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BIOGRAPHIES
Source:
Biographical Record of Wayne & Holmes Co.
Publ. Chicago:
J. H. Beers & Co.
1889
(Contributed by Sharon Wick)
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1889
BIOGRAPHICAL INDEX >
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THOMAS FERGUSON, son of Walter
and Rebecca (Paul) Ferguson, is a native of Westmoreland County,
Penn., born June 7, 1825. His father was a native of Ireland,
born in 1786, and his mother was a native of Pennsylvania.
They came with their family, including Thomas, our subject,
to Wayne County, Ohio, in October, 1829, and located on Section 15,
Congress Township. The father died in 1871, the mother in
1849. The father was twice married, and had a family of ten
children, five born to each marriage. Rebecca Paul
was his second wife. Two of the family are yet living.
Walter Ferguson the father of Thomas, came with
his father to this continent in 1789. They resided a few years
in Cumberland County, Penn., and then moved to Westmoreland County,
same State. Thomas, the subject of this memoir, was
married in October, 1849, to Rebecca Jane, daughter of
James Patterson, who came to Wayne County, Ohio, sixty
years ago, becoming one of the first settlers of Congress Township,
where he died in February, 1867. To Mr. and Mrs. Ferguson
were born eight children, all now living except one: James W.,
born Dec. 17, 1850; Sydney M., born June 13, 1853, died Oct.
13, 1882; Emma V., born July 1, 1855; Reuben B., born
May 18, 1858: Ohio P., born Apr. 27, 1860; Charles E.,
born Oct. 29, 1862; Thomas V., born Oct. 10, 1864; Mary J.,
born Sept. 11, 1867.
Although our subject's opportunities for obtaining an
education were very limited in his day, as compared with the
present, still his assiduous application to his books and steady
perseverance in his studies have placed him above the average on the
roll of well-read men in his county. For some time, while a
young man, he taught school, and in after years his judgment and
intelligence were recognized by the community in selecting him to
assist in making the township assessments under the new law, and he
has since served many times in the same capacity. Mr.
Ferguson has for many years been a leader among the
agriculturists and stock-raisers of Wayne County, where his sixty
years of continuous residence places him
among the foremost of the pioneers. He owns the old homestead
on Section 15, before referred to, where his father so long lived,
besides an excellent farm, one and a half miles west of the old farm
place, where he at present resides. Politically he is a
Republican, having been an old-line Whig in his earlier life.
Source:
Commemorative Biographical Record of the counties of Wayne
and Homes, Ohio Publ. Chicago: J. H. Beers & Co. 1889 -
Page 170 |
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MICHAEL FERTIG,
a well known farmer of Wayne township, was born in Lancaster County,
Penn., in 1815, the youngest of three children of Michael and
Barbara (Oberlin) Fertig, also natives of Lancaster County.
His father was a farmer and a day laborer, and about 1835 came to
Wayne County, Ohio, with his wife and daughter, and made this his
home until his death which occurred in August, 1838, when he was
aged fifty years.
Michael Fertig, Jr., came to Wayne County when
about twenty-five years of age. He first found employment on a
farm, working by the day until 1856, when he purchased the farm
where he now lives. This farm contains thirty acres of good
land, well improved and under good cultivation. No man in the
county has worked harder and more faithfully through life than
Michael Fertig, and none are more deserving of success. He
was married in 1878 to Sarah Hoffman, daughter of Henry
Hoffman. They have no children. Mr. Fertig is
a member of the Lutheran and his wife of the Reformed Presbyterian
Church. In politics he is a Democrat.
Source:
Commemorative Biographical Record of Wayne
County, Ohio Publ. Chicago: J. H. Beers & Co. 1889 -
Page
534 |
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FIKE FAMILY.
This family is now represented as its head by George Fike, a
retired farmer living at Orrville, who was born in Alsace-Lorraine,
Nov. 7, 1825, and was in his twelfth year when he came here with
parents, Michael and Eva Fike. They came direct from
New York to Canaan Township, Wayne County, and settled upon a farm,
which is still in the possession of the family. Michael
Fike died in Sandusky City, Ohio, while temporarily staying with
a daughter, Mrs. Emeline Voigt, in April, 1886, at the age of
eighty-two years. His widow lives with the same daughter, and
is eighty-nine years old. They had seven children, viz.:
Michael, living in Sandusky City; Jacob who died in
the old country, aged fifteen; John, who lives in Canaan
Township, Wayne County; George, in Orrville; Frederick,
in Canaan Township; Adam W., in Wayne township, and
Emeline, in Sandusky City.
George Fike, in his sixteenth year, went into a
bakery at Wooster, where he stayed a couple of years, and then for
several years clerked in a tin and stove store at Akron, Ohio.
He then started in general store at Mansfield, Ohio, which he sold,
and then bought a foundry at Loudonville, Ashland Co., Ohio, which
he afterward sold, and bought a farm in Canaan Township, Wayne
County. Disposing of this four years later, he bought another
in Clinton Township, which was his home for thirteen years.
