Williams County, Ohio - Chapter 8: Politics and Official Honors, 1905

Chapter 8: Politics and Official Honors

WILLIAMS county was organized the same year (1824) that the remarkable presidential contest occurred between Jackson, Adams, Clay and Crawford. The administration of Mr. Monroe had been so pacific and conciliatory in its measures that the party lines previously existing had become almost obliterated, and it appeared to be conceded that his policy had established "an era of good feeling." Means of communication with the outer world, inhabited by civilized people, were then so limited, and newspapers and documents so scarce and difficult to obtain that the political excitement among the new settlers was not sufficient to disturb neighborhood tranquility. But when the election, under the forms of the Constitution, was transferred to the house of representatives, after the meeting of congress on the first Monday in December, 1824, and when it became known that, by the decision of the house, the popular voice had been disregarded by the choice of John Quincy Adams, and intelligence of the result finally penetrated the fastnesses of the dwellers in the Northwestern Ohio wilderness, it aroused a feeling that had a tendency to form political classification. But sharp party lines were not drawn for many years, and even when they were they did not embrace candidates for the popular suffrage of a lesser grade than Federal and State officers, rarely extending to candidates for merely local positions. In process of time, however, political organizations were formed upon a broader basis, and they contested for possession of the smaller official plums, making the organization of political parties, although occasionally broken, generally more compact.

Until 1834 the party adverse to the Democratic organization had been known as National Republicans and Anti-Masons, but in that year all that were opposed to the Democracy formed a coalition and changed their name to Whig, and under this banner fought their battles until 1854, when a fusion between the Free-Soilers and Know-Northings was made, and both elements combined under the name of Republican. There existed, however, for many years in Williams county, a small, but brave and earnest body of Abolitionists, who were denounced and persecuted by both Democrats and Whigs, who vied with each other in making assaults upon "the incendiary Abolitionist." But it was only upon this common ground that the two powerful parties would make common warfare. A woman of high character and intelligence, Miss Abbey Kelley, who had been invited by the little band of Abolitionists in the town and county to address a public meeting at Bryan, was, after her lecture, and while on her way from the place of meeting to the house of a friend where she was a guest, the object of gross personal insult, a cowardly mob following her, making use of coarse language and even casting eggs at her person.

The above statements were written by the late Horace S. Knapp, and published in Goodspeed's history of Williams county. No doubt there are those yet living in the county who remember the incident referred to; and the writer can not refrain from calling the reader's attention to the great change in sentiment in so short a time. The date of the happening was about 1850, not during the "Dark Ages;" the place was Bryan. Ohio, and not Charleston, South Carolina. The perpetrators of the outrage called themselves "conservative" men, who deemed it their duty to thus emphasize their dislike of the fanatics who were advocating the abolition of slavery. The "conservative" men of that day decried such agitation, because, they said, "it disturbed business interests." They were the psychological ancestors of those vainglorious men of today, who oppose every measure of reform that appears abstruse to their benighted reasoning powers. Dear "conservative" reader: Was the Emancipation Proclamation the culminating achievement of this Christian civilization, and were the enemies of human progress all slain when the Demon of Slavery perished? If not, then it is your duty to study proposed reform measures; and in the conflict of opinion your weapons should be reason and logic, not sneers and vituperation.

But this is a digression, and we will return to the proper subject. At the October election of 1824 - the first one held after the organization of Williams county - Allen Trimble received sixty-one votes for governor and Jeremiah Morrow received six votes. It will be observed that the vote in the county was very small, and in fact it remained so for several years thereafter. At the presidential election of 1836, Van Buren received 198 votes and Harrison 176. Four years later the same candidates were again in the field and Williams county voted as follows: Van Buren, 407; Harrison, 396. Mr. Birney, the Abolition candidate, received no votes in the county. The vote for governor in 1840 exhibits quite as clearly the relative strength of the Whig and Democratic parties in Williams county. Wilson Shannon was the Democratic candidate and received 382 votes, while Thomas Corwin, the Whig candidate, received 356.

