Westfield Twp. –
DANIEL WADDELL, merchant; Westfield; was born in Marion Co., Feb. 6, 1823; his father, John Waddell, was born in Wheeling, in 1797, and the day he was of age, he married Margaret Giffin, born there also, in 1799.  His father was well educated, and taught school several years.  After the birth of their two older children, Nancy and William, in 1821, they moved to Marion Co., Ohio, into an unbroken wilderness, having to cut their way through to their cabin.  Here they resided during their lives, and raised a family of ten children, of whom Daniel is the third; he gained his education chiefly under the instruction of his father, who, dying when he was eighteen, left the care of the farm, which was only partly cleared, and the care of the family, to Daniel and his older brother, a by no means light burden.  Having remained with the family until the members could care for themselves, he married Miss Celia Richardson, Aug. 19, 1847; from this union there were Lucina, born April 1, 1849; and Mary E., April 13, 1857, now married to Scott Clark, of Caledonia, Ohio.  He lived three years in Delaware Co., and then moved to Westfield Tp., where his wife died June 2, 1874.  Mr. Waddell soon after took an extended trip through the West, and while at Olathe, Kansas, met Mrs. Elizabeth Kirkpatrick, whom he married Sept. 1, 1875.  Mrs. Waddell is a cultured lady, and a fine artist, and has a choice collection of paintings of her own work.  She excels especially on portraits.  Mr. Waddell, with O. E. Richardson, founded the hardware and clothing store of Daniel Waddell & Co., of Westfield, in 1878.  He has a beautiful home to which is attached ten acres of land lying just outside of the village.  Mr. and Mrs. Waddell are strong supporters of the temperance cause, and are members of the M. E. Church, in which Mr. Waddell has been a class-leader for twenty-eight years.
Source: History of Morrow County and Ohio – Chicago: O. L. Baskin, 1880, p. 649
Contributed by a Generous Genealogist.

COLONEL E. WAGNER. ––One of the prominent residents of Mount Gilead, Morrow county, Ohio, is Colonel E. Wagner, who, in company with his brother, O. S. Wagner, is engaged in the buying and shipping of grain.  He is a loyal and public-spirited citizen, whose influence has ever been exerted in behalf of the general welfare and whose contribution to progress and development is of the most insistent order.  He was born in Wyandot county, Ohio, the date of his birth being November 14, 1874, and he is a son of Cyrus and Lydia (Wildermood) Wagner, the former of whom was born in Germany and the latter in Ohio.  John Smith Wagner, grandfather of him whose name initiates this review, was likewise born in Germany, whence he came to America with his family in an early date.  He settled on a farm in Wyandot county, Ohio, where his death occurred about 1882.  Mr. and Mrs. Cyrus Wagner are still residents of Wyandot county, where the father is identified with agricultural pursuits and where he has maintained his home during his natural life.
     Colonel E. Wagner, the fourth in order of birth in a family of nine children, was reared to maturity on the old home farm in Wyandot county, to whose public schools he is indebted for his educational training.  He received a good, practical common education, and entered a railroad office at McCutchenville, where he learned telegraphy.  In 1889 he entered the employ of the Toledo & Ohio Central Railroad Company in the capacity of telegraph operator.  After working at different places in that capacity he finally came to Mount Gilead in 1894, and here he has since resided.  In 1906 he and his brother O. S. Wagner purchased the N. J. Cover warehouse and elevators and since that time they have been engaged in a general feed business, also buying and shipping grain of all kinds.  In this line of enterprise the Wagner Brothers are doing a thriving business and the same is most gratifying to contemplate inasmuch as it is the direct result of their own well directed endeavors.
     On April 25, 1901, was recorded the marriage of Mr. Wagner to Miss Dora Huffman, who was reared and educated at McCutchenville, Ohio, and who is a daughter of William and Rose (Baker) Huffman, prominent residents of Wyandot county, Ohio.  No children have been born to this union.  Mr. and Mrs. Wagner are zealous members of the Methodist Episcopal church at Mount Gilead.
     In politics Mr. Wagner is a Democrat and he is an influential factor in the local councils of that party.  At the present time he is serving as a member of the city council of Mount Gilead and it may be stated here that he has ever been deeply interested in all matters projected for the general welfare of the community.  Fraternally he is affiliated with Mount Gilead Lodge, No. 206, Free and Accepted Masons, and with Charles H. Hull Lodge, No. 195, Knights of Pythias, in the latter of which he is the present master at arms.  Mr. Wagner is a man of fine natural intelligence.  His genial manner, his unfaltering courtesy, his genuine worth of character and strong personal traits have won for him the regard and friendship of the vast majority of those with whom he has come in contact and made him a representative citizen of Morrow county.
Source:  History of Morrow County, Ohio by A. J. Baughman - Vol. II - Chicago-New York: The Lewis Publishing Co. - 1911 – pp. 800-801
Contributed by a Generous Genealogist.
SHARON WICK's NOTE:  Per Records, including world war I draft record and his death record the subject's middle name was Ellsworth also spelled Elsworth.  His actual given name WAS Colonel.

Perry Twp. –
ENOCH WAGNER, retired farmer; P. O., Shaucks; son of Matthias and Nancy (Delong) Wagner; he was born in Harrison Co., O., January 27, 1826; he lived on a farm near New Philadelphia, and attended the common school until his seventeenth year, when he went to learn boot and shoe making with Charles Antrus of Uhrickville, O., with whom he served two years, receiving $30 the first year and $40 the second year, as wages, besides learning the trade; being now a trusty workman, he continued in the same village one year; from 1845 to 1850 he worked for brief periods at the following places  -- Shelby, Lexington, Indianapolis and Cedar Co., Ia., when he returned, settling on a farm near Uhrickville, O., where he continued working at his trade until 1864; during the winter of that year he purchased his present place, of thirty-eight acres, on which he has lived ever since; he at present rents his fields, and gives his attention to the raising of stock, especially shorthorn cattle, of which he has some very fine specimens; he has also been successfully engaged in bee culture for some time; he was formerly a Democrat, but has voted the Republican ticket since the days of Pierce; he married Sarah Wirick, in June, 1867; she is a daughter of John and Elizabeth (Hetrick) Wirick, born in this township, March 21, 1830; her father was a native of Guernsey Co., O., and her mother of York Co., Pa.; both came to this vicinity in an early day, and after marriage, settled near King Corners, where they raised a family of six children -- Sarah, David, Valentine, Catherine, Rosanna and Rachel.  Mr. Wagner’s father lived and died in Tuscarawas Co., O., raising a family of ten children -- Sarah, Isaac, Nancy, George, John, Enoch, Jefferson, James, Harrison and Matthias.
Source: History of Morrow County and Ohio – Chicago: O. L. Baskin, 1880, p. 834
Contributed by a Generous Genealogist.

Perry Twp. –
SAMUEL WAGNER, miller; Schaucks; son of John and Christiana (Keifer) Wagner; he was born in this township June 17, 1842; he lived on the farm one mile west of Johnsville until nineteen years old, when he became a clerk in the store of J. J. Cover & Co., some eighteen months.  In 1862 he went to Ontario, where he found employment as clerk in a store at New Hamburg; he remained until the spring of 1866.  In the meantime he wooed and won the hand of Lavina Morley, a daughter of George and Hannah (Hall) Morley.  She was born in Wilmot Tp., Waterloo Co., Ontario, Jan. 23, 1845.  On his return to Johnsville, Mr. Wagner engaged in merchandising, in partnership with his brother for a period of ten years, under the firm name of Wagner & Brother; retiring from the from the store in 1876, they became sole proprietors of Shaucks’ mills, in which they had purchased a third interest in 1873, an additional third in 1874, and the entire property in 1876.  The firm owns a grist and sawmill, two dwellings, with eight acres of land, the business block occupied by Newhouse & Held, and a dwelling in the southern part of town.  The large grist-mill on the Mohican was built in 1844; it now has adequate steam power, and all modern improvements; it has three run of buhrs, and an ample capacity for merchandise and storage purposes; the custom work is in charge of a competent miller of twenty-five years’ experience.  Mr. Wagner owns his present handsome brick residence of seven rooms, which he built in 1877; he has four children living -- George J., born December 15, 1866; Anna C. died at the age of five; Clarence L. was born December the 6th, 1874; Charles R., April 26, 1877; Ivor E., February 16, 1879; his father, John Wagner, was born in the Kingdom of Bavaria, May, 1800; he learned the trade of cabinet-making in Germany.  In 1837 he emigrated with a family of three children to the United States; one child died on the, ocean; they arrived in New York in July; they came by way of Buffalo, Sandusky City and Mansfield -- settled first on thirty-five acres in this township.  He had nine children; five are living -- Valentine, farmer in this township; Elizabeth, widow of Elah Zigler; John K., partner with subject; Samuel, (subject) Henry lives in this township.  Subject has been a member of the Johnsville Seal Board.
Source: History of Morrow County and Ohio – Chicago: O. L. Baskin, 1880, p. 834
Contributed by a Generous Genealogist.

Franklin Twp. –
JOHN JOHNSON WAIT, farmer; P. O., Chesterville; was a native of Vermont; he is the son of Yelverton and Elizabeth (Olin) Wait, and was born Aug. 11, 1817, in Shaftsbury, Bennington Co., Vt.; his father was a native of Rhode Island, and came in an early day with his parents to Vermont; he departed this life March 22, 1829, when John was only eleven years old, and from that time until he reached his majority he took charge of the family affairs and its support; when he was 21 years of age, he, in company with an uncle, came 400 miles in a sleigh and the rest of the way in a wagon; reaching Knox Co., Ohio, they soon set out on foot for Greenville, Ohio; from there they walked to Sandusky, Ohio; taking the steamer at this point they went to Detroit, and from there on foot to Kalamazoo, Mich., and from there they walked back to Knox Co., Ohio. At this point, Mr. Wait having spent about $70 in an almost fruitless journey, finds himself almost penniless; so he goes to work by the month at $12 per month, which he continued for four years. He then married Almy A. Corwin, a daughter of Benjamin and Mary (Patrick) Corwin.  Mr. and Mrs. Wait wore married Dec. 29, 1841, and they settled on the present site in 1845, then only fifty acres, costing $600; a large portion he purchased on credit, but soon, by tact and prudence, he paid for this, and has since added lot after lot, until his domain now covers 400 acres of fine arable land. He has defied and set at naught the maxims of Franklin, going in debt for large sums at each purchase, he has by sheer force of will and indomitable energy paid his obligation, and improved the land by erecting good substantial buildings. He has taken a deep interest in the improvement of stock; he is now starting a flock from registered animals of the Alwood and Hammond pure Spanish Merinos; has five beautiful representatives of that famous flock direct from Vermont. Mr. Wait was a Democrat until the passage of the Fugitive Slave law; since then he has identified himself with the Republican party. They have a family of four children -- Emily S., Yelverton C., Cordelia P. and Orril D.; four others died when young; of those living all are married except Orril D.  Benjamin Corwin was a cousin to the statesman and orator Thomas Corwin. He came to Clinton Tp., Knox Co., Ohio, about 1808. There was only one cabin in Mt. Vernon at that time; he sunk a tanyard here, probably the first in Knox Co., and remaining here until 1811 or 12, he sold his tanyard at Clinton and purchased 500 acres of land of Joseph Smith, on the Johnstown Road; here he sunk another tanyard -- the first in Franklin. The only neighbors they had in those days were the Blairs, Cooks, Manns and the Walkers; Mrs. Corwin would go out in a still morning to listen for the crowing of chickens, to learn whether any new settlements had been made. He built a cabin and cleared a farm of 150 acres. They raised a family of eleven children -- Mrs. Almy A. Wait was born Sept. 27, 1820, and was the sixth in the family; Jane, James, Cyrus, Aditha, Eliza, Almy A., Lucinda, Stephen, Mary, Hannah and Benjamin F.  All reached manhood and womanhood.
Source: History of Morrow County and Ohio – Chicago: O. L. Baskin, 1880, pp. 797-798
Contributed by a Generous Genealogist.

Franklin Twp. –
YELVERTON C. WAIT, farmer; P. O., Chesterville; is the only son of John J. and Almy A. Wait, and was born Dec. 11, 1843, in Franklin Tp. He farmed in partnership with his father until 1877, when he purchased his present home of 204 acres of Charles B. Lavering. He married Lydia C. Manson, Aug. 25, 1865. She is the only daughter of William and Rhoda (Orme) Manson, and was born Aug. 6, 1844, in Shelby Co., Ohio. Her father was a native of Maine, and came to Ohio about 1839, where he soon after married Rhoda Orme of Knox Co., Ohio, They then removed to Darke Co., Ohio, where he was engaged in business for six years. From here he removed to Shelby Co., where he remained two years. He then removed to Allen Co.; he stayed here five years, returning to Knox Co., where he died March 22, 1852. He was a successful Physician, and a practical Druggist. The late ex-Sheriff, Manson, is a brother of Mrs. Lydia C. Wait.  Mr. and Mrs. Wait have a promising family of six children -- Florence C., William J., Cora A., John M., Ralph and an infant. Mr. Wait, like his father, is a supporter of Republican principles.
Source: History of Morrow County and Ohio – Chicago: O. L. Baskin, 1880, p. 797
Contributed by a Generous Genealogist.

Cardington Twp. –
JOHN B. WARRING, manufacturer of boots and shoes, Cardington; the present Mayor of Cardington, Mr. J. B. Warring, was born in Ulster Co., N. Y., Feb. 16, 1829; is a son of Anthony and Lois (Wycoff) Warring, the former a native of Ulster Co., and the latter of Flatbush, Long Island; the father was twice married; by his first wife there were five children; his second wife -- Hannah Phillip, a native of England -- was the mother of fourteen children by him; he was a shoemaker by trade, and in 1846 he removed to Long Island, New York, which he has since made his home; Ezra Warring, grandfather of John B., was one of the first settlers of Ulster Co., N. Y.; He enlisted at Horse Neck, under Gen’l Israel Putnam, and served with distinction during the Revolutionary war; he was also a soldier of the war of 1812, and lived to the advanced age of ninety-five years; John B. Warring received the advantages of' a common school education, and when yet quite young was apprenticed to the shoemaker’s trade with Mr. Charles Miller, of Flushing Bay, Long Island; after learning his trade and when eighteen years of age, he employed himself for six years as a sailor; he was married Dec. 24, 1847, to Miss Euphemia Walker, a native of Livingston, Essex Co., N. J.; they are the parents of five sons and two daughters -- Emma A., Eugene L., Cassius O., George W., Edwin F., Ada E. and Harry E.; in 1867 Mr. Warring came to Cardington, Ohio, where he has since resided; he has been for the most part engaged working at his trade; he is a staunch Republican, a consistent member of the M. E. Church, and a strict temperance man, he owns a nicely improved property in Cardington, where he is respected by all who know him.
Source: History of Morrow County and Ohio – Chicago: O. L. Baskin, 1880, p. 587
Contributed by a Generous Genealogist

Gilead Twp. –
PETER WASHER, farmer and stock-raiser; P. O., Gilead Station; was born in Sussex Co., N. J., Dec. 5, 1812; he lived at home until he was 24 years of age; at the age of 21 he was apprenticed to the masons’ trade, and worked with his uncle, and served two years; he then worked as journeyman one year.  In 1836, himself, uncle and cousins came in a wagon to the vicinity of Chesterville, Ohio; he working transient at his trade, and Dec. 27, 1837, he married Miss Elizabeth Dewitt, a native of Sussex Co., N. J., who came west with her parents at a very early day. After his marriage he lived in Chesterville, until the fall of 1838; he then came to his present place, and has farmed same since; he also has worked some at carpentering and shoemaking, making as high as five pair of shoes in one week, working mornings and nights. They had three children, two living, viz -- Mary, now Mrs. Brockelsby, living on the present place; and Levina E., now Mrs. Painter Gier, also lives in this county. He owns 105 acres of land, located one and one-fourth miles north of Gilead Station, which he has principally earned by his own labor and management.  His son-in-law, Robert Brockelsby, is a native of England; he is farming the old homestead; he came to the United States when young; he has three children, viz. -- William, Francis and Rosie.
Source: History of Morrow County and Ohio – Chicago: O. L. Baskin, 1880, p. 559
Contributed by a Generous Genealogist.

