending school in South Bloomfield township.
Mr. Wilson is one of the
leading raisers of fine Delaine sheep, registered, and he is
a regular attendant at the state fair of Ohio and other
fairs of prominence. He is a successful and up-to-date
farmer, and the pretty homestead of Mr. and Mrs. Wilson
is known as the "Idlewild Stock Farm."
Source:
History of Morrow County, Ohio by A. J. Baughman - Vol. II -
Chicago-New York: The Lewis Publishing Co. - 1911
- Page 518 |
|
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SAMUEL R. WORDEN.
––It is gratifying to note in the personnel of the
representative agriculturists of Morrow county so large a
number of the native sons of the county have had the
judgment and appreciation to maintain a stanch allegiance to
their “native heath” and have here found ample opportunity
for effective and profitable effort along normal lines of
industrial and business enterprise. Such a one is Mr.
Worden, who is one of the substantial farmers and
stock-growers of Canaan township, where his home is the same
residence in which he was born, and he is not only held in
high esteem in the community where he is best known but he
has also been an influential factor in public affairs in his
native county and stands exemplar of the highest civic
loyalty and progressiveness.
Samuel R. Worden was born on the farm which he now
occupies, in section 28, Canaan township, on the 4th of
September, 1856, and is a son of Richard and Lucinda (Schooly)
Worden, the former of whom was born in Seneca county,
New York, on the 29th of April, 1822, and the latter of whom
was born in Belmont county, Ohio, in 1824. Their marriage
was solemnized about the year 1844. As a child Richard
Worden was virtually adopted by Alexander Purvis,
with whose family he came to Ohio when a lad of six years.
Mr. Purvis established his home in Morrow county and
there Richard Worden was reared to maturity under the
discipline of the farm, in the meanwhile attending at
intervals the pioneer schools of the locality. He continued
to be associated with his foster-father in the work of the
home farm until he married and initiated his independent
career. Soon after his marriage he and his young wife
established themselves upon a farm in Cardington township,
Morrow county, and in the following year, 1845, they removed
to Canaan township and settled upon part of the farm now
owned by their son Samuel R., of this review. Here
Richard Worden reclaimed his land to effective
cultivation and developed a valuable farm, the place having
been but slightly improved at the time when it came into his
possession. He continued to reside on this homestead until
his death, at the age of seventy-four years, and his
cherished and devoted wife was summoned to eternal rest at
the age of seventy-seven years and six months, both having
held at all times the high regard of all who knew them. Of
their large family of children two sons and four daughters
are still living and the subject of this sketch was the
fifth in order of birth of the nine children.
Like the average youth of the locality and period,
Samuel R. Worden gained his early experiences in
connection with the manifold duties pertaining to the work
of the home farm, the while he duly availed himself of the
advantages of the district schools, where he laid the
foundation for the broad and practical knowledge which he
has since gained through self-discipline and through active
association with men and affairs. He was long associated
with his honored father in the work and management of the
farm on which he was born and a portion of which he now owns
and operates. His homestead comprises one hundred acres of
most arable land and to the original improvements on the
same he has made many additions, bringing it up to the best
modern standard. He has rented his farm to his son Carl
and he and his wife will locate in Marion, Ohio, where he
has property. He has shown mature judgment and
discrimination in the various departments of his farm
industry and is one of the essentially representative
agriculturists and stock-growers of his native county,
throughout which he is well known and held in unequivocal
esteem.
In politics Mr. Worden has ever been found
arrayed as a stalwart in the ranks of the Republican party,
and he has taken an active part in its local work. He has
been zealous in supporting such enterprises and measures as
have conserved the advancement and general prosperity of the
community and he served five years as treasurer of Canaan
township. He is affiliated with Denmark Lodge, No. 760,
Independent Order of Odd Fellows, in the village of Denmark,
which is three-fourths of a mile distant from his home, and
of this lodge he is not only past noble grand but has also
represented the same in the Grand Lodge of the Order in the
state. Mrs. Worden was a member of the Methodist
Episcopal church at Denmark, Ohio.
On September 24, 1879, Mr. Worden married
Miss Olive P. Bratton, who, like himself, was born and
reared in the old Buckeye state and who was a resident of
Canaan township at the time of her marriage. She was born
in Marion county, on the 12th of December, 1859, and was a
child at the time of her parents’ removal to Morrow county.
