Fulton County, Ohio - Biographical sketches, 1905 (part 10 of 15)

Ind. ; Joseph, in business with his brother Charles; Nettie, a resident of Goshen, Ind., and Samuel J., the eldest of the family. Samuel J. Pommert was reared and educated principally at Edgerton, Ohio, where be became an apprentice to the barbers' trade and completed his apprenticeship at Sandusky, Ohio. For two years he followed his trade at various places and then located at Auburn, where he resided for eighteen years. In 1874 he was wedded to Miss Eliza S wander, who was bom on a farm near Auburn, February 7, 1858. Her family are among the pioneers of that section of the Hoosier state. Her father, Jonathan Swander, who lived to a ripe old age, was a prominent and active citizen of that locality. He married Christina Row of Summit county, Ohio, where his mother's people were early settlers. They had a family of nine children, seven of whom lived to years of maturity. Their names follow: Susanna, John, Elizabeth, David (deceased), Minerva (deceased), George, Sarah, Eliza and Emanuel. They lived together for fifty-six years, his wife dying at the age of seventy-three years and he at eighty-eight. Samuel J. Pommert and wife removed from Auburn to Orland, Ind., where they resided for six years. Then they moved to LaGrange, Ind., and finally, in 1896, to Delta. Prior to coming to Delta he had purchased the hotel property now known as the Pommert House. To the work of successfully conducting a hotel he and his excellent wife are especially adapted. The keeping of the house is up-to-date in every particular, the table being supplied with the very best of everything in the market and the charges extremely moderate. Mr. Pommert is a genial, accommodating landlord, whose chief concern is the comfort and convenience of his guests. He is devoted to his work and takes pleasure in collecting curios and in training his pets during leisure hours. Having no children of their own he and wife have made a home for several children, for whom they provided educational privileges. In politics he is independent, although he was reared in the faith of the Democracy. He has never sought office and thus is enabled to exercise the right of suffrage without the restraint of the party lash. Mr. Pommert is a member of the National Union and of the Auburn, Indiana, Lodge of the Knights of Pythias, which organization he joined in 1871. His wife is a member of the Rathbone Sisters, and the Woman's Relief Corps of Delta, in which she takes the deepest interest. In religious matters she is identified with the Methodist-Episcopal Church.

WILLIAM W. PRATT. - We of this twentieth century, representing the most electrical progress in all lines of material activity, are too prone not to give due heed to those elemental valuations which touch upon the deeper essence of human life and human achievement. We can not afford to hold in light esteem those who have wrought nobly in any field of endeavor, no matter how humble and obscure, nor should we withhold respect and honor from those who have given or are giving an heritage of worthy thoughts and worthy deeds. Duty to posterity implies that records of the lives of honest and loyal citizens should be perpetuated in publications of this nature, and those who would withhold such records have neither appreciation of the labors of their ancestors* immediate or remote, nor can they deserve more of appreviation on the part of their own children and later generations. William W. Pratt, who has been for many years engaged in the.blacksmithing and wagonmaking business in Delta, and who still continues actively identified with the enterprise which he established so many years ago, though he has attained the age of four-score years, is a citizen whose life has been marked by industry, earnestness of purpose, inflexible integrity and loyal citizenship, so that none is more clearly entitled to representation in this work than he. Mr. Pratt was born in Erie county, N. Y., on the ist of April, 1825, and is a son of Robert and Abigail (Wiles) Pratt. The father was likewise a native of the old Empire State and was a blacksmith by trade, as had also been his honored sire. William W. Pratt received limited educational advantages, being bound out at the age of fifteen years and serving an apprenticeship at the trades of blacksmithing and wagon-making. He was released by his employer at the expiration of eighteen months and then went to Perry, Wyoming county, N. Y., where he finished learning his trades, and in the autumn of 1847 he came to Ohio. For a short time he worked as a wagon-maker in Maumee, Lucas county, and in the spring of 1849, he located in Delta, where he has ever since made his home. For many years he devoted his attention to wood-working, manufacturing and repairing wagons, and since about 1865 he has worked in both wood and iron, also done wagon and carriage painting, and he is still actively employed in this way, having a well equipped shop in which he may be found each working-day, and bearing the weight of his many years most lightly. Few men of his age can be found thus actively engaged in such mechanical work and many of half his age can not turn out better or more work in a given length of time than can this sturdy and honored octogenarian. He has worked indefatigably from childhood to the present day, and the most serious illness which he has ever experienced was that of the prevalent "fever and ague*' of the earl y days. He erected his present shop in i860, and in all the intervening years he has here been found actively and cheerfully engaged in the work of his trades. ,The first wagon which he manufactured in Delta was utilized as the conveyance which bore to their destination the commissioners who selected the site for the county-seat of Fulton county. This vehicle was made and finished after the New York style and was unique in this section at the time. Its utilization as noted not only served as an advertisement of Mr. Pratt's business but also brought his mechanical ability to the attention of the public. In 1850 Mr.\Pratt was united in marriage to Miss Susan Tom, who was born in Holmes county, Ohio, in 1830. They became the parents of six children: Edward E. is engaged in the drug business in Delta; Jennie Is the widow of William H. Dillman, of Bryan, Williams county, and now resides with her father; Jacob is superintendent and manager of the telephone system in Delta; William is a blacksmith by trade; Della is the wife of George W. Shaffer, a merchant of Delta; and Eugene is a painter and decorator by vocation, residing in Delta. Mrs. Pratt was summoned to the life eternal on the 7th of March, 1905, after having been her husband's loved and devoted companion and helpmeet for fifty-five years. Her death was the great loss and bereavement of his life, and he reveres her memory and in his evening of life is sustained by the thoughts of the gracious associations of the years that have gone. He attributes his success in' the earlier years to a large extent to his wife, who aided and encouraged him and bore her full share of the burdens and responsibilities of the home. She was a zealous member of the Presbyterian church, of which Mr. Pratt also has been a member for many years, and in politics he has always been aligned with the Democratic party, though never an aggressive partisan. He served for some time as a member of the school board, but has never sought office of any description. He reared and educated a large family of children and assisted his sons in establishing themselves in business. He is one of Delta's best-known and most honored pioneers, and during a residence here of nearly sixty years he has witnessed manifold changes in the town and county. The little hamlet of Delta when he came here was a mere backwoods settlements of a few aggressive pioneers, and no railroads had yet penetrated this wild forest country, in which even the ordinary roads were few and primitive. Times were hard, money scarce and of uncertain value, and about the only thing the pioneers had in unstinted quality was the ague, engendered by the miasmatic swamps, which everywhere abounded. Mr. Pratt and his estimable wife endured their full quota of deprivations and discomforts, but they worked hard and lived frugally in the early days, thus paving the way for a competency for their declining years. Their children, carefully reared and afforded the best possible educational advantages, left the parental roof, one-by-one, until the parents were left entirely alone. Then, after years of constant and loving companionship, came the separation which brought irreparable loss to the honored pioneer to whom this sketch is dedicated. It is said that misfortunes never come singly, yet it seems almost that the misfortune which came to Mr. Pratt's daughter, Mrs. Dillman, in the death of her husband, about the same time as the demise of her mother, proved a benefice to Mr. Pratt, in that it gave him the society and companionship of his daughter, thus rendering the home less desolate, and the daughter's grief was rendered less poignant by her return to the roof which had sheltered her in her childhood. Mr. Pratt believes it better to "wear out than to rust out," and he finds satisfaction in keeping at work in his shop, where he has manufactured two complete wagons, including painting, entirely by himself, within the past few months.

ISRAEL R. PUTMAN, one of the successful farmers and stockgrowers of Fulton township, is another of those worthy citizens of the county who claim the old Keystone state as his place of nativity.

He was born in Somerset county, Pa., January 29, 1851, and is a son of William and Julianna (Barnes) Putman, the former of whom was born in Somerset and the latter in Bedford county, Pa. William Putman was a farmer by vocation and passed his entire life in his native county. He went forth to do yeoman service as a Union soldier in the Civil war, and he died while at home on a veteran furlough, at the age of forty-three years. His widow is still living in Pennsylvania. They became the parents of two sons and two daughters, Israel R. being the eldest. William Michael is a farmer in Somerset county, Pa.; Mary A. is the wife of Smith B. King, of that county; and Lucretia is the wife of Simon Nicholson, of the same county. Israel Putman was reared and educated in Pennsylvania, where he remained until he had attained the age of twenty years, when he started westward, passing a few months in Noble county, Ind., and then coming to Delta, Fulton county, Ohio. Here he worked by the month about one year, after which he engaged in farming on his own responsibility. In February, 1881, he purchased his present farm, of eighty acres, of which forty acres have been reclaimed by him, and he has erected good buildings on the place and has made other excellent improvements. When he purchased the farm the residence on the same was a log-house. In 1897 he erected his present attractive farm residence, and his large and well-equipped bam was built in 1901. The place is divided into ten-acre lots, all being well fenced. Mr. Putman devotes his farm to diversified agriculture and also gives considerable attention to the dairy business, selling milk to the condensing plant in Delta. He is a stanch adherent of the Republican party, and is a public-spirited, enterprising citizen. He has held school offices in his township, but has never been a seeker of official preferment. He is affiliated with the Knights of Pythias and the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. July 4, 1871, is recorded as the date of Mr. Putman's marriage to Miss Mary C. Bratton, daughter of Robert and Elizabeth Bratton, of Fulton township, both of whom are now deceased. Mrs. Putman was bom in this township, on the 29th of November, 1857. Mr. and Mrs. Putman have two children: Archibald B. married Miss Ella Fauble and resides on a farm adjoining that of his father; and Chloe D. is the wife of Clarence Smith, principal of the public schools of Lyons, Ohio.

