Cardington Twp. –
DUBOIS ST. JOHN, merchant; Cardington; is a native of Poughkeepsie, N. Y.; born Feb. 7, 1826; the son of Anson St. John, a native of Ridgefield, Fairfield Co., Ct.  The father was the youngest of eleven children, and when small was apprenticed to a wheelwright.  After serving seven years, he concluded that the trade was of but little use to its possessors, because of the introduction of new machinery.  He therefore learned the cabinet-makers’ trade, and whilst young removed to Poughkeepsie, N. Y., where he began the manufacture of furniture, and conducted an extensive business.  The greater portion of his stock was sold in New York City.  While here he married Miss Phoebe White, a native of Orange Co., N. Y.  She died in 1833, leaving three small children.  In 1835 he sold out and removed to the “Mosier Settlement,” in what is now Morrow Co., and in about two years came to Cardington.  His next marriage was to Mrs. Sally A. Ink, a widow lady with three children.  From this union there was one son -- James.  He was Second Lieutenant in Co. I, 3rd Reg. O. V. I., Captain John Beatty’s company, in the three months’ service.  He re-enlisted in the same regiment, and was promoted to captain on Gen. Lytle’s staff, and was killed at the battle of Perrysville, Ky.  His untimely death was greatly deplored.  Anson St. John died in 1860.  DuBois St. John left his home at the age of eleven, and worked at whatever he could find to do.  When fourteen he entered the tin shop of Mr. John Gurley, of Marion, where he remained until twenty; then for four years worked as a journeyman; after which he started a small tin-shop in Cardington.  His trade gradually increased until he became the most extensive dealer in tin and hardware in the county.  He was married to Miss Matilda Kingman, May 15, 1851; they had one child, Matilda A., who died in infancy.  Mrs. St. John died March 31, 1852, aged 25 years, 1 month and 18 days.  His marriage with Eliza Galbraith occurred Jan. 22, 1855.  She was born Dec. 13, 1832, and died Aug. 13, 1876; one child was born to them, Edgar A; he now resides in Union Co., although in partnership with his father in the hardware business.  Mr. St. John has been identified for years with the banking interests of Morrow Co.; was one of a company who instituted the First National Bank of Cardington.  He is public spirited, and contributes to the welfare of the community or his fellow men.  He owns a nicely improved farm of 700 acres in Union Co., 800 acres of land in Michigan, besides valuable property in Kansas, and in Cardington.  He is a stalwart republican, and advocates with earnestness the principles of that party.  He is a genial gentleman and a much respected citizen.
Source: History of Morrow County and Ohio – Chicago: O. L. Baskin, 1880, p. 584
Contributed by a Generous Genealogist.

South Bloomfield Twp. –
IRA SALISBURY, retired farmer P. O. Sparta; is a native of New York, and was born in 1811; his parents were old settlers in the State of Ohio, and were closely identified with its history.  When the father came to Ohio, in 1815, having considerable money, and not thinking it wise to carry it with him, he placed it in a trunk, which was sent by rail, but in its passage to Ohio it was broken open and rifled of all this hard earned money.  This loss baffled his calculations, and he had many hardships to undergo before he had a home he could call his own.  Upon his arrival in Ohio he stopped for four months in the old fort at Delaware, and at the expiration of that time, moved to a farm that he had rented, five miles north of the town; he remained there about twelve years, working, economizing and saving, and then purchased a farm of 130 acres, in Harmony Tp., where he moved in about 1828, first stopping for a short time near Mt. Gilead; both the father and mother were born in 1780, and were married in Sept., 1805.  These parents, Ephraim and Lydia (Windsor) Salisbury had a family of seven children -- Celinda, Ennis, Ganza, Ira, Ephriam, Amy and Rebecca, all of whom are married and have families of their own.  Ira’s education was limited because of demand for his services on the farm.  At the age of 21 the proceeds of his labor went to himself, yet he continued to live with his father.  He was united in marriage Dec. 12, 1833, to Hannah, a daughter of Rev. David James, and by her had a family of eight children -- David, Ephriam, Elizabeth, Dinah, Ennis, Adin, Minerva and Brunson.  Mr. Salisbury lived with his father until he died; supporting him, but using the proceeds for himself.  In June, 1847, the father gave Ira a deed to the 130 acres, purchased when he first came to Harmony Tp.  At different times this was added to, until, he owned 380 acres; but since that time he has disposed of it all.  Mr. Salisbury at present owns some lots, and a few acres of land in and near Sparta.  His wife, Hannah, died Dec. 13, 1865; and on the 26th day of Nov., 1868, he married Diana (Hamill) Manville, the widow of John Manville.  Mr. Salisbury’s sons Ephriam, Ennis and Adin, were in the late war.  Adin lost an eye at Chattanooga.  Ennis was in sixteen battles, going on the march to the sea with Sherman.  Ephriam and Ennis are both married, and live in Missouri, and have families; Diana is married and lives in New York.  Mr. Salisbury is a member of the Baptist Church; he became a member in 1824.  He is also one of the most radical and influential Republicans in the southern part of the county.
Source: History of Morrow County and Ohio – Chicago: O. L. Baskin, 1880, pp. 676-677
Contributed by a Generous Genealogist.

Chester Twp. –
JUDSON A. SALISBURY, farmer; P. O. Chesterville; was born May 31, 1850, in this township, where he has always remained. His father’s name was Emness and his mother’s, Elizabeth (Evans) Salisbury. His father died when he was young, which left Judson in the sole care of his mother, who took a mother’s interest in him and gave him the advantage of an education, requiring only a portion of his time on the farm. He was married Dec. 24, 1872, to Nora, daughter of William and Elizabeth (Titus) Kelly. Her parents had six children: Amanda, Henrietta, Bennett, Nora, Judson and Belle. She was born May 22, 1851; 112½ acres of land were given him by his mother. In 1871, he built himself a fine dwelling, in which he now resides. They have three children, Lizzie B., Charles K. and David C.  He is a member of Chester Lodge No. 204, I. O. O. F., in which he has held office. He and his wife are members of the Baptist church at Chester, in which he is Trustee. They are active members of the Sunday School.
Source: History of Morrow County and Ohio – Chicago: O. L. Baskin, 1880, p. 616
Contributed by a Generous Genealogist

Gilead Twp. –
JOSEPH SAYRE, deceased, Mt. Gilead; was born in Dover, Morris Co., N. J., Sept. 5, 1805, and lived there twenty-four years, during which time he learned the blacksmith’s trade, and in 1829 came West, prospecting, and entered the place located one mile north of Mt. Gilead; he then returned to New Jersey, and settled up his business, and Oct. 25, 1831, married Miss Almira E. Hurd, a native of Morris Co., N. J.; in the fall of 1832, they came West on the farm he had formerly entered. They built a log cabin in the woods, and began clearing a farm, on which he lived until his death, Sept. 13, 1875. Of their eight children, seven are living -- Louisa, now Mrs. W. H. Green, of Coshocton, O.; Alfred H., on the present place; Sidney A., in Nebraska; Eveline F., now Mrs. M. Burt, of Mt. Gilead; Annie E., now Mrs. Jas. Stewart, of Mansfield, O.; Emma C., teaching at West Liberty, O.; Maria C., living at home; Harry Seward, killed while in the army.  Mrs. Sayre is living on the old homestead, where she settled in 1832.  Her parents, Joseph and Matilda (Seward) Hurd, were natives of New Jersey and New York. They married in New Jersey and lived most of their lives in Morris Co., where they died. The ancestors of these families were from Holland and Wales, and bore a conspicuous part in the Revolutionary war. Mrs. Sayre’s grandfather was Col. John Seward, who took an active part in that struggle.
Source: History of Morrow County and Ohio – Chicago: O. L. Baskin, 1880, pp. 555-556
Contributed by a Generous Genealogist.

Franklin Twp. –
JAMES SCHANCK, dealer in horses; Pulaskiville. The subject of this sketch was born in Tompkins Co., N. Y., Apr. 2, 1818. He was raised on a farm, and had few advantages for education, being three miles distant from the school-house. On reaching his majority he went from beneath the paternal roof. He soon after purchased forty-eight acres where his son Ulysses lived, and in time added twelve acres more. It was wild land, and he at once began clearing and improving it, working very hard until he was “out of the woods.” In about 1845 he began dealing in horses, of which he was always fond. His first venture was to lead a drove of ten or fifteen horses to Cleveland, where he shipped to Buffalo by steamboat, and then led them through to Tompkins. Co., N. Y. a journey of fifteen days. He has handled from fifty to two hundred horses per year for thirty-five years. During the war he furnished some five hundred horses for the Government. He has shipped to and sold horses in the following markets: New York, Patterson, Newark, Newton, Port Jervis, Providence, Boston, Buffalo, Albany, Cleveland, Cincinnati and Columbus. He married Margaret Stevens, a daughter of Jacob and Nancy Stevens, of this township, on New Year's day, 1840. In eleven months she died, leaving one child, who lived two months longer. In 1842 he united his fortunes with Rebecca Jane Stevens, of the same family. She was born in this township, June 16, 1826. Of this marriage eight children were born -- Nancy A., born Aug. 29, 1843; married Banner Hart, of this township; Ulysses, July 4, 1845, married Hattie B. Hammond, and has a son and daughter -- Budd D. and Iva M. He is a man of remarkable energy, fine business qualities, and a pleasant gentleman, who is doing a prosperous business with his father in shipping horses; John B., born Aug. 18, 1847, died Aug. 13, 1874; James, born March 12, 1851, married Mary E. Jenkins, and is now dealing in horses at Providence, R. I., Mary, died when three years old; Alta, born June 6, 1858, married Joseph Lincoln, of Congress Tp., Ella May, born Dec. 5, 1861; Ida Belle, Nov. 25, 1865. Our subject is the youngest son of William and Mary (Hoff mire) Schanck. His grandfathers, Schanck and Hoffmire, both came from Holland. His father learned the trade of a mason in New York City, and lived for some time in Monmouth, N. J., and went from there to Tompkins Co.; N. Y. About 1831, he emigrated to Huron Co., Ohio, where he lived until about 1836, when he moved to Knox Co., Ohio, where he resided until his death, in about 1841. He was the father of nine children -- William, Rebecca, Anna, Sally, John, Peter, Susan, James and Lydia; of these but three a re living.  Peter, a farmer in Clinton Co., Mich.; Lydia, now Mrs. Samuel Peoples, of this township, and James; all the rest leave families.  Mr. Shanck lived on what is known as the “Clutter Farm,” from 1866 to 1879; but the reverses of business over which he had no control, and for which he was not responsible, came, and he gave up all. He now lives with his son Ulysses, his wife having died. He is a man of quick perception, sound judgment, a close student of human nature, and upright in all his business transactions. Of the Stevens family, extensive mention is made in the history of this township. Abednego Stevens, grandfather of Mrs. Schanck, came to Mt. Vernon about 1810, where he bought a large tract of land, and soon after entered a large body of land in this township; and his son Jacob, settled on the farm where James Lanhers now lives, about 1812.  His wife, Nancy, walked through from Bedford Co., Penn. They blazed a road through from Mt. Vernon, while she walked a distance of eighteen miles and carried her child; and Jacob at one time carried a grist to Mt. Vernon on his back. Her husband was away much of his time at Mt. Vernon, and she was made the victim of the treachery and malice of the Indians, being at home with the little ones. Her husband died in 1829, leaving her with six small children, but she managed to raise them comfortably. She is now living in DeKalb Co., Missouri, in her eighty-seventh year. For the courage and presence of mind in great danger, history should perpetuate her name, along with such heroines as Hannah Dustin.
Source: History of Morrow County and Ohio – Chicago: O. L. Baskin, 1880, pp. 793-794
Contributed by a Generous Genealogist.

Westfield Twp. –
JOHN SCHORR, farmer; P. O. Cardington; deserves especial recognition in our work as an example of what German industry and thrift has done in this township.  Beginning without a dollar, he has, by his own labor and prudent management, worked his way to the foremost rank among the farmers in this locality, and, in fact, his farm is excelled by none in point of fertility and improvement, brought out by the skillful hand of Mr. Schorr; he was born in Bavaria, Germany, May 14, 1813, of Fredrich and Elizabeth Schorr, and was brought up at farming; he came to America in 1841, landing in New York, from whence he went to Columbus, O, where he worked as a laborer for twelve years; in 1843 he married Anna Mary Schertzer, also a native of Bavaria, who came here with her parents in 1838.  In 1853 he moved to this county, buying fifty-five acres of land at Shaw Town, which he subsequently traded for a farm of the same amount, embracing a part of the tract he now owns, and to which he has since added, at one time, forty-five acres, and another sixty acres; in addition to this he owns a house and lot in Cardington; his farm is well ditched, and has superior buildings, and he is engaged in general stock raising.  He has a family of five children -- John, Elizabeth, married to Fred Heimlich, and Mary Ann, married to Daniel Beckel, are settled in Richland Tp., Marion Co., on good farms.  His oldest daughter, Barbara, is married to Jacob Young, one of the business men of Delaware, O.  His youngest son, Lewis Fredrick, is engaged in farming with his father.  Mr. Schorr is a member of the Lutheran Church, and in politics a Democrat.
Source: History of Morrow County and Ohio – Chicago: O. L. Baskin, 1880, p. 648
Contributed by a Generous Genealogist.

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

South Bloomfield Twp. –
FLOYD SEARS, farmer P. O. Bloomfield; is the son of Enoch Sears and Laura (Marvin) Sears, and was born in New York, Jan. 7, 1817.  The father was a farmer, and of English decent.  The parents were married in 1816, and came to Ohio in 1834; there was born a family of eight children, three of whom died in infancy -- Floyd, Lewis, George, Harriett, Aaron Burr, Rufus, and two that died in infancy.  George W. married Rebecca Love, and lives in South Bloomfield Tp.; Aaron B. married Catharine Struble, lives in South Bloomfield Tp.; Lewis died; Harriet married Dr. L. T. Dewitt; Rufus married Mary Struble, and lives in Richland Co., Floyd spent his youth at home, receiving a limited education.  In March, 1839, he married Victorine P., daughter of Sheldon Clark, and to them there were born three sons -- Clark G., born July 13, 1840; Smith, born Feb., 1843; the third son died in infancy.  In 1863, Clark married Deborah J. Cavert, daughter of John and Rebecca Cavert; they have one son, Charley A., born Dec. 6, 1871.  Smith married Susan Vail in 1864, and lives in the village of Bloomfield; as does Clark and family, also.  Enoch Sears died in 1876, and his wife in 1871.  Mrs. Sears’ grand-parents, on her father’s side, were Daniel Clark and Phedima (Curtis) Clark, who had a family of four children -- Roswell, Marshall, Ransom and Sheldon.  Sheldon’s wife was Selina McEwen, daughter of Ephraim McEwen.  In Sheldon’s family were two girls -- Victorine P., born 1822, and Rebecca J., born 1828.  Rebecca married Charles Jackson; he died, and she afterward married Allen S. Moffett.  Sheldon Clark came with his family to South Bloomfield Tp., in 1826.  Floyd is a Republican, and himself and family are members of the M. E. Church.  Mr. Sears has held various township offices of trust; he owns 210 acres of well improved land; he is one of the trustees of the Bloomfield Cemetery.  His father sowed in wheat the first summer-fallow ever sowed in the township, and raised quite a good crop.  Mr. Sears is one of the most prominent men in the township, and is universally honored and respected.
Source: History of Morrow County and Ohio – Chicago: O. L. Baskin, 1880, pp. 677-678
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.