Again he sold, and bought in Canaan Township, which two years later
he sold, and bought the farm in Greene Township which is occupied by
his son, George A. This was his home for twenty-three
years, when he retired to a well-earned repose, building a handsome
and commodious residence in the village of Orrville. Jan. 26,
1850, Mr. Fike was married to Miss Catherine Rinehart,
born in Alsace-Loraine, Oct. 25, 1825, who came to this country with
her parents when six years old. They have six children:
Louisa E., William A., George A., Joseph B., Jacob M. and
Mary J. Mr. and Mrs. Fike are members of the Lutheran
church, of which he has been treasurer and trustee. He is a
man of shrewd judgment, entirely self-made, and highly respected.
WILLIAM A. FIKE, farmer, living on Section 14,
Greene Township, is the eldest son of George Fike, and was
born in Canaan Township, Feb. 12, 1853. His education was
received in the district schools, after which for a time he worked
at the bakery and confectionery business for awhile in Wooster.
Preferring farm life, he returned to his father's, where he remained
until his marriage. Sept. 5, 1876, he was married to
Mary A., daughter of Henry B. and Elizabeth Hoover, whose
history appears on another page. She was born June 4, 1854, in
the house where she now lives, and where her parents also live
with her. Mr. and Mrs. Fike are the parents of four
children, one of whom, Ida Grace, died at the age of eleven
months. The survivors are Ada May, Alpha Emma and
William Henry Frederick. Mr. and Mrs. Fike also adopted in
September, 1878, a young girl, Cora Maud Ensworth an orphan,
then six years of age, whom they took from the Fairmount Orphan
Home, at Alliance, Ohio, and who has been to them as their own.
After his marriage Mr. Fike removed to the farm where he now
lives, which for three years he rented from his wife's father.
The following year was spent with his wife's parents on a place
adjoining, and he then, in 1880, bought a farm hear Smithville, on
which they lived for two years, when he sold it, and bought store
property in Smithville. He and his wife, however, returned to
the farm which has since been their home, and which he works.
Mr. and Mrs. Fike are members of the German Reformed Church
of Orrville, of which he is both deacon and clerk, a responsible
trust for so young a man, but one which he discharges faithfully and
satisfactorily. He has never lived out of Wayne County, and
his life-long neighbors bear testimony to his integrity and his
character as a good man and good citizen.
GEORGE A. FIKE is the second son of George
Fike, and was born in Clinton Township, Nov. 27, 1854. He
attended the district schools, and later entered Prof. Ebertly's
select school at Smithville. After leaving there he engaged in
teaching in his native county, and afterward for two years in the
State of Iowa. Coming back to Wayne County, he engaged in
merchandising in Smithville, where he remained for years, but,
preferring the life of a farmer, bought a farm in Canaan Township,
which he yet owns. On that place he lived until his father's
retirement, when the latter wished him to take the homestead, which
he did. May 15, 1879, Mr. Fike was married to Miss
Ida E. Caskey, of Wayne Township, where she was born Dec. 1,
1860. They have two children: Della M. and Pearlie
M. The parents of Mrs. Fike are residents of Wayne
Township, where the family have long been settled. Her father,
George Caskey, was born on the place where he now lives, which
is the family homestead. Her mother was Miss Catherine
Burkholder, and also is yet living. Mr. and Mrs. Fike
are members of the Lutheran Church at Smithville, and he bears the
reputation of a young man of high principles and strict integrity.
Source:
Commemorative Biographical Record of Wayne
County, Ohio Publ. Chicago: J. H. Beers & Co. 1889 -
Page
167 |
Dr. L. Firestone
(name very faint on picture) |
LEANDER FIRESTONE, M. D.
Source:
Commemorative Biographical Record of Wayne
County, Ohio Publ. Chicago: J. H. Beers & Co. 1889 -
Page 358 |
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PETER FRANKS, son of
Jacob Franks, was born in Fayette County,
Penn., May 21, 1797.
His great-grandfather,
Michael Franks, emigrated from Eilsen, Germany, with his wife
and four children, Jacob,
Michael, Catherine and
Henry (the last of whom died on the voyage), and settled in
Fayette County, Penn., after a brief residence in Baltimore, Md.
They are all now deceased.
Michael Franks,
with other trustees, took up a tract of 145 acres of land, which
they presented to the church of which he was a member, and it is
still owned and used for church purposes.
The trustees were Everly, Ballinger, Mason, and
Michael Franks, to whom it is proposed to erect a monument, and
toward which Peter Franks
ahs voluntarily offered to make a very liberal gift.
Jacob, son of
Michael and grandfather of
Peter, married Barbara
Brandenberg, and lived and died in
Pennsylvania.
Their children were George, Jacob, Elizabeth, Catherine, Michael, Conrad and
Sarah, all now deceased.
Jacob, father of
the subject of this memoir, was born in
Pennsylvania, and married
Sarah Livingood, of
Fayette Co., Penn.,
where they lived and died.
Their children were
Elizabeth,
Christina, Jonathan, Sarah, Peter, Reason, Catherine, Solomon
and
Nancy,
all now deceased except
Peter. Several of
the family lived to extreme old age, one dying when ninety-six years
old, another when past ninety-two, and
Peter is now ninety-two.
Peter married
Julia Ann Fletcher, of Fayette County,
Penn., in 1819, and located
on the farm he now owns, in Salt Creek Township, Wayne Co.,
Ohio, in 1820, in which year he took up the
land from the Government and paid the first tax.