In 1844, at the state election in October and the presidential election immediately following, the Abolitionists had no candidates and the Free-Soil party was not then in existence. At the October election, David Tod, the Democratic candidate for governor, received 621 votes, and Mordecai Bartley, the Whig candidate, received 488. For president, Polk. 673 ; Clay, 583.

At the October election of 1848, John B. Weller, Democratic candidate for governor, received 484 votes, and Sealniry Ford, the Whig candidate, received 2 69. In 1845 Defiance county had been formed, taking away eight of the most populous townships of the county, and this will account for the falling' off in the total vote. In the presidential -contest of the same year, a convention of Free-Soilers, held at Buffalo, N. Y., placed in nomination a candidate for the presidency and adopted a chart of principles satisfactory to nearly all the Abolitionists and to many others of the old parties. In Williams county the vote stood : Lewis Cass (Dem.), 510 votes; Zachary Taylor (Whig), 328; Martin Van Buren (Free-Soil), 154. Majority for Cass over Taylor, 182.

1850 - -At the October election of 1850, held on the 8th day of that month, for governor, Reuben Wood (Dem.) received in Williams county 601 votes, and his Whig opponent, William Johnston, 402 votes.

1852 - Franklin Pierce (Dem.), 832 votes; Winfield Scott (Whig), 546; John P. Hale (Free-Soil and Abolition), 160. Majority for Pierce over Scott, 286. Between this and the quadrennial election following the very name and machinery of the Whig party had passed out of existence.

1 S55 - At this October election in Williams county, for governor, Salmon P. Chase (Republican) received 890 votes, William Medill (Democrat), 861 votes, and Allen Trimble (American), 17 votes. The majority of the Republican ticket was elected, although the plurality for Mr. Chase was the largest. This was the first instance in the political history of Williams county where the regular nominees of the Democratic party were entirely overthrown in a strictly party contest.

1856 - James Buchanan (Dem.), 1.022 votes: John C. Fremont (Rep.), 1,327; Millard Fillmore (American), 49. Majority for Fremont over Buchanan, 305. Williams county, it will be observed, gave a heavy vote for the Republican ticket, increasing its vote of a year before by about fifty per cent, and its majority over the combined vote of its opponents was 256.

i860 - This contest terminated the "irrepressible conflict" between the Free and Slave States, as Mr. Lincoln and Mr. Seward had declared several years previously that it was destined to become, and, so far as law could make it so, placed the former master and slave upon terms of civil equality. Williams county very largely increased her Republican majority, giving to Lincoln (Rep.) a vote of 1,713, to Douglas (Dem.) a vote of 1,180, and to Bell (American), 29 votes, making the majority for Lincoln over the combined vote of his competitors, 504.

1863 - There probably never occurred an election in Ohio that produced a higher degree of excitement within the state, or a more profound interest abroad than the memorable campaign of 1863. Since the opening of the war, in 1861. there had occurred no conflict that would bear comparison in the intensity of feeling it produced, to this one. After the close of the polls, on October 13. results were rapidly 2'eceived and transmitted, and the governor-elect being then a resident of Cleveland, was, near 12 o'clock at night, in possession of sufficient returns to authorize him to transmit a dispatch to Edwin M. Stanton, then secretary of war, that the entire Republican state ticket in Ohio had been elected by a majority of about one hundred thousand. The official vote in Williams county stood: Brough. 1,955. an(t Yallandig- liam, 1,318. Of the Williams county soldiers in the army 362 voted, and of these all cast their votes for the Republican candidates, with the exception of two, who voted for Vallandigham ; and three cast their votes for each of the others upon the Democratic state, legislative and county tickets.

1864 - Lincoln's (Rep.) vote, 2,197; McClellan's (Dem.), 1,425; Lincoln's vote very closely approximating two-thirds of the total number cast.