Cardington Twp. –
JOSEPH WATSON, physician; Cardington; was born in Richland Co., Ohio, Oct. 24, 1824 -- a son of Noah and Eliza (Dodson) Watson, natives of Luzerne Co., Pa., and the parents of seven children.  In 1812 the father -- then a young man -- came to Richland Co., Ohio, where he met Miss Bathsheba Eastman, to whom he was married.  She died in about two years, and he returned to Pennsylvania, where he was married to Miss Dodson.  In 1823 he again came to Richland Co., where he passed the remainder of his life in agricultural pursuits.  He was a soldier of the war of 1812, under Gen. Harrison.  He died in 1864.  Dr. Watson remained upon his father’s farm until 24 years of age.  On the 16th of August, 1848, he was united in marriage with Lucy A. Barnum.  She died in less than a year after their marriage, soon after which Mr. Watson began the study of medicine.  He graduated at the Western College of Homœopathy of Cleveland, in 1853.  He first located in Westfield, where he met with marked success, and where he remained until 1861, when he came to Cardington, where he has since resided.  He was married to Mary J. Mills, May 15, 1855.  She was born in Marion Co., Ohio, in 1836.  They have four children -- Orville E., Clarence V., Minetta and Jessie F.  Dr. Watson has always been a close student of his profession, the result of which is, he has been a very successful practitioner.  Besides a nice home property on Walnut street, Cardington, Dr. Watson owns 360 acres of land in Michigan.
Source: History of Morrow County and Ohio – Chicago: O. L. Baskin, 1880, pp. 588-589
Contributed by a Generous Genealogist.

Gilead Twp. –
JOSEPH WATSON, farmer; P. O., Gilead Station; was born in Cumberland Co., Pa., July 31, 1838, and the same year his parents, Joseph and Barbara (Bender) Watson, of Cumberland Co., Pa., came west to Ohio, and settled in Richland Co., where they farmed for five years. They then came to a farm two miles north of Mt. Gilead, dealing very largely in stock. They remained there seven years; then moved to Canaan Tp., near Denmark, where he bought 160 acres of land, and lived there until the spring of 1863, when he rented his place and bought and moved to the present farm, upon which his son Joseph now lives, and he continued on this place until his death, July 25, 1865; Mrs. Watson lived on the place until her death, March 21, 1872. They had fourteen children, twelve now living -- John B., Warsaw, Ind.; James, Morrow Co.; Christianna, now Mrs. Clark, of Blackhawk Co., Iowa; David, Aden, California; George, Mt. Ayer, Ringgold Co., Iowa; Joseph, Morrow Co.; Barbara, now Mrs. John N. Smith, Morrow Co., Samuel N. is with his brother David; Hannah L., now Mrs. Jas. H. Smith, lives at Holgate, Ohio; Jacob C., Reno, Nevada; Harriet A., now Mrs. McGowan, Black Jack, Douglass Co., Kansas; Mary C., now Mrs. Galleher, Denmark, Morrow Co.; Elizabeth died in infancy; William died aged 22.  Mr. Watson was well known and respected; he served as a County Commissioner about 1860, and is credited with hauling the first printing press to Mt. Gilead.  Joseph, Jr., lived at home until he was 17; he worked by the month in this neighborhood for two years, and in 1858 he went to Kansas, and thence to New Mexico, returning home in 1860; he then went to California, via New York and Panama, and lived near Yreka until 1867; was engaged in teaming, charcoal and lumber business. He returned home via Panama and New York; and after his mother’s death, he bought the home farm.  April 25, 1872, he married Miss Catharine, daughter of Jonas and Hannah (Bender) Shewman; she was born in Richland Co., Ohio, and raised in Fulton Co., Ind. They had three children, two are living -- Maggie B. and David S.  He lives on the old homestead, the residence of which has been standing for forty years, and is located one mile north of Gilead Station.
Source: History of Morrow County and Ohio – Chicago: O. L. Baskin, 1880, p. 561
Contributed by a Generous Genealogist.

DR. JOSEPH WATSON, one of the leading physicians of Cardington, Ohio, has resided here since 1861.
     He was born near Mansfield, in Richland county, Ohio, October 24, 1824, son of Dr. Noah and Elizabeth (Dodson) Watson.  Dr. Noah Watson was a native of Luzerne county, Pennsylvania, born December 10, 1790, son of Amariah Watson, a native of Hartford, Connecticut, and a soldier of the Revolution.  The Watson family are of Welsh and English origin, and were for many years residents of Connecticut.  Noah Watson was a Sergeant in the war of 1812.  About the time that war opened he came to Ohio and located at Lexington, where he was subsequently married to Bathsheba Eastman, who died only a short time after their marriage.  He remained in Richland county six years, after which he returned to Pennsylvania and studied medicine, and while there he married for his second wife Miss Elizabeth Dodson, who was born in Luzerne county, that State, April 29, 1796.  In 1823 he came to Ohio and settled on a farm near Lexington.  Here he spent the residue of his life and died.  In politics he was a Whig, and in religion a Universalist.  His death occurred in 1862, and his good wife passed away in 1882.  Three of their seven children are now living, viz.: William Watson, of Lyons, Kansas, who has been twice married and has five children; Lucy, widow of Rev. Clark Johnson, Fostoria, Ohio; and Dr. Joseph Watson, the subject of this article.
     Dr. Watson spent the first twenty-four years of his life on his father’s farm, receiving his education in the public schools.  He began the study of medicine at Iberia, under the instructions of Dr. L. L. Barnum, and attended the Western College of Homoeopathy, where he graduated in 1853.  After his graduation he entered upon the practice of his profession at Westfield, Ohio, where he remained six years.  Since 1861, as stated at the beginning of this sketch, he has been identified with the medical profession of Cardington, being one of the pioneers of his school in this county.
     Dr. Watson was first married in 1848, to Lucy Amelia Barnum, their happy married life being of short duration, as her untimely death occurred the year following her marriage.  In 1855 he married Ella J. Mills, who was born in Marion county, Ohio, in May, 1836, and who was a lady of education and culture.  She died of la grippe in 1890.  They had four children, of whom three are living, viz: Orville E., a graduate of the Cardington high school, Kenyon College, and the Ohio Wesleyan University, spent one year of study in Europe, and upon his return to America was appointed minor canon of the cathedral at Cleveland, which position he still holds; Clarence V., deceased; Minette, an artist of some note, has been a student at both Cincinnati and New York city; and Jessie, who was a student in the Cincinnati College of Music, is a fine performer upon the piano and organ.
     Mrs. Watson was a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, while the Doctor is an Episcopalian.  Politically he is an active Republican.
Memorial Record of the Counties of Delaware, Union & Morrow, Ohio; Chicago: The Lewis Publishing Co., 1895, pp. 452-453
Contributed by a Generous Genealogist.

Peru Twp. –
SAMUEL WAUGH, farmer; P. O., Ashley; Samuel Waugh was born in Scotland, but came to America about 1800. His wife, Nancy Douglass, daughter of Lord Douglas, was born in Scotland, joined Samuel in America, and they were married shortly after her arrival. Samuel took his nativity in Cumberland Co., Pa.  Sarah Davidson, his wife, was a native of the same county. They were married in 1827. His son, Samuel, is the subject of this biography; born August 28, 1828, in Cumberland Co., Pa. His wife, Elizabeth Laughrey, was born in Knox Co., Ohio, Sept. 9, 1840. Their marriage took place Feb. 11, 1858. Samuel’s parents died as follows: His father, Saturday, May 21, 1836; his mother, May 15, 1840. Mr. Waugh has had the following children, to-wit: Sarah Ann, born Nov. 6, 1858, and died Nov. 2, 1863; Mary Avonia, also deceased; William Erastus, born Jan. 9, 1862; Samuel Charles, March 27, 1866; Elizabeth Viola, Dec. 24, 1868; Nancy Rosella, Jan. 27, 1875. By occupation Samuel Waugh is a farmer -- is engaged in horticulture and sheep husbandry, with thirty acres in an orchard. He has taxed every region for varieties, and qualities of fruit, determined to make this department complete in its way, and profitable in its results; he has left nothing undone, and can, to-day, boast of having the leading orchard in the township, if not in the county. In sheep husbandry he is careful, attentive, and eminently successful. He is truly a Pennsylvanian -- hospitable, and of proverbial integrity.
Source: History of Morrow County and Ohio – Chicago: O. L. Baskin, 1880, p. 659
Contributed by a Generous Genealogist

South Bloomfield Twp. –
S. F. WAY, Sparta; was born in Summit Co., Ohio, July 22, 1843; he is the soil of Franklin and Harriet (Beebe) Way, who had a family of two sons and four daughters -- P. F. Beverly, Harriet E., Lydia A., S. F., and sister Clarissa, and Merrilla D.  The latter is the eldest, and died in childhood.  P. F. Beverly is a graduate of the medical schools of Ann Harbor and St. Louis; he is now a practicing physician of Columbus, Ohio.  Harriet E., was the wife of John McGuire, whose biography appears in this work.  The father of this family was born Feb. 28, 1812, and died Aug. 23, 1847.  The mother was born Oct. 20, 1809; she is yet living, her home being with the son in Sparta.  S. F. Way, made his home with his mother, assisting her and going to school until he was about 16 years old.  The winter after he was 17, he taught district school, and afterward alternately taught school and attended the college at Oberlin, for three years.  His health then failed, and he was compelled to relinquish his studies for the time.  When he was 20 years old, he was employed as instructor in commercial studies of the business college at Oberlin, for one year.  After this he was employed as teacher of penmanship in the college at Delaware, Ohio.  Here his health again failed him, and he was obliged to give up active life altogether.  He is now a licensed preacher of the M. E. Church, and is engaged in evangelistical work.  He was married Dec. 5, 1872, to M. E. Harris, daughter of G. N. and Christina (Tussing) Harris, and by her had one daughter -- Hattie E., born April 12, 1874, and died Aug. 25, 1875.  He is now living in Sparta, where he has made his home for the past twenty-eight years.  He is a prohibitionist.
Source: History of Morrow County and Ohio – Chicago: O. L. Baskin, 1880, p. 680
Contributed by a Generous Genealogist.

NOBLE WEAR, a farmer of Bennington township, is a son of Noble Wear, Sr., who was born in county Fermanagh, Ireland, and was a farmer and weaver by occupation.  He participated in the battle of Waterloo.  The mother of our subject, formerly Annie Irving, was a native of the same county.  They were married in Ireland, and came to America in 1833, locating for a few years in Mount Vernon, Ohio, and then settled on an improved farm.  The father lived to the age of 102 years, and the mother to the age of 104 years.  They were the parents of ten children, five sons and five daughters.  Mr. Wear was an active worker in the Democratic party, his first Presidential vote in America having been cast for Andrew Jackson.  Both were members of the Presbyterian Church.
     Noble Wear, the subject of this sketch, was born about 1829, and received his education at Vernon and Gambier, Ohio.  He remained at home until twenty-one years of age, and then located on a partially improved farm in Liberty township, Knox county, which he put under a fine state of cultivation, and lived there until coming to Morrow county in 1861.  In his home farm he has 170 acres, and also owns fifty acres west of Marengo and 104 acres in Chester township.  In addition to his farm property, Mr. Wear owns two good city lots in Columbus.  He has just given the old home farm in Liberty township to his son.
     In 1850 he was united in marriage with Sarah Ann Bird, a native of Liberty township, Knox county, and a daughter of Elisha Bird, an early pioneer of that county.  Mrs. Wear departed this life in 1878.  Our subject and wife had seven children, viz.: Cordelia, at home; Frank, who married Rosie Bishop, and resides in Bennington township; George W., at home; Annie, wife of David Green, of Chester township; John, of Los Angeles, California, married Dora Grubb, and has three children; Jennie R. is the wife of E. J. Harris, of Bennington township, and has three children; Isaac, married, resides in Los Angeles, and has one child.  Mr. Wear is a member and active worker in the Democratic party, and for several years has served as School Director.  He is a member of the Methodist Church.
Memorial Record of the Counties of Delaware, Union & Morrow, Ohio; Chicago: The Lewis Publishing Co., 1895, p. 426
Contributed by a Generous Genealogist.

Cardington Twp. –
CYRUS E. WEATHERBY; teacher and farmer; P. O., Cardington.  Edmund Weatherby, father of Cyrus E., was born in Tompkins Co., N. Y., Jan. 16, 1804; is a son of Edmund and Hannah (Harvey) Weatherby, both of whom were natives of New Jersey, and direct descendant of an old and much respected Puritanical family, and during the struggle for liberty they fought with Gens. Washington and La Fayette.  Edmund Weatherby, our subject’s grandfather, removed from New Jersey to Central New York in 1804, and in 1833 he, with his family, together with his son Edmund, his wife and three children, removed to Chester Tp., Morrow Co., O.  Cyrus’ father began teaching school when about 19 years old, a business he followed during the winter months for seventeen consecutive years.  He was united in marriage with Miss Orril Sawyer Oct. 9, 1827.  She was born in the Dominion of Canada in 1808, but when quite small her parents removed to New York, where she was raised; from this marriage there were seven children, three of whom are now living -- Samuel S., Harriet and Cyrus E.  Those deceased were named Clotilda, Olive, Philancy add [sic] Adna S.  Samuel well and faithfully served his country in the late war.  Adna S. was a young man of more than ordinary ability, and at the early age of 21 years graduated in medicine, and began its practice in Cardington.  After a few years of very successful practice, he was called to his reward, leaving a young wife and a large circle of friends to mourn his untimely death.  All the children received the benefits of a good education, and with one exception, have taught school.  Cyrus E. was united in marriage with Miss Lucy Woodruff in 1874.  She died in 1879.  There was one child from this union -- Philancy, who died when about one year old.  Mr. Weatherby owns ninety acres of well improved land in and adjoining the village of Cardington.  He and his sons are staunch Republicans, and consistent members of the M. E. Church.  Cyrus E. for the past three years has had charge of the public schools.
Source: History of Morrow County and Ohio – Chicago: O. L. Baskin, 1880, p. 589
Contributed by a Generous Genealogist.

