Samuel Baker |
SAMUEL BAKER. - An
enterprising, skilful and progressive agriculturist, Samuel
Baker, late of Tiffin, Ohio, was for many years numbered among the
substantial and worthy citizens of Seneca county. Laboring with an
earnest purpose, far seeing and industrious, he accumulated a handsome
property as a general farmer and spent his last years retired from
active pursuits in Tiffin. He was born, May 19, 1837, in Eden
township, Seneca county, Ohio, of pioneer ancestry, and his grandfather,
whose name was also Samuel Baker, was a pioneer settler of the
state of New York. Mr. Baker's father, Thomas J. Baker,
was born and bred in New York state, coming alone to Seneca county in
early life. Succeeding to the occupation of his ancestors, he
purchased land in Eden township, and was there actively engaged in
tilling the soil until his death, in 1862. He married Sarah
Boyd, who after his death moved to Tiffin and here spent her last
years, passing away in 1888. Of their seven children but two are
now living, namely: Julia, of Philadelphia, widow of Albert
Ewer; and Caroline, widow of John Lapham, now residing
in Portland, Oregon.
The fifth child of the parental household, Samuel
Baker, grew to manhood on the home farm, living with his
parents until ready to establish a home of his own. He received
better educational advantages than many of the farmer's sons of his day,
after leaving the district schools completing his studies at Oberlin
College. Laying aside his agricultural implements during the
progress of the Civil war, he enlisted in the One Hundred and
Sixty-fourth Ohio Volunteer Infantry, and was commissioned second
lieutenant of his company, which was known as the "Squirrel
Shooters." With his regiment he was stationed at Fort Haggerty
much of his term of service. Returning to Eden township at the
close of the war Mr. Baker resumed the charge of his farm,
and as a farmer and stock raiser met with unquestioned success, becoming
one of the most extensive landholders of his community. He became
owner of a number of farms in Eden township and of a large farming
estate in Bloom township. Retiring from active labor in 1890, he
employed men to look after his different farms and moved to Tiffin,
where he lived retired until his death, July 19, 1907. He was a
stanch Republican in politics and a member of the Methodist Episcopal
church, in which he served as steward and trustee for many years.
He took great interest in the Grand Army of the Republic, of which he
was an active and valued member.
Mr. Baker married, Dec. 22, 1859, Levina
McCormick, who was born in Eden township, Seneca county, Nov. 20,
1837, a daughter of Samuel McCormick, Jr., and granddaughter of
Samuel McCormick, Sr., one of the early pioneers of Seneca
county. Her father married Melvina Pence, a daughter of
Henry Pence, also a pioneer of this county, and both he and his wife
died in early life. Two children were born to Mr. and Mrs.
Baker, namely: Dugald Cameron, who superintends the farming
property; and Harry B., of Tiffin, an undertaker.
SOURCE: A History of Seneca County, Ohio -
Vol. II - 1911 - Page 670 |
W. M. Baker
Sarah A. Baker
Inez M. Baker
Florence L. Baker
(NOTE: A name on this photo is missing but might be Mildred A.,
who would be the youngest) |
WILLIAM M.
BAKER was born Sept. 11, 1866, in Adams township.
Harmon and Margaret (Schlessman) Baker, the father a native of
Pennsylvania, the mother a native of Adams township, located soon after
their marriage on a farm of eighty acres which was owned by Michael
Kestler. Harmon Baker came to the township in 1858 from
Snyder county, Pennsylvania, where he was born Aug. 13, 1838. His
marriage was celebrated in 1862. On May 21, 1863, he enlisted for
service in the Civil war, in Company K, Twenty-ninth Regiment, Ohio
Volunteer Infantry, in which he did gallant service until the close of
hostilities, except for about a year when he was on the sick list.
He was under Sherman, participating in the historic march from
Atlanta to the sea, and at the end of the war took part in the Grand
Review at Washington, D. C. He died in 1893, his widow surviving.
William M. Baker was educated in public schools,
assisted his father in the management and cultivation of his farm, and
was an inmate of his parents' home until his marriage, which occurred
Nov. 2, 1890. His wife was Miss Sarah A. Evert, born Nov.