1872 - At the October election, this year, the Republican majority was 367 ; but at the November election, following, Grant received a majority of 805 votes over Greeley, thus proving conclusively that the latter was not very popular with Williams county Democrats. Indeed his candidacy seems to have affected the October election, for in 1871 the Republicans had but 199 majority in the county, and in October, 1872, they had 367.

1904 - Roosevelt (Rep.), 3,827; Parker (Dem.), 2,565. These figures represent the largest vote and majority ever given to a political party in Williams county. But, though there can be no doubt that the Republicans have a clear majority in the county, the presidential election of 1904 is not a fair criterion by which to judge its size. It is but stating a truth in history to say that Mr. Parker was not a popular candidate with the 'Tank and file" of the Democratic party, and especially was this true after he exhibited his weak conception of the coinage question. With such an independent character as Mr. Roosevelt in the field, many Democrats considered it an opportune time to consign Mr. Parker, "irrevocably," to the shades of political oblivion.

But, notwithstanding the great majority for Roosevelt in 1904, at the State election of 1905 the vote for governor was as follows, according to unofficial returns: Pattison (Dem.), 3,114; Herrick

It will be seen, in the statistics given, that since 1852 the Republican candidate in presidential years has carried the county, with only one exception - 1896. In that campaign Mr. Bryan's wonderful personality, magnetic force and matchless oratory, contending for a platform of principles that was unequivocal in meaning and clear in expression, succeeded in arousing an interest in political affairs to an extent seldom if ever witnessed before. In Williams county every district school house became a political forum, and interest in everything else waned while the "Battle of the Standards" was in progress. The majority given to Mr. Bryan - three hundred and twenty-four - was considered the greatest victory, under the circumstances, that had ever been achieved in Williams county. In local and state affairs, however, an independent spirit has been manifested more or less ever since the close of the Civil war. The voters of the county have been generally given to "scratching" their tickets, and it has been difficult to estimate results, particularly as regards candidates for county offices, until the votes have been officially canvassed ; and neither party has for any great length of time held all of the official positions. In 1878, the Democratic state ticket received a majority of eleven votes in the county and -they were also successful in the state elections of 1883, 1884, 1885, 1887, 1889, 1890, 1896, and again in 1905. With these exceptions, however, the Republican state ticket has carried the county at every election from and including 1855.

The first political meeting in the county, north of Fort Defiance, was held at Lafayette (Pulaski) in the presidential campaign of 1836. The speaker was Patrick G. Goode, who represented the district - which included nearly all the counties in northwestern Ohio - in the legislature of 1833-34. The first political convention, of which there is any account, was of the Democratic persuasion and was held at the house of Col. J. B. Kimmel, at Williams Centre, in the fall prior to the "two dollars a day and hard cider" year of 1840. Colonel Kimmel presided, and tradition says the proceedings were marked with the utmost harmony and good feeling. The harmony and good feeling, however, was not of a lasting nature, and did not prevail to any great extent a few years later.

The writer has attempted to perfect an official list of Williams county, including national, state and county officers, from the organization of the county to 1905, and also to include with the list biographical matter concerning some of the gentlemen who have borne the official honors.- In some instances the favored ones have passed away, leaving neither "kith nor kin" to preserve their record, while in others, either from indisposition, churlishness, cupidity, ignorance or some other cause those who could have done so have manifested no disposition to furnish the required information. Notwithstanding these difficulties, considerable information is here presented concerning residents of Williams count}* who have held official honors. For court judges and officers, see chapter on Bench and Bar, and the biographi* cal department of this work also contains additional information.