Gilead Twp. -
M. G. WEBSTER, retired; Mt. Gilead; one of the old and respected settlers of Morrow County is the subject of this sketch, who was born in Litchfield, Ct., Feb. 5, 1804, and is the son of Charles and Chloe (Cook) Webster; both parents natives of Ct.; his father was a farmer and was married in Ct.; our subject's great grandfather and Daniel Webster's great grandfather were brothers; Noah Webster's great grandfather and Mr. Webster's great grand father was the same person; our subject when about three years of age, with his parents, moved to New York State, where they remained some four or five years; thence to Crawford Co., Pa., where they remained until 1823, when they started for Ohio with five children, in a covered wagon drawn by two horses; after being many days on the road, traveling through a wild and wooded country, they arrived in Marion county and located south of the Mt. Gilead fair ground; Mr. Webster and his father went to work to build a mill darn and saw-mill; this was the first saw-mill built in this vicinity. In 1824 Jacob Young purchased land where the town of Mt. Gilead now stands; Mr. Webster's father purchased some town lots, and immediately he and his father commenced the erection of a house, which was built on the northeast corner of the south Public Square, opposite the American House, and was the first house built in the town -- one and a half stories high, 18x24 feet; this was the home of the family for a number of years; his mother died here about 1829; about 1828 young Webster was married to Miss Maria Newson; she was born in Washington Co., Md., Nov. 19, 1810, and came to Ohio with her parents by wagon about 1826, and in 1829 Mr. Webster built a log cabin in the rear of the present house, size 18x22 feet; he entered 80 acres of land where he now lives, then a wild, wooded country; this 80 acres Mr. Webster has cleared principally himself; he began working at the stone mason and carpenter's trade, which he followed for a number of years, working on the first church built in Mt. Gilead; walled the first cellar in the town; have four children living; had one son in late war, 100-day service; he did good service and was honorably mustered out.
Source: History of Morrow County and Ohio – Chicago: O. L. Baskin, 1880, p. 558
Contributed by a Generous Genealogist

FRANCIS A. WELCH. ––Among the representative farmers of Peru township, Morrow county, Ohio, he whose name initiates this paragraph must assuredly be accorded place, for his position has been one of prominence in many ways.
     He was born in Bennington county, Vermont, May 17, 1825, the son of Ebenezer Welch, who likewise was a native of the Green Mountain State, where he was reared to man’s estate.  He was a son of John Welch, who was a representative of one of the early New England families and who was a soldier in the war of the Revolution, in one of the battles of which conflict he was severely wounded, receiving a pension from the Government by reason of his injuries.
     Ebenezer Welch took unto himself a wife in the person of Susan Bennett, who was born in Bennington county, Vermont, and there reared.  Her father, Francis Bennett, was a descendant of a prominent family long resident of the New England States, he himself having been a native of Vermont.  He was a minister of the old-fashioned Baptist Church, and he lived to attain the age of more than eighty years, the family having been one notable for longevity.
     The parents of our subject were married in their native county and there passed the span of their lives, the father dying at the age of sixty years and the mother at eighty-eight.  The former was an active participant in the war of 1812.  They became the parents of eight sons and two daughters, all of whom grew to maturity, but of whom all, save two, are now deceased.  Of them we record that Samuel, John, Daniel and Thomas are deceased; Josiah is a resident of the State of New York; Lyman is deceased; Perry is deceased; Francis A. is the subject of this review; Sarah is deceased, as is also Betsey.
     Our subject was the youngest son, and he remained in his native county until he had attained the age of nineteen years, his mental discipline having been one of practical experience in the affairs of life, rather than that gained from books.  At the age of nineteen years he left the parental roof and started out empty-handed to carve out his own fortune.  He proceeded to Rensselaer county, New York, where he worked by the month or year for a period of twelve years, receiving wages ranging from eight to twelve dollars per month.
     In 1848 he was united in marriage to Ann Eliza Lain, who was born and reared in Rensselaer county, New York, being the daughter of Peter and Elizabeth Lain.  She died, leaving two children: Theodore M., of Richland county, Ohio, who has two sons, Frank and John; and one child who died young.|
     Four years subsequent to the death of his wife Mr. Welch came to Morrow county and purchased a farm of sixty-three acres, in Peru township, taking up his residence on the same.  July 22, 1855, he consummated a second marriage, being then united to Samantha (Oliver) Dillingham, widow of Alfred Dillingham.  She was born in Peru township and was the daughter of William and Annis Oliver, who were among the early settlers in the county.  Our subject and his wife are the parents of two sons and one daughter, of whom we make record as follows: Nettie is the wife of Alfred Finley, of Kansas, and has six children; Emerson E. married Jessie Doty and has two children, Clare and Tacy; Lyman married Delia Rosevelt and has two children, Mabel and Esley.
     At the time of the late war Mr. Welch enlisted as a private in Company G, Eighty-eighth Ohio Volunteer Infantry, and was under detail as a general utility man to Colonel Neff.  He served eleven months, after which he returned to his home in this township.  He now owns in this township a well improved farm of 110 acres.|
     In politics Mr. Welch is an ardent Republican, and he has taken a prominent part in the local councils and affairs of the organization.  He served for a full decade as Township Trustee, and in 1887 he was elected County Commissioner, serving in that capacity for three years.  He has also served as a delegate to the State convention several times.  He is one of the board of School Directors in the township; is clerk of the district and chairman of the School Board.  Fraternally he is identified with Ashley Lodge, I. O. O. F., and religiously, he is a member of the Society of Friends.  A man of stanchest integrity, and of marked ability, he has long held a high position in the respect and confidence of the community.
Memorial Record of the Counties of Delaware, Union & Morrow, Ohio; Chicago: The Lewis Publishing Co., 1895, pp. 144-145
Contributed by a Generous Genealogist.

Westfield Twp. –
JAMES R. WEST, farmer and wool grower; P. O., Westfield; was born in Carlisle, Cumberland Co., England, Oct. 9, 1809.  His father, William West, was a silk manufacturer, and his mother, whose maiden name was Dorothea Rennison, was a milliner.  They emigrated to America when James was 9 years of age, settling first in Hartford Co., and subsequently in Baltimore Co., Md.  Young West had attended school in England, which, with the exception of one quarter and an occasional night-school, provided for the operatives in the factories where he worked, was all the education he ever received; he learned weaving, working first in the Union Mills, in which his father was manager of the weaving department, and subsequently in the Franklin, in which his father was entire manager.  In 1830 his father, wishing to improve the condition of his family, thinking it could best be done by going west, emigrated to Ohio, and settled in Muskingum Co., where James remained with him five years, when, on June 4, 1835, he was married to Miss Rebecca Hedges.  Mrs. West was born in Virginia Feb. 4, 1816, and came to Ohio with her parents when a small child.  After two years Mr. West moved to West Rushville, Fairfield Co., where he carried on coverlet-weaving till 1847, when he purchased and moved on the farm where he now resides, and soon after discontinued his trade.  His farm consists of 135 acres, under a good state of cultivation, and well adapted to grazing, which Mr. West turns to good account in raising sheep, in which he is largely interested.  He has raised a family of six children -- Dorothy Jane, born March 28, 1838, died May 1 1876; Nancy Ellen, Dec. 3, 1839; William E., Dec. 3, 1841, died Oct. 6, 1862; Elizabeth Ann, Oct. 9, 1843, died Dec. 20, 1877; James Taylor, Aug. 8, 1848; Maria Emily, July 23, 1853, died July 11, 1877.  Few men have made greater sacrifices to their country than has Mr. West; his son, William, the first man to enlist in the township, joining the 26th O. V. I., was permitted to serve his country but about eighteen months, when, on a severe march he contracted an incurable disease.  When Mr. and Mrs. West learned that their son must die, with parental affection they desired that he might close his eyes in his dear old home which he loved so well, and for which he offered his life.  Mr. West went to the front and succeeded in getting him on the last train for the north -- an hour’s delay would have been too late.  There, among loving friends, after six weeks of suffering, he went to join the great army above.  The spirit of patriotism stirred the soul of the youngest son, James, and accordingly, at the age of 16, he ran away and joined the 187th O. V. I., remaining until the close of the war; he married Miss Jenny McDonald, a native of Pennsylvania, May 8, 1870, and is now engaged in farming with his father.  Mr. West has taken an active interest in all things that pertain to the welfare of Westfield Tp., and the people have shown their appreciation of his worth by electing him to various offices, among which is that of Justice of Peace, which he held for many years.  He was one of the charter members of Westfield Lodge No. 269, I. O. O. F., and was one of the charter members of the first Lodge in Morrow Co.
Source: History of Morrow County and Ohio – Chicago: O. L. Baskin, 1880, pp. 649-650
Contributed by a Generous Genealogist.

Peru Twp. –
LAFAYETTE WESTBROOK, farmer; P. O., Ashley; son of Solomon and Marthena (Crawford) Westbrook. The former was born in the State of New York Feb. 3, 1798, and died June 11, 1872. His wife was born in the Empire State, March 20, 1792, and died Jan. 1, 1879.  In Johnstown, Licking Co., O., April 17, 1822, they were married. He became a citizen of Peru Tp. in 1840. His family was Mary Ann, Anne, Lafayette, William, Jane, and Dr. Albert E. Westbrook, now of Ashley. Lafayette Westbrook was born July 28, 1829, in Johnstown, Licking Co., Ohio; he moved to Morrow Co. in 1840; in 1849, he married Miss Harriet Hubbell, a sister of the Hon. J. R. Hubbell, who was born Oct. 29, 1829, and who met an untimely death May 1, 1868. His children are -- Rosedell, born Oct. 24, 1849, now dead; Kate, born Dec. 17, 1851; Orville, March 10, 1834; Mary R., July 14, 1857; Flora E., March 3, 1860; Shadrach, Nov. 22, 1862, and Pruda, Dec. 17, 1867.  Nov. the 26th, 1868, Lafayette was again married to Phebe Randolph, born Oct. 2, 1839, the daughter of Nathan and Sarah Ann Randolph. From this union, he has one child, Minnie E., born June 27, 1870. The vicissitudes of his life have been varied; at 14 years of age, he was apprenticed to a tailor and served 3 years; and then learned the wagon-making business. He has played the role of hotel keeper, also, and at last settled down as a farmer, delighting in good horses and fine-wooled sheep, occupying one of the oldest establishments in the township, the Randolph Farm. With him life has had many fitful changes, but withal he has made it a success.
Source: History of Morrow County and Ohio – Chicago: O. L. Baskin, 1880, p. 659
Contributed by a Generous Genealogist

Peru Twp. –
WILLIAM WESTBROOK, farmer; P. O., Bennington; born June 12, 1831, in Bloomfield Tp., Knox Co., Ohio; is one of those farmers and stock-dealers whose energy and industry have placed him in easy and comfortable circumstances. The 4th day of July, 1852, he married Miss Emeline Wiseman, who was born Oct. 8, 1833. The children of this marriage are –– Vanda, born July 6, 1854; Frank, Dec. 23, 1855; Albert, Jan. 13, 1858; William H., Jan. 28, 1860; James C., born Jan. 17, 1862, and died March 13, 1868; Laura D., born Sept. 27, 1865, the same year in which James C. died. Mrs. Emeline Westbrook died July 27, 1868.  Dec. 19, 1873, William Westbrook married Rosa Besse for his second wife, and 1874 their first child, Berton Westbrook, was born. He is earnestly devoted to stock-raising, more especially horses and sheep; William Westbrook has made marked improvement in stock, more especially sheep, and like his brother Lafayette, though some may outrival him in numbers, few will excel him in quality. It is now twenty-four years since Mr. Westbrook came to the farm where he now resides. He having in the meantime purchased, and now owns the farm on which that remarkable prodigy, the double babes were born, whose history, though brief, was world-wide.
Source: History of Morrow County and Ohio – Chicago: O. L. Baskin, 1880, p. 659
Contributed by a Generous Genealogist

REVEREND JAMES WHEELER closed the many eventful years of a busy life as a resident of Morrow county.  He died as the result of an accident at Bucyrus, Ohio, on the 27th day of February, 1873, in the seventy-second year of his age.  He was born in Luzerne county, Pennsylvania, October 24, 1801, and came to Ohio with his parents when about eighteen years of age.  His people settled in Berkshire township, Delaware county, Ohio.  When about eighteen years of age he was converted and united with the Methodist Episcopal church.
     At this period of his life he learned the trade of a wheelwright and there are, no doubt, stored in some of the attics of Delaware and adjoining counties, spinning-wheels, reels, swifts, etc. made by Mr. Wheeler.  He only worked at this business but a short time when he went to Sunbury, Ohio, and began clerking in the store of a Mr. Atherton.  While engaged in this capacity he was united in marriage to Mary Atherton, a daughter of the man for whom he was clerking, and he finally became a partner in the business.
     About this time he felt that it was his duty to enter the ministry.  He was ordained as a deacon in the Ohio Annual Conference at Springfield, Ohio, on the 23rd of August, 1835.  On the 10th day of September, 1837, he was made an elder, or regularly ordained minister at Detroit, Michigan, and entered the Michigan Annual Conference, which at that time included a large portion of northern Ohio.
     He now entered into the life of the itinerant preacher with all its cares, its trials and its pleasures.  He would be from home for weeks at a time, compelled to ford swollen streams, to sleep out of doors with his saddle-bags for a pillow and preaching in the cabins or barns of the settlers, and oft times in the woods.  Upon his return to his home from one of his long tours of preaching he found his wife very sick, her illness in a short time resulting in her death, and the remains were taken to her girlhood home at Sunbury for burial.  On the 4th day of June, 1838, he was married to Miss Caroline Condit at Utica, Ohio.
     In 1839 Mr. Wheeler was appointed as a missionary to the Wyandot Indians at Upper Sandusky, Ohio, and here remained for five years, when they were removed to the territory of Kansas by the United States government, and given a reservation where Kansas City, Kansas, is now located, but long before Kansas City was ever dreamed of.  Mr. Wheeler accompanied the Indians on their trip and remained with them through the summer superintending their work in building their new homes and a church.  In the fall he returned to Ohio, where he had left his family and early in the following spring left with the family and a few household goods for the new home.  They went by canal from Columbus to Portsmouth and then down the Ohio river and up the Mississippi and Missouri rivers to the mouth of the Kaw river, where the new home was to be.  While yet in the Buckeye state and going down the Ohio canal, the boat was snagged and their goods were all soaked in water.  They had no chance to either air or dry them till their long journey was ended, hence most of their effects were ruined.  Mr. Wheeler’s duties as missionary while in Kansas were not confined to the Wyandots alone, but he made frequent trips to the Shawnees and other tribes and would often be a hundred or more miles from home, preaching to the red man.  In all of his life among the Indians he was never molested but was always shown the greatest respect and was beloved by them all.  In fact, the Wyandots loved him so that they regularly adopted him and his family into their tribe and made him one of their chiefs.  At the division of the Methodist church north, and south, the adjoining state of Missouri, and the Wyandot mission fell into the bounds of the portion that adhered to the South, and in May, 1846, Mr. Wheeler with his family returned to Ohio.  In the following fall he united with the North Ohio Conference, of which he remained a member up to the time of his death.  Soon after his return to Ohio Mr. Wheeler raised a fund to aid him in having the bodies of a number of the leading Indians, who were buried in different places, removed to the Indian graveyard at the old mission church at Upper Sandusky.  The body of Sum-mum-de-Wat was brought from Wood county, where he and his wife were murdered by white men.  Mr. Wheeler also had stones erected at the graves of Between-the-Logs, Grey-eyes, Sum-mun-de-Wat, Reverend John Stewart, the first missionary, and others.  At the time Mr. Wheeler was adopted into the Wyandot nation he was given the name of Hetascoo, which signified “Our Leader,” while his wife was called Queechy, owing to the fact that she wore shoes that squeaked when she was walking.  The last execution of a Wyandot in Ohio, who was tried, convicted and sentenced to be shot, took place in October, 1840.  The trial was before their highest tribunal, the assembled nation, and the question of life or death was decided by ballot.  Although Mr. Wheeler did not attend the execution, yet his two sons, young lads, witnessed the affair.
     In 1860 several of the leading men of the Wyandots were in the City of Washington, on business with the government, in regard to the Indians becoming citizens of the United States, and on their way back to Kansas, they stopped at the home of Mr. Wheeler, who was then living in Mt. Vernon, Ohio, and pleaded with him to take his family to Kansas, and become one of them, promising them a share in the nation’s possessions; but Mr. Wheeler could not see his way clear to comply with their appeals.  During Mr. Wheeler’s ministry he filled appointments at Elyria, Norwalk, Ashland, Utica, Spring Mountain, Homer, Fredericktown, Chesterville, Millersburg, Martinsburg, Mt. Vernon, Galena, Gambier, Woodbury and a number of other places.  While with the Indians, both at Upper Sandusky and in Kansas, he was not only the missionary, but the mission school with its teachers, was under his charge, and during the absence of the government’s agent he acted in that capacity.  Several of the old familiar hymns of the Methodist hymn book were translated by him into the Wyandot language.  His remains rest in River Cliff cemetery, Mt. Gilead.
Source:  History of Morrow County, Ohio by A. J. Baughman - Vol. II - Chicago-New York: The Lewis Publishing Co. - 1911 – pp. 904-906
Contributed by a Generous Genealogist.