Congress Twp. –
WILLIAM SECHRIST, farmer; P. O. Shaucks; was born in York Co., Penn., Feb. 23, 1834, and is the oldest son of Henry and Mary (Clinefetter) Sechrist, who are both of York Co., Pa.  At the age of 23, William came West and lived two years in Marion Co., and in Clark Co. one year, when he returned to York Co., Pa., and after, one year’s stay, returned to this county and worked one year in Johnsville, where he was married to Caroline Henry, who was born Feb. 12, 1842 (in this township), who is a daughter of Martin Henry; her mother’s maiden name was Julia Ann Wilhelm.  After marriage, they moved to Marion Co., where he had twenty acres of land, and lived two years on the place, which proved to be so sickly that he sold it and returned to Morrow Co., and lived eight years on the Ridy place, in Perry Tp.; he afterwards moved to Mr. Henry’s farm, which he worked one year, and then made a purchase of the land he now owns, which consists of forty-four acres, all of which he acquired by his own industry; beginning life poor, he has fought his way through, and has worked hard for what he earned, and saved his means until he was able to purchase his home. He is a, good farmer, and his farm is well kept. They have had five children, whose names and ages are as follows: Mary, born March 19, 1863; Eli, October 18, 1865; Ida, September 26, 1868; Alice, December 13, 1872; Sarah A., December 15, 1874.  He is a member of the Lutheran Church.
Source: History of Morrow County and Ohio – Chicago: O. L. Baskin, 1880, p. 700
Contributed by a Generous Genealogist.

North Bloomfield Twp. -
ANNA CATHARINE SEIF, farmer; P. O., Galion; was born in Baden, Germany, Jan. 1, 1830; she was the eighth in a family of ten children; her parents were Conrad and Charlotte Peaster. Her father was a farmer, and being in humble circumstances, he emigrated to this country in 1834, hoping to better his condition. He first settled in Crawford Co., near Galion; but in 1847 he moved into what is now Morrow Co., and remained two years, when he removed to Michigan, and lived there the rest of his life, dying in 1864. Catharine had few of the advantages of procuring an education in those early days, as she commenced working out when very young, and did a woman's work when a mere child; she was married Aug. 13, 1848, to Michael (second son of Jacob and Margaret) Seif; they lived together very happily until his death, which occurred July 13, 1873. He was an upright man and strictly moral. He was a class-leader in the German Methodist Church for eighteen years, to which he and his wife belonged. They had eight children, seven of whom are living – Margaret, John F., Catharine E., Daniel, Joseph A., Mary H., and Lydia L. Their third child, Samuel, died in Michigan a short time before his father's death. The property was left to Mrs. Seif, and she is constantly improving it, and endeavoring to make it as attractive as possible, thereby hoping to induce her sons to remain on the farm and not let it go to strangers.
Source: History of Morrow County and Ohio – Chicago: O. L. Baskin, 1880, p. 630.
Contributed by a Generous Genealogist

North Bloomfield Twp. -
PHILIP SEIF, farmer; P. O. Galion; the youngest of a family of five children, was born in Baden, Germany, March 3, 1829, and was brought to this country by his parents with the rest of the family when but three months old; he passed his boyhood days in helping clear up the farm, on which he has always lived; when in his twelfth year, his father died, and his life was rendered none the pleasanter by this event, as it increased the cares of himself and brothers. He now lives on the old homestead, where he spent his early life; he was married Oct. 16, 1853, to Harriet, daughter of Henry and Catharine Alshouse, seven years afterward she was called from this world of trouble, leaving a sorrowing husband and three small children – Franklin, Lewis and William. He was again married, Aug. 29, 1861, to Mrs. Rachel Dye, who had two children by her first husband (James Dye); their names are Vincent K. and Nancy. There are six children by the second marriage – Harriet, Ellen, Fernando, George, Michael and Edward. Mr. Seif owns a good farm of about 100 acres; he has been Trustee of the township, and his good nature and sociable disposition surround him with friends.
Source: History of Morrow County and Ohio – Chicago: O. L. Baskin, 1880, p. 630.
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.

North Bloomfield Twp. -
JACOB SELL, farmer; P. O. Whetstone; is the third of a family of ten children, and was born May 20, 1827, in York Co., Penn.; his father, Adam Sell, was born in Adams Co., Penn., and his mother, Mary (Schisler) Sell, was from the same State, York Co. Mr. Sell, Sen., was a blacksmith, and worked at the trade as long as he remained in his native State; he emigrated to Ohio in 1834, and soon settled on the farm on which Jacob now lives; there were enough logs cut to build a small cabin, and from these a shop was formed; as soon as he could build a house he moved on the farm and when not engaged in the shop he was busy clearing up and improving his land. He soon quit the trade and paid his whole attention to farming, until his death, which occurred in 1878. Jacob left home when of age, to learn the carpenter's trade, and worked at this for twelve years, when he started for the “gold fields” of California. After five years of varied success as well as varied employment, he returned to this State, and once more worked at his old trade till the death of his father, when he moved on the old homestead, and has since been a farmer. He was married July 13, 1865, to Elizabeth, daughter of Adam and Margaret Hibner; she was born Feb. 13, 1841, and is German descent; her father died when she was 5 years of age, and from that time till her marriage she had to take care of herself; she experienced all the hardships incident to the life of one in her situation, yet she was protected by Him who has promised to be the orphan's guide. They have three children -- Mary J., Adam H. and Charley W.
Source: History of Morrow County and Ohio – Chicago: O. L. Baskin, 1880, p. 629-630.
Contributed by a Generous Genealogist

Cardington Twp. –
JOHN SELLARS, farmer and stock-dealer and raiser; P. O., Cardington; was born in Perry Co., Ohio, Nov. 1, 1827, and is the oldest of a family of four children of Jacob and Effa (Fluckey) Sellars; George Fluckey, a revolutionary soldier, and grandfather of John Sellars, removed from Perry Co., O., to Morrow Co., and settled upon the farm now owned by the former, in the year 1834.  John Sellars’ parents came the same year and entered an adjoining piece of land. They brought with them 40 heads of sheep, but it was not long until the entire flock were killed by the wolves, which at that early day were very troublesome. They were hard-working people, and had soon made for themselves comfortable homes. Jacob Sellars died in 1850, his loss being deeply felt by his family and numerous friends; his wife survives him and is a resident of Cardington Tp.  John Sellars passed his youth and early manhood assisting his father upon the farm; he received but a limited education, and on the 29th of March, 1849, was united in marriage with Miss Jane Curl, daughter of William Curl, Esq., one of the early settlers of Cardington. Tp.; she was born Jan. 9, 1828, in Clark Co., O.  The fruits of this union were ten children, eight of whom are now living -- Selby, Lucinda, Wiley, Amanda, Lovina, Isadora, Ross and Leman; those deceased were named Alva and Freeman. Mr. Sellars first purchased forty acres of land, which he has owned a great many years; he now owns 310 acres of well-improved land in Cardington Tp.; also valuable property in the village, besides lands in Paulding Co., O., and in Missouri. He is a Prohibitionist politically, and an earnest advocate of the Temperance Reform. He takes great interest in religious and educational enterprises [sic], and has, for a great many years, been a consistent member of the United Brethren Church. He deals largely in fine stock of all kinds; he has a stud of thirty horses now upon his farm, and is the owner of Mohawk Jackson, whose record as a trotter is scarcely second to any horse in the State; he is also the owner of several fine Bashaw horses. There are few men in Morrow Co. who have done so much to improve all kinds of stock as Mr. Sellars, and the county would be much better off had it more such men.
Source: History of Morrow County and Ohio – Chicago: O. L. Baskin, 1880, p. 585
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.

Harmony Twp. -
B. A. SELLERS, farmer; P. O., Chesterville; war born Feb. 3, 1851, and is a son of Henry Sellers, whose sketch appears in Chester Tp. He early began attending school, and became very proficient in his studies, which enabled him to teach school; this avocation he followed for three terms, and was considered the most successful pedagogue of the township. He was married Sept. 21, 1873, to Minerva A., daughter of Joel D. and Abigail (Lewis) Bruce; she was born March 2, 1855. They settled after marriage on the present farm of 84 acres, owned by his father, and has since remained here. Has been prominently identified with the Democratic party, and by that organization was chosen Township Clerk for the year of 1880. He makes a specialty of Poland-China hogs. His wife is a member of the Old School Baptist Church.
Source: History of Morrow County and Ohio – Chicago: O. L. Baskin, 1880, p. 716
Contributed by a Generous Genealogist

Chester Twp. –
HENRY SELLERS, farmer; P. O. Chesterville; was born in 1816, in Pennsylvania; his father, David, was a native of Maryland, and his mother, Sarah Snyder, a native of Pennsylvania; they emigrated to Ohio about 1834, and settled in Harmony Tp., this county; their children were John, Henry, Joseph, David, William and Sarah, (twins), and George. Henry remained with his parents and attended school, aside from which he performed the necessary duties about the farm. He was married in 1844, to Margaret H., a daughter of Jacob and Priscilla (Martin), Wolfe; she was born in Richland Co., this State, and was one of thirteen children: Joshua, Eliza, Nancy, John, Jacob, Priscilla, Margaret, Sarah, George, Sabina, Mary A., Martin -- the latter was scalded to death -- (one died unmarried). This union has given Mr. Sellers four children -- Nancy, Loretta, Esther A., and B. A.  In 1849, he bought the present farm of 100 acres, of Charles Wright, owned first by Thomas George; he has improved the same and has one of the finest farms in the country, being well watered by springs; he has been Township Trustee of Harmony. He votes the Democratic ticket. He and his brother John cut out 320 rods of road in this county.
Source: History of Morrow County and Ohio – Chicago: O. L. Baskin, 1880, p. 615
Contributed by a Generous Genealogist

Franklin Twp. –
GARRETT SELOVER, farmer; P. O., Chesterville; among the wealthy and influential agriculturists of Morrow Co., the gentleman whose name heads this sketch deserves more than a passing notice, as a man who has succeed in spite of many discouragements; he is the third son in a family of five children -- James, Isaac B., Garret, John W. and Mary A.; Garrett was born Sept. 27, 1821, in Tompkins Co., N. Y.; his father, William Selover, and family (except James) came to Middlebury Tp., Knox Co., Ohio, in about 1835, and James, the oldest son, was married in the state of New York, and joined the family the next winter; the parents were natives of New Jersey, and came to New York in an early day. They purchased 75 acres in Middlebury Tp., and 174 in Franklin Tp.; both were in the green woods then. Mr. Selover united in marriage with Elizabeth Winteringer, Dec. 21, 1843, and in about 1844 settled on 100 acres of the present site. Three children were the fruit of this union, all of whom are dead. His wife, Elizabeth, died Oct. 15, 1852.  Nov. 8, 1853, he was married to Esther, a daughter of William and Grace (Lavering) Rambo; she was born June 28, 1826; her parents were natives of Pennsylvania and settled near Stephen Cook’s, in 1813, where they raised a family of eight children -- Reece L., Mary, Daniel, Nathan, Lamech, Tabitha, Eli and Esther. Eli Rambo enlisted in the 26th Michigan Regiment, and fell at Richmond, May 11, 1864. Mr. Selover received a limited education, and by close attention he has developed his mind and amassed a handsome property of 200 acres of land; he and wife hold a membership in the Presbyterian Church; his eminent success in business has made him a useful man in township affairs, and for many years he has been chosen Trustee. He has one son, Lamech R. Selover, who united his fortunes with Hannah J. Rogers, of Montgomery Co., Penn., Dec. 25, 1879.  Our subject lost his sight in the fall of 1871, and by a painful operation, he partially recovered.
Source: History of Morrow County and Ohio – Chicago: O. L. Baskin, 1880, p. 795
Contributed by a Generous Genealogist.

  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.

Congress Twp. –
HENRY SHADE, farmer; P. O., Pulaskiville; was born in Perry Tp., in Nov., 1829, and is the fifth child of a family of six, born to Henry and Nancy (Parker) Shade; both were natives of Baltimore Co., Md., and emigrated to this region at an early period of its settlement; the father was a soldier in the war of 1812, and moved into this township in 1845, locating on the farm now owned by Mr. Axtell; here he lived until his death in 1847; he was born in 1782; Henry lived at his paternal home until his marriage with Hannah Cyphers, who was born in New Jersey, Oct. 24, 1835, the daughter of James and Keziah (Banghart) Cyphers; they were married May 12, 1856, and located on the farm which he now owns, consisting of eighty acres; the buildings upon it are improvements made by him; they have had eleven children, nine of whom are living; the record in the family Bible gives the order of births as follows -- Christina, born March 15, 1857; Lucina, Sept. 5, 1858; Rose, Sept. 4, I860; Frank, Oct. 17, 1863; John, Sept. 11, 1865; James H., July 24, 1867; Charles, Nov, 29, 1869; Fred, Dec. 18, 1871; Burr, May 10, 1873; Ossie and Voicy, twins, Sept. 20, 1878. The latter died Oct. 29, 1878, and the former April 9, 1879; Mr. Shade’s mother still lives and resides with him, having been in an almost helpless condition for two years.
Source: History of Morrow County and Ohio – Chicago: O. L. Baskin, 1880, pp. 699-700
Contributed by a Generous Genealogist.

Gilead Twp. -
JACOB H. SHAFER, farmer and stock-raiser; P. O. Cardington; was born in Delaware, now Morrow Co., Ohio, about the year 1815, and lived there until he was 25 years of age; he then moved to Marion Co., and farmed there for fourteen years; thence to Cardington, where he followed teaming and farming, until 1868, when he came to his present place, and has lived there since. Nov. 24, 1841, he married Miss Hester Ann Cupp; she was born in Pickaway Co., and moved to Crawford Co., and lived there until she was 17 years old, when she went to Delaware Co., and lived there until her marriage. They had twelve children, eight of whom are living, viz.-- Mary E., now Mrs. Albright, Van Wert Co., Ohio; Helen M., now Mrs. Lewis, of Morrow Co., Ohio; Barbara A. at home; Wm. S., Morrow Co., Ohio; Nancy, now Mrs. Loffer; Morrow Co., Ohio; Sarah C., now Mrs. Lucas, Marion Co., Ohio; Jacob A., Morrow Co., Ohio; Lucetta F., now Mrs. Kisling, Morrow Co., Ohio; also Minnie F., adopted in infancy. Mr. Shafer has always been a hard-working man, and has earned all he has by his own labor and management. He owns 113 acres located two miles southeast of Mt. Gilead. His parents, William and Sallie (Dewitt) Shafer, were natives of Pennsylvania, they married there, and came to Delaware Co., Ohio, in the year 1810; he enlisted and served during the war of 1812, after which he moved to Cass Co., Ind., where he died; his wife died in Marion Co., Ohio, previous to his going West. Mrs. Shafer's parents, Conrad and Elizabeth (Cruninger) Cupp, were natives of Pennsylvania; they married there, and moved to Pickaway Co. at an early day, and in 1824, they moved to Crawford Co., where they died.
Source: History of Morrow County and Ohio – Chicago: O. L. Baskin, 1880, p. 556
Contributed by a Generous Genealogist

Washington Twp. –
J. W. SHAFFER, farmer, P. O., Galion; was born in Washington Tp., Morrow Co., July 17, 1846; his parents (still living on the farm adjoining) were among the early settlers, coming from Mansfield, O., but originally from Germany.  Mr. Shaffer has spent all these years on his father’s farm, or that portion of it which is come into his possession.  His opportunities for an education were limited to the public schools in the near vicinity, but these were eagerly seized and conscientiously improved.  May 3, 1866, he married Miss Mary Burkhart, whose early home was in Pennsylvania, but more recently in Marion Co. of this State.  They have three children; the two oldest are as follows: Sarah Ellen, 13 years, and Ida May, 7 years of age.  Mr. Shaffer has a fine farm, numbering 50 acres, in a fine state of cultivation.  In this he interests himself, keeping it in good repair, raising good crops, and is making a success as a practical farmer.
Source: History of Morrow County and Ohio – Chicago: O. L. Baskin, 1880, p. 751
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.