Secretary Of State

General Isaac R. Sherwood has been prominent as a lawyer, a soldier, a newspaper editor and a political leader during the last half century. He was for many years a resident of Williams county. He was born August 15, 1835, and attended the Hudson River institute. Clarnack, New York. He graduated from Antioch college, Ohio, and later from the Western Law school at Cleveland, and was admitted to the bar and became a practicing attorney. In 1857 he established the Williams County Gazette, a Republican paper, and in t86o was elected probate judge of Williams county. At the beginning of the civil war, April 18, 1861, he enlisted as a private soldier in the Fourteenth Ohio volunteer infantry, and later resigned both the office of mayor of Bryan and the lucrative office of probate judge of Williams county to serve as a soldier boy. At the close of his first enlistment he was made a lieutenant in the One Hundred and Eleventh Ohio volunteer infantry, and was promoted through all the grades to colonel of the regiment, and was brevetted a brigadier general for gallant conduct at the battle of Franklin, Tennessee. FIc participated in the first actual battle of the war, at Phillipi, and in the last one at Raleigh. He participated in more than thirty actions during his military career and was repeatedly complimented for his soldierly conduct. He was appointed commissioner for the Freedmeivs Bureau of Florida in February, 1865, but resigned after filling the position for a few weeks. He was elected secretary of state, in 1868, as a Republican, over Thomas Hubbard, Democrat, by a vote of 267,066 to 249,682, and was re-elected in 1870 over William Heisley, Democrat, by a vote of 221,708 to 205,018. He was elected to the Forty-third congress, in 1872, from the Sixth district, Williams, Fulton, Henry, Wood, Lucas and Ottawa counties, and served but a single term. He them became an editor of prominence, and was editorially connected with a number of leading newspapers, among them the Toledo Commercial, the Toledo Journal, the Cleveland Leader and the Canton Democrat. In 1880 he severed his connection with the Republican party and by the Greenbackers was twice elected probate judge of Lucas county. He then affiliated with the Democratic party, and has in later years been one of the recognized and prominent leaders of that party in Ohio.

Representatives In Congress

Alfred P. Edgerton never had a legal residence within the present limits of Williams county, but his career was so closely associated with its early affairs and he did so much in contributing to its material advancement, that its history would not be complete without a biographical mention of him. In 1837, when he located in old Williams county, Mr. Edgerton assumed the management of the American Land Company and the Hicks Land Company, with headquarters at Hicksville, and there conducted those interests with great success. Up to 1852, when the affairs of the two companies were practically wound up, he disposed of 140,000 acres of land to actual settlers. He replatted Hicksville. and added to its commercial and general interests, and was a man of the most liberal and progressive ideas. He was a state senator from 1845 to 1847. 1850 he was elected to the Thirtysecond congress from the Fifth district, embracing Defiance, Mercer, Van Wert, Paulding, Lucas, Henry, Putnam. Allen, Shelby, Williams and Hardin counties, and was elected to the Thirty-third, in 1852, from the same district. He was a Democratic leader both in the legislature and in congress. He was one of the Democratic opponents of the repeal of the Missouri Compromise, in 1855, which re-opened the slavery question with renewed bitterness. President Cleveland appointed him as one of the civil service commissioners, and he discharged the duties of the office impartially, although he disagreed with the president's ideas. He removed to Fort Wayne, Indiana, in 1857, and, in 1862, became a resident of that state, still retaining many interests in Defiance county. He was born in Plattsburg, New York, in 1813, and died in 1898. He was a most liberal patron of education and was deeply interested in the common school system.

Melvin M. Boothman was the only native born citizen of Williams county who ever represented his district in congress. He was born in Jefferson township, this county, October 16, 1846. He was educated in the common schools and followed farming until 1864, when he enlisted in Company H, Thirty-eighth Ohio volunteer infantry, "for three years or during the war." He served through the Atlanta campaign, and was wounded in the assault upon Jonesboro, and his left leg was necessarily amputated. He returned home and followed teaching as a means of securing a higher education. He was graduated from the law department of the Michigan university, in October, 1871, with the degree of L.L.B. He was elected treasurer of Williams county, in 1871, and re-elected in 1873, holding the office four years. He then engaged in the practice of law. In 1886 he was elected, as a Republican, to the Fiftieth congress from the Sixth district, Williams, Wood, Defiance, Henry, Paulding and Van Wert, and was re-elected from the same district, in 1888, to the Fifty-first. He made a good record in congress and afterward resumed the practice of law, in which he successfully engaged until his death, March 4, 1904.

