HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY - 975 (RETURN TO THE TITLE PAGE) and Anna Goodlach. The Goodlach family located in Berlin Township, where Henry died at the age of sixty-three and his wife at seventy-two. They were both born in Hesse Kassel, Germany, and were loyal members of the Lutheran Church. Philip Diehl after his marriage began life as a renter on farms in Berlin Township, but after three years thus employed he moved to Milan Township, bought 79 3/4 acres, to which he devoted his energies and management until his death on July 2, 1892. Philip Diehl was a good citizen, a good man, faithful to his obligations to family, church and society, and enjoyed the love and respect of all who knew him. He was reared my the faith of the Catholic Church, and died in that same- faith. Politically he was a democrat. Since the death of her husband ,Mrs. Diehl has continued to live at the old homestead, and her declining years are sustained and comforted by the presence of her son Henry and her daughter Elizabeth, both of whom are unmarried. Mrs. Diehl owns seventy-five acres included in the old homestead, also two lfarms, of seventy-nine and forty-seven acres that lie not far distant from the present home, and just across the road her son Henry has a fine farm of seventy-one acres. This place is located three miles north of the Village of Milan. Altogether the farm is known as the Lone Star Farm. "In general improvement it bears favorable comparison with any of the best farms in Milan Township. A conspicuous feature on the place is the large red barn, on a foundation 30 by 46 feet, conspicuously displayed on one of the gable ends is painted a large white star, from which designation the farm receives its name. The family occupy a substantial , modern home of nine rooms, and they are people who get a great deal out of life, enjoy home comforts, and move in the best social circles. As a farmer Henry Diehl carries on his industry on mixed principles, growing crops of oats, corn, wheat, and keeping some good grades of livestock, including six good horses, five or six head of cattle and from eighteen to twenty hogs. Henry Diehl as was also true of the other children, received a good education in Erie County. married brother Philip also lives on the old homestead, while another sister Helen is the wife of John Fischer, of Milan Township, and the mother of two sons, William and Walter. All the family are members and attendants of the Catholic Church, and Henry Diehl and his brother are democrats. Henry has been the recipient of several honors in local offices in his township. WILLIAM ROSEKELLY. By reason of the extensive holdings and the interests as an agriculturist and by his long standing as a citizen, William Rosekelly deserves first mention among the citizens of Milan Township. He represents a family that during more than sixty years of residence in this part of Ohio has worked out a commendable destiny from beginnings in comparative poverty. Mr. Rosekelly himself has now reached a point in his career where he well could afford to withdraw from the heavier responsibilities and burdens of affairs and enjoy a well earned leisure. He is one of the largest landholders in Milan Township and has done much to raise the general average of the farming and stock raising industry in his section of Erie County. His birth occurred at the Village of Huron, Ohio, January 15, 1851. His parents were Edward and Mary (Jeffrey) Rosekelly. They were both natives of Cornwall, England, and for several generations both branches had lived in that part of England and were substantial agriculturists. The Jeffreys were especially well to, do people, and grand- father George Jeffrey at one time owned a considerable estate, but for some cause lost most of his property and in order to recoup his fortunes 976 - HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY set out for the United States, being accompanied by his wife and h is married son. It was about 1840 that they arrived in Erie County and there he and his wife spent the rest of their days, passing away in Berlin Township. They were both members of the English Church, and they and their descendants were valuable additions to local citizenship. Edward Rosekelly grew up in his part lof England, and after his marriage to Mary Jeffrey and after the birth of their first child Elizabeth, set out for the United States on a sailing vessel from Liverpool. Six weeks later they landed in New York City, and thence came to Huron County, Ohio. Other members of the family came about the same time, some of them locating in Berlin Township on farms. Edward Rosekelly was at that time in very humble circumstances, and located at Huron Village in order to find immediate employment to meet the needs of his household. While living in Huron there were born to himself and wife the following children, named Edward, Mary, John. William and George. They were all born in or about Huron. Edward Rosekelly lived as a renter on different farms for some years, but finally bought a place on the River road between Huron and Milan in Huron Township. There the parents spent their remaining days and the old homestead is still occupied by their bachelor son John. The father died March 5, 1880, at the age of sixty-five, and the mother passed away in December, 1890, when about seventy years old. They were for a number of years members of the Episcopal Church in Huron. Of their children the son Edward, Jr., was accidentally killed by a falling tree which he was engaged in cutting down on January 19, 1887, being then a single man. George also lost his life by a lamentable accident at Huron, September 2, 1904. A coal car standing on an incline became unbraked and starting down unexpectedly struck him and killed him instantly. He left a wife and four children, and his widow died soon afterwards, on March 22, 1906. The daughter Elizabeth, the oldest of the children, died March 5, 1878, leaving six children. In and about the Village of Huron and on his father's farm William Rosekelly grew to manhood, and his early experiences were characterized by much self-supporting toil in addition to the advantages he received from local schools. In 1877 he married Augusta Evertson. She was born in 1858 in Huron Village, and died at her home in Milan Township, December 23, 1879. Her parents were Nicholas and Ann (Nichols) Evertson, who were early settlers in Erie County. Her father died before Mrs. Rosekelly was born, and her mother lived to 1914, being then past fourscore years. By this marriage Mr. Rosekelly became the father of two children. Grace M., born April 10, 1878, is now the wife of A. W. Paul, who lives on one of Mr. Rosekelly's farms in Milan Township. Arthur W., born September 7, 1879, owns and occupies a farm adjoining the estate of his father, and by his marriage to Maude Harmon has a son Gerald H., born March 31, 1906. On December 8, 1886, Mr. Rosekelly married for his present wife Miss Sarah Hathaway. She was born on the farm where she now lives and where she has spent all her life, and represents an early family in this part of Ohio of old and substantial American stock. She was born January 18, 1852, and was liberally educated. Her parents were Peter A. and Betsey (Stevens) Hathaway, both also natives of Ohio. Her father was born in Oxford Township of Erie County August 2, 1824, and died February 18, 1880. His life was spent as a farmer, and for a great many years he owned the farm now occupied by Mr. and Mrs. Rosekelly, where he constructed a substantial home that is still standing and doing service. Peter Hathaway was a son of Caleb and Rachel (Wood) Hathaway. This Caleb was a son of Capt. Caleb HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY - 977 Hathaway, who was born on the Atlantic Coast in 1761 and died in Milan Township of Erie County in 1834. Captain Caleb for a number of years sailed the Atlantic. ocean as_ captain of a vessel, and at one time was quite wealthy, but suffered severe reverses and started anew in the western wilderness of Erie County. Captain Caleb was married January 1, 1792, to Mrs. Mary (Wire) Maxfield, who died in 1807, at the age of. forty. Their son Caleb was born November 7, 1797. Both Captain Caleb and his son Caleb spent their last years on the old homestead which is now the home of Mr. and Mrs. Homer Rosekelly. Rachel Wood, who became the wife of Caleb Hathaway, was born in New- York State December 2, 1805, and died December 22, 1893, and was laid to rest. by the side of her husband in Milan Village. In the earlier generations the Hathaways were of the orthodox Quaker stock, and the male members of the family voted regularly with the whigs and later with the republicans. After their marriage Mr. and Mrs. Rosekelly moved to their present farm, and he has used his resources most intelligently and in the course of years has accumulated nearly 500 acres of some of the finest land in Milan Township and in Erie County. As a farmer he has never been wasteful ip his methods, and for many years has produced perhaps as large a volume of crops as any other agriculturist in his section of tlth state. His extensive land holdings are improved with five complete sets of farm buildings. His fields produce the staple crops of corn, wheat, oats and potatoes, and each farm is well stocked with high grade animals. For a number of years Mr. Rosekelly carried on an extensive business in the feeding of live stock, and much of his prosperity came from this source. To their marriage was born only one son, Rowland, born April 3, 1888, and who died at the age of sixteen while a student in the Sandusky High School. Mr. and Mrs. Rosekelly are members of the Milan Presbyterian Church, in which he has served as an elder and trustee for a number of years. In politics he is a republican, and his son is similarly disposed in his political faith. REV. GEORGE J. BARTLETT. In Rev. George J. Bartlett is found one of the most wholesome and human of philosophers and most courageous religious teachers that Erie County has known. Since 1880 he has been in charge of the meetings of the Society of Friends at Page's Corners, also for fourteen years during this time was in charge of the meetings at Berlinville and the first two years had the charge at Comptown, and the fragrance of his faith, his zeal, energy and devotion, unite in the making of a career of more than average purpose and usefulness. Reverend Bartlett was born at Greenwich, Ohio, January 3, 1842, and is a son of James and Phoebe A. (Barnes) Bartlett, the former born at Tuckerton, New Jersey, and the latter in New York City. The parents were married at Tuckerton, where Mrs. Bartlett had been a teacher, and in May, 1839, after the birth of two daughters, came to Ohio, by way of the Hudson River and the Erie Canal, Buffalo and Lake Erie to Huron, and thence by teams through Erie County to Huron County, locating at Greenwich. They were members of the Society of Friends and found a church of their faith there, and were soon established in a small log cabin home. The church at that point had been founded by Quakers who had gone before, and was located in a . large log meeting-house, and Mr. and Mrs. Bartlett soon became active in the work of the denomination. They also engaged in agricultural pursuits, on a farm of 109 acres, of which only a small part had been cleared of timber, and the remaining years of their lives were passed in the development and cultivation of this property. They con- 978 - HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY tinned to work devotedly in the church, in which both were deacons, and were thus connected when they died, the father passing away March 3, 1886; aged seventy-seven years, and the mother in 1884, when seventy-five years of age. George J. Bartlett was brought up as a Quaker and was educated in the schools of Greenwich, being engaged in agricultural work and preaching in Huron County until 1880. In that year he came to Milan Township, Erie County, to build up the congregations at Pages Corners and I3erlinville, both of which had been founded by his parents. Here he found only twenty-two members at one place and twenty-three at the other, but during the time he has labored here he has increased the congregations many times over, and with the exception of 2 1/2 years in charge at Comptown, has devoted his entire time and labors to his flocks at these places. Rev. Mr. Bartlett was married to Miss Clara Kellogg, who was born in Fairfield Township, Huron County, Ohio, October 22, 1849. She was there reared and educated and after her marriage became a member of the Society of Friends, in the faith of which she died May 16, 1886. Reverend Bartlett was again married when united with Miss Mary Anna Rosekelley, who was born at Huron, Erie County, Ohio, August 20, 1846, reared and educated there, a daughter of Edward and Mary (Jeffrey) Rosekelley, natives of England and members of the English Church. They were married in their native land, and when their first child, Elizabeth, was four months old, in June, 1842, they emigrated to America in a sailing vessel, arriving at Montreal, Canada, after a long voyage and then making their way to Buffalo, New York, and on to Huron, where were born their other five children: Edward, Mary Anna, John, William and George. Of these, Mrs. Bartlett, John and William are still living. After their marriage, Rev. Mr. and Mrs. Bartlett settled on Mrs. Bartlett's farm of eighty-eight acres, which she had purchased in 1888. Rev. Mr. Bartlett had bought a small place adjoining, on which he had erected a fine eight-room home and good farm buildings, which are still kept in the best of condition. On Mrs. Bartlett's farm there are a large house and barn, erected by the former owner, Peter Hathaway, an early settler of Milan Township. The crops from these properties include corn, wheat, oats, potatoes and fruit, and Rev. Mr. and Mrs. Bartlett have local reputations as skilled agriculturists. They have an important place in the life of the community, and particularly in regard to its spiritual welfare, Mrs. Bartlett being a member and elder of the Friends Church. Both have been active workers in the cause of prohibition, and have been stanch supporters of all movements making for advancement in morality, education and good citizenship. GEORGE M. SANDS. After many years spent in tilling the soil of Milan Township, George M. Sands is now living in comfortable retirement at his attractive cottage home, located on the Abbott Road, in Milan Township. While not born here, Mr. Sands was brought to this township as a child of three years, and his entire career has been passed within its borders. He has contributed in various ways to the advance, went and development of his community, and bears the good will and esteem of his fellow men, among whom he has lived a. life of integrity, honesty and probity. Mr. Sands was born at Loughlin Corners, in Berlin Township, Eric County, Ohio, May 29, 1852, and is a son of William and Alvina (Sales) Sands. William Sands was born at Erie, Pennsylvania, where his father died, and following that event his widowed mother, Nancy (Loughlin) Sands, brought her children to Erie County, Ohio, settling HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY - 979 in the little colony at Loughlin Corners. After some years there she came to Milan .Township, and here her death occurred when she was eighty-six years old, some time during the late '80s. She had three children : William ; George L., who married and left three children at his death ; and Julia, who married John Wetmore, and died when about fifty years of age, leaving two sons and two daughters. William Sands was educated in the district schools and brought up to agricultural pursuits, in which he was engaged throughout his life. He was married in Berlin Township, and in 1855 came to Milan Township; where he was living at the outbreak ,of the war between the North and the South. When the call came for 100-day men, in 1861, he enlisted in the One Hundred and Forty4ifth Regiment, Ohio National Guard, in which he served 128 days, although he was never called upon to do service outside of the state. His military service completed, he returned to the peaceful pursuits of agriculture, and through thrift, industry, energy and good manager rent accumulated and put under cultivation a fine and valuable farm of 146 acres. In the operation of his property Mr. Sands displayed the possession of skill as a farmer, reaping rich returns from his labors, and in the evening of life was able to retire from active pursuits, and with his wife went to Milan, where Mrs. Sands passed away in 19043 at the age of seventy years, the father surviving until January 15, 1909, and being seventy-nine years of age at the time of his demise. Both Mr. and Mrs. Sands were highly esteemed in the community where they had lived so long, their many excellencies of heart and mind endearing them to a wide circle of friends. As neighbors they were kind and sympathetic, _ always ready to generously assist those less fortunate than they, and in -their daily life lived their religion. In their deaths the community Lost two of the kind of people whose activities and influence have served to build up and develop this part of the state. They were the parents of two sons : George M., of this review ; and James, a successful farmer of Milan Township, who married Lavina Jenkins, daughter of James Jenkins, and has two children who have been well edUcated,—Roy, who married Josie Brown, of Columbus, Ohio, and Forest, who resides with her parents. George M. Sands attended the district schools of Milan Township, devoting himself to his studies during the winter terms and spending his summers in assisting his father and learning the rudiments of farming. Thus, when he arrived at manhood, he was well trained in body and mind, fitted to enter upon a successful career in the realm of agriculture. Becoming half owner of the old homestead, he began to make numerous improvements, these including a fine 12-room house, painted two shades of green, a large barn, 34 by 76 feet, and commodious tool shed, both painted red, and other suitable buildings. To the cultivation and improvement of this property he devoted many years of industry and made it one of the really valuable farms of the township. By recent purchase he also owns 140 acres of highly improved land on the Abbott Road, where he and Mrs. Sands are living quietly, enjoying the fruits of their many years of earnest labor. Here they have an attractive cottage, painted white, with yellow trimming, and furnished tastefully and comfortably, as well as being equipped with every modern convenience. All of the buildings on both farms are substantial and commodious, and form material contributions to the upbuilding of Milan Township. Mr. Sands was married in 1874 in Milan Township to Miss Mary F. Turner, who was born at Fitchville, Huron County, Ohio, February 4, 1851, the estimable daughter of George and Lydia (Thatcher) Turner, both of whom were born in Pennsylvania. Mrs. Sands' parents were 980 - HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY married in Richland County, Ohio, from whence they removed to Huron County, and there resided on a farm near Fitchville. There the father died at the age of forty-nine years. He was'a consistent member of the Baptist Church, in which he was a deacon for a number of years, was one of the highly esteemed and influential men of his community, and in his political views was a very decided republican. The mother, who was also a devout member of the Baptist Church, died at the age of eighty-six years: To Mr. and Mrs. Sands there has been born one daughter ; Cora, born March 4, 1875, educated in the public schools of Milan, and became an artist on the piano. She devoted her time to her music until her marriage to Clinton R. Balcom, who was born, reared and educated in Milan Township, and now occupies the old home of Mr. Sands and manages the Abbott Road farm, in addition to which he owns a good farm of his own. Mr. Sands accredits much of his success in life to the assistance of his devoted wife, whose shrewdness, acumen and business ability have frequently helped him overcome stubborn obstacles which have arisen in his path. Mrs. Sands was well educated in her girlhood, attending the graded schools and the Milan High School, and as a young woman was a popular and capable teacher in the public schools. She has been a devoted and faithful helpmeet, and; like her husband, enjoys the respect and esteem of a, wide circle of friends and acquaintances. Mr. Sands has never been a politician, but has done his full share in aiding his community to better things, and when progressive movements have been brought forward has always lent his influehce in their behalf, thus contributing materially to the welfare of the locality in which his long and useful career has been passed. GUSTAVUS BECK. Although more than a decade of years have passed since the death of Gustavus Beck, numerous evidences of his residence in Erie County are to be found in structures erected by his skill and good workmanship. For many years a carpenter, in the evening of life he adopted agriculture as his vocation, and his death occurred at his home on the Abbott Bridge Road, March 2, 1905. Mr. Beck was born near Georgetown, District of Columbia, October 19, 1816, a son of George and Rebecca Beck, the former a native of County Kent, England, and the latter of the Highlands of Scotland. They came to this country as young people and were probably married in the District of Columbia, where they resided for a number of years, later going to Baltimore, Maryland, where both died. They were the parents of two daughters and four sons. Three of the sons, Walter, Lemuel and Zebulon, lived in Baltimore, Maryland. Like his brothers, Gustavus Beck adopted the trade of carpenter in his youth, spending six years and six months as an apprentice and journeyman. After some years in the District of Columbia, he came to Erie County, Ohio, with his friends, John and William Black, all locating in Vermillion Township, from whence young Beck subsequently came to Milan Township. Here he met the young lady who later became his wife, and in Milan Township the remainder of his life was passed. A master of his trade, he was connected with the building of many of the largest structures erected in this part of Erie County during his day, and a number of these still stand as monuments to his mechanical genius and conscientious workmanship. When he finally retired from his trade, he took up farming on -his wife's homestead, and there passed away, March 2, 4905, aged eighty-six years. Mr. Beck was a stalwart democrat in his political views. He was not an office seeker, but took an intelligent and active interest in affairs as they affected his community, and was always willing to do his full share in HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY - 981 helping movements for the general public welfare.. His fraternal connection was with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, at Milan, and he was fond of the companionship of his fellows, but his chief pleasure was found in his home. His career was characterized by honorable and straightforward dealing with his Fellows and his life record contains no stain or blemish. Mr. Beck was married in Milan Township, April 19, 1850, to Miss M. Jane Hollister, who Was born in Berlin Township, Erie County, Ohio, September 8, 1833, and who has lived in Erie County throughout her life, with the exception of the year 1854-55, when she was a resident of Wisconsin. For fifty-five years she has made her home at her present residence on Abbott Bridge Road, in Milan Township. She is a daughter of Edwin and Caroline (Webb) Hollister, the former born in Connecticut, in 1809. In 1816 he was brought to Erie County, Ohio, by his parents, Jesse and Anna (Horton) Hollister, and the family lived in Berlin Township from that time until Mrs. Beck's grandparents became aged people, when they went to live at the home of their son, Ashley Hollister, in Huron Township, where the grandfather died at the age of eighty-six years and the grandmother when seventy-three years of age. He was a whig in his political views, and Mrs. Hollister was a member-of the Baptist Church. After their marriage, Edwin and Caroline (Webb) Hollister went to live in Berlin Township. Thp.re :they engaged in agricultural pursuits, and the mother died on the farm July 25;1893, the father passing away at the Old Soldiers' Home, at Sandusky, Ohio, January 13, 1898. She was a Baptist and he a Universalist in religious belief, and in political matters Mr. Hollister was originally a whig and later a republican. During the Civil war he enlisted in Company C, Fifty-fifth - Regiment, Ohio Volunteer Infantry, and participated in several engagements, but after eleven months of fighting was finally taken sick and after a period in the hospital received his honorable discharge because of disability. Of the six sons' and six daughters that grew up, seven are yet living. Three other children died young. Mrs. Beck is the eldest ; Edward, Jr., married Susan Roscoe, who left three children at her death,-Bert, of Cleveland, who is married and has no children, Minnie the wife of Isaac East of Conneaut, Ohio, has seven children, and Vira the widow of Clay Hickock of Conneaut, has one son ; Anna,. of Burton Township, married William Bartow, a Vanfarmer, who served three years as a member of Company B, One Hundred and First Regiment, Ohio Volunteer Infantry, during the Civil war, saw much hard fighting, although the greater part of the time a wagonmaster, and died July 9, 1872, as a result of disease contracted in the service, while his widow lives near Greenwich, -Ohio, and is the mother of four children,— Frank, deceased, Cora, George and Fannie, all of whom married and had children ; Jesse, a resident of Toledo, who is married and has a family ; Amelia, the wife of Joseph Roscoe, of Toledo, with a family ; Harvey, of Huron, who is married and has a family ; and Frances, who is the wife of William Laughlin, whose sketch appears elsewhere in this volume. Of this family, Jay, Edwin, Jr., Jesse and Frederick, as well as the father, all were soldiers in the Union Army, and Jay died while in the service. The others now deceased are James, Cecelia and Lenora. Edwin Hollister, Jr., enlisted May 6, 1861, in Company B, known as the Erie Rangers, of the Third Ohio Cavalry.. After several engagements, the company and regiment were Veteranized and served until September, 1865. Mr. Hollister was with the forces of General Wilson in the great raid from Gravelly Spring, Tennessee, to Macon, Georgia, in 1865, and on several occasions was wounded, once by a sabre cut on top of the head, once by a musket ball through the right leg, and once 982 - HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY in the chest, where he still carries a bullet as a memento of his brave and faithful service. He receives a pension of one slollar a day. Mr. Hollister is a practical mechanic, and although he was for nine years a tenant of the Soldiers' Home, is now making his home with his sister, Mrs. Beck. Mrs. Beck has no children. During her long residence in Milan she has been the eye-witness to many changes and developments, and has done her full share in advancing the community. She has many friends in her home community, and is highly respected and esteemed by all who know her. WILLIAM MCREYNOLDS. One of the commanding constructive figures of Northern Ohio was the late William McReynolds, who died in Milan June 3, 1904. While he lived in Erie County only a short time, his broad and varied operations as a contractor, railroad builder, and in many other constructive enterprises, made him a familiar figure in this and other counties of Northern Ohio. Few men accomplished a more substantial success in a lifetime than the late William McReynolds. He was born in Ireland St. Patrick's Day, March 17, 1830, and was of old Scotch-Irish ancestry. When not yet in his teens he was brought by his parents to the United States on a sailing vessel, and the family located in Cleveland, where the father soon died and the widowed mother was left to take care of her children with very limited means. One of the sons, John, served as a soldier in the Civil war and died from illness while still in the army. The two daughters are also now deceased. The late William McReynolds gained his education in the schools of Cleveland, and while still a boy showed great ability in practical mathematics, his faculty as a calculator being of great aid to him in his subsequent career as a contractor. He met and overcame many obstacles in his youth, came to know men and hard work on intimate terms, was a natural leader, and after building up a business as a contractor had the good fortune to assemble about him picked men and was nearly always successful in his undertakings. Asa contractor his equipment and staff of employes were used in constructing most of Cleveland's pavements for many years. He built the Fairmont reservoir and handled other large constructive undertakings. He had almost a genius at figuring out cost and all the details of a contract and while properly safeguarding himself against failure was known for the efficiency and reliability with which his work was always performed. He contracted for and built the Lake Shore electric street car line from Cleveland to Lorain, and served as president of the company for several years. He was also the pioneer in the commercial pork packing industry at Cleveland, and packed and shipped the first barrel, of pork sent out of that city as a regular commercial proposition. While he was identified with the pork packing business he fell into a vat of scalding \Veer and nearly lost his life. So remarkable was his recovery that the physicians attending him at the hospital made a special record of his case. For a number of years Mr. McReynolds was associated with Messrs. Price and Stewart of Norwalk in the manufacture of brick. They had a large plant in Huron County, and Mr. McReynolds invented a new process for paving brick which enjoyed high favor on the market. In later years he retired from active business and beught a large farm in Newbury Township near Burton, twenty-five miles froth Cleveland, and lived there until February, 1904, when he came to Milan to his wife's old home on Elm Street, and died there a few months later. In politics he was a republican, and somewhat active in municipal affairs in Cleveland. Mr. McReynolds also made a record of faithful service as a soldier in the Civil war, and was a much esteemed member HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY - 983 of the Grand Army Post at Cleveland. He was reared in the Episcopal Church, but later joined the Christian denomination after his first marriage. At Cleveland he married Miss Minerva E. Denton. She was born in Huron County, and died at Cleveland when about sixty years of age. She was an active worker in the1 Christian Church. She became the mother