(He came there, however, in 1816.)
Their children were
William (deceased), Sarah
(deceased), Naomi, Jacob, Manoah, Thomas F., Samantuan, Solomon and
Lemuel (deceased).
Mr. Franks came here when
the country was in a wilderness, took up 170½ acres of land, and
assisted at the raising of a barn in 1816, he being the only one now
living who was present at that time.
He has been trustee of his township, assessor for a period of
eight years, and has the respect and confidence of the community
where he resides.
Mrs. Franks died May 7, 1871.
She was a member of the
Methodist
Church.
Politically Mr. Franks is a democrat.
Source:
Commemorative Biographical Record of Wayne
County, Ohio Publ. Chicago: J. H. Beers & Co. 1889 -
Page
15
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SAMUEL FRASE
was born in Chippewa Township, Wayne Co., Ohio, Oct. 23, 1825, and
is a son of John and Catherine E. (Leah) Frase, natives of
Washington County, Penn., who settled in Chippewa Township, Wayne
County, about 1820, locating on the northwest quarter of Section 36,
now owned and occupied by families of the same name. John
Frase was a tailor by trade, and paid for the clearing of his
farm with the earnings of his needle, and had it mostly cleared
before his sons were old enough to assist him. His family
consisted of twelve children, viz.: Jacob, Henry, Peter,
,Catherine (Mrs. William Weygandt), Cornelius, John, Solomon,
Samuel, David, Jonathan, Mary A. (Mrs. John Hohn), and
Margaret (Mrs. Jonas Frase).
Samuel Frase, subject of this memoir, was reared in
Chippewa Township, Wayne County, and has always been engaged in
farming. With the exception of fifteen years he lived in
Baughman Township, Wayne County, he has resided in Chippewa
Township, where he has helped to clear and improve several farms.
Mr. Frase was three times married: first to Eleanor,
daughter of George Zimmerman, of Baughman Township, Wayne
County, and by her he had two children: John J. and Mary
R. (Mrs. Samuel Corneyham). Mr. Frase's second wife
was Elizabeth, daughter of Jacob Shoe, of Chippewa
Township, Wayne County, and by her he has had ten children, of whom
are living Orrin, Lemuel, Henry, Clara (Mrs. George Schriber),
Frank, Ida, Allen and Elder B. Our subject's third
wife was Mrs. Elizabeth (Lutz) Limbach. Mr. Frase and
his wife are members of the Lutheran Church. He has served two
terms as township trustee; in politics he is a Democrat. He is
one of the prominent, influential farmers of his township, and the
family are much respected.
Source:
Commemorative Biographical Record of Wayne
County, Ohio Publ. Chicago: J. H. Beers & Co. 1889 -
Page
538 |
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JOHN FRAZIER,
one of the prominent farmers of Wayne Township, is the fifth of nine
children of John and Elizabeth (Forkney) Frazier,
who came to Wayne County from York County, Penn., and settled near
Clear Creek, where they spent the last years of his life. He
was reared and educated in Wayne County. He bought his present
homestead of 130 acres in 1860, and has improved it, erecting good
buildings, and now has one of the pleasantest homes in the township.
He takes an active interest in all public affairs, and by his
integrity and straight-forward dealings has made many friends.
He was married in 1844 to Maria J. Reed, daughter
of Andrew and Sarah (Stewart) Reed, early settlers
of Wayne County. They are members of the Presbyterian Church.
In politics Mr. Frazier is a stanch supporter of
the principles of the Republican party, but is in no sense a
politician. Mrs. Frazier's father,
Andrew Reed, was born in County Down, near Belfast,
Ireland, and was there married to Sarah Stewart. They had a
family of twelve children, all born in America excepting one, their
names being: Hugh, John, Martha, David, Andrew, William,
Joseph, Sarah, Isabella, Nancy and Ellen (twins) and
Maria Jane. They came to America about 1800, first
settling in Beaver County, Penn., and a few years later moved to
Wayne County, Ohio, where he entered 160 acres of land, which he
cleared and improved, making it his home until his death, which
occurred in 1842 when he aged seventy-three years. His wife
died in 1831, aged fifty years.
Source:
Commemorative Biographical Record of Wayne
County, Ohio Publ. Chicago: J. H. Beers & Co. 1889 -
Page
556 |
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ELLIS A FREET was
born Aug. 26, 1832, near Columbiana, Ohio, a son of George W.
and Charlotte (House) Freet, the former a native of Virginia,
and the latter of Pennsylvania. The first settled in Trumbull
county, Ohio, and subsequently moved to Columbiana, where the mother
died in 1836. The father of our subject then married, for his
second wife, Rachel Nevitt, of Harrison County, Ohio, and
moved to Illinois, where he died in 1856. He was one of the
original Abolitionists of Eastern, Ohio. By his first wife
George W. Freet had eight children, all of whom are dead except
two, viz.: Elizabeth, wife of Jesse Gilbert, of
Fairfield Township, Columbiana Co., Ohio, and Elias A.