Gilead Twp. –
REV. HENRY SHEDD; Mt. Gilead; was born in Jeffrey Cheshire Co., N. H., May 16, 1803, and is the son of John and Susannah (White) Shedd; his mother was born in Massachusetts, and his father in New Hampshire; he was a blacksmith by trade, engaged in farming the latter days of his life; he died a Christian in 1819.  A few months after his death, Henry commenced study with a view of obtaining an education. While fitting for college at the Academy in New Ipswich, N. H., he was converted and united with the Congregational Church of New Ipswich. His college studies were pursued at Dartmouth College, under the Presidency of Bennet Tyler, D.D., where he graduated in a class of thirty-six, in the year 1826.  Just one half of the class became ministers of the gospel.  Five members of the class have resided in the state of Ohio -- Salmon P. Chase, Prof. John Kendrick, Rev. A. R. Clark, Rev. Henry Little, were members of the class; during the course of Rev. Henry Shedd’s classical studies, he taught school about twelve months to obtain means to enable him to pursue his education; pursued three years’ course of study in the Theological Seminary, Andover, Mass., and graduated in a class of thirty-four, in the year 1829.  While he was a member of college and of the seminary, he spent several vacations dividing his Sabbaths in neighborhoods destitute of regular preaching, holding religious meetings, organizing Sabbath schools and visiting from house to house.  One of these places was in New Hampshire, where he labored in 1828, and where is now the city of Manchester, the largest city of that state.  He was licensed to preach the gospel by the Presbytery of Newburyport, in April, 1829, and spent the vacation of six weeks immediately following in assisting Rev. N. Bouton, of Concord, N. H., in his pastoral labors.  During that vacation and the term following at the Seminary, he preached forty-four times in various places.  He was ordained Sept. 24, 1829, with fifteen others, by the Presbytery of Newburyport, in Park Street Church, Boston.  By his commission from the Executive Committee of the A. H. M. Society, he was appointed to preach the gospel in such place in Ohio as should be designated with the advice of Rev. Jacob Little, L. G. Bingham, and A. Pomeroy, after his arrival.  Oct. 7, 1829, Rev. Mr. Shedd and wife left Leominster, Mass, the residence of his mother and step-father, Deacon Abel Kendall, for Ohio, by stage; went to Schenectady, N. Y.; proceeded by canal boat to Lockport; thence by stage by way of the Falls to Buffalo; thence by steamboat to Cleveland; thence by carriage route to Granville, where they arrived Oct. 28, taking the most expeditious route, without unnecessary delay, taking them three weeks to make the journey; his location was fixed in the eastern part of Marion Co., in the beech woods in a place now called Mt. Gilead, then a new, woody, muddy country, without roads or bridges or any improvements, except little openings here and there in the dense forests, with the hospitable new-comers in their cabins, connected by trails or blazed paths.  Two Presbyterian Churches had been erected a few years previous, and left without preaching; one three miles east, called Center, and the other six miles west in Canaan Tp.  The Presbytery of Columbus, with which Rev. Mr. Shedd united, then embraced seven counties; this field he occupied twenty years.  He then spent one year and a half in preaching in Pisgah, when He returned to Mt. Gilead, where he remained four years longer, when he received a call from Lower Liberty and Little Mill Creek; after an absence of eleven years he returned to Mt. Gilead.  That field included what is now Morrow Co., and parts of Richland, Crawford, Marion and Delaware Counties, embracing fourteen points where he preached regularly, besides many other places where he preached occasionally.  Within the field he supplied seven churches, as follows: Center, five years as stated supply and three years pastor; Canaan, four years as stated supply and one year pastor; Mt. Gilead, seven years as stated supply, and eleven years as pastor; Oxford, one year as stated supply; Sandusky, two years as stated supply; Berlin, nine months as stated supply. The other missionary field to which he removed in April 1842, and occupied eleven years, embraced the most of Union, part of Madison, and a considerable portion of Delaware Counties; he had in the field seventeen points where he preached regularly. He also supplied seven churches in that field, Lower Liberty, Little Mill Creek, Middletown, Marysville, Newton, Delhi and Ashley.  He has been installed three times; Nov. 1, 1833, pastor of Centre of Mt. Gilead and Canaan; May 27, 1842, pastor of Lower Liberty Church; April 28, 1854, pastor of Mt. Gilead Church.  He had preached up to 1864, 4,011 times, administered the Lord’s Supper, either alone or assisted by others, 221 times; baptized 340 persons; married 107 couples, and officiated at the funeral of 223 persons.  He began his ministry in poverty and in debt, and through the whole of his ministerial support, thirty-two and a half years, has averaged but $280 per year.  Rev. Shedd married Miss Mary Gerrish, of Canterbury N. H., Sept. 28, 1829, by whom they had two sons, both living.  She died March, 12, 1835; was married to his present wife, Miss Lucretia George, of Dunbarton, N. H., Sept. 18, 1838; they have one daughter and four sons.
Source: History of Morrow County and Ohio – Chicago: O. L. Baskin, 1880, pp. 553-554
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.

Peru Twp. –
LEWIS D. SHERWOOD, farmer; P.O., Ashley; is the son of David and Margaret Sherwood. David was born October 27, 1802, in Smyth Co., Va., and died Jan., 1873, and his wife, died July, 1876, in Delaware Co., Ohio.  Oct. 22, 1828, Lewis D. Sherwood was born, and in the following year (1829) his parents removed to Ohio. In 1851, June 5, Lewis married Laura J. Ashbrook, born October 23, 1832.  August 18th, 1857, his daughter, Lucy A. Sherwood, now the wife of Wellington M. Shoemaker, was born; she alone being the only representative of Mr. Sherwood’s family union. By occupation Lewis D. Sherwood is a farmer, tidy and economical in all his operations, and consequently gives evidence of thrift in all his surroundings; naturally of a high social order, he of course is one of that class that ever constitutes the basis of good society.
Source: History of Morrow County and Ohio – Chicago: O. L. Baskin, 1880, p. 658
Contributed by a Generous Genealogist

Congress Twp. –
JAMES SHIPMAN, farmer; P. O., Andrews; Dec. 13, 1824, was the most important event in the history of James Shipman, who was then ushered into the world, in Northumberland Co., Penn., from where his parents, Harmon and Mary (Hull) Shipman, emigrated and settled in this county, in Franklin Tp., where he entered a piece of land, and remained on it until his death, which occurred in 1853; his wife died Aug. 20, 1859.  James remained at home until he was 24 years of age; he then started out for himself, empty-handed.  May 22, 1849, he was married to Elizabeth Emick, born May 20, 1827, in Knox Co., near Mt. Vernon, who is a daughter of Henry and Elizabeth (Sawyer) Emick, both of Rockingham Co., Va.  After James’ marriage, he began renting land, which he continued four years, then bought fifty acres in the woods; not a stick had been cut on it; here he built him a cabin 24x18, and lived in the same until 1863, when he sold his interest in Franklin Tp., and moved to Congress Tp., three-quarters of a mile south of Williamsport; there he bought 80 acres of land, and has since been an occupant and owner of the same, having the same clear of debt or incumbrance. They have two children -- George W., born April 2, 1850, who is married, and in business for himself; John V., born Feb. 17, 1857, at home. Both Mr. and Mrs. Shipman are members of the Baptist Church, having been connected with that denomination for twenty-five years.
Source: History of Morrow County and Ohio – Chicago: O. L. Baskin, 1880, p. 700
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.

ADAM SHOEMAKER, deceased, was the first of the Shoemaker family to locate in central Ohio.  He came West as early as 1820 and settled half a mile north of Ashley in what is now Morrow county, then Delaware county, on a tract of wild land 160 acres in extent.  His oldest son, John Shoemaker, had come out here the year before to prepare the way for the rest of the family and had built a log house containing one room.  Into this cabin Mr. Shoemaker moved with his wife and eleven children, nine sons and two daughters.
     Adam Shoemaker was born December 25, 1778, either near Bedford, Pennsylvania, or in Loudoun county, Virginia.  His wife, née Jane Baker, was a native of Pennsylvania.  Six of their children were born in Pennsylvania, four in Zanesville, Ohio, and one in Delaware county, this State.  Mr. Shoemaker was a man of sterling qualities.  In his make-up were found the elements which constitute the true pioneer.  In his political views he was first an old Jacksonian Democrat and afterward a Whig.  He was a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church and by his life exemplified the teachings of his church.  He and his sons cleared the frontier farm on which they settled, and during his life the boys cleared up several other tracts of land.  A brief record of the eleven children is as follows: John, who married Miss Jane Jenkins, a native of Virginia, was killed by a falling tree, in 1845, and left a family of six daughters and one son; Jacob, who married Elizabeth Walters, died about 1884, leaving a family of seven daughters and one son; Daniel, who married Harriet Smith, died at the age of thirty-six years, leaving two sons and two daughters; Jonathan and his wife, née Betsey Jenkins, had a family of six children, and the date of his death was 1883; Betsey, wife of Levi Barton, died, leaving a family of seven children; Joseph, who married Juliett Coomer and reared a family of seven children, is now eighty-four years of age and is a resident of Ashley, Ohio; George, who married Margaret Flemming and had a family of eight children, died in April, 1894, at the age of eighty-one years; Samuel, now seventy-nine years of age and a resident of Cardington, Ohio, has been twice married, ––first to Miss Ann Jones, by whom he had five children, and second to Miss Eliza Lotterige, by whom he had two children; Solomon, a resident of Whitley county, Indiana, and now seventy-five years of age, is married to Mixinda Salmon and has four children; Sally, wife of Ellis Powers, has four or five children and resides in Iowa; and William, who died in Iowa, was twice married and had several children, his firs wife being Mary McGonigle and his second wife Eliza Witham.  The boys in this large family all followed farming, except Samuel who was a carpenter.  Probably no other family has done more toward bringing about the present development of Delaware count] than has the Shoemaker.  They not only cleared away the forest and tilled the soil but they were also ready when duty called in another directions.  Six of them were valiant soldiers in the civil war, one being in Company C, Twenty-sixth Ohio Volunteer Infantry, and the others in Company D, One Hundred and Twenty-first Ohio Volunteer Infantry.  Most of the descendants of Adam Shoemaker, now numbered by the hundreds, are residents of Delaware and Morrow counties, and are among the most worthy citizens of their communities.
     Milton B. Shoemaker, the third child of Daniel and Harriet (Smith) Shoemaker, was born on a farm in Oxford township, Delaware county, Ohio, March 21, 1839.  His early life was not unlike that of other farmer boys of his time, his education being received in the old log school house near his home.  When he was seventeen he began to do for himself, and for one year he was engaged in butchering.  Then he and his sister kept house together at the old homestead.  In January, 1862, he married Matilda Morehouse, and two years later he removed to Ashley and engaged in the grocery and grain business, in company with T. M. Seeds.  In 1866 they sold the grocery and in its stead opened up a stock of hardware.  They continued the hardware and grain business until 1873, when Mr. Shoemaker sold out and turned his attention to milling.  The firm of Shoemaker, Cole & Company erected a flouring mill at Ashley, and under that name the mill was run until 1880, when J. B Miller bought the interest of Mr. Cole and the name was changed to J. B. Miller & Company.  In 1884 Mr. Shoemaker sold out, but February 2, 1889, he again became connected with the mill, having bought half interest in it.  The firm name is now Linn, Shoemaker & Company.  In 1880 the mill was changed from a burr to a roller mill, it being the second roller mill in Ohio.  Mr. Shoemaker is now traveling in the interest of the company, selling flour.  The firm also deals in coal and grain.
     Ever since he located in Ashley Mr. Shoemaker has been an important factor in its upbuilding.  Indeed, few have done more to advance its interests than has he.  He has made three additions to the town, these additions covering a tract of twenty-five acres.  In 1887 he laid out a fine park of thirty acres, which was known as Shoemaker’s park until 1893, when he sold it to the Spiritualists for camp meeting and other gatherings.  The first brick walk in the town was laid by him, and in 1865 he put up the first good dwelling in the town, this having a stone foundation under it.  Since then he has erected three other good dwellings.  He has all these years dealt considerably in real estate, both town and farm property.  At this writing he is the owner of a fine farm of 106 acres adjoining the corporation.  He was one of the organizers of the Ashley Creamery and is a stockholder in the same.
     Mr. Shoemaker was married in Delaware county, as above stated, and has a family of six children, namely: Herrod, who is a member of the firm of Linn, Shoemaker & company, Bian L., a farmer of this county; James Guy, a blacksmith and a resident of Prospect, Ohio; and Ruth, Walter and Vaughn, at home.
Memorial Record of the Counties of Delaware, Union & Morrow, Ohio; Chicago: The Lewis Publishing Co., 1895, pp. 277-279
Contributed by a Generous Genealogist.

Washington Twp. –
JOSEPH H. SHUMAKER, farmer; P. O., Galion; was born in Berks Co., Penn., in the year 1814; his parents were always residents of that county, while his grandparents were amongst the earliest settlers of the same.  Mr. Shumaker remained with his parents till about 18 years of age, when he was apprenticed to the shoemakers’ trade.  He first engaged in that business in Lycoming Co., of his native State, where he carried on a shop for more than a year.  He was now enabled to enlarge his business, and so removed to Harrisburg, and kept a boot and shoe store for the next four years; then he returned to Lycoming Co., where, this time, he remained about four years.  His next change occurred in October, 1844, when he came to the State of Ohio, settling in Fairfield Co., still “sticking to his last;” but, having purchased a farm his attention was somewhat divided between shoemaking and farming.  His trade seems to have become less and less enjoyed, and his farm more desirable; accordingly, after thirteen years passed in these two occupations, he next removed to Washington Tp., Morrow Co., settling on a farm some two miles west of his present residence, and engaged altogether in farming.  At length he moved across the county line into Polk Tp., Crawford Co.  This was in 1864.  Here he engaged in a variety of occupations sufficient to crowd the time and attention of a half-dozen different men -- farming, stock-droving, the grocery and commission business; at the same time owning and managing a steam saw-mill.  Eight years were occupied with these crowding activities; in 1872 he was weary of this variety of life, and hence returned to Washington Tp., to pass the remaining years of his life on a fine farm, in the extreme northeast of the township.  When engaged in business in Harrisburg, Penn., he married Miss Susan Walton, whose early home was in Muncie, Penn., who has shared with him, all these changes.  The old family Bible tells the following story: John, born Sept. 2, 1837; Ebenezer, Dec. 28, 1839; Harriet, Sept. 9, 1842, (died Nov. 18, 1879;) James, Jan. 20, 1845; Joseph A., Sept. 7, 1847; Ann M., Oct. 31, 1849; Elmira C., Feb. 5, 1852; Emily R., June 9, 1854; Clarissie, July 17, 1856; Franklin P., Dec. 20, 1858.  This reveals the fact that all these have lived to maturity; one only has died, and of the remainder, all except two are married, and are living in homes of their own, more or less distant, one only beyond the bounds of the State.  Such is a brief record of an eventful life crowned with success.
Source: History of Morrow County and Ohio – Chicago: O. L. Baskin, 1880, pp. 750-751
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.