of five sons and two daughters, the daughters dying as children. The sons were : Rolland F., who is married and lives in Cleveland, where he is in the contracting business; William D., who died in August, 1915, leaving three children ; John, an extensive contractor at Cleveland; Edwin, in the plumbing business at Cleveland, and the father of two sons; Bert, a railroad man in Cleveland. In Milan October 7, 1903, Mr. McReynolds married Miss Jessie M. McKay. She was born in the comfortable old house on Elm Street in Milan which she still owns and occupies and where her husband passed away. Her birth occurred June 1, 1861, and she grew up in this locality, attended the high school and normal, and also a private school, and at the age of sixteen did her first work as a teacher. For twenty-five years she was one of the most popular and capable educators in this section of Ohio. She comes of the old McKay clan of Scotland. Some of the McKays came across the ocean to America during the reign of Queen Anne and acquired the entire section of the Province of New York, now Ulster County. Through another branch Mrs. McReynolds is descended from the Van Rensselaers of the pioneer Holland Dutch stock of New York. Mrs. McReynolds' grandfather was David McKay, who grew up in his native state and married Miss Margaret Hadley, also of that state. In later years they came to Ohio, and spent the close of their lives in Milan, where David died in 1849 when past eighty years of age, and his wife some twenty years later at the age of ninety-three. David McKay served as justice of the peace in New York State, was a farmer by occupation, and was always active in local affairs. John McKay, father of David, owned a large estate in New York and gave each of his children a farm. The son David was a college educated man, though his advantages were not quite so liberal as those of many of the other children. David McKay and wife had five children, two sons and three daughters. Of these, William L. McKay, the father of Mrs. McReynolds, was reared in New York State and married there Miss Mary Forest Dunlop. She was born in Glasgow, Scotland, and when six years of age was brought to America by her parents, who died in New York State. She grew up there and was reared in the home of Rev. James Williams of Orange, New Jersey. From 1850 until their death William McKay and wife lived in Milan and at the old home' on Elm Street which they built and in which Mrs. McReynolds now lives. William McKay died there in July, 1901, and his widow on February 6, 1907. Both were members of the Episcopal Church. In the McKay family were the following children : William J. died when six months old ; George H., who was born in Bellevue, Ohio, October 6, 1849, was only six months of age when his parents removed to Milan, and he has lived in that village ever since, having never married. He makes his home with his sister Mrs. McReynolds. Early in life he learned the trade of carpenter and painter, later for nearly forty years had a somewhat extended reputation as a bee keeper, and afterwards bouglit a farm in Huron County near Norwalk. He is a man of many positive virtues, and one of the leaders in the temperance movement in Northern Ohio. He has himself never chewed or smoked tobacco, has never taken intoxicating liquors, and is never known to have used an oath in his life. He is also an inventor of some note, and owns a patent on a harrow and has also perfected a sun's rays generator. In politics he 984 - HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY takes broad socialistic views. The next in the McKay family is Margaret J., wife of Willis M. Driver, a carpenter of Milan, and their children are Forest H., Thomas W., Leo M. and Hazel D. Agnes E. is the wife of Bert Root, a farmer in Oxford Township of Erie County, and they lost both their children, a son and a daughter. Lenora M., who was loved as the flower of the family, died when only fourteen years of age. Mrs. McReynolds has for many years been one of the social leaders in the Milan community. She is a member of the Episcopal Church and one of the charter members and vice president of the Fortnightly Travelers Club and of other organizations. She is a former president and is now vice president of the local W. C. T. U. and also belongs to the Milan Grange, Patrons of Husbandry. MADISON MIXTER. It was some of the fine old Dutch stock that was so valuable as a factor in clearing up and developing the commonwealth of New York State that was introduced into the rural communities of Erie County in the early days by the Mixter family. Mr. Madison Mixter, whose home is now in the Village of Milan, has spent his active career largely as a farmer in this county, and has developed possessions which indicate fully his vigor as a business man, and he has also enjoyed enviable and honorable relations with community affairs. Going back several generations, his great-grandfather was Daniel Mixter, who was born either in Massachusetts or Connecticut in 1775. The first name of his wife was Esther, and she was born in 1765. They were married in New England, and spent all their lives there where Daniel died October 29, 1841, and his wife on December 20, 1850. They were farmers, thrifty and strong, and worthy to be the heads of a long family line. Next in line comes George Mixter, who was born January 7, 1795, and died June 8, 1878. He married Chloe Calkins on May 22, 1820, and after their marriage they settled on a farm in New England, and spent the rest of his life there. Late in life he became a minister of the Liberal Baptist Church. His wife, who was born November 10, 1800, and died in January, 1895, was the daughter of David and Chloe Calkins, who were New England farmers. Rev. George Mixter and wife had the following children : George Gilbert, born February 10, 1821; Emerson, born May 17, 1823; Lovisa, born April 29, 1826; Addison, and Madison, twins, born July 12, 1829. Madison Mixter, Sr., who was born on a farm close to the line between Massachusetts and Connecticut, learned the trade of shoemaker under his brother Emerson, and subsequently became a skilled maker of custom shoes and boots, and had a shop near Sandusky for many years. About the time he was of age Addison Mixter came from the East and made settlement in Perkins Township of Erie County,.and his wife came to Erie County with her parents previous to that time, when she was six years of age. After their marriage they moved to Iowa, lived two or three years in that part of the then Far West, but returned to Perkins Township and not long afterward Addison Mixter took up farming as his regular vocation. In March, 1864, he moved to Milan Township, establishing his home on a farm on the, east side of the Huron River two miles north of the Village of Milan. That was his home until his death on August 27, 1890. His wife, who before her marriage was Miss Jane Wolverton, was born in 1828 and died March 27, 1907. They were members of the Presbyterian Church, in which he served as an elder, and he was a very ardent republican. Many years he served as township assessor of real estate and personal, property. The children of Addison Mixter and wife were : A. Lindolph, born September 10, 1852, and died February 18, 1853; Charles W., born PICTURE OF MADISON AND NELLIE E. MIXTER HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY - 985 April 5, 1854, now living in California, has three children, Breta L., Josephine C. and Susan Lovisa all of whom are married. George, Jr., was born June 21, 1857., and died December 10, 1859. Emerson, born March 1, 1860, lives in San Diego, California, and has a son Arthur M., also married. Lovisa, born May 21, 1862, died December 4, 1897. Madison was, next in age. Samuel G., born December 27, 1866, died November 5, 1893, leaving one son, now deceased. Chloe C., born April 25, 1870, died May 9, 1893, after her marriage to Clayton W. Graham.   Mr. Madison Mixter was born June 5, 1864, at the old homestead, on the Huron River near Milan Village. That was the locality which furnished him the associations for his childhood and youth, and from the country schools he continued his education in the Milan Normal. In the house where he was born he spent forty-seven years and in that time developed many interests as a farmer and came to enjoy the confidence and respect of a large community. On leaving his country home he moved to a beautiful estate close to Milan Village, comprising 171/2 acres of ground, and with a substantial eight-room house. He carries on farming on the intensive plan though with limited acreage, and he still owns the old homestead of eighty acres, which he has improved with a set of solid farm buildings, including a big bank barn on a foundation 34 by 66 feet. This farm has some of the best improvements found on any place. in Erie County, while the house is one of the oldest in this section of Erie County, but still doing good service. Running water is supplied throughout the barn and the feed lots and also to the house. On December 17, 1890, Mr. Mixter was married in Milan Township to Miss Nellie E. Cummins. She was born in Milan August 21, 1865, finished her education in the Normal School, and spent eight years as a successful and popular teacher before her marriage. Her parents were Capt. Enos C. and Harriet A. (Humiston) Cummins. Her father was born at Lorain, Ohio, December 25, 1826, and was of Scotch stock and ancestry. The mother was born at Friendship, New York, February 13, 1829, and was of English lineage. They were married February 22, 1853, in Milan, and spent the rest of their days in Erie County, where the mother died in the home of her daughter Mrs. Mixter in Milan, February 5, 1910. Capt. Enos Cummins was best known as a sailor, having gained his first experience on a lake vessel when a boy, and following the Great Lakes in almost every capacity up to captain, for a great many years. He was master of different vessels for over twenty years, and while in command of the Fannie Jones he went down with his boat in a storm just outside the breakwater at Cleveland, Ohio. His death occurred August 12, 1890. He was one of the best known of the old time lake captains, and had friends all around the Great Lakes. In politics he was a republican, and his wife was a member of the Presbyterian Church, which he also attended. Three sons comprise the household circle of Mr. and Mrs. Mixter. George Addison, born September 20, 1891, was well educated in the public schools and is now living at Philadelphia ; he married Sarah M. Neeley, and they have a son George A., Jr., born May 21, 1915. Fred Cummins, the second son, was born October 20, 1893. He was educated for the electrical engineering profession by courses in the Scranton School of Correspondence, from which he holds a diploma, was also graduated from the Milan High School and is now following his vocation as electrician in Cleveland ; he married September 6, 1915, Caroline J. Weinbrenner. Madison Clark, the youngest son, was born October 23, 1897, finished the course of the Milan High School in 1915, and is now a capable assistant to his father on the home farm. vol. II-33 986 - HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY Mr. and Mrs. Mixter and their sons are all members of the Presbyterian Church, and at Milan he has served as an elder for the past twenty-five years. Fraternally he is now serving as master, of Erie . Lodge No. 239, F. & A. M., at Milan, and also belongs to Milan Chapter No. 135, R. A. M., and the Council No. 24, R. & S. M. of Norwalk. Both he and his wife are identified with the Eastern Star and he is patron of Edison Chapter No. 112 at 'Milan, and for the past six years Mrs. Mixter has been secretary of the chapter. Their- interests as farmers have naturally brought them into close membership with the Patrons of Husbandry, and for years they have been identified with Milan Grange No. 342, P. of H., in which Mr. Mixter was master five years and he is now master of the County Pomona Grange, having been first elected to that conspicuous honor in 1911. In politics he is a republican. There are few names in Erie County that have so much real significance in agricultural affairs as that of Madison Mixter. RICHARD RAWLE. The career of Richard Rawle of Milan constitutes a steadily progressive success since early boyhood. He worked at a mechanic's trade and in ship building for many years, but eventually took up a new profession and occupation with the pioneer undertaker and embalmer at Milan, and now conducts the best known service in that line in Milan Township. He also carries a large stock of other goods, including wall paper and takes contracts for house decorating and picture framing. For the past twenty-three years he has been an embalmer, having graduated from the Clark School of Embalming at Cleveland in 1892. When the state law went into effect requiring licenses for embalmers, he secured such a state license in 1902. The undertaking house of Mr. Rawle at Milan was established more than thirty-five years ago by Henry L. Wilson. Mr. Rawle became apprenticed to Mr. Wilson in 1883 and after learning the business was taken into partnership. The two were together until 1899, at which time Mr. Rawle bought Mr. Wilson's interest and has since been sole proprietor. He has all the equipment and facilities necessary for his work, including a motor ambulance and a motor touring car. By birth Richard Rawle is a native of Cornwall, England. He was born at Newquay, a popular summer resort in the southwestern part of England, and his birthday was August 5, 1856. , His ancestors for several generations had been Cornishmen. His father, Robert Rawle, was born in Land's End, England, and spent most of his active career as a lead miner in the mines of Cornwall. He died there in 1898 at the age of seventy. He married a native Cornwall girl, Mary Ann Geary, who is still living in Cornwall, hale and vigorous, though in May, 1915, she celebrated her eighty-third birthday. She comes of a very old and hardy stock, and her grandfather was 101 years of age when he died, and had planted his garden only a few months before his death. There is an old painting of this venerable gentleman which shows rugged lines of character as well as physique. The family in England were members of the Congregational Church. Richard Rawle was next to the oldest in a .family of eight children; the names of whom were : Richard, William, Thomas, Henry, Lewis, Bessie, Mary and Anna. All grew to maturity, but Bessie died at the age of twenty-one and Thomas is also deceased. The others are living, and all married except Anna, who lives at home with her mother. Thomas at his death left a widow and children, and had spent two years in America. Richard Rawle and his nephew William are now the only ones in America. At the old home in Southwestern England Richard Rawle spent his childhood and gained some education in the local schools. At the age of fourteen he took up the ship carpenter's trade, and in 1879, at the PICTURE OF GEORGE FEICK HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY - 987 age of twenty-three arrived in the United States. He spent some time at Warren, Pennsylvania, was in the ship yards at Chautauqua Lake, New York, in the Ratelift yards at. Cleveland, and in 1881 came to Milan and spent a year with the Fries ship. yards. He was there when the Golden Age was being built and later helped to construct the tug Shepherd at Huron. He also did work in his trade at Vermilion, and then returned to Milan and started learning an entirely