JOHN F. RAKER is 2 veteran of the Civil war, was long a successful and popular teacher in the schools of Fulton county, and is the owner of the fine old homestead farm on which his parents took up their residence in the early pioneer days, in Swan Creek township. Though he has lived practically retired for nearly a score of years, he still resides on his farm, and is one of the best-known and most popular citizens of his township. Mr. Raker was bom in Fairfield county, Ohio, on the 10th of October, 1843, and a son of Martin and Elizabeth (Dindore) Raker, the former of whom was bom in Pennsylvania, pn the 2d of January, 1812, and the latter in Fairfield county, Ohio, in 1814. Their marriage was solemnized, in Fairfield county, on the 22d of January, 1837. The father was a son of Martin Raker, Sr., who came to what is now Fulton county in 1835 and 1836, settling in Swan Creek township, which was then a part of Lucas county. Here he passed the remainder of his life, dying at the age of seventy-five years, and having, with the aid of his sons, reclaimed a farm in the midst of the dense forest. On his removal to this county he was accompanied by nine of his children - John, William, Jacob, George, Abram, Solomon, Catherine, Sarah and Christena. Two children remained in Fairfield county - Martin, Jr., and Mary. In 1846 Martin Raker, Jr., father of the subject of this review, also came to Fulton county, being accompanied by his wife and their three children - Mary J., Abraham J., and John F. The youngest child, Martin L., was bom in Fulton county. All of the above-mentioned members of the Raker family, with the exception of William, remained residents of Fulton county, and the representatives of the name are now very numerous in this favored section of the old Buckeye State. William located in Kosciusko county, Indiana, where his descendants still live. Martin Raker, Jr., died in his seventy-fifth year, and his loved wife was laid to rest in the Raker cemetery in Swan Creek township on the seventy-sixth anniversary of her birthday. John F. Raker was reared amid the environments and associations of the pioneer era in this section, assisting in clearing up a farm in the wilderness. The farm which he now owns was the parental homestead, and it comprises one hundred and sixteen acres of most fruitful land, the place being well improved. At the time when the family located here the virgin forest marked the site, and the father and sons literally hewed out a farm from the dense woods. In the winter of 1846-7 the logs were hewed for the erection of the family domicile, and it is interesting to record that this substantial old dwelling still constitutes the residence of Mr. Raker. Improvements have been made on the building, in the way of siding the same with matched boards, repairing and modernizing windows, floors, etc., but the structure still remains essentially the "old log-house" of the pioneer days, and it is one of the landmarks of this part of the county. Mr. Raker inherited one-third of the homestead farm and eventually purchased the interests of the other heirs, and it is needless to say that the place is endeared and hallowed to him through the memories and gracious associations of many years. In the early days, while working on the farm during the almost perpetual "vacations," he contrived to attend the primitive district-school from three to four months during the successive winters, and thus gained a comparatively good English education. In July, 1862, shortly before his nineteenth birthday, Mr. Raker enlisted in Company H, One Hundredth Ohio volunteer infantry, for a term of three years. His military experience was thrilling and interesting, and his sufferings as a prisoner of war baffle description. At the battle of Limestone Station, Tennessee, while on detached service, a detail from each company of the One Hundredth Ohio, was captured, Mr. Raker being one of the number thus falling into the hands of the enemy, the total number captured being about two hundred and fifty. Mr. Raker was held a captive for eight months, during which time he was incarcerated in turn at Pemberton, Belle Isle, Libby prison and Scott, enduring his full share of the wretched hardships and horrors of these famous Southern prison pens. After his release from prison, by exchange, he rejoined his regiment at Washington, D. C., the command being then en route to Fort Fisher, North Carolina. He participated in the various engagements in which his command was thereafter involved, continuing in service until the close of the war. He received his honorable discharge in North Carolina, and was finally mustered out, in Cleveland, Ohio, in June, 1865. Shortly afterward he entered Oberlin College, where he effectively supplemented his somewhat limited common-school education, and he there prepared himself for teaching, having followed the pedagogic profession, with exceptional success, for the succeeding seventeen years. He has ever continued an appreciative student of books and affairs, and is a man of broad intellectual ken and well fortified opinions. His political allegiance is given to the Democratic party, but he has never sought or held public office. In religious matters he is liberal and tolerant, having a due respect for the spiritual verities and ethical formulas, without regard to dogmatism or secular views. He has leased his farm to capable tenants for the past score of years, but resides in the old home, living practically retired. He has remained a bachelor.

WILLIAM RAMSEY, M.D., a pioneer and retired physician of Delta, was born in Omagh, North Ireland, September 1, 1827. His ancestors were of Scotch antecedents and removed to Ireland two generations before his birth. With his mother, three brothers and one sister he came to America, his father having died when William was a child. As his father was a farmer William spent his first fourteen years on a farm in Ireland. The journey across the ocean was made from Londonderry to New York City in a sailing vessel and required seven weeks. After landing at New York they went to Philadelphia, where they spent their first Fourth of July. From Philadelphia they proceeded to Pittsburg by rail and canal and from Pittsburg to Bolivar, Tuscarawas county, O., where the family located in 1842. Mrs. Ramsey, the mother of the subject of this sketch, was a woman universally esteemed for her excellent traits of character and maternal instincts. A heavy task fell upon her in the rearing and education of the family. The sequel shows that she performed her duty well. She was never known to be out of humor and she never punished a child with a rod. She was the mother of the following children: James who died a bachelor at the age of seventy-nine years; Christopher who is still living at the age of eightyfive years; John who died in 1903; Margaret who died unmarried, and William. All except the last named remained in the vicinity of Bolivar, where they spent their lives in agricultural pursuits, and became wealthy. Prior to coming to America Dr. Ramsey had received a fair education, which he supplemented in this country by additional studies in the district school and in an academy at Hagers- town, O. At the age of seventeen he began teaching and the following year read medicine. Teaching during the winter months, he spent his summers reading medicine in the office of Doctors Bennett & Hodge, of Bolivar. While engaged in this and other work of various kinds he assisted his mother to pay for the home farm. In 1849 he was graduated from the Reserve Medical college of Cleveland. After graduating he spent over one year in the drug business and in practice at Loudonville, O., coming to Delta in the spring of 1852, where after a long struggle he established a large and lucrative business. The struggle of his boyhood days to acquire unaided an education affords a valuable lesson to the struggling youth of to-day who were born without the proverbial "silver spoon." When he entered Hagerstown college he had just thirteen dollars in his possession. A kind gentleman of that town, who had himself been befriended in his youth by a stranger, generously offered to pay his way through college, but this the self-reliant young Ramsey felt obliged to decline. Leaving school in debt, he declined any aid in the way of a loan, and going into the harvest field he earned the money with which to discharge his obligation. The struggle for a piofessional education was equally arduous. When he reached Delta he found himself possessed of a horse hitched to a two^-wheeled "gig" and seven dollars in money, his saddle-bags and medicine having been lost on the way while crossing a stream at Napoleon, Ohio. With this meager capital he began his practice in competition with three experienced physicians who had preceded him. The story of his labors here is one of unrelenting toil, hardship and privations. Traveling long distances in rain and snow, cold and heat, through forest-roads well nigh impassable at all seasons and particularly so during the period when the ground was not frozen, for the mud seemed never to dry up. Continuing this work for a period equal to an average life-time, he was at last enabled to retire from active practice. He now recalls the fact that he was so busy at times in his practice that he did not remove his clothing for weeks. At that time Fulton county was almost wholly undeveloped, and when Dr. Ramsey first began to practice he traveled largely on horseback over roads blazed through alipost impenetrable forests. He used a twowheeled "gig" and a saddle-horse in traveling over the country. As a result of all this effort he has acquired a competency, which he has distributed with a liberal hand, educating his children and starting them on life's journey in profitable business enterprises. Dr. Ramsey has witnessed and has been an active participant in the growth and prosperity of Fulton county. He has been successful even beyond his most sanguine hopes. But his success was only the key-note to the success of others. Possessed of a liberal disposition and a generous nature, he has on several occasions voluntarily furnished the means to ambitious boys to acquire better edur cational advantages. Once he assisted a poor girl, and the proceeds of his generosity enabled the young lady to be introduced into business society which eventually resulted in her becoming the head :mmer in a wholesale millinery establishment. Others of his wards held high positions in the councils of the nation, and the scriptural text, "Cast thy bread upon the waters," etc., was verified in that each one whom he aided returned to him every cent he had expended in their behalf. For more than fifty years Dr. Ramsey has been a prominent character in Fulton county, during which time he has ministered to suffering humanity with remarkable skill and fortitude. During the Civil war he was called into the service as an examining surgeon, and after the maimed and disabled soldiers began to seek pensions for their disabilities, he served for twentythree years on the pension board of examiners, retiring voluntarily. During the progress of the war he attended the wives and children of the absent soldiers without making any charge for his services, where they were in moderate circumstances. He has always been a zealous worker in everything calculated to enhance the interests of the people. In religious matters he has been a valued member of the Methodist Episcopal church, and with his wife has been active in all lines of church work. Since the organization of the Republican party the Doctor has been a zealous advocate of its principles, being wrell acquainted with all of the party leaders, but has never held a public office. After retiring from active practice he engaged for a time in the banking business, which he afterwards turned over to his son, William. Since 1855 he has been actively identified with the Masonic fraternity. On June 1, 1854, he was wedded to Miss Catherine Trowbridge, born June 27, 1832, a representative of one of the first settlers of the county. Her father, Elisha Trowbridge, came here from Connecticut in 1834 and was a local preacher of the Methodist Episcopal church in pioneer days. The Trowbridge family is traceable to English origin, long established in New England, whence they scattered throughout the rest of the country, assisting materially in its development. Dr. Ramsey and wife are the parents of four children, two of whom are living. Those living are: William E., born June 29, i860, who has succeeded his father in the private banking business in Delta and who is also engaged in the realestate and insurance business. He is married and has two children. Dr. Frank P., a talented and successful physician of Central Lake, Mich., was born December 6, 1872, is married but has no children. Those deceased are: Lovey L., who was born April 7, 1856, and died August 15, i860, and John H., born September 22, 1862, and died August 15, 1864. Dr. Ramsey and his estimable wife are now living in retirement in Delta, where they are enjoying the fruits of earlier labor and sacrifices, as well as the highest esteem of all who know them.

