SHARON C. LAMBERSON, editor and co-proprietor of the Democratic Messenger, Fremont, Sandusky county, was born in Seneca county, Ohio, Nov. 16, 1838, a son of William and Ana Mary (Creaer) Lamberson.
     William Lamberson was born at Easton, Penn., Mar. 23, 1813, and came with his parents to Ohio in 1830, locating in the forests of Seneca county, where he helped to clear up a farm.  In politics he was a radical Democrat.  He married, Jan. 4, 1838, and died Jan. 15, 1882.  Ann Mary Lamberson was born in Montgomery county, Ohio, June 12, 1815, and died Feb. 6, 1887, and died a member of the Reformed Church, in which faith she was reared.  Their children were:  (1) Sharon C., our subject; (2) Eunice A., wife of John Huston, living near Dayton, Ohio; (3) Virgil D., a veteran of the Civil War, living at Tiffin, Ohio; (4) Janett C., widow of Victor J. Zahm, and one of the proprietors of the Democratic Messenger; (5) Havana, Huron Co., Ohio; (6) Curtis M., who lives in Wamego, Kans.; (7) Dewitt C., who died August, 1875; (8) M. Marcena, a maiden lady, living at Tiffin, Ohio.  Daniel Lamberson, our subject's paternal grandfather, was born near Easton, Penn., served in the war of 1812, became a pioneer settler of Seneca county, Ohio, and died at a good old age.  Our subject's maternal grandparents came from Maryland, and settled near Dayton, Ohio.  Both of S. C. Lamberson's parents were of German descent.
     Our subject was reared on a farm, and after receiving a common-school education in Seneca county took a course of study at Heidelberg University, Tiffin, Ohio, from which institution he graduated in 1859, with the first honor of his class.  He followed school teaching and farming, alternating these occupations until 1873, when he engaged in the mercantile business at Tiffin for two years.  He then became connected with the county auditor's office at Tiffin, for six years.  On Apr. 7, 1885, in partnership with his brother-in-law, V. J. Zahm, he purchased the Democratic Messenger, the organ of the Sandusky county Democracy.  His partner died in August of the same year, and Mr. Lamberson has continued to conduct the paper since that time.  Politically, he is a Jeffersonian Democrat, and socially, has been a member of Seneca Lodge, No. 35, I. O. O. F., about thirty years.  On Apr. 18, 1887, he was married, at Tiffin, Ohio, to Miss Johanna C. Zahm, who was born in Buffalo, N. Y., Nov. 30, 1838.  Mrs. Lamberson's parents were born in Germany and came to America, her father in 1832, her mother in 1833.
Source: Commemorative Biographical Record of the counties of SANDUSKY & OTTAWA, OHIO - Publ. J. B. Beers & Co. 1896 - Page 42

STERLING LEONARD.    Among the young men whose steady-going industry and solid worth have contributed materially to the prosperity of northern Ohio, and to their own advancement toward a competence, is S. C. Leonard, of Riley township, Sandusky county.  He was born Mar. 31, 1866, and is a son of Joseph and Elizabeth (Clark) Leonard, the former of whom was born in New Jersey, Oct. 2, 1833.
     Joseph Leonard was for some years in the employ of different railroads in Illinois and Texas.  On Mar. 16, 1865, in Illinois, he was united in marriage with Elizabeth Clark, who was born in Pennsylvania, Jan. 16, 1836, and their children were: Sterling C., the subject of these lives; and Joseph W., born Aug. 27, 1867, and Frederick, born Nov. 10, 1873, both of whom died young.  After his marriage Mr. Leonard lived in Illinois for a period of about eight years, until his death, which occurred Apr. 25, 1874.  He was a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church.  Mrs. Joseph Leonard was the daughter of Joseph R. Clark, who was born in Pennsylvania Jan. 27, 1806, and on Mar. 24, 1833, was united in marriage with Emily Welsh, who was born Oct. 2, 1812.  They lived in Pennsylvania, and had a family of twelve children as follows:  William, born Mar. 13, 1834, married Sarah Bell, by whom he has five children, and they live in Riley township, Sandusky county; Elizabeth is the mother of our subject; Joseph and Rebecca (twins), born July 16, 1837, died young; Leander; Joseph, born Dec. 25, 1841, died May 6, 1850; Mary, born Apr. 18, 1844, married Henry Heberling, and has had four children (they live in Scott township, Sandusky); Amelia, born Jan. 4, 1846, married Charles Ralph, by which union there have been seven children; Lucretia, born in July, 1847, died young; Sarah, born Nov. 9, 1849; James, born Nov. 2, 1851, lives in Montana; and Clara, born Aug. 31, 1855.  Joseph R. Clark was county commissioner eight years, and justice of the peace for eighteen years.
