BASIL MEEK.  The subject of this sketch was born at New Castle, Henry Co., Ind. , April 20, 1829.  He came of Anglo-Saxon ancestry, his paternal great-grandfather, Jacob Meek, having come from England to Virginia, whence later he moved to North Carolina, finally settling in Maryland.  His maternal great-grandfather, James Stevenson, a native of Pennsylvania, but moving to North Carolina and finally settling in Tennessee, served as a soldier during the war of the Revolution, and held a commission as captain in that war.  His paternal grandfather, John Meek, moved from his native State of Maryland to Pennsylvania when the father of the subject of this sketch, whose name was also John, was a small boy; but after a few years' residence there, he, in 1788, removed with his family and all his effects to Kentucky, settling at New Castle, Henry county, in that State, where he died in 1803.  He had been the owner of slaves, but in his will manumitted the last one he owned.
     John Meek (father of Basil), a farmer, was born in 1772, near Ellicott's Mills (now Ellicott City), in the State of Maryland, going with his father first to Pennsylvania and thence to Kentucky where he grew to manhood, and at New Castle, Ky., July 1, 1792, was married to his first wife, Miss Margaret Ervin, who bore him nine children—six sons and three daughters—their names and dates of birth being as follows: William, May 29, 1793; Joseph, March 3, 1795; Sarah, 1797; Mary, 1800; Jeptha, November 3, 1803; Jesse, May 27, 1806; Elizabeth, August 9, 1808; John (date lost); and Lorenzo Dow, May 29, 1812.  These all married and raised families.  Of them, Sarah was married at Richmond, Ind., to John Smith, son of one of the founders of that city, and Joseph married Gulielma, a sister of John Smith.  Mary became the wife of Rev. Daniel Fraley, a pioneer Methodist preacher of Indiana.  The last surviving one, Elizabeth, was the wife of Rev. John Davis, a local Methodist minister, who died at Wabash, Ind.; she died at Stratford, Ontario, Canada, in 1893, aged eighty-six years.  John Meek, about 1812, moved from Kentucky to Wayne county, Ind., and settled at Clear Creek, on a farm now embraced within the limits of the present city of Richmond.  Here his first wife died while Lorenzo D. was a small boy.  He continued to live there some years, and then moved to New Castle, Henry Co., Ind., where in 1827, he married Miss Salina Stevenson, daughter of John Stevenson; she was only twenty while he was fifty- five years old at the time.
     There were six children born to him of the marriage—four sons and two daughters—of whom are now living the subject of this sketch, and Capt. James S., who was born August 17, 1834, now living in Spencer, Ind.; Laurinda, born June 2, 1831, now the wife of Stephen Clement, of Newton Iowa; Cynthia J., born November 29, 1836, now the wife of Jesse Clement, of Scandia, Kans.  One of the sons died in infancy; the other son, Thomas J., born January 15, 1843, died in early manhood.  The mother of these died at the home of her son, Capt. James S. Meek, at Spencer, Ind., in 1883, aged seventy-six years.  In the year 1832 John Meek returned to Wayne county, and there resided until 1841, when he removed with his family to Morgan township, Owen Co., Ind., then a very new and unimproved section of the State, with but very limited school or other privileges.  Here he died in 1849, and was buried in Pleasant Grove Cemetery, in that township.
     Basil Meek was only twelve years old when his father settled in Owen county, and, having no opportunity of attending any of the higher educational institutions, his school education was limited to that of the common schools of that comparatively new country; but being naturally inclined to study, he improved every opportunity that was afforded for self improvement, and to none of these is he more indebted than to a few years' residence at the falls of Eel river—Cataract village—in the cultured family of Alfred N. Bullitt, Esq., in whose store he served as clerk.  This was a Kentucky family from Louisville.  Mr. Bullitt was a man of fine abilities, a graduate of Yale and had been possessed of what was in his day^a large fortune in Louisville which through some misfortune he had lost, and having an interest in a large tract of land, which included the "falls," he removed to Cataract village with his accomplished family in 1846, and there kept a general store.  To his valuable library of rare books, the subject of this sketch had access; which, together with the friendly interest of Mr. Bullitt and his family, awakened in him a desire, and supplied the opportunity for a higher and better education than could be obtained short of college.
     While residing at Cataract village, December 23, 1849, he was united in marriage with Miss Cynthia A. Brown, daughter of Abner Brown, of Morgan township, the result of this union being four children, namely: Minerva Bullitt; Mary E.; Lenora Belle, and Flora B.  Of these, Minerva B. died at Clyde, Ohio, November 22, 1869, in the eighteenth year of her age; Flora B. died in infancy; Mary E. is the wife of Byron R. Dudrow, attorney at law of Fremont; and Lenora Belle is the wife of L. C. Grover, farmer, near Clyde.  The mother of these died in Spencer, Owen Co., Ind., in August, 1861.  On September 30, 1862, Mr. Meek married Miss Martha E. Anderson, daughter of Alvin and Harriet (Baldwin) Anderson, of Bellevue, Ohio.  By this marriage there are two children, namely: Clara C., wife of Dr. H. G. Edgerton, dentist, of Fremont, Ohio, and Dr. Robert Basil, a brief notice of whom follows.  Our subject's grandchildren are: Robert Basil Grover, Mary B. , Rachel, Dorothy and Henry Meek Edgerton.