By his second wife he had five children, three of whom still live,
viz.: Isaac H., in Kansas; George W., in
Indiana, and Sarah Jane, wife of David Fraze, of
Crawfordsville, Ind. The subject of this sketch was reared
mostly in Portage County, Ohio, where he attended the district
schools and the academy. In 1852 he came to Dalton, Wayne Co.,
Ohio, where he worked at the merchant tailor's trade, and in 1858 he
established his present business in Dalton, that of clothing
merchant. In 1855 Mr. Freet married Miss Lucinda,
daughter of Curtis Houghton, of Dalton, Ohio, and by this
union there are three children: Cora E. is the wife of
William A. Harry, of Dalton, Ohio, and has one child, Judson
F.; Louisa and George Curtis are both at home.
Mr. Freet and his family are members of the
Dalton Presbyterian Church, of which he is an elder. In May,
1861, he was appointed postmaster of Dalton, which office he held
until September, 7, 1885, and is now serving his tenth year as town
treasurer. He was one of the original stockholders of the
Wheeling & Lake Erie Railroad, and was instrumental in getting a
station at Dalton. Mr. Freet has been a member of Cedar
Lodge, No. 430, F. & A. M., of Orrville, for twenty years. He
has always been a stanch Republican, and is considered one of the
leaders of his party in his town.
Source:
Commemorative Biographical Record of Wayne
County, Ohio Publ. Chicago: J. H. Beers & Co. 1889 -
Page
51 |
Jacob Frick |
JACOB FRICK, one of the best known
and most enterprising business men of Wooster,
Ohio, was born on his fathers farm, four miles
southeast of West Newton, South Huntingdon Twp., Westmoreland Co., Penn., Sept. 17, 1834.
Daniel Frick, his father, married
Catherine MillerΈ to whom were born six sons and three daughters of
whom the subject of this sketch was next to the youngest.
He descends from the sturdy German stock.
His forefathers belonged to the early nobility of
Switzerland.
The ancestors from whom he sprung came to this country in the
early part of the seventeenth century.
He
reared on his fathers farm, and assisted at times in blacksmithing,
which trade his father plied when not engaged in farm duties.
Here he remained until he was eighteen years of age, when he
began to strike out for himself, working one year and a half on
another farm, and six months in a flouring-mill, receiving for his
services $210 for the two years, and saving out of this small
earning the large sum of $175 after keeping himself in clothes, etc.
The economy he practiced during this time proved to be later
on a very good lesson.
He received just what education could be had from attending a
district school in a log school-house five or six months in a year.
He had a fondness for figures, and soon became remarkable for
his arithmetical computations.
This one talent has been of great benefit to him in business.
In
1855 he came with his father to Hancock Co.,
Ohio.
He was married in November, 1856, to
Mrs. Elizabeth Frick,
widow of a cousin, and a daughter of
Jacob Shelly, of Wayne
Co., Ohio.
There were born to them five daughters and two sons.
In 1859 he moved to Wayne
County, and has since been identified
with its interests and progress.
He engaged in the grain, seed and wool business in 1862,
which business he pushed with his characteristic energy up to 1882,
about twenty years, doing a business of from $200,000 to $400,000 a
year. These operations
were a success financially, chiefly because he was able at all times
to sell large quantities of produce to Eastern parties at full
market value, by always being prompt in shipping and delivering
everything just as contracted, at the same time benefiting the
farmer from whom he made his purchases.
The margin in trade was small, but it was the volume of the
business which made it profitable.
The banking business, in which he engaged in 1880, was not
taking so much of his time that he deemed it necessary to be
relieved in a measure, and therefore took
W. D. Tyler as partner in
the grain business, which has since been run in the name of
Jacob Frick & Co.
From 1874 to 1887 he was an equal partner with
J. S. R. Overholt in the
City Mills. Soon after
the death of E. Quinby,
Jr., in the spring of 1880, he with several others purchased the
Wayne County National Bank, of
Wooster, of which institution he was made
president, which position he still fills.
Under his management the bank has increased its capital stock
$55,000, and it still possesses the entire confidence and trust of
the community.
Among other interests, he owns in Wooster 120 feet fronting
on the north side of
West Liberty Street, adjoining the
court-house. Part of
this ground is covered by an elegant stone and brick structure,
fronting sixty feet, which he erected in 1886.
The rest of the square contains a fine brick and iron
building. These together
form the finest business blocks in the city of
Wooster.
He also owns a large warehouse on South Street, a
business room on East
Liberty Street, his residence on North Market Street, his residence on North Market Street,
a number of other improved lots in the city, and twenty-five acres
of valuable land within the corporate limits, besides several farms
in Wayne County
and lands in Western States.
With his numerous branches of business he still finds time to
devote to buying, selling and improving real estate.
He was the owner of the Buckeye Mills, of
Canton, Ohio, for three years, is the owner of a grain elevator in
Ashland, Ohio, and is one of two equal partners in its
operations.
Nature has endowed him with a large share of caution, which
has proved of great value to him in his various transactions.
It has ever been his aim to deal fairly with his fellow-men.
He has thus been able to enjoy a very large share of
patronage in his several departments of business.
In his religious views he is very liberal, but feeling that a
better work can be done for the Master by being identified with a
religious denomination, he united with the English Lutheran Church
of Wooster in 1869. He
has contributed largely to its prosperity by giving much of his time
and means. When the
church edifice and a fine chapel were building, he it was who bore a
great part of the burden, financially.