new profession under Mr. Wilson, the pioneer undertaker. Mr. Rawle was first married at Milan to Adelia Spratt, of a well known old family in Milan Township. She died nine years after her marriage, and had lost a daughter, Eva M., and was survived by one son, Robert, who now lives at Norwalk and is married and has a son, Harold. For his second wife Mr. Rawle was married, also in Milan, to Rena Stickradt. She was born in Milan, and educated in the local schools. Her death occurred in 1905, when thirty years of age. For his third wife Mr. Rawle married Miss Elizabeth Mefford. She was born in this section of Northern Ohio thirty-nine years ago and of German parentage. Both her parents are now deceased. She was reared and educated in Erie County and is a confirmed member of the German Evangelical Church. Mr. Rawle is a republican in politics, has always been interested in local affairs, and is well known for his public spirit. He is affiliated with Milan Lodge No. 117 of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. GEORGE FEICK. For half a century much that is substantial and prominent in the City of Sandusky has borne the impress of the individuality of George Feick. Mr. Feick is a contractor and builder whose work finds striking testimony in many familiar structures not only in Erie County but elsewhere. These include some of the notable public and institutional buildings. Many of the qualities of durability and strength which he has introduced into his buildings have been found latent factors in his own character, and accounts for his success. Coming to the United States at the age of seventeen he has molded his destiny by his own efforts, and honorable purpose. He was born at Steinau, Kreis Dieburg, Hesse Darmstadt, January 23, 1849. He was reared in his native land, was confirmed in the Lutheran Church, and had a common school education. For three years he also served an apprenticeship in the cabinetmaker's trade. With this experience and qualifications he set out in 1866 for the new world, and on July 10th of that year joined his brothers, Philip and Adam, in Sandusky. For several years he was employed by Adam Feick, but in 1872 they formed a copartnership, which endured to their mutual satisfaction and success until the death of Adam Feick in 1893. While the Feick brothers were associated in partnership they erected many fine buildings, some of which may be mentioned as follows : Tenth Ward School Building ; Erie County Jail ; a part of the Ohio Soldiers and Sailors Home ; the Lake Shore & Michigan Southern Railroad stations in Sandusky and in Painesville ; Talcott Hall for Oberlin College ; the State Capitol Building at Cheyenne, Wyoming. During the last twenty years Mr. George Feick has been in the contracting and building business alone, and during the greater part of the time has had as his capable associate his son, Emil Augustus Feick. In this time the work has gone forward characterized by the same ability and skill as in earlier years. George Feick was the contractor who built the Law Building of the Ohio State University at Columbus; the Edward Gymnasium for the Ohio Wesleyan University at Delaware ; several buildings for Oberlin College, including the Severance Chemical Laboratory; the Warner Gymnasium; the Carnegie College Library and the Phinney Memorial Chapel, the Men's Building, Rice Hall, Keep Cottage, 988 - HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY the Administration Building; and in 1915 he built the handsome new Sandusky High School Building. Mr. Feick is not only a practical builder, and a man who understands all the technical details of the industry, but possesses a thorough artistic taste and talent, and has employed that not only in his business but in his avocations. Besides his business as a contractor and builder he is a director in the Citizens Banking Company of Sandusky and is president of the Sandusky Telephone Company. His public spirit has led him to accept the post of councilman in Sandusky at different times, and his name and influence are counted upon as strong individual assets in the community. Mr. Feick is a member of the Lutheran Church, is a liberal republican, and has attained thirty-two degrees of the Scottish Rite in Masonry. His first wife was Miss Augusta Ernestine Klotz, who was born at Dresden, Saxony, January 31, 1852, and died December 24, 1888. She was the mother of five children: Emil Augustus, who was born March 20, 1874, was liberally educated in the public schools at Sandusky and and they have two children, George and Mary. Ernestine, born December 7, 1888, married Clarence Handerson. On June 22, 1892, Mr. Feick married his present wife, Minnie A. Klotz. The only child of this union Olga Charlotte was born June 20, 1885. She married Edward Younk, children, Richard and Antonette. Clara Sofia, the second child of Mr. Feick, was born May 30, 1877. George, Jr., was born January 28, 1881. in the contracting and building business with his father. This son married Miss Louise DeLor in 1900, and they became the parents of two in the Ohio State University, and now for a number of years has been is Augustus H., born June 22, 1893. THEODORE J. FINZEL. For nearly half a century the members of the Finzel family have materially influenced the progress and development of various localities in Northern Ohio. The chief center of the family activities has been Milan Township, and the older representative of the name in that locality is Theodore J. Finzel, who has a fine farm located on Rural Route No. 1 out of Milan. It is only a matter of just deserts that a brief record should be given in this history of Erie County pertaining to the Finzel relationship. They are a German family, and Theodore J. Finzel was born in Bavaria November 21, 1863, though nearly all his life has been spent in this country. His parents were George C. and Canda (Schippel) Finzel, who were born in the same locality of Bavaria as their son, and represented old stock that for generations had made their home in Bavaria. George Finzel was a tradesman, both a harness maker and dealer, though later he became a farmer. There were two children born in the old country, Theodore and his sister Sophia. In 1865 this little family and Maria Schippel, the sister of Mrs. Finzel, set out for America. They took passage on a combination steamer and sailing ship at Bremerhaven and after twenty-one days landed in New York City. From there they came on to Sandusky, and there took up their venture in the New World, perhaps more prosperously than most immigrants, since they possessed some means which enabled them to start without the experiences of privation which many early settlers coming from Germany had to endure. George Finzel brought all his money in gold contained in a body belt. Several years later the family moved to Milan Township, where the father bought thirty acres on the Cleveland Road in the eastern part of the township, and there applied himself industriously to farming on the same place now occupied by his son Theodore. By much hard work and by gradual development and improvement year after year they produced a farm notable for its excellent fruits and vegetables. George C. Finzel died at that homestead in February, 1911, HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY - 989 when eighty-four years of age, and his wife passed away in December, 1908, at the age of seventy-six. Maria Schippel, the sister of Mrs. George Finzel and the aunt of Theodore Finzel, was quite a young woman when she came to America, and the sisters were very devoted to each other. She married Adam Wykel of Erie County, and they afterwards took up farming, lived in Townsend Township of Huron County seven years, and finally returned to Milan Township in Erie County, where they bought a small farm, on which Mr. Adam Wykel died in October, 1911, when seventy-three years of age. Mrs. Maria Wykel died January 3, 1914, at the age of sixty-five. All the members of the Finzel and Wykel families were confirmed in Germany in the Lutheran Evangelical Church. Mr. and Mrs. Wykel had three children, The son Theodore is a skilled and high class mechanic, and stands high in the industrial affairs of Lorain County. He was educated in the public schools, and in early life served an apprenticeship in the machine shop of the Lake Shore & Michigan Southern Railway, rose to department foreman, and in 1900 took charge of the engineering department of the National Tube Company's plant at Lorain in Lorain County, and by successive promotions is now assistant master mechanic and has made an excellent record all along the line. He is married, and has three children : Leland, aged eleven • Loda, aged nine; and Theodore, aged three. The only daughter in the Wykel family was Anna, who died in girlhood in 1898. The other son, Frank, is a tool maker and automobile engineer at Elyria, and has one son named Raymond. Mr. Theodore J. Finzel, who is now prosperously managing the old farm formerly owned by his father, was the oldest of three children. His sister Sophia, already mentioned, is the wife of Edward Butler, and lives in Huron County. The daughter Emma is the wife of John Huber, and reference to this family will be found on other pages of this publication. Mr. Finzel, who has never married, has surrounded himself with many comforts, has an excellent home, including a large white eight-room house, surrounded with barns and other substantial farm buildings. JOHN SPRANKEL. Among Milan Township farms that are deserving of mention as places of value in the material sense and as homes of thrifty and energetic citizens, there is the Sprankel place situated on Rural Route No. 1 out of Milan. For more than thirty years the members of the Sprankel family have been known and esteemed in this section of Erie County, and John Sprankel, above named, is one of the successful representatives of the younger generation. He was born on his father's farm in Milan Township on the Berlin Road, February 4, 1886. His parents were Henry and Elizabeth (Schuester) Sprankel. Both were natives of Germany. His mother was born in Kur-Hessen, Germany, and the father was born in Hesse Darmstadt. Both came when young people and alone to the United States. Their parents had spent all their lives in the old country and died there when quite old, and both the Sprankel and Schuester families were of the Reformed Church faith. Henry Sprankel left Germany in 1881 and after arriving in New York City came on to Erie County, and subsequently located a good farm of sixty-five acres in Milan Township. His first wife was Udeck Zeller, and she died not long after they came from Germany to Erie County. She left a number of children, and more extended reference to this branch of the family will be found on other pages under the name George Sprankel. Henry Sprankel married for his second wife Miss Elizabeth Schuester. They were married about thirty years ago, and before his death, which occurred October 29, 1911, when he was seventy-eight years of age, he had continued to prosper and had accumulated a large amount of fine farm land in Erie County. 990 - HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY He was a democrat in politics, and held several local offices, and in church affairs was a Lutheran. Mrs. Sprankel, his widow, is still living and with her sons conducts the fine farm comprising the homestead and is also owner of some other land. Mrs. Sprankel and her sons long since solved the problem of how to make both ends meet, and each year sees a little increase in their permanent prosperity and holdings. The Sprankel farm grows some of the finest crops, and one specialty is potatoes. John Sprankel since the death of his father has assumed much of the active responsibilities in connection with the management of the old homestead, and is a valuable assistant to his mother. As a boy he attended the public schools of Milan and has deservedly prospered. John Sprankel married Gertrude Goodsite. She was born in Huron Township, September 9, 1893, and grew up and received her education in that locality. Her parents were Charles and Jeannette (Paul) Good- site. Her father was born in Germany and now lives in Milan Township, and her mother was a native of Erie County and died in. Huron Township. Martin Sprankel, brother of John, was born November 15, 1898, and is unmarried and lives at home with his mother and brother. Both these young men are democrats in politics. PRESCOTT MILLIMAN, whose valuable and well managed farm is situated in Milan Township, comes of the old pioneer stock of Erie County. In the early days his grandfather performed a much needed service to his community as one of the early blacksmiths. On the whole the family have been devoted chiefly to agriculture, and in the different generations they have lived upright and useful lives, have provided well for themselves and for their descendants, and the family record is one of unbroken thrift and good citizenship. Amherst Milliman, grandfather of Prescott; was born near Tonawanda, New York, about the beginning of the nineteenth century. He had a brother William who went West to Indiana in the early days, lived there as a farmer, and left descendants in that state. Amherst Milliman married Sarah Young. He was married after he came out to Huron County. His location in Huron County was prior to the division of that territory and the creation of what is now Erie County. Amherst Milliman's how was what was known as the old stone house east of West Corners in Townsend Township, Huron County. Being a blacksmith by trade, he established a shop there, and for a number of years worked industriously engaged in the general repairing of tools and implements, and included in his routine work was the making and fitting of shoes for the work oxen, which were then so generally used instead of horses. From blacksmithing Amherst Milliman gradually took up farming, and continued that as his chief means of livelihood until he retired. He died in 1880, followed four years later by his wife, and both were about the same age. Amherst Milliman in politics cast his ballot for the whig candidates as long as that party was in existence and afterwards was a stanch republican. He and his wife had fourteen children, divided equally between sons and daughters. Several of the sons gave a good account of themselves as soldiers in the Civil war. The names of these soldier sons were Thomas, Ezekiel, Robert, George, John and Bryant. Goorge died while in the army from black measles. Robert saw some service on Johnson's Island in Lake Erie as a guard to rebel prisoners. Ezekiel went through all the war and is now living at Topeka, Kansas. Thomas also had nearly a full term of service in the war. Lieutenant John and his brother Thomas were both in the Seventh Ohio Regiment of hundred days' men. John later enlisted in the One Hun- HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY - 991 dred and First Ohio Infantry, and was first lieutenant of Company E. He participated in some of the greatest campaigns in the history of the civil conflict. He was present at Lookout Mountain, Chattanooga, and other places in that vicinity, went with Sherman in the Atlanta campaign, and followed him on his march to the sea. He was once made prisoner and for a time was confined in Andersonville prison. He also received three wounds. At one time a lrebel bullet injured his scalp, another shot struck him in the foot, and a third wound was in the hip, and this bullet was never extracted, but remained in his body for a great many years