State Senators

Edward Foster was born October 27, 1824, in Portage county, Ohio, and was of English descent. His youth and early manhood were passed in Portage, with the exception of the time spent at school. He acquired a thoroughly practical education, finishing at the Western Reserve college. In 1844 he began the study of law under the instruction of Judge Day, of Ravenna, afterward under Tilden & Ranney, and was admitted to the bar in the fall of 1846. In 1846 he came to Bryan, engaged actively in his profession, and occupied a leading position as a member of the bar of Williams county until the spring of 1867, when, because of ill health, he sold out his practice and retired to a less active life. He became prominent in county affairs immediately after his arrival; was president of the Bryan bank (now the Farmers' National bank) for two years, and filled several other responsible positions. Previous to the war he acted in harmony with the Democrats, and by them was elected to represent the counties of Williams, Defiance, Paulding, Van Wert, Mercer, Allen and Auglaize in the state senate. He served in the same session with General Gar- field, Governor Cox, Judge Key and other men who rose to prominence. While in the senate, in 1861, Fort Sumter was fired upon and Lincoln issued his call for troops. Mr. Foster then took an active part in the support of the administration and afterward affiliated with the Republicans. He died in 1885.

Meredith R. Willett was born in Montgomery county, Maryland, February 6, 1819. In 1834 he came with his parents to Richland county, Ohio, and after acquiring such education as the local schools afforded he entered the law office of Judge Hurd at Mount Vernon, and subsequently of Stewart & Newman at Mansfield. Hon. Sam. Kirkwood, since governor of Iowa, and Hon. Charles Irvine, were fellow students with him. After his admission to the bar he located at Mount Gilead, where he practiced in partnership with Maj. J. B. Stinchcomb until 1850, when he went overland to California. Returning a year later, he came to West Unity, Williams county, and engaged in school teaching. In 1853 he was elected justice of the peace, was soon afterward appointed postmaster, and at the October election was elected prosecuting attorney, and was re-elected in 1855. In 1857 he was elected probate judge of the county, which office he held until 1861. In 1863 he was nominated for state senator by the Democrats of the Thirty-second district and was elected by even 1,800 majority, when the Republicans carried the state by 100,000. He was re-elected in 1865 by about 3,000 majority. In 1866 he was appointed delegate from the state at large to the reconstruction convention at Philadelphia. Among his colleagues were Hon. Henry B. Payne, Hon. Hugh J. Jewett, Judge R. P. Ranney, Gen. George W. Morgan and Judge Bliss. The delegates from this district were Judge Dunlap of Toledo, and Judge William Carter of Defiance. Mr. Willett's last official position was that of supervisor of census for this district, in 1880. He died December 16, 1885.

William Sheridan, Jr., was born in Greensburg, Westmoreland county, Pa., October 30, 1825. His youth was spent on the farm, in the shop and in the school house - in the latter both as student and teacher. His life was active and his business interests varied. In December, 1850, he engaged in mercantile business at Lockport, with the late Colonel Miller, under the firm name of Miller & Sheridan. After four years, he disposed of his interest and removed to Stryker, where, from 1854 to 1865, he was employed alternately in mercantile trade, handling lumber, bridge building and farming, purchasing a farm near Stryker in i860. In 1865 a company was organized in Boston, known as the Stryker Oil Well Company of Boston, Mass., with a capital stock of $40,000, in which Mr. Sheridan was a large stock-holder. Oil was found on his land in paying quantities at a depth of 860 feet, but the open formation of rock necessitated the abandonment of the enterprise. In 1867 Mr. Sheridan was admitted to the bar and afterwards engaged in the practice of law. He was Stryker's first postmaster, justice of the peace, and mayor, and in 1864 was chief clerk in the quartermaster's department at Wheeling, W. Va. In his own county he received the nomination for auditor and clerk of the court of com- moil picas, and by the Ohio State Democratic convention that of comptroller of the state treasury. He was twice elected state senator from the Thirty-second senatorial district, serving two terms, and in 1876 was a delegate to the National Democratic convention, held at St. Louis. Mr. Sheridan was one of Stryker's most active and enterprising citizens.

