OHIO GENEALOGY EXPRESS - Defiance Co., Ohio

OHIO GENEALOGY EXPRESS

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DEFIANCE COUNTY
OHIO

BIOGRAPHIES

These biographies have been extracted from
Commemorative Biographical Records of Northwestern Ohio
including the counties of Defiance, Henry, Williams & Fulton.
Published at Chicago: J. H. Beers & Co. 1899.

A - B - C - D - E - F - G - H - I - J - K - L - M
N - O - P - Q - R - S - T - U - V - W - X - Y - Z

NOTE: If you are interested in any of the names listed below, please contact me
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* EDGERTON, Alfred P., Hon.
* EDWARDS, George W.

* EISER, John P.
* ENOS, Benjamin Franklin

HON. ALFRED P. EDGERTON.
     This deceased gentleman was in his lifetime one of the most distinguished citizens of this section, and his able, faithful, and long-continued service in important official positions reflects honor upon the community in which he made his home. His prominence in political affairs is indicated by his service as Congressman; member of the Ohio State Senate; president of the Civil Service Commission, and by his election as a delegate to four national Democratic conventions, while his name was associated with numerous undertakings which have been a permanent benefit to the business interests of the country.
     Mr. Edgerton came of good old English ancestry, and traced his descent from Richard Edgerton, one of the original thirty-five proprietors of Norwich, Connecticut. He was born January 11, 1813, at Plattsburg, New York, and received an academic education at Albany. For a time after leaving school he edited a newspaper at his native place, but in 1833 he removed to New York City, and engaged in mercantile business. In the spring of 1837 he came to Ohio, and assumed the management of the extensive interests of the American Land Company, and the Hicks Land Company in the northwestern part of the State, establishing his office and home at Hicksville, then in Williams county. He ever afterward retained a residence there, his beautiful home being always kept ready for his occupancy, and he spent much of his time there; but in 1859 he removed to Fort Wayne, Indiana. From that time until 1868 his attention was mainly devoted to the management of the Indiana State canals, which he leased in partnership with Hugh McCulloch and Pliny Hoogland, and at different times he was identified with various railroad interests in Indiana and Michigan, as promoter, stockholder, and director.
     His abilities received early recognition among his fellow-workers in the Democratic party, and his fidelity to duty in every office fully justified their confidence in him. In 1845 he was elected to the Ohio State Senate; in 1848 was a delegate-at-large to the National Democratic Convention; in 1850 was elected to the XXXIId Congress; in 1852 was re-elected, and as a member of the XXXIIId Congress he served as chairman of the Committee on Claims, and was one of its most active and conscientious members, blocking many false claims. In 8153 he was appointed financial agent of the State of Ohio, with an office at New York City, and this position he held until May 1, 1856. From 1852 to 1856 he was a member of the Democratic National Committee, and was chairman of the sub-committee which organized the national convention in the latter year. In 1858 he was a member of a committee appointed to investigate certain frauds upon the Ohio State treasury, and he assisted in preparing an elaborate report disclosing the extent of the frauds and the names of the guilty parties.
     In January, 1864, he was chosen delegate-at-large to the national convention of his party. In 1868 he was a candidate for the post of lieutenant-governor of that State, but he declined to run. In November, 1885, President Cleveland appointed him as a member of the United States Civil Service Commission, and for about four years he served as chairman of that body. Throughout his life Mr. Edgerton was an earnest friend to educational progress, and for many years he served as a member of the school board at Fort Wayne, and as trustee of Purdue University at Lafayette, Indiana, and of the Agricultural and Mechanical College of Indiana, which is endowed by the general government.
     His unswerving integrity in financial matters is shown by the fact that he was not a very wealthy man, notwithstanding the opportunities for gain which is official positions gave him. His business enterprises were profitable, and in the early '70's he was worth from eight hundred thousand to a million dollars, but, having made a verbal promise as security for his brother Lycurgus, who was in business in New York City, he felt compelled to meet all liabilities when the panic of 1873 brought on the failure of the latter. This took the greater portion of Mr. Edgerton's fortune, and as he was not legally bound to pay the obligations, the incident illustrates in a striking way his high sense of honor.
     On February 9, 1841, Mr. Edgerton was married at Columbus, Ohio, to Miss Charlotte Dixon, who was born June 1, 1816, at Portland Connecticut, a daughter of Charles and Lucy (Sage) Dixon, of Bethany, New York. Son after their marriage Mr. Edgerton brought his bride to his home in Hicksville, which had just been completed for her reception, and the first gentleman to call and offer his congratulations on their arrival was Chief Justice Waite. In this home many happy years were spent, the following children blessing the union: Henry Hicks, born January 1, 1842; Cornelia Augusta, born February 4, 1843, died August 13, 1848; Frances DeLord, born September 1, 1844; Alfred P., Jr., born April 12, 1846; Charlotte Elizabeth, born October 1, 1847; Ann Eliza, born June 4, 1849; Arthur, born February 7, 1852, died March 28, 1856; and Dixon, born July 28, 1857. On January 2, 1895, the beloved wife and mother passed to the unseen life, deeply mourned by a large circle of friends. She was a member of the Episcopal Church and was prominent in its varied activities.
     Even when well advanced in years, Mr. Edgerton displayed remarkable intellectual and physical vitality, and was still actively interested in various progressive movements of the day. He died May 14, 1897, at Hicksville, Ohio, and was buried at Fort Wayne, Indiana, may 17, from Trinity Church.