Chester Twp. –
OTIS SHURTLIFF, farmer; P. O. Chesterville; was born May 22, 1816, in Vermont; his parents, Otis and Lydia (Hinkley) Shurtliff, were natives of Massachusetts, and were Scotch Yankees. They moved to Vermont, and there the father died in 1830. The mother then returned to her native State, and there died about 1844, and was the mother of thirteen children: Hiram, Lucy, William, Clarissa, Otis, Lydia, Seth, Mary, Harmon, Ruth, Caroline, Henry and Samuel. The father was in the war of 1812. , Our subject was always energetic, attempting to carry out every act he began; when quite a boy, he was engaged in splitting a log and finding he was unable to sever it with the maul and wedge, applied some powder in an auger hole and touched it off with a coal of fire; he has since had but one eye, a splinter having struck him, completely putting out the left eye. In 1835 he went to Panama, N. Y. and learned carpentering, which he continued for about twelve years, and during that time he served as Constable, and run a butcher shop a portion of the same. In 1855, he came with his brother William and his own family to Fredericktown, and remained there one year, and then farmed for J. L. Denman, for three years; and in 1863 bought four acres of his brother William, and has remained there since. His first marriage occurred May 12, 1842, in New York, to Cynthia A., daughter of Cyrenus and Rachel Glass; by her he had five children -- Cyrenus, Helen, Otis, Walter and Charles P. All survive. Walter is engineer on the Ft. Wayne & Chicago R. R. and Charles P. is brakesman on the same route; the other two boys are farmers; Helen married Wallace Gordon; he died; she again married a Mr. Mason; Mr. Shurtliff's wife died, April 18, 1872. He was again married in 1873 to Eleanor, a daughter of Joshua and Mary (Livingstone,) Ketcham. Her parents were born in York State, and her father died there; her mother came to Ohio in 1835, settling near Chesterville. Her mother married Edward Robinson. Mrs. Shurtliff was one of ten children -- John, Joshua, James, Jane, Mary A., Eleanor, Sallie, Phoebe, Isabel and Charles, (M. E. minister, in Cincinnati). The rest that are living are farmers. Mrs. S. was formerly married in 1845, to David Ayres, by whom she had Carrington, who married Alice Thayer, and Alta L., who married Alvin Scott. Mrs. Shurtliff was born May 18, 1821, in Hebron, Washington Co., N. Y.; she has 45 acres adjoining his, all well improved. Mr. Shurtliff has been School Director, and once joined the Sons of Temperance; he voted first for the Whig party, and since for the Republican; his grandfather Shurtliff was a native of Rhode Island, and a noted tailor. The Mr. Robinson spoken of in this sketch was a Revolutionary soldier.
Source: History of Morrow County and Ohio – Chicago: O. L. Baskin, 1880, p. 618
Contributed by a Generous Genealogist

Perry Twp. –
REV. J. F. SIMONS, farmer, and dealer in agricultural implements; P. O., Levering; is the second son of Frederick and Elizabeth (Hardman) Simons; he was born Oct. 28, 1825, in Bedford Co., Penn.; he went to school about three months per year until sixteen, when he received instruction in an Academy in Cumberland Co., Md., for nearly two years; by close application, he so carefully employed his advantages here that he responsible work of teaching, which he successfully followed for four terms in his native county, working in a tannery during vacation; being twenty-three years of age, he was filled with a desire to visit the West and find a new and larger field for his energies; accordingly, he joined his uncle, Jacob Hardman, early in the spring of 1848, and they arrived at McFarren’s, of Perry Tp., Richland Co., Ohio, March 19; he taught school that summer, and took a tour through Indiana, visiting various points of interest; he returned and taught school in the Lamb District the following winter; he married Catharine A. Wirick, Feb. 11, 1849.  She is the second daughter of Peter and Deborah (Huntsman) Wirick, born in Perry Tp., Richland Co., on the 16th of September, 1826.  After marriage, Mr. Simons lived on McFarren’s farm one year; in the fail of 1849, he purchased his present farm of 80 acres, all in the woods then.  The next year a hewed log house was erected where the present handsome frame structure now stands.  Here they have lived and toiled for thirty years. The following year after he settled, he planted a fine orchard and sowed six acres of wheat.  His own labor has removed sixty acres of heavy timber, and erected the substantial buildings of the present.  In 1856 there was an almost total failure of the wheat crop in some localities, from the ravages of the weevil, making bread-stuffs scarce.  Mr. Simons hauled timber to Mt. Vernon, for which he received in payment a ten-dollar bill; he purchased a barrel of flour with it in Mansfield, and started home; he was soon overtaken by merchant, who claimed the bill was counterfeit, and on taking the bill to the lumber dealer, he denied giving it to him, and as a consequence, Mr. Simons lost the much-needed sum; he is a Democrat, and has assessed this township, and served on its Board of Education.  For some time past he has effected extensive sales of D. M. Osborne Company’s Agricultural Implements, in this and Richland and Knox counties.  He early united with the Disciple Church, and has been a faithful minister in its ranks for a number of years.  His wife and seven of the children are within the sacred fold of the same church.  Eleven children have blessed this union, all living but two -- Mary E. born Dec. 24, 1849; Rebecca, March 24, 1851, married Frank Hathaway, and live at Levering Station; Deborah, July 2, 1852, married Leander Ackerman of Knox Co.; Lomirah, born Dec. 29, 1853, died Sept. 6, 1877; Freeman born D., Feb. 2, 1856; Leander Jan. 16, 1858, married Miss Beulah Lukens of Ridgway, Ohio; Catharine, born Oct. M., 24, 1861; Addie A., March 19, 1864; Minnie June 26, 1866; Vernie G., May 16, 1868, died Feb. 7, 1870; Mamie, Sept. 29, 1871.  The father of Mr. Simons followed the occupation of miller; spent his days in Bedford county and was the father of seven children -- Maria, Mary, Elizabeth, David, Josiah F., John and Rebecca.  Peter Wirick, the father of Mrs. Simons, is one of the few pioneers yet living whose vivid recollections extend back over more than a half century of thrilling scenes and great privations.  To his grand-daughter, Miss Mary E. Simons, we are indebted for the following sketch of this remarkable man’s life: Peter Wirick, oldest son of John and Elizabeth Wirick, was born in Washington Co., Penn., on the 25th of July, 1794.  His parents were of German descent, and reared to manhood and womanhood nine children.  His father was a farmer and millwright, and left his native State when Peter was a small child, settling in Belmont Co. O.  Here he learned to read, write and cipher, which was all they taught in the schools of that day.  He never attended school after reaching his twelfth year.  About 1806, his father again sold his property and removed to Guernsey Co. O., where he lived some six years, and being of a roving disposition -- never satisfied -- he again sold out and removed to Richland Co. O., and settled on the stream known as the Mohican.  Here he entered land, and not being able to obtain the money for which he sold his former place, they were compelled to live very poor indeed for some time.  Their clothing, warp and woof, was manufactured by their own hands.  Peter had now reached his eighteenth year, and had never worn aught but “homespun.”  This was about the year 1812, and the almost unbroken forest abounded with every variety of wild game.  Under these circumstances, Peter developed a passion for hunting which seemed to be innate, and has characterized him from that day to this.  He being the oldest son, ranged the forest that the family might have meat while, his father labored in the mill, and in various ways sought to drive the “wolf” from his door.  In the years following 1812, the Indians gave the settlers much trouble.  They “forted” three times, and under the command of Samuel Watson erected a block-house on the site of Belleville, which consisted then of a few dwellings.  In this place of refuge they spent a greater part of the summer, and late in the autumn returned to their homes.  On this twenty-third birthday he was married to Miss Deborah Huntsman, by squire Amariah Watson.  She is a daughter of James and Catherine Huntsman.  Her parents were from Pennsylvania, and settled on a farm in Richland Co. in an early day.  (See sketch of William Huntsman.)  Soon after marriage Mr. Wirick entered land near Bellville.  It was then a wilderness, full of deer and other wild game, which it was his chief delight to pursue and kill.  Here he resided seventeen years, and in that time thirteen children were born to them -- nine sons and four daughters, as follows: James, born April 3, 1817; John, March 29, 1818; Jacob, July 31, 1819; Peter, Oct. 11, 1820; Mary Ann, Dec. 4, 1821; George, Jan. 24, 1823; William, Sept. 20, 1824; Catherine A., Sept. 16, 1826; Daniel, Feb. 8, 1828; Jesse, Aug. 10, 1829; Washington, May 13, 1831; Elizabeth, in 1833; Deborah, Sept. 5, 1834.  He sold his land on the Mohican for $1000, and purchased his present home of 94 acres for $800.  Here three sons were born -- Jeremiah, born July 16, 1836; Harrison, Nov. 25, 1838; Ziby, Dec. 27, 1840; making sixteen children in all, of which eleven are living, and in prosperous condition in life, and have families, except a son and daughter.  The parents were members of the Disciple Church for many years, but drifted away, and at present the father’s sympathies are with the Universalist Church; he has been a Republican can since the organization of the party, and formerly wore the name of Whig.  He was the finest marksman of his day, and was ever ready to join a bunting party and spend days and even weeks in the forest; he spent the autumn months for eighteen years in bunting, and killed during his life over six hundred deer.  On one occasion Mr. Wirick was out hunting with a brother-in-law, John Huntsman, on the “Craven” farm, when from some cause they became separated.  Soon after Peter saw a large “Buck,” on which he fired, wounding it severely.  He approached the animal, intending to knife it, but found that he had forgotten his knife.  The deer was very angry and powerful, and he could only defend himself by striking heavy blows on its head with the muzzle of his gun until blood flowed freely from its nose, but its fury increased, until closing, they both fell on the snow covered earth, then stained with the blood of man and beast.  Strength and courage were fast giving way when with mighty effort he caught the animal’s neck and threw him on his side, but unfortunately with his feet toward him, giving the beast a decided advantage which he was not slow in using, for in this position he kicked and lashed his foe terribly.  To use his own words: “I was bruised from the crown of my head to the sole of my feet.”  Realizing that the struggle would be brief with such odds against him, with an almost superhuman effort he threw the deer on its other side with its feet from him, and seizing his neck, with one limb across his body, he thought to destroy his sight with a flint, which he usually carried in his shot-pouch.  But, alas! no flint was there.  He next searched for a pin or splinter of spicewood to accomplish the work; but the splinter was of little service to him.  Despair was about to seize him, when he heard the report of his comrade’s rifle, and his call brought him to the rescue.  They dispatched their plucky antagonist by cutting his throat.  Mr. W. is now eighty-six years old, feeble and tottering on the verge of the silent grave, where he must soon follow his faithful companion to rest.  She bore burdens, such as few mothers have suffered or endured.  A strong determination and a powerful constitution sustained her through all.
Source: History of Morrow County and Ohio – Chicago: O. L. Baskin, 1880, pp. 826-828
Contributed by a Generous Genealogist.

Cardington Twp. –
GEORGE S. SINGER, liveryman, Cardington; was born in Frederick Co., Md., Sept. 15, 1837. Is one of a family of five children, of John and Sarah (Hockensmith) Singer, both of whom were of German descent, but natives of Maryland. The father owned a farm and country store -- the most of his time being spent therein. He was a soldier of the War of 1812, and was a man who had the sincere respect of every one. He never removed from his native State but remained near the place of his birth until his death, in 1859; his wife survives him, and is now residing upon the old homestead in Maryland, aged 82 years. George S. Singer remained at home assisting his father upon the farm and in the store until he was nineteen years of age. He then came to Ohio and stopped for some time, both in Tiffin and in Marion. He attended school at Delaware, O., some two years and then taught school several winter terms. He was married to Miss Annie M. Roach, March 6, 1859; she was born in Morrow Co., O., June 13, 1842. There are four children -- Harley S. Van Doren C., Emery M. and Mary Ella. He came to Cardington in 1857, which for the most part he has since made his home. He first engaged in the grocery trade, but on the breaking out of the Rebellion he enlisted in Co. C., 96th O. V. I. He was in a great many hard-fought battles, and saw much active service. After well and faithfully serving his country for three years, he returned home, after which for five years he was in the employ of the C. C. C. & I. R’y Company as Shipping Clerk; he then engaged in the livery business. He owns one of the largest and most commodious livery stables in Central Ohio. In connection with his livery business he also is engaged in the coal and lime trade; he also owns a large ice house, and annually puts up large quantities of ice. His home property is nicely situated on Marion St. He is a member of the I. O. O. F.; and of the I. O. R. M., of Cardington. Politically he is a Republican, though liberal in his views of men and things.
Source: History of Morrow County and Ohio – Chicago: O. L. Baskin, 1880, p. 585
Contributed by a Generous Genealogist

GEORGE S. SINGER, Cardington, Ohio, proprietor of the Olentangy poultry yard, fruit farm and garden, and inventor, patentee and manufacturer of the Olentangy incubator and Olentangy brooder and non-freezing fountain for poultry, is a man who has in a comparatively few years established an immense business.  In 1880 he began raising fancy poultry merely for a pastime, and to such an extent has this business increased on his hands that last year, 1893, he sold no less than $3,000 worth of eggs.  Early in his experience in the business he felt the need of better incubator and brooder facilities than were at that time on the market, and set his inventive genius to work, the result being his Olentangy incubator and brooder, which he first placed before the public in 1890.  That year, however, he sold only forty machines.  In 1891 his sales reached $4,000, and then for the first time did he contemplate the manufacture of incubators as a regular business project and took out a patent on his machines.  In 1892 the business reached $12,000, and in 1893 a little in excess of $30,000.  In 1890 one man did all the work, while this year, 1894, one hundred workmen are busily engaged in supplying the demand.  Recently he has established a branch factory in Omaha, and from these two points in Ohio and Nebraska he ships his incubators to all parts of the United States; and he also makes shipments to Australia and other foreign countries.  Mr. Singer has received no less than fifty premiums on his invention, these premiums coming from fairs held in several different States.
     Having thus briefly glanced at the rapidly increasing business in which Mr. Singer is engaged, we now turn for a sketch of his life.
     George S. Singer is of German and English descent, but spoke the German language.  His grandfather Singer was born in England, was one of the early settlers of Maryland, and in that State reared his family.  His son John, the father of George S., was born in Maryland, in Frederick county, in the year 1792; was a participant in the war of 1812, was a Democrat in politics, and long before the outbreak of the civil war he predicted that such a war was sure to come.  He ran a huckster wagon, kept a country dry-goods store, and also carried on farming, and was fairly successful in his operations.  He was married in Frederick county, Maryland, to Sarah Hawkensmith, a native of that place, born in 1800, she, too, being of German origin.  They became the parents of five children.  The first born died in infancy, and of the others we record that Charlotte A., widow of Jesse Hoover, lives on the old home place in Maryland; Mary S., wife of Thomas Rosensteel, lives in Cambria county, Pennsylvania; George S. was the fourth born; and Sarah Wilhelmina, widow of Hiram Ovelman, resides at the old home place in Maryland.  The father died in 1859, and the mother survived him until 1892.  Both were members of the German Reformed Church.

            George S. Singer was born in Frederick county, Maryland, September 15, 1837, and was reared and educated there.  In March, 1857, he came to Ohio, stopping first at Tiffin.  In 1858 he entered the Ohio Wesleyan University, where he spent one year, and during the winters of 1859, ’60 and ’61 was engaged in teaching school in Morrow county.  Next, he began buying butter and eggs, and kept a grocery at Cardington, being thus occupied when the civil war came on.  July 25, 1862, he enlisted in Company C, Ninety-sixth Ohio Volunteer Infantry, as private, was made Corporal at muster-in and later promoted to Sergeant.  This regiment was mustered in at Delaware, Ohio, and from there immediately went South, via Cincinnati, Lexington, Louisville, Memphis and Vicksburg, and was first in battle at Yazoo Swamps.  Mr. Singer was with his regiment in all the battles in which it participated until the war was over, among them being the siege of Vicksburg and the battles around that city.  At Jackson, Mississippi, he was taken sick, and was sent to the hospital at Memphis.  Later he spent three months as clerk in the office of the head Surgeon at that place, rejoining his regiment at New Orleans.  May 29, 1865, at Mobile, Alabama, he was discharged on account of sickness, and from there returned home, arriving on the fifth of June.
     After his return from the army, Mr. Singer accepted a position as clerk in the freight depot at Cardington, which he filled for five years.  In 1877 he established himself in the livery business, also dealing in coal and ice.  Since 1880 he has developed his present business, as above stated.
     Mr. Singer was married in 1859 to Anna Maria Roach, a native of Morrow county, Ohio, born June 13, 1843, daughter of John A. and Rachel A. (Noyer) Roach.  They are the parents of four children, namely: Harley S., of Cardington, married Jennie Ackerman and has two children; Van Doren C., Huntington, Indiana, married Rosie Firstenberger, and has five children; Emery M. is married and lives in Omaha, Nebraska; and Mary Ellen, wife of Joseph Kahnheimer, Cardington, has two children.
     Politically Mr. Singer is a Republican, and has served as a member of the City Council of Cardington.  Fraternally he is identified with the I. O. O. F. , in which he has passed all the chairs, and has twice been through the chairs of the Encampment.
Memorial Record of the Counties of Delaware, Union & Morrow, Ohio; Chicago: The Lewis Publishing Co., 1895, pp. 375-376
Contributed by a Generous Genealogist.

