BIOGRAPHIES
Source:
Biographical Memoirs
of
Wyandot County, Ohio
To Which is Appended
A Comprehensive Compendium of National Biography - Memoirs
of Eminent Men and Women in the United States,
Whose Deeds of Valor or Works of Merit
Have Made Their Names Imperishable.
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ILLUSTRATED
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Embellished with Portraits of Many National Characters and
Well Know Residents of Wyandot County, Ohio
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Published
Logansport, Ind.
B. F. Bowen, Publisher.
1902
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JOE BAKER.
A gallant ex-soldier and one of the most
prominent and respected middle-aged farmers of Sycamore township,
Wyandot county, Ohio, is Joe Baker, who was born in Seneca
county, this state, Mar. 27, 1843, and has been a farmer all his
life. His parents, Richard Baker and Fannie (Wheeler) Baker,
were born in Steuben county, N. Y., on neighboring farms, grew from
childhood to maturity as playmates, and were there married in 1836.
RICHARD BAKER first came to Ohio
in 1835 and bought four hundred acres of wild land in the woods of
Seneca county, then returned to New York, secured as a prize his
wife, and at once came back to Seneca county. In due time he
cleared off three hundred and twenty acres of land converting it
into one of the finest farms in the county. He was a very
influential man in his township, was a Republican in politics after
the disintegration of the Whig party, but would never accept a
public office. He and his wife were active workers in the
Methodist Episcopal church, in the faith of which she passed away in
1887 and he in 1889. They left a family of six children, who
were born in the following order: Silas, now farming in
Dickerson county, Kan.; Frank, now judge of the petit court,
Chicago, ILl., but in 1868-70 prosecuting attorney in Seneca county,
Ohio; Job, who is the subject proper of this sketch;
Grattan H., farming on the old place in Seneca county; Ralph,
a farmer in Decatur county, Iowa and Richard W., farming in
Eden township, Seneca county, Ohio.
Job Baker lived with his parents until his
enlistment, Aug. 21, 1861, in Company E, Forty-ninth Ohio Volunteer
Infantry, with which he was assigned to the Southwestern army.
He bore a brave and faithful part in all the marches, skirmishes and
battles in which his regiment was engaged and endured all the
hardships of a soldier's life with unconquerable fortitude until he
received an honorable discharge in September, 1863.
On his return from the service of his country Mr.
Baker again made his home with his parents until 1864, when he
began prospecting for a home of his own. Nov. 14, 1865, he
married Miss Eliza Nichols, a native of Virginia and a
daughter of Henry and Margaret (Lancaster) Nichols, who came
to Ohio in 1848, and first located in Tiffin, Seneca county, and
later in Wyandot county, where Mr. Nichols followed the
vocations of miller and farmer.
The marriage of Mr. and Mrs. Baker has been
graced with seven children namely: Mary, married to
Lincoln Rhodes, of Melmore; Maud, who died in March,
1900, the wife of William Sheets; Wheeler who served twenty
months in Company K, Forty-third U. S. Volunteers, at Manilla,
Philippine Islands; Monroe, a railroad man in Kansas City,
Kan.; Nora and Frank, at home; and Fannie, who
died in 1892.
After marriage Mr. Baker located in
Lykens, Crawford county, Ohio, where he purchased a farm of one
hundred and forty acres, on which he resided eight years, when he
sold his place and returned to Sycamore township, Wyandot county.
He there bought a farm in section 5, on which he lived until 1887,
when he again sold out and entered into the grain and elevator
business in the village of Sycamore, which he followed for two
years. He then purchased his present farm of forty acres,
formerly known as the Griffith place, where he is now
prospering as a general farmer.
Mr. Baker is an honored member of the F. & A.
M., having been made a Mason in Melmore Lodge, No. 310, and is also
a member of Jaqueth Post, G. A. R., at Sycamore. His wife is a
consistent member of the Methodist Episcopal church, to the support
of which she freely contributes and in the interests of which she
neglects no opportunity in promoting. In the social circles of
the village and township they hold a high position, their individual
merits having won for themselves the unfeigned esteem of the entire
community.
Source: Biographical Memoirs of
Wyandot Co., Ohio - Published 1902 - Page 438
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EDWIN BROWN.
The subject of this review is a venerable and highly respected
farmer of Crawford township. He is a worthy representative of
one of Ohio's early pioneer families, his father, Souvreign H.