     In 1853 at the age of twenty-four Basil Meek was elected clerk of the circuit court and moved from Cataract to Spencer, the county seat of Owen county.  He was re-elected without opposition in 1857, serving two terms of four years each.  During these eight years he devoted such time as could be spared from his official duties in studying law, and in 1861 was admitted to the bar and formed a partnership with Hon. Samuel H. Buskirk, of Bloomington, and practiced law at Spencer for about two years.  In 1864 he removed from his native State to Sandusky county, Ohio, making at first his home on a farm which is now within the village of Clyde.  In 1871 he became a member of the Sandusky county bar, and formed a partnership with Col. J. H. Rhodes in the practice of law at Clyde.  This partnership continued for four years, after which he practiced alone until February 10, 1879, when he entered upon his duties as clerk of courts, to which office he had been elected at the previous fall election by a large plurality, running ahead of his ticket in his own village and township 284 votes. In the fall of 1879 he removed with his family to Fremont, where he now resides.  At the close of his term he was re-elected clerk of courts by a majority of 1,100 votes, and served six years in all.  On retiring from this office he resumed the practice of his profession, with F. R. Fronizer as partner, until he was appointed, by President Cleveland, postmaster at Fremont.  He took charge of this office September 1, 1886, and served until March 1, 1891, a period of four years and six months.  In this office he took much interest, and devoted his entire energies in rendering an efficient and highly satisfactory service to the public.  It was during his term and through his efforts that the free-delivery system was extended to this office, and put into very successful operation under his management and that of his son, Robert B., who was his first-assistant postmaster.  On April 1, 1891, he became associated with his son-in-law, Byron R. Dudrow, in the practice of the law in which he has since been engaged, and is senior member of the law firm of Meek, Dudrow & Worst.  As a lawyer he is careful and painstaking in the preparation of his cases, and in their presentation he is clear in statement and forcible in argument.  As an advocate he believes in his client, making his cause his own and serving him with a warmth and zeal which springs only from a conviction of the justness of his client's cause.
     Mr. Meek has been a member of the board of education since April, 1894, and also clerk of that body.  As a member of this board he was influential in the reorganization of the high school in 1895, in creating the principalship, adopting new courses of study and supporting other measures tending to advance the interests of said schools, and establish therein methods of instruction both modern and practical.  He was also active in making free Kindergartens a part of the public school system of the city, and is chairman of the standing committee on Kindergartens.  Politically he has all his life been a Democrat, loyally supporting the measures and candidates of his party, and cheerfully working for the promotion of its principles, serving on several occasions as chairman of the County Executive Committee, with acceptability to his party.
     He is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and has been such since 1857.  Asa lover of truth and freedom of thought and action, himself, he is not only resolute for what he believes to be the truth, but is tolerant of all who are seeking the same of whatever name or creed.
Source: Commemorative Biographical Record of the counties of SANDUSKY & OTTAWA, OHIO - Publ. J. B. Beers & Co. 1896 - Page

FRANK M. METCALF, as a produce merchant of Clyde, has a wider acquaintanceship than most citizens of that city can claim. In the parlance of trade he is a "hustler," and the splendid business which he does is the fruit of his own unremitting efforts. Ever since he came from the service of his country as a veteran he has followed his present vocation, save three years which he spent in the mining regions of Arizona.
     Mr. Metcalf was born in Monroe county, Mich., May 11, 1843, son of Joseph and Sarah (White) Metcalf. Joseph Metcalf, who was born in Vermont in 1810, migrated when a boy with his father, Samuel Metcalf, from the Green Mountain State to New York State, and subsequently to Toledo, Ohio, whence, after engaging there for some years in the lumber trade, he removed to Monroe county, Mich., and there followed the same business. In 1843 he returned to Ohio, locating in Wyandot county, where his father, Samuel Metcalf, died aged eighty-six years. In 1857 Joseph came to Clyde, where he died two years later. Joseph Metcalf was a public spirited and enterprising citizen. In New York State he had been appointed captain of militia, and he also served there as justice of the peace. For several terms he was justice of the peace in Michigan, and in Wyandot county he was elected to the same judicial office. He was a man of ripe judgment, possessing that rare common sense upon which all law decisions rest, and few of the decisions he made were ever reversed. He was well read in law, and acquaintances frequently consulted him in business and legal matters. Sarah, his devoted wife, who was born in St. Lawrence county, N. Y., in 1820, is at this writing still living at Clyde, an active lady for her many years. She was one of the organizers of the Woman's Relief Corps in Clyde, and has since been an active mem­ber of the same. Both her sons fought upon Southern battlefields for national union. Her parents died at Berlin Heights, Erie county, aged eighty-six and eighty-seven years, respectively. The three children of Joseph and Sarah (White) Metcalf were Judge L., Louisa and Frank M. Judge L. Metcalf was born in Monroe county, Mich., in 1839. He enlisted in Company K, One Hundredth O. V. I., and was taken prisoner at the battle of Limestone Station, Tenn., in 1863. He was imprisoned on Belle Isle and at Richmond, Va., about a year. He never recovered from the effects of prison life, and died in 1874, as a result of the indescribable hardships, the starvation and exposure to which he was subjected. Louisa was born March 2, 1841, and married Henry Miller, of Clyde. She died in 1862.
     Frank M. Metcalf was fourteen when his parents came to Clyde, and here for several years he attended the village schools. In July, 1861, when eighteen 'years of age, he was one of a company of young men from Clyde, Green Spring and Tiffin, formed to join a regiment of sharpshooters in New York City, but that regiment not being fully recruited they enlisted in the First United States Chasseurs, and were afterward assigned as the Sixty-fifth N. Y. V. I. This regiment saw hard service from the start. In a letter to the editor of the National Tribune, Washington, D. C., and published in the issue of June 21, 1894, F. M. Metcalf thus recounted a few of his army experiences as follows:
     "Editor National Tribune: "Well do I remember the skirmishes during the fall of '61 in Virginia above the Chain Bridge; also, McClellan's move toward Centerville, and our return; also, the trip on the Peninsula; Yorktown; the hot fight at Williamsburg, and the fight around Richmond; how Gen. Casey's troops were forced back from their breastworks by the Confederate troops.