Cardington Twp. –
DAVID V. WHERRY; Cardington; was born in Washington Co., Penn., May 9, 1839. He is the son of David and Eliza (Reed) Wherry, both of whom are natives of the Keystone State. The father was a carpenter, a professional miller and an ingenious mechanic. The parents were married in Pennsylvania and remained there until 1853, when they moved with their family to Ashland Co., O., where the father began milling and farming; their family consisted of seven children, our subject being one of them. In 1861 David enlisted in Co. G., 23rd. Reg., O. V. I., commanded by Col. R. B. Hayes, and served over two years, participating in the battles of Cross Lane, Carnafax Ferry, South Mountain, Antietam, etc. After his return he began clerking in a hardware store in Shelby, Ohio, remaining there until 1867, when he was employed in the C. C. C. & I. R. R. to serve in the capacity of Telegraph Operator and Ticket Agent at Shelby. In March 1870, the Company sent him to the more important station at Cardington, giving him full control of all its business at that point; he is also Express Agent. On the 23d of October, 1865, he married Mary L. Mickey, who was born in Shelby, Richland Co., Ohio, Dec. 24, 1843, who bore him one child, Bessie L.  He has been Township Trustee, Treasurer of Cardington Union Schools, member of the Fire Department, Master of Cardington Lodge, No. 384, F. & A. M., member of Crestline Chapter, No. 88, of Mansfield Commandery, No. 21, and also a member of the I. O. O. F.  Mr. Wherry's father was born in Pennsylvania, Dec. 18, 1805, and his mother Feb. 27, 1806, and they were married Sep. 21, 1831. The Wherrys are descended from James Wherry, a native of Ireland, who came to America in colonial times, and settled in Chester Co., Penn. The Reeds were an old and respected family in Pennsylvania. The parents are yet living at Mansfield, O.
Source: History of Morrow County and Ohio – Chicago: O. L. Baskin, 1880, p. 588
Contributed by a Generous Genealogist

LEWIS WHIPPLE, a prominent farmer of Peru township, Morrow county, was born on the farm where he now lives, August 25, 1839.  His father, Barton Whipple, a native of Rhode Island, came with his parents to Delaware, now Morrow county, when eighteen years of age, his father, Reuben Whipple, also a native of Rhode Island, having been one of the early settlers of that county, and died here in his seventy-second year.  The Whipple family are descended from four brothers who came from England and located at Providence, Rhode Island.  Our subject’s mother, née Eliza Van Duzer, was a native of Pennsylvania, and her father, Abram Van Duzer, was also born in that State, of Dutch descent.  He became one of the early settlers of Morrow county, and lived to the age of seventy-two years.  The parents of our subject were married in Delaware county, but shortly afterward located in the woods of Peru township, now Morrow county, where they improved a farm.  They afterward sold that place and bought the farm where our subject now resides.  The mother died here at the age of seventy-eight years, and the father at the age of eighty-nine years.  They were members respectively of the Christian and Universalist Churches.  Mr. Whipple was one of the leading men in his county, having served as County Commissioner twenty years in both Delaware and Morrow counties; was also Justice of the Peace the same length of time, and at one time conducted a tavern.  They were the parents of nine children, five daughters and four sons, all of whom grew to years of maturity but one, viz.: Jefferson, of Fulton county, Ohio; Caroline, widow of Levi Wood; Phoebe, wife of Israel Potter, of Edon, Ohio; Amanda, wife of Henry Christ, of Peru township; Mary Ann, widow of John Rue, and a resident of Westerville, Ohio; Mrs. Eliza Jane Earl, deceased; Steuben, of Peru township; Lewis, our subject; and Jefferson, deceased.
     Lewis Whipple was reared in this township, and received his education in a Quaker school.  In 1862 he enlisted in Company D, One Hundred and Twenty-first Ohio Volunteer Infantry, served eighteen months, took part in the battle of Perryville, followed Morgan through Kentucky, and was discharged at Columbus, Ohio, in 1864.  Returning home, he located on the old homestead, where he is engaged in general farming and stock raising.  In political matters Mr. Whipple affiliates with the Republican party, and socially is a member of Ashley Post, G. A. R.
     He was married after the close of the war to Marietta Coomer, a native of Morrow county, and a daughter of Ira and Mary Coomer, early settlers of Delaware county, this State.  Four children have been born to this union, namely: Harry, who married Alinda Aldrich, and lives in Delaware county; Charles, deceased at the age of seventeen years; Burton; and Rose, wife of Edward Waters, of Delaware county: she has two children, ––Florence and Bertha M.
Memorial Record of the Counties of Delaware, Union & Morrow, Ohio; Chicago: The Lewis Publishing Co., 1895, pp. 232-233
Contributed by a Generous Genealogist.

Westfield Twp. –
JOSEPH WISEMAN, miller, Westfield; was born in Pennsylvania, May 2, 1821; his father was a shoemaker, which calling he followed as well as farming, in Pennsylvania and Ohio; his parents originally settled in eastern Ohio, and after several removals, they came from Crawford Co. to Lincoln Tp., Morrow Co., where his father died in 1859.  His time was spent in Ohio in attending school and in assisting his father on the farm; at the age of 23 he married Miss Christianna Aurand, from which marriage there were five children, three of whom are now living; two are married and one yet at home.  Mr. Wiseman came to Westfield in 1849, and bought the mill which he now owns, and in which he began business, learning it as he went along; by an unfortunate partnership, he found at the end of two years the $500 he had invested was entirely gone, and hence he had to begin anew; since that time he has been successful, and has accumulated property; besides owning one of the best mills in the country, he has sixty-seven acres of land in the vicinity.  The present structure of his mill property was built in 1856; it has two run of buhrs, and does the very best of work, having a large custom trade; Mr. Wiseman has in connection with his flouring mill, also run by water, a saw mill, running an old-fashioned sash-saw which does a superior class of work to the modem and more rapid kinds.  Mr. Wiseman has held various positions of trust in the township, and was for fifteen years Justice of the Peace, which attests his popularity among the people of Westfield Tp.  Politically, he musters with the Republican party.  He is a member of the Masonic Lodge No. 407, at Ashley.
Source: History of Morrow County and Ohio – Chicago: O. L. Baskin, 1880, p. 650
Contributed by a Generous Genealogist.

    FLORENCE R. WHITE, M. D. ––To few women has it been given to achieve such noteworthy success as that gained by Dr. Florence R. White, who is engaged in the active practice of her profession at Cardington, Morrow county, Ohio.  For nearly a quarter of a century she has been identified with the medical profession and the years have told the story of a successful career due to the possession of innate talent and acquired ability along the line of one of the most important professions to which one may devote his energies––the alleviation of pain and suffering and the restoration of health, which is man’s most cherished and priceless possession.  This is an age of progress in all lines of achievement and Dr. White has kept abreast of the advancement that has revolutionized methods of medical practice, rendering the efforts of physicians of much more avail in warding off the inroads of disease than they were even at the time when she entered upon her professional career.
     Dr. Florence R. (Smith) White was born in Marion county, Ohio, on the 17th of November, 1861, and is a daughter of Seneca A. and Nancy E. (West) Smith, both of whom were likewise born in the fine old Buckeye state, the former at Westfield, Marion county, and the latter at West Rushville, Fairfield county.  Mr. Smith was born on the 5th of October, 1836, of Scotch-Irish parentage, and the date of Mrs. Smith’s birth was October 13, 1839, her ancestors being of English extraction.  Mr. and Mrs. Smith were married on the 10th of October, 1858, and began housekeeping in a log cabin which he had prepared on sixty acres of heavily wooded land in Marion county. There they continued to reside until 1876, when Mr. Smith disposed of his farm and removed to Westfield township, Morrow county, where he resided for one year, at the expiration of which he established his home in Lincoln township, this county, in order to obtain better educational advantages for his children.  There they have resided during the long intervening years and they became the parents of seven children four sons and three daughters, concerning whom the following brief record is here incorporated: Claremont R. is a master mechanic and resides in the city of Indianapolis, Indiana; Dr. White, of this review, is the next in order of birth; Charles W. is a farmer and dairyman in Whatcom county, Washington; James S. is engaged in agricultural pursuits on the old home farm; Daisy A., .who is unmarried, is a seamstress at Laramie, Wyoming; Arthur A. is a resident of American Falls, Idaho, where he is a member of the Fall Creek Sheep Company; and Imogene A. is a nurse and maintains her home at Los Angeles, California.  She was graduated from the Lakeside Hospital Training School for Nurses at Cleveland, Ohio, in 1896.
     Dr. Florence White received an excellent common school education in her early youth and after attending the high school at Cardington she taught school for one term in Morrow county, Ohio.  In 1881 she began reading medicine under the able preceptorship of Dr. M. M. Sheble, at Ashley, Ohio, and one year later she was matriculated in the Cleveland Homoeopathic Hospital College of Medicine, at Cleveland, Ohio, in which excellent institution she was graduated as a member of the class of 1884, with the degree of Doctor of Medicine.  One month after her graduation she entered upon the active practice of her profession at Cardington and here she has built up a large and representative patronage, soon gaining recognition as an able and alert physician.  In 1891 she journeyed to Europe, where she pursued post-graduate work in Germany and Austria.  Since her return her success has been of most unequivocal order and she holds a high place in the confidence and esteem of her fellow citizens as a woman of refinement and ability.  In connection with her work she is a valued and appreciative member of the American Institute of Homoeopathy and the Ohio Homeopathic Medical Society, and she is a stockholder in the Ohio Sanitarium Company at Marion Ohio.  She has served as a member of the board of education for a number of years and she manifests a deep and abiding interest in all matters tending to advance the general welfare of the community.  She has some valuable real estate holdings in Cardington and the same are highly improved.  Her religious faith is in harmony with the tenets of the Protestant Episcopal church and she is a member of the Order of the Eastern Star.
     On the 1st of May, 1892, was solemnized the marriage of Dr. White to Theodoric S. White, a native son of Cardington, Ohio, the date of his birth being October 3, 1854.  He was a prominent lawyer in Morrow county during his life time and gave efficient service as prosecuting attorney of the county for a number of years.  He was a member of the Methodist Episcopal church and was a Mason of high standing.  In his political convictions he was ever a stalwart Republican and he was active in the local councils of the party.  He was summoned to the life eternal on the 5th of April, 1905, and his death was a cause for deep grief to his fellow citizens.  He lived a life of usefulness such as few men know.  God-fearing, law-abiding, progressive, his life was as truly that of a Christian gentleman as any man’s can well be.  Unwaveringly he did the right as he interpreted it and he ever held a high place in the regard of his fellow men.  Mr. and Mrs. White had no children.
     Dr. Florence White, is a cultured lady and her library comprises about one thousand volumes of medical and choice standard literature.  Her surgical department is complete as to instruments and operating chair, and she has her own laboratory of medicines, fresh, and of the latest compounds.
Source:  History of Morrow County, Ohio by A. J. Baughman - Vol. II - Chicago-New York: The Lewis Publishing Co. - 1911 – pp. 606-611
Contributed by a Generous Genealogist.

Cardington Twp. –
THEODORIC S. WHITE, lawyer; Cardington. The paternal grandparents, of Theo. S. White, William and Margaret (Banker) White, were of Holland extraction. They were born, raised and married in the State of New York, and moved from Clinton Co., near Plattsburg in that State to Gilead Tp., now of this county, in the year 1830. His maternal grandparents John D., and Gillian (Lloyd) Shank, were natives of Fauquier Co., Va., and moved to Etna Tp., Licking Co., Ohio in 1832. The Shanks are of German origin; the Lloyds Welsh-English. Theo. S. White’s parents, H. R. and Valeria A. (Shank) White, were married in Licking Co., Ohio, in June 1851, and settled ¾ miles east of Cardington. They are the parents of five children, three of whom are now living -- Theodoric S. Gillian L., and Charles S.  Theo. S., was born in Cardington Tp., Morrow Co., Ohio, Oct. 3, 1854. After graduating from the high school, of Cardington, he began the study of law, with Hon. Thomas E. Duncan, and was admitted to the bar, June 26, 1876. Politically he is an uncompromising Republican.
Source: History of Morrow County and Ohio – Chicago: O. L. Baskin, 1880, p. 588
Contributed by a Generous Genealogist

THEODORIC S. WHITE, who is one of the representative attorneys of Morrow county, and whose ancestral history is one of long identification with this section of the Buckeye State, has practically passed his entire life in Morrow county, aid has grown from boyhood to attain a position of prominence and usefulness in the line of his profession and as a man among men.
     His father, Howland R. White, was born in the vicinity of the village of Peru, Clinton county, New York, the date of his nativity having been July 1, 1816.  His parents were William and Margaret (Banker) White, both of whom were natives of the old Empire State.
     The original American ancestor of the White family was “William, the Englishman,” who left his native land at that time when Lord Jeffreys was urging his infamous persecutions, proceeding from the west of England, along the Welsh border, and eventually making his way to the New World.  He had intended to make settlement at New Amsterdam, which was the nucleus of the present metropolis of the nation, New York city, but he crossed the river and settled at Salisbury, Connecticut, later on removing to Dutchess county, New York, whence representatives of the family in time became scattered throughout the Union.
     William White, the grandfather of our subject, was an active participant in the war of 1812, going forth with the troops from his native State.  In 1830 he came with his family to Ohio, and settled in what is now Lincoln township, Morrow county, where he remained for a term of years and then sold out and removed to Cardington township, settling on a tract of land lying one mile east of the present village of Cardington, on the Chesterville road, where he remained until the hour of his death.
     Our subject’s mother, whose maiden name was Valeria A. Schenck, was a native of Fauquier county, Virginia, where she was born in October, 1822, the daughter of John D. and Gillian Lloyd) Schenck, both of whom were natives of the Old Dominion State, the former being of German extraction, and the latter of Welsh-English.  They came from Virginia to Ohio about 1838, and settled in Ætna township, Licking county, where they remained for a time, after which they removed to Harrison township, where the father died.  At the time of the attack on Washington within the progress of the war of 1812, he assisted in defending the city.
     The parents of our subject were married, in Licking county, in 1851, and thereupon took up their abode on the farm one mile east of Cardington, where they resided until about 1858, when they came to Cardington, where they have ever since maintained their home.  Two of their children are now living, namely: Theodoric S., subject of this review: and Gillian Lloyd, who is at present in the public schools of Cardington.  Both parents are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church, the father’s ancestors having been Friends, or Quakers.  In politics he was originally a Whig, but since the organization of the Republican party he has rendered to it an unwavering allegiance.
     Theodoric S. White, the subject of this sketch, was born on the paternal homestead one mile east of Cardington, on the 3d of October, 1854, receiving his education in the public schools of Cardington, and graduating at the high school.  He had early manifested a desire to take up the study of law, and even before leaving his school-room he had made many incursions into the pages of Kent and Blackstone, being afforded this privilege in the office of Judge Thomas E. Duncan, of Cardington, who acted as our subject’s preceptor when the latter took up the reading of law in good earnest, ––soon after his graduation from the high school.
     Mr. White was admitted to the bar, at Mt. Gilead, in 1876, being at the time somewhat past his twenty-first birthday anniversary.  He then entered upon a professional partnership with his former preceptor, Judge Duncan, and this association maintained for a number of years.  Since its dissolution our subject has practiced alone.  Politically, Mr. White has been a stanch and uncompromising Republican, and has been a most active worker in the party ranks, having served as delegate to divers conventions of the organization.  He was Prosecuting Attorney of Morrow county from 1880 until 1885, and has also been the incumbent as City Solicitor.
     Fraternally our subject is prominently identified with the Masonic Order, retaining a membership in Cardington Lodge, No. 384, F. & A. M., of which he has served as Secretary; in Mt. Gilead Chapter, No. 59, R. A. M.; and in the Royal Arcanum, in which he has held the office of Regent.
     May 1, 1892, Mr. White was united in marriage to Miss Florence R. Smith, M. D., a native of Marion county, Ohio, and a daughter of Senaca A. and Dorothy (West) Smith, who are now residents of Lincoln township, Morrow county.  Mrs. White received her literary education in the public schools of Cardington, and in 1884 graduated at the Homeopathic Medical College, of Cleveland.  She is a most able physician, and retains a representative patronage in Cardington and vicinity.  She is a member of the Homeopathic State Medical Society.
     Reverting, in conclusion, to the ancestral history of our subject, we learn that his great-grandfather, on the maternal side, was George E. Lloyd, Sr., who was a native of Loudoun county, Virginia, and who was an active participant in the war of the Revolution, having been a member of Captain Barry’s company, Eighth Virginia Line, commanded by Colonel Peter Muhlenburg.  Colonel Muhlenburg was pastor of a church at Woodstock, Shenandoah county, Virginia, and after hiving delivered an impassioned sermon before his flock he threw aside his clerical vestments, revealing his regimentals, and thereupon ordered the drums to call for recruits at the church door.  George E. Lloyd was one of those who responded to this call.  An uncle of our subject, Theodoric L. Schenck, was a soldier in Company B, Fourth Ohio Volunteer Infantry, and served through the late war of the Rebellion, having been made steward of a hospital.  Another uncle, Sardis H. White, was a soldier in Company C, Twenty-sixth Ohio Volunteer Infantry, and served from June 13, 1861, until October 21, 1865, having participated in many of the principal battles of the war.  Still another uncle, Horace B. White, was fifty years of age when he enlisted as a member of Company M, Third Ohio Volunteer Cavalry, and was promoted to the office of battalion hospital steward, dying while in the service.  His son, Adelbert B., was a member of the same company, and served from September 8, 1861, until he was mustered out, November 23, 1864.
Memorial Record of the Counties of Delaware, Union & Morrow, Ohio; Chicago: The Lewis Publishing Co., 1895, pp. 174-176
Contributed by a Generous Genealogist.