    After her husband's death Mrs. Joseph Leonard moved to Pennsylvania, where she was united in marriage with Nathan Cleaver, a Quaker, and they lived in Pennsylvania until his death, which occurred June 25, 1887.  The widow then came to Sandusky county, Ohio, and bought forty acres of land in Riley township, which she now rents to her son, our subject, who works this farm in addition to his own, and has just completed the erection of a fine grain barn and carriage house on same.  She makes her home in Fremont, Sandusky county.
     S. C. Leonard worked for his mother until his twenty-sixth year, and then bought ninety-six acres of land in Riley township, which cost him five thousand dollars.  The farm was in very poor condition, being badly run down both as to soil and fencing, and he at once set to work to put things in good working order - an arduous task, indeed, but one in which he has succeeded well, his farm being now one of the most productive and valuable in the county.  Among the other numerous improvements he has made is the tiling of the land, which makes it first-class for cropping, and he now raises fine crops; he is putting in new fences, and, like the thorough-going, up-to-date farmer which he is, is leaving nothing undone which will enhance the value or improve the appearance of the place.  With such a good start Mr. Leonard certainly has a bright future before him, though his evident efficiency and business ability alone would be an assurance of success.  He is genial and sociable in disposition, and is well-liked and highly esteemed by all who know him.  In politics he is a Democrat.
Source: Commemorative Biographical Record of the counties of SANDUSKY & OTTAWA, OHIO - Publ. J. B. Beers & Co. 1896 - Page 759

REV. MICHAEL LONG.  Any pioneer record of the Black Swamp, in northern Ohio, which does not give an account of the old-time traveling preachers or circuit rider, who did so much to cheer the homes of the early settlers, must be incomplete, and any list of such itinerants which does not include the familiar name of Rev. Michael Long is untrue to history.  For more than fifty years he traversed this region in every direction, and thousands loved to listen to the voice of his unstudied eloquence.
     Rev. Michael Long  was born May 3, 1814, in Guernsey county, Ohio, son of Daniel and Margaret (Brill) Long,  natives of Pennsylvania.  He was reared to farm work, and was educated in the common schools.  AT an early age he joined the United Brethren Church, and at the age of twenty-one years was licensed to preach the Gospel.  In 1834 he migrated from Guernsey to Sandusky county, Ohio, where he married, on April 20, 1837, Miss Sarah Gear, of same county, and they lived at various places most convenient to his fields of labor.  On April 26, 1836, he joined the Sandusky Conference, and was assigned to a circuit of twenty-eight appointments, at which he preached regularly every four weeks, requiring for each round a travel of four hundred miles, for the most part through the forests, either on foot or on horseback.  For his services the first year of his ministry he received a salary of forty dollars.  His circuit the second year, and indeed for quite a number of subsequent years, was much like the first, with salary ranging from one hundred to one hundred and seventy-five dollars.
     He was an active itinerant, and for fifty years was continuously employed by the Conference as missionary, pastor or presiding elder, which, with one year's subsequent service as supply, made fifty-one years of active itinerant life.  He was a member of the Conference and present at every session for fifty-six years, never missing the opening prayer.  For many years he was almost constantly engaged in revival work, for which he was naturally fitted.  His voice was wonderfully strong, clear and voluminous, his nature genial and his deportment dignified.  He was directly instrumental in the conversion and addition to the Church of about five thousand persons.  He solemnized more marriages and preached more funeral sermons than any other minister within the bound of his acquaintance, and he no doubt traveled longer and suffered more privations than any other minister in his Conference.  His unwritten stories of daring adventure and hair-breadth escapes would fill a volume. When traveling in the Maumee Valley he sometimes passed trains of Indians half a mile long. He was endowed with remarkable physical powers, and could endure hunger and fatigue with little apparent discomfort. He was a friend to the so-called higher education, and encouraged it in his family, the fruits of this being manifest in the honorable standing of his three sons in the active ministry. He and his noble wife were examples of economy after which it would be well for many of our young people to pattern. Starting in life with scarcely anything of this world's goods, they lived within their small income, and so managed that a small per cent, was saved year after year until they were able to provide a comfortable home for themselves and family, near Fremont, and render aid in the education of their children at college. Mrs. Long died at the family residence on January 15, 1889, and his death occurred at the home of his nephew, Rev. James Long, at Weston, Ohio, November 17, 1891. Their children Were: Martha Jane, deceased wife of John Ernsberger; Desire Angeline, wife of Martin Maurer; Rev. N. S. Long, of the U. B. Church; Rev. B. M. Long, of the Presbyterian Church; Calista, wife of J. W. Worst; and Rev. Milon De Witt Long, of the Presbyterian Church.