He is ever ready to respond liberally when solicited to help
in every good cause.
Many churches as well as institutions of learning have reason to be
thankful for his liberality.
In November of 1885 he was called to mourn the loss of his
dearest friend in the death of his wife, who was his constant
companion and helper during all these busy years.
He married, again, in May of 1887,
Miss Sara E. Butter, of Massillon, a teacher in
the public schools of that city.
They were united in marriage at
Massillon, by
Dr. Bailey, a
Presbyterian divine, assisted by
Rev. G. M. HeindelΈ of the
English Lutheran Church of Wooster.
This second union has been blessed with one daughter.
In his domestic relations he is supremely happy, and his home
is all that love and wealth and culture and refinement can possibly
make it.
Source:
Commemorative Biographical Record of Wayne
County, Ohio Publ. Chicago: J. H. Beers & Co. 1889 -
Page
11
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John W. Frick |
JOHN W. FRICK
Source:
Commemorative Biographical Record of Wayne
County, Ohio Publ. Chicago: J. H. Beers & Co. 1889 -
Page 100
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GUSTAVUS C. FRITZ, son of
William and Louisa (Grave)
Fritz, natives of Prussia,
was born Mar. 8, 1855, at Millersburg, Holmes Co., Ohio.
His parents immigrated to
America
in 1854, arriving Dec. 22, and first located in Millersburg, Ohio.
William Fritz was
a surgeon by profession, which he followed throughout life.
After spending about one year at Millersburg, the family
removed to Zanesville, Ohio, after to Dresden,
where they remained until 1861, in which year they came to Wayne County,
locating at Moorland, where the father died in 1865.
The mother is now living with her son,
Gustavus C.
Their family consisted of five children, as follows:
Louisa, wife of Thomas Finlay,
of Stark County,
Ohio; Gustavus
C., William and Lewis,
at home, and Adolph, in
Moorland, Ohio, who married
Martha, daughter of
Michael and Julia Franks, of Franklin Township, Wayne Co., Ohio, and has two
children, Amanda and
Charles.
The subject of this memoir received his education at the
township schools and the Smithville Academy,
and early engaged in teaching, a profession he has since followed,
having taught at Nonpariel, Moorland and several of the township
schools.
Mr. Fritz, like
his father, is a strong supporter of the Democratic party.
In 1880 he was elected clerk of Franklin Township,
Wayne County, and has since held that office.
He is a member of Garfield Lodge, No. 528, F. & A. M., of
Shreve,
Ohio.
At the present writing (1889)
Mr. Fritz is unmarried,
and remains at the old home with his mother and brother.
Source:
Commemorative Biographical Record of Wayne
County, Ohio Publ. Chicago: J. H. Beers & Co. 1889 -
Page
16
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DANIEL FUNCK.
"Man is perennially interesting to man." Eminently a man of
affairs, his life has been engaged in pursuits wherein success
depends upon the matured judgment and practical conception that come
from experience, observation, reading and reflection. Upon
these pursuits he entered, not with the impulsive or capricious
flight of genius, but under the firm and steady propulsions of
sound, practical common sense. He is a native of Wayne County,
one of her healthiest products,
and a type of her most vigorous creations. His father,
JOHN FUNCK, was born in Westmoreland County, Penn., Jan. 30, 1788,
and was of German extraction, as was his wife, Maria,
daughter of Christian Fox, with whom he was joined in
marriage Jan. 3, 1811. She, also, was a native of the Keystone
State, and was born Nov. 13, 1787. The result of
this union was thirteen children, all, save two, of whom are living.
The register of births is here introduced: David, born
Nov. 8, 1811; Annie, Jan. 2, 1813; Catherine, Oct. 26,
1814; Maria, Dec. 21, 1810: Henry, Jan. 10, 1818;
Samuel, June 19, 1819; Martin, Nov. 13, 1820; Barbara,
Oct. 16, 1823; John, Dec. 22, 1825; Magdalena, Jan.
17, 1828; Daniel, July 27, 1829; Jacob, Nov. 23, 1831;
Elizabeth, Aug. 29, 1831. In 1853 Annie and
Magdalena passed through nature to eternity, stricken down by
the "Reaper whose name is Death."
In 1824 Mr. John Funck removed with his family,
then consisting of his wife and eight children, to Wayne County, and
what, at that time, was familiarly known as the far West, purchasing
a farm in Chester Township, where he resided for a quarter of a
century, and where five more children were added to the issue of his
marriage. A farmer by occupation, as was his father in
Pennsylvania, he entered upon agriculture as a pleasant and
profitable vocation. But being a man of warm, religious
feeling, and possessed of a highly spiritual nature, and, withal,
equipped with the requisite education, he became a teacher and
minister in the Mennonite Church, and in conjunction with his labors
on the farm he proclaimed from the pulpit the plain and practical
piety of its illustrious founder. This was in his earlier
years, as subsequently he identified himself in active membership
with the Church of God, and for fifty years consecrated himself to
its ministry. As was characteristic of all of the early
settlers, Mr. Funck and his family encountered many
hardships,
made sacrifices and endured embarrassing privations. In process of
time, however, these obstacles were subdued, and a better and more
prosperous condition of society appeared, accelerated, in a large
measure, by their own active, patient and persevering efforts.