A. A. WHITNEY, County Auditor, Mount Gilead, Ohio, is ranked with the self-made men of Morrow county, and it is with pleasure that we present the following sketch of his life in this work:
     Mr. Whitney’s father, Lyman Banks Whitney, was born in Connecticut, one of the eight children of Samuel Whitney, also a native of that State, and Lyman B. was a small boy when he came with his parents to Ohio.  Here he grew up and was married to Elizabeth Vail, the eldest of a family of ten children.  She was born in Morrow county, Ohio, daughter of B. T. Vail, a native of New York and an early settler of this county.  After their marriage they settled in Bloomfield, and he engaged in business, being one of the first merchants of the village.  About 1840 he moved to Columbus, Ohio, where he continued in business until his death, which occurred in October, 1842, at the early age of twenty-three years.
     A. A. Whitney was born in South Bloomfield township, Morrow county, Ohio, January 18, 1842, and was only a few months old when his father died.  After that sad event, the mother took her only child and returned to Bloomfield, where he remained with her until he was ten years of age.  His first schooling was in the district school at Vail’s Crossroads, in Bennington township, this crossroads being named in honor of his grandfather, who at one time kept a hotel there.  He afterward attended the Sparta, Chesterville and Mount Gilead schools, and from the time he was thirteen he made his own way in the world.  His first work was in the woolen mills of Mount Gilead.  At sixteen he began clerking for Burr Russell, and spent one year in his store at Sparta, and after that accepted a clerkship in a store at Mount Vernon, where he remained in the employ of one man for sixteen years and seventeen days.  Next we find him at Sparta.  There he opened a general store on his own account and carried on business at that point for ten years.
     In 1889 he was elected County Auditor, and that same year moved to Mount Gilead, where he has since resided, now being the incumbent of the Auditor’s office, and the only Democrat in office in the county.  As an official he has rendered a high degree of satisfaction, his duty here, as elsewhere, being performed with the strictest fidelity.  At this writing Mr. Whitney is a director of the Morrow County Bank.
     He was married in 1876 to Miss Jennie Henderson, of Mount Vernon, who died some years later, leaving three children, viz: Allen Banks, Clarence Chester, and Horace Warren.  For his second wife he married her sister, Miss Ella Henderson.
     Mr. Whitney is a member of the Masonic Lodge and Commandery at Mount Vernon, and of the Consistory at Cincinnati, Ohio.  He is also identified with the Odd Fellows at Mount Gilead and the Knights of Honor at Mount Vernon.  In church and Sabbath-school work he is prominent and active, being a Steward in the Methodist Episcopal Church and Superintendent of the Sunday-school at Mount Gilead.
Memorial Record of the Counties of Delaware, Union & Morrow, Ohio; Chicago: The Lewis Publishing Co., 1895, p. 405
Contributed by a Generous Genealogist.

Gilead Twp. –
PHILLIP WIELAND, marble dealer; Mt. Gilead; is a son of George and Katharine (Bauman) Wieland, and was born in Wurtemburg, Germany, July 29, 1828, the youngest of a family of four children -- John, George and Rosa; the eldest died in 1843, and the father in 1852, in Germany; at the age of 14 Philip entered upon an apprenticeship, to the trade of stone cutter, serving three years. He entered the German army at the age of 21, for a term of six years, but was discharged upon a petition to the King, after a service of over four years, for the purpose of emigrating to America.  In 1853, he came to this country, in company with his mother, and joined a sister in Mt. Gilead, who had preceded them; at this time Mr. Wieland was ambitious to go to Cincinnati or St. Louis for work, but to pacify the disturbed feelings of his people, he remained with them and found work in a brick-yard; subsequently he worked upon the stone work of the court house, and took part in laying the foundation of the Trimble residence, and other prominent buildings of the place; and finally, in 1857, he made a start for himself in the marble business; in this he has been successful, and now has the finest establishment of the kind in Morrow Co.; in 1854, he was married to Magdalena Schuerrly, and to them was born seven children -- Rosa A., William F., Caroline, who died in 1862; Emma, Kate, Franklin G., and Edward P.  Their mother died in 1873, and in 1875 Mr. Wieland married Minerva McMasters, of Delaware Co.; he has been a member of the Universalist Church since 1861; served as a member of the City Council seven years, and hss [sic] been President of the Board of Education six years; his mother was a lady of excellent mind and heart, and to her wise councils and watchful care over him when young he attributes much of his success in life; her remains repose in the Mt. Gilead cemetery, and was the first to consecrate those grounds to burial purposes.
Source: History of Morrow County and Ohio – Chicago: O. L. Baskin, 1880, pp. 558-559
Contributed by a Generous Genealogist.

Lincoln Twp. –
B. W. WILLIAMS, farmer; P. O., Cardington; was born in Delaware Co., Ohio, in 1829; his father was born in Virginia, and his mother in York State; they came to Delaware Co. in about 1828, and from there to what is now Morrow Co. In 1830 the father purchased a farm of eighty acres in Westfield Tp., where he resided until his death, in 1857; the mother died about 1852.  B. W. resided with his parents until their death, and was married in September, 1852, to Miss Mary J. Brenizer, whose parents were natives of Maryland, and were early settlers in this county. From this union there are four children -- Joseph C., James, Jane and Ira.  Mr. Williams commenced business for himself under unfavorable circumstances, but by close application he has placed himself in a position to enjoy the balance of his days. He owns 120 acres of land, which is well improved and under good cultivation, and like the most of his neighbors combines with his agricultural pursuits the profitable adjunct of stock-growing. He came from Westfield Tp. in 1863, and purchased his present place. He is a member of the Baptist Church, and is now Township Trustee, which position he has filled for seven years.
Source: History of Morrow County and Ohio – Chicago: O. L. Baskin, 1880, p. 771
Contributed by a Generous Genealogist

Chester Twp. –
J. W. WILLIAMS, Physician and Surgeon; Chesterville; has been a prominent physician at Chesterville for fourteen years; he was born in Perry Co., Ohio, Dec. 25, 1839; here he attended school in a log cabin, his father carrying him to and fro on his back; in 1849, his parents came to Lincoln Tp., Morrow Co., where they still reside. Mr. Williams manifested considerable ability, and his parents sent him to school at Mt. Hesper and Mt Gilead, at the age of 21, he entered the office of Dr. Beebe, at Mt. Gilead, and read medicine for one summer; he then read with Dr. J. W. Russell, of Mt. Vernon, for two years, in the meantime teaching during the winter, three years afterward he attended the Ohio Medical College at Cincinnati, and thence to Ann Arbor, Mich., where he graduated March 29, 1865; he began practicing at Chesterville, where he has since been engaged, and is having a lucrative practice. He was married May 3, 1866, to Mary, daughter of Dr. H. G. and Jane H. (Gordon) Main; her father was born Oct. 9, 1820; her mother was born in the State of New York. The father graduated at Willoughby (Ohio) College, in 1845, and came to Chesterville in 1846, and formed a partnership with S. M. Hewitt for five years, and practiced here since, except two years, when he was in Woodbury; he died Feb. 23, 1865; her mother is still living; both of her parents united with the Presbyterian Church; Mrs. Williams was born March 21, 1848, and was one of four children -- Mary E., Ella G., Fred G. and Anna B.  They have one child -- Jennie, born Nov. 16, 1871. Mr. Williams has been Township Treasurer and is a member of the Chester Lodge No. 238, A. F. and A. M., also, of No. 204, I. O. O. F.; in the latter, he has held nearly all offices.. He is one of the leading Democrats of the county; he and his wife are members of the Presbyterian Church.
Source: History of Morrow County and Ohio – Chicago: O. L. Baskin, 1880, pp. 619-620
Contributed by a Generous Genealogist

Cardington Twp. –
JAMES L. WILLIAMS, M. D.; Cardington; was born in Belmont Co., Ohio, Oct. 3, 1848. His father, Lemuel R. Williams, was of Welsh descent, and a native of Loudoun Co., Va.; in 1828 he came to Ohio, locating in Belmont Co.; here he was united in marriage with Miss Sarah Brokaw, a native of Belmont Co. They were the parents of seven children, five of whom are now living. In 1861 they removed to Adams Co., Ind. For sixteen years previous to his death he was a regularly-ordained minister of the M. E. Church; he died in 1877. His wife survives him, and resides on the old homestead, in Adams Co., Ind.  James L. Williams’ life, until 18 years of age, was passed upon his father’s farm; he then entered Liber College, where he remained one year, and from there he went to Michigan, where, for one year, he was engaged in school teaching; he then returned to his home in Indiana, where for some years he worked on a farm during the summer, and in the winter taught school; in 1871 he came to Cardington, Ohio, to visit friends, and, liking the place and people, he concluded to remain; he first engaged in school teaching, but after some time he entered the office of Dr. H. S. Green, and began the study of medicine; he graduated from the Miami Medical College of Cincinnati, in 1876, and almost immediately came to Cardington, and began the practice; he continued in the practice alone some three years, and then formed a co-partnership with Dr. H. S. Green, his former preceptor. He was united in marriage with Miss Lydia Spencer, June 27, 1876. She died Jan. 5, 1879. By his own exertions he obtained the means that took him through college. He has held a number of positions of honor and trust in the town and township; he is a member of the Masonic Order, and of the M. E. Church. At the organization of the Morrow County Medical Society he was elected Secretary, which position he has since held; he is also a member of the State Medical Society. He was married to Miss Amanda E. Wood, a native of Belmont Co., Ohio, April 15, 1880.  Dr. Williams owns a nicely-improved property on Main street.
Source: History of Morrow County and Ohio – Chicago: O. L. Baskin, 1880, pp. 587-588
Contributed by a Generous Genealogist

CLAYTON N. WILLITS, a farmer of Cardington township, was born on his father’s farm in this township, May 6, 1845, a son of Joel and Cynthia Willits.  July 25, 1864, he enlisted in Company A, One Hundred and Seventh-fourth Ohio Volunteer Infantry, and was first made Corporal and afterward promoted to Sergeant.  The regiment was organized at Camp Chase, Columbus, Ohio, and was sent to Murfreesboro, Tennessee, doing drill and guard duty.  Mr. Willits took part in the skirmishes at Decatur and Athens, Alabama, returning to Murfreesboro, took part in the battle of the Cedars, went thence to Clifton, Tennessee, by boat to Cincinnati, by railroad to Columbus and on to Washington, next to North Carolina and took part in the battle of Wise’s Fork, next went to Raleigh, joined General Sherman’s army at Greensboro, took part in the battle of Johnston’s surrender, went to Charlotte, North Carolina, and then returned home by way of Baltimore.  Mr. Willits was mustered out of service at Charlotte, North Carolina, and was discharged at Columbus, July 8, 1865.  His father having died while he was in the service, he immediately joined his mother in Le Grand, Iowa, but returned to Cardington the spring of 1866, and he now owns eighty-three acres of good land, eighteen acres of which is covered with timber.  In addition to his general farming, he raises a fine grade of horses.  In his political relations, he affiliates with the Republican party, and has frequently served as a delegate to conventions.  He is now serving his third year as Township Trustee of Cardington township, and for the past twenty years has held the position of Director of district school.  Mr. Willits has passed through the chairs in the I. O. O. F. lodge, and is also a member of James St. John Post of Cardington.
     In December, 1866, our subject was united in marriage with Mary Vickers, who was born in England, November 14, 1847, a daughter of John and Mary A. (Chantry) Vickers, also natives of that country.  They came to America July 3, 1852, locating in Cleveland, Ohio, where the father died in August, 1852.  He was a blacksmith by occupation.  The mother also died in that city in 1878.  The paternal grandparents of Mrs. Willits were Thomas and Mary Vickers, and the maternal grandparents were Robert and Elizabeth Chantry.  Mrs. Willits came to Cardington township in 1857.  She was one of six children, but only one brother, Thomas Vickers, still survives, and he resides in Cleveland.  He was a soldier in the civil war.  The parents were members of the Church of England.  Our subject and wife have had five children, three now living: Bertha E., born May 22, 1873; Ralph, June 18, 1875, and Kathleen E., October 9, 1885.  Of the deceased children, Bernard, born February 12, 1870, died October 1, 1876; and Milton, born April 1, 1871, died August 28, 1872.
Memorial Record of the Counties of Delaware, Union & Morrow, Ohio; Chicago: The Lewis Publishing Co., 1895, pp. 255-256
Contributed by a Generous Genealogist.

  EDWARD M. WILLITS —In view of the nomadic spirit which dominates so many Americans of today, it is pleasing to find a locality whose residents spend their industrious and useful lives in the place of their nativity, give their energies and abilities to the advancement of their home communities, and spend their years in labor and ever increasing comfort, prosperity and mutual respect. A fine representative of this enviable class of American citizens is Edward M. Willits, who was born in Cardington township, Morrow county, Ohio on the 7th of November, 1867, a son of William and Lucinda (Grandy) Willits, the father being a native of the same township and the mother, of the state of New York. William Willits was born January 19, 1831, and Joel, his father, was a Virginian, the date of whose birth was 1804. Tracing the genealogical line still further into the past it is found that the great, grandfather of Edward M., Samuel Willits, emigrated to America at an early day from his native, Wales.
     When he was a mere boy Joel Willits, the grandfather, accompanied his parents from the Old Dominion to Ohio, and he was reared on a Knox county farm. By his marriage to Cynthia Lewis, daughter of John Lewis and a native of Pennsylvania, he became the father of John, William, Samuel, Elvira, Deborah, Wendell P., Esther Ann, Clayton and Sarah Ellen Willits; of the sons, William, Clayton and Wendell were gallant Union soldiers, the first named (father of Edward M.) serving in the ranks of Company I, Third Ohio Volunteer Infantry.
     William Willits married Lucinda Grandy, who was born in New York July 12, 1834, a daughter of William and Celinda (Brockway) Grandy, early settlers of Cardington, Ohio. To this union were born Estella and William Arthur, both deceased ; Edward Martin, the immediate subject of this review, and one who died in infancy. The faithful and good father of this family passed to his reward April 20. 1904, in the seventy-fourth year of his age.
     Edward M. Willits was reared to maturity on the old home farm three miles west of Cardington and received his education in the district schools of his native township and in the high school at Cardington. After leaving school he entered-the First National Bank of Cardington as teller and bookkeeper, continuing in that capacity for six years, or until the organization of the Citizens' Bank. Of this substantial institution he was one of the promoters and original incorporators, his associates being J. S. Peck, W. B. Denman, C. F. Hammond and H. W. Curl. The Citizens' Bank had a large and substantial list of stock holders and was incorporated under state laws with a capital stock of twenty-five thousand dollars. It organized with the following officers : J. S. Peck, president; W. B. Denman, vice president ; and E. M. Willits, cashier. While the grim reaper has removed many of the original stockholders of the bank, Mr. Willits continues to hold and to honor his position as cashier. He has also served for nine years as secretary of the Morrow County Building and Loan Association of Cardington, and for six years was locally prominent in Masonry as secretary of Cardington Lodge No. 384, Free and Accepted Masons. He has had unbounded faith in the reliability of his home town ; is a practicing advocate for home investment and has become one of the largest real estate holders in the village.
     The above outline record of Mr. Willits' life and characteristic activities points to the energies and abilities of an honorable and successful career, which have sprung from a strong and sterling character. A glance at the political and public phases of his life shows him to be a firm Republican, a public spirited citizen, and especially interested in the advancement of public education, his work and influence in the field last named being accomplished and wielded as a member and as president of the Union School Board. Both Mr. and Mrs. Willits are earnest and active members of the Methodist Episcopal church, in which he is giving efficient service as treasurer and member of its official board.
     On the 8th of October, 1890, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Willits to Miss Daisy M. Wolfe, a native of Cardington and a daughter of A. H. Wolfe. Mrs. Willits is a graduate of the Cardington High School, is deeply interested in musical and educational matters, is president of the Public Library Association, and is an energetic, broadly cultured woman whom it is a pleasure and an inspiration to meet. Of the three sons of the family, William H. is 'a graduate of the Cardington High School, class of 1911; Rodney W. is still pursuing his course in that institution ; and Howard D. is a pupil in the public school.
Source:  History of Morrow County, Ohio by A. J. Baughman - Vol. II - Chicago-New York: The Lewis Publishing Co. - 1911 – pp. 595-596
Contributed by a Generous Genealogist