JOHN P. EISER. The present sheriff of Defiance county, John P. Eiser, is an able and faithful official, and his fearless discharge of his difficult and sometimes dangerous duties has won for him the esteem of the better element of the community, while his name has become a veritable "terror to evil doers." A long service as constable, deputy sheriff, and deputy United States marshal prepared him for his work, and it is seldom that a man is found so thoroughly equipped for the office.
     Mr. Eiser was born October 1, 1859, in the city of Defiance, the son of Doctor Andrew Eiser, and his wife, Mary Eiser. Both parents were natives of Monheim, Germany, and they remained in the Fatherland for some years after their marriage. In 1840 they came to America with their family, which then consisted of three children, and located first at Perrysburg, Ohio, in 1843, removing to Defiance, where the father died in 1858. He had studied for the medical profession in Germany, and on coming to this country engaged in practice with marked success. His wife survives him, and for some time resided with our subject in Defiance, but in June, 1896, she went to Fort Wayne, Indiana, to visit a daughter, and was stricken with paralysis from which she has not recovered. The family has always been identified with the Catholic Church, and both parents being devout members they reared their children carefully in the same faith. The three children born in Germany were Elizabeth, Andrew, and Emma, and the four born in Defiance were Sarah, Josephine, George Washington, and John P. (our subject).
     John P. Eiser was educated in Defiance, attending the Union Schools, also the parochial schools of the German Catholic. Church, and at an early age he began to learn the tinner's trade, which he followed for seven or eight years. In 1884 he was elected to the office of constable, in which he served so faithfully and efficiently that he was retained in the position for thirteen years, resigning it only to take the oath of office as sheriff. During that period he served four years as deputy sheriff, being appointed in 1888, and four years as United States marshal under B. F. Wade, of Toledo, the appointment being made in 1890. His services in both positions were creditable to himself and satisfactory to his superior officers and the people at large, his prompt fulfillment of all official duties bringing him prominently and favorably before the public. His courage and determination were often put to severe tests, his duties being performed at times at the risk of his life when a desperate criminal was to be found and arrested. Altogether he has apprehended more than one hundred and fifty offenders who were convicted and sent to the penitentiary. Naturally he became familiar with the legal practice connected with the offices mentioned, and this is now of great advantage to him, all the details as to papers and forms of procedure being decided upon without fear of error.
     In 1896, when he was nominated by the Democratic party to his present office, he was elected by a majority of nine hundred and thirty-seven, although his opponent was a most popular man, and had been elected two years previous by a handsome vote. Mr. Tuttle is the only Republican ever elected to the office of sheriff in Defiance county. Notwithstanding the pressure of his official duties, he has served for some years as a member of the fire department of Defiance. In politics he is a stanch Democrat, and he is prominent socially as a member of the Catholic Knights of Ohio and the German Aid Society. He earned his first money as a bill poster, and now owns all the bill boards in Defiance.
     On October 2, 1886, Sheriff Eiser was united in marriage with Miss Fannie Partee, daughter of John and Nancy (Justice) Partee, the former of whom was a soldier in the war of the Rebellion, and died in Camp Dennison in 1861, from a wound received in battle. His widow still resides in Evans-port, Defiance county, the birthplace of our subject's wife. To Sheriff and Mrs. Eiser have been born three children: Mabel, Bernadine, and John, Jr.

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