Source: Commemorative Biographical Record of the counties of SANDUSKY & OTTAWA, OHIO - Publ. J. B. Beers & Co. 1896 - Page 53

DAVID B. LOVE, member of the firm of Buckland & Love, Attorneys at Law, Fremont, Sandusky county, is a native of Ohio, and was born Jan. 15, 1859, in Harrison county.
     George Love, his father, was a native of Belmont county, Ohio, born in 1827, and while a mere boy removed with his mother to Harrison county, where, after receiving all the educational advantages of the common schools, he followed farming, and in 1856 was married to Barbara Barclay, daughter of David and Elizabeth Barclay, who were among the early pioneers of Harrison county.  Both are members of the United Presbyterian Church, and still reside on the old homestead in Harrison county, where the father has held and filled various offices of public trust.  His father, Capt. George Love, served with distinction in the war of 1812 under General Harrison.
     David B. Love, the subject of our sketch, was reared amid all the experiences of farm life, which, from the rolling surface and varied and fertile soils of his native county, afforded ample opportunities for acquiring not only a general knowledge of this, but also of all kindred industries.  He received his elementary education at the common schools of the neighborhood of his boyhood home, and the village schools of Moorefield, Ohio, working on the farm during the spring, summer and fall seasons, and attending school in the winter until he was nineteen years of age.  He then attended Franklin College, at New Athens, Ohio, for two years, teaching school between terms in his home district, in order to pay for his college instruction.  For the purpose of specially fitting himself for the profession of teaching, he later entered the Ohio Normal University at Ada, where he spent four years, completed the University course, and graduated with honor, with the class of '85, receiving the degree of M. A.  Before completing his course of studies, however, he decided to take up the study of law immediately after graduation; but upon the unsolicited recommendation of the President of the University, he was elected to the superintendency of the public schools of Oak Harbor, Ohio, which position he accepted and filled for two years, during which time he reorganized and graded the schools, outlined and secured the adoption, by the Board of Education, of an advanced course of study, and graduated the first class therefrom in 1887.  To the credit of Mr. Love it can be said that the educational interests of Oak Harbor received an impetus in the right direction.  Having decided to make the legal profession his future life work, he then removed to Fremont and renewed his legal studies, to which he had given considerable attention while teaching, in the office of Finefrock & Dudrow.  In December, 1890, he was admitted to the bar, and at once opened an office for the practice of law, in which he continued alone until October, 1892, when he became associated with Horace S. Buckland, under the firm name of Buckland & Love.  This firm will be dissolved in May, 1896, by reason of the election of Mr. Buckland to the office of Common Pleas Judge.
     Mr. Love in his political preferences is a Republican, but does not court political distinction; he has been for two years Chairman of the county Republican Executive Committee.  In 1894 he was elected a member of the city Board of Education for one year, and in 1895 was re-elected for two years.  He still retains his interest in educational matters, and this, coupled with his former experience as a teacher and superintendent of schools, has rendered his counsel valuable in the recent educational reforms instituted by the Board of Education.
     In 1888, at Mt. Gilead, Ohio, Mr. Love was married to Miss Josephine S. Wood, daughter of Asa M. and Eliza J. Wood.  Four children have been born to them:  D. Ewing, Esther Josephine, Anna Maree and C. Wendell.  Mrs. Love graduated from the Mt. Gilead public schools, and afterward attended the Ohio Normal University, and graduated in the classical course in 1883.  Possessed of superior scholarship and ability, she was employed there as a teacher of Latin and mathematics until her marriage, when she resigned.  During her career as a teacher at the University she acquired the reputation of being most thorough and successful, and received the degree of A. M. in 1886.
     Both Mr. and Mrs. Love are members of the Presbyterian Church, of the Sunday-school of which he was Superintendent for four years.  In his profession Mr. Love's course is marked by caution, always advising settlements rather then suits, and at all times making his client's interests his own; and blessed with a genial disposition, a high sense of honor and correct habits, we predict for him a successful professional career.