Cardington Twp. –
WILLIAM WILLITS, farmer and stock raiser; P. O., Cardington. The subject of this sketch was born in Morrow Co., O., Jan. 19, 1831; is a son of Joel and Cynthia (Lewis) Willits; the former is a native of Virginia, and the latter of Pennsylvania. They were married near Fredericktown, Knox Co., O, and were the parents of nine children, six of whom are now living. The father has been dead some years, but the aged wife and mother survives him, and is to-day among the few living representatives of those earlier days when women as well as men were expected to bear their part of the hardships, both outdoor and in. William Willits received but a meager education, as his services were almost constantly required upon the farm. During the late war he served his country in Company I, 3d O. V. I.; after his return home he engaged in agricultural pursuits, a business he has since continued in. His marriage with Miss Lucinda Grandy was celebrated Nov. 10, 1861; she was born in 1834. There are three children living in the family -- Estella, William A. and Edward M.  There was another child who died in infancy without naming.  Mr. Willits began life as a poor boy and is a self-made man in the fullest sense of the word. He owns eighty acres of well improved land in Cardington Tp. He is a member of the Universalist Church of Mt. Gilead.
Source: History of Morrow County and Ohio – Chicago: O. L. Baskin, 1880, p. 589
Contributed by a Generous Genealogist

WILLIAM WILLITS, a farmer of Cardington township, Morrow county, was born in this township, January 19, 1831.  His grandfather, Samuel Willits, was a native of Wales, and his son, Joel Willits, the father of our subject, was born in Virginia in 1804.  He removed from that State when a mere boy, and was raised on a farm in Knox county, Ohio.  His wife, née Cynthia Lewis, was born in Pennsylvania in 1807, a daughter of John Lewis, an early settler of Knox county, Ohio, and of Pennsylvania Dutch descent.  She was raised and married in the latter county.  Soon after their marriage Mr. and Mrs. Joel Willits moved to Cardington township, Marion, now Morrow, county.  He located on timber land, which he cleared and improved, and afterward sold to William Curl, Sr.  He next moved to Le Grand, Marshall county, Iowa, where he died November 8, 1864.  Mrs. Willits died in Cardington township, January 2, 1887.  They were the parents of nine children, namely: John, who resides in California; William, the subject of this sketch; Samuel, who is supposed to have died in California; Elvira, wife of Stephen A. Wood, of Cardington; Deborah, deceased, was the wife of Benjamin Sharpless; Wendal P., who was killed in the battle of Stone River or Murfreesboro; Esther Ann, deceased; Clayton, a resident of this township; and Sarah Ellen, wife of Grafton Benedict, of Delaware, Ohio.  Three of the sons were soldiers in the civil war, ––­­William, Clayton and Wendel P.  The parents were members of the Society of Friends.  In political matters Mr. Willits was an active worker in the Republican party.
       April 20, 1861, William Willits enlisted as a private in Company I, Third Ohio Volunteer Infantry, was stationed at Camp Dennison for three months, after which the regiment was reorganized and our subject returned home.  He now owns eighty acres of well-improved land, where he is engaged in general farming.  For several years he also 'worked on the Big Four Railroad.
     Mr. Willits was united in marriage, in the fall of 1861, to Lucinda Grandy, who was born in New York, July 12, 1834, a daughter of William and Celinda (Brockway) Grandy, early settlers of Cardington, Ohio, but both now deceased.  Of the children of our subject and wife, we offer the following record: Estella, deceased, was the wife of W. P. Vaughan, of Cardington, and they had one child, James G.; William Arthur died at the age of seventeen years; Edward Martin is assistant cashier in the First National Bank of Cardington: and a fourth child, who died in infancy.  Edward M. married Daisy Wolfe, and they have two children. ––William Henry and an infant.  Religiously Mr. Willits is a member of the Universalist Church at Cardington; socially is a member of the James St. John Post, G. A. R.; and politically affiliates with the Republican party.
Memorial Record of the Counties of Delaware, Union & Morrow, Ohio; Chicago: The Lewis Publishing Co., 1895, pp. 309-310
Contributed by a Generous Genealogist.

Gilead Twp. –
NEWTON WINGET, farmer, P. O., Mt. Gilead; was born in Knox (now Morrow) Co., O., Feb. 5th, 1833; in 1835 they moved to Congress Tp., Richland (now Morrow) Co. and engaged in farming. After the death of his parents he worked on the farms in the neighborhood until 1857, when he bought a piece of land about a mile east of Mt. Gilead and lived on same about four years, and then come to his present place, where he has lived (excepting about three years) ever since.  Oct. 19, 1854, he married Miss Elizabeth Nellaus, born on their present place, Aug. 5, 1837; they have two children -- Alonzo W. and Ida B. -- both are married, the former to Miss Clara R. Hull, and has one child, Mary G.; the latter, Ida B., married Mr. John Hull, and lives in this vicinity.  Mr. Winget owns 240 acres in this township, located three miles northeast of Mt. Gilead, and except a few hundred dollars, has earned all he has by his own labor.  His parents, Daniel and Abigail (Coe) Winget, were natives of Pennsylvania; they married there and came to Knox (now Morrow) Co. at an early day, and moved thence to Congress Tp., Richland (now Morrow) Co., where they died.  Mrs. Winget’s parents, James and Elizabeth (Truce) Nellaus, were natives of Ireland and Pennsylvania.  Mr. Nellaus came to Ohio when but three years of age.  They married in Belmont Co., Ohio, and came to the present farm in the year 1830, and lived here until their deaths, June 17, 1859, and April 17, 1879.  Of their ten children, but three are living.
Source: History of Morrow County and Ohio – Chicago: O. L. Baskin, 1880, p. 559
Contributed by a Generous Genealogist.

Perry Twp. –
JOHN WINAND, JR.; farmer and stock-raiser; P. O., Levering; only son of John Winand, Sr.  His mother’s maiden name was Mary M. Howard; he was born in Hopewell Tp., York Co., Penn., April 5, 1821; he worked on the farm in summer, and went to school to his father in winter, whereby he received an education that strengthened mind and toughened muscle.  He learned both the English and German languages.  His father settled on a portion of his present estate when John was fifteen years old, and he went to school in the old Pioneer School House in the Culp District.  He worked under the paternal direction until his twenty-second year.  On the sixth of April 1843, he married Miss Cynthia Painter of Perry Tp., Richland Co., O., where she was born July 2, 1824, hence was nineteen years old at her marriage with Mr. Winand.  She went to the same school with him in the old log school house, with one long window on each side, and slab seats without backs.  In those days when help was scarce, she worked on the farm helping to clear, hoe corn, when not stepping to the music of the wheel’s low hum, or plying with deft fingers the flying shuttle, as she wove the woollen [sic], linen and carpet.  She is a daughter of John and Rachel (Red) Painter, being the sixth child in a family of twelve children, nine of whom are living as follows -- Hamilton, a farmer in East Perry Tp.; Mary, widow of Jerry Huntsman, now of Noble Co., Ind.; Lydia, widow of Jerry Rule of this county; Susan, Mrs. Adam Rule of North Bloomfield Tp.; George, farmer in Richland county; Cynthia, wife of subject; Rachel, Mrs. George Hines of Noble Co., Ind.; Armindia, Mrs. Joseph Lukens of Iowa; Charity, Mrs. William Lukens of Knox Co., O.  John Painter, her father, was a native of Virginia, and came to Perry township about 1812, where he entered one hundred and sixty acres of land in the green woods, his nearest neighbor being three miles distant; he followed the Indian trail to the site of Fredericktown, and cut his way to the spot which was soon to be converted into a pioneer home.  They lived in the wagon until a cabin was reared moving in ere it was furnished with doors or windows.  Often the father was obliged to go to such distance for provisions that he could not return the same day, and the terror-stricken wife was left alone with her babe, which she dared not leave, even to hunt the cow.  The little family sought safety in a block-house near Fredericktown during the war of 1812.  The father toiled almost incessantly in those days, fighting the wolf from the door in more senses than one; his sturdy ax cleared over one hundred acres of his farm.  We will now trace the fortunes of our subject: he tilled his father’s farm of eighty acres, from 1843 to 1850, when he purchased it, and being the only son living, he became the support of his aged parents which he performed generously and well, until their demise some twenty years from that time.  In those days Mr. Winand and his faithful wife worked early and late until the fair fields smiled, and the little cabin gave place to a substantial frame dwelling in 1861, where they lived until 1873.  In that year he moved on his present place, which is adorned by a handsome frame residence of nine rooms and a large barn, sixty-one by thirty-five feet in dimensions; his present estate covers an area of two hundred and eighty acres, comprising rich farming lands, rolling meadows and beautiful sugar groves.  Of late years sheep-raising has been the special employment of Mr. Winand, and he now has a fine flock of two hundred and fifty; he is an old-time Democrat, casting his first ballot for James K. Polk, and now holds the office of Township Trustee; he has six children living -- Sarah J., now Mrs. E. C. Penn (see history); William H., born July 24, 1849, married Matilda Ruby, lives in Waterford; Silas F., born May 29, 1853, married Candis Fawlin, lives in this township; Mary J., born March, 18, 1856, married Thomas Williams of this township; John C., born Jan. 7, 1859, at home; Chancey A., born Nov. 2, 1867, at home; four sons died when young -- George B., infant; Charles H. and Leroy M.  John Winand, Sr., was born in Pennsylvania on the 18th of Sept., 1789; he was well educated in English and German, and taught school quite extensively; he came to Ohio when the country was new, and bought 80 acres of land, for which he paid $500; he had three children -- John, our subject; Mary A, and William; the latter died at the age of three years.  John Winand, Sr., departed this life April 7, 1870, aged 81 years, 6 months and 19 days, and his wife died in March, 1873.  Two ancient relics are kept in the family of Mr. Winand -- an ancient wooden clock, over one hundred years old, owned by John Winand, grandfather of our subject, and a German Bible, printed in 1770.
Source: History of Morrow County and Ohio – Chicago: O. L. Baskin, 1880, pp. 833-834
Contributed by a Generous Genealogist.

Harmony Twp. -
E. L. WINTERMUTE,. farmer; P. O., Chesterville; is the son, of Abram S., born Feb. 20, 1807, in Sussex Co., N. J.; he attended school in an old log cabin, and worked on the farm, and was married in 1834, to Ellen Lanning. They have two children - Edward L., born April 14, 1836, and George W., born Aug. 17, 1841; an infant died Feb. 7, 1875; and he was again married in 1876, to Elizabeth Lanning, daughter of Peter I. and Ann (Washer) Struble. She was married in 1844 to Richard Lanning, and had six children (one unnamed) - Delphina, Mary, Electa, Emma and Sylvester. Her first husband died Feb. 10, 1871. The father of our subject settled on the farm, where he now resides, in 1841, buying 40 acres of Mr. Thrailkill; he now owns 81 acres of well-improved land, obtained by his own, labor and energy; he could not borrow $2.50 with which to pay his tax, and he sold clover seed to meet this expense. He and his wife are members of the Baptist Church.  Mr. Wintermute was married in 1859 to Martha, a daughter of John and Rebecca (Donnelson) Bennett. Her parents are natives of Perry County, and had six children - Malinda, Isaac, Martha A., Samuel H., Mary E. and John L. She was born Oct. 30, 1840, and has four children - Abram, born Nov. 5, 1860; Mary E., April 25, 1864; John D., July 23, 1866; Alice R., Aug. 7, 1876.  They are also members of the Old School Baptist Church. E. L. settled on his present farm in 1879. They vote the Democratic ticket.
Source: History of Morrow County and Ohio – Chicago: O. L. Baskin, 1880, p. 717
Contributed by a Generous Genealogist

Congress Twp. –
M. C. WOLFORD, farmer; P. O., Andrews; is a native of Dauphin Co., Pa., and was born Aug. 24, 1820; is the eldest of a family of eight children, born to George and Esther (Cassel) Wolford, both of Pennsylvania.  Michael Cassel, came west with his parents when he was but 10 years of age, they locating in Franklin Tp., Richland Co.  Here he was raised and stayed until he was 23 years of age.  Jan. 23, 1843, he was united in wedlock to Elizabeth Kohler, who was born April 15, 1822, in Adams Co., Pa.; her father’s name was Jacob whose wife was Elizabeth Miller.  After the marriage Mr. Wolford moved to Blooming Grove Tp., where he bought eighty acres in “the woods,” which he cleared up, and upon which he lived nine years.  March 25, 1852, he moved to this township and bought 160 acres of land, situated 2½ miles north of Williamsport, on the “angling” road, leading to Mt. Gilead; he has a splendid location, one of the finest in the township; he has since added to his original purchase, having now 240 acres. They have five children -- Mary E., now Mrs. C. B. Hart, John G., Uriah E., Leah M, now Mrs. Allen Peoples, and Jacob C.  March 29, 1880, Mr. Wolford bid a sad farewell to the companion of his wedded life; an amiable lady, a kind mother, and affectionate wife, as well as a truly Christian woman. Mr. Wolford is a member of the Disciple Church, of which his wife was a constant member. 
Source: History of Morrow County and Ohio – Chicago: O. L. Baskin, 1880, pp. 701-702
Contributed by a Generous Genealogist.