Brown, a native of Baltimore, Md., having settled in Ohio as
long ago as the year 1802. Souvreign H. Brown was a
farmer, and he followed that vocation in the county of Highland till
1844, at which time he migrated to Iowa, where he lived until his
death, in 1855, at the age of seventy. He served in the war of
1812 and was made prisoner by the British at Hull's surrender
of Detroit. Mrs. Mary Brown, wife of Souvreign H.
Brown, was a native of Kentucky and a daughter of James and
Jane Bell who were among the early pioneers of Ohio. She
departed this life when her son, the subject of this article, was
but a child of eighteen months old.
Edwin Brown spent his youth and early
manhood on the home farm in Highland county and early learned by
practical experience the full meaning of honest toil in its
various aspects on the farm. When in his twenty-third year he
went to Iowa and purchased one hundred acres of land and later
entered a forty-acre tract, both of which he improved, and upon
which he resided about four years. He then sold his places and
removing to another part of the state. Black Hawk county,
purchased land and engaged in farming and milling.
Mr. Brown owned a part of the present
site of Cedar Falls and, in conjunction with three others, surveyed
the town and put the lots upon the market. The enterprise
proved very successful and from a small beginning the place has
continued to increase in population and importance until the present
time. Cedar Falls is now one of the most beautiful and
flourishing cities of its size in the state of Iowa and much of the
prosperity it now enjoys is directly attributed to the energy and
persistence displayed by the original proprietors. They gave
an impetus to the place which soon caused it to be widely and
favorably known as a good trading point and a favorable place for
the investment of capital and by their personal exertion induced a
fine class of citizens to select the town for a permanent home.
Mr. Brown remained in Cedar Falls from 1848 to 1872.
In the latter year he returned to Ohio and located in Wyandot
county, settling on a farm three miles south of Carey, where he
lived until his removal from the farm in the spring of loot to the
Brown remained in Cedar Falls from 1848 to 1872. In the latter
year he returned to Ohio and located in Wyandot county, settling on
a farm three miles south of Carey, where he lived until his removal
from the farm in the spring of 1901 to the town of Carey, where he
now resides. During the time on the farm he carried on
agriculture very successfully and by industry and judicious business
methods accumulated a handsome competence which placed him in a
position of independence. In the year last referred to he
erected a fine brick dwelling in Carey where, surrounded by many of
the conveniences and comforts of life, he is spending his declining
years free from the care and anxiety which overtake so many whose
situations are not so fortunate as his own. He still looks
after his business interests and, to keep himself pleasantly and at
the same time profitably employed, personally superintends a
well-cultivated farm adjoining the limits of Carey. Recently
he laid out what is known as Brown's Addition to Carey, a most
desirable part of the town, and the lots are being purchased by
those having in view the erection of beautiful and attractive
residences.
Mr. Brown was married July 20, 1872, to Miss
Cinderella Carey, daughter of Judge John Carey one of
Wyandot's most distinguished citizens, a sketch of whom will be
found elsewhere in these pages. Mrs. Brown was born and
reared in Crawford township and after a happy married life of twenty
years duration was called to the other world on the 20th day of
July, 1892. She was a faithful and loving wife, a consecrated
member of the Methodist Episcopal church and her death was mourned
by a host of relatives and friends who had long known and prized her
for her many noble traits of womanhood.
On attaining his majority Mr. Brown espoused the
principals of the old Whig party and continued loyal to the same
until the party's dissolution, after which he became a Republican.
He has voted with the latter ever since its organization and, while
earnest in the support of his political convictions, he has never
been an aspirant for political favors of any kind. For many
years he has been an earnest and untiring worker in the cause of
temperance and formerly the Presbyterian church represented his
religious creed. There being no organization of that
denomination in Carey, he united with the Methodist church, of which
he is now an humble and devout communicant.
In summing up this brief sketch we find the battle of
life to have been well fought by this enterprising, self-made man.
That he is endowed with financial abilities of no mean order must be
admitted, yet there is added to this an honest determination of
purpose and a kind heart, which has impelled him to help others
while he was making a path to prosperity for himself. From an
early age his desire has been to earn every cent needed in the
prosecution of his business. He has always lived up to his
principle; and now as age creeps on apace, with the ambition to
accumulate no longer a necessity, free from embarrassing debts and
with a wholly unincumbered property, he stands among the
financially strong and well-to-do men of his town and county.