WILLIAM E. RAMSEY is one of the representative business men of the younger generation in Fulton county, being the cashier of the Bank of Delta, and he is a member of one of the honored pioneer families of the county, which has been his home from the time of his birth. Mr. Ramsey was bom in the village of Delta, on the 29th of June, i860, and is a son of Dr. William Ramsey, one of the honored pibneer physicians and surgeons of Delta, concerning whom individual mention is made in the review that immediately precedes this one, so that further data are not demanded in the present connection. William E. Ramsey was reared in his native town, in whose public schools he secured his preliminary education, supplementing this discipline by a course of study in the Ohio State University, in Columbus. As a young man he served in the office of the assistant auditor of the Toledo, Delphos and St. Louis railroad, now known as the Clover Leaf railroad. The Bank of Delta was founded in 1868, by Dr. William Ramsey and David C. Teeple, the former eventually becoming the sole owner of the institution, and in 1888 his son, William E., became cashier, a position in which he has ever since been retained, having the executive management of all the affairs of the bank, which is one of the solid financial institutions of the county and which controls a large and representative patronage. A general banking business is conducted, as well as an insurance business in the line of indemnity assurance from loss by fire, tornado, accident, etc. Mr. Ramsev has ever retained a distinctive interest in the welfare of his native town, and is one of its most progressive, liberal and public-spirited citizens. It was through his efforts and two others, Mr. J. M. Longnecker and George R. Whitehorn, that the Helvetia milk-condensing plant was established in Delta, and he was also one of those citizens who took a foremost part in securing the Delta depot of the Lake Shore and Michigan Southern railroad. He has likewise been a potent factor in the promoting of local improvements of a public nature, including street paving, electric lighting, etc., and he is a strong advocate of the policy of expanding the public utilities of the village by the installation of modern system of water-works - an improvement whose value is incontestable and one which is certain to be made in the near future. In politics Mr. Ramsey is uncompromising in his allegiance to the Republican party, being well fortified in his opinions and convictions as to matters of public polity, but he has never manifested aught of ambition for the honors or emoluments of public office of any description. He is treasurer of the Delta Building, Loan and Savings Company and of the Home Telephone Company, both local enterprises of importance, and he is a member of the directorate of the Delta Building and Real-Estate Company, each of these three corporations being liberally capitalized and conducting business along safe and conservative lines. The last mentioned company was organized in order to meet an imperative demand in the supplying of iesidences to strangers seeking homes in the village, and its functions have been most practical and beneficent in application. The association purchases lots, erects dwellings on the same and sells the properties at an advance of but six per cent, above the actual expenditures incidentally made. Mr. Ramsey is an appreciative member of the time honored Masonic fraternity, being affiliated with Fulton Lodge, No. 248, Free and Accepted Masons; Octavius Waters Chapter, No. 167, Royal Arch Masons, of which he is treasurer; and Toledo Commandery, No. 7, Knights Templar, as well as with the adjunct organizations, Zenobia Temple, Ancient Arabic Order of the

Nobles of the Mystic Shrine, likewise in the city of Toledo; and Aurora Chapter, No. 75, Order of the Eastern Star, of which Mrs. Ramsey likewise is a member. In the city of Columbus, Ohio, on the 5th of June, 1883, Mr. Ramsey was united in marriage to Miss Z. Maude Sharp, who was born in Gallipolis, this State, on the 27th of May, 1864, being a daughter of William and Laura J. (Wood) Sharp, who are now residents of the capital city of the State, where Mr. Sharp is a prominent commission merchant. Mr. and Mrs. Ramsey have two children, - June A., wras bom April 29, 1884; and Paul, who was born October .17, 1886. The daughter has been a student in Lake Erie College, Painesville, Ohio, but will complete her education in Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Md. The son is a student in the college of pharmacy of the Ohio Northern University, at Ada. Mr. and Mrs. Ramsey and their son and daughter are prominent in the social life of Delta, and Mrs. Ramsey is a zealous member of the Methodist Episcopal church.

CHARLES A. REGENOLD, senior member of the firm of Regenold & Merrill, of Swanton, was born on a farm near the western line of Lucas county, one and one-half miles east of Swanton, on June 3, 1865. His parents, Andrew and Mary M. (Swigert) Regenold, were both natives of Germany who emigrated to America with their parents when still children. After their marriage, and more than sixty years ago, they located on the farm where Charles was born. Here Andrew Regenold died August 3, 1895, aged seventyseven years, his wife having died 'in middle life. To them there were born six children, three sons and three daughters, all still living except Emma, who died in infancy. Those living are: Mrs. Mary E.

Decker of Toledo, O.; William, a stationary engineer of Toledo; Charles A.; Mary M. Berkeybile and Lydia Shaffer, both of Swanton. Charles A. Regenold grew to manhood on the paternal farm and was educated in the public schools of East Swanton. He began his life career on a farm which he purchased near the old homestead, and after eight years of profitable farming removed to Toledo, O., where he entered the employ of the Merrill Brothers, dealers in hardware and agricultural implements. Three years later he returned to Swanton and purchased the business, now known as the Regenold & Merrill establishment. This firm carries a large stock of farming implements, vehicles, stoves and ranges, general hardware, mechanical tools, harness, whips and general horse equipments, and does an extensive business throughout the county. In his early political life Mr. Regenold was identified with the Democratic party, but since 1896 he has been an earnest Republican. He is serving his fourth year as a member of the Swanton board of education, and before his removal from Lucas county served for five years as trustee of Spencer township. He is a member of Swanton Lodge, No. 555, Free and Accepted Masons, having passed several of the chairs in that organization, the Order of Eastern Star and the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. In religious matters he is identified with the German Reformed church. Charles A. Regenold has been twice married, first on August 28, 1885, the lady being Miss Maggie M. Zenk, a native of Richfield township, Lucas county. Three children were born to this union as follows: Grover A,, since June 24 , 1903* a musician on board the United States Cruiser Chicago, stationed at San Diego, Cal. ; George O., employed in the hardware business in Toledo, and Arthur B., a student at Toledo. His first wife having died in February, 1892, he was wedded to Miss Mary J. Hankins, a native of Indiana, in November, 1894. To this marnage there have been born the following children: Carmah M., Charles H. and Reville Raymond. Mrs. Regenold is a member of the Order of Eastern Star and of Christ's church.

FRANK H. REIGHARD, editor and proprietor of the Fulton County Tribune, was born in Swan Creek township, Fulton county, O., October 8, 1867. He is the son of George and Elizabeth Reighard. George Reighard, also a native of Swan township, was born November 24, 1846. He has always resided on a farm in that township. For many years he served as township trustee and for twenty years has been a member of the school-board. The brothers and sisters of the subject of the sketch are Dell C., Sophia, Royal, Bert and Florence, all living at Delta, O., and all are married except Florence. George Reighard is the son of Jacob Reighard, who settled in Swan Creek township in 1839, having come there from Holmes county, O. He was an active citizen and died at the age of sixty-four years. Elizabeth Reighard was the daughter of Thomas Elton, a native of Wiltshire, England, who came to Medina county, O., in 1854, and seven years later to Swan Creek township, Fulton county, where he located on a farm. The maternal grandparents were both natives of Wiltshire county, England. The subject of this sketch received his elementary education in the public schools of his home township. He then attended the Fayette Normal, the Ohio Normal University at Ada and the University of Wooster. After leaving Wooster he was with the Baltimore and Ohio railway for a time as civil engineer. For ten years he followed the profession of teaching and was then elected township superintendent in 1893, serving two years. Prior to his election to the office of county surveyor (1895), in which capacity he served two terms, he taught school in his own township two years. The paper of which Mr. Reighard is now the editor and proprietor and which was startecf in 1883 by "Al" Smith, deceased, was purchased by him January 1, 1903. Under the successful management of Mr. Reighard the circulation of the paper has been largely increased, not only in Fulton county but also in the adjoining counties. The paper is now the official county organ of the Republican party. Mr. Reighard is as a Knight Templar prominent in Masonic circles, having held various offices in the Council and Chapter degrees. He is also a Knight of Pythias. He married Miss Florence Tischer of Wauseon, a daughter of William and Sophronia Tischer, of German descent, who came from Medina county to this county in 1861. They have had only one child, Helen by name, who died in infancy.