In 1849 Mr. Funck, then having attained three score
years, abandoned the farm and removed to Wooster, where he remained,
with the exception of about one year, until his death, which
occurred Apr. 2, 1862. His wife survived him nearly a score of
years, dying Feb. 22, 1879, in her ninety-second year, at the home
of her son, Daniel, with whom she had lived from the death of
her husband, and who surrounded her with every comfort and bestowed
upon her the tender care of a thoughtful and dutiful son.
Daniel Funck first opened his eyes upon
the lights and shadows of this world July 27, 1829, in a primitive
log cabin on his father's farm, in Chester Township. Here his
earlier years were spent, and until he attained the age of twenty,
in felling timber, hewing and chopping, grubbing and splitting
rails, plowing and sowing, flailing buckwheat and husking corn,
attending apple cuttings and rushing the rustic belles, and was
happy as a bee upon the clover blossoms. The opportunities for
education at the rustic schools of that period were not so
attractive and valuable then as now, but, such as they were, it was
the privilege of Mr. Funck to avail himself of their advantages. He attended
the old log schoolhouse of primordial construction, with puncheon
floor, greased paper windows, sitting on a rude bench with a slab
pinned or spiked to the wall for a writing desk, and imbibed the
waters of knowledge
from the "master," who was frequently a "down east Yankee," and who
could not only quote but set to music the multiplication table.
His educational advantages were necessarily limited, and facilities
for any achievements in the higher branches of study were extremely
meager and few. He, however, received a fair
common-school education, much of it having been acquired by the light
of the candle or hearth, after the day's labor had been completed.
No college opportunities were opened to him, nor a chance to study
the languages or the higher branches of English
education. His energy, close application, force of character
and persistent
industry have assisted largely in neutralizing these disadvantages.
At
the age of twenty he determined to step out and meet the current of
the world for himself and shape the venture to his purpose and
ambition. He concluded to learn a trade, which, to a young
man, is supposed to be the equivalent of a cash capital of $1,000.
In 1849 he went to Ashland, Ohio, as an apprentice in a carriage
manufactory, where he remained
until 1851. He then traveled as a journeyman carriage maker in
the Eastern States, returning home again in 1853, when he was seized
with a quenchless thirst for California gold. The wand of the
yellow enchanter was upon him, and the spell could not be broken.
A steamer soon landed him on the Pacific slope, where he remained
for five years. He located at Springfield, Tuolumne County,
operating his trade as manufacturer, and engaging in mining
enterprises. Here he had to confront the catastrophe of fire,
as his entire investments in stock and property were consumed by
conflagration. But he was not of the metal to be daunted by
the fire-fiend, or crushed by the devastations of calamity. He
at once addressed himself to the work of rebuilding, and this
accomplished, he sold out and went to San Francisco, where for a
year he was engaged in various projects, chiefly of a mining
character. In 1859 he returned to Wayne County and "the scenes
of his childhood," and for a period was employed
in book-keeping, meantime completing a course of training at a
commercial college. He soon thereafter purchased a carriage
manufactory in Wooster, and for a series of years conducted that
business, but in 1866 the demon of fire, which in its cruel jaws had
crushed his substance in the Golden State, revisited him and swept
away his investments. Twice did ill fortune lay her apparently
revengeful finger upon him, and twice did he sound his bugle in
renewal of the conflict, for he knew the race was not always to the
swift, nor the battle to the strong, and he again fought for success
over the unmacadamized thoroughfare of perseverance and industry.
And he has achieved it.
In politics Mr. Funck was originally a
Whig, but identified himself with the Republican party in 1860,
casting his ballot for Abraham Lincoln, who, while he
was city marshal, appointed him United States marshal under Earl
Bill, he having jurisdiction over the northern district of
Ohio. When Johnson succeeded to the control of the
Government, Mr. Bill was removed, and consequently the
official ax fell upon his neck. He had no compromises to make
with official renegades, and maintained his allegiance to his party
and its principles. July 29, 1863, Mr. Funck joined,
as private. Company D, Fifty-second Regiment, Battalion of Ohio
National Guards, under Capt. Hughes, in which he
served honestly and faithfully until May 1, 1866, when, by virtue of
an act of General Assembly passed Apr. 2, 1866, he was "honorably
discharged from the military service of Ohio and the United States,
except in case of insurrection or invasion. By order of
Gov. Jacob D. Cox; B. R. Cowan, adjutant-general of
Ohio."
He afterward, for about a year, clerked
in the hardware store of the late R. R.
Donnelly, and then, in 1868, set sail on
the broad, safe sea of insurance, to which
he has ever since closely and assiduously
applied his energies and talent. He repsents
a dozen of the leading and reliable
five and life companies, and has the agency
for the Mutual Life of New York, the oldest
company in the United States, and the
largest in the world, its assets aggregating $126,000,000. He
is a member of the
Masonic fraternity, belonging to the Blue
Lodge and the Chapter; is active in the
circles of the Knights of Honor, and is a
charter member of the Grand Lodge of the Royal Arcanum of Ohio (and which
he aided in establishing in Wooster), and
was one of its first grand trustees. He
was chosen as first president of the Wooster
Co-operative Foundry Association, and
two years thereafter re-elected, which position
he still holds. He is a member of the Wayne County Pioneer Association,
and one of its active, inflexible friends.