State Representatives

Schuyler E. Blakeslee was born near Avon Springs, N. Y., and when a child was taken by his parents to Geauga county, Ohio, where he was reared on a farm, receiving in early years an academic education, and when twenty-one years of age entered the law office of Gov. Seabury Ford, who resided at Burton, Geauga county. Here he remained until he graduated in law. In 1844 he came to Bryan, where he began the practice of his profession, which he continued until his death, February 7, 1894. Mr. Blakeslee was a man of unusual mental endowments and became one of the recognized leaders, not only of the Williams county bar, but also of the bar of Northwestern Ohio. He served as commissioner of insolvents, prosecuting attorney, and represented Williams county three terms in the lower house of the state legislature, first in 1856, and then in 1870 and 1872. He was the author of several bills which became laws of the state and was one of the most active members of the sessions in which he served. He was an old-time Whig, but after the formation of the Republican party was an earnest soldier in its ranks. The county had no better citizen.

Elisha G. Denman was born in Knox county, Ohio, about 1820, and resided there until his removal to Williams county in 1843. Here he took rank among the leading men of the county and was frequently called to positions of trust and honor. He was twice elected county treasurer and represented the district two terms in the state legislature. During all his life lie enjoyed the respect of all classes of people for his good judgment, strict integrity and unfailing courtesy. He died March 21, 1877.

George Wesley Money was born March 16, 1824, in Fairfax county, Va. In early life imbibing a hatred for the institution of slavery, he left his native state and sought a home in Ohio, living for a while in Richland county. In April, 1850, he came to West Unity and lived there for some eighteen months, when he removed to the farm where he spent the greater part of his life, the land at that time being covered by an unbroken forest. His early education was confined to the log school-house of his day, with the addition thereto of a five-months' term at the Martinsburg academy, in Knox county, under the tutorage of Charles Martin, in the winter of 1846-47, his room-mate being William Windom, afterwards United States senator from Minnesota. Soon after his removal to West Unity, Mr. Money was elected to the office of township clerk, which office he filled for several years, until, in 1854, he was elected justice of the peace of Brady township (his commission being signed by Governor Medill and Secretary William Trevitt), which office he held nearly twenty-one years. On June 19, 1875, the Republican party placed Air. Money at the head of their county ticket as a candidate for representative in the state legislature. He was elected at the following October election, carrying the full Republican vote of the county.

Francis M. Carter was born in Loudoun county, Va., April 11, 1828. His advantages in youth were limited, and he received only a common school education. He came to Williams county in 1850, and purchased an interest in Dr. Kent's drug store and enlarged it to a stock of general merchandise. During the remainder of his life he was actively engaged in mercantile pursuits. He was elected to the state legislature in the fall of 1877, and served in the regular and special sessions of 1878 and 1879. Besides the above, he held various other positions of honor and trust. He died November 11, 1885.

William Letcher came to Williams county in a comparatively early day, soon became active in business and political circles, and for a long time was regarded as one of the leading business men and politicians in the county. His acquaintance and business interests were very extensive and for years he was probably the best known man in the county. He was elected to the state legislature in the fall of 1879, and served one term. His death occurred March 25, 1886, in the seventieth year of his age.

Joseph W. Williams, M.D., was born in Williams county, Ohio, April 15, 1852. He attended the public schools in his youth, afterward the Bryan normal school, studied his profession for three years with Dr. P. O. Jump, of Bryan, following which he attended medical lectures, and graduated at Cincinnati in 1878. He began practice the same year at Bridgewater Centre, in Williams county, in connection with R. F. Lamson, which association was continued for two and a half years, when Dr. Williams removed to Edon, where he remained but six months, and then decided upon Montpelier as a permanent location. A partnership was formed between himself and Messrs. John Allen and J. W. Starr, for the purpose of carrying on the drug business. In 1886 Dr. Williams was elected coroner of Williams county, but after serving one term declined a renomination. In 1891 he was elected to the state legislature, but ill health caused him to again retire from politics, at the end of one term. In 1902 he was elected auditor of