and was ultimately the immediate cause of his death, which occurred December 5, 1913. After the war John Milliman became very stout and at one time weighed 320 pounds. In spite of this weight he was a very active man, and made a successful record as a farmer. Following the war he bought fifty acres of land, and gradually increased that until at one time he owned 165 acres; 115 acres of this is now included in the homestead owned by Prescott Milliman. John Milliman spent most a his years at this homestead farm, and died there. He was a strong republican in politics. In Berlin Township he married Miss Maria Hoak. She was born on the old Hoak farm in Berlin Township, August 31, 1842, a sister of Nathan Hoak, a family to whom reference is made on other pages. She was reared and well educated, and at one time was a student under the noted Erie County educator, Job Fish. For several years before her marriage she taught school, and is still living, quite active in spite of her years, in Milan Township. Religiously she is a member of the Spiritualist faith. John Milliman and wife had three children. Lucy, who died in 1904, had attended some of the schools taught by Job Fish, and afterwards married Edward Butler, who is still living and has children named Myrtle, Ruth and Mark, all of whom have completed their education and are living in Huron County. The next in age is Prescott Milliman. Ernest, born February 12, 1874, gained his education in Milan, and is now a farmer in that township ; he married Bertie Curtis of Milan Township, and their two sons are named Russell and Donald. On the farm that he now owns and occupies and which was included in the old homestead of the late John Milliman, Prescott Milliman was born, March 6, 1872. He grew up in a good home, attended the public schools and also had Job Fish as one of his instructors and completed his education by a course in the Ohio State University at Columbus. From early boyhood he was taught the duties of farming, and that has been his real vocation since starting out on his own account. For a number of years he has owned 115 acres included in the old homestead, and has it well improved, well stocked, and grows all the best grain crops for Northern Ohio. He recently put up a substantial barn 36x60 feet, and also has a silo of eighty tons capacity. His home is a ten-room residence, well furnished and with surroundings that are most attractive. In Milan Township Prescott Milliman married Miss Sarah Merry. She was born in that township June 26, 1880. attended the Milan High School and also the University of Ada, and took a course in the Sandusky Business College. Her father was Charles Merry, of a family whose record will be found on other pages. Mrs. Milliman taught school for some time before her marriage. Their little household circle comprises three children. Doris E., born October 25, 1905, is now in the fifth grade of the public schools. John L., born October 12, 1906, is also in school ; and Marjorie Lucile was born October 14, 1908. Mr. and Mrs. Milliman attend the Presbyterian Church at Milan, in which Mrs. Milliman is an active member. He is affiliated with Milan Lodge No. 329, F. & A. M., and he and his wife belong to Milan Grange No. 342, of the Patrons of Husbandry. Politically he works with the republican party. 992 - HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY ERNST C. A. SCHEUFFLER. There is an old German publication which contains a complete record of the Scheuffler family history and lineage, and from the data contained in that work it is evident that Ernst C. A. Scheufflier, one of the best known citizens of Milan Township, traces his ancestry in direct line back to the year 1530. The Scheufflers were identified, one generation after the other, with the old capital city of Saxony, Dresden. Not a few of the family attained distinction. They were soldiers, artisans, and were represented in many of the professions, frequently in the Lutheran ministry. While he takes a quiet and justifiable pride in the past record of his family, it is evident that Mr. Scheuffler of Milan Township has exemplified many of the virtues and qualities inherited from previous generations, and he and others who have long since become true Americans have earned credit for the family on this side of the ocean. The grandfather of Mr. Scheuffler was Ernst Scheuffler, who was born in the City of Dresden, became a Lutheran minister, and spent his life in Saxony. He had a son also named Ernst, who was born at Larmagh, in Saxony, was educated for the ministry, but gave it up and at the age of twenty years set out a young unmarried man to find a home and fortune in the New World. He spent three months in crossing the ocean, and finally reached Cleveland, Ohio. He was married in that city to Augusta S. Suhr. She was born in Germany, was adopted into a family who brought her to America, and she grew up at Cleveland when that now flourishing city was little more than a village. There she met and married Ernst Scheuffler, and during their residence at Cleveland four children were born to them. In 1873 the parents with their three youngest children moved to Milan Township in Erie County, and bought 104 acres of land, a part of which is now the home place of Ernst C. A. Scheuffler. In this locality the father spent the rest of his days in usefulness and honor, and died in 1885 at the age of sixty-nine. His widow survived him some eight or ten years and was still under sixty at the time of her death. Both were confirmed members of the Lutheran Church. Their oldest child was Caroline, who married Francis Denman of Cleveland, and she died there in the prime of life, her only son having also passed away as a child. The next, in age is Ernst C. A. Augusta, the widow of Charles Chambers, lives near her brother Ernst in Milan Township, and has a son, Charles, who is the father of two children and lives in Fremont, Ohio; and a daughter Eda, who is the wife of Ralph Brown, of Cleveland; while another daughter of Augusta, Clara by name, died at the age of twelve. Otto, the fourth in this family, is a carpenter at Milan, and by his marriage to Lena Scholl has two sons, named Paul and Carl. In the City of Cleveland Ernst C. A. Scheuffler was born September 21, 1855. The first seventeen years of his life were spent in that city, and in the meantime he acquainted himself with the common branches as taught-in the public schools and was trained in those habits and vocations which would make him useful after reaching manhood. He came to Milan Township in 1873 and has ever since lived on the farm which formerly belonged to his father and a part of which he himself now owns. His place comprises a little more than fifty-two acres. All of it is well improved and cultivated except eight acres of pasture land, and his crops during many successive years have included practically everything that would grow in this climate. He and his family reside in a comfortable seven-room house, and his farm buildings are in good condition and represent a considerable investment. At East Norwalk Mr. Scheuffler married Miss Hannah Cunningham. She was born in that village April 30, 1861, and grew up and received her education there. Her parents were Warren and Ann (Wagner) Cunningham, the former a native of Connecticut and the latter of New York State. They came PICTURE OF MR. AND MRS. JOHN C. WIKEL HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY - 993 to Huron County when young people, were married there, and Mr. Cunningham spent a great many years in and around Norwalk. He died at the age of eighty-four, while his wife passbd away when about seventy. In politics he was a republican. There were two sons and six daughters in the Cunningham family, and with the exception of one who died without children after marriage, all are still living and have homes of their own. The home circle of Mr. and Mrs. Scheuffler comprises seven children. The oldest, Henry, now lives in Sandusky and by his marriage to Ethel Williamson has a daughter, Thelma. Carrie is the wife of Grant Lowman, and they occupy the old Cunningham home at East Norwalk and have two children, William and Viola. Bessie is now studying to become a professional nurse at Cleveland. Ernst is a machinist at Brewster, Ohio, and is still unmarried. Daisy May has completed her public school education and is still at home. Bertha M. is in the Sandusky Hospital studying for the profession of trained nurse. Anna Amelia graduated from the Milan school with the class of 1915. In polities Mr. Scheuffler is a democrat. JOHN C. WIKEL. Among those leading and representative farmers of Erie County whose labors have contributed to the material advancement and general welfare of the, community was the late John C. Wikel of Milan Township. His life was a busy and useful one and furnished an example of honorable dealing, steadfast purpose, fidelity to principle and invincible moral courage that is well worthy of emulation. At his death, which occurred March 30, 1914, the community mourned the loss of one of ,its esteemed citizens, and his memory is still enshrined in the hearts of his many friends. Mr. Wikel was born May 31, 1848, near Weavers Corners, Huron County, Ohio, a son of Charles and Helen (Root) Wikel. Charles Wikel was born in Germany, and in 1831, with his four brothers, Peter, Jacob, Adam and Ernest, came to the United States on a sailing vessel and located in Huron County, Ohio. All were married in this country and had families with the exception of Jacob, and all settled in Huron and Erie counties and here died. Their parents later set sail for this country to join their sons and the journey consumed seventy-five days, during which the little vessel encountered numerous storms, one of which carried away its mast. A substitute was rigged and the vessel finally made port at New York, but not long thereafter went to pieces in the harbor as a result of the vicious pounding it had received from the heavy seas. Like his brothers, after settling in Huron County, Charles Wikel became a well-to-do farmer, gaining prosperity by characteristic industry and thrift. There he was married to Helen Root, who was born in Connecticut of New England ancestry, but who had been brought to the Western Reserve by her parents when a child. After the birth of their eldest child, John C., Mr. and Mrs. Wikel moved to Oxford Township, locating on a farm near Weavers Corners, where they lived with Mrs. Wikel's parents until 1860. In that year they came to Milan Township, Erie County, where the father purchased 154 acres of fine land, on which there was some brush and a little swamp, but the former was soon cleared away and the latter drained, and the farm was developed with patient and painstaking industry into one of the really valuable properties of the neighborhood. There both parents passed their remaining years, the father dying December 16, 1888, at the age of sixty-two years, and the mother passing away November 24, 1904, when seventy- six years of age. Both were members of the Lutheran Church, in which they had been confirmed, as had their parents before them. Mr. Wikel was a democrat, but not a politician, being content to spend 994 - HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY his days in peaceful pastoral pursuits and not inclined to push himself forward for public preferment. There were eight children in the family, namely : John C., Adam, Peter, Mary, Henry, Marian, Helen and C. Albert. All were given the best advantages their parents were able to afford, and were reared to lives of usefulness and honesty and fitted for the positions they afterward occupied in the community. John C. Wikel received his early education in the district schools of Milan Township and passed his boyhood amid the atmosphere of pioneer surroundings, his earliest recollections being those connected with assisting his father in the clearing and cultivation of the soil. Later, through his own efforts, he secured a normal school training, but remained at home until 1872 when, at the age of twenty-three years, he left the parental roof and journeyed to Saunders County, Nebraska, where he entered a tract of eighty acres of land. To this he later added another eighty acres, and while not engaged in farming occupied himself with teaching a class of pupils in his own ranch home, having organized a school. Mr. Wikel continued to make his residence in Nebraska until 1885 and had met with a satisfying success, but in that year was called home by the ill health of his father, for whom he cared until his death three years later. About that time Mr. Wikel purchased the 160-acre farm in Milan Township, to which he subsequently added seventy-five acres in Berlin Township by purchase, and this was still later followed by thirty-five acres in Milan Township, the entire property adjoining. Here Mr. Wikel's labors continued to be prosecuted during the remainder of his long and honorable career. With the exception of several acres of native timber, he put the whole property under cultivation, and its soil was so fertile under his able treatment that it raised tremendous crops of all the staple grains and produce, well paying him for the labor he expended upon it. He was always a believer in the breeding of good stock, and much of his grain was fed to his large herds of cattle and his many hogs, which found a ready sale in the market. His large and substantial farm buildings included a 110-ton silo, and his commodious barns, sheds, cribs and outbuildings are painted red, while his 14-room house presented an attractive appearance, located on Wickel Road, a comfortable and modern residence fitted with all up-to-date comforts and conveniences. Mr. Wikel was a Methodist in his religious belief and endeavored to live his faith every day. In his dealings with his fellow men he exhibited the strictest integrity and honesty, while as a citizen he was public spirited and always ready to do his full share for the community or its people. On June 8, 1873, while residing in Saunders County, Nebraska, Mr. Wikel was married to Miss Mary H. Scow, who was born near Drammen, Christiana, Norway, August 2, 1853, daughter of Oliver and Bertha (Torgerson) Scow, natives of Norway of an old and honorable family, the father born in 1812 and the mother in 1814. In 1870 Mr. and Mrs. Scow came to the United States with their four children: Mary II., Christian, Hannah and George. Their eldest son, Edward, had preceded them five years, and had taken up a homestead in the West, while their eldest daughter, Isabelle, had come to this country two years before the parents. All met at Milwaukee, Wisconsin, from whence they went to the Nebraska home, and there took up a full section of wild land. This property is still in the family name and possession and was the scene of the parents activities during the remainder of their lives, the father dying in 1884, when seventy-two years of age, and the mother in 1897, when aged eighty-eight years. Both were faithful members of the Lutheran Church. To Mr. and Mrs. Wikel there were born the following children : Bertha, who died in infancy ; Henry, who is single, and conducting the old homestead farm for his mother; Nora, who is' the wife of Charles HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY - 995 Conkling, a sketch of whose career appears elsewhere in this work ; George, a farmer in Milan Township, who married Kate Fish, a native of Kansas, and has three children,—John, Edward and Henry L.; Alden, who died in childhood ; Marion ; Lewis, residing on the homel