He was married, in 1859, to Miss Matilda, daughter of
William and Susan
Imhoff, of Ashland County, who emigrated
from Pennsylvania to Ohio in pioneer
days. The result of this union was six
children: Ross W., Alice M., Earl B., Frank,
Harriet Lucretia and Chloe Devona.
Earl B. and Frank are numbered
with the dead; Harriet L. is in the university,
class of 1891, and Chloe D. in the
high school, class of 1890; Alice M. graduated
at the university, class of 1887, and
is the wife of Orin C. Baker, editor of the
Home Weekly, published at the Ohio Soldiers'
and Sailors' Orphans' Home, Xenia,
Ohio, and Ross W. is a member of the
Wooster bar. He was born Jan. 11,
1861, and graduated at the high school
and university, at the latter, in the class
of 1883. He studied law with Hon. John McSweeny, and
then went to the law college at Cincinnati, entering the senior
class and graduating therefrom. He was elected city solicitor
in the spring of 1887, a position which he now holds; is president
of the Wooster High School Alumni
Association; vice-president of the University Alumni Association;
secretary of the Wayne County Republican Executive Committee; regent
of the Royal Arcanum, and a Chapter Mason. He is a young man
of fine education and abilities, excellent character and the
strictest honesty.
Mr. Daniel Funck, the subject of
this sketch, is in the prime of life, in good health, vigorous in
action, and has many years of usefulness and activity before him.
His temperament is of the sanguine, vital order; his nature is
buoyant and joyful, and life to him is a boon indeed, for he
appreciates its privileges and pleasures. He is full of jest
and humor, enjoys a good story as well as a breakfast, and will
never grow old if he can wheedle Old Time with a California
anecdote. He is singularly fortunate in his domestic
relations, and has reared a family reflecting tine accomplishments
and culture. That he is a champion of education is
demonstrated by the manner in which he has directed and controlled
the intellectual necessities of his children. He is
public-spirited and enterprising, and readily endorses any project
calculated to stimulate the development and prosperity of his city
and county. He is generous and affable, his sympathies
expressing themselves in kindness to friends and charities, where
they are merited. It may be said of him, in all the relations
of life in which he is summoned to act, that he is trustworthy,
constant and honest, with well settled habits of industry and
application. His wife is a member of the English Lutheran
Church, while other members of his family are Presbyterians.
Mr. Funck is an attendant upon church service,
though not a member of any ecclesiastical organization. He
believes that religion is a matter of conscience, and therefore
should not be interfered with, as he believes that politics is a
matter of principle, in which men honestly differ.
Source:
Commemorative Biographical Record of Wayne
County, Ohio Publ. Chicago: J. H. Beers & Co. 1889 -
Page 203 |
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JOHN FUNCK - See DANIEL FUNCK
Source:
Commemorative Biographical Record of Wayne
County, Ohio Publ. Chicago: J. H. Beers & Co. 1889 -
Page 203 |
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AMERICA FUNK - See MRS.
HANNAH FUNK
Source:
Commemorative Biographical Record of Wayne
County, Ohio Publ. Chicago: J. H. Beers & Co. 1889 -
Page 215 |
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MRS. HANNAH FUNK,
daughter of George and Sophia Spangler, was born in Union
County, Penn., in 1817, where she came with her parents to Salt
Creek Township, Wayne Co., Ohio, where they located on a farm, on
which the mother died. After this her father removed to Erie
County, Ohio, but eventually returned, and died in Wayne County.
To the parents were born nine children, of whom three are now
living; Hannah, now Mrs. Funk; Sarah, now
Mrs. Samuel Hanson, of Wooster, Ohio, and Rebecca, now
Mrs. Funk; Sarah, now Mrs. Samuel Hanson of Wooster,
Ohio, and Rebecca, now Mrs. John Bistle also of
Wooster.
Hannah first married Jacob Baumbardner,
and had five children: Lucinda, now Mrs. Isaac Rainey,
of Ashland County, Ohio; Harry, who is married, and lives in
Wooster, Ohio; Franklin, in Minnesota; John, in Iowa,
and F. Merriam, who died in Nebraska. Mr.
Baumbardner died at Findlay, Ohio, and his widow then married
AMERICA FUNK, and located on
the farm now owned by William Griffith, in Clinton
Township, Wayne County. Mr. Funk was one of the
representative men of his locality, was a successful farmer, and
died in 1873, leaving three children: Emma T., now
Mrs. Irwin Tyler, of Indiana; Alice, since deceased, and
Rebecca, now Mrs. Addison Cushman, of Chicago.
Mr. Funk had previously been married, and was left
with three children, of whom one was killed in the army, and the
other two are still living. Mrs. Funk is now a
resident of Shreve, and in her declining years, although separated
from her children, is surrounded by life-long friends. She is
a member of the Disciples Church, and takes an active interest in it
as well as in social matters.