He is plain and unassuming in manner and by reason of his noble
character is frequently sought for as guide, counselor and friend.
Source: Biographical Memoirs of Wyandot Co., Ohio - Published
1902 - Page 597 |
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JEPHTHA BROWN.
The gentleman whose name opens this sketch and who now has his home
in Sycamore township, Wyandot county, Ohio, was born in Canada,
about seventeen miles north of Brockville, Sept. 23, 1812. His
parents, however, were natives of the state of New York and as that
part of the Union was at that time the scene of war, many residents
of the section crossed the line on the north in order to escape the
British marauders who were devastating the country, and this was in
all probability the case with the parents of the subject. It
cannot be determined in what county Oliver Brown,
father of subject, was born, but it is known that Sallie (Wilsey)
Brown, the mother, had her nativity in Dutchess county.
BENJAMIN BROWN, father
of Oliver, was an old man when he entered the British army at
the time of the American Revolution, and still living when the war
of 1812 took place, when he went with the family to Canada, where
his death occurred.
OLIVER BROWN,
who had been a farmer by calling, died in Albion, Orleans county, N.
Y., and there also his wife passed away in the faith of the
Methodist Episcopal church, in which both were active workers.
They had a family of nine children, namely: Benjamin and
Hiram, deceased; Anthony, in Findlay. Ohio; Jephtha,
the subject of this sketch; Ezra, who was an attorney and
died in Findlay; Alfred, who died in Wood county; Henry,
also an attorney, died in Findlay; Sallie died young, and
Franklin died in New York state.
Jephtha Brown, the subject, was reared a
millwright, but had worked on the home place until twenty-one years
old, and after having learned his trade still remained at home until
twenty-five years of age, when he started for Wyandot county, Ohio,
coming partly by stage and partly on foot, and stopping on the way
to act as millman at Paw Paw, Mich., and in Seneca county, Ohio, and
helping to build several mills. He had purchased one hundred
and sixty acre of timber land in section 8, Sycamore county, on his
way here to visit his brother, Benjamin, in Wood county,
where he remained about five years, so that it was not until 1842
that he settled on his present place, some of which he had cleared
in the intermediate time. There was a log cabin on the place,
but this has long since been supplanted by a handsome modern
dwelling.
The marriage of Mr. Brown took place to Miss
Sallie Holmes, who was born in Seneca county, Ohio, and is a
daughter of Ira and Hannah (Brown) Holmes, the former of whom
was a native of New York and the latter of Canada, and were pioneers
of Seneca county, Ohio. They came to Wyandot county and
settled in the woods, with no neighbors within a radius of less than
four miles. The father was also a millman, and he and wife
were highly respected wherever they resided, and oth passed their
latter years in Wyandot county.
To Mr. and Mrs. Jeptha Brown have been born six
children, namely: Clarence, who died when seventeen years
old; Adeline, who is married to Elias Jones, of
Crawford county; Amelia, wife of Albert L. Flack, a
merchant of Tiffin; Alfred J., a farmer of Crawford county;
Wirt, who married Alice Van Gundy, and is farming on the old
homestead; and Loveta, who died young.
Mr. Brown still owns the old
one-hundred-and-sixty-acre homestead, but the total number of acres
is four hundred of which a part is in Crawford county. He
carries on general farming and stock raising and is looked upon as
one of the best and most skillful agriculturists in the township.
In politics Mr. Brown is a Republican, but in
the old days was a Whig, and cast his first presidential vote for
William Henry Harrison.
Source: Biographical Memoirs of
Wyandot Co., Ohio - Published 1902 - Page 569 |
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HENRY P. BROWN, DECEASED.
For many years the late Henry P. Brown was a man of mark in
the community where he was born, reared and spent the greater part
of his life. He was a representative of one of the oldest
pioneer families of Wyandot county, and could also boast of being
among her oldest native sons, having been born near where the town
of Carey now stands Sept. 10, 1834. William and Eliza (Kooken)
Brown, his parents, moved in about 1824 to Wyandot county, Ohio,
where he purchased from the government a tract of land near the
present site of Carey and took an active part in the growth and
development of that part of the county, developing a good farm on
which he lived until his death, in June, 1866; his wife survived him
until June, 1876. when she, too, was called to the other life.