Gilead Twp. -
THE WOOD FAMILY. Prominent among the pioneers of this locality are the Wood Family, the head of which was Jonathan Wood, deceased, a native of Dartmouth, Mass., and born Dec. 9, 1760; about 1780 he moved to Vermont, and in 1784 he married Miss Rachel White, of Nine Partners, N. Y.; about 1797, they moved to Clinton Co., N. Y., and lived there until about the year 1816, when they came to Ohio, and settled in Peru Tp., Delaware Co.; about 1818, they came to the vicinity of Mt. Gilead; they came from the east by team via. Buffalo and Lake Shore, Oberlin, thence to their son, Daniel Wood, Jr., who preceded them about two years. Theirs' is the usual story of trials and privations of the pioneers; they cleared a farm out of the woods, and lived on the same until their death. They had twelve children, of whom but one now lives -- Rachel, now Mrs. Washburne, living in Huron Co., Ohio; Mrs. Wood died here on the farm, and Jan. 5, 1826, he married Miss Desire Osborn, then living in Peru Tp., Delaware Co., Ohio. She died in 1832, here on the old homestead. His third wife was Mrs. Mulinicks, with whom he lived until his death, May 7,1838, after which Mrs. Wood went to Huron Co., Ohio, and lived there with relatives until her death. There were no children by either his second or third marriages. Among the deceased of the first marriage were David and Jonathan, Jr.; the former was born at Danby, Vt., Dec. 19,1792, and came West with his parents; he married Miss Esther Mosher, Aug. 4, 1819; she was born in the East, and came here with her parents when young; they came to this vicinity, where he farmed and worked at his trade of carpenter until his death, July 7, 1847, at Dartmouth, Mass., where he had gone on a visit. She came west, and died on the old homestead, Dec. 31, 1864; of the nine living out of a family of eleven children, but one lives in this county.
     Asa M. Wood, farmer and stock-miser; P. O., Mt. Gilead; was born in Marion (now Morrow) Co., two miles south of Mt. Gilead, Jan. 1, 1834; he attended school and worked on the farm until he was 21 years old, when he began work on his own account, renting the home farm, on which he lived until 1865; he also worked at carpentering, having picked up the trade; he then farmed at other points in this county, also in Chase Co., Kan., and in 1870 he came to his present place. March 4, 1855, he married Miss Eliza Jane Hays; she was born in Columbiana Co., Ohio, and came to this vicinity when a child; they had three children -- Josephine S., Calvin H. and Susan E.  He owns 140 acres, located three and a half miles southeast of Mt. Gilead; except those connected with the school and road, he has held no public offices.  Jonathan, Jr., was born in Peru Tp., N. Y., Sept. 1, 1801, and came west with his parents, as stated; Feb. 23, 1824, he married Miss Mary Ashton, then living in Columbiana Co., Ohio, and returned here and farmed in this vicinity (except one year when they went east, and two years in Mahoning Co., Ohio,) until his death, Nov. 25, 1863; she died Feb. 8, 1873; they had six children -- Thomas A., Stephen, Rachel A., Griffith L., Luly H. and Lamira W.
     Thomas A. Wood, farmer; P. O., Mt. Gilead; was born in Columbiana Co., Ohio, Dec. 3, 1826, and the same year his folks returned to Marion (now Morrow) Co., Ohio, and engaged in farming on the present place. Thomas attended school and worked on the farm until he was 25 years of age; he then farmed on his own account at various points. in the county, and finally settled on the present place, which is the old Wood homestead.  Sept. 1, 1847, he married Miss Rhoda Vaughan; she was born in Columbiana Co., Ohio, and came to this vicinity when young. They had five children, four of whom are living -- Reuben E., Louisa T., Harriet M. and Caroline T.  He owns seventy-three acres, located three miles south of Mt. Gilead; he has, except those connected with school and road, taken no part in the public offices of the county.
Source: History of Morrow County and Ohio – Chicago: O. L. Baskin, 1880, pp. 560-561
Contributed by a Generous Genealogist

ANSON S. WOOD, a farmer of Peru twp., and familiarly known as “Uncle Anson,” was born in Onondaga county, New York, July 20, 1825.  His father, Ebenezer Wood, a native of Vermont, came to Delaware (now Morrow) county in 1831, locating on the farm where our subject now resides, then in the dense woods.  He was one of the earliest settlers of the county.  Our subject’s mother, nee Jerusha Agnes Halsted, was a native of Rhode Island, and of Irish descent.  Mr. and Mrs. Ebenezer Wood were married in New York, and died in Morrow county, Ohio, the former at the age of eighty years, and the latter at the age of ninety-one years.  They were the parents of four sons and three daughters, all but one of whom reached maturity, namely: Reuben, Almira and Nancy,  deceased; Almon, of Worthington, Ohio; Enos, deceased; and Anson S., the subject of this sketch. 
     The last was six years of age when he came to Morrow county, and was reared on the farm where he now resides, receiving his education in the log school-house.  He has eighty-one acres of fine farming land.  When his father lived on the place it contained a log cabin, 10x12 feet, with no doors or windows.
     July 4, 1847, Mr. Wood was united in marriage with Isabel Morehouse, who was born in New Jersey in 1829, and came to Delaware county with her parents at the age of six years.  Her parents were Daniel and Polly (Force) Morehouse, natives respectively of New Jersey and New York.  Our subject and wife have had the following children:  Melville,of Hardin county; Almira, wife of W. M. Waters, of Ashley, Ohio; Ocean, wife of Michael Fox, of Eden Station; Ebenezer; Albert, deceased; Sarah, wife of Charles Shoemaker, of Ashley, this state; Eunice, deceased; Cora, wife of Alexander Coomer, of Delaware county; Minnie, deceased; W. F. married Vine Denis, and lives at Marengo, Morrow county; and Vestia, who married Roscoe Welch, is also living in Marengo.
Source: Memorial Records of the Counties of Delaware, Union & Morrow, Ohio - Chicago: The Lewis Publishing Co. - 1895 ~ Page 204

Chester Twp. –
REV. E. G. WOOD, Chesterville; was born in Tyringham, Berkshire Co., Mass., June 14, 1814; his father, Elias V., was born in Connecticut and emigrated to Kenton, Hardin Co., this State, in 1856. He was a soldier in the war of 1812. He had eight children by Sarah Doud -- E. G., A. V., Silvester M., Esther L., Louisa M., Delia A., Eliza C., and an infant who died unnamed. The father was a Congregationalist and the mother a Baptist. Mr. Wood remained with his parents until 3 years old, and then lived with his grandparents, Doud. At the age of 14, he returned to the parental roof, and soon afterwards began learning carpentering, continuing the same until 20 years old, when he began attending school at Guilford Academy, New York; afterward he pursued his studies at Meadville College, Pa. In 1837 he was married to Maria L., a daughter of William V. and Susan (Stone) Havens. Her parents were natives of Vermont; they settled, after marriage, in Loraine [sic] Co., this State, where Mr. Wood entered the ministry in the service of the Baptist Church, and continued the same until 1865, when he abandoned it on account of ill health. He has had three children -- Julius V., married Etty J. Joy, and enlisted in Co. "C", 96th O. V. I.; was wounded at Grand Coteau, Louisiana, which resulted in the loss of an arm; he was commissioned Postmaster at this place in 1864, which office he has faithfully attended to, and in connection with the same has carried on a first class drug business, and since added a full line of notions, fancy goods, groceries, oils and paints. He has two children: Edwin J. and Adelbert L., the second child of Rev. Mr. Wood was Lucius, deceased 1869, also Addie W., married to James M. Guthrie, Baptist minister, now in Pennsylvania. Mr. Wood votes the Republican ticket. He claims to have organized the first Baptist Church in Delaware, Ohio.
Source: History of Morrow County and Ohio – Chicago: O. L. Baskin, 1880, p. 620
Contributed by a Generous Genealogist

REV. GEORGE J. WOOD, of Morrow county, is a son of Daniel Wood, a native of Vermont. He came from New York to Ohio about 1815, locating on what is known as the Munson farm, and taught the first school ever opened in Peru township. He was a minister in the Friends' Church, and had visited every State in the Union, excepting one, in evangelistic work. His first marriage was to Phoebe Benedict, a native of New York. She died after coming to Ohio. Of their children, only one is now living, Richard, of South Woodbury. Daniel Wood was afterward married to Elizabeth Lancaster Benedict, a cousin of his former wife, and a native also of New York. She came with her parents to Ohio in 1812, when about fourteen years of age. She started from her Uncle Sylvester Benedict's on an errand through the woods in the edge of the evening, and, missing her path, took an Indian trail which led her off her route onto what was known as the “Musk Rat Prairie,” not far from Cardington. The few settlers collected, built fires through the woods and searched for her all night without success. She found her way the next day, and a messenger was sent to meet the troops on their way up to Sunbury on the supposition that she had been stolen by Indians, but they refused to be turned back until they had seen her. She had lost one shoe off and passed some of the night in a tree-top near by where the wolves had killed a colt a few nights before. It was a frosty night, and the exposure caused a white swelling in one of her limbs and made her an invalid for many years. She was married in Peru township, Morrow county.
     Mr. and Mrs. Wood lived on several different places in this county, and their property was finally destroyed by fire, after which they moved to South Woodbury, where he died in 1868. The town of Woodbury was named in his honor. He was prominently connected with the Underground Railroad, and was an industrious worker in every enterprise for the improvement of his locality. In the fall of 1844 Mr. Wood visited the great commoner Henry Clay at his home in Kentucky, for the purpose of influencing him, if possible, to use his great influence for the emancipation of the slaves (Mr. Clay was a colonizationist). Mr. Wood was present when he received the news of his defeat in that memorable campaign by James K. Polk, and he answered that appeal sadly, evidently under the sting of that unexpected defeat: “My dear sir, I have much less influence than some people think.” Mr. Wood on his way. to Kentucky called upon Governor Thomas Corwin at Columbus, who, learning of his contemplated visit to Mr. Clay, kindly offered him a letter of introduction in which he said: “His character is unimpeached and unimpeachable.” During this interview Mr. Wood related to Mr. Clay the following remarkable incident, which had occurred in North Carolina not long before. Mr. Wood having visited the neighborhood was able to vouch for its correctness. The Friends' Church in the slaveholding States was vigorously endeavoring to rid itself of the crime of slave-holding and was rapidly succeeding, most of that denomination liberating their slaves, sending them north to free States and making provisions for them there as best they could; but there was one large Quarterly Meeting that had quietly resolved that their slaves were their property, and, let the church say what it would, they would hold on to their slaves.
     On the occasion of a meeting at that place the Rev. Aaron Lancaster, paternal grandfather of Elizabeth L. Wood, who had the reputation of being a prophet, came into the meeting unannounced and told them openly what they had secretly resolved, and that “they would become a stench in the nostrils of the Almighty; and as proof of it there should never be another such meeting held in that house.”  Without taking his seat after delivering this he left the house, and, mounting his horse, left the neighborhood. Inside of three months the house was destroyed by a whirlwind, one solitary sill being all that was left of it on the ground, and one door being found lodged in a pine tree five miles off!  Mr. Clay listened to this recital patiently and then quietly remarked that “he expected hurricanes were not unusual down in the vicinity of old Albemarle sound.”  Mr. Wood was a remarkable man physically and intellectually. He was six feet in height and in the pioneer lifts of log-rollings and house-raisings he was recognized as the stoutest man in the settlement. He had his best hats made to order, his measure around his head being just two feet. The person known as George in Uncle Tom's Cabin was a refugee in the house of Aaron L. Benedict, an uncle of our subject. Daniel Wood and wife had seven children: Sarah (deceased), George J., Thomas E., Samuel (deceased), an infant (deceased), Daniel H. and Esther Tuttle. The latter is now the wife of Calvin H. Pritchard, both Ministers in the Friends' Church, stationed at Kokomo, Indiana. She was the founder and editor of the Friends' Missionary Advocate, and was also the leading spirit in the Friends' foreign missionary work of the entire Society of Friends. Daniel Wood was a minister in that church for sixty years.
     Rev. George J. Wood, the subject of this sketch, assisted in the work of the home farm until twenty-two years of age, and then located on his present place. He arranged with a family to keep house for him until his marriage, which occurred in 1862, to Mary W. Brown, a native of Huron county, Ohio. He taught two successful schools in Cardington township, and, the winter following, one in his own township of Peru. He spent parts of several years from home, mostly in the States of Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, Wisconsin and Minnesota, introducing the Kuso and Morehouse patent churns. He was a successful salesman and made several thousand dollars for himself and his partner. He takes great interest in the work of the Friends' branch of the Christian Church and is an active and trusted member of it. For the two last years past he has been under appointment by Ohio Yearly Meeting as Superintendent of “evangelistic and pastoral work.”  Two years ago he successfully executed a commission by the same body as chairman of a committee to secure the passage of an enabling act by the Ohio Legislature legalizing the change of name of the Society of Friends to Friends' Church. He has for a number of years been chairman of the committee of said yearly meeting on education and Scripture schools, and has just recently been elected chairman of an association of the farmers of his township known as the “Farmers' Mutual Association,” which association of farmers, in an intelligent discussion of their interests and concerted action, he expects much benefit to all concerned. He is enthusiastic in his claim that this organizing is the initial step for the liberating of the farmer or producing community from oppressive monopolies, and the having of the voice and influence they are entitled to in the disposition of their products and the purchase of necessary supplies. He has been breeding Shropshire lambs for market for the last few years, but now claims to have the finest flock of De Lain sheep and the most valuable Jersey herd of heifers in his township.
     Mrs. Wood's father, Judge Daniel W. Brown, was born in the State of Connecticut in 1805, but became a resident of Ashland county when it was yet known as Huron county. He was active in procuring the creation of Ashland county and was soon after elected Circuit Judge. The next winter after this he was employed by Richard House, Samuel Geliar and Stephen Collard, of Mount Gilead, in the creation of Morrow county. He was a zealous Whig in politics, and accompanied William H. Harrison, his personal friend, in some of his political tours before he was elected President. He was warden of the penitentiary under Governor Wood, and at one time had charge of the Cambria Iron Works at Johnstown, Pennsylvania. He finally moved to Cincinnati, Ohio, to educate his children. The mother of Mrs. Wood, formerly E. Jane Brady, was born in Westchester county, New York, September 18, 1810. She was a daughter of Charles Brady, born in the same county January 29, 1791, of Irish descent. Judge Brown and wife had five sons and one daughter, namely: Samuel, deceased, who was a farmer by occupation; Charles Brady, deceased, was a prominent attorney, having begun practice at Cincinnati and continued it afterward; Joseph W., a civil engineer in Memphis, Tennessee, assisted in the first survey of the Southern Pacific Railroad, and died of a congestive chill, at Marshall, Texas; Ethan Allen, named for Ethan Allen Brown, a relative and one of the first Governors of Ohio, was also an attorney, was wounded at Fayetteville, West Virginia, and died from the wound at Gallipolis, Ohio, during the civil war, having served as Captain in the Thirty-fourth Ohio Zouave Regiment, A. Saunders Piatt, Colonel; Merrit, deceased in Florida, was clerk in the First Comptroller's office in the Treasury Department at Washington, District of Columbia; Mrs. Mary B. Wood and her mother, Mrs. Brown, are the only survivors of the family, and the latter is eighty-four years of age, still bright and intelligent.
     Rev. George J. Wood has been an active minister in the Friends' Church for a number of years. He makes no pretensions to oratory, but the thrift and spirituality of the Alum Creek Church, which has been under his pastorate care so long, is the best of evidence of his clear, practical preaching, backed as it is by an exemplary life. His 

“Boast is not that he deduced his birth
From loins enthroned or rulers of the earth,”

 (Though he might claim it in the royal house of England through the Lancaster stock), 

“But higher far his proud pretensions rise,
The son of parents passed into the skies.”