Theodore S. Carvin was horn in Allen county, Indiana, May 10, 1850. When he was hut thirteen years of age his parents died, and he remained with his guardian until lie was sixteen, attending school and assisting in a store. He began life for himself soon thereafter, accepting a clerkship in a drug store at Bryan, where he remained until 1877,, and then located at Edon, where he purchased the drug store of J. Aller. In the same year he was appointed postmaster at Edon, and became prominently identified with the business interests of the place. In 1893 he was elected to the state legislature and served one term.

The first mention of this officer upon the records is found in the journal of the Williams county court of common pleas, of date of April 5, 1824, where it is recorded that "John Evans was also appointed by the court, Recorder for the county of Williams." The following successors in this office are given in the order of their service : Horace

Of the first corps of officials for Williams county, probably none occupied at that time a more responsible position than John Evans, who served in the dual capacity of clerk of courts and recorder. The family of this gentleman was widely known among the early residents of the Upper Maumee valley. Coming from Kentucky during the first years of the last century, the family lived for a time in Ross and Fayette counties, Ohio, and, in 1823, removed to Williams county, locating in the vicinity of Fort Defiance. Different members of the family are mentioned frequently in the early official records, and the name is preserved to posterity in the cognomen of the little village of Evansport, situated near the boundary line between Defiance and Williams.

Horace Sessions was a gentleman whose moral, social and professional qualities were widely known and highly valued throughout Northwestern Ohio. He was born in Painesville, Ohio, April 16, 1812, and removed to defiance in 1833, being the first lawyer to locate permanently in old Williams county. As the result of a severe illness he became a cripple at twelve years of age, and that misfortune caused him to turn to the legal profession, in which he won a reasonable measure of both fame and fortune. When the county seat was removed to Bryan he did not follow it, but remained in Defiance, where he practiced his profession for thirty-five years. He died suddenly, June 6, 1868, at Adrian, Michigan, where he had stopped off to visit a friend, as he was returning home from the Republican national convention.

Jacob Youse was born in Franklin county. Pa.. September 30. 1820, and came to Bryan, July 24. 1841, where he built the first tannery ever seen in the county and followed the business six years. In October,

1842, he was elected county recorder, and in 1845 was re-elected. In 1847 he was chosen justice of the peace for Pulaski township, and, at the expiration of his term became a dealer in real estate, and a farmer. In the fall of 1857 he was elected clerk of the Common Pleas court, and was re-elected in i860, proving- a very efficient and popular officer. In 1864 he went to Gallatin, Tenn., as superintendent for Capt. W. A. Hunter, assistant quartermaster. Up to the beginning of the Civil war Mr. Youse was a Democrat, but after that he was a Republican. He died April 6, 1888.

Milton B. Plummer was a native of Ross county, Ohio, where his birth occurred January 2. 1818. He was reared in Ross county to manhood, where he acquired a fair district school education. By trade he was a woolen manufacturer, but his life was diversified with a number of different employments. At the age of twenty-two he began his career as a school teacher, at which he engaged both in his native county and in Williams. In November, 1841, he came to Williams county, stopping first in Springfield township, where he began teaching, and Williams county was ever after his home. In the spring of 1844 he moved to West Unity and embarked in merchandising. In 1848 he was elected county recorder by the Democratic party and moved to Bryan. In the spring of 1851 he was appointed county auditor to fill the unexpired term of Jacob Bowman, resigned. He continued as such until the term expired, afterward acting as deputy county auditor three years. He was one of the census enumerators for i860, and in 1862 was appointed route agent on the Toledo & Wabash railroad. In the fall of 1863 he resigned this position to fill the office of clerk of courts of Williams county, to which he had been elected by the Union party, and in 1868 was appointed postal clerk on the same railroad on which he had been route agent. In 1874 he was elected mayor of Bryan and justice of the peace, and in 1877 was re-elected to the latter position. He migrated to the west in the early 9o's and died there.