ALFRED REX merits recognition in this work as one of the representative farmers and stock-growers of York township and as one of the native sons of Fulton county. He was born on the parental homestead, in Pike township, within a quarter of a mile of his present home, on the 24th of June, 1862, being the son of John and Mary (McGinn) Rex, the former of whom was born in Stark county, Ohio, in 1835, and latter was born in Ireland, whence her parents immigrated to America when she was a child. Her death occurred October 5, 1899, at the age of sixty years, and her husband passed away February 11, 1900, aged sixty-five years. They became the parents of eleven children, of whom seven are living. The parents were consistent members of the Presbyterian church and were numbered among the honored pioneers of Fulton county, where the father reclaimed a valuable farm, continuing to be identified with agricultural pursuits until his death. Alfred Rex was reared on the home farm and was afforded the advantages of the public schools of the locality, and his vocation from youth to the present has been that of farming. When he was about twelve years of age he came to his present farm to live with his uncle, Robert Moore, who finally went to Ireland for the benefit of his health, being unable to recuperate and returning to the home farm, where he died. Thereafter Mr. Rex remained with his widowed aunt until her death, and she devised to him seventy-three acres of his present farm, after which he added fifty acres which he purchased somewhat later, making a total of 123 acres. Under his control the best of improvements have been made in the way of fencing, tiling, etc., besides the erection of his attractive residence and other buildings, making the place one of the best farms in the county. The fine modern residence was built in 1895, and the barn was erected in the summer of 1905, being one of the most substantial and well-arranged and equipped in this part of the county. The barn is in the shape of an L, each section being 36x60 feet in dimensions, with eighteen-foot posts, self-supporting roof, and cement foundation and floors. The structure is modern in its facilities and is admirably equipped for the care of stock and the storage of farm products. On the place is an excellent orchard of six acres. Mr. Rex is a progressive and publicspirited citizen and a successful business man. His farm is a model one, thrift and painstaking management being in unmistakable evidence throughout. He raises high-grade live stock, and has made somewhat of a specialty of dairying, which has proven a profitable branch of his farming enterprise, and his new bam has been specially equipped for the expansion of this feature of his business. Mr. Rex brings to bear the same methodical and systematic ideas that are demanded in other lines of business, and thus is able to determine accurately as to the profits or losses in the various departments of his industrial enterprise, and he can also direct his course in such a way as to insure the maximum returns from effort and investment. His example is one well worthy of emulation by the average farmer, and he is satisfied to remain a member of the sturdy yeomanry of his native county, feeling that his lines are cast in pleas- ant places. Mr. Rex is one of the leaders in the local ranks of the Republican party and has served as township trustee since 1898, his long tenure of the office indicating the confidence and appreciation of the people of York township. He is identified with the Lodge and Encampment of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows at Delta, also with the Knights of Pythias and the National Union, and for years he served as county secretary of the Patrons of Industry. September 6, 1891, Mr. Rex was united in marriage to Miss Mary B. Salsberry, who was born and reared in Pike township, being a daughter of Israel and Belle (Draper) Salsberry, both of whom were likewise born in this county, Mr. Salsberry being a prosperous farmer. Mr. and Mrs. Rex became the parents of four children, three of whom are living: Mezzina was born January 8, 1893;

HENRY RICE is the owner of a well improved farm of one hundred and forty acres, in Franklin township, he has been signally prospered as an agriculturist, and his pleasant home is eligibly located and he has the excellent facilities afforded by the rural free mail delivery, route No. 14, from the village of Fayette. Mr. Rice was born near Wooster, Wayne county, Ohio, on the nth of November, 1851, and is a son of Henry and Eva (Weimer) Rice. Henry Rice, Sr., was born November 18, 1818, in Germany, where he was reared to the age of twelve years, when he accompanied his parents on their immigration to America. His father likewise bore the Christian name of Henry, which has been common to the family for many generations. These worthy folk from a foreign land became pioneer settlers in Seneca county, Ohio, having located about ten miles from the present city of Tiffin, where the head of the family and its founder in America continued to be engaged in farming until his death, having developed a farm in the midst of the virgin forest; his wife also died in that county. The father of the subject of this review was reared to manhood in Seneca county, and as a young man he secured employment in connection with the construction of the canal through Defiance county, and later he became a fireman on one of the early railroads in this section, being finally promoted to the position of locomotive engineer, having been one of the pioneer railroad men of the Buckeye State. In 1847 took up his residence in Wayne county, where he was engaged in farming until 1866, when he removed to Fulton county and located on a farm of one hundred and sixty acres, in German township, south of the village of Archbold. He had previously purchased the property and he made the homestead one of the valuable farms of this section, continuing to reside thereon until his death, on the 4th of November, 1892. He secured a tract of government land in Gorham township and also bought other land, from private sources, being one of the well known and honored citizens of this part of the county. His widow still resides on the old homestead, having attained the age of seventy-four years (1905). She is a member of the Reformed church, as was also her husband. They became the parents of nine children: Jacob and Daniel are residents of Gorham township and are farmers by vocation; Henry, subject of this sketch, was the next in order of birth; Samuel is deceased; Sarah, who became the wife of Michael Seiler, is deceased ; John is a farmer in Henry county ; Philip, who was born ianuary i, i860, died January 2, 1892; Mary died on the 18th of lay, 1892; and Lizzie is the wife of Jacob. Linneger, of Gorham township. Henry Rice was reared to the sturdy labors of the home farm, and was a lad of about fifteen years at the time of the family removal to Fulton county, and his educational privileges had been such as were afforded in the public schools of Wayn6 and Fulton counties. In inaugurating his independent career he engaged in farming in Henry county, where he purchased one hundred and sixteen acres of land. He devoted himself to the improvement and cultivation of this place until 1883, when he sold the property, and in August of that year he located in Franklin township, Fulton county, where he now owns a well-improved estate of one hundred and forty acres, in Sections 34 and 3. He has served as township trustee and supervisor, and both he and his wife are valued members of the Methodist Episcopal church at Zone, Ohio, in which he is a trustee. October 7, 1877, ^4r. Rice was united in marriage to Miss Margaret Seiler, who was born in Switzerland, and who was one year of age at the time of her parents* immigration to America. Her father, Jacob Seiler, is now one of the sterling pioneer farmers of Franklin township, this county. In his younger years he employed himself as a German school teacher. In conclusion is entered brief record concerning tjie children of Mr. and Mrs. Rice: Minnie Mary was born December 4, 1878, in Henrv county, Ohio; and when she grew old enough she employed herself as a teacher for five years, after which she was married to Frederick Reuthirger, on the 17th of March, 1903, and she now resides in East Toledo, Ohio; Lillian Sarah was born December 10th, 1880, in Henry county. When she was two years old she came to Fulton county with her parents and remained there until she and her sister Minnie started to school. After her school work was over she remained at home until she was married to Frederick Bretthauer, on the 6th of May, 1903. They now reside on their farm, near Zone, in Fulton county, Ohio; Lena Laura was born February 23, 1884, in Franklin township, Fulton county, and Alice Eva was born August 12, 1886, in Fulton county, and both remain in the parental home, being popular teachers in the local schools. Elizabeth Margaret, born June 30, 1889, and Alwin Henry, born February 6, 1894, were also bom in Fulton county. They l>oth employ their time in school work and have not yet decided what their future occupation will be.