stead place, who married Grace Von Sehuetz, a native of. Nebraska, who died June 21, 1915; Mary Isabelle, who graduated from the Huron High School, in the class of 1905, a devoted daughter who still .lives at home and keeps house for her mother and brothers ; and Ida, who died at the age of six years. Mrs. Wikel is a member of the Methodist Church, while her children are Presbyterians. They are industrious, honest and hard-working sons and daughters, eminently worthy of their parents, of their training and of the community in which their lives have been spent. JOHN HUBER. Of John Huber of Milan Township, it can be, said as an expression of the general esteem in which he is held by his neighbors and fellow citizens that he is an industrious and successful farmer, a citizen who looks well after the interests of his own home and family and not without regard to the benefit and welfare of the community in which he lives, and also that he represents a thrifty German stock that has been identified with this section of Ohio more than sixty years. Born in Berlin Township, January 8, 1864, John Huber is a son of John Huber, Sr. The latter was born in Wuertemberg, Germany, in either 1826 or 1827, and his parents died in that country. As a young man he learned the butcher trade, and four years of his early manhood were taken by the German government for service as a soldier in the cavalry division. He went through the different campaigns to which he was called without injury and not long after being released from the army in 1849 he set out from Hamburg and five weeks later was landed in New York City. From there he came on to Erie County, and at Ceylon found his first regular. .employment as a laborer during the construction of the railroad which is now the Lake Shore Road. A little later he married Frederica Kugel:. She was born and reared in the same vicinity as Mr. Huber, and they came on the same vessel to the United States. After working and exercising the closest economy, John Huber left railroad employment and in 1865 moved to the western part of Berlin Township, buying fifty-six acres of land, to which he devoted many years of conscientious labor, and spent his last days there in comfort. He died June 6, 1910. His wife pasSed away in November of the same year, and was at that time eighty-nine years of age. They were members of the German Lutheran Church, and in politics he was a democrat. A list of their children is as follows : Louis is married and has two sons and lives in Elyria, Ohio ; William is a farmer in Berlin Township and has two sons and one daughter ; Paulina died after her marriage to George Penny, leaving a son and a daughter ; the next in age is John Huber ; August is a farmer in Perkins Township and married Miss Hart. It was during the residence of his parents at Ceylon that John Huber was born. He grew up on his father's homestead in Berlin Township, and after, getting his education in the local schools learned the trade of plasterer 'and stone mason. That was his regular means of livelihood for fifteen years, and in that time he was employed on many contracts in various parts of Northern Ohio. On April 17, 1912, he located on his present homestead, known as the old Sipp farm, in the southeastern quarter of Milan Township. His possessions include fifty acres of fertile land, and with some excellent improvements, including a good barn 32x36 feet, which was erected partly by his own hands and under his own management, and also a two-story residence of nine rooms in good repair and with an excellent slate roof. He also has a good tool house 996 - HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY and has practically every facility needed for efficient work. As a farmer he grows crops of corn, wheat, melons, fruit and vegetables. In the township of his present home Mr. Huber married Miss Amelia Finzel. She was born at Sandusky, March 14, 1866, but was reared and educated in Milan Township. Her parents were George and Anna (Shippel) Finzel, both now deceased. They were among the prominent early settlers from Germany in Erie County, and after living in Sandusky for a few years moved out to Milan Township, where they spent their last days. Thee were members of the Lutheran Church and Mr. Finzel was a democrat. Two children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Huber. Norma H. is now fifteen years of age and is a student in the' Milan High School; Clarence W., born May 29, 1902, is now in the seventh grade of the public schools. Mr. and Mrs. Huber are members of the Lutheran Church, and politically he is also,identified with the democratic party. JUDSON PERRIN. In the course of a long life Judson Perrin has had many interesting associations with Milan Township. It was his birthplace, the home of his youth and mature manhood, and while for all these reasons he is loyal to its memory he has made himself further useful by active work and real service in every responsibility to which he has been called. Born July 16, 1843, his birth occurred on the farm and in the old house which then sheltered the Perrin family, and where his present home is now located. This farm comprises eighty-five acres, and has been in the uninterrupted ownership of the Perrin family fully three-quarters of a century. His father was Gurdin Perrin, and his grandfather Timothy Perrin. Both were natives of Connecticut, and Timothy spent all his life in the vicinity of Canterbury. He was of English ancestry, spent his career as a farmer, and died at the extreme age of ninety-seven years. He married a Connecticut woman, and of their eleven children all died before Timothy except three. Timothy was a deacon in the Presbyterian Church, and in earlier years had been captain of a company of state militia. Gurdin Perrin was born in Connecticut in 1801, and grew up to the life of a farmer. He married Polly Church, who had also been born and reared in the vicinity of Canterbury. After their marriage they moved to Lucerne County, Pennsylvania, and during their sojourn there most of their children were born, including Elizabeth Ann, Joseph H., Alman Church, Major C., Helen Rebecca, William, Gurdin, Jr. (who died at the age of seven) and Mary. With all these children except one who died in infancy the parents set out in 1837 to establish a new home within the State of Ohio. They made the journey overland, with wagons and teams, camping by the wayside as night overtook them, and several weeks elapsed before they accomplished their tedious undertaking and arrived at Milan. Gurdin Perrin bought from Benjamin P. Smith the old homestead just east and outside the Village of Milan where Mr. Judson Perrin now resides. After they came to this locality several other children were born : Lydia; Everton, who died in infancy; and Judson. Judson was the seventh son and the eleventh child. He was christened Judson in honor of Rev. Everton Judson, who for sixteen years served as pastor of the First Presbyterian Church of Milan, and was an intimate friend of the Perrin family. Mr. Judson was not only greatly beloved in this community, but was one of tire prominent Presbyterian ministers in Northern Ohio and spent all his active career 1n spiritual labors and died at Milan in 1849. A memorial work was written of his career and published in 1852 by E. P. Barrows. Jr. After the Perrin family located in Milan Township they became very HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY - 997 useful and active workers in the Presbyterian Church and accomplished a great deal of good in the spiritual enlightenment of the community and did much to upbuild the church organization. Gurdin Perrin died at his old home on his birthday, August 13, 1867, when only a few hours past the age of sixty-six. He was a very strong and positive republican in politics, and had given his full support to the abolition movement before the war. His wife had died here October 5, 1855, and she had likewise been closely in sympathy with him in church affairs. After the death of his first wife Gurdin Perrin married Minerva S. Stanton, and she survived her husband several years, though she died without children. She was also a Presbyterian. Judson Perrin has a brother, William, who is a farmer at Norwalk, Ohio,- and by his marriage to Mary Newson has a son and daughter, William N. and Emma. There is one sister living, Lydia, the widow of William Schubert, and she lives in Norwalk, and her son, Lewis J., resides at Mansfield, Ohio. As a boy Judson Perrin was impyessed by the usual influences which go to the making of the character of a youth in a country community with such excellent moral atmosphere as Milan Township. He acquired a good education, and at the age of twenty started teaching. For thirteen consecutive winters he gave his time to this vocation, and during the rest of the year was an active farmer on the old homestead, He has owned the Perrin farm for a great many years, and while providing for the needs of his family through agricultural industry has worked in every way possible to keep up and maintain those vital forces of every community, church and school. At Norwalk, in Huron County, Mr. Perrin married Miss Hannah Theresa Benedict. She was born in Connecticut August 22, 1846, and died at the old home December 22, 1896. She was an active member of the Presbyterian Church. She was still a child when her parents, Rufus and Betsey Benedict, came from Connecticut to Norwalk, and they spent the rest of their lives in that locality. Her father died when past fourscore, and her mother much younger. Mrs. Perrin's mother was a member of the Congregational Church. Three children were born to Mr. -and Mrs. Perrin. The son Gurdin A., born in 1868, was educated in the Milan public schools and in the Northern Ohio University at Ada, and at the age of twenty taught his first school in the same district where his father at the same age had begun his work as an educator. For several years he has been actively associated with his father in the management of the home farm, and under the name Judson Perrin & Son they carry on an extensive dairy .and truck farm. The daughter, Carrie H. who was also well educated in the public schools at Milan and finished her education in the University at Ada, took up teaching and has spent eighteen years in that noble calling, and is now principal of the Benedict Avenue School at Norwalk. Nellie E. is the wife of Finley W. Kirkpatrick, of Joliet, Hlinois. Mr. Perrin and all his children are members of the Presbyterian Church at Milan. The daughter is a teacher and the son is superintendent of the Sunday school. Mr. Perrin is himself an elder in the church,' is clerk of the sessions and for twenty-two years filled the post of superintendent of the Sunday school. He and his son are strong republicans in politics. Both are also in great sympathy with the prohibition movement, and lend every influence towards the abolition of the liquor traffic. CONRAD SCHISLER. A native son of Erie County, Mr. Schisler has here maintained his home from the time of his nativity and that he has had the energy and ability to take full advantage of the opportunities here offered can not fail to be appreciated by any person in the least 998 - HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY familiar with his career or aware of his status as one ,of the most progressive and substantial business men of the Village of Birmingham and as one of the honored and influential citizens of Florence Township. As a general merchant he controls a specially large and representative trade, and his establishment in the Village of Birmingham would be a credit to a place of much greater population. That he has secure vantage ground in popular confidence and good will is shown not only in the broad scope of his business enterprise but also in his having been called upon to serve in various positions of public trust, including that of postmaster of Birmingham. The general merchandise store of Mr. Schisler occupies a main building 24 by 56 feet in dimensions and two stories in height, and the demands placed upon the establishment finally made it virtually necessary to erect the addition or annex, which is 24 by 40 feet in dimensions, and which is used for the display of kitchen furniture as well as for the storage of surplus stock in other lines. All departments show well selected and ample stocks of staple and special goods, and in the store provisions are made for supplying all demands of a large and appreciative patronage, few similar establishments in rural communities having as excellent appointments and facilities. The second floor of the building is used for the display of linoleums and other floor coverings and for rubber footwear, besides which it affords accommodations also for the local exchange of the telephone company of which Mr. Schisler is treasurer. Mr. Schisler has been locally influential and zealous as a representative of the republican party and he served twelve years as postmaster at Birmingham, under the administrations of Presidents McKinley, Roosevelt and Taft, and two years after the election of President Wilson, his retirement having naturally come with the change in the general political administration of the national affairs. Mr. Schisler served four terms as treasurer of Florence Township and has given effective service also in the office of treasurer of the board of education of his district. He is at the present time treasurer and a director of the Riverside Telephone Company, which was organized in 1906, with Charles A. Heald as president, and the company now gives service to 300 subscribers, its facilities being of the best in its local lines and also through its direct connection with the lines of the Bell and Independent Telephone Companies. Mr. Schisler is a representative of a sterling family whose name has been identified with the civic and material affairs. of Erie County for half a century. He was born on the old James Douglass farm on the shore of Lake Erie, in Berlin Township, the date of his nativity having been March 20, 1862. Under the sturdy discipline of the home farm he early learned the lessons of practical industry and in the meanwhile he made good use of the advantages afforded in the public schools of the locality and period. In 1881 Mr. Schisler severed his allegiance to the great basic industry of agriculture and assumed a position as clerk in a mercantile establishment at Vermilion. Ten months 'later he became associated with Phillip A. Baker in the general merchandise business at Birmingham, and this alliance continued until 1889, when Mr. Schisler formed a partnership with John Geary and engaged in the dry-goods and hardware business in this village. On the night of May 20, 1891, the entire business section of the village was destroyed by fire, and after having thus suffered the loss of their entire stock of goods Mr. Schisler and his partner were given the temporary use of the town hall, without charge, as a place to continue their business until they could effect the erection of a proper building for the purpose. In the following October the firm's new building was ready for occupancy, and in the same the business was developed into one of general order, though much of its HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY - 999 amplification has been accomplished during the time that Mr. Schisler has been sole proprietor, Mr. Geary having retired in 1901 and his death having occurred in the following year. The finely equipped store now shows excellent lines of dry-goods, groceries, hardware, boots