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Source:
History of Western Ohio & Auglaize County
with
Illustrations and Biographical Sketches of
Pioneer and Prominent Public Men
by C. W. Williamson
Columbus, Ohio
Press of W. M. Linn & Sons
1905
BIOGRAPHIES
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THOMAS McKEE was
born in Pennsylvania in 1801, and came to Ohio when he was three
years old. His father was of Irish birth, and one of the
early settlers of Athens county. He son Thomas
labored on the home farm until 1822, when he entered upon
business for himself. In 1827 he married Annis
Reynolds, and in 1833 removed to Auglaize county and settled
in St. Mary's. Here he lived for two years, in which time
he purchased two hundred and twenty acres of land in section
ten, on which he resided until his death, which occurred in
1874.
Mr. McKee was a man of fine social qualities,
genial manners, and benevolent heart. He was prominent and
well known as a pioneer and citizen, and was held in high regard
by the community. For many years, he was an elder in the
Presbyterian Church, and actively engaged in the advancement of
religious interests in this section.
Mr. McKee was twice married; the first time, as
has already been stated, to Miss Annis Reynolds. Of
this marriage seven children were born, of whom three are
living. His second wife of Mrs. Sarah Armstrong, a
daughter of Judge John Armstrong, one of the first
settlers of the county. Five children were born of that
marriage, of whom three are living.
Source 1: History of Western Ohio & Auglaize County -
by C. W. Williamson - Columbus, Ohio - Press of W. M. Linn &
Sons - 1905 |
JUDGE
JOHN McLEAN was born in Bedford county, Pennsylvania, in
1809. His father was a farmer, in which business young
McLean was reared. His chances for obtaining an education
were very limited, but in after life, by patient application, he
acquired a fair business education. In 1833, he went to
Richland county, Ohio, and obtained employment, as a farm hand,
near Mansfield. In 1837 he married Miss Mary Cobean,
and moved immediately after to Goshen township, Allen, now
Auglaize county. They raised a family of four children,
John G., Melissa, Robert A., and Sarah E.
November 16th, 1836, Mr. McLean entered one
hundred and sixty acres of land in section six, Goshen township.
On this land he erected a house and other buildings, preparatory
to his marriage which took place the next year. Mr.
McLean resided on this farm until his death, which occurred
May 5th, 1875. He was elected associate judge for the
county after its organization, which position he filled until
the new constitution abolished the office.
Judge McLean was of an unassuming and retired
disposition, attentive to his own affairs, taking little part in
the public matters. But no man in his neighborhood was
more highly respected or considered more trustworthy.
Source 1: History of Western Ohio & Auglaize County -
by C. W. Williamson - Columbus, Ohio - Press of W. M. Linn &
Sons - 1905 |
Moulton Twp. -
JAMES McFARLAND was born in Chambersburg,
Pennsylvania, August 23d, 1814. In 1835, he, with his
parents moved to Logan county, Ohio. five years later he
came to this county and settled in Moulton township, on the St.
Mary's road, three and a half miles west of Wapakoneta. He
married Miss Nancy Lowhead. Of this marriage two
children were born. His wife died in 1840. Two years
afterward he married Miss Rosana Walker. Of this
union four children were born: John I., S. Walker,
Frank J., and Mary The mother died in August,
1854. He afterward married Susan Ward, with whom he
reared two children, Mollie and Celia. Upon
the death of his third wife, he married Catherine Whetstone,
who still survives.
When Mr. McFarland came to the county he
purchased one hundred and sixty acres of land on which he
resided until his death. Soon after his settlement here he
was elected to the office of justice, which he held for
thirty-one consecutive years; twenty-six years of this time he
held the office of township treasurer. He also served one
term as treasurer of the county agricultural society, in
addition to many other minor offices. He was one of a
family of eight children, and was the third of these to pass
away; his next younger brother was Bishop Francis P.
McFarland, Bishop of Hartford (Conn.) Diocese; Dr. Josiah
A. McFarland, Cleveland, Ohio; William H. McFarland,
Medina,, Missouri; Squire James E. McFarland, Auglaize
county, Ohio; Henry J. McFarland and Ignatius
McFarland, Chambersburg, Pennsylvania.
The family was well educated, and highly qualified for
the professions or positions of trust which the different
members assumed.
Mr. McFarland was a communicant of the Catholic church,
and gave evidence all though life of the faith that was in him.
He died July 21, 1875.