She was summoned to the life eternal on the 26th of April,
1903, and is survived by one son, Carl C., who was
born on the 27th of February, 1883, and who is now one of
the popular and prosperous young agriculturists of Canaan
township. He married Loretta M. Sycks, and they have
one child, Paul C. On the 1st of January, 1906,
Samuel R. Worden contracted a second marriage, being
then united to Mrs. Alice (Miller) Gillson, widow of
Charles Gillson, of Morrow county. She was born in
Marion county, and is a daughter of the late Obediah
Miller, who was a representative citizen of Marion at
the time of his death.
Mr. Worden has shown a vital interest in the
exploiting of the fine agricultural resources of his native
county and in his operations has had recourse to the most
modern and most scientific methods, as well as the best
facilities in the line of farm machinery and implements. He
has been active in the affairs of the Morrow County
Agricultural Society and is a member of its directorate.
Source:
History of Morrow County, Ohio by A. J. Baughman - Vol. II -
Chicago-New York: The Lewis Publishing Co. - 1911 – pp.
819-821
Contributed by a Generous Genealogist. |
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JAMES R. WYKER
is
recognized as one of the most progressive farmers of
Franklin township, Morrow county, Ohio. He believes in
up-to-date, scientific methods in farming as well as in
other lines of business, and with his son is engaged in
operations according to this plan.
Mr. Wyker was born in Knox county, Ohio, April
20, 1851, a son of William and Catherine (Struble) Wyker,
both natives of New Jersey. William Wyker when a
young man of twenty-one years came west to Ohio, and here
married and reared his family. After the death of his wife,
which occurred in March, 1906, at the age of seventy-seven
years, he went to Scranton, Pennsylvania, where he now makes
his home, at this writing being eighty-five years of age.
Their family consisted of four sons and three daughters,
namely: James R., John D., Kate L., Hattie, Hulda, Okey
and Edward.
James R. Wyker passed his boyhood days not
unlike those of other farmer boys in Knox county and
received his education in the Luzerne schools. When he
reached his majority he hired out to his father to work on
the farm by the month, and continued thus occupied for years
after his marriage, which event took place on October 9,
1878. His wife, formerly Miss Sylva Blair, is a
daughter of John Blair and a granddaughter of
William and Mary Blair, who were of Pennsylvania-German
origin and who migrated to Ohio from Pennsylvania as early
as 1810. John Blair was the first white child born
west of Fredericktown, the date of his birth being 1812. He
died in 1899. Mrs. Wyker’s mother, Arthmisa
(Stevens) Blair, died in 1880, at the age of
seventy-four years. As her inheritance, Mrs. Wyker
received from her father’s estate one hundred and fifty-five
acres in the northeast corner of Franklin township. The
children born to Mr. and Mrs. Wyker, three in number,
are as follows: Herbert (who died in infancy),
Calvin Homer and John Blair. Calvin H.
was born February 4, 1883; is a graduate of the
Fredericktown high school, and took a course in the Ohio
Wesleyan University, Delaware, Ohio, preparatory to fitting
himself for the medical profession. He pursued his medical
studies at Starling Medical University, Columbus, Ohio,
where he graduated in 1908. He is now engaged in the
practice of his profession at Rushville, Ohio. The other
son, John Blair, is engaged in farming with his
father. He was born June 1, 1889. After his graduation, in
1908, from the Fredericktown high school he entered the
State University and began an agricultural course which he
expects to complete. A special feature of the John Blair
farm is the maple orchard, a grove of four hundred and fifty
trees, from which they manufacture maple syrup, for the
purity and excellent quality of which they have made a
reputation, their average syrup yield being about one
hundred and seventy-five gallons. Their brand is “Wyker’s
Pure Maple Syrup.” While the majority of farmers in this
locality are denuding their land, the Wykers take the
opposite course, and have recently planted two hundred young
maples, thus adding to the value of their grove.
Mr. Wyker and his family are members of the
Waterford Presbyterian church, and politically he is a
Democrat.
Source:
History of Morrow County, Ohio by A. J. Baughman - Vol. II -
Chicago-New York: The Lewis Publishing Co. - 1911 – pp.
652-653
Contributed by a Generous Genealogist. |