     The First U. S. Chasseurs were sent across the railroad to reinforce the Thirty-first Penn. and Brady's battery. After Casey and Couch had been driven back we were north and rear of the Confederates, picking up prisoners. At this time a man rode over to us from the enemy's lines and told us we would all be captured. The boys were inclined to give him the laugh. He said he was only doing his duty; also, that the woods to our right and front were full of Southern troops, which we soon found to be a fact. This man again rode back to the enemy's lines. The question has always been in my mind, who was he? He at least showed us where his sympathies lay. We then, on a double quick, fell back through a strip of woods; Brady's battery, near the railroad, with the Thirty-first Penn. and Chasseurs behind an old rail fence and woods in front. The enemy massed, and, amid a deadly fire of shell and canister and musketry, charged, and would have captured our battery but for the timely arrival of a portion of Summer's Corps, which turned the tide of battle here. After the Chasseurs saw the First Minn, forming behind them they felt safe, as these two regiments had seen service together before. Our infantry reserved their fire until the enemy were within a few rods of our line of battle. The rebel loss was terrible; the ground was covered with their dead and wounded. They made a noble fight. This was their first repulse and defeat that day. The next day our troops retook the ground lost the day before, but the loss on both sides was heavy.
My memory will ever follow the marches and battles of the army of the Potomac—Malvern Hill, Manassas, South Mountain, Antietam, Fredericksburg, under Burnside and Hooker. The Chasseurs were the second regiment to cross the river below Fredericksburg, and its skirmishers the last to recross after the fight under Burnside. After the Pennsylvania Reserves had made their fatal charge the writer was with the troops who relieved this command. The moans of the dying and the appeals of the wounded in front of us was enough to touch the hardest heart. During Hooker's Chancellorsville fight the Sixth Corps was below Fredericksburg. At night, about 10 or 11 o'clock, the Chasseurs were deployed as skirmishers, and advanced to drive the Confederates out of the city. We met with such resistance we concluded to wait for daylight. The writer and fifteen or twenty men were with the Chasseur colors on the Richmond turnpike. We ran against their reserve pickets, who were behind a barricade across the road. They had us at a disadvantage, and we had to either be shot down or run to the rear or front. We gave them a volley, fixed bayonets, and with a genuine Yankee yell charged them from their position. They then withdrew their forces from the city back into their intrenchments on the heights, probably thinking the balance of our troops were at our heels. We kept hid in the city until morning, between the two lines, not daring to show ourselves to either side, and expecting to be captured by the Johnnies, but came nearer being shot the next morning by our own troops before we could make them believe we belonged to the Chasseurs.
     History tells how Marye's Heights were captured at the point of the bayonet by the troops under our old Col. Shaler. The general's memory will ever be fresh in the minds of the soldiers in that charge by the daring and courage he displayed riding along the line, and with his presence encouraged the boys charging the enemy's works. The next morning found the Sixth Corps silently recrossing the Rappahannock, where we all breathed freer, as we could tell by the distant "boom, boom" to our right and rear that Gen. Hooker had run against a snag at Chancellorsville. The writer was with the Sixth Corps at Gettysburg, Wilderness, Spottsylvania, Cold Harbor, Petersburg, against Early's raid on Washington, and Cedar Creek; but space will not permit making mention of incidents during these hard fought battles. Where are the Chasseurs now?
     After the war Mr. Metcalf returned to Clyde and engaged in the produce shipping business. During the three years— 1882-85—he was located in the Santa Rita mountains, Arizona, looking after the interests of the Salero Mining and Milling Co., of New York City, and also operating silver mines of his own there. Mr. Metcalf is a man of energetic, pushing habits, and he has thereby built up a large trade. He is a prominent member of the U. V. U. command at Clyde. Mr. Metcalf was married in February, 1886, to Miss Emma J. Miller, daughter of Lyman Miller. Her three brothers were in the war of the Rebellion, and the oldest was shot and killed in that war.
Source: Commemorative Biographical Record of the counties of SANDUSKY & OTTAWA, OHIO - Publ. J. B. Beers & Co. 1896 - Page 170

JACOB G. METZGER, one of the intelligent, liberal minded farmers of Green Creek township, Sandusky county, enjoys the possession of a competency, and he believes the statement made by Gen. Washington, that agriculture is the noblest vocation of man. He lives in ease and comfort upon his well tilled and well cared for farm of 127 acres, made profitable by his good business ability and his inherited aptitude for a farming life.
     Mr. Metzger was born in Adams township, Seneca county, November 2, 1842, son of Samuel and Rebecca (Heltzel) Metzger. The great-great-grandfather of Mr. Metzger, who was a Revolutionary soldier under Gen. Washington, was the son of Archibald Metzger, twin brother of Gen. Theodore Metzger, an able officer in the German army. The Revolutionary soldier was lost in the woods of Pennsylvania and probably starved to death. His remains were afterward found and identified by means of gun and clothing. He had emigrated from Germany to America in Colonial times, and his son, the great-grandfather of Jacob, was the only child aboard the ship that escaped the fatal ravages of smallpox. The son of this fortunate child, Jacob Metzger by name, grandfather of the subject of this sketch, was born in Pennsylvania and acquired the trade of a shoemaker. He was a member of the United Brethren Church, and in the autumn of 1813 migrated with his family from Union county, Penn., to Pickaway county, Ohio, settling on a farm near Circleville.
     Samuel Metzger, his son, was born in Union county, Penn., in April, 1813, and was but six months old when he came to Pickaway county, Ohio. He grew up on the farm, and before he was of age he came to Adams township, Seneca county, where he entered a farm in the wilderness. Returning to Pickaway county, he married, in April, 1834, on his twenty-first birthday, Rebecca Heltzel, who was born in Shenandoah county, Va., in 1812, the daughter of Henry Heltzel, an old-time schoolteacher, of German ancestry, and an early pioneer of Pickaway county, Ohio, who afterward removed to Noble county, Ind., where he was elected county recorder and served as such for many years. After marriage Samuel and Rebecca Metzger moved to the new pioneer home in Adams township, Seneca county, where he proved in subsequent years to be one of its best farmers, and where he lived until 1881. He then moved to Green Creek township, Sandusky county, and lived near his son Jacob, until his wife's death, in 1890. He died April 11, 1893, at the home of his son. Samuel Metzger at the time of his death owned 205 acres of choice land, and owed not a dollar. He was careful in his business transactions and scrupulously honest. In politics he was a Democrat, and in religious faith a prominent member of the United Brethren Church. He was an ordained exhorter in the Church, possessed a remarkable memory, and had almost the whole Bible at his tongue's end. He was devotedly attached to the work of his Church, and was perhaps its chief supporter in Adams township.