Robert D. Dole was born May 5, 1838, at Salem, Columbiana county, Ohio. He came with his parents to Williams county, in May, 1854, and worked at farming and carpentering until September 1. 1861, when he enlisted in Company H, Thirty-eighth Ohio volunteer infantry, as a private, from which he was discharged November 25, 1863; He then re-enlisted as a veteran, in the same company and regiment, and continued in the service until May 25, 1865, when he was discharged as a non-commissioned officer. Mr. Dole served through the great Shiloh campaign, and also the siege of Corinth ; was among the first to enter that city on its evacuation ; participated in the campaign from Corinth, Miss., to Winchester, Tenn., and from there in the great forced march to Louisville, Ky., a distance of six hundred miles, in the months of August and September. Immediately after this he was in the Perryville and Crab Orchard campaign ; still later in the Stone River, and the Triune and Tullahoma campaigns; then in the Chickamauga and Chattanooga campaigns : was among those who made the gallant charge up Mission Ridge; and there, after his re- enlistment and veteran furlough of thirty days, he rejoined the army and set out with it and Sherman upon the great campaign against Atlanta. He continued with his command until September i, 1864, when, at Jonesboro, Georgia, in that terrible charge upon the enemy's works, he was wounded in the left knee-joint, which necessitated the: amputation of the leg* above the knee. Thus totally disabled, after remaining in different hospitals until May, 1865, he was discharged, having served three years and eight months at the front, in active, hard campaigning. He returned home very much emaciated, and was unable to do anything until January, 1867, when, having been elected by the Republicans to the office of county recorder, he entered upon the duties thereof. He was twice re-elected and served nine years. In politics he was a Republican from the organization of the party, and was one of the delegates from the Sixth Ohio congressional district in the Chicago convention that nominated the lamented Garfield for president. In 1881 the Republicans again put Mr. Dole on their ticket, this time for probate judge, against the Hon. Martin Perky, who was the Democratic candidate for re-election, and who was successful at the polls. In March, 1882, Mr. Dole was commissioned postmaster at Bryan, which office lie held for four years, and, in 1890, was appointed to the same position by President Harrison. Mr. Dole died January 8, 1901.

Thomas J. Coslet came to West Unity, Williams county, before the Civil war, and during that struggle served in the Third Ohio cavalry. In 1881 he was elected county recorder and was re-elected in 1884. In 1892 he was appointed guard in the Ohio penitentiary and was holding that position at the time of his death, November 26, 1893.

County Auditors

The record of the proceedings of the board of commissioners begins with the June term, 1824, when the first meeting was held after the organization of the county. The names of the commissioners are here given, with the year in which each was inducted into the office: In

County Treasurers

The first mention of this officer occurs in the first day's meeting of the first session of the board of commissioners, June 7, 1824, when it was ordered that "Moses Rice be appointed county treasurer for the county of Williams, and hath this day given bond and taken the oath of office." His successors have been: 1825, William Seemans; 1826, Benjamin Leavell ; 1827, Robert Wasson; 1832, William Dawson; 1838, John Lewis; 1839, Sidney S. Sprague; 1840, Elijah Lloyd; 1842, John Cameron; 1846, Reuben H. Gilson; 1850, William A. Hunter; 1852, John Rings; 1854, Samuel Ayers; 1856, Elisha G. Dennan; 1858, Nathan B. Townsend; i860, Andrew J. Tressler; 1864, William H. Keck; 1866, John B. Grim; 1870, Oliver G. Smith; 1872, Melvin M. Boothman; 1876, Elisha M. Ogle; 1880, John Bailey; 1884, Samuel K. Swisher; 1888, George Ruff; 1892, George P. Elliott; 1896, Daniel Deemer; 1898, J. Ellsworth Scott ; 1902, Willard Bradhurst; 1906, Frank Culbertson.