      He owns and operates a fine farm of 116 acres. In his political relations he affiliates with the Prohibition party, and has served as Township Treasurer, Trustee and Justice of the Peace. His commission as Justice of the Peace was signed by Rutherford B. Hayes, Governor of Ohio, afterward President of the United States.
Memorial Record of the Counties of Delaware, Union & Morrow, Ohio; Chicago: The Lewis Publishing Co., 1895, pp. 339-341
Contributed by a Generous Genealogist

RICHARD WOOD, a farmer of Peru township, Morrow county, is a son of Rev. Daniel Wood, born in Peru, New York, Jan. 19, 1789.  He was a son of Jonathan and Rachie (White) Wood, natives also of New York, the father born December, 1760, and the mother, Jan. 18, 1764.  They were among the early pioneers of this county.  Their children were:  Phoebe Nichols, Esther Irish, Danie, Amy Peasley, David, Susannah Kingman, Israel, Lydia Osborn, Jonathan, Rachel Hathaway, and Matilda Benker,  Daniel Wood, father of our subject, was married Apr. 30, 1812, to Phoebe Benedict, born in Peru, New York, Mar. 1, 1791, a daughter of Reuben and Anna (Stevens) Benedict, natives respectively of New York and Pennsylvania.  Reuben Benedict came to Ohio in 1812, locating on the farm now owned by John Osborn.  His children were:  Phoebe Wood, Polly Gardner, Aden, John, Ezra, Lucy Mosher, Annis Oliver, George and Martin.
     Rev. Daniel Wood and wife came to Ohio about 1816, and he taught the first school in this township.  They located on land now owned by our subject, near Alum creek, Peru township, but afterward settled on a farm now owned and occupied by Rev. George J. Wood.  In 1830, Daniel Wood laid out the village of Woodbury having purchased the land at 75 cents per acre, and named the place.  He was one of the pioneer ministers in this locality, working in the Friends’ Church.  His death occurred Sept. 24, 1868, and his wife departed this life July 28, 1822.  They were the parents of the following children:  Annie, deceased, was the wife of Griffith Lewis, and they had five children; Levi married Caroline Whipple; Rachel, deceased, was the wife of James Vernon; Jemima, deceased, was the wife of Jacob Heely, and they had four children; Richard, the subject of this sketch; and William, deceased in infancy.  For his second wife Daniel Wood married Elizabeth Benedict, a cousin of his former wife.
     Richard Wood, the only survivor of his father’s family by his first marriage, was born on the banks of Alum creek, Morrow county, Oct. 2, 1820.  He early learned the wagon-maker’s trade, and followed that occupation continuously in Woodbury for fifty-four years, having made the first spring wagon and covered carriage in Peru township.  He now owns 140 acres of fine farming land.
     April 3, 1844, Mr. Wood was united in marriage with Elmina James, who was born Apr. 19, 1824, a daughter of David and Charlotte James, natives of Loudoun county, Virginia.  Mrs. Wood died Mar. 9, 1871.  Our subject’s second marriage occurred Sept. 20, 1871, to Cynthia (Webber) Philbrook, born in Vermont, July 28, 1840, a daughter of Lyman J. and Mary A. (Goodnow) Webber.  The father was born in Vermont, Apr. 20, 1810, a son of Richard and Lydia Webber.  Richard was a son of Hiram Webber, who was a son of Able and Susan Webber.  Abel was a son of John and Hannah Webber; John was a son of William and Mary Webber; William was a son of Arnot and Sarah Webber; Arnot was the son of Walfort and Graticia Webber.  Lyman Webber, father of Mrs. Wood, and a carpenter by occupation, remained in Vermont until 1851, went thence to Massachusetts, and next located at East Liberty, Ohio.  His death occurred Feb. 26, 1889.  Mrs. Wood was first married to David C. Philbrook, now deceased, and they have one child living, William C., of Cardington twp., Morrow County.  Mr. and Mrs. Wood have also one child, Lyman Daniel, born Aug. 8, 1872.  Our subject and wife are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church, the former having united with that church over fifty years ago.  In political matters Mr. Wood affiliates with the Prohibition party, and has served as Township Trustee and in many other minor offices.
Source: Memorial Records of the Counties of Delaware, Union & Morrow, Ohio - Chicago: The Lewis Publishing Co. - 1895 ~ Page 261

THOMAS A. WOOD, a prominent farmer of Gilead township, Morrow county, is a son of Jonathan Wood, born in New York, September 1, 1801.  He was a son of Jonathan and Rachel (White) Wood.  Jonathan, Sr., was a son of Daniel and Susannah (Chase) Wood.
      John Wood, the first American ancestor and a Quaker, emigrated to America about 1635 or 1636, crossing the Atlantic probably in the ship Hopewell, from London, which arrived September 11, of the latter year.  At this time he was twenty-six years of age, and was married.  After the death of his first wife he married again, and altogether he had seven children.  His son William married Miss Martha Earl, daughter of Ralph and Joan Earl, and had ten children.  Their son Jonathan was born May 22, 1697, married Peace Davis, August 12, 1724, and they were both Quaker preachers.  They had five children, of whom Daniel was born November 14, 1729.  He married Susannah Chase, a daughter of Stephen and Esther Chase, July 30, 1752, and had five children.  Of these, Jonathan (grandfather of the subject of this sketch), was born at Dartmouth, Massachusetts, February 9, 1760, married Rachel White at Nine Partners, New York, in 1784, came to Ohio in 1817, first settling in Delaware county, near South Woodbury, and a year afterward in Marion county, same State, two miles south of Mount Gilead, where he died May 7, 1838.  His wife, born January 18, 1764, died September 26, 1824.  They had twelve children.  Of these, Jonathan (father of our subject), was born in Peru, Clinton county, New York, September 1, 1801; and February 23, 1824, married Mary Ashton, in Columbiana county, Ohio, and died November 25, 1863, and his wife February 8, 1873.
     The Wood family, of course, have been exemplary members of society.  Ex-Senator Chase, of Rhode Island, and ex-Senator Eaton both married members of this noble family.  Mary Dyer, one of the ancestors and a Quaker minister, was put to death in the time of Governor John Endicott, of Massachusetts, for asserting her rights as a Quaker in that colony.  The perpetrators of this deed were Puritans, who had first fled from England to Leyden, Holland, to escape the persecution of Queen Mary, and in 1620 came to Plymouth to carry on a persecution just as unreasonable as that from which they had fled.
     After marriage, Jonathan Wood and wife located on the farm now owned by our subject.  Although poor financially, he was an energetic and hard-working man, and took an active part in the development of his county.  With the exception of a few years in Columbiana county, they spent their lives here.  They were the parents of six children, namely: Thomas A., the subject of this sketch; Stephen A., of Cardington; Rachel Ann, wife of James W. Vaugher, of Lincoln township; Griffith L., a resident of Mount Gilead; Lindley H., also of that city; and Lamira W., wife of Harry W. Collins, who resides in Franklin county, Kansas.
     Thomas A. Wood was born in Columbiana county, Ohio, December 3. 1826, and was brought to this county when an infant.  He was reared to manhood on the place he now owns, and received his education in the district schools, and at the Hesper Seminary, near South Woodbury, Morrow county.  From 1851 to 1864 he resided in Harmony township, and since 1864 has been a permanent resident of Gilead township.  He owns seventy-three acres of land, fifty acres of which is under a fine state of cultivation.
     Mr. Wood was married September 1, 1847, to Rhoda Vaughan, who was born in Columbiana county, Ohio, February 19, 1828, a daughter of James and Rhoda (Cobb) Vaughan, natives of Virginia, the father born January 17, 1780, and the mother September 30, 1790.  They came to Ohio, and were married in Columbiana county, August 29, 1822.  In 1839 they made a permanent settlement in Gilead township; the father dying here December 12, 1859, and the mother July 20, 1877.  They were the parents of seven children, five now living: Rebecca T., widow of William B. Kirk, and a resident of New Sharon, Iowa; Johanna, wife of Stephen Gardner, of Cottage Grove, Union county, Indiana; Rhoda, wife of our subject; Joseph, of this township; and Lindley J., a resident of Gilead township.  The parents were members and active workers in the Friends’ Church.  Thomas Wood and wife have had five children, namely: Reuben E., born June 23, 1849, married Elvira Milligan, resides in Union county, Iowa, and has three children; Marietta, born August 15, 1853, died at the age of nine years; Louisa T., born December 11, 1857, is the wife of Alfred H. Brease, of Mount Gilead, and they have six children; Harriet M., born October 22, 1862, is the wife of Fred R. Hathaway, of Lenawee county, Michigan, and has one child; and Caroline T., born July 3. 1867, is the wife of LeRoy W. Furby, of Gilead township.  They also have one child.  The family are members of the Friends’ Church.  Mr. Wood is a member of the Republican party.
Memorial Record of the Counties of Delaware, Union & Morrow, Ohio; Chicago: The Lewis Publishing Co., 1895, pp. 387-388
Contributed by a Generous Genealogist.

RICHARD WORDEN, a farmer of Canaan township, Morrow county, was born in Seneca county, New York, April 29, 1822, a son of Richard and Polly (Roberts) Worden, who resided in Seneca county.  Richard was left an orphan when quite young, and was reared from childhood by Alexander Purvis.  He was brought by him to Ohio when about eight years of age, and settled in Cardington township, then Marion county.  At the age of sixteen years our subject began life for himself, working at anything he could find to do.  The year after his marriage he came to Canaan township, locating on a part of his present farm, which he rented for six years.  He then purchased ten acres, to which he has added from time to time until he now owns 407 acres, nearly all of which is under a fine state of cultivation.
     March 6, 1844, Mr. Worden was united in marriage with Lucinda Schooley, born in Virginia in 1824, a daughter of Samuel and Nellie (Graves) Schooley, early pioneers of Cardington township.  Our subject and wife have six children living, namely: Sarah F., wife of William Sexton; Hannah, widow of Frank Williams; Alfred W. married Minnie Hardman, and resides in this county; Samuel R. married Olive Bratton; Emily Annette, wife of Samuel Fate; and Sophia, at home.  Mr. Worden affiliates with the Republican party, has served as School Director for a number of years, as Township Trustee, and has frequently been a delegate to county conventions.
Memorial Record of the Counties of Delaware, Union & Morrow, Ohio; Chicago: The Lewis Publishing Co., 1895, pp. 426-427
Contributed by a Generous Genealogist.

SAMUEL R. WORDEN. ––It is gratifying to note in the personnel of the representative agriculturists of Morrow county so large a number of the native sons of the county have had the judgment and appreciation to maintain a stanch allegiance to their “native heath” and have here found ample opportunity for effective and profitable effort along normal lines of industrial and business enterprise.  Such a one is Mr. Worden, who is one of the substantial farmers and stock-growers of Canaan township, where his home is the same residence in which he was born, and he is not only held in high esteem in the community where he is best known but he has also been an influential factor in public affairs in his native county and stands exemplar of the highest civic loyalty and progressiveness.
     Samuel R. Worden was born on the farm which he now occupies, in section 28, Canaan township, on the 4th of September, 1856, and is a son of Richard and Lucinda (Schooly) Worden, the former of whom was born in Seneca county, New York, on the 29th of April, 1822, and the latter of whom was born in Belmont county, Ohio, in 1824.  Their marriage was solemnized about the year 1844.  As a child Richard Worden was virtually adopted by Alexander Purvis, with whose family he came to Ohio when a lad of six years.  Mr. Purvis established his home in Morrow county and there Richard Worden was reared to maturity under the discipline of the farm, in the meanwhile attending at intervals the pioneer schools of the locality.  He continued to be associated with his foster-father in the work of the home farm until he married and initiated his independent career.  Soon after his marriage he and his young wife established themselves upon a farm in Cardington township, Morrow county, and in the following year, 1845, they removed to Canaan township and settled upon part of the farm now owned by their son Samuel R., of this review.  Here Richard Worden reclaimed his land to effective cultivation and developed a valuable farm, the place having been but slightly improved at the time when it came into his possession.  He continued to reside on this homestead until his death, at the age of seventy-four years, and his cherished and devoted wife was summoned to eternal rest at the age of seventy-seven years and six months, both having held at all times the high regard of all who knew them.  Of their large family of children two sons and four daughters are still living and the subject of this sketch was the fifth in order of birth of the nine children.
     Like the average youth of the locality and period, Samuel R. Worden gained his early experiences in connection with the manifold duties pertaining to the work of the home farm, the while he duly availed himself of the advantages of the district schools, where he laid the foundation for the broad and practical knowledge which he has since gained through self-discipline and through active association with men and affairs.  He was long associated with his honored father in the work and management of the farm on which he was born and a portion of which he now owns and operates.  His homestead comprises one hundred acres of most arable land and to the original improvements on the same he has made many additions, bringing it up to the best modern standard.  He has rented his farm to his son Carl and he and his wife will locate in Marion, Ohio, where he has property.  He has shown mature judgment and discrimination in the various departments of his farm industry and is one of the essentially representative agriculturists and stock-growers of his native county, throughout which he is well known and held in unequivocal esteem.
     In politics Mr. Worden has ever been found arrayed as a stalwart in the ranks of the Republican party, and he has taken an active part in its local work.  He has been zealous in supporting such enterprises and measures as have conserved the advancement and general prosperity of the community and he served five years as treasurer of Canaan township.  He is affiliated with Denmark Lodge, No. 760, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, in the village of Denmark, which is three-fourths of a mile distant from his home, and of this lodge he is not only past noble grand but has also represented the same in the Grand Lodge of the Order in the state.  Mrs. Worden was a member of the Methodist Episcopal church at Denmark, Ohio.
     On September 24, 1879, Mr. Worden married Miss Olive P. Bratton, who, like himself, was born and reared in the old Buckeye state and who was a resident of Canaan township at the time of her marriage.  She was born in Marion county, on the 12th of December, 1859, and was a child at the time of her parents’ removal to Morrow county.  She was summoned to the life eternal on the 26th of April, 1903, and is survived by one son, Carl C., who was born on the 27th of February, 1883, and who is now one of the popular and prosperous young agriculturists of Canaan township.  He married Loretta M. Sycks, and they have one child, Paul C.  On the 1st of January, 1906, Samuel R. Worden contracted a second marriage, being then united to Mrs. Alice (Miller) Gillson, widow of Charles Gillson, of Morrow county.  She was born in Marion county, and is a daughter of the late Obediah Miller, who was a representative citizen of Marion at the time of his death.
     Mr. Worden has shown a vital interest in the exploiting of the fine agricultural resources of his native county and in his operations has had recourse to the most modern and most scientific methods, as well as the best facilities in the line of farm machinery and implements.  He has been active in the affairs of the Morrow County Agricultural Society and is a member of its directorate.
Source:  History of Morrow County, Ohio by A. J. Baughman - Vol. II - Chicago-New York: The Lewis Publishing Co. - 1911 – pp. 819-821
Contributed by a Generous Genealogist.

JAMES R. WYKER is recognized as one of the most progressive farmers of Franklin township, Morrow county, Ohio.  He believes in up-to-date, scientific methods in farming as well as in other lines of business, and with his son is engaged in operations according to this plan.
     Mr. Wyker was born in Knox county, Ohio, April 20, 1851, a son of William and Catherine (Struble) Wyker, both natives of New Jersey.  William Wyker when a young man of twenty-one years came west to Ohio, and here married and reared his family.  After the death of his wife, which occurred in March, 1906, at the age of seventy-seven years, he went to Scranton, Pennsylvania, where he now makes his home, at this writing being eighty-five years of age.  Their family consisted of four sons and three daughters, namely: James R., John D., Kate L., Hattie, Hulda, Okey and Edward.
     James R. Wyker passed his boyhood days not unlike those of other farmer boys in Knox county and received his education in the Luzerne schools.  When he reached his majority he hired out to his father to work on the farm by the month, and continued thus occupied for years after his marriage, which event took place on October 9, 1878.  His wife, formerly Miss Sylva Blair, is a daughter of John Blair and a granddaughter of William and Mary Blair, who were of Pennsylvania-German origin and who migrated to Ohio from Pennsylvania as early as 1810.  John Blair was the first white child born west of Fredericktown, the date of his birth being 1812.  He died in 1899.  Mrs. Wyker’s mother, Arthmisa (Stevens) Blair, died in 1880, at the age of seventy-four years.  As her inheritance, Mrs. Wyker received from her father’s estate one hundred and fifty-five acres in the northeast corner of Franklin township.  The children born to Mr. and Mrs. Wyker, three in number, are as follows: Herbert (who died in infancy), Calvin Homer and John Blair.  Calvin H. was born February 4, 1883; is a graduate of the Fredericktown high school, and took a course in the Ohio Wesleyan University, Delaware, Ohio, preparatory to fitting himself for the medical profession.  He pursued his medical studies at Starling Medical University, Columbus, Ohio, where he graduated in 1908.  He is now engaged in the practice of his profession at Rushville, Ohio.  The other son, John Blair, is engaged in farming with his father.  He was born June 1, 1889.  After his graduation, in 1908, from the Fredericktown high school he entered the State University and began an agricultural course which he expects to complete.  A special feature of the John Blair farm is the maple orchard, a grove of four hundred and fifty trees, from which they manufacture maple syrup, for the purity and excellent quality of which they have made a reputation, their average syrup yield being about one hundred and seventy-five gallons.  Their brand is “Wyker’s Pure Maple Syrup.”  While the majority of farmers in this locality are denuding their land, the Wykers take the opposite course, and have recently planted two hundred young maples, thus adding to the value of their grove.
     Mr. Wyker and his family are members of the Waterford Presbyterian church, and politically he is a Democrat.
Source:  History of Morrow County, Ohio by A. J. Baughman - Vol. II - Chicago-New York: The Lewis Publishing Co. - 1911 – pp. 652-653
Contributed by a Generous Genealogist.