7, 1868, a daughter of Edward and Louise (Schaberg) Evert, both
of Pennsylvania ancestry but her mother of German descent. Her
father was brought here at the age of two years by William Evert,
his father, who settled on a farm of eighty acre in Adams township in
1831, and farmed there until the end of his life. He was a
Lutheran, a Democrat and a man of force of character who took a
prominent part in affairs of the township in his day. Mr. and
Mrs. Baker have three children: Inez M., born June 21, 1895;
Florence L., born Jan. 23, 1899; and Mildred A., born July
26, 1906. Mr. Baker has taught school seventeen years,
usually in his home township, but one term in Thompson township and four
terms in other schools. HE filled the office of committeeman five
years, has held other local offices, and took the census of Adams
township in 1900 and again in 1910. He is a stockholder and a
director in the Bronson Telephone Company and in the Republic Bank.
He is the owner of about forty-one acres of good land. In his the
owner of about forty-one acres of good land. In his political
conviction he is an Independent Republican. A member of the
Lutheran church, he has filled the offices of deacon and Sunday school
superintendent, and in all ways has performed his full share in
supporting his local organization and promoting its work.
Margaet Schlessman, who married Harmon Baker
and became the mother of the immediateee subject of his sketch, was of
German blood, a daughter of John M. and Mary (Frymuth) Schlessman.
Her parents came to Ohio in 1835 and secured a farm of two hundred acres
in Adams township, Seneca county, where he died aged fifty-six and she,
aged ninety-one. He was a farmer, a basket maker and a wagon
maker.
SOURCE: A History of Seneca County, Ohio
- Vol. II - 1911 - Page 768 |
| |
JOHN
G. BONNELL - Firm in the esteem of his numerous friends in this
community is John G. Bonnell, a Civil war veteran, who witnessed
some of the most stirring scenes in that great conflict, and the owner
of one hundred and sixty of the fair acreage of Seneca county, on which
he has for many years maintained a hospitable and attractive home.
Although he has lived in Ohio nearly all is life he is a native of
Lycoming county, Pennsylvania, his birth having occurred in that part of
the Keystone state on Apr. 10, 1834. At the age of seven years,
however, he came here with his parents who located on an eighty acre
farm in Pleasant township, the country then being very new and Mr.
Bonnell experienced many of the peculiarly interesting and
strenuous experiences of the pioneer, although the Bonnells were
by no means of the first who came to claim the Buckeye state from the
wilderness. The parents of the subject were William and
Margaret A. (Buiter) Bonnell. The father was a son of John
Bonnell, of Pennsylvania, and the mother was a daughter of
George Buiter, a native of Germany, who came to this country
with his parents, Mr. Bonnell, thus being to a remote degree of
Teutonic stock.
The early years of Mr. Bonnell were spent
upon his father’s farm in Pleasant township and it was there that he
came to the decision to follow in the paternal footsteps in the matter
of a vocation. On Mar. 15, 1857, Mr. Bonnell laid
the foundation of a happy and congenial married life by his union with
Catharine E. Gettinger. a daughter of Daniel and Jane (Dutrow)
Gettinger, natives of Maryland, who came to the state at an early
date and located in Adams township on the Portland Road. Mrs.
Bonnell was born Feb. 6, 1836, and is bound by many ties to Seneca
county, where she has lived all her life. She is one of the valued
members of the Methodist church.
Mr. Bonnell for the first few years after
his marriage resided upon and cultivated rented land. Upon the
breaking out of the Civil war he came to his country’s aid, joining
Company I, One Hundred and First Ohio Volunteer Infantry, under
Captain M. M. Barns. He went into camp at Monroeville, Ohio,
being first transferred to Covington, Kentucky, and then to Louisville,
that state. With the Fourth Corps he marched from Atlanta,
Georgia, to Nashville, Tennessee, and then to North Carolina, being two
years and ten months in service. After the declaration of peace he
returned home and purchased a farm of eighty acres, clearing it and
bringing it to a high state of fertility. It is here that his present
home is maintained. About fourteen years ago he erected a fine
house on this farm and removed to it, his son George residing in
the dwelling vacated. Mr. Bonnell is a Republican in
his political convictions, but is liberal minded enough to vote for
other policies if he believes them to be just. His record as a
public servant is good, he having held the office of township trustee
and member of the school board for a number of years. As a member
of the Grand Army of the Republic he maintains the old relations with
the comrades of other days.
Four children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Bonnell.
The eldest, Anna A., became the wife of John Strickland,
of Clinton township, and is the mother of four children: Rollins,
George, Myrtle and Hallie; Margaret married
Ivan Goettschius, of Clinton township, and has two sons,
named George and Ray; George R., married Ella
Miller, daughter of A. J. Miller, of Pleasant township,
and they reside on the home farm adjacent to that of the former’s
father; Frederick, the youngest child, died when only nine years
of age.
SOURCE: A History of Seneca County, Ohio - Vol. II - 1911 -
Page 794 |