W. H. SINGER. ––The subject of this sketch is one of the well-known and honored farmers of Cardington township, Morrow county, Ohio, and has gained a certain and peculiar distinction by maintaining his residence on the same farm which figured as his birthplace, the date of his nativity having been November 13, 1840.
     His father was Samuel Singer, who was born in Frederick county, Maryland, and who was a stone-mason by trade.  His father, George Singer, was a native of England, and came to America when a young man.
     The maiden name of our subject’s mother was Catharine Valentine, and she was a daughter of John Valentine, a native of Maryland, where his daughter was also born.  John Valentine’s father was born in England.
     The parents of our subject were married in Maryland, and in 1827 they came to that part of Marion county, Ohio, which is incorporated in the present county of Morrow.  They located in Canaan township, and the father opened the first general store in the little town of Denmark, Canaan township.  He continued this enterprise for a period of five years, after which he effected the purchase of the farm where our subject lives at the present time, the land being heavily timbered and entirely unreclaimed.  He built a log house and cleared and otherwise improved the farm, remaining there until 1862, when he purchased a farm in Perry township, Morrow county, and made that his abiding place for two years, after which he resumed his residence on the old farm in Cardington township.  He served as a private during the war of 1812, was a Democrat in politics, and religiously was identified with the Presbyterian Church.  He was a man of prominence in the community and was well known throughout the county.  He died in his seventy-fourth year, and his widow passed away at the age of eighty-six years.
     They were the parents of nine children, of whom we offer the following brief record: George M. is a resident of Indiana; Valentine V. is of Cardington. Ohio; Mary Ann is the wife of George W. Bolenger, of Cardington township; Margaret H. is the wife of Jonathan Kester, also of this township; Samuel is deceased, as is also Lovina; John J. is a resident of Van Wert county. Ohio; Thomas J. resides at Logansport, Indiana, and William H. is the immediate subject of this review.
     Our subject, who was the youngest of the family, was reared on the farm which now constitutes his home, receiving his education in the district schools and in Iberia College, which building is now utilized as the working home for the blind, in this county.  At the age of fourteen he began to work for himself, engaging as a clerical assistant in a produce establishment at Galion, Ohio, where he remained for three months, after which he engaged in the same line of enterprise for himself at Cardington, thus continuing until 1862.  In the following year he went to Buffalo, New York, and was there engaged in the same business for six months; then in New York city for another six months, after which he returned to Ohio and opened a similar establishment at Bellville, Richland county, where he continued operations until 1867.
     May 19, 1867, he was united in marriage to Miss Elizabeth Austin, who was born in the State of New York, but who was reared in Richland county, Ohio, being the daughter of Dr. T. T. Austin, a prominent physician of Bellville.  Within the year of his marriage Mr. Singer purchased the interests of the other heirs to his father’s estate and located on the old homestead, where he has ever since continued to reside.  The place, which is one of the finest in the county, comprises 200 acres, and is under a high state of cultivation.  The owner has devoted himself to general farming, but has awarded special attention to the raising of potatoes and popcorn.
     Mr. and Mrs. Singer have had three children, namely: Anna, who is deceased; Mary C., wife of Frank Skinner, of Cardington, and Willie A., at home.  In his religious views our subject is charitable and liberal.  Politically he is an ardent Democrat and is an active worker and a power in the local ranks of his party, though he has strenuously objected to becoming a candidate for any political office, having declined the nomination in 1893 for Representative in the joint convention of Marion and Morrow counties, not wanting to be incumbered with any office.  But finally in 1894 he consented to accept the nomination for Sheriff of Morrow county, because the ticket must be full, and for the good of the party, at the same time feeling quite confident that he would not be elected because the majority was too large against him.  He has manifested much interest in the work and efforts made by the farmers of the country with a view to securing a better representation in the affairs of State, and he was president of the Morrow County Farmers’ Alliance during the time the organization was retained.  He is a member of the Western Farmers’ Club and has held all the offices in the same.  Fraternally he is a member of Cardington Lodge, No. 194, Independent Order of Odd Fellows.
Memorial Record of the Counties of Delaware, Union & Morrow, Ohio; Chicago: The Lewis Publishing Co., 1895, pp. 142-143
Contributed by a Generous Genealogist.

Perry Twp. –
DOCTOR D. M. L. SINGREY, physician and surgeon; Levering; second son of Jehu and Jane (Lemmon) Singrey, was born on his present farm Feb. 11, 1822; he went to school near where his brother Joshua lives, in the first school house built in Perry Tp., taught by Lawrence Van Buskirk, who boarded at his father’s, and often carried our subject, a four-year-old pupil, to school on his back.  As he grew up, he toiled in the clearing and in the field from early morn till the day’s close, until he was 18 years old, when his father moved to Bellville, Ohio.  He attended the schools of that place until he reached his majority, reading medicine with, Dr. Jacob Singrey during vacations.  He then entered the office of Dr. James C. Lee of Belleville, where he reviewed the whole course of study which he completed in two and a half years.  A series of popular lectures on medical subjects were given at Belleville during the winter of 1846.  The doctor removed to the old homestead, where he began the practice of medicine in Oct. 1847, and has continued ever since, except one year and four months spent at Albion, Noble Co., Ind.  He has a good practice in Morrow, Knox and Richland counties.  The doctor is a fine type of that class of men whom our country delights to honor as “self-made” and self-educated; he has been a member of the Richland County Medical Association; he has been a constant reader of the best books, of which he has a fine collection; he is a consistent member of the Harmony Regular Baptist Church, having united with that body in September, 1865, in which he is now Trustee; he cast his first vote for James K. Polk in 1844, and stands with that time-honored party to-day.  He united in marriage with Charlotte A. Bonar of this county, on the 25th of December, 1856.  She was born in Congress Tp., April 13, 1836, a daughter of John Bonar.  Of this marriage seven children were born, five of whom are living -- Hoy L., born Nov. 20, 1857; Thomas B., May 9, 1861; Lucy A., April 16, 1867; Fred L., Nov. 5, 1876; Ben B., Oct. 16, 1879.  Two died in infancy -- William F. and Kate.  Hoy L. Singrey resides at Belleville, Ohio, where he is telegraph operator on the Baltimore and Ohio R. R.  Jehu Singrey, father of D. M. L., was born in Baltimore Co., Md., Aug. 16, 1779; he followed the trade of miller and millwright in his native State; he married Jane Lemmon, Oct. 30, 1808.  After seven years of wedded life had passed over their heads, they were fired with a desire to see the new Eldorado just carved out of the great Northwest Territory; accordingly they journeyed across the mountains, and after a journey of twenty-two days reached the little cabin which his brother-in-law, John Shauck, had built on the Mohican, near the site of Shaucks’ Mills, September, 1815.  As Mr. Shauck had not arrived with his family, Mr. Singrey settled here for the winter, and in the meantime entered one hundred and sixty acres here and erected a house, into which they moved in the spring of 1816.  On the morning of his first visit to this place, he set out with gun in hand, and just as he reached the hill on which the house stands at present, he was confronted by three Indians, one of which gave a low whistle and waved him back with his hand, and looking down in the hollow, he saw three deer feeding, and bringing his gun to his shoulder, sent a ball with unerring aim through the heart of one of them.  He soon removed the hide and gave the Indians half, and ever after that they called him the “White Chief.”  They were his nearest neighbors, there being a wigwam of over one hundred and fifty Wyandott Indians camped in sight of his father’s house for seven consecutive years.  Tom Lion, the “Big Foot,” was their Chief.  The best of feeling ever existed between this family and these dusky children of the forest, and no instance of treachery or depredation occurred during their stay.  Mr. Singrey associated with them until he could talk their language.  The wife often baked for them, and exchanged bread for fresh meat.  The wolves made sad havoc of his sheep during the first five years; hogs were killed by the bears.  Jehu Singrey was a fine marksman; he killed wild cats, bears, and wolves; he killed twenty-three deer from September to Christmas.  During the first two years he went to Newark and Mt. Vernon to buy breadstuffs.  He built several of the first mills, working with Henry James.  The fifth season after his arrival, more wheat was raised than could he consumed in the family, and he took a load to Mt. Vernon, where Gilman Bryant, a merchant there, offered him twelve and a half cents per bushel in goods if he would empty it into the streets for the hogs to eat.  He drove on to Zanesville, where he received fifteen cents per bushel in sugar, rice, salt and leather. He was an “old time” Democrat, casting his first vote for Thomas Jefferson.  He was elected the first Justice of the Peace in Perry Tp., in the spring of 1817.  He owned three hundred and twenty acres in this and Congress Tps.  His nearest white neighbors at the time of settlement were Henry Sams, on the old Green place, and Daniel Levering, near Waterford.  He and his wife were baptized in the Clear Fork of the Mohican, by Elder Benjamin Green, by which they became members of the Salem Church, and on the organization of the Harmony Regular Baptist Church, became the first members of that body; he departed this life Apr. 23, 1847, aged 67 years, 8 months and 23 days, and his faithful wife died May 9, 1831, aged 47.  Seven children were born to them -- Elizabeth, born June 27, 1810, now Mrs. Dr. James C. Lee, of Belleville, O.; Rachel, born Sept. 7, 1812, died Nov. 16, 1850, was wife of Elijah Clark, a tailor at Belleville, O.; Sarah A., born June 11, 1814, lives at Belleville; Joshua, born Jan. 15, 1816; D. M. L., Feb. 11, 1822; (subject); Alice, June 5, 1826, lives in Belleville.  Christian Singrey, grandfather of our subject, was born near Luzerne, Switzerland, on the 27th of Sept., 1723.  He came to America about 1746, landing at Philadelphia, and settled in the Colony of Pennsylvania, where he remained some time, when a passion for a little lady whom he had known and loved in his native land became his master and he returned to claim her.  Elizabeth Ingold was but thirteen years of age, but their love laughed at obstacles, and they were wed, and hastening back to the Colony with his young bride, he never lost his residence there.  Having been seven years in the Colony of Pennsylvania, he took out naturalization papers, dated Sept. 27, 1753, bearing the Great Seal of the Crown of Great Britain, “on whose dominion the sun never sets.”  This ancient and yellow document is still in the possession of the Doctor, as is also his lancet over one hundred and fifty years old.  There were five sons and three daughters born of this marriage, of which Jehu was the seventh child.  Christian Singrey was a zealous patriot, and loaned nearly half a bushel of gold and silver coin to the Continental Congress, and received in payment their issue of paper money, which was almost worthless; he was an Army Surgeon in the Revolution under General Washington, and had his head-quarters at Baltimore.  Jehu Singrey, James McClure and Peter Wirick cut the road from Lexington through Kelley’s Corners, in the winter of 1816.  The Lemmon family came from Ireland in the person of John Lemmon, great-grandfather of our subject; he settled in Baltimore Co., Md., and married, raising a family of seven children, of which Alexis Lemmon, grandfather of our subject, was one.  He wedded Rachael Stansberry, a sister of General Stansberry, of Revolutionary fame.  Eight daughters were born to them, of which Jane, mother of our subject, was the seventh child.
Source: History of Morrow County and Ohio – Chicago: O. L. Baskin, 1880, pp. 828-830
Contributed by a Generous Genealogist.

Perry Twp. –
JOSHUA SINGREY, farmer; P. O., Darington; oldest son of Jehu and Jane (Lemmon) Singrey; was born near the site of Shauck’s Mills, on the 15th of Jan., 1816.  His youthful bon-fires were the brush-heaps of the clearing.  He put his hand to the plow almost as soon as he could reach the handles, and has never looked back or forsaken the calling of an honest yeoman.  He was introduced to the beauties and mysteries of the alphabet in the old log school-house which stood on the site of his own garden.  Here Lawrence Van Buskirk gathered his little flock, day after day, as they came through the woods, into a rude domicile, whose only floor was the rich soil.  The grateful sunlight, promoter of growth and beauty, struggled through the windows of paper, aided by the use of grease.  Here, before the great fire-place, with its “cat and clay” chimney, he learned to read, write and cipher.  He united in marriage with Miss Eliza Fike, May 10, 1840.  She was a daughter of Jacob and Nancy (Ullery) Fike, born in Bedford Co., Penn., March 31, 1820.  Joshua lived under the paternal roof until his father’s death; at which time he purchased eighty acres of the old homestead -- his present home. Here he has tilled the soil all his life, except three years, when he worked at saddle and harness-making in Belleville, O.  About 1866 he cut down an ash-tree on the farm, which had been deadened about ten years before; and on splitting it open they found the unmistakable marks of a former girdling which had healed over.  He and others counted the year-ring growths outside of the first incisions, and they numbered one hundred and seventy-three, which, since 1856, would make nearly two hundred years since the cutting was done by an implement fashioned by the “Pale Face.”  Here is a problem for for [sic] the historian.  Who did it?  When a little boy the Indians often stole upon him softly, when they would startle with a thrilling war-hoop, which seemed to give them great delight.  Joshua and his sister were often sent in search of the cows, when they wandered away, sometimes two miles distant through the woods.  At such times, when they lost the direction of home, the cows would lead them safely along, although they saw wolves.  Mr. Singrey has a family of six children living, and two dead -- Benton, born April 14, 1841, married Martha Bennet, of Marshal Co., Ind.; Jehu, born Jan. 23, 1843 he has been thirteen years in the Far West, and is probably dead; James L., born May 13, 1845; John, Sept. 12 1846, married Elizabeth Berget, of this township; R. Jane, born Aug. 4, 1858 -- now Mrs. James Van Buskirk, of Knox Co., O, Rachel E., born March 27, 1851, married Lemmon Hettrick, of Marion Co., O.; Ruth A., born Dec. 27, 1854; Mary A., Sept. 11, 1852, died at the age of 19 years, seven months and fifteen days.
Source: History of Morrow County and Ohio – Chicago: O. L. Baskin, 1880, p. 830
Contributed by a Generous Genealogist.

Congress Twp. –
AMOS SIPES, farmer; P. O., Andrews; born Oct. 26, 1825, in Bedford Co., Pa.; there were ten children in the family, he being the fifth child; nine are now living, born to Henry M. and Margaret (Outkelt) Sipes; she was born in New Jersey, and her husband in Pennsylvania.  Amos came to Perry Co. with his parents when but 1 year old, where they lived four years, then moved to this county, locating near Armstrong s Mills, in Washington Tp.  Before attaining his majority, Amos had learned the blacksmith’s trade.  His advantages, educationally, were limited, but such as they were, he improved them.  Feb. 4, 1847, he was married to Elizabeth J. Dickerson, born May 28, 1825, in Washington Co., Pa., and was a daughter of Leonard and Susanna (Wolf) Dickerson, natives of Pennsylvania. The Dickersons are a family of marked intelligence, her uncle having represented his county in the Legislature for a number of years. Mr. Sipes, when beginning life was poor, and worked the first year by the day and month at farm labor; the next year he set up in business for himself, at West Point, where he plied his trade for two years, and at his father’s solicitation, he returned to the farm, where he stayed two years, and then bought forty acres in North Bloomfield, and lived there fourteen years.  April 10, 1866, he moved to his present home, one mile northeast of Williamsport, and considers himself settled for life; he has now 113 acres of land. They have five children -- Vialetta, now Mrs. D. Armstrong, Susanna (Mrs. Rienhart), Henry D., Sarah E., Mrs. P. Riley, of Coffee Co., Kansas, and Dubois, at home. He, his wife and three of the children, are identified with the United Brethren Church.
Source: History of Morrow County and Ohio – Chicago: O. L. Baskin, 1880, p. 699
Contributed by a Generous Genealogist.