HENRY O. RICHARDS, who resides on the old homestead farm on which he was bom, in Fulton township, is one of the highly honored citizens of the county and a member of one of its prominent pioneer families. He was bom, February 17, 1837, and is a son of Ammi and Percia (Pease) Richards, the former of whom was bora in Connecticut and the latter in Massachusetts. The parents were married prior to coming to the West, and they made their advent in Ohio in 1835, first locating in Medina county, where they remained about a year, after which they came to Fulton county and located on the farm now owned by their son, Henry O. The land was in its primitive state, being covered with a heavy growth of timber, so that the labors and vicissitudes of the true pioneers were the portion of Mr. and Mrs. Richards, who had left the pleasing associations and advantages of the East to found a home in the practical wilderness. The father developed his farm, on which he made good improvements, and here he died in 1884, at the age of seventy-nine years and six months, and his devoted wife passed away in 1888, at the age of eighty-four years. They lived lives of signal usefulness, throwing a benign influence over all with whom they came in contact. They became the parents of two sons and four daughters, concerning whom a brief record is here given: Clarissa became the wife of Elmer Lacy and died in Paulding county, this State; Helen A., who became the wife of Joshua Taylor, died in Greene county, Iowa; Henry O. and Benjamin F. are both representative farmers of Fulton township; Emily, wife of Thomas Nobbs, died in this county; and Octavia is the wife of James Harrison, of Fulton township. Henry O. and .-Benjamin F. Richards have been intimately associated from their boyhood days to the present time. Both were afforded such advantages as were offered in the common schools of the pioneer days and both assisted in the work of the home farm up to the year 1864, when they turned from the plowshare to go forth in defense of the Union, both enlisting as members of Company H, One Hundred and Thirtieth Ohio volunteer infantry, and their service continued for a period of one hundred and forty-two days, principally with the Army of the Potomac in front of Petersburg. Both received honorable discharges at the close of the term of enlistment. Henry O. Richards learned the carpenter trade as a young man, and he has devoted his attention to the same for many years, having been a contractor and builder and having erected many of the substantial residences and other buildings in his native township and elsewhere in the county, including two houses on his own farm. His farming operations also have his personal supervision, and he is one of the most highly esteemed citizens of his section. In politics he is a stanch Republican, and he has served two terms as township trustee, has been a school officer and has held other positions of local trust. He has been affiliated with the Masonic fraternity since 1866, having been a charter member of Swanton Lodge, No. 555, in which he still holds his membership. He was transferred to this body from the lodge at Delta. He and his brother Benjamin are both active and valued members of Quiggle Post, No. 289, Grand Army of the Republic, at Swanton, with which they became affiliated in 1902, at the time of the lapse of organization on the part of Robert O. Nobbs Post, No. 521, at Ai, of which latter Henry O. Richards had served ten years as commander. He has twice been a delegate to the annual encampments of the order for the department of Ohio. He and his wife have been members of Berry Grange, No. tmr since 1875, and he has-been honored with various offices in the same, being its treas* urer at the time of this writing. February 25, 1867, Mr. Richards was united in marriage to Miss Sarah Jane Doren, who was bom in Stark county, Ohio, June 20* 1843, a daughter of Thomas and Mary Jane (Gill) Doren, the former of whom was bom in Ireland and the latter in the State of Pennsylvania, and both died in Lucas county, Ohio, aged respectively seventy-six and ninety years. They became the parents of thirteen children, of whom eight are living, Mrs. Richards having been the eleventh in order of birth. The only child of Mr. and Mrs. Richards is Irvin L., who resides on a portion of the old homestead farm and who is the present clerk of Fulton township. He married Miss Maude Pickles and they have one child, named Lucille.

BERNUM R. RICHARDSON is one of the representative citizens of the thriving village of Lyons, where he is engaged in the furniture and undertaking business, having a modem and well-equipped establishment. Bernum Reynolds Richardson was bom in Royalton, Niagara county, N. Y., May 7, 1842, a son of Elisha and Julia (Tripp) Richardson, who settled in Royalton township, Fulton county, Ohio, in 1843, so that this county has been his home practically during the entire course of his life thus far. The paternal grandfather, Thomas Richardson, was likewise born in New York State, passing the major portion of his life in Niagara county, where both he and his wife died. The maternal grandfather, Ira Tripp, was numbered among the pioneers of Richfield township, Lucas county, Ohio, where he settled in the early 'So's, there passing the remainder of his life. Elisha Richardson was reared to manhood in the old Empire State, where he learned the carpenter trade, which he followed* as a vocation for some time. In the '60's he purchased a farm in Lenawee county, Mich., where he resided thereafter until his death. The subject of this review is the only child of the first marriage of Elisha Richardson, whose second wife bore the maiden name of Jane Dobson, and after her death, without issue, he married- Mrs. Margaret Jaycock, who bore him one son, Frank, who is now a resident of Lenawee county, Mich. Bernum R. Richardson was reared in Royalton township, the common schools of the locality afforded, him his early educational advantages, and he began his independent career by working as a farm hand. He was thus engaged when the dark cloud of Civil war obscured the national horizon, and he forthwith offered himself as a volunteer in the Union service. In August, 1861, he enlisted in Company D, Forty-fourth Illinois volunteer infantry, serving under his enrollment until December, 1863, when he veteranized, re-enlisting in the same company and regiment, remaining in service for a total of four years and three months and then receiving his honorable discharge. He took part in the battles of Pea Ridge, Murfreesboro, Chattanooga, Nashville and many other engagements, and was discharged from the rank of sergeant. On his return home he gave his attention variously to farming, lum* bering and carriage-painting, and since 1880 he has been engaged in his present line of business at Lyons, having a large and representative trade and being one of the honored citizens and progressive business men of the community. In politics he is a stalwart Republican; he is at the present time village clerk, and he has also served as township trustee, treasurer, clerk and assessor and as justice of the peace, his official record being one which redounds to his credit in every particular. He and his wife are prominent members of the Christian church at Lyons, in which he is clerk, and he is affiliated with Baxter Post, No. 238, Grand Army of the Republic, and Lyons Lodge, No. 622, Independent Order of Odd Fellows. December 19, 1865, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Richardson to Miss Delia Hinkle, daughter of Ira and Sarah (Dowd) Hinkle, of Royalton township, and they have an adopted daughter, Goldie, the family being prominent in the social life of the community.

ELIAS RICHARDSON maintained his home in Royalton township for more than half a century and ever commanded the unqualified respect and confidence of the people of this community, where he continued to reside until his death. He was born in Royalton, Niagara county, New York, on the 30th of July, 1812, and is a son of Tnomas and Susannah (Whiting) Richardson, the former being a son of Thomas Richardson, who was born in Vermont and who became one of the pioneers of Niagara county. New York, where he continued to reside during the remainder of his life. Elias Richardson took up his residence in what is now Royalton township, Fulton county, in 1836, securing government land and reclaiming the same from the virgin forest. His old homestead is the farm now owned by George Dennis. He first secured the west half of the southwest quarter of Section 10, and subsequently purchased an adjoining tract of eighty acres. On this homestead he resided for fifty years, removing to the village of Lyons in 1886 and there living retired until the time of his death, which occurred on the 26th of December, 1890. He was a man of inflexible integrity and he left his impress upon the history of his township and county, having held various public offices, including that of county commissioner, of which he was incumbent two terms. He was a Democrat in his political adherency, and both he and his wife were members of the Universalist church. Mrs. Richardson died September 3d, 1891. November 11, 1835, Mr. Richardson was united in marriage to Miss Lucinda Doud, daughter of Gaylord and Phoebe (Bailey) Doud, natives respectively of New York and Pennsylvania. Elias and Lucinda Richardson became the parents of seven children, of whom only two attained maturity - Marvin D. and Minerva A. They also had an adopted daughter, Rose, who is now the wife of David D. Allen, of Carey, Ohio. Marvin D. Richardson was bom and reared in Royalton township and was for many years engaged in the general merchandise business in the village of Lyons. He was a soldier in the Civil war, having enlisted in Company D, One Hundred and Thirtieth Ohio volunteer infantry, and having been a participant in a number of important engagements, receiving his honorable discharge at the expiration of his term of enlistment. On the 2d of August, 1858, he was married to Miss Roby Johnson, daughter of Sullivan and Fidelia (Worden) Johnson, of Amboy township, and they became the parents of four children: Cora, who became the wife of Frederick Stebbins and who is now deceased, having left two children, Helen and Thomas; Bettie is the wife of Martin L. Cromer, of Sturges, Mich.; Minerva is the wife of John T. Richmond, of Anri Arbor, and Aretus, who married Miss Jennie Gilman, is a resident of Michigan. Minerva, daughter of Elias and Lucinda Richardson, was married in March, 1865, to Thomas G. Richardson, who was born in Niagara county, New York, and who was chief bugler of the Eighth New York cavalry during the War of the Rebellion, serving three years and three months. He came to Fulton county in 1865, settling in Lyons and having been identified for a time with farming, and later he engaged in the mercantile trade and finally in the hotel business. He. died, August 10, 1902, at the age of sixty-three years. His widow still resides in Lyons, as does also her brother, Marvin D., who is now living retired.

JAMES S. RICHARDSON, one of the representative farmers of Royalton township, is a native of Fulton county and a member of one the honored pioneer families of this section of the Buckeye state. He was born in Royalton township, on the 6th of November, 1849, an(* is a son of Martin and Jane (Dean) Richardson, who took up their residence in Royalton township in 1838, having come to this county from Niagara county, New York. The father secured forty acres of wild land, reclaiming the same from the native forest, and later he purchased the farm of eighty acres now owned by Cyrus Downer, likewise clearing and improving this place. In 1887 he removed to Gratiot county, Michigan, where he passed the remainder of his life, his death occurring* February 14, 1904. He was twice married, the two children of his first union being James S., subject of this sketch; and Joseph, now a resident of Adrian, Mich. By his second wife, whose maiden name was Elizabeth Haywood, he became the father of three children: Stephen, a resident of Gratiot county, Mich.; Silas, a resident of the same county in Michigan, and Maud, the wife of Lawrence J. Pugh, of Toledo, Ohio. Martin. Richardson was a son of Thomas and Susannah (Whitney) Richardson, of Niagara county, New York, and the former was a son of Thomas Richardson, who was a native of Vermont, becoming one of the pioneers of Niagara county, New York, where he passed the remainder of his life. James S. Richardson, subject of this sketch, was reared on the old homestead farm, in Royalton township, where he has made his home from the time of his birth and where he is the renter of a fine farm of 400 acres. In his political allegiance Mr. Richardson is a Democrat* and he has been called upon to serve in various local offices of trust and responsibility. He was township trustee for two terms and served several terms as school director. He is a member of Lyons Lodge, No. 622, Independent Order of

Odd Fellows, having been the third person to unite with the same. March 12, 1871, Mr. Richardson married Miss Philinda Welsh, daughter of Erastus and Lenora (Gates) Welsh, of Royalton township, and of this union twelve children have been born, namely: Rose, Leo, George, Elizabeth, Frank, Belle, Mark, Olive, James, Nellie, Roy and Mabel. Rose is the wife of William Barnes. Leo is the wife of Mahlon Terry. Elizabeth is the wife of William Gephart. Frank is the wife of Ernest Hinkle. Belle is the wife of Jacob Gephart.