     Five children were born to Samuel and Rebecca Metzger, as follows: (1) H. H., born in 1836, a farmer of Adams township, Seneca county, who married Rebecca Drinkwater and had five children—Alton (who died aged two and a half years); Ida J.; James; Hulda F., and Olive. (2) John C., of Adams township, Seneca county, who first married Sarah A. Miller, by whom he had three children, now living—Alwilda E., Gertrude and Samuel H.; after his first wife's death he wedded Mrs. L. Berry, by whom he has one child—Julia C. (3) Sarah A., married to C. W. King, of Noble county, Ind., and died leaving two children— Maud M. and Mildred G., who now make their home with Jacob Metzger, our subject. (4) Jacob is the subject of this sketch. (5) Lavina married Alfred Frontz, and has three children—Rebecca, Roy and Dora P.; she lives on the old home farm in Adams township, Seneca county.
     Jacob Metzger grew to manhood on his father's farm in Seneca county, and in 1864, as a member of Company B, he served in the Washington campaign of the One Hundred and Sixty-fourth O. V. I. When mustered out in the fall of 1864 he joined a construction corps, which oper­ated through Kentucky, Tennessee, Alabama, Georgia and West Virginia. Six months later he returned home and was married, April 27, 1865, to Sarah Jane Shellhammer, who was born in Adams township, Seneca county, January 30, 1845. Mr. and Mrs. Metzger have one child, Alva E., a well-educated and successful veterinary surgeon at Clyde. In politics Jacob Metzger is a Democrat. In manners he is genial and affable. He is remarkably well versed in public matters, and, while engaged in general farming, he takes a deep interest in all the affairs and conditions of mankind. No man stands higher in the esteem of his fellow men.
Source: Commemorative Biographical Record of the counties of SANDUSKY & OTTAWA, OHIO - Publ. J. B. Beers & Co. 1896 - Page 196

AMBROSE MEYER, one of the steady-going, industrious, and substantial citizens of Riley township, Sandusky county, is a native of the same, born Dec. 16, 1859, and is a son of JACOB and Jane (Ziegler) Meyer, who were born in Alsace, Germany.
     Jacob Meyer came with his wife to America in 1828 and located in Seneca County, Ohio.  In 1849 with money he had saved during a period of ten years in this country he bought a farm of eighty acres in Riley township.  In 1889 they removed to Fremont, Sandusky county, and are now living there retired after a life of diligent and self denying industry, both at the age of seventy-five years.  They had a family of five children, as follows:  Louise married Andrew Remelspacher, a farmer in Ballville township, Sandusky county, and they have had twelve children; Jane married Sebastian Wallby, and they live in Millersville, Ohio (they have a family of thirteen children); Joseph is a farmer in Riley township; Mary lives in Fremont, Sandusky county, Ohio; and Ambrose is the subject of this sketch.
     Ambrose Meyer had only a common-school education, but was reared to habits of diligence and economy.  On Jan. 23, 1888, he was united in marriage with Anna Koch, and three children have been born to them, namely: Laurence, Jan. 6, 1889; Josephine, June 20, 1892; and Walter, Aug. 28, 1893.  Mrs. Meyer's parents, Valentine and Barbara (Riffer) Koch had a family of eight children, namely: Mary, Lorenz, Jane, Andrew, Tracy, Louise, George and Anna (Mrs. Meyer).  Mr. Meyer now works and practically owns the farm where his parents reside.  In politics he is a Democrat, and in religious affiliation he is a Catholic.
Source: Commemorative Biographical Record of the counties of SANDUSKY & OTTAWA, OHIO - Publ. J. B. Beers & Co. 1896 - Page 768

JOACHIM. MEYER.  Among those of foreign birth who have become prominent in agricultural circles in Sandusky county, is numbered this gentleman, a native of Germany, who was born on the 29th and baptized on the 30th of July, 1836.  He is a son of John Meyer, who died two months before his son's birth, and in consequence our subject knows but little concerning his ancestral history.  The father was a sheep raiser and farmer, and the family was not in very affluent circumstances, so that Joachim was early forced to earn his own living.  As soon as he had attained a sufficient age he began work as a farm hand, and was thus employed for a number of years in Germany, there continuing his labors until 1867,when, with his wife and mother, he came to America, sailing from Hamburg on the 14th of October.  His brother had come to the United States the year previous, and located in Fremont, Sandusky Co., Ohio.
     After three months' sailing on the ocean, Joachim Meyer and family landed at New York City, and after a few days there passed, came to Sandusky county, where he has since made his home, covering a period of about twenty-eight years.  He had no capital, at that time, but determined to succeed he eagerly worked at anything that he could find to do which would yield him an honest living.  By industry and frugality he at length acquired some capital, and with it purchased the farm on which he now resides.  He began its cultivation, placed acre after acre under the plow, and has now one of the best farm properties in that section, the rich and fertile fields yielding to him a golden tribute in return for the care and labor which he bestows upon them.
     In November, 1866, Mr. Meyer was united in marriage with Miss Dora Wittenburg, who was born on the 28th and baptized on the 30th of July, 1838.  She was a most estimable lady, also a native of Germany, in which country her parents died.  Mr. Meyer has a family of five children - one son and four daughters: Mary, who was born on the ocean, is the wife of Mr. Banard, of Fremont, and they have two children; Albert is at home; Sophia is married to Ed. Smitke, and resides in Fremont; Louisa makes her home in the same place, and Emma completes the family, which is well and favorably known in the locality where they live.  Mr. Meyer was a member of the German army, in Mecklenburg Schwerin, serving as a dragoon from the year 1857 to 1863.  The first three years were spent in the garrison at Ludwigslust, one of the chief cities of Mecklenburg, the remaining three years were spent at his home, but subject to be called into military ranks and do military service at any time; hence not until the year 1863 did he receive a discharge from military duty, and such honorable discharge was granted on the 214th of October, 1863.  He is a member of the Lutheran Church, and, by his ballot supports the Democracy.  He leads a busy and useful life, and with his family shares the high regard of their friends.