Gilead Twp. –
D. M. SLACK, farmer; P. O., Mt. Gilead, was born near Trenton, N. J., April 6, 1825, and lived there about four years; they then moved to New York; his father working at carpentering in Tompkins Co., for eight years; they then, in 1837, moved to Ohio, and settled in Knox Co., where his father followed his trade until his death, in 1840; Mrs. Slack afterward married Mr. John Crowl; he is a pensioner of the war of 1812; they now live in Mt. Vernon.  After his mother’s second marriage, D. M. Slack hired out, and later he learned the carpenter’s trade, with his brother; Jan. 20, 1848, he married Miss Almeda Dexter; she died in 1852; they had two children, one living -- Franklin T.; his second marriage was to Mrs. Thomas; of their two children, one is living -- Almeda; his present wife was Miss Martha Ann Logan; they were married Dec. 20, 1871; they have two children -- Budd L., and Sarah B.  After his first marriage, Mr. Slack learned the cooper’s trade, which he followed for a number of years; he also worked at carpentering and farming.  In 1873, he came to his present place, which contains eighty acres, located three miles northeast of Mt. Gilead; he has been a hard worker, and is considerate towards his fellow men; he has taken no part in politics, and has held no office except connected with the school and road; his parents, Theophilus and Sarah (Priest) Slack, were natives of New Jersey; they raised a family of ten children, eight of whom are living.
Source: History of Morrow County and Ohio – Chicago: O. L. Baskin, 1880, pp. 554-555
Contributed by a Generous Genealogist.

Westfield Twp. –
EZEKIEL B. SLACK, farmer; P. O. Westfield; was born Feb. 5, 1832.  His father, William Slack, was born in Franklin Co., Ohio, in 1804, and at the age of 4 years, moved to Delaware Co., where his younger brother was born, the first male child born in Delaware Co.  At the age of 24, he married Rhoda Smith, a daughter of Simeon Smith, a Revolutionary soldier, and a native of New York State.  They moved to Oxford Tp., Delaware Co., where were born five children.  After receiving his education, Ezekiel married Miss Sarah J. Smith, Sept. 6, 1857, who was born June 5, 1838.  He engaged in farming until the breaking out of the war, when he joined the 121st O. V. I. Co. D.  His regiment within a few months went into the battle of Perryville, and then Chickamauga, in the latter losing severely.  He went with Sherman on his “march to the sea;” he was under fire almost every day.  At the battle of Bentonville, he received a severe gunshot wound which passed through his face destroying the sight of his right eye and hearing of his right ear, notwithstanding which he remained with his regiment until the close of the war.  His comrades speak of him as a brave soldier and a generous man, and he now enjoys the esteem of all who know him.  He had a nice home, with delightful surroundings and has had four children -- Lois (deceased), Lester L., Minnie E. and Rhoda L.  He is of very patriotic stock, his grandfather being a soldier of 1812, and his great grandfather of the Revolution.
Source: History of Morrow County and Ohio – Chicago: O. L. Baskin, 1880, p. 646
Contributed by a Generous Genealogist.

Chester Twp. –
JOHN SMILEY, retired Farmer; P. O. Chesterville. This old pioneer of Morrow Co. was born March 18, 1800, in Washington Co., Pennsylvania, where he remained until 1826, attending school in the old log school houses; he was the only boy of the family that lived to be of age; his parents had, in all, eleven children, all of whom are deceased but John. His parents moved to Knox Co. by team in 1832, where the father died about 1840, and the mother in 1854; they were both Presbyterians.  Mr. Smiley was married in 1820 to Asenath, daughter of Stephen and Hannah (Woolverton) Corwin (a relation of Senator Thomas Corwin, of Ohio). They lived with his parents until 1826, when they came to Knox, now Morrow Co., Ohio, where he at once entered 160 acres of land, getting his patent from J. Q. Adams. His first wife died Aug. 22, 1828; they had three children: Daniel married Elizabeth Hardenbrook (now in Warren Co., Illinois); Nancy (deceased), Hannah married Sterling Reed, who died in the war of the Rebellion; later she was married to Curtis Campbell. Mr. Smiley was again married Oct. 11, 1830, to Sarah, daughter of George and Jennette (Dinsmore) Lee. Her father emigrated from Ireland to Pennsylvania when 20 years old; her mother was born in Pennsylvania. They had eleven children (two deceased): Elizabeth, James, Mary, Jane, William, John, Joseph, Sarah, Hannah. Her parents were Presbyterians. His father died about the year 1839, and her mother in 1843. Mrs. Smiley was born Sept. 20, 1810, in Pennsylvania; she came with her parents to Ohio when 12 years old; she and her husband settled in Franklin Tp. soon after marriage, and bought a farm, now containing ninety-five acres, well improved, which is the fruit of their own labors. Mr. Smiley has split rails at 25 cents per hundred; by second marriage he has ten children: Samantha married Robert Allen; Eliza J. married Lewis Allen; Mary E. married W. W. Kendall; Martha, William L., clerking for Goble; C. D., grocer in Chesterville; four deceased. William, Samantha and C. D. have each taught school. Mr. Smiley has been Township Trustee two terms, and School Director for many years. The family all belong to the church, in which they take, a deep in interest. In 1877, Mr. and Mrs. Smiley retired from the farm and are now pleasantly situated in this village, where they will enjoy their remaining days.
Source: History of Morrow County and Ohio – Chicago: O. L. Baskin, 1880, pp. 615-616
Contributed by a Generous Genealogist

Canaan Twp. -
ALFRED M. SMITH, farmer, P. O., Caledonia, is a native of Washington Tp., and was born Oct. 9, 1850; son of William J. Smith, who was born July 30,1828, in Ross Co., Ohio, and came to this county with his father, Jefferson Smith, in 1835, locating on Sec. 3, where he had entered forty acres of land, adding to it afterwards until he had 164 acres. Here William remained until 1872, since which time he has been a resident of Gilead. Alfred stayed at home until his 25th year, and was then married to Sabina J. Dounce, who was born March 22, 1853, in Claridon, Marion Co., daughter of James and Ann (Lawrence) Dounce, who were natives of England. Since Mr. Smith's marriage, he has been located on the homestead farm, which he now owns, and has had two children, -- Elsie Ray, born July 26, 1877, and Hugh James, Oct. 7, 1879. May 16, 1880, death invaded Mr. Smith's home, and bore off the baby, Hugh. Mr. and Mrs. Smith are members of the M. E. Church; Mr. Smith is a liberal patron of the public journals, and is among the representative young men of this county.
Source: History of Morrow County and Ohio – Chicago: O. L. Baskin, 1880, p. 740
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

Cardington Twp. -
G. B. SMITH, farmer; P. O., Cardington; was born in Guernsey Co., Ohio, Nov. 19, 1813; during his infancy his father died, and some four years later his mother married Mr. Aaron Smith. G. B. lived with his mother until he was 16 years of age; he received but a limited schooling, having to walk three miles to school; at the age of 16 he began working about the neighborhood at farming and carpentering, and followed the same until he was married to Miss Mary E. Clements, March 3, 1836. She was born in Loudoun Co., Va. After the marriage he moved to just over the line to Smyrna, where he kept the Ohio House for eleven years; he then sold the place, and followed carpentering until 1851, when he bought a farm, and lived on it until 1863, when he sold it, and came to Morrow Co., Ohio, and settled on his present place. By the marriage there were twelve children nine of whom are living -- William, living in Harrison Co., Ohio; Harriet H. Jenkins, living in Hardin Co., Ohio; Minerva Kirk and Mrs. Francina Smith live at Pottowatomie Co., Kansas; Julia Ann Garberson lives in Mt. Gilead, Ohio; Josiah lives in Delaware Co., Ohio; Charles E., Pottowatomie Co., Kansas; Mary E. Stewart lives in Minnesota; B. Franklin, at home. He owns 117 acres of land, located two miles north of Cardington. His parents, William and Huldah (Bogue) Smith, were natives of Virginia and South Carolina; they were married in Harrison Co., Ohio; they came to the State of Ohio -- he in 1806, and she in 1801; they married in 1811, and settled in Guernsey Co., where he died in 1819; she died near Cardington. Her second husband died in Minnesota. By the first marriage there were four children -- two are living -- G. B. and Amos; by the second marriage there were also four children, of whom three are living -- Syntha Stewart, of Minnesota, William H., of Plymouth, Ind., and Henry D., of Cardington, Ohio.
Source: History of Morrow County and Ohio – Chicago: O. L. Baskin, 1880, pp. 583-584
Contributed by a Friend of Genealogy

Gilead Twp. -
G. V. SMITH, of Smith & Tucker, saw-mill; Gilead Station; was born in Perry Co., Ohio, Sept. 1, 1844, and lived there until he was six years of age; when, with his parents he moved to Fairfield Co., O., and lived there three years; thence they moved to Morrow Co., O., and settled on a farm about two miles north of Gilead Station, where G. V. lived until he became of age; Dec. 26, 1868, he married Miss Margaret L. McCormick; she was born in this county; after the marriage he moved to Gilead Station, and the year following, he engaged in the lumber and saw-mill business; first in the firm of McClain, Rinehart & Smith, and later was connected with the firms of McClain & Smith, Smith & Smith, and finally the present -- Smith & Tucker; though the business was confined to the county, they had several locations. By his marriage there are six children -- James E., Mary W., George C., Murdie I., Marshal B., and Roy; his parents were George and Elizabeth (Pugh) Smith; he died in Fairfield Co., Ohio, and she in Morrow Co., O.
Source: History of Morrow County and Ohio – Chicago: O. L. Baskin, 1880, p. 555
Contributed by a Generous Genealogist

Westfield Twp. -
L. D. SMITH, farmer and stock-raiser; P. O., Cardington; was born in Westfield Tp., Nov. 22, 1851. His parents, Selah Smith and Esther Smith, were also natives of this township. His father, owing to the condition of the country, received only a meager education in the schools, yet in after life picked up a great deal good practical knowledge. The mother was Esther, daughter of Abram Foust, who figured prominently among the first settlers, and served in the war of 1812, as mentioned elsewhere. These parents both passed through the experience of. frontier life; they ground their meal with hand-mills, and when all kinds of game, such as wild turkey, deer, bear and hare were abundant, Mr. Smith's youth was spent here, attending school and assisting his father until 1875, when he took charge of the farm. Two years later he married Miss Lydia McConaughy, whose parents were from the West. They have one child. Mr. Smith possesses a farm of 200 acres of most excellent land and about the best buildings in the township. His house, a two story building, consisting of ten rooms, was built in 1876, and his barn a year later. In the rear of his house is a large brick structure, the lower part of which is used as a cellar, the upper as a granary. He has a good orchard of grafted fruit. Mr. Smith confines his attention in stock, entirely to raising sheep, having in his flock 200 fine ewes, shearing from six to eight pounds of wool each. His farm is known as the "Oak Grove Farm," deriving its name from the fact, that there is located on it a 40 acre lot of the best oak timber in the township. He is a member of the Ashley Lodge of Free Masons.
Source: History of Morrow County and Ohio – Chicago: O. L. Baskin, 1880, p. 648
Contributed by a Generous Genealogist

Lincoln Twp. -
S. M. SMITH, farmer and stock-grower; P. O., Cardington; was born in Harmony Tp., Morrow Co., Ohio., April 29,1838. His father and grandfather were born in Connecticut; the first in 1796, and the latter in 1752. In 1796, the year of the father's birth, the grandfather, with his family, moved to Luzerne Co., Penn., (now Wyoming Co.) where the grandfather died, in 1822, and where the father lived until the death of his mother, which was in about 1811, at which time he went to live with a sister in York State, where he lived until of age; after which he followed rafting on the Susquehanna River until 27 years of age; he was married Aug. 3, 1823, to Polly Marcy. They had four daughters -- Adaline, Elizabeth, Nancy and Lydia. The mother of these children died Aug. 23, 1831. The father again married, Nov. 8, 1832. His second wife was Martha Marcy, a sister to his first wife. She was born Dec. 4, 1813. From his second marriage there were eleven children -- Lucy, Caroline, Perry Z., Sidney M., Ursula M., Madison M., Leonard, Millard F., Linton N.; two died in infancy. The Marcy family are of English descent, and the first of the family that came to America was John Marcy, who came over in 1686; he came from Roxbury, England, where he was married and where his wife, Sarah Hadlock, was born Dec. 16, 1670. They had eleven children, the eldest of which was born in England -- Annie, John, James, Edward, Joseph, Benjamin, Moses, Samuel, Sarah, Ebenezer and Elizabeth. The grandfather of Polly and Martha Marcy was Zebulon Marcy, who was born June 8, 1744, and their father was Zebulon Marcy, Jr., who was born July 10, 1780. The grandfather was of a family of eight children -- Zebulon, John, Lydia, Nicholas, Sarah, Zebulon Abel and Jerusha. The first child must have died when young, as there are two in the family by the same name. In their father's family -there were also eight children -- Polly, Nicholas B., Eunice, Betsy, Patty, Lucretia, Daniel and Zarina. S. M. Smith was reared on a farm until 17 years of age, at which time he went away to school, where he remained until of age, with the exception of three winters that he taught school in that time. His parents came from Pennsylvania to Delaware Co., Ohio, in 1824, where they resided until 1828, at which time they came to Morrow Co., where the father died Oct. 28, 1868, and where the mother yet lives. The first year after quitting school, Mr. Smith farmed, and taught school in the winter, and the next year he was in the book business, canvassing, and after that he and a brother built the present foundry in Cardington. They remained in this business until 1865, when he sold his interest in the foundry to his brother; after which he sold machinery of different kinds, until the fall of 1865. He was married Oct. 3, 1865, to Ruth M. Buck, who was born in Morrow Co., May 5,1838. The history of her parents will appear in this work. Since his marriage, Mr. Smith has been farming during the summer, and teaching school in the winter season; he has taught school for fifteen winters, but the last few years he has been dealing in fine Merino sheep; he had two brothers in the late war, Madison M. and Leonard. The first enlisted in 1862, and served three years and four months; he was in Co. B. 43, O. V. I. The second was in the three months' service, and was sent to Washington, where he was at the close of the war.
Source: History of Morrow County and Ohio – Chicago: O. L. Baskin, 1880, pp. 769-770
Contributed by a Generous Genealogist

Washington Twp. -
WM. SMITH, merchant; Iberia; was born in Knox Co., O., April 29, 1853. His father, William Smith, spent his minority in Ireland, while his mother, Miss Sarah Ann Ray was born in Washington Co., N. Y. His father came to America in 1818, and remained in the State of Pennsylvania several years when he removed to Knox Co.. O. He married Mrs. Sarah Ann Livingstone (nee Ray), then of Pulaskiville of that county, Jan. 10, 1850. Mr. Smith spent the most of his minority on his father's farm. He came to Iberia at the age of 18 years, to attend the Ohio Central College, and then went to Oberlin. After spending some time at the latter place he returned to Iberia to engage in mercantile pursuits. October 31st, 1878, he married Mary L. Paxton, whose home has always been in Iberia. About the same time he received into partnership J. C. Irwin, and together the business is being pushed forward with success. His fellow townsmen have already recognized him as a rising young man by electing him three successive terms to the office of Township Clerk, and more recently he has been made Notary Public. Besides attending to the duties of the offices (where the people have placed him) he is also diligent in business affairs.
Source: History of Morrow County and Ohio – Chicago: O. L. Baskin, 1880, p. 750
Contributed by a Generous Genealogist