SIDNEY J. RICHARDSON, M. D., is one of the representative physicians and surgeons of Fulton county, being successfully established in practice at Swanton. He was born on a farm in Webster township, Wood county, Ohio, on the 22nd of April, 1869, and is a son of Dr. William D. and Ann L. (Warser) Richardson, both of whom were born in Erie county, Ohio. The father acqompanied his parents on their removal to Wood county, in the early pioneer days, and he there assisted in the reclamation of the home farm, and later he improved a farm of his own, in the same county. He now resides on his home place, the one on which his son, Sidney J., was bom, and for many years he has been engaged in the practice of medicine, and also giving his supervision to the operation of his farm. He is an able physician and controls a large practice. He and his wife have two sons and five daughters, all of whom are living except one daughter, Mrs. Emily S. Lundy. All the children remain resident of Wood county with the exception of the subject of this sketch. Dr. Sidney J. Richardson received his preliminary educational training in the public schools of his native county and supplemented thj$ by a course in the Northwestern Ohio Normal University, at Ada. He prepared himself for the pedagogic profession, but after a brief experience as a teacher he determined to adopt the profession of medicine, initiating his technical studies in 1899. In the autumn of that year he entered the Detroit Homeopathic College, in the city of Detroit, Mich., where he was a student for two years. He then was matriculated in the Chicago Homeopathic Medical College, where he completed his course and was graduated in the spring of 1903, receiving his degree from this unexcelled professional institution. He did not engage in the active practice of his profession until the spring of 1905, when he located in Swanton, where he entered into a professional partnership with Dr. Samuel Odell, and he is meeting with unequivocal success in his professional work. The Doctor is independent in his political views, and in a fraternal way he is affiliated with Middleton Lodge, No. 786, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, at Dunbridge, O.

EDGAR H. RITCHEY is one of the native sons of Fulton county who is here exploiting the fine possibilities of successful enterprise In the domain of advanced agriculture and stock-growing, being one of the prominent farmers of Amboy township. He was born in this township, on the 19th of January, 1858, and is a son of John W.

and Mary Ann (Luke) Ritchey, the former of whom was born in Bedford county, Pa., and the latter in Shelby county, Ohio. Joseph Ritchey, of Holland-Dutch descent, was the founder of the family in Fulton county, being the grandfather of him whose name initiates this paragraph. He settled in the wilds of Amboy township in 1836 and here cleared and otherwise improved a farm of eighty acres, upon which he continued to reside until his death. He married Miss Rebecca Young, a native of Pennsylvania, and they became the parents of ten children, namely: John W., Malinda, Edward, Emanuel, Amanda, Henry, Jpseph, Urilla, Rebecca and Linza. Of the children four are living at the present time. John W. Ritchey was a child at the time of his parents' removal from Pennsylvania to Fulton county, and here he was reared to manhood under the environments of the pioneer era. He became one of the large land-holders of Amboy township, where he reclaimed a fine farm from the virgin wilds, and of this old homestead his son, Edgar H., now owns one hundred acres, eligibly located, one and one-half miles south of the village of Metamora. John W. Ritchey retired from the farm in the autumn of 1888 and took up his residence in Metamora, where he was successfully engaged in general merchandise business until the time of his death, which occurred February 14, 1900, at which time he was seventy-four years of age. His widow still resides in Metamora. They reared to maturity four children, of whom two are living - -Alvina, who is the wife of David Seebring, of Lenawee county, Mich., and Edgar H., who is the subject of this review. Those deceased are Elba and Zoa. Edgar H. Ritchey was reared on the farm which is now his home, and his scholastic advantages were those of the public schools of the locality. He has always lived 6n the old homestead and been concerned in its operation. He has had the entire charge of the place since the removal of his father to Metamora, as noted, and he is recognized as one of the progressive farmers and loyal and enterprising citizens of his native county, where he is ably upholding the high standard of the honored name which he bears. In 1894 he became an interested principal in the Metamora Lumber Company, with which he has since been identified, the concern controlling a large and constantly increasing trade. In politics Mr. Ritchey is a stalwart Republican, has been a prominent factor in public affairs of a local nature, and the esteem in which he is held in the community has been shown in the offices to which he has been called through the franchise support of his fellow citizens. He served six years as trustee of Amboy township, and is now serving his second term of three years in the responsible office of county commissioner. In a fraternal way he is identified with the lodge, chapter, and council of the Masonic order and with the Kinghts of the Maccabees of the World. November 20, 1887, Mr. Ritchey was united in marriage to Miss Addie Crockett, (laughter of Willard and Hannah (Rice) Crockett, of Ogden, Lenawee county, Mich., and they have one daughter, Rowena.

HENRY H. RITTENHOUSE, ex-sheriff of Fulton county, was born in Wayne county, Ohio. He is the son of J. D. and Sarah E. (Gant) Rittenhouse, both born in Westmoreland county, Pa. His grandfather, Henry S. Rittenhouse, also a native of Pennsylvania, came from that State, first to Wayne county and afterwards to Fulton township, Fulton county. Here he located on a farm in 1840 and spent the remainder of his life. J. D. Rittenhouse, born in 1822, located on his father's farm in 1848. Taking an active part in the public affairs of his township, he served as justice of the peace and trustee. He and his wife are still living, being hale and hearty, notwithstanding he is eighty-four and his wife eighty-seven years old. The subject of this sketch came to Fulton township with his parents when three years old. He received his education in the public schools of his home county. At the early age of eighteen years he entered the employ of the Lake Shore and Michigan Southern railway company and served them faithfully lor eighteen years. For sixteen years of that time he acted as foreman of track work on the Air-Line division of that road. After leaving the employ of the railway company he served as street commissioner and city marshal of Wauseon for sixteen years. In 1900 he was elected sheriff of Fulton county and was re-elected in 1902. During his administration he arrested the first party tried and convicted of murder in the first degree in his county, and witnessed the electrocution of the criminal at Columbus, June 3, 1904. T. F. Rittenhouse, an only brother of the subject of this sketch, is foreman in the Toledo, O., tube-works. Henry H. Rittenhouse married Miss Eliza A. Saul of the village of Milbern, Williams county, O. She is the daughter of George 5>aul, one of the pioneer settlers of that county, who came to Ohio from Pennsylvania. There has been one child to bless this marriage, Albert, who died in infancy. The career of Henry H. Rittenhouse has been a remarkably successful one. He has always held positions of great responsibility, and has invariably filled them satisfactorily. His long service as a railroad man speaks well of his capacity for work of that kind. To be retained as street commissioner and city marshal so long reflects great credit on him for bravery and faithfulness to duty. No other sheriff has done more than he to stamp out -crime and to punish criminals. He was elected to execute the law in the county, and he did his duty fearlessly and without favor.

CASSIUS M. ROBINSON, proprietor of a livery, sales and feed 'stable at Swanton, is the representative of a family long established on American soil, his maternal ancestors having come from Scotland and Germany. His father, Barnet Robinson, was born on a farm at the head of Seneca Lake, in Cayuga county, N. Y., and came to Ohio about seventy years ago, being one of the very earliest settlers of this territory. In those days he did his milling at Maumee, using an ox team, and spending three days on the round trip. He bought a tract of one hundred and five acres of heavily-timbered land. With 'the aid of his sons he cleared this land and brought it to a high state of cultivation. In answer to his country's call for defenders, he en- listed in the Sixty-seventh Ohio volunteer infantry and served with credit throughout the war. The maiden name of his first wife was Miss Caroline Frost, a native of New York State, who died in early womanhood. To this union there were born six children, of whom four are still living. Their names follow: The eldest died in infancy;

Marvin, a mechanic, of Lyons, O.; Sarah, the wife of John Gillis, both deceased; Carrie, now Mrs. Vincent Smith, of Morenci, Mich.; Mahlon, a farmer of Van Buren county, Mich., and Cassius M. The father's second wife was Miss Julia Carey in maidenhood, who died one year after her marriage. Cassius M. Robinson was born in Royalton township, Fulton county, on February 22, 1859. With the exception of three years, spent at Toledo, O., he has always lived in this county. He received a limited education in the schools of his native township. At the age of fourteen years he left home and has been self-dependent ever since. For fourteen years he was engaged in the carpenter business. From early manhood he followed farming until he established his present business at Swanton in 1902. He has prospered sufficiently to own his farm and all the livery equipments, as well as a fine residence. While Mr. Robinson is actively identified with the Republican party, he has never sought or held public office. He is a Past Noble Grand of the Swanton Lodge, No. 528, Independent Order of Odd Fellows. On December 1, 1881, he chose as his life partner Miss Frances Fenton, the daughter of the Hon. John Fenton, late of Fulton county, who represented that county in the State legislature for four years. To Cassius M. Robinson and wife there have been born two children. They are: Margaret Myrtle and Lloyd, both still at home and the latter a student at school.