Source:
Commemorative Biographical Record of Wayne
County, Ohio Publ. Chicago: J. H. Beers & Co. 1889 -
Page 214 |
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JOSEPH A. FUNK,
merchant. Of those thoroughly reliable business men engaged in
the mercantile pursuits of life none in the county have obtained a
higher standing for honesty and integrity than has the subject of
this sketch. His father, Jacob M. Funk, was born in
Huntington County, Penn., in 1792, of German parentage. When
sixteen years of age he moved to Westmoreland County, and there for
many years followed his trade of blacksmithing. In 1831 he
immigrated to Chester Township, Wayne County, where for a short time
he continued to follow his trade, and purchased 220 acres of land.
Jacob M. Funk married Mary Bonnett, daughter of
Jacob Bonnett, of Westmoreland County, Penn., and seven
children were born to them: Isaac B., John B.,
Margaret, David M., Joseph A., Lewis M.
and Mary. The mother of these children dying in
Pennsylvania, aged twenty-nine years, Jacob M. next married
Mary Kessler, who became the mother of two children,
Elizabeth and Annie. Jacob M. Funk
commenced life poor, but, by industry and perseverance, at his death
was a well-to-do farmer.
Joseph A. Funk was born in Westmoreland County,
in 1824, and was about eight years of age when his parents came to
Wayne County. His education was obtained in the common schools
of Chester Township, working on the farm till sixteen years of age.
He taught school one term, and then learned the tailor's trade, and
for ten years followed that occupation, residing at this time in
Memphis, Tenn. In 184:9 he crossed the plains to California,
and for eighteen months was engaged in gold mining. He then
returned to Wayne County, but again went to California, and remained
eighteen months. In 1855 he commenced mercantile business at
Lattasburgh, where he has since remained, with the exception of four
years. For thirty years he was a notary public, receiving his
first commission from Gov. Chase. He was
township treasurer, and also held other township offices and
positions of trust. Mr. Funk was married in 1855
to Margaret Zimmerman, daughter of Henry
Zimmerman, of Chester Township, and they have two children,
Frances M. and Clara, both married. Mr.
Funk is a Republican.
Source:
Commemorative Biographical Record of Wayne
County, Ohio Publ. Chicago: J. H. Beers & Co. 1889 -
Page 105 |
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ZENAS FUNK,
son of Hugh and E. K. (Cornell) Funk, was born in Plain
Township, Wayne Co., Ohio, in the year 1842. His grandfather,
Jacob Funk, was a native of Virginia, and an early settler of
Wayne County, Moving here in 1813, and locating in Clinton Township.
He was married three times, and had a family of twenty children.
His first wife was a sister of Mrs. John B. Brown, and to
them were born fourteen children, four of whom died in childhood.
Three daughters died after reaching womanhood, and one, Tabitha,
is the wife of ex-Sheriff J. J. Winbigler, of Ashland County,
Ohio. Three sons, Hugh, America and Silas,
who were residents of Wayne County, are deceased, and three,
Stephen, John and Jacob, are living in Fulton
County, Ohio. One son, Bruce, and five daughters,
Charlotte, Ann, Rilla, Mary, and one
deceased, were born to his last marriage. Of these children,
America was married three times, first to Mary Ann
Cowan, then to Fanny Kauffman, and last to
Hannah Baumgardner; Silas was twice married, his
first wife being Elizabeth Wells, and his second
Matilda Shafer; Stephen married Hannah Jewell;
John, Anjanette Loterdale; Jacob,
Rachel Wells; Bruce, Hester Shreve;
Charlotte is the wife of Mr. Ross; Ann
is the wife of Franklin Winbigler; Rilla
married A. A. Carr, and Mary married George
Sinkerson.
Hugh Funk was born in Virginia in 1802,
and came to Wayne County with his parents, where, in 1827, he
married E. K., daughter of Isaac Cornell, who
came from Pennsylvania to Wayne County in 1813. They first
settled in Clinton Township, and in 1834 moved to Plain Township,
where Mr. Funk died in 1879, and Mrs. Funk
still lives, aged eighty years. They had a family of seven
children: Corpus C, in Ashland County, Ohio, married to
Mary J. Foltz; Isaac, who was a member of Company D, One
Hundred and Twentieth Ohio Infantry, and died while in the army;
Mason, who died aged fourteen years; Lois, wife of A.
G. Beall, of Mount Ayr, Iowa; Eunice, deceased wife of
Louis Baird, of Porter County, Ind.; Laban,
married to Eliza Bear, and is a farmer of Porter County,
Ind., and Zenas, whose name heads this sketch.
Zenas Funk was married, in 1868, to E.
C., daughter of William R. Tyler, and they have
had five children - Bert A., W. Deloss, Lois B.,
Isaac (deceased) and Zenas Paul. After
his marriage Mr. Funk located on the farm he still
owns, where he has been a successful farmer and stock-raiser.
During the War of the Rebellion he was a member of Company C,
Sixteenth Ohio Infantry, and was wounded at Vicksburg, from the
effects of which be has never fully recovered. He is
identified with the Republican party, and has served his township in
various official positions. He and his wife are members of the
Christian Church.
Source:
Commemorative Biographical Record of Wayne
County, Ohio Publ. Chicago: J. H. Beers & Co. 1889 -
Page 397 |
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