William and Eliza Brown had a large family, fifteen
children in all: Aurelia, deceased, Ellen, deceased,
Alpheus, deceased, Eliza, deceased. Ann C.,
William S., Mary, deceased, Henry P., Edward,
deceased, Augusta. James K., deceased, Emma deceased,
Souvreign, deceased, Charles, deceased, and
Franklin.
Henry P. Brown grew to manhood on his father's
farm and, like the majority of boys reared in a new country, his
youthful days were spent amid a round of almost ceaseless toil,
broken at intervals of winter seasons by a few months attendance at
the district schools. He was taught the necessity of labor and
to look upon idleness as a sin very near akin to crime. With a
well-defined purpose, he selected agriculture for his life work and
at the age of twenty took possession of a quarter section of land,
three miles southwest of Carey, which fell to him at his father's
death. This place he improved and brought to a high state of
cultivation and in time he became one of the substantial citizens
and enterprising farmers of his neighborhood. On the 27th day
of January 1859, he was united in marriage to Miss Verlinda
McLeod, a native of Hancock county, born just over the line
dividing that county and Wyandot, Mar. 14, 1837. Her parents,
John and Elizabeth (Cole) McLeod, were natives, respectively
of Pennsylvania and Ohio and early settlers of Ridge township, this
county, the farm upon which they located lying on both sides of the
county line. Eleven children were born to Mr. and Mrs.
McLeod, namely: Joseph R. a practicing physician of
Findlay, this state; William O., also a physician and surgeon
located in Santa Anna, Cal.; ISabela lives in Shelby county,
Mo.; Verlinda wife of our subject; Abraham, a soldier
of the late Civil war, died at Louisville, Ky., while waiting to be
mustered out, after three years active service; John M. died
in 1881, aged thirty-eight years; Eliza lives in Kansas;
Clementine lives in Missouri, as does also Lorilla both
in Shelby county; Angenora is a resident of Nebraska, and
Emma, whose home is in Missouri.
Mr. Brown's parents moved from Wyandot county to
Missouri and died in that state, the father at the advanced age of
eighty-nine and the mother at seventy-seven. John McLeod
was a good farmer and met with fair success in the way of
accumulating property. He was a man of generous impulses and
earnest convictions and belonged to the sterling class of pioneers
of whose efforts the present generation is largely indebted for the
advanced state of civilization which Wyandot county now enjoys.
In politics he was a Republican of local prominence and in religion
an earnest and devoted communicant of the Baptist church, a
religious body to which his wife and some of his children also
belong.
The marriage of Mr. and Mrs. Brown resulted
in the birth of ten children, five of whom grew to maturity, namely:
Florence A., wife of Frank D. Hurd, a prominent farmer
of Crawford township whose sketch may be found elsewhere in this
work; Frank H., a review of whose life is also found in these
pages; Charles A., who lives with his mother and manages the
home farm; Abraham M., a farmer and stock raiser of Tymochtee
township, and Earnest E., who carries on agricultural
pursuits in the township of Richland. The five deceased are
June E., William H. and three that died in infancy and
not named.
Mr. Brown was a practical farmer and met
with gratifying success in his business transactions. He added
to his original farm until the place contained three hundred acres,
but some years prior to his death he disposed of a part of his real
estate, the home farm now consisting of one hundred and seventy-five
acres. He believed in progress and improvement and made every
effort to keep pace with the most enterprising agriculturists of the
county, and was fully informed upon all matters pertaining to modern
husbandry. Born to the necessities of labor, the circumstances
of his early life offered no promise of golden success. That
was almost foreign to the time and the community in which he lived.
Had his life been cast amid abundant opportunities for enterprise he
might have reaped larger gains. As it was, the active farm
life, the hardship of whose training has brought upon the stage so
much of sterling worth while it in some sense held mental growth in
check, was not without its influence in developing industry and
cultivating judgment, energy, self-reliance and decision, qualities
which always and everywhere must he relied upon to produce success.
By the exercise of these and other attributes he won a conspicuous
place among his fellow citizens and made a reputation which has
never been criticised or assailed. A stanch Republican in his
political affiliations, he was not a seeker for place, all though at
different times the people of his township called him to important
public positions. He served several terms as trustee and also
filled the office of school director, in both capacities proving
himself capable and painstaking and eminently worthy the confidence
reposed in him by his fellow men.
Mr. Brown was, in a large and true sense,
a moral man. He believed implicitly in the standard of living
as laid down in the Golden Rule and demonstrated by his daily life
and conduct how easily it was to reduce the rule to practice.