Source: Commemorative Biographical Record of the counties of SANDUSKY & OTTAWA, OHIO - Publ. J. B. Beers & Co. 1896 - Page 442

ANSON H. MILLER, banker, of Fremont, Sandusky county, was born at Hinsdale, N. H., May 2, 1824.  His father, John Miller, was a descendant of Nathan Douglas, whose property was destroyed by the burning of New London, Conn., by the British, during the Revolutionary war, and to whose heirs was granted a portion of the "Firelands," in New London township, Huron Co., Ohio.  John Miller, by inheritance and purchase, came into possession of a large tract of these "Firelands," and in 1825 he removed with his family to Norwalk, Ohio, settling on the lands in New London in 1839.  His children were Celemene, John, Anson H., Thomas D., and Elizabeth D. - five in all - of whom John and Thomas D. are deceased.
     During the residence of the family in Norwalk Anson H. Miller attended the seminary at that place, and during the year 1845 continued his studies at Milan Academy.  In 1847 he entered the employ of Prague & Sherman, lumber dealers at New Orleans, remained there about fourteen months, and after his return in 1848 was engaged in farming on the New London lands until 1852, when he took a course of study in the Bryant, Lusk & Stratton Commercial College, at Cleveland, after which he accepted a position as bookkeeper in the office of the treasurer (Dr. William F. Kittrege) of the Toledo Norwalk & Cleveland railroad, which he held about two years.  In 1854 he was offered the position of cashier of the banking firm of Birchard & Otis, Fremont, Ohio, made vacant by the resignation of Rev. F. S. White.  He accepted the offer, and coming to Fremont August 2, 1854, entered at once upon the duties of the position.  Judge Otis, being about to move to Chicago, retired from the firm of Birchard & Otis, and on the first day of January, 1856, Mr. Miller became a partner with Mr. Birchard, under the firm name of Birchard, Miller & Co.  One year later Dr. James W. Wilson came into the bank as a partner, the firm continuing under the name of Birchard, Miller & Co.  They occupied a small, one-story brick building on the east side of Front street, between Croghan and State, and the bank did a good business and prospered, without further change, until 1863, when it was merged into the First National Bank of Fremont, with a paid-up capital of $100,000, and an authorized capital of $200,000.  This bank was the fifth National bank organized in the United States.  The articles of association were signed by Sardis Bichard, James W. Wilson, Anson H. Miller, James Justice, R. W. B. McLellan, Jane E. Phelps, La Quinio Rawson, Martin Bruner, Robert Smith, Abraham Neff and Augustus W. Luckey.  The first board of directors was elected May 27, 1863, and consisted of Messrs Birchard, Wilson, Justice, Bruner, Smith, Luckey and Miller.  The first officers of the board were Sardis Birchard, president; James W. Wilson, vice-president; and A. H. Miller, cashier.
     At the time the old bank was merged into the First National, Mr. Miller, with the help of a young clerk, did all the routine work of the bank, which now requires six experience men.  The bank occupies the ground floor of its fine thre-story block, with Amherst stone front, erected by the stockholders, on the southwest corner of Front and Croghan streets, Fremont.  Mr. Miller still holds the position of cashier.  There were five pioneer National banks organized in 1863 in the United States, and Mr. Miller and Morton McMichael, of the First National Bank of Philadelphia, are the only men still living who are occupying the same positions in the same banks that they did at the beginning.
     In March, 1854, Mr. Miller married Miss Nancy J. Otis, daughter of Joseph and Nancy B. Otis, of Berlin, Ohio, and children as follows came to their union:  Mary O., born April 11, 1845, who was married October 3, 1894, to Samuel Brinkerhoff, an attorney at law, of Fremont, Ohio; Fannie B., born June 15, 1860, who married Thomas J. Stilwell, and who died April 4, 1887; and Julia E., born March 27, 1865, who died March 2, 1884.
Source: Commemorative Biographical Record of the counties of SANDUSKY & OTTAWA, OHIO - Publ. J. B. Beers & Co. 1896 - Page 25

GEORGE MILLER has been an eye witness of the greater part of the development of Scott township, Sandusky county. He has
seen the forest trees fall before the woodman's axe, and in their place spring up fine fields of golden grain. The oil industry has also been largely developed, and the work of progress and improvement along various lines has been carried forward until the county to-day ranks among the best in the State.
     George Miller, who is numbered among the representative citizens of Scott township, was born in Stark county, Ohio, October 5, 1820, and is a son of Peter and Eleanor (Stoaks) Miller, pioneers of Sandusky county. His maternal grandfather was born about 1750 and died in 1826, the grandmother, who was born about the same time, passing away a few years previous. The father of our subject was a native of Pennsylvania, born in 1783. He was numbered among the early settlers of Hancock county, Ohio, and his death occurred in 1858, that of his wife in 1840. They were parents of seven children: Jacob, Elizabeth, Catherine, Peter, Mary, George and John, of whom George (subject of this sketch), Mary and Catherine are the only ones now living.
     When our subject came to Scott township, Sandusky county, no roads had been made or fences built. He followed a trail which led him near his farm and than carried his household goods on his back to the log cabin in which he and his wife, who is still living, began life in the west. He cleared forty acres of land, erected good buildings upon his farm, and as the years have passed acquired a competence which now places him in comfortable circumstances.