Gilead Twp. -
HENRY SNIDER, farming and fruit-culture; Mt. Gilead; is a native of Washington Co., Ind.; he was born on a farm on the banks of the Potomac, Sept. 15, 1812, and worked on the same and attended school until he was 19 years of age; he was then apprenticed to the house-joiners' trade, to Geo. Keifer, and followed the business there until 1835; he then came to Mt. Gilead, Ohio, and in company with Mr. D. S. Talmage, carried on the business of contractors and builders until 1865, when he came to his present place and engaged in farming and fruit-growing. He married Miss Nancy C. Talmage, Oct. 29, 1839; she was born on her father's farm, in Knox Co., Ohio, Nov. 7, 1820; of their four children, three are living -- America M., now Mrs. E. C. Chase, of Mt. Gilead; Nettie H., now Mrs. J. M. Dunn, of Marysville, Ohio; Ida F., now Mrs. C. M. Jones, of Plane [sic] City, Ohio. Mr. Snider's parents were John and Eve (Broches) Snider; they were natives of Washington Co., Md., where they married, and where also Mrs. Snider died; he came west to Mt. Gilead in 1833, and lived there until his death, in 1844; of their eight children, three are living -- John R., in Cincinnati; Susan, now Mrs. D. S. Talmage, of Mt. Gilead, and Henry, of the same place. Mrs. Snider's parents were Joseph and Catharine (Beers) Talmage; they were natives of New Jersey, whither their parents had moved from England. They mere married in New Jersey, and moved to Ohio in 1804; they settled ill Fairfield (now Knox) Co., where they cleared a farm and lived until 1834; they then moved to Marion Co., where he died in 1837. Mrs. Talmage then came to Mt. Gilead, and lived there until 1874, when she died, in her 93rd year.
Source: History of Morrow County and Ohio – Chicago: O. L. Baskin, 1880, p. 555
Contributed by a Generous Genealogist

North Bloomfield Twp. –
JOHN SNYDER, farmer; P. O. Corsica; was born March 31, 1818, in Cumberland Co., Penn., likewise the native county of his parents, Henry and Elizabeth (Shetron) Snyder. John's father was an officer in the war of 1812, when but 16 years old. On receiving his discharge at the close of the hostilities, he worked on a farm till his 22nd year, when he went into the boot and shoe business in Shepherdsburg, Penn. Failing health induced him to again engage in farming, and in 1834, he moved to Ohio, settling in Richland Co. Here he lived nearly twenty years, when he sold his property and moved to Whitley Co., Ind., where he passed the rest of his life, dying in his 72nd year. John lived with his parents till his 23d year, working on the farm and teaching school during the winter in a cabin school-house, with slab-benches, the desks being shelves on three sides of the house. He was married June 13, 1841, to Mary A., daughter of Henry and Hannah Muck. She was born June 16, 1819. By this marriage were born nine children, only four of whom are living – Elizabeth A., Silas W., Mary A. and Charles H.  Mr. Snyder cleared his own farm, and lived on it for six years, when he sold it and went into the mercantile business at Blooming Grove; his health soon failing, he retired after five years of close application, and has since been a farmer; he has held different township offices, and was County Commissioner one term, filling the office with credit. He is one of the charter members of the Patrons of Husbandry, and was the first Lecturer in the lodge. He is a Christian gentleman, and has hosts of friends.
Source: History of Morrow County and Ohio – Chicago: O. L. Baskin, 1880, p. 631
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

South Bloomfield Twp. –
WM. B. SPECK, miller; Sparta; was born in Guernsey Co., Ohio, in 1822; son of Augustus and Sarah (Reed) Speck; he is a miller, as was also his father, and is said to be one of the finest sawyers in the southwestern part of the county; his grand-father was a Saxon, and, while passing through Germany, was seized and pressed into the army, and his regiment was employed by the British, to assist in quelling the rebellious colonies in America, but while the troops were coming to this country, he succeeded in making his escape.  Mr. Speck’s grand-father Reed claims to have built the first log cabin where Steubenville now stands.  His grand-mother Reed had three brothers, who were present at Crawford’s defeat.  Mr. Speck was married in 1838 to Elizabeth Lewis, and has by her a family of three children -- Clinton B., Flora A., and Augusta V.  Clinton is in the drain-tile business in South Bloomfield Tp; Augusta is married to George W. Butler, and lives in the same township; Flora A. lives at home with her father, and is the possessor of unusual musical talent.  Mr. Speck owns the present saw mill at Sparta, which is said to be one of the handiest in the county.  There were eleven children in Mr. Speck’s father’s family, and when the father died, there had not been a death before in the family for forty-five years.
Source: History of Morrow County and Ohio – Chicago: O. L. Baskin, 1880, p. 677
Contributed by a Generous Genealogist.

Cardington Twp. –
WILLIAM F. SPENCER, merchant; Cardington. Mr. Spencer was born in Belmont Co., Ohio, Feb. 24, 1822, and is the son of George and Eunice (Tanley) Spencer, who were the parents of eleven children. William F. Spencer passed his youth upon the farm, and had a common school education; he was united in marriage with Miss Phoebe Mosher, March 27, 1844; from this union there were three daughters -- Edith A., Eunice D., and Lydia. Mr. Spencer came to Cardington Tp. in 1846, and has since made it his home; he owns a nicely-improved farm of 221 acres near Cardington, and has the management of the Stock Store in Cardington, of which he is a stockholder. This store keeps constantly on hand a large stock of dry goods, groceries, etc., etc.  Mr. Spencer is a Prohibitionist, but makes it a rule to vote for the man, and not for the party. He and his family belong to the religious sect known as the Friends.
Source: History of Morrow County and Ohio – Chicago: O. L. Baskin, 1880, p. 584
Contributed by a Generous Genealogist

FRANCIS CLYMER STANLEY. ––The subject of this review is one whose ancestral history touches not only the pioneer epoch in the annals of the Buckeye State, but also traces back to the colonial history of the nation, and to that period which marked the inception of the strongest republic the world has ever known.  Himself a representative business man of Edison, Morrow county, it is then particularly consistent that a review of his life be incorporated in this volume.
     The father of our subject was Milton Stanley, who was a native of Columbiana county, Ohio, where he was born November 5, 1812, the son of James and Rhoda Cobbs Stanley.  The original American ancestor of the Stanley line came from England about 1660 and made settlement at Hanover, Loudoun county, Virginia, he and his family being members of the Society of Friends, or, as they are ordinarily designated, Quakers.  The mother of the subject of this sketch was Elizabeth Martin Stanley, a native of Tuscarawas county, this State, where she was born on the 22d day of January, 1815; the daughter of John and Sarah (Michner) Martin, the former of whom came from Holland.  He served for eighteen months in the American army during the war of 1812.
     The Michner family came to America with William Penn and settled with his colony in Philadelphia.  The great-grandfather Stanley came to Ohio in 1805 and settled in Columbiana county, being one of the early pioneers of that locality.  The Stanley family was represented by six or seven young men, and the Cobb family, which settled there at the same time, comprised in its number six or seven young women.  The result of this association in that early day can readily be anticipated, for we find that three of the Stanley boys found their respective wives from the eligible members of the Cobb family.  One of the former, James Stanley, was the grandfather of our subject.  He died about 1818, leaving a widow and four children, the father of our subject being the eldest child.  The mother subsequently consummated a second marriage.
     Milton Stanley came to Marion county, Ohio, in 1835, settling three miles west of the point where the village of Cardington is now located.  Here he entered claim to 160 acres of Government timber land, and began operations by causing the forest trees to yield dominion under the sturdy blows of the swinging ax.  In 1852 he disposed of the farm, which had been well reclaimed, and removed to Indiana, settling on a farm in Marshall county, where he died on the first day of September, 1865.  His widow survived until 1888, her demise occurring in Kansas.  They were the parents of six children, of whom four are living at the present time, the complete record being given briefly as follows: Robert C. married Maria Cornelius, and they had ten children, their residence being in Ottawa county, Kansas; Mary Jane, wife of Newton Alldaffer, died in 1872, having been the mother of two children; James M., a resident of Tescott, Kansas, married Helen M Tucker, and they have four children; Francis C. is the immediate subject of this review; Samuel O. is a resident of Ottawa county, Kansas; Lydia died at the age of thirteen years.  The sons all served as volunteers during the late war of the Rebellion.  The father and mother were devoted and consistent members of the Presbyterian Church.  Milton Stanley was an ardent Abolitionist, and was one of the prime movers in effecting the organization of the Republican party in his locality, being a man of highest honor and of much influence, although he had never accepted political preferment in an official way.
     Francis C. Stanley was born October 22, 1844, in Marion county, Ohio, and was raised on the farm, receiving his preliminary educational discipline in the district schools and supplementing the same by attending for one year the Friends’ Academy, at Woodbury, Ohio.
     July 28, 1862, he gave the distinctive evidence of his patriotism and loyalty by enlisting for service in the late war, as a member of company D, Seventy-third Indiana Volunteer Infantry, entering as a private.  The regiment was recruited at South Bend and after its organization was sent to Richmond, Kentucky, and there faced the forces of the rebel General, Kirby Smith, within six weeks after leaving home, ––engaging the Confederate troops in a lively skirmish, and thereafter proceeding to Louisville, same state, covering a distance of forty-eight miles in twenty-three hours.—from Lexington to Frankfort.  Here the regiment was assigned to Harker’s Brigade of Wood’s Division of the Fourteenth Army Corps.  This brigade was General Sherman’s famous old brigade.  In this command they started in pursuit of General Bragg, through Kentucky, traversing all sections of the State and having numerous skirmishes with the enemy.  They drove Bragg from Kentucky to Nashville, Tennessee, and then proceeded to Murfreesboro and participated in the battle at that point, being there assigned to General Strait’s brigade, having been engaged in building fortifications about Murfreesboro for three months prior to such assignment, which was made April 1, 1863.  In this connection Mr. Stanley proceeded with his regiment down the Cumberland river to Fort Henry, thence to Pittsburg Landing, and they figured as mounted infantry on the ensuing raid to Rome, Georgia, being with the command of General Grierson from Pittsburg Landing to Corinth, Mississippi.  They proceeded across Alabama, burning much property on the way; they had exhausted their amunition, were surrounded by the enemy and being 300 miles below the Union lines, were surrendered by General Strait.  Mr. Stanley participated in the following named battles: Stone River, Tennessee; Sand Mountain, Alabama; Black Warrior Creek, Alabama; Blount’s Farm, Alabama: and many skirmishes with bushwhackers.  May 3, 1863, he was captured and was sent to Atlanta, where he was held for a few days and then transferred, to Knoxville, and finally to Richmond, where he was held in captivity at Belle Isle prison for a fortnight.  The last of May he was paroled and was sent to Annapolis, Maryland, and then to Camp Chase, Columbus, Ohio.  The terms of surrender were that officers and privates were to be paroled and that the officers were to be allowed the retention of side arms.  The officers were held for twenty-two months, with the exception of those who escaped through the tunnel at Richmond.
     Mr. Stanley passed ten days at home and then reported at Camp Morton, Indianapolis, Indiana, and was exchanged just in tune to take part in the capture of General Morgan, capturing twenty of his men on a little island below Cincinnati, following along the river to keep Morgan from re-crossing, and thus continuing until the noted raider was captured.  Our subject then returned to Camp Morton and was assigned duty in guarding these prisoners until they were transferred to Chicago.  Our subject was taken sick and was confined in the hospital at Indianapolis for six months, and during the major portion of the time that he was thus incapacitated for active service at the front, he had charge of one of the hospital wards.  Finally he went to Nashville, Tennessee, and was assigned garrison duty at Fort Negley, subsequently being sent to assist in guarding railroad lines in northern Alabama, his regiment as yet having few commissioned officers.  October 1, 1864, he was again detailed as nurse or attendant, entering the hospital at Decatur, Alabama, being there placed, with only 300 men, at the time General Hood surrounded the city, their escape being effected by a strategic ruse.  Mr. Stanley then went to Stevenson, Alabama, and there remained for a time, late in 1864.  He rejoined his regiment at Paint Rock, that State, where an almost constant guerilla warfare with bushwhackers was kept up for three months, several being killed on both sides during these minor engagements.  He remained there until his discharge, July 8, 1865.
     After his discharge our subject returned to the North and took up his residence on a farm in Morrow county, this State, remaining there until the spring of 1867, when he purchased a farm in Lincoln township, two miles east of Cardington, remaining there until 1886, when he removed to Cardington, where he was engaged in the hardware business for four years.  He then came to Edison and effected the purchase of his present general merchandising business, which is one of the representative enterprises of the thriving village, the business having been greatly widened in scope and in amount of stock carried and the annual sales having reached the notable aggregate of $12,000.  In addition to his general mercantile line, Mr. Stanley also handles farming machinery and implements.
     The marriage of our subject was consummated October 23, 1867, when he wedded Miss Sarah Ann Hicklen, a half sister of Dr. J. H. Jackson, of Edison, concerning whom individual mention is made elsewhere in this volume.  Mrs. Stanley was born in Columbiana county, this State, October 20, 1847, and completed her education in the Friends’ Academy at Damascus, Ohio.  They are the parents of three children, namely: Mary Elizabeth, wife of Rev. E. H. Curtis, of Gravity, Iowa; John Milton, and Sarah Frances.  After the war Mr. Stanley made his home among his uncles for some time.  He became a member of the Quaker Church in 1867, and in 1872 he was acknowledged as a minister in the orthodox Friends’ Church, having ever since continued to exercise his clerical functions and having traveled much in the work of his church, visiting Kansas, Indiana, Michigan, and Iowa, and also laboring zealously in this State.  He has filled all the official positions in his church, having been a pioneer in the revival work of this simple and noble religious organization, with which he has been so conspicuously identified.  He has been president of the Ohio Mission Board, and clerk of the quarterly and monthly meetings.
     While on the farm Mr. Stanley was greatly interested in the breeding of tine stock, and at the present time he is secretary of the Ohio Spanish Sheep Breeders’ Association, having been one of its incorporators and having served as secretary since 1886.  Since 1882 he has been connected with the Ohio State Wool Growers’ Association, having formerly been one of its directors.
     He has been an active politician, and in 1871 he identified himself with the Prohibition party, lending his aid and influence to the cause for a full decade, after which he decided that the sought-for reforms could better be secured through the medium of one of the old parties, and he accordingly espoused the Republican cause, and has been a valued and active worker in its local ranks.  He was a candidate for Probate Judge, in 1890, but met defeat in the Democratic land-slide of that year.  He was Morrow county’s candidate for Congress before the fourteenth district convention, held at Mt. Vernon, June 21, 1894.  In a local way he has been a member of the Board of Education, acting as its treasurer, and has served as a member of the Common Council.  Fraternally he retains a membership in James St. John Post, No. 82, G. A. R., of Cardington, having been Past Commander, and holding the rank of Colonel in the district organization.  He is also identified with the Mt. Gilead organization of the Union Veterans’ Legion, being Chaplain of the same.  He is also a prominent member of the order of Knights of Pythias, being Past Chancellor Commander, and being the local representative of the Grand Chancellor.  He has also held preferment in the order as Master of the Exchequer and as Treasurer.  He has been prominently identified with temperance work and has been a member of lodges of the Good Templars and the Sons of Temperence, ––an active organizer in both.
Memorial Record of the Counties of Delaware, Union & Morrow, Ohio; Chicago: The Lewis Publishing Co., 1895, pp. 40-43
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.