Source: History of Western Ohio & Auglaize County - by
C. W. Williamson - Columbus, Ohio - Press of W. M. Linn & Sons -
1905 - Page 786 |
Moulton Twp. -
JEROME McFARLAND, a brother of the
preceding, was born in Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, in 1828.
After a preparatory course in a parochial school he attended
Jefferson University, at Watertown, New York, and graduated from
that institution at the age of twenty years. One year
after his graduation he removed to this county, and on the first
of May, 1850, he married Miss Anna Walker. Of
this union twelve children were born, eight of whom survive him,
as follows: Mrs. B. W. Layton, Washington, D. C.;
John F. McFarland, Indianapolis; Mrs. Rose Cain,
Bellefontaine, Ohio; Miss Mary McFarland, Wapakoneta,
Ohio; Mrs. Aggie McMurray, Bellefontaine; Jerome
McFarland, Glynwood, and W. H. McFarland, Wapakoneta.
The mother of this large family died many years ago.
Mr. McFarland was a man of great moral worth and business
ability, and occupied many positions of honor and trust.
He served as county commissioner from 1865 to 1874, and county
auditor from 1877 to 1883. It can be truly said of him
that he was one of the most popular and efficient officers that
the county has ever had.
Mr. McFarland died at Wapakoneta Apr. 2,1896,
aged sixty-eight years, two months and eight days.
Source: History of Western Ohio & Auglaize County - by C.
W. Williamson - Columbus, Ohio - Press of W. M. Linn & Sons -
1905 - Page 787 |
Goshen Twp. -
JASON H. MANCHESTER was born in Newton,
Union County, Ohio, in 1853. The elder Manchester
his father, was a native of the "old Bay State," and was born at
Dracut in 1815. He graduated from Norwich University,
Vermont. In 1842 he married Miss Rebecca Hewitt a
native of Pomfret, Vermont. In the same year the young
couple moved to Fredericktown, Ohio, where he engaged in
merchandising until 1865, when he sold out and three years later
settled on an unimproved farm of five hundred acres in Goshen
township, Auglaize county. To the original tract he added
from time to time until he was the owner of one thousand acres.
After his death the estate passed into the possession of
Jason H. Manchester, the subject of this sketch.
Jason H. Manchester attended the public schools
of Union county, and supplemented his public school education by
a two years course in the West Randolph Norman School, in
Vermont. After completing his education he returned to
Ohio, and took formal possession of the state on which he now
resides. In 1885, he was married to Miss Louisa Krebs,
a daughter of Dr. Krebs of Waynesfield. Mrs.
Manchester is a graduate of the Ada Normal University, of
Ohio. She was also a student of medicine for a time at
Cincinnati. To Mr. and Mrs. Manchester one child
has been born, Hewitt Krebs, who died at the age of
eighteen months.
Mr. Manchester's farm of fifteen hundred acres,
is not only one of the largest, but one of the most productive
farms in northwestern Ohio. His annual yield of crops is
about a follows: Of corn, 40,000 bushels, of wheat, 11,200
bushels, of oats 6,400 bushels, and of timothy hay and potatoes
proportional quantities.
His residence is situated on a knoll, about the center
of the farm, and with a field-glass a view can be commanded of
the entire farm.
Source: History of Western Ohio &
Auglaize County - by C. W. Williamson - Columbus, Ohio -
Press of W. M. Linn & Sons - 1905 - Page 730 |
Clay Twp. -
ASA MARTIN was born in Clinton county, Ohio, January 15th, 1822.
In 1838 he settled in Clinton county, January 15th, 1822.
In 1838 he settled in Clay township three and a half miles south
of St. Johns with his father in what was then a swamp.
February 22nd, 1844, he was married to Hannah Coleman,
who bore him fifteen children, eleven of whom are still living.
After his father died in 1851 he bought out the other heirs'
interests in his father's farm, cleared it up and improved the
land until it was one of the most productive farms in the
county.
Throughout his life he was an upright, straightforward
and conscientious Christian man and for many years was a member
of the Methodist Episcopal church. He was the oldest and
last survivor of a family of six children. He was a highly
respected and often honored citizen in his community, and no man
in the county stood higher in the estimation of his fellow men.
He filled various offices of trust in his township and at the
time of his death was serving his second term as county
infirmary director, the duties of which position he faithfully
and conscientiously performed.
He died December 27th, 1891.