     Mr. Miller was united in marriage with Miss Lavina Bates, of Scott township, whose father was born in Stark county, Ohio, about 1785, and her mother, Mrs. Hannah Bates, in 1793. They had eleven children, six of whom are living. Mr. and Mrs. Miller have three children, the eldest of whom, Susan, died about 1881; she married John Thompson, by whom she had two children, and after his death she became the wife of Jesse Miller. Adam, the second of the family, was born October 19, 1844, and on February 3, 1866, wedded Miss Catherine Miller, daughter of William and Harriet (Stine) Miller; her father was born August 26, 1820, on the old Gettysburg battleground, was a minister of the United Brethren Church, and died in Kansas, January 23, 1880; her mother, who was born December 29, 1819, died January 23, 1895. Adam Miller enlisted in Company G, One Hundred and Forty-fourth Ohio V. I., in 1864, and served until the close of the war. He is now for the third term serving as trustee of the township; in his political views he is a Democrat, and he is numbered among the highly-respected citizens of Sandusky county. To him and his wife have come two children— Emma, born October 3, 1868, now the wife of Thomas Earl, of Scott township, and Maggie, who was born November 17, 1870, and is the wife of Fred Hummell, by whom she has three children.
     Mr. George Miller has passed the age usually allotted to man. His life has been a busy and useful as well as a long one, and all who know him have for him the highest regard.
Source: Commemorative Biographical Record of the counties of SANDUSKY & OTTAWA, OHIO - Publ. J. B. Beers & Co. 1896 - Page 775

HENRY W. MILLER, now an honored citizen of Clyde, is a descendant of perhaps the first family that settled permanently in Green Creek township, Sandusky county.
     Lyman F. Miller, his father was born in Geneva, N. Y., Nov. 22, 1813.  When an infant his widowed mother migrated with her brother, William Smith, to Huron, Ohio, and here she remained several years, and married her second husband, Samuel Pogue.  She had occupied a log cabin with her husband, distant about six miles from Huron.  While here alone, hostilities still existing, Indians approached the cabin, so, hastily fastening the cabin door with a big wooden bar, she crept out the back window and fled to the blockhouse at Huron, six miles away.  In 1816, after her second marriage, she came with her child and husband to the site of Clyde.  Mr. Pogue had been quartermaster in Gen. Harrison's army, and while making a trip from Huron to Fort Seneca he had notice the hard maple timber where Indians had made sugar, and also the fine springs, and resolved to settle there.  He entered the land, and died there August 26, 1827.  By her second marriage there was one child, Jane, who afterward married G. R. Brown, a Universalist minister, and the farm entered by Mr. Pogue descended to her and to Lyman F. Miller, the child by Mrs. Pogue's first marriage.  Amos Fenn and Silas Dewey had each married a sister of Mrs. Pogue, and came with her husband and settled in the vicinity of Clyde.
     Lyman F. Miller grew to manhood on the site of Clyde, and had few educational advantages.  In 1836 he married Melissa E. Harkness in a double log cabin which stood on the present cemetery grounds.  She was born in 1819, of Scotch-Irish extraction, and had come with her parents to Clyde in 1834.  After this marriage he began housekeeping on the old homestead.  He laid out that part of town lying between Main street and George street, commencing at Maple and running south to Cherry street.  Mr. Miller engaged in general farming, and was also a noted horticulturist and breeder of fine stock.  He lived in what is now the Col. Rhodes residence until 1859, when he built on the pike where his widow now lives.  He was a Whig, a Know-Nothing and a Republican in politics, a Mason socially, and a member of the Universalist Church.  He died in Feb., 1878.  To Lyman F. and Melissa Miller nine children were born, as follows:  William G., born Mar. 1, 1837, just commencing a law practice in 1861, and he enlisted in Company A, Seventy-second O. V. V. I., was a corporal, and was killed at Ripley, Miss., June 11, 1864, on the disastrous Guntown expedition retreat; Henry W., subject of this sketch, born June 2, 1838; Mary E., born Apr. 1, 1840, wife of Chester Persing, of Clyde; George N., born Dec. 2, 1843, killed at the age of four by falling accidentally into a kettle of hot water; Oscar J., born June 15, 1845, a resident of Clyde; Isabel E., born May 22, 1848, wife of W. Bell, of Copley, Ohio; Fannie O., born July 15, 1853, a school-teacher for fifteen years, and now living with her mother; Emma J., born July 26, 1855, wife of F. J. Metcalf, of Clyde; Louisa J., born May 21, 1862, wife of Fremont Mears, of Clyde.
     Henry W. Miller attended district school and helped to clear the farm.  On Christmas Eve, 1860, he was married to Miss Louisa Metcalf, who died childless, April 2, 1862, aged twenty-one years and five days.  Mr. Miller was for two years captain of a company of State militia, having in his command 130 men, most of whom subsequently enlisted in the army.  The Captain enlisted in Company A., Seventy-second O. V. V. I., as a recruit, joining the regiment at Germantown, Tenn., Jan. 5, 1864.  He was with his ill-fated brother, William G., at Ripley, Miss., on June 11, until, while firing at the advancing Rebels, he was run over and stunned by a Union cavalryman on the retreat, soon after leaving Ripley.  After being disabled thus, he fell in with five other Union soldiers and continued in the road until 4 P. M., having had several skirmishes with the enemy's advance during the day.  His ammunition being exhausted he left the road, trying to escape through the woods, but was captured the next day at 6 P.M., stripped of everything but pants and shirt, and taken to Andersonville prison.  When he arrived at the prison, in the address Capt. Wirz said: "Go in there, you Yankee S__b__'s and I will prove we can kill more men in prison that at the front."  This was verified by the death of 13,082 prisoners while Mr. Miller was confined at Andersonville.  Of the mess of five to which Mr. Miller belonged he was one of two who went out alive.  He had not a cup, nor even a cloth to bathe the fevered brow of a sick comrade.  In December he was paroled at Savannah, and reached home just before Christmas, 1864.