Not connected with any church, he was nevertheless a believer in
religion and he used his influence as well as his means to aid all
benevolent, moral and religious enterprises. He lived well and
left his family an unsullied character—which is far more enduring
than the loftiest monument that ever towered cloudward; his death
occurred on the 17th day of December. 1890.
Since her husband’s death Mrs. Brown and
son have looked after the homestead. She is a remarkable
well-preserved woman for her years, intelligent and shrewd, and
possesses business qualities of a high order. Well known in
the community where she has lived so long and retaining to a marked
degree the respect and confidence of a large circle of friends, she
is popular with all and has earned the reputation of a noble
Christian woman. She belongs to the Lutheran church and in her
work of faith and labor of love may appropriately be termed ..
“mother in Israel." The Brown homestead contains a
beautiful brick dwelling, surrounded with well-kept lawns, nicely
arranged shrubbery and every thing on the premises suggests the
presence of a guiding genius of energy and taste. A spirit of
genuine hospitality pervades the place and all who seek entrance
therein are received with a heartiness that sweetens the welcome.
Source: Biographical Memoirs of
Wyandot Co., Ohio - Published 1902 - Page 639 |
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FRANK H. BROWN.
It is always pleasant and profitable to contemplate the career of a
man who has made a success of life and won the honor and respect of
his fellow citizens. Such is the record of the well-known
farmer whose name heads this sketch than whom a more whole-souled or
popular man it would be difficult to find within the limit is of the
township where he has his home. Frank H. Brown, son of
Henry P. Brown, whose biography
appears elsewhere in these pages, first saw the light of day in the
house he now occupies, and he dates his birth from the 25th day of
April, 1861. Growing to mature years in his native township of
Crawford, he enjoyed the advantages of a good common-school
education and when old enough he became his father's ready assistant
on the farm. The correct principles of life were early
implanted in his mind and he attained his majority strong of muscle
and earnest in his desire to e of some use in the world. At
the age of twenty-one he began farming on rented land and was thus
engaged until 1893, when he purchased forty acres of his own, to
which three years later an addition of the same area was made.
Mr. Brown's farm, consisting of eighty acres, is
highly cultivated and contains many improvements which reflect
credit upon the proprietor and bespeak for him a familiarity with
every detail of his chosen calling. He has followed
agriculture with commendable zeal and energy and his well-directed
efforts have yielded him liberal financial returns. In matters
of business he is careful and methodical and whatever he undertakes
bears the evidence of enterprise and correct judgment.
Mr. Brown was united in marriage Dec. 17, 1882,
with Miss Hulda L. Enos, daughter of Amariah and Sarah
(Van Buren) Enos, both parents natives of New York state.
Mr. and Mrs. Enos came to Ohio in 1862, settling in Hancock
county, thence later moved to the county of Wyandot and settled on
land near the town of Carey, Crawford township. They had a
family of seven children and both departed this life when fifty-five
years of age. Of their offspring four died young, those
growing to maturity being Sarah, Huldah L. and George.
Mrs. Brown was born in the city of Albany, N. Y., Oct. 7,
1862, and was but eight months old when brought by her parents to
the state of Ohio. She has borne her husband six children,
namely: Robert O., Stella R. and Ralph E., all still
members of the home circle. The other three are deceased and
were as follows: Verlinda and two that died in infancy,
unnamed.
Mr. Brown is a gentleman of commanding presence
and pleasing personality. He impresses those with whom he
comes in contact as a man of force and determination and at the same
time wins them by his genial humor and companionable manners.
His rebust figure, good-natured face and eminent social qualities
have made him a conspicuous factor in his neighborhood, and, as
stated in the initial paragraph, it is doubtful if a more popular or
companionable man can be found in the community where he resides.
As a friend no man can be truer, as a neighbor there never was a
better and as a citizen he deserves to be denominated an honest,
upright man whose aims and motives are always correct. In
politics he is a Republican, but not an aspirant for official
honors. Though not a member of any religious organization, he
believes in the church as a great factor for substantial good, hence
con-contributes liberally of his means to its support, as he
does to promote other moral and benevolent enterprises.
Mrs. Brown is a member of the Lutheran church, being highly
esteemed as an earnest and effective worker in the local
congregation with which she is identified.
Source: Biographical Memoirs of Wyandot Co., Ohio - Published
1902 - Page 638 |
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