Source: History of Western Ohio & Auglaize County - by
C. W. Williamson - Columbus, Ohio - Press of W. M. Linn & Sons -
1905 - Page 722 |
Goshen Twp. -
ROBERT LEE GILMORE MEANS was born in
Coshocton, Ohio, in 1811, and was taken to Virginia by his
uncle; his parents having died when he was two years of age.
He lived with his uncle Ephraim Means in Virginia until
he was eighteen years old, when the uncle with his family and
ward returned to Ohio, settling in Licking county.
Young Means remained with his uncle two years when the
family moved to Champaign county. One year after the
family settled in that county young Means began life's
battle for himself. In 1833, he married Miss Sarah
North. After paying the minister two dollars for
performing the marriage ceremony, "his worldly possessions only
amounted to seventy-five cents, besides for his wedding clothes.
With liabilities of about twelve or fifteen dollars, and assets
seventy-five cents, he took a contract for splitting rails at
thirty-three cents per hundred, and renting land until his debts
were paid, and he had a balance of sixty-five dollars
accumulated. He then borrowed forty dollars and came to
Allen, now Auglaize county, and entered eighty acres of land in
Goshen township in section thirty, Feb. 9th, 1836. He
immediately erected a cabin into which he moved the same spring.
"He went boldly to work in clearing up a farm, and succeeded in
making one of the best in the township. In clearing the
farm the family endured all the hardships incident to new
settlements. Having commenced life with a determination to
succeed, in industry, economy and fair dealing were the elements
of success, Mr. Means became one of the largest land
owners in the township, being the possessor of sixteen hundred
acres of land at the time of his death.
Mr. and Mrs. Means were the parents of ten
children, only four of whom are living: Lyman North
Means, Lucy E., who married John H. Plough, Olive
M., who married William McCormick, and Rebecca M.
Mr. and Mrs. Means were consistent members of the
Baptist church. The early ministers, no matter to what
denomination they belonged, always found a welcome at his house,
and a cordial invitation to its hospitality.
Mr. Means died Sept. 11th, 1885.
Source: History of Western Ohio &
Auglaize County - by C. W. Williamson - Columbus, Ohio -
Press of W. M. Linn & Sons - 1905 - Page 729 |
Washington Twp. -
SHADRACH MONTGOMERY was born in western
Pennsylvania in 1789, and grew to manhood amid the stirring
times dating from 1790 to 1812. In the latter year he
enlisted in a company recruited in his neighborhood to serve
during the second war of the Revolution. The company was
assigned to duty under General Hull in his neighborhood
to serve during the second war of the Revolution. The
company was assigned to duty under General Hull in his
campaign against Detroit and Canada. The disasters of the
campaign and the ignominious surrender of the army by General
Hull are incidents of history that need not be recounted in
this connection. After the surrender, Mr. Montgomery,
along with the other captured troops, were marched through the
wilderness to Fort Niagara, where he was exchanged the following
year. Upon his return home he re-enlisted and was assigned
to duty on the northern frontier. In 1814 he participated
in the battle of Niagara, or Lundy's Lane, as it is sometimes
called. He received two wounds in this engagement,
receiving a ball in a hip and another in a leg. The ball
in his leg he carried during the remainder of his life. He
suffered much in after years from his wounds and the severities
of his march form Detroit to Niagara. His grandson states
that his grandfather "could never eat raised wheaten bread after
the Hull campaign. The rations of flour and lime
issued by the British commissaries so sickened him that he could
never eat bread, other than unleavened bread afterwards.
Three years after his return from the army he married
Miss Julia A. Brannon Of this union there were
eleven children born: Archibald, David, Charles H.,
Shadrach J., Elizabeth Ryan, Jane, Isabella Howell, Mary Lintch,
Samalah Howell, Susan Spray, and Hannah Spray.
After his marriage he moved to Darby in Champaign county, Ohio,
where the family resided until they removed to Moulton township
in 1830. Mr. Montgomery has the distinction of
being the first settler of the township. For the first
year the Shawnee Indians were his only neighbors. His son
Archibald, then twelve years of age, soon learned to
speak the Shawnee language with fluency. Like the other
pioneers of that time, the family were compelled to depend
largely upon the chase for subsistence. Fortunately for
them Mr. Montgomery was a noted hunter. "He claimed
to have killed the last deer ever seen in the county. On
one occasion he killed two deer at one shot. He saw but
one, but after the shot he found a second one had stood in range
beyond the one at which he aimed. He also claimed to have
killed the last wolf ever seen in the county."