and shoes, kitchen furniture, floor coverings and manifqld special lines, and the high reputation of the establishment and its ,owner constitutes its best commercial asset. Mr. Schisler is a son of Paul and FreVrieka (Sprenger) Schisler, both born near Hesse Cassel, Germapy, where the former was born August 3, 1834, and the latter on the 1st of January, 1835. The parents were reared and educated in their native province and there they remained until after the birth of their three eldest children, two of whom died in infancy. In 1860, in company with their one surviving child, Martin, they immigrated to America, the voyage from Bremen to New York having been made on a sailing vessel and six weeks having been passed on the Atlantic before they reached the port of New York City. Shortly after landing in the United States they came to Erie County, Ohio, and here the fathbr found employment on the Douglass farm, in Berlin Township, where the family home was maintained several years and where the three younger children were born—Conrad, who is the immediate subject of this review, is the eldest of the three ; Anna is the wife of Andrew Huttenloch and they reside at Berlin Heights, this county ; Andrew, who still remains on the old homestead farm, in Florence Township, married Miss Mary Stephens, and they have two children : Andrew, Jr. and Catherine. In the early '70s Paul Schisler purchased his farm in Florence Township, and he reclaimed the same into one of the valuable places of that part of the county, this homestead being the residence of himself and his devoted wife until the close of their long and useful lives, each having been about eighty years of age at the time of death. Both were zealous and consistent communicants of the German Evangelical Church and they assisted in the organization of the church of this denomination in Florence Township, as well as in the erection of the church edifice. Mr. Schisler was for many years an influential and valued official of this congregation and thus continued until his death. In Florence Township was solemnized the marriage of Conrad Schisler to Miss Catherine Rosenstock, who was born near Hesse Cassel, Germany, on the 24th of February, 1860, and whose parents there passed their entire lives. Her father, a man of superior intellectual attainments, was a successful teacher in the schools of the fatherland for fully half a century and in recognition of his devoted services he was granted a pension at the time of his retirement. He was about eighty years of age at the time of his death, his wife, who had been for several years an invalid, having preceded him to eternal rest and their daughter, Catherine, Mrs. Schisler, having had charge of the domestic affairs of the home until the time of her mother's death, after which she came to the United States to join her sister, Mrs. Eliza Baker, in Florence Township, Erie County, where her marriage to Mr. Schisler was solemnized a few years later. Mr. and Mrs. Schisler became the parents of one child, Conrad, Jr., who died at the age of two days. They are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church of Birmingham, and Mr. Schisler has served as trustee and steward of the same. They are popular in the social activities of the community and their pleasant home is known for its generous and unostentatious hospitality. . GEORGE R. CURTIS. For many years the name George R. Curtis has been familiarly associated with business affairs and with the public life of Milan Village. His family is one of the oldest in this section of North- 1000 - HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY ern Ohio, and nearly a century ago his grandfather was a. prominent factor in the shipping trade which largely centered at Milan. This pioneer, Rufus Curtis, was born in the State of New Jersey, and married Rachael Hughes, of the same state. Soon after the close of the War of 1812 they came to North Milan Village. Rufus Curtis was a ship master along the Milan Canal, and owned and operated a fleet of lighters which carried the grain from Milan down to the lake port at Huron. Those familiar with the history of old Milan will recall that in the early years of the last century it was the principal market for all the grain raised in a wide radius of country, and on being delivered at Milan it had to be lightered in small vessels down the canal to the larger lake boats. at Huron. This was the regular business of Rufus Curtis for some years, but he later sold out and bought a farm not far from the Village of Milan, improved it and died there in the early part of the present century at the advanced age of eighty-four. A part of that farm, seventy-five acres, is still owned by his descendants. Rufus Curtis survived his wife about four years, who was eighty-two years of age when she djed. These worthy old pioneers had witnessed nearly all the important phases of development in Erie County. They were here when the country was completely new, when log cabins were the typical and almost exclusive residences, and they used their influence and their work to aid in the upbuilding. In politics Rufus Curtis was a democrat, and he and his wifd were both members of the Universalist Church. They had three sons and three daughters, of whom Samuel Minor was the oldest. The only two still living are : Mrs. Mary Harris, of Berlin Township, a widow now making her home with her son ; and Louise, wife of Joseph Lotshar of Indianapolis, Indiana. Samuel Minor Curtis, father of George R., was born at Milan December 20, 1835, and grew up on the old homestead already mentioned which his father had Vought after retiring from the vessel trade. He received his education in the old academy and normal and after his marriage lived on a farm in Vermilion Township, in 1862 moved to Huron Township, and three years later returned to Milan, where he began operating a threshing outfit. Subsequently he became agent for the manufacturers of a. special line of threshing machinery, and sold threshers, engines, and other supplies, as general state agent all over Ohio. This was his regular business for many years, and he was still at it at the time of his death on October 6, 1906. He was a man of great activity, hard working, and made a successful record in business affairs. He was a vigorous exponent of the democratic principles in politics, affiliated with Milan Lodge No. 329, F. & A. M., and always identified himself helpfully with any movement for the benefit of the community. Samuel M. Curtis was married in Huron Township to Ann J. Harris. She was born in Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, February 27, 1838, but when eleven years of age came with her parents to Huron Township in Erie County. Her parents were George P. and Esther (McSpadden) Harris. Her father was born in Hertfordshire, .England, while her mother was a native of County Down, Ireland, and came to America in the early '20s with her mother, locating at Pittsburg, where some years later she married Mr. Harris. Both had come to America in the old fashioned sailing vessels which required from twelve to fifteen weeks to cross the ocean. Mr. Harris had thoroughly learned the trade of machinist in England, and had much natural ability in mechanical lines. He came with his brother William, and the latter subsequently moved to Erie County and for many years lived on a farm in Ifuron Township. George P. Harris married Miss McSpadden in Pittsburg. It was his distinction to have constructed the first locomotive engine over the Pittsburg and Johnstown Railway, now part of tile Pennsylvania Railway system. That first engine was known as the Washington. He re- HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY - 1001 mained an engineer in the employ of that road for nine years. He was not only an engineman but had a thorough knowledge of all features of construction, and it is said that he could have built an engine complete, and was always able to make every repair necessary. As one of the pioneer railway men of this country he deserves mention and memory. The children of Mr. and Mrs. Harris were all born in Pittsburg. Subsequently the family lived in Johntown, Pennsylvania, and from there in 1849 came to Huron Township in Erie County, buying land on which Mr. Harris conducted farming operations until his death on June 12, 1872, at the age of sixty-two. widow passed away in 1877 aged seventy-six. They were members of the Lutheran Evangelical Church and in politics he was a rabid democrat. There were five children in the Harris family. One of the sons, William J., served as a color bearer in the Union army and was killed while before Atlanta and was buried in the National Cemetery at Marietta. The only two now living are: Thomas J., a farmer in Huron Township, and head of a family ; and Mrs. Ann J. Curtis, who now lives in Cleveland and is still hale and hearty at the age of seventy-seven. George R. Curtis, who was the only child of his parents, was born while they were living on a farm in Vermilion Township, April 25, 1858. Since he was seven years of age he has lived in Milan Village and Township, and was given an excellent and liberal education preparatory to his business career. He attended the Milan public schools, Oberlin College and the Ohio Wesleyan University at Delaware, and while in the University was a member of the Greek Letter fraternity Sigma Chi and is a stockholder in the chapter house at Delaware. During his residence at Milan he has taken a prominent part in local affairs, and for fourteen years served as mayor of the city. He has also had many relations with local business undertakings, was associated with his father for a number of years, and owns valuable property both in the country and in the village. His home is one of the most attractive residences of the city, a twelve-room house, with all the modern conveniences and comforts. At Milan Mr. Curtis married Miss Sarah R. Lockwood, a member of one of the most prominent pioneer families of Northern Ohio. She was born in Milan Village, August 26, 1860, and was educated both here and at Buffalo. She is a daughter of Stephen A. Lockwood, who was prominent as a merchant and farmer. The Lockwood ancestry in America runs back to Robert Lockwood, who came from England in 1635, and was an early settler at Watertown near Boston, Massachusetts. He was married in Massachusetts and died there. A generation or so later members of the family moved to Connecticut, and about 1815 later descendants came West and established their home in Milan Township of Erie County. Successive generations from the pioneer ancestor, Robert Lockwood, to the present were : Ephraim Lockwood ; Joseph Lockwood ; Joseph Lockwood II; Stephen Lockwood; Ralph Lockwood ; Stephen A. Lockwood, Sr., who became the father of Mrs. Curtis, who consequently is in the eighth generation of this family in America. It was Ralph Lockwood, her grandfather, who with his brothers George and Henry, and sisters Esther, Sarah, Elizabeth and Mary, became identified nearly a century ago with that part of Northern Ohio around Milan and Norwalk. The family came to this country about 1817, and Ralph and George preceded the others already mentioned. They acquired the ownership of large tracts of land, in what was then known as Huron County, prior to the erection of Erie County. A part of the land owned by the Lockwoods has since been incorporated in the village sites of Norwalk and Milan. Ralph and George Lockwood were well educated young men, and as surveyors they laid out much of the lands in and around Milan and Norwalk. The Vol. II-34 1002 - HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY surveying instruments which these pioneers used are still in possession of their descendants. Part of the large land tract owned, by the Lockwoods was awarded to them as their share of the firelands. As a family they were sufferers from the devastations committed by the British troops in the Revolution and in the War of 1812. Stephen A. Lockwood, father of Mrs. Curtis, was born at the old homestead in Milan, June 10, 1820, grew up there as a farmer boy, and some years later with his brother, William, established a business on the west side of Milan Square, handling a general stock of goods. They were thrifty and intelligent young men, and prospered in proportion to the growth of the village community, erected some of the substantial business blocks of their time, but subsequently on account of lack of organized fire protection they suffered heavily when, the entire west side of the square was burned. William subsequently became associated with other members of the Lockwood family, while Stephen A. left merchandising to engage in farming In this vocation he also prospered, and left a large property to his family and descendants. He died at Milan in April, 1889. Like the other male members of the Lockwood family he was first a whig and later a republican, and during the Civil war served for three years in the United States Navy. In after life he could never be jot to speak much of his naval experience, and this was due to his natural modesty and his conviction that his service was only a mere matter of duty and should not be boasted of. Stephen A. Lockwood was married in Milan to his cousin, Sarah A. Lockwood, the daughter of his uncle, George. She was born at Milan, in November, 1826, and died in April, 1914. She was a fine type of the pioneer wife and mother, had many noble traits of character, and for many years was one of the most active members of the Presbyterian Church. In the Lockwood family were five sons and five daughters, several of them now deceased, and Mrs. Curtis was one of the youngest of the children. Mr. and Mrs. Curtis have two daughters. Mabel A., born August 15, 1882, is a graduate of Oberlin College and is now the wife of Walter T. Dunmore, who graduated in 1900 from Oberlin College and later from the law school of the Western Reserve University; was admitted to the bar in 1904, and is present dean of the Western Reserve Law School. Mr. and Mrs. Dunmore have two children : Marjorie C., born December 29, 1905 ; and Helen E., born July 8, 1915. The second daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Curtis is Maude S., born October 5, 1885. She graduated from Oberlin College and from the Woman's College at Cleveland, and is now the wife of Harry H. Doering. Mr. Doering graduated from Oberlin with the class of 1906 sand now lives in Philadelphia. Mr. Curtis and family are members of the Presbyterian Church and he is affiliated with Marks Lodge No. 239, F. & A. M., at Milan. In politics he is an independent democrat. J. CHARLES RUSSELL. Probably every resident of Milan Township has had occasion to admire the capable management and well kept appearance of the Russell farm near Avery. Its proprietor is a man who has effected a great deal in the course of a career of some forty years. He started life with very little capital except what he earned himself, and from youth to middle age has been one of the thrifty, industrious workers in this section of Ohio. Born at Sandusky, November 24, 1853, J. Charles Russell is a son of Philip and Elizabeth (Utha) Russell, both of whom were born, in Hesse Nassau, Germany, and grew up and married there. Their first child, Nettie, was born in Germany. In the spring of 1853 the little family embarked on a sailing vessel and came to the United Sfates from Bremen to New York, making the voyage in forty days. From New York they came on to Sandusky, where the father arrived prac^tically at the end of HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY - 1003 his resources. Without money or influential friends, he supported his family for a time by sawing wood with an old fashioned buck saw. In the spring of 1854 he went to Hunts Corners in Huron County and was engaged in farming in that locality until his death in 1858, when only twenty-eight years of age. He had been confirmed in the Lutheran Church in his native country. Four children survived him : Nettie, now deceased; J. Charles; Christopher, who died as a child only two days after his father; and Philip, who is afarnier at Parkertown and prominent in democratic politics and is married and has five sons and one daughter. The widowed mother was married in Huron County to Christ Gillamaster. They then located in GratOn Township on a farm and spent the rest of their lives there. She died 'at the age of seventy-six and her husband at seventy-five. To her second marriage were also born four children, two of whom died young. Her sons, Louis and William, are still living, the former a farmer in Groton Township and the father of two sons and four daughters, and the latter a farmer in Sandusky County and he has four sons and three` daughters. It was in Huron County that J. Charles Russell spent his early youth and manhood. He lived at home with his mother and step-father until reaching his majority, and profited by attendance at such schools as existed in that community. His first independent work as a farmer was done in Groton Township, where he lived six years, and the following three years in Lyman Township of Huron County. Returning to Groton Township, he spent another four years there, and then moved to the Captain Coulter farm in Milan Township near Avery. That was the scene of his productive efforts for nineteen years, and he carried on his extensive operations with profit to all concerned. During a year following his removal from the Coulter farm he •rented another place, but in 1908 bought the Avery farm, known as the Hawley place. This is a farm of first class improvements, with splendid soil, with tiling drainage, and capable of producing all the standard cereal crops. Mr. Russell finds potatoes one of the best crops for his land, plants usually from ten to twenty acres, and his yield is as high as 275 bushels per acre. The building improvements about the farm represent a large investment. He has a big gray barn, built in the most modern manner for the housing of stock and grain, and standing on a foundation 36x62 feet. His home is a large white eight-room house, surrounded with a large lawn and with beautiful shade trees. Besides this farm Mr. Russell also owns 78 1/2 acres in Groton Township, which is likewise well improved and has a good set of building improvements. In Oxford Township Mr. Russell married Miss Nettie Schamp. She was born in that township November 11, 1853, and died November 20, 1911. She grew up and received her education there and became a splendid mother to her children and a most capable home maker. Her parents were German people, Peter and Emma (Schafer) Schamp, who were born in Nassau, Germany, and when young people came to America and settled in Oxford Township of Erie County, where they married and subsequently lived as farmers. Her father died there twenty years ago and her mother about sixteen years ago, both being at the time about three score years of age. They were members of the Lutheran Church and her father was a democrat. The children of Mr. and Mrs. Russell are briefly mentioned as follows : Jennie died five years after her marriage to Henry Gastier, who is now living on Mr. Russell's farm in Groton Township. William, the second child, died when two years of age. Frank married Mabel Saylor, and they live at the Russell home in Milan Township. Fred is a graduate of high school and business college, is now twenty-seven years of age, and while living at home is one of the capable workmen in the employ of Isaac W. Hoover, the prominent Avery manufacturer ; flred is affili- 1004 - HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY ated with Milan Lodge of the Masonic Order. Mr. Russell and family are all members of the Evangelical Church, and he and his sons are democrats in national politics. JOHN W. WEILNAU. Many of the most enterprising young men of the present generation find in farm management an outlet for their highest degree of skill and efficiency. Among the younger agriculturists of Erie County special mention should be given to John W. Weilnau, who fully measured up to the tests and requirements of modern industrial life in the point of efficiency, skill, industry and general ability. For the past eight years Mr. Weilnau has had ample scope for his career as a farmer as manager of the large Hoover homestead at Avery. This is one of the best farms in Erie County, and the manner in which Mr. Weilnau has conducted it reflects credit upon his personal skill. His crops are grown at the rotation and intensive method. During the past year he had 16 acres of corn, 24 in wheat, 8 acres in oats and 12 acres in potatoes. His wheat yields about 29 bushels to the acre, oats 40 bushels, corn 80 bushels, and he gets a particularly abundant yield of potatoes. Practically all his life John W. Weilnau has been a resident of Erie County. He was born in Oxford Township December 29, 1878, grew up and was educated in that township. and made a definite choice of farming as his vocation. He has been independently engaged in that business for the past nine years, and with a degree of success such as few men of his age and experience can show. Besides the raising of general crops he gives much attention to horses, hogs and cattle on the Hoover homestead. His parents were John and Mary (Goodsite) Weilnau. They were both natives of Germany, his father of Hesse Nassau and his mother of Mecklenburg. When young people they came with their parents to the United States and to Ohio, and the grandparents on both sides spent their lives here and died when about seventy years old. Both families were of the Evangelical Church faith. After their marriage John and Mary Weilnau started out as farmers in Oxford Township. He died there July 20, 1913, when past sixty-three years of age. The mother is still living with her children at the old homestead and is now sixty-two years of age. John W. is the oldest son and the second child in a family of four sons and one daughter. His sister Elizabeth is the wife of Adelbert Williams, a farmer in Milan Township, and their two daughters are named Dorothy and Mary. John W. Weilnau's brothers are Henry, Fred and James, who are still single young men living with their mother. John W. Weilnau was married in Oxford Township to Catherine Ebert. She was born in Oxford township March 19, 1880, and grew up and was educated there, a daughter of Lewis Ebert and a sister of Charles Ebert, reference to whom is made on other pages. Mr. and Mrs. Weilnau have a family of four children : Catherine M., seven years old ; Paul William, aged six ; John Louis, aged four ; and George H., who is three years of age. Mr. and Mrs. Weilnau are active members of the Evangelical Church, he is a democrat in politics, and is past grand of Milan Lodge of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. ANSEL G. ODELL. The Odell family to which this well known resident of Milan Township belongs has long been prominent and numerously represented in the Empire State of New York. Former Governor Odell of New York was of the same stock. The Odells have been identified with this section of Northern Ohio fully eighty years, and their record here as honorable and useful citizens runs through three successive generations. Ansel G. Odell is well known not only as a general farmer, vegetable grower and fruit dealer, but also as a business man in Milan Township. His home is on the Cleveland road. HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY - 1005 It was in the early '30s that the family came to Northern Ohio. His grandfather, Samuel Odell, came from New York State to Huron County, Ohio, and settled about seven miles smith of Norwalk. He secured Government land there at the regular price of $1.25 per acre. At that time the value of land was judged mainly by its timber, and Samuel Odell chose his location in Huron County in preference to one in Erie County largely because of the timber resources. The farm on which Ansel G., his grandson, now lives, was at that time known as white oak opening and could be bought at 75 cents an acre. After locating in Huron County Samuel Odell earned money for the support of his household for several years by making staves in the woods and hauling them to Milan, a distance of more than twenty miles. His first home was a typical log cabin, and after making some improvements on his land he sold his first place, which was situated southeast of Olena, and bought another farm southwest of that village. On transferring his residence he again lived in a simple home such as most people owned at that time, but later erected a substantial frame dwelling, and developed a large farm. He died there when in venerable years. He had been married three times. His first wife was a Miss Wooley, who came from New York State. She died leaving a daughter, Mary J., who married Anson Kellogg. It was the second wife of Samuel Odell who was the mother of William Odell, who in turn was the father of Ansel G. She died in middle life, leaving quite a family of children. Besides William there was Angeline, now the widow of D. K. Gauff, and living in Milan, having one daughter. Another son of Samuel was Joseph Odell, who is living with his son and daughter, Elmer and Ethel, in Huron County near Greenwich. William Odell was born April 22, 1835, in Huron County. He died at the home now owned by Ansel Odell on New Year 's Eve of 1912. He was a man of great variety of experience, but his natural modesty served as a cloak to his achievements, and even members of his own family never heard the full story of his life, particularly of his adventures as a soldier in the Civil war. He grew up in Huron County, and for many years was a trader. The last fifteen years of his life were spent in Milan Township. His service as a Union soldier covered four years twelve days. He was a member of Company C of the One Hundred Twenty-third Ohio Volunteer Infantry, and went out from Monroeville. During most of the time he was a private in the ranks, but was discharged as a corporal. He took part in many of the historic battles, including one of the Bull Run engagements, was at Lookout Mountain, at Gettysburg, and in several of the great campaigns before Richmond. At one time he was captured and kept for several months in the notorious Libby Prison. After escaping he was again captured, and this time was sent to Andersonville. While at Andersonville he saved both himself and a comrade, the latter sentenced to be shot on the following day. By a clever maneuver he effected the escape of both himself and his companion and finally reached the Union lines. He had many thrilling experiences as a soldier, but was always reticent on such subjects, and had the modesty characteristic of a truly brave military man. Politically he always voted with the republican party. He married Rachel Phillips. She was born on the old Phillips farm on the Ridge Road in 'Huron County, April 25, 1836. Now feeble with the infirmities of age she is living her son Walter. Ansel G. Odell was born in Eaton County, Michigan, November 9, 1867, during a brief residence of his parents in that state. However, most of his life has been spent in Erie County, and as a boy he attended the little white schoolhouse not far from his present home. He was reared chiefly in the home of his aunt, Mrs. Angeline Gauff. After his 1006 - HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY marriage he succeeded to the ownership of the farm which he still occupies, and which formerly belonged to 1Vers. Odell's family. For fourteen years prior to his marriage he had conducted the farm as a renter. It is a small but well improved little homestead of nineteen acres, containing a good house and barn, and with an orchard of 240 peach trees. During the summer seasons Mr. Odell deals extensively in fruit in Erie County, and also conducts a good business as a manufacturer of acetylene gas plants. At the home where he now lives Mr. Odell married Miss Anna Curtis. She was born in Ridgefield, Huron County, May 25, 1866, and when a child came with her parents to Curtis Corners or Petersburg in Milan Township, and grew up and received her education there. Tier parents were Ezra D. and Thankful (Winchester) Curtis. Her parents were both natives of New York State, her father born November 7, 1823, at Barry in Orleans County, and her mother born December 20, 1826, in Chautauqua County. They were married July 12, 1848, at Perry in Lake County, Ohio. Ezra D. Curtis was a son of Rev. Henry Curtis, who spent many years as a minister of the Methodist Church. Thankful Winchester was a daughter of Marcus Winchester, who made a notable record as a soldier in the War of 1812 and afterwards died in Huron County, Ohio. After Ezra and Thankful Curtis were married they lived in Waterloo County, Ontario, for several years, and their daughter, Olive R., was born there in 1849. Subsequently they returned to Huron County, lived in Ridgefield Township, and from 1851 to 1854 resided at Perry in Lake County. In April, 1872, they moved to Erie County and bought a small farm at the Petersburg schoolhouse in Milan Township. There Mr. Curtis died November 5, 1900, at the age of seventy-seven years five days. His widow is now living with her daughter, Mrs. Odell, and in December, 1915, celebrates her eighty- ninth birthday. Mr. and Mrs. Curtis were always closely identified with the Methodist Episcopal Church. Mr. and Mrs. Odell have an adopted son, Robert A., who was born February 16, 1908. In their religious affiliations they are members of the Friends Church. Mr. Odell is a republican. EMMET PARK. Two enterprising young men who have done much to stimulate manufacturing in Erie County are Emmet Park and Dennis Tucker of the firm of, Park & Tucker, proprietdrs of the plant at Avery, which is run to its full capacity most every working day in the year for the manufacture of tile and brick. They have built up an industry which is more notable for the quality of the output than for the quantity. To manufacture something that is a little better than the ordinary run of material is a sure means to success. The principal output of the Park & Tucker plant is tile, and they make a varied assortment, ranging from three to fifteen inches in diameter. There is perhaps nothing superior to this on the market anywhere, and the firm has had no difficulty in extending the sale of the product to the full capacity of the plant among high grade users of this important clay product, and practically the entire output is taken by dealers and contractors who have patronized this Avery firm for several years or more. Messrs. Park & Tucker have been engaged in this industry for the past twelve years. They bought out the old established plant at Avery, conducted for about fifteen years by Dennis Gilmore, and the tile manufactured here is used in the tiling and draining of land. Both members of the firm are Ohio men, and Mr. Park was born at Olena in Huron County, Ohio, in 1870. He grew up on a farm and was engaged in that industry until he combined with Mr. Tucker in the present industry. His parents were James and Martha (Ersburg) Park,