BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES

INDEX

Source:
The County of Williams
A History of Williams County, Ohio,
from the Earliest Days with Special Chapters on Various Subjects,
including Each of the Different Townships;
Also a Biographical Department
By William Henry Shinn
PART 2
Published
Madison, Wis.
Northwestern Historical Association
1905

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	FREDERICK WILLIAM MEYERS, a prominent and well-to-do citizen of Edon, is the grand-son of Jacob Meyers, a native of Germany who emigrated to the United States in the forties and located in William county in pioneer days.   He and his wife, also of German girth, died on the homestead east of West Unity.  Jacob and Philipena (Mann) Meyers, the parents of F. W. Meyers, were both natives of Germany, the Mann family having emigrated to America at about the same time the Meyers family came over.  Jacob Meyers received his education in his native country, and, coming to the United States with his parents, located on a farm in Williams county, where he followed successfully general farming.  In August, 1865, he died on the homestead south of West Unity, leaving a widow and four children.  His wife, who died on Feb. 14, 1889, was a devout member of the German Methodist church.  Six children were born to these parents, three of whom are still living.  Their names follow: Elizabeth, deceased; Frederick William, Jacob, Louis and two others that died in infancy.  Frederick William Meyers was born two and one-half miles south of West Unity on Nov. 29, 1862.  He grew to manhood on the home farm and received his education by attending the district and West Unity graded schools.  Having served an apprenticeship at the carpenter trade he worked for W. C. Gill of West Unity for about six years.  In 1887 he removed to Kunkle, a village of Williams county, and there embarked in the furniture and undertaking business.  After a short stay there he removed to Waldron, Mich., where for the next five years he engaged in the same line and suffered the loss of his business by fire, carrying no insurance.  While in Waldron he twice formed a partnership with his brother Jacob and as many times dissolved it, the last time in 1893, when he removed to Edon, just in time for the fire of 1894.  He at once rebuilt the store in Edon that he now occupies, and the following year his substantial residence.  Since the fire in 1894 he has met with unusual success.  Among the public buildings that he constructed in Edon are the old and the new school buildings.  In politics he has been actively identified with the Republican party, having served in the capacity of school board member and town councilman.  He and his wife and daughter are members of the Christian church.  On May 6, 1888, he was married, the lady of his choice being Miss Effie Rosalie Knoff of Williams county, the daughter of Dr. William and Elizabeth (Alleman) Knoff, early settlers of Primrose, Williams county.  Dr. Knoff was born in Coshocton county, on Feb. 11, 1831, and died at the home of his daughter in Eden Nov. 17, 1903.  His father was on Yankee-Dutch and his mother of Scotch-Irish descent.  Mrs. Elizabeth (Alleman) Knoff was born Aug. 27, 1844, at Shelby, O., and died at her home, near Primrose, O., on Oct. 28, 1900.  She was of German descent.  They were the parents of eight children, four of whom are living, one son and three daughters - Effie Rosalie, Della May (Knoff) Nicholen, Willis Legrand and Almeda Grace (Knoff) Osborn.  To Mr. and Mrs. Meyers there have been born four children.  Their names are: Lola Fern, Hoy Atley, Donald Reid and Rehmond Dale. Source: The County of Williams, A History of Williams Co., Ohio, Part 2, Publ. Madison, Wis., Northwestern Historical Assn., 1905 - Page 485
	BENJAMIN F. MORRIS (deceased), who was a highly respected citizen and retired farmer of Montpelier, was the representative of a family that was established in America in a very early day, one that can be traced even as far back as the settlement of Jamestown, Va.  His grandfather was Benjamin Morris, a native of the Old Dominion.  The parents of Benjamin F. Morris were William and Hannah (Smith) Morris, the former a native of Virginia and the latter of Pennsylvania.  William Morris, born in 1794, after leaving school learned the shoemaker trade, and for some years traveled over the country plying that avocation.  After the close of the War of 1812, during which he served as a soldier in the American army, being the youngest soldier in his company, he came to Berks county. Pa., and opening up a shop in Lynn Creek township, conducted a very successful business for some years.  