HUBERT D. ROBINSON, who is now living retired in the attractive village of Metamora, is the owner of one of the fine farm properties of Amboy township and was long and prominently identified with the agricultural interests of the county, the family having located here in the early pioneer days. Mr. Robinson was born in Amboy township, this county, on the 5th of January, 1847, and is a son of George and Rebecca (Davis) Robinson, who came to this county in 1846, settling in Section 20, Amboy township, where the father secured eighty acres of land, which he reclaimed from the native forest, developing one of the excellent farms of the county and being a citizen of prominence and influence in his community, where he was held in unequivocal esteem. He continued to reside on this old homestead until his death, on the 6th of January, 1897, in his ninetieth year. He was born in the State of New Jersey, May 14, 1807, and in 1830 was united in marriage to Polly Morehouse, whose death occurred about nine years later. They became the parents of five children, of whom two are living: Julia, wife of Jonathan Worden, and Jane, the wife of John Henwood. In 1840 George Robinson married Rebecca Davis, who was born and reared in the State of New York, and whose family were residents of Indiana for a number of years prior to coming to Fulton county, Ohio, where her marriage is the wife of James Blaine; Lyman, who was a soldier in the Civil war and died at Columbus, Ohio, while in the service; Hubert D., who is the immediate subject of this sketch; Didama, who became the wife of Ambrose Stevens and is now deceased ; Albert, who resides in Colorado, and Amos, who is engaged in farming in Michigan; Melinda, who is the wife of Scott Taylor; John M., deceased, and William, deceased. Hubert D. Robinson was associated in the work of the old homestead farm until he had attained the age of twentytwo years, and his early educational advantages were those to be had in the common schools of the locality. In 1869 his father gave him forty acres of land in Section 17, Amboy township, to which he later added by the purchase of an adjoining forty acres, and a considerable portion of this tract was cU^red by him, and he placed the farm under a high state of cultivation and made all the excellent permanent improvements to be noted on the same to-day, the buildings being of substantial and attractive order. He continued to reside on this homestead until the spring of 1890, when he removed to Metamora, where he has since lived retired, having a pleasant home in this village, but still retaining the ownership of the farm. In politics he is a stanch Republican and he has ever shown a loyal interest in public affairs of a local order. He has served as mayor of the village of Metamora and is now rendering effective service in the capacity of street commissioner. He and his wife are members of the Methodist Episcopal church. On Christmas day, of the year 1869, Mr. Robinson was united in marriage to Miss Josephine Kennedy, daughter of Robert and Hannah (LaDow) Kennedy, of Fulton township, this county, both having been natives of the State of New York. Mr. and Mrs. Robinson have one daughter, Estella, wife of William Penny, who resides on and operates her father's farm.

JOHN RUCKMAN, a representative farmer and stock-grower of York township, was one of the brave /"boys in blue" who upheld the glory of the Union arms during the turbulent epoch of the Civil war, and in the times of peace he has been found equally true to duty, in whatever way it has presented, so that he has always commanded the confidence and esteem of his fellow-men. Mr. Ruckman was bom in Columbiana county, Ohio, August 16, 1836, and is a son of James and Hannah (Hoffman) Ruckman, the former of whom was bom in Hampshire county, Virginia, November 29, 1807, and the latter in Columbiana county, Ohio, in 1811. The father came to Ohio in 1830, and here followed agricultural pursuits during his active career, both he and his wife passing the closing years of their lives in Hancock county. He died in October, 1892, and his wife passed away in February, 1903, at the very advanced age of ninety-two years. John Ruckman was reared to maturity in Hancock county, receiving a common-school education and early becoming inured to earnest toil and endeavor, since he was reared to the sturdy discipline of the pioneer farm. In March, 1858, he started out for himself, being variously em- ployed up to the time of the outbreak of the War of the Rebellion. On the 2 ist of October, 1861, he enlisted in Company H, Fifty-seventh Ohio Volunteer Infantry, and he continued in the service of his country three years, nine months and twenty-three days - representing practically the entire period of the war. He was mustered out, at Little Rock, Arkansas, August 14, 1865. He participated in more than twenty of the most important battles of the great conflict, and was taken prisoner at Atlanta, in July, 1864, being exchanged two months later, in time to accompany Sherman on the ever memorable "march to the sea.,, He took part in the battles of Shiloh, Vicksburg, the Corinth and Atlanta campaigns, the battles of Resaca, Kenesaw Mountain, Dalton arid Atlanta. He thus saw about as arduous and important service as any of the soldiers who so valiantly fought for the old flag. He is a member of the Grand Army of the Republic. Mr. Ruckman located in Fulton county in 1874, and has resided on his present homestead for the past thirty-one years, having a well-improved farm of eighty acres. He is a Democrat in politics and both he and his wife are members of the Methodist-Episcopal church. March 20, 1866, Mr. Ruckman was married to Miss Nancy J. Kleckner, who was born in Hancock county, Ohio, October I, 184 7, being a daughter of Isaac and Barbara J. (Fishel) Kleckner, both of German descent. Mr. and Mrs. Ruckman have had four children : Mary, who is the wife of Irving D. Miller, of Kansas ; Maggie V., who is deceased, having been the wife of William H. Lefferson ; Anna, who is the wife of G. F. Sams, of Clinton township, and John W., who has the practical management of the home farm, and who was born on this homestead on the 15th of March, 1877.

EDWARD W., RUPPERT, one of the progressive and successful farmers of York township, is a representative of one of the old and honored families of Fulton county, his grandfather, Henry Ruppert, having been one of the early settlers of York township. Henry Ruppert was born in Berks county, Pennsylvania, and was there reared to maturity. In 1851 he took up his residence in York township, Fulton county, Ohio, where he passed the remainder of his life, having here developed a good farm from the virgin wilds. He was a man of a strong mentality and received a good common-school education, having teen a successful teacher for a season, when a young man, and having thereafter followed the weaver's trade, in Pennsylvania, until his removal to Ohio. In the old Keystone state was solemnized his marriage to Mrs^ Magdalene (Zimmerman) Keller, and they became the parents of four children. Sallie Ann, widow of Benjamin Miller, resides in Blissfield, Michigan ; John Adam is deceased ; Lena became the wife of Lewis Gerringer and is now deceased, and Henry also is deceased. John Adam Ruppert, father of him whose name initiates this review, was bom in Berks county, Pennsylvania, in May, 1830, and was reared to manhood in his native State, where he was afforded the advantages of the schools of the county in which he was bom. He accompanied his parents on their removal to Ohio, and he settled in Section 29, York township, Fulton county, where he became a prosperous farmer and honored and influential citizen, continuing to reside in that township during the remainder of his life, save for a few years passed in the city of Wauseon. He first married Miss Elizabeth Lillich, daughter of John M. Lillich, who was an early settler of Clinton township, this county. Mrs. Ruppert was summoned into eternal rest in 1871, having become the mother of eight children, namely: Edward W., who is the immediate subject of this sketch; Alfred, Charles O., Samuel and Henry, all of whom reside in Wauseon, this county; Benjamin, who is deceased; John A., who is a resident of Wauseon ; and Lizzie, who is the wife of Philip Upp, Jr., of Wauseon. In 1873 John A. Ruppert married Miss Rachel Ruppert, who died about two-years-later, the two children of this union having died in infancy. In 1876 Mr. Ruppert married Mrs. Mary (Stimmel) Mayer, who survives him, no children having been bom of this marriage. Mr. Ruppert died on the 7th of May, 1896. He was a man of sterling integrity and was a citizen who commanded unqualified respect. He was a Republican in politics and his religious faith was that of the Evangelical church. Edward W. Ruppert, eldest son of John A. and Elizabeth (Lillich) Ruppert, was bom in York township, on the 19th of July, 1857, and here he has ever maintained his home, having been identified with the great basic industry of agriculture from his youth to the present and being now the owner of a well-improved farm of twenty acres. He received his early educational discipline in the public schools of his native township, and his interest in alt that pertains to the welfare of the community and county is reinforced by the associations and memories which cover the span of his life thus far. He is a stalwart adherent of the Republican party, but has never been a seeker of public office ; is a member of the Knights of the Maccabees, and both he and his wife are members of the Evangelical church. On the 4th of February, 1886, Mr. Ruppert was united in marriage to Miss Nora Biddle, daughter of George D. Biddle, of whom specific mention is made elsewhere in this publication. They have two children - Frances Chloe and Give Biddle.