In 1831 he entered land in section twenty-four in
Washington township. Within the forty-one years of his
residence in the township he held many offices of trust and
honor. He assisted in the organization of the township,
and at different time held the offices of justice of the peace,
clerk, treasurer and trustee. In 1842 he was elected
commissioner of Allen county, and was re-elected in 1844.
When Auglaize county was organized in 1848, he was again elected
county commissioner.
Mr. Montgomery was an enterprising and public
spirited citizen, and commanded the respect of the community in
which he resided.
He died Oct. 8th, 1871, at the advanced age of
eighty-two years.
Source: History of Western Ohio & Auglaize County - by
C. W. Williamson - Columbus, Ohio - Press of W. M. Linn & Sons -
1905 - Page 779 |
Union Twp. -
JOHN MORRIS was in Virginia in 1796.
His father was a soldier in the Revolutionary War, and
participated in the siege of Yorktown. At the close of the
Revolution he settled in Virginia and devoted his attention to
the cultivation of his farm. His son John also
labored during his minority in tilling his father's farm.
In 1832 he married Miss Mary A. Clarkson, and the year
following moved to Allen, now Auglaize, county. He entered
the southwest quarter of section 30 in Union township.
When he arrived there was not an acre of cleared land
in the township, except what had been cleared by the Indians,
the land having only come into market the year before. The
most of the Indians had been removed; a few of them, however,
remained.
He lived in an Indian cabin until he built one for
himself. At that time there was not a road laid out in the
township. Where St. John's is now situated there were
about twelve or fifteen acres cleared, which had been done by
the Indians. The only persons living there were William
and Byrd Richardson and their families. Mr. Morris
was the first justice of the peace in the township. He
served two terms. He died Sept. 22, 1882.
Source: History of Western Ohio & Auglaize County - by
C. W. Williamson - Columbus, Ohio - Press of W. M. Linn & Sons -
1905 - Page 765 |
Moulton Twp. -
JOHN MUSSER. Among the many
enterprising foreigners who at an early day emigrated to the
Land of the Free with a view to bettering their condition was
the paternal grandfather of our subject, who emigrated from
Switzerland and settled in Maryland about 1750. Being
progressive and enterprising to a marked degree, he was not
satisfied to remain long in Maryland when the yet unexplored
West was before him, and in Maryland when the yet unexplored
West was before him, and he emigrated to Ohio and settled in
Fairfield county. Although the land was wild upon which he
settled, the soil was rich and productive, and as the work of
clearing progressed and the seed was planted, it yielded a rich
return. He was the father of seven children. In
religion, he was a member of the German Reformed church, and
died in that faith in 1822.
Theobald Musser, son of the above and father of
our subject, was born in Fredericktown, Maryland, and there
passed his boyhood. In that place, he married Miss
Christine, daughter of Christopher Binkley, of
Hagerstown, Maryland. After marriage this worthy couple
settled in Elizabethtown, Pennsylvania, but a few years later
removed to Fairfield county, Ohio, and there the father engaged
in tilling the soil the remainder of his days. Both were
members of the Reformed Lutheran church. He died in 1847,
and his wife passed away in 1853. Of the ten children born
to them, three are now living: John, David and Daniel.
John Musser, the subject of this sketch, was born
in Elizabethtown, Pennsylvania, in the year 1799. At the
time of his death he was the oldest man in Auglaize county and
had the distinction of being the oldest surviving settler.
Having passed the greater portion of his life here he was
thoroughly identified with its interest in every worthy
particular and recognized by all as one of its representative
and most highly esteemed citizens. He was brought by his
parents to Ohio in 1801, and grew to manhood in Auglaize county.
When Mr. Musser started out in life, he was entirely
without means, but possessed a great amount of energy and push,
and a strong and willing hand. By his industry and economy
he became the owner of one hundred and sixty acres of land.
He served as an officer in the State militia for seven
years and was commissioned, in turn, First Lieutenant, Captain,
and Lieutenant Colonel of the Seventy Ohio regiment. In
his political views he was a staunch supporter of the principles
of the Republican party. In religion, he was a member of
the Presbyterian church, in which he served as deacon. He
was married in Perry county, Ohio, in 1826, to Mrs. Rachel
McCullom, who passed from earth August 20, 1861. She
was a woman of noble attributes which endeared her to her
acquaintances.
Mr. Musser died August 18, 1895.
(From Biographical Sketches of Auglaize County.)
Source: History of Western Ohio & Auglaize County - by C.
W. Williamson - Columbus, Ohio - Press of W. M. Linn & Sons -
1905 - Page 788 |
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