In 1835, after his marriage in Berks county, William Morris removed to Stark county, O., where he bought a farm and spent the remainder of his days.  He was a broad-minded and well-read man, an exemplary citizen and a kind, indulgent parent.  His death occurred in February, 1860, his wife having died eight years earlier.  To these parents there were born four sons and seven daughters, of whom four daughters are yet living.  Benjamin F. Morris was born in Berks county, Pa., on Aug. 10, 1829, and was a lad of five years when his parents moved to Ohio.  He grew to manhood on the parental farm in Stark county, receiving a common school education.  In 1853 he came to Williams county and purchased a farm of one hundred and twenty acres in Bridgewater township, where he established his permanent home.  Later he purchased an additional tract of ninety acres, making a total of two hundred and ten acres in the farm.  On June 1, 1855, he married Miss Mary J. Crowl, a native of Columbiana county, O., who died in 1863, leaving four children, as follows: Elizabeth H., deceased, who married Fred Shammel;  William H., who died at the age of eight years; Sarah A., deceased, who was the wife of George Waterston; and George E., ex-auditor of Williams county, of whom more extended mention is made on a following page.  Two years after the death of his first wife, Mr. Morris married a second time, the lady of his choice being Miss Harriet UMBENHAUR, born in Superior township on Apr. 12, 1842, the daughter of George and Laura (LLOYD) UMBENHAUR, the former a native of Berkeley county, W. Va., then Virginia, and the latter a native of the State of New York.  To this marriage there were born five children, of whom four are still living.  They are: Mary C., the wife of Howard Griffith of Montpelier; Thomas L., of Montpelier; Theodosia, now Mrs. B. O. Bistline of Wood county, O., and Ford B. Benjamin, the first born, died at the age of two years.  Mr. Morris was always actively identified with the Republican party, having filled practically all of the township offices and having served as county commissioner from 1894 to 1897.  On Apr. 16, 1905, Benjamin F. Morris died in Montpelier, O., respected by all who knew him.  He is survived by his widow who resides in the comfortable home at Montpelier.  The grandfather of Mrs. Morris, Philip UMBENHAUR, came to Ohio in an early day, locating in Muskingum county.  Later he removed to what is now Defiance county, and from there to Superior township, Williams county, where he purchased a farm of one hundred and ten acres.  At that time he was one of five settlers in the township.  He married Miss Elizabeth Pultz, a native of Virginia, and by her had fifteen children, all of whom, except Abraham, the youngest son, are deceased.  Her father, George LLOYD, married Miss Laura LLOYD, a native of New York State, the daughter of Elijah LLOYD, an early settler of Defiance county.  These parents had five children, of whom four are still living.  Their names follow: Harriet, now Mrs. B. F. MORRIS of Montpelier; Benjamin F., a resident of Montpelier; Virgil A., a resident of Miami county, Kan.; Alpheus, a retired farmer of Montpelier, and Francis, who died when two years old.  George UMBENHAUR died in the fall of the year made historical by the great Chicago fire, aged sixty-two years, his wife having died in 1852, when only thirty-two years old. Source: The County of Williams, A History of Williams Co., Ohio, Part 2, Publ. Madison, Wis., Northwestern Historical Assn., 1905 - Page 489
George E. Morris	GEORGE E. MORRIS, the efficient and obliging auditor of Williams county, who has just recently retired from that position, was born on the farm of his father in Bridgewater township on Jan. 1, 1862.  He is descended from an ancestry that has had an abode in America for nearly four hundred years.  The first American progenitor came with the followers of Capt. John Smith and assisted in establishing the first English settlement at Jamestown, Va., in 1607.,  The Old Dominion continued to be the abiding place of the family for several generations, and finally the ancestors of the Williams County branch took up their abode in Pennsylvania, later removing to the Buckeye State and for the past fifty years the Morris family has been identified among the leading citizens of Williams county.  The late Benjamin F. Morris, the father of the subject of this sketch, is given appropriate mention in a preceding memoir.  George E. Morris was reared on the farm and attended the country schools, also the graded school at Pioneer.  He remained with his father until he was twenty-one years old.  When nineteen years old he began teaching school, continuing in that capacity for six winters.  