Source: Commemorative Biographical Record of the counties of SANDUSKY & OTTAWA, OHIO - Publ. J. B. Beers & Co. 1896 - Page 693

REV. NATHANIEL B. C. LOVE, D. D., the subject of this sketch, was born in Rushville, Fairfield Co., Ohio.  His father was born in Donegal, Ireland, of Scotch-Irish parents.  In his childhood he was brought from Ireland to Lancaster, Penn., where he received a good English education.  He became a professional teacher, and excelled in mathematics, teaching in Northumberland county, Penn., Cadiz, and Rushville, Ohio.  He was of the nobler type if Irish Protestants, many of whom have been among the foremost in education in their adopted country.  His parents were first Episcopalians and afterward Methodists.  He died in his seventy-ninth year, near Hardin, Ohio.
     Dr. Love was converted in childhood, and never forgot his spousal to God, and hence never formed those bad habits which hinder and embarrass so many persons for long weary years.  His mother had the forming of his character.  Her maiden name was Susannah Force, and she came from the Force family of New Jersey, a family that has made a noble record in Church and State.  She was intelligent, possessed great common sense, and was a devout Christian.  Up to his sixteenth year Dr. Love had the advantages of good common and select schools. When about seventeen years he felt impressed to enter the ministry.  He did not yield to this call at once, feeling, as every true minister always does, his insufficiency for this lofty mission; but as he wrought in the factory through the day and studied art and history at night, the call to the ministry became more and more imperative.  About this time he had the advantages of the city and select schools of Sidney, Ohio, taught by Judge Wyman, James Linn and Miss Ware.  Many of the older pupils of those schools have referred to them as miniature colleges.
     When only twenty-two years old our subject entered the ministry of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and has been a prominent member of the Central Ohio Conference, filling with marked success, and to the full legal term of services, many of its leading stations.  The cities and larger towns of central and north western Ohio have been the scene of his labors.  When he was twenty-three he was united in marriage with Miss Eliza Ginn, of Sidney, Ohio.  Their oldest daughter, Jennie Love, was united in marriage with Mr. Ed. Cowdrick, of Napoleon, Ohio, but died in eighteen months, leaving a daughter.  The second daughter, Mrs. Emma Eberly, lives in Perrysburg, Ohio, a respected lady in Church and society.  The eldest son, Edwin Ginn Love, is in the practice of law in Port Clinton, and in his profession is successful and popular, having a large practice in that city, as well as in the surrounding towns and cities.  The second son is a railroad agent and telegrapher, employed on the Wheeling & Lake Erie railroad.  Lura May Love, the youngest, is the teacher of French and Latin in Findlay College, which is her "alma mater;" she is also a graduate of the Upper Sandusky Graded School; she is well and favorably known as a mezzo-soprano soloist of excellence.  The youngest, Arthur D. Love, is a boy at home with his parents.
     Dr. Love is well known as a writer for periodical literature; especially is his name familiar to the reader of the Western Christian Advocate, to whose columns he has contributed for many years.  During six years, for several Sunday-school publications, he wrote notes for lesson help, and in his way of opening up and illustrating the Scripture he was highly appreciated.  The same talent which qualified him for his work has made him eminently successful as a teacher of Bible and Normal classes, and he has been engaged in that work some sixteen years at Chautauqua Assemblies.  He has the rare gift that few have, the power to draw and paint rapidly before an audience.  His "chalk-talks" before assemblies and immensely popular.  He has published a work on object-teaching that met with a rapid sale, and has received the endorsement of many of the best educators of the country.  A few years ago, when Dr. Love was stationed at Upper Sandusky, Ohio, he took a great interest in the Old Mission Church and burying ground.  This was the first mission of the Methodist Episcopal Church.  The old stone church had fallen into ruins, and the burying ground, where many converted chiefs and missionaries were sleeping in hope of the resurrection taught by the Gospel, was a deserted common.
     Dr. Love was instrumental in bringing the matter in form before the General Missionary Committee and General Conference, and the funds were provided for restoring the property and preserving it as a sacred treasure to the Church, and to-day it stands as restored under his wise management, and is the Mecca of Methodism in her missionary efforts.  While he was pastor at Port Clinton he collected and published a historical sketch of all the Methodist Churches in Ottawa county, which is valuable as a source of data.
     He is now connected with the great Chautauqua movement, having taught for several years at Lakeside, and for sixteen years connected with various Chautauqua Assemblies.  For eight years he has been superintendent of Island Park Assembly, Rome City, Ind.  He is a graduate in the C. L. S. C, course of study, the C. N. C, and the Ohio State Normal, and is the friend and promoter of home college reading circles.  In recognition of his talents and scholarship the U. S. Grant Memorial University, some years ago, conferred its highest honorable degree of Doctor of Divinity upon him.
Source: Commemorative Biographical Record of the counties of SANDUSKY & OTTAWA, OHIO - Publ. J. B. Beers & Co. 1896 - Page 389