Washington Twp. –
J. M. STIGERS, merchant; Iberia Station; was born in 1844, in Washington Co., Penn.  When but 8 years of age he was thrown upon his own resources, and at that time came within the territory of Morrow Co., O., and almost immediately settled in Washington Tp., at Iberia Station.  Stigers had merely common school advantages, but these were carefully improved upon.  Preferring single blessedness so far of his life, he is yet unmarried.  When 17 years of age he commenced working on the C. C. C. & I. R. R.; two years were passed upon the road, one year in the passenger depot, and five years in the freight depot, in Cleveland; all the time in the employ of the same company.  In 1869 his health failed, and on account of this he commenced the business of a peddler; this he continued for five years, when he regained his health and returned to Iberia Station, to engage in the grocery and commission business, and in this business is now engaged with success.
Source: History of Morrow County and Ohio – Chicago: O. L. Baskin, 1880, p. 751
Contributed by a Generous Genealogist.

Chester Twp. –
JAMES STILLEY, farmer; P. O. Chesterville; was born Sept. 10, 1821, in Morrow Co., where he has remained; his father, John, was born Dec. 1, 1792, in Allegheny Co., Pennsylvania; and his mother, Mary Kirkland, in the same, in 1794. They were married there in 1813; the father came out in 1807, driving a team for his Uncle John, stopping for a short time, but soon returned, and at the age of 16 began boating on the Ohio and Mississippi rivers, continuing two years; he returned to Ohio in 1814, and bought 214 acres of land, a military tract. In 1818 he brought his family here, and spent the rest of his days. He was one of the first members of the Methodist Church; there was a class formed at his house. He was Justice of the Peace; he died June 25, 1878, and his wife died Nov. 8, 1867, and was a Methodist. Their children were -- Tobias, Eliza, Jeremiah (dead), James, Ruth, Rebecca, Nancy, Mary, Sampson and Joel. James attended school some in the log school-house, and farmed. He was married Nov. 18, 1847, to Ann J., a daughter of David and Margaret (Pugh) Davis. They settled, after marriage, on the present farm of 107 acres; he has added thirty-four and one-fourth acres, obtained entirely by their own labors; himself and son bought 160 acres of land in Kansas in 1880. This son, C. W., is their only child, and was born Feb. 7, 1849, and married Oct. 11, 1877, to Anna M., daughter of Noah and Margaret Melick; he has one child, Rebecca. Mr. Stilley has been connected with the Baptist Church since March 1, 1857, to which his wife has belonged since 1855. He cast his first vote for Harrison, and has since voted the Republican ticket.
Source: History of Morrow County and Ohio – Chicago: O. L. Baskin, 1880, p. 618
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.

Chester Twp. –
W. T. STUMP, farmer; P. O. Chesterville; was born March 19, 1836, in Wayne Co., this State. His father, George, was born in Fayette Co., Pa., in 1804. His mother’s maiden name was Jane Patterson. The father came to Ohio when a boy, with his father, who settled in Fredericksburg, there engaging in grist milling; when married, he began keeping hotel at Edenburg, Wayne Co., afterward transferring to a farm in the same county, where he died June 6, 1847, leaving a wife and two children -- W. T. and Matilda; the latter married Jasper McCracken. The mother married again, Aug. 2, 1854, to Jonathan Willitts, by whom she had one child -- Francis A. She died May 2, 1870, having been a faithful member of the Presbyterian church. W. T. Stump attended school as much as, he could, in his younger days, and at the age of 19 began working at the carpenters’ trade with Hugh Rogers, at Chesterville, which he continued eight years; and was married July 4, 1865, to Mary J., a daughter of William and Elizabeth (Smith) Bruce. Her father was born in Virginia, and her mother in Ohio. They had three children -- Mary J., Lovinia E. and Mildred M. The parents attended the Baptist Church. Mr. Stump settled, after marriage, on 43 acres, owned now by Mason Howard; in 1869 he bought 70 acres, the present farm, of John Slater, and has improved the same, making it one of the finest farms in the country; he has since bought thirty-eight acres; he raises some fine sheep. Mrs. Stump qualified herself well for a mother by teaching in the school-room for nearly three years; she was born Oct. 22, 1845. They have had five children (one infant died unnamed) -- Grant V., born Jan. 12, 1868; Alice, G. May 15, 1872; Cora E., July 22, 1874; Leroy B., Jan. 8, 1877.  Mr. Stump is now serving his fifteenth year as Justice of the Peace; was Land Appraiser for 1880, served as School Director, and enlisted in Co. “A.,” 20th O. V. I., being the second man to enlist from Chester Tp.; he also enlisted in Co. “F.,” 136th O. N. G.; is member of Chester Lodge, No. 204, I. O. O. F., and F. & A. M., at Sparta; he is a strict Republican; he and his wife are Presbyterians.
Source: History of Morrow County and Ohio – Chicago: O. L. Baskin, 1880, p. 617
Contributed by a Generous Genealogist

Westfield Twp. –
HENRY STUTZ, grocer; Westfield; among the German citizens of Westfield Tp., none are more highly esteemed than Henry Stutz; he was born in Bavaria, Aug. 27, 1838, and at the age of 16, emigrated to the United States; he had, previous to this, received a good German education, attending day school eight years, and Sunday school two years: his father dying, left his mother with the care of four children -- Emma, Adam, Henry and Frank.  When Mr. Stutz landed at Castle Garden, he found himself the possessor of two French sous (about two cents), and after borrowing from a friend $1.50, he went to Albany N. Y., where he remained three years, in the meantime learning the turners’ trade; at the end of this time he went to Upper Sandusky, Ohio, where, their being little demand for his trade, he learned the shoemakers’ trade, at which he worked about twenty years; he married Mary Sieger, Jan. 26, 1863; of their nine children, only four are now living -- George, born Nov. 14, 1865; Charles F. May 9th, 1867; William, Aug. 30, 1870; Della, Jan. 8, 1878, and Ida May, Jan. 2, 1880.  After spending nine years at Upper Sandusky, four of which he was in business for himself, he then came to Westfield in the fall of 1866, and bought the property known as the Westfield Hotel, which he carried on in connection with his shoe-shop for five years, after which he opened a grocery in the hotel; in the spring of 1880, he purchased his brother Frank’s stock of goods, and moved into the building formerly occupied by him.  By persevering industry and good management he has accumulated a good deal of property, and is one of the influential men in this community.
Source: History of Morrow County and Ohio – Chicago: O. L. Baskin, 1880, pp. 646-647
Contributed by a Generous Genealogist.

Congress Twp. –
JOHN SWALLUM, retired; Andrews. Among the old-time representatives and early settlers, who have been associated with the events and changes pertaining to this county for about fifty years, is Mr. Swallum, who was born Sept. 11, 1796, in the “Old Dominion,” Frederick Co.; his father, Joseph, was one of the 1000 Hessians, who were sent over to this country in Revolutionary times, and was taken prisoner by Gen. Washington.  Mr. Swallum’s mother’s name was Christina; there were ten children in the family, James was the fifth in order.  Mr. Swallum emigrated to Jefferson Co., this State, in 1817, and after one year’s residence moved to Belmont Co., where he was married to Margaret Defard, a native of this State; after a residence of three years they moved to Ashland, Richland Co., where they lived nine years, and in the fall of 1830, moved to this county, and settled on the land he had entered and where he now resides; here he built a cabin, and began improvements; he has had seven children -- Betsey, Susan, Katie; Malinda, Margaret, Levi and Sarah. Betsy is now Mrs. S. Myres; Margaret is dead; Susan, now Mrs. James Maxwell; Katie, now in Michigan; Levi, in Clarke Co.; Sarah, now Mrs. Robert Fish; Malinda, at home, and taking care of her father in his declining years, he being about 84 years of age.  He has been a member of the Christian Church over forty-two years. His wife died June 14, 1864, her death was caused by her horse running away with her, and injuring her to such an extent, that she died in a few hours afterwards, being 66 years 2 months and 20 days old.
Source: History of Morrow County and Ohio – Chicago: O. L. Baskin, 1880, p. 699
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.

Chester Twp. –
J. C. SWETLAND, farmer; P.O. Chesterville; is among the well-to-do farmers of Morrow Co.; he was born June 5, 1828, in Bloomfield Tp., this county; his father, Giles, was born in Luzerne Co., Pa., and his mother’s, maiden name was Sarah Lewis; a further mention of them will appear in Bloomfield Tp.  Mr. Swetland remained with his parents until Dec. 24, 1854, when he was married to Emily, daughter of Jesse and Mary (Burns) Howard; she was born Aug. 9, 1832, and taught school two terms; they now possess 830 acres of finely improved land, the greater part is the fruit of their own labors; he has pipes carrying water from the many springs to different parts of the farm, making it convenient for stock, in which he deals largely; Mr. Swetland paid out $700 to clear the township draft; he is now Commissioner of this county, and has held other offices with credit to himself and those who have chosen him; he had six children -- infant, deceased; Truanna, deceased; Avarilla, Elzina, Henry W. and William H. His wife and two daughters are members of the Baptist Church, and he of the Methodist Church. Mrs. Swetland spun the last tow in this part of the country; her grandmother Howard would sew and knit on her travels to and from different places, and would walk one and a half miles to milk once per day. He has plowed corn with the old wooden moldboard plow; this no doubt laid the principles of industry which have never been eradicated, judging from his taste in improving his farm. He is an active Republican, an upright and honest man.
Source: History of Morrow County and Ohio – Chicago: O. L. Baskin, 1880, p. 616
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.

South Bloomfield Twp. –
WARREN SWETLAND, farmer and stock-raiser; P. O., Sparta.  The Swetland families, living in or near Sparta, are the descendants of Artemas and Lydia (Abbott) Swetland, who emigrated from Pennsylvania to Ohio, in 1810, first locating in Delaware Co., in 1818; they moved to South Bloomfield Tp., and remained there until their deaths, leaving a family of four sons and one daughter -- Augustus W., Giles, Fuller, Seth and Marilla.  Warren Swetland is the son of Giles and Sarah (Lewis) Swetland, who were the parents of five sons and one daughter.  Warren was born in South Bloomfield Tp., in April, 1834, and, until about 1856, he remained with his father, clearing and improving the place.  He farmed, with his brother, one year in Chester Tp., and was then united in marriage with Margaret A., daughter of Daniel and Mary (Davis) Thomas.  They have no children, but have raised and educated all orphan girl, named Arrilla Lewis, who was married to Daniel Potts, in 1869.  Mr. Swetland owns 129 acres of well-improved land, near Sparta, and is one of the nine men who own and have charge of the fine cemetery north of Bloomfield.  He was formerly a Democrat, but at present supports the Prohibition party.  His wife and himself are members of the M. E. Church, at Sparta.  Artemas Swetland, the grandfather of Warren, when a boy, was in the fort at the Wyoming masacre, 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 coining, and started to run, but was shot, crippled, and overtaken by them, and dispatched with the tomahawk.  Artemas was in the war of 1812, enlisting while in Delaware Co., Ohio.  He was one of the first settlers in South Bloomfield Tp., and his sons, Augustus, Giles and Seth, vividly remember the hardships through which they passed, in their new home in the wilderness.  This family is noted for longevity, and, although some of them are nearly four score and ten, yet they are full of vigor and strength.  The family is well known, and universally respected.
Source: History of Morrow County and Ohio – Chicago: O. L. Baskin, 1880, p. 676
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

South Bloomfield Twp. –
WILLIAM L. SWETLAND, farmer and stock raiser; P. O., Sparta,: is the son of Giles and Sarah (Lewis) Swetland, and was born in South Bloomfield Tp., Aug. 31, 1838.  He spent his youth on his father’s farm, where he remained until he was 24 years old; but began to accumulate property for himself at the age of 21.  On the 25th of Dec., 1861, he was united in marriage to Cornelia E., daughter of Jabez and Mariah (Slack) Hulse, and has by her a family of five children -- C. Duane, born Aug. 1, 1863; Minnie R., Aug. 1, 1867; Silenda L., Aug. 28, 1869, Manning L., April 1, 1872, and Burton V. E., Aug, 31, 1874.  Mr. Swetland own 235 acres of land, all well improved; he has in his possession a watch which belonged to his great-grandfather, Luke Swetland; he also has an old wooden moleboard plow, used by his father in early times, which he values highly as a keepsake.
Source: History of Morrow County and Ohio – Chicago: O. L. Baskin, 1880, p. 676
Contributed by a Generous Genealogist.

Gilead Twp. –
DAVID L. SWINGLEY, physician; Mt, Gilead; was born in Washington Co., Md., in 1813, his father, Leonard Swingley being a native of that State; his mother, Prudence (Brentlinger) Swingley, was born in the fort, during the Indian war, on the present site of the city of Wheeling, W. Va.  David L. had six brothers, and two sisters -- William, Henry, Frederic, Alfred, Harmon B., George R., Amelia, and one deceased; his father emigrated to Knox Co., Ohio, in 1824, settling four miles south of Mt. Vernon, remaining there a year; he then removed to Chester Tp., Morrow Co., at that time a part of Knox Co.; he died in Cardington, in 1849; was a member of the Lutheran Church, and respected by all who knew him.  David, the subject of this sketch, left home at the age of 24, pursuing his studies at the Willoughby Medical College, of Lake Erie, near Cleveland, Ohio; he commenced the practice of his profession in Chesterville, then Knox Co., in 1840; in 1844 he was married to Maria Holt, daughter of James and Elizabeth Holt, by whom he had two children -- Mason, born March 10, 1848, and James L., born in 1852; the eldest son died Sept. 15, 1866; the younger son is well known as one of Mt. Gilead’s leading druggists.  Mr. Swingley became a member of the Universalist Church in 1867, and is widely known in Morrow and adjoining counties, as a successful physician, and a reliable man.  His office is in the Van Horn Block.
Source: History of Morrow County and Ohio – Chicago: O. L. Baskin, 1880, pp. 552-553
Contributed by a Generous Genealogist.

Chester Twp. –
HARMON SWINGLEY, farmer; P. O. Chesterville; was born Feb. 10, 1815, in Maryland; he spent his youth attending school and farming; when a young man he learned chair-making with his brother Henry, at Chesterville, and continued the same for several years; he was married in 1840, to Ruhannah, daughter of John and Asenath (Graham) Ogle; her parents were married in Pennsylvania, and came to Ohio in 1811, and settled in Richland Co.; she was one of seven children -- Rachel, Nancy, Ruhannah, born Mar. 23, 1811, Phoebe, Mary, Clarinda, John. They settled, after marriage, on the present farm of 112 acres, then in the green woods; they have improved the same, and now enjoy the benefits of a fine, arable farm; they are members of the Christian Church. They had one child, Josephine, married in 1860 to Chambers H., son of Benjamin and Rose (Elliott) Kerr; his father was born in 1800, in Ohio, and his mother in Pennsylvania, in 1806; the father was a farmer and millwright. Chambers was born April 23, 1837, and was one of seven children -- Sarah, John B., William E., Eliza J.; Chambers H., Wilson S. and Rose.  Mr. Kerr has by his marriage with Miss Swingley -- John E., born Aug. 12, 1861; James H., born in Nov., 1862; Harmon O., Mar. 25, 1865; Charles C., Aug. 3, 1869; Mary E., Oct 11, 1874; Rhue, Nov. 6, 1878.  Mr. Kerr owns 70 acres of well improved land.  His wife is a member of the Christian church; he votes the Democratic ticket, and is a member of the Patrons of Husbandry.
Source: History of Morrow County and Ohio – Chicago: O. L. Baskin, 1880, p. 615
Contributed by a Generous Genealogist