AMOS L. RUSSELL, one of the representative farmers and stockgrowers of Gorham township, has passed his entire life in Fulton county and is a member of one of its honored pioneer families. The old homestead in which he was born was located about forty rods south of his present residence, on the opposite side of the road, and there he made his debut on the stage of life, January 13, 1848, being a son of Benjamin F. and Delia (Ford) Russell. Benjamin F. Russell was bom in the city of Rochester, N. Y., March 9, 1818, and was a son of Simon and Polly (Bailey) Russell, who were bom in Maine, of Scotch and Welsh descent, respectively. They settled in Monroe county, N. Y., within the first decade of the nineteenth century, and in 1818 they came to Ohio and located in Lake county, being pioneers of that section of the State, where Simon Russell died about the year 1852, and his widow died in 1855, in Henry county, this State. They became the parents of eleven children, of whom eight attained years of maturity: Mrs. Rebecca Knight, James, Mrs. Mary

Winkler, Benjamin F., Mrs. Abigail Chase, Joseph, Mrs. Elizabeth Blakely, and Mrs. Caroline Cram. Simon Russell was a shoemaker by trade and followed the same as a vocation during his entire business career. Benjamin F. Russell was less than a year old at the time of his parents' removal to Ohio, he passed his boyhood and youth in Lake county, and he learned the baker's trade when a young man, but never followed the same as a vocation. In 1841 he engaged in the grocery and provision business in Maumee, Lucas county, and in the following year he was engaged as salesman in the grocery store of his brother at Canandaigua, Lenawee county, Mich., and in 1843 he settled in Gorham township, Fulton county, where he purchased thirty acres' of land, for a consideration of one hundred and twenty dollars, eventually adding to it and becoming the owner of a well-improved farm, having been one of the prominent and honored citizens of this section, where he continued to reside until his death, which occurred in 1897. In 1843 he was united in marriage to Miss Elmina Ford, who was bom in Massachusetts, being a daughter of Ansel and Deborah (Tower) Ford, who were early settlers of Gorham township', whither they came from the old Bay State, here passing the remainder of their lives. Mrs. Elmina Russell died in September, 1846, and of her three children none attained years of maturity; On the 2d of March, 1847, Mr. Russell married Miss Delia Ford, who was born April 29, 1827, being a sister of the first wife. Benjamin F. and Delia (Ford) Russell became th£j>arents of eight children, of whom two died in early childhood, and Elmina, who was bpm March j, .1852, died August 10, 1870, from blood poisoning, resulting from the bite of a potato bug. The names, with respective dates of birth, of the five living children are as follows: Amos L., subject of this review, January 13, 1848; L. Fremont,' August 25, 1854; Flora May, May 16, 1857; Emily Virginia, October 7, i860; and Mary Ophelia, September 12, 1862. Amos L. Russell passed his boyhood days on the home farm, in Gorham township, and was afforded the advantages of the district school and the graded . schools of Fayette. At the age of twenty-three years he engaged in farming on his own responsibility, on the John Smith place, in Section 25, Gorham, township, and in 1880 he purchased and located upon his present farm, the same comprising one hundred and sixty acres of fine land and being well improved in all respects. He devotes his attention to general farming and the raising of stock, buying and feeding cattle, which he places upon the market in considerable numbers each, year. In politics he is a supporter of the cause of the Republican party* and he is an appreciative member of the Masonic fraternity, in which his affiliations are with the following bodies: Fayette Lodge, No. 387, F. & A. M.; Wauseon Chapter, No. in, R. A. M. ; Wauseon Council, No. 68, R. & S. M. ; Defiance Commandery, No. 30, Knights Templar; and Fayette Chapter, No. 77, Order of the Eastern Star. It will thus be seen that he has completed the circle of York Rite Masonry, and he takes a deep interest in the work and affairs of each of the bodies with which he is identified. February 19, 1871, Mr. Russell married Miss Fliza Hutchinson. 'who

.was born in Whitley county, Ind., and of their five children four are living, Ora having died at the age of nine years. Nellie, Florence and Mervin became members of the home circle, and Verna is the wife of William M. Marzolf, a prosperous young farmer of Franklin township.

MARVIN E. ROBINSON, a retired farmer and carpenter of Lyons, is one of the honored pioneer citizens of Fulton county, where he has lived from his boyhood days, representing a period of about three-score years. He was born in Covert, Seneca county, N. Y., in the picturesque lake district of the old Empire State, on the 4th of August, 1833, and is a son of Barnett M. and Sally Ann (Hall) Robinson, natives respectively of Dutchess and Seneca counties, that State, and members of families long established on American soil. In 1834 the parents came to the West and located in Lenawee county, Mich., whence, in 1836, they came over into what is now Fulton county, Ohio, and settled in the wilds of Royalton township, where the father secured one hundred acres of government land, which he reclaimed from the forest, making good improvements on the place in later years and continuing to reside on the homestead until his death, at the venerable age of eighty-eight years. His connubial record is somewhat unique and exceptional, in that he was married seven times. His first wife, Sally Ann, mother of the subject of this sketch, bore him four children - Marvin E.; Sarah, deceased wife of John Gillis; James, deceased; and Hannah, wife of Vincent Smith. The maiden name of the second wife was Caroline Carpenter, who bore two children, Mahlon and Cassius. The fourth wife, Alice, nee Shaffer, became the mother of one daughter, Alice, now the wife of Frank Gardner. For his fifth wife Mr. Robinson married Louisa Hopkins, and their only daughter, Ina, is the wife of Reed Loar. Marvin E. Robinson was three years of age at the time of his parents' removal to Royalton township, and he has witnessed the development of this section from the sylvan wilds to its present status of advanced civilization and opulent prosperity, and he has contributed his quota to the work of advancement. In point of continuous residence he has the distinction of being at the present time the Oldest settler in Royalton township. He secured his early educational training in the pioneer schools, trudging his way to the little log school house during the short winter terms and assisting in the work of the farm during the summer seasons, for each member of the family assumed a due share of responsibility, money being scarce and the labors of the pioneers me&t onerous. He has been known as one of the representative farthers of the township for many years, being actively engaged in^lgricul- tural pursuits until 1903, since which time he has lived essentially retired. He is possessed of excellent mechanical ability, and for thirtyfive years he followed the carpenter trade, in connection with his farm work. He cleared and made substantial improvements upon a farm of eighty acres, in Sections 21 and 28, and he has maintained his home in the village of Lyons since 1903. To his honor stands Mr. Robinson's loyalty to the Union cause during the Civil war, in which he served as a soldier for a short period, having enlisted May 2, 1864, as a private in Company D, One Hundred and Thirtieth Ohio volunteer infantry, with which he was on active duty until the 2d of the following September, when he received his honorable discharge, in the city of Toledo, Ohio. He is a member of Baxter Post, No. 238, Grand Army of the Republic, at Lyons, is a Republican in his political adherency, and both he and his wife hold membership in the Christian church. April 5, 1858, Mr. Robinson was united in marriage to Miss Lovina, daughter of William Onweller, a pioneer of Chesterfield township, and she was called to the life eternal in 1869, having borne four children, of whom two attained to maturity, Wesley and Eston. February 9, 1871, Mr. Robinson married Miss Orlina Steadman, daughter of Alva and Thankful (Rogers) Steadman, of Amboy township, and they have one son, Herschel.

GEORGE K. RUSSELL is the owner of one of the valuable farms of Franklin township, where he has maintained his home from his boyhood days and where he enjoys the confidence and good-will of the community. He was bom near Shippensburg, Cumberland county, Pa., on the 21st of March, 1861, and is a son of William and Harriet (Neal) Russell, both of whom were bom and reared in that county, where the respective families were early founded. John Russell, father of William, continued a resident of Cunfaerland county until his death, having been the owner of a good farm and also having operated a saw-mill for a number of years. About 1866 William Russell removed with his family from Pennsylvania to Fulton county, Ohio, locating in Section 7, Franklin township, whore he improved a good farm. He had learned the carpenter trade in Pennsylvania, where he followed the same as a vocation, and after coming to Fulton county he did a considerable amount of work in this line, having assisted in the erection of a number of school-houses in this locality, besides other buildings. He served several terms as township treasurer and also held the office of land-appraiser, and his political faith was that of the Democratic party. He was a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and both he and his wife were members of the Christian Union Church. The latter was summoned to the life eternal on the 7th of November, 1894, at the age of sixty-one years, and he passed away on the 23d of the same month, at the age of sixty years. They became the parents of two children, of whom George K. is the younger. The elder son, John W., is likewise a representative farmer of Franklin township. After completing the curriculum of the public schools of Franklin township George K. Russell continued his studies under most favorable auspices, in the

Fayette Normal University, at Fayette, this county, and he has been identified with the agricultural industry from his youth to the present and has found it a worthy and satisfactory field of enterprise. At the age of twenty-two years he began farming on the place which is now his home, after which he rented the Dunebarger farm, adjoining, continuing to operate the same for the ensuing fifteen years. He then located again on his present homestead, which comprises seventyeight acres, and he has also purchased the Dunebarger farm, of eighty acres, thus having nearly a quarter of a section of as fine land as is to be found within the limits of Fulton county. The place is devoted to general farming and stock-growing, and Mr. Russell is known as one of the enterprising and successful farmers of the township and as a substantial and liberal citizen. He is aligned in the local ranks of the Democratic party, served one term as constable and two terms as township trustee, and in a fraternal way is identified with Fayette Hive, No. 1188, Knights of the Maccabees. June 3, 1882, Mr. Russel was united in marriage to Miss Angeline Dunebarger, who was born in Pickaway county, Ohio, April 26, 1863, being a daughter of William and Maria (Specht) Dunebarger, early settlers of that county. Her father died in 1900, aged seventy-six years, two months and one day, and her mother now rerides with Mr. and Mrs. Russell being sixty-eight years of age (1905). She is the mother of two children, of whom Mrs. Russell is the younger. The son, Mahlon, resides in Auburn, Ind. Mr. and Mrs. Russell have three children - Hattie May, William Grover and Mahlon John.