     After the war Mr. Miller taught music for several years, then settled on the farm, and engaged in farming and fruit growing, his fruit having taken nearly a thousand premiums at the Sandusky, Erie and Huron county fairs.  He has traveled somewhat as a vocal musician, and has sung in the various churches of Clyde for thirty-five years.  Of his property seven acres are within the corporation of Clyde, and ninety-seven are situated north of the corporation.
     Mr. Miller's second wife was Maria L. De Yo, to whom he was married Sept. 22, 1868.  By this marriage he has three children: Jessie L., a graduate of the Clyde High School, and now one of its teachers; Esma M., also a graduate of the Clyde school; and Harkness J., at present a student.  Mr. Miller is a member of the G. A. R. Post at Clyde, was its commander last year, and is now quartermaster.  He has been a Mason sine 1865, and in politics he is a Republican.
Source: Commemorative Biographical Record of the counties of SANDUSKY & OTTAWA, OHIO - Publ. J. B. Beers & Co. 1896 - Page 320 - 323

ISAAC MILLER. In writing sketches of the pioneer farmers of the Black Swamp it has been the usual custom to select those who have made a financial success in life, and who have lived to reap the rewards of their toil in rich farms, fine residences and large bank accounts. Yet it is not always the bravest soldiers who survive a battle and return to tell of the victory won. In the battles of life many brave boys must fall through no fault of their own; so also it is a well-known fact that many honest, hard-working, persevering, intelligent pioneers, after an heroic struggle against adverse circumstances, were obliged to give up their farms, abandon their plans for the acquisition of wealth, and in poverty and comparative obscurity seek the higher and nobler consolations of Christianity. As a man of noble character and kind disposition, one who was universally esteemed, who bore the reverses of fortune with manly fortitude, and tried by precept and example to make the world better for his having lived in it, we give place to the subject of this sketch.
          Isaac Miller, farmer and carpenter, was born in Schuylkill county, Penn., April 16, 1806, son of Jacob and Margaret (Moser) Miller. His paternal grandfather, John Miller, who was an Englishman, married a Miss Bauman, and their children were Jacob, Christian, Henry, Mrs. J. Shafer and Mrs. Cramer. His maternal grandfather was Michael Moser, a Welshman, who married Miss Catharine Wiseman (born on the Atlantic Ocean), and their children were Michael, Isaac, George, Margaret, Daniel and Mrs. Hepner. The children of Jacob Miller, father of our subject, were Samuel, Michael, William, Isaac, Reuben, Jacob, Rebecca and Charles. Our subject grew to manhood on a farm near Orwigsburg, Penn., where he obtained a very limited common-school education and learned the trade of a carpenter. On August 7, 1827, he married Miss Mary, daughter of Abraham and Mary (Faust) Seltzer, of the same neighborhood, and in the spring of 1828 removed to Delaware county, Ohio. Here two children were born to them, Abraham F. and Reuben A., the first of whom died in childhood. In the spring of 1830 they removed to Sandusky county, Ohio, and settled in the wilds of Jackson township, on Wolf creek, near the site of Bettsville. Here was born their eldest daughter, Rebecca M., now wife of Jacob Burgner. In 1832 the family removed to Scott township, and settled on an eighty-acre tract of land since owned by John Hummel. This was on the edge of what was then known as Mud Creek Prairie, near the present site of Millersville. Here they lived and toiled about ten years, trying to clear up a home, drain the prairie and carry on farming, laboring under very adverse circumstances. Bad roads, poor crops, sickness from fever and ague, and doctor's bills were constant drawbacks. Here the family was increased by the birth of Wesley J., Susannah, Amelia, Hannah and Sarah, of whom only the. first and the last two named grew to maturity. Their log-cabin home was often visited by the pioneer preachers of the United Brethren, Methodist and Albright denominations, and was for some time used as a place of worship.
     In his anxiety to remove the stagnant water from the prairie, Mr. Miller allowed his zeal to get the better of his judgment. With commendable enterprise and public spirit he got the promises of his neighbors to aid him in the construction of a seven-mile ditch to drain Mud Creek prairie; but when the job was completed and the June freshets came it was found that their engineering was at fault and the ditch did not answer its purpose. The crops of corn were all drowned out as before, and some of the neighbors refused to pay their shares of the cost of the ditch.  The debt now fell so heavily on Mr. Miller that he was obliged to lose his farm. In the spring of 1842 he bought eighty acres of partly-improved land in York township of George Donaldson, for which he again went in debt. Here by dint of hard work he succeeded in clearing land and raising a crop of wheat the second year. The price of wheat was then 50 cents a bushel at Sandusky City, his best market; and so anxious was he to make a payment on his farm that in the fall of 1843 he hauled his wheat twenty miles to that market for that price; if he had waited till the following spring he could have had $1.50 per bushel. But other misfortunes were in store for him. In the log-cabin home on this farm was born his youngest daughter, Minerva, now wife of Mr. Henry Hitchcock, a farmer in Nebraska, and a few months later Mrs. Miller died—from illness contracted by watching at the bedside of the wife of a neighbor, A. Dixon—leaving him with five children. His eldest daughter then kept house for him. When Mrs. Dixon recovered she took Mr. Miller's youngest daughter to raise, as she had no children of her own. Failing to receive the financial aid from a Pennsylvania friend which had been promised, and which was his due, Mr. Miller was again obliged to sell his home. He next bought a house and lot at Flat Rock, Seneca county, where he tried to keep his children together and send them to school, while he worked at his trade as carpenter or shingle-maker. In 1850 his sons Reuben and Wesley engaged in the lumber business in Tuscola county, Mich. A year later Mr. Miller joined them, and for a number of years conducted a sawmill at the village of Tuscola, to which his sons rafted the logs cut each winter in the pine forests above on the Cass river. He also kept a boarding-house for the mill-hands, being assisted by his daughters. After a few years of flourishing business Mr. Miller's partner in the sawmill, who also kept a general supply store, failed, and Miller's property was taken by his partner's New York creditors. Such was the law. In 1852 Mr. Miller married Mrs. Hannah Griswold, of Tuscola, and soon after retired from the lumber industry to live on her farm near by. This was a welcome home for both their children (Mrs. Miller also having children by her former husband) for several years, a sort of lumbermen's headquarters. Mrs. Miller died in 1873. Mr. Miller remained to manage the farm about two years, then relinquished his life lease and retired from business altogether. In 1876 he attended the Centennial Exposition at Philadelphia, and spent several months visiting among friends in Pennsylvania. In 1877 he lived for a season at the home of his daughter, Mrs. J. Burgner, near Fremont, Ohio, and afterward lived in the family of Mr. John Rinebolt, in Jackson township. In the spring of 1882 he took up his permanent residence at the home of his daughter Hannah, wife of Morgan Sterner, at Bristol, Ind., where he died September 3, 1885, and was buried in the village cemetery.