For several years he was engaged in selling farming implements, meeting with marked success and from that time on he has followed farming and buying and selling farms.  In the spring of 1889 he bought a farm west of Montpelier.  In politics he has been prominent and active ever since he attained his majority, serving as a member of hte central committee and as a delegate to county and congressional conventions.   In November, 1899, he sold his farm and engaged in the real estate business in Montpelier and continued so employed until Jan. 9, 1904, when he was appointed auditor to fill out a vacancy and his term expired Oct. 16, 1905.  He holds membership in the organizations of the Odd Fellows and the Knights of Pythias.  On Oct. 31, 1889, he was married to Miss Sarah B. Glover, the daughter of Henry and Hannah R. Glover.  Two children have been born to George E. Morris and wife, named Elsworth and Warren B. Source: The County of Williams, A History of Williams Co., Ohio, Part 2, Publ. Madison, Wis., Northwestern Historical Assn., 1905 - Page 493
	FREDERICK GEORGE MYERS has resided on his fine little farm property in Brady township for more than half a century, and is one of the honored pioneer citizens of Williams county, standing representative of that sterling manhood which so typified those who assumed the burdens and strenuous labors involved in the reclaiming of the wild and heavily timbered lands of this section to a condition of productivity, manifesting that energy and enterprise which are ever worthy of considerate study and practical emulation.  Mr. Myers has little available data concerning his ancestry, which is of stanch German extraction, both of his parents having died when he was a mere child.  He was born in the city of Baltimore, Md., on the 8th of November, 1826, and is a son of George and Christina Myers, the father having been killed while assisting in the building of the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad.  After the death of his parents Mr. Myers was brought to Ohio, and he was reared in the home of Dr. A. W. Shipley, of Licking county, with whom he remained until he had attained the age of nineteen years, having been afforded the advantages of the common schools of the locality and period, while he learned the trade of carpenter in his youth.  In 1847 he came to Williams county and located in Bradv township, where he worked at his trade a number of years, being economical and industrious and finally feeling justified in purchasing his present farm, in 1852.  The place comprises forty-two acres of excellent land, and he cleared the same of its native timber, bringing it under a high state of cultivation, while he has made good improvements in the erection of substantial buildings, etc., so that he now has one of the valuable and attractive farms of the county and is enjoying that independence which is the just recompense for earnest and honest endeavor.  In politics Mr. Myers was originally a Whig, but he found his abiding political faith in the principles of the Republican party, whose cause he has supported from the time of its organization to the present.  His course in life has been one marked by righteousness and thorough conscientiousness in all its relations, and both he and his wife, who have walked side by side down the pathway of life form more than fifty-five years, are worthy and valued members of the Christian church.  Nov. 25, 1849, Mr. Myers was married to Miss Ann Eliza Chambers, who has born in Richland county, O., Feb. 27, 1828, being a daughter of John and Mary (Combs) Chambers, the former of whom was born in Ireland and the latter in the State of New Jersey.  They were numbered among the pioneer of Richland county, O., where the mother died many years ago, while the father passed the closing years of his life in Iowa, where he died on the 29th of March, 1885, at the patriarchal age of ninety years, eight months and eleven days.  To Mr. and Mrs. Myers have been born five children, concerning whom the following data is consistently entered: Edwin Harrison, who married Cynthia McLaughlin, resides in Lenawee county, Mich.; William Randolph, who married Sarah Lillian Brott, resides in Allegan county, Mich.; Mary Ann Christina is the wife of Joseph Francis Smith and they likewise reside in Allegan county, Mich.; Esther Minerva Jane is the wife of Emerson Benjamin Eyer, who has charge of the operation of Mr. Myers’ homestead farm; and Clara Luella Eunice is the wife of Wilford A. Rozell, of Kalamazoo, Mich.  Mrs. Myers died on July 24, 1895, and is buried in the Floral Grove cemetery in Brady township. Source: The County of Williams, A History of Williams Co., Ohio, Part 2, Publ. Madison, Wis., Northwestern Historical Assn., 1905 - Page 495

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