     Isaac Miller in early life became a member of the Lutheran Church; but on moving to the Black Swamp, west of Lower Sandusky, and coming under the influence of the pioneer traveling preachers, he united with the Evangelical Association, and became one of its most zealous and consistent members for many years. In 1850 he united with the M. E. Church at Flat Rock, Ohio, and adhered to that faith during the rest of his life. He was a great friend of children, and established a number of pioneer Sunday-schools in destitute neighborhoods. In politics he was first a Whig, then a Republican, and finally a Prohibitionist. His two sons were soldiers in the Civil war, serving in the Third Michigan Cavalry. His eldest son, Reuben A., living in Wisconsin, has for many years been a professional pine-land hunter; his other son, Wesley, has valuable interests in some gold mines near Idaho Springs, Colo. His daughter Sarah, deceased, was the wife of Dr. Samuel H. Burgner, of Bellevue, Ohio. Though unfortunate in his financial ventures, as the world looks at it, Mr. Miller gave to his children a more precious legacy than wealth in the practical exemplification of an exalted Christian character.
Source: Commemorative Biographical Record of the counties of SANDUSKY & OTTAWA, OHIO - Publ. J. B. Beers & Co. 1896 - Page 458-460

CHARLES C.  MOORE.  The great ancestor of the Moore Families with which our subject is connected as Samuel Moore, who emigrated from Dalkeith, Scotland, about the year 1760, and settled in New Jersey.
     His son, Davie Moore, grandfather of our subject, moved from Huntington county, Pennsylvania, to Ross county, Ohio, in 1814, and from Ross to Sandusky county in 1818.  He built and occupied a double log cabin on the west bank of the Sandusky river, about half a mile southwest of the present village of Ballville.  A short distance below that he built a gristmill and a sawmill which were patronized by the early pioneers for many miles around.  His death occurred Dec. 24, 1829, and was caused by an accident in falling at night from the attic in the mill to a lower story.  His wife, whose maiden name was Elizabeth Davis, remained on a farm in Ross county, where she died July 1, 1826.  Their children were: Eliza (Justice), Sarah (Fields), George, James, and John More, all of whom came to reside in Sandusky county in 1830, and settled near Chillicothe, where he died in 1850.  John Moore was for many yeas a miller at Ballville, and died there in 1876.
     JAMES MOORE, father of our subject was born in Huntingdon county, Pennsylvania, in 1806, came to Ross county in his boyhood and to Sandusky county at the age of sixteen, where he assisted his father on the farm and in the mill.  After his father's death he became his successor in the mill, and carried on a flourishing business at wool carding.  He was an enterprising and public-spirited citizen, and contributed largely toward the building of the Fremont & Fostoria plank road, and the Lake Eire and Louisville road, and the Lake Erie and Louisville (now the L. E. & W.) railroad.  During the Civil War he was untiring in his efforts to aid the government in putting down the Rebellion, and perhaps no other man in the county did more to encourage the enlistment of soldiers, assist the families of absent soldiers, or relieve the wants of the widows and orphans of those who lost their lives in the service.
     JAMES MOORE was married, in 1832, to Miss Harriet Patterson, who was born May 17, 1810, in Syracuse, N. Y., daughter of Reuben and Eunice (Danforth) Patterson, who came to Ohio in 1816, to Lower Sandusky in 1818, passed their first winter in the old block house of Fort Stephenson, and settled on the Whittaker Reserve.  James Moore died Dec. 6, 1873, from and accident that happened to him in his mill.  He was buried in Oak Wood Cemetery.  His widow resides on a part of the old homestead.  Their children were: Orvin Moore, who was drowned in Sandusky river when eight years old; Juliette Moore, who married William Rice, a merchant of Fremont, whose sketch is given elsewhere; LeROY MOORE, a sketch of whom follows; Celiette Moore, who died at the age of fifteen years; Manville Moore, sketch of whom follows; Charles T., the subject proper of this sketch; Celia Moore, wife of John C. Fisher, now living near Rollersville, Ohio, whose children are: Claud, Guy, Webb, James, Clara, Maud, Blanche, Lester, Bruce and Brice;  Oriette Moore, wife of John G. Speller, whose children are - James M. and Alice, living at home in Ballville township.
     CHARLES T. MOORE was born in Ballville township, and spent his youth on a farm and in his father's mill.  He attended the Ballville village and the Fremont city schools, and the State University at Ann Arbor, Mich.  His vacations were spent in assisting his father in the mill until he was twenty-four years of age.  He is at present living on the old Moore homestead, carries on dairy farming and runs a milk wagon to Fremont.  He married Miss Jennie H. Huber, daughter of Lewis and Mary Jane Huber, farmers, near Springfield, Ill., and the children born to this union were:  Mabel, who died, aged one year, and Julia and Huber, at home. 
Source: Commemorative Biographical Record of the counties of SANDUSKY & OTTAWA, OHIO - Publ. J. B. Beers & Co. 1896 - Page 426

CAPTAIN LE ROY MOORE -

Source: Commemorative Biographical Record of the counties of SANDUSKY & OTTAWA, OHIO - Publ. J. B. Beers & Co. 1896 - Page 427