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
and I will put it on her sooner. Thanks, Sharon Wick

* TERMAN, B. Franklin
* THIEL, Mathias

* THOMPSON, Charles J.
* TOMLINSON, Walter S.
* TRACHT, George

B. FRANLIN TERMAN. This prominent resident of Farmer township. Defiance county, has been identified with the agricultural interests of that locality for a number of years, during which he has won in a high degree the esteem and confidence of his fellow-citizens.
     Mr. Terman is a native of Ohio, having been born in Richland county, March 8, 1850. His father, the late John Terman, was a farmer by occupation, and owned a homestead near Mansfield, Ohio, where his death occurred in 1888; the mother, whose maiden name was Priscilla Plank is still living. This worthy couple had seven children - three sons and four daughters - our subject being second in the order of birth.
     The youth of our subject was spent in his native county, where he received a common-school education, and although he occasionally worked by the month as a farm hand, his time was mainly devoted to the management of the homestead until his marriage to Miss Mary J. Crawford, which occurred in Richland county, November 9, 1871. He then settled upon a farm in the same county, and remained two years, but in 1873 he removed to Defiance county, locating first in Delaware township, where he spent twelve years. Since that time he has been a resident of Section 36, Farmer township, and he now owns a homestead of eighty acres, which he has improved judiciously, his buildings being both substantial and attractive. As a citizen he has shown much public spirit, participating actively in all movements that promised to benefit the community, and while he is not an office seeker he served for three years as trustee of Delaware township during his residence there. In politics he is a firm supporter of the principles of the Democratic party, and he has always taken deep interest in religious work in his locality, although he does not belong to any Church.
     Mrs. Terman is also a native of Richmond county, and was born May 9, 1846. Her father, John Crawford, is now a well-known resident of Williams county; her mother, whose maiden name was Mary Stevenson, died in Richland county in 1860. Mrs. Terman was the third in a family of six children- three sons and three daughters, three of whom are now dead, the eldest being Robert, who was a member of Company B, One Hundred and Twenty-first Ohio Volunteer Infantry, in the war of the Rebellion. He died June 17, 1895, and was buried by the Masonic Fraternity, of which he was a member, the G. A. R. also participating.

WALTER S. TOMLINSON. This section furnished many brave soldiers for the defense of the government during the Civil war, and the subject of this biography, though only a boy of eighteen at the beginning of the struggle, did gallant service from 1861 to 1865. He is descended in both paternal and maternal lines from New England ancestry, and is a representative of the highest type of American citizenship. For many years he has been a leading resident of Farmer township, Defiance county, and his homestead of three hundred and sixty-five acres is one of the best farms in that locality.
     Mr. Tomlinson's ancestry can be traced back eleven generations commencing with Walter D. Bender (grandson of Walter S.) through his mother, Mrs. Eva (Tomlinson) Bender, and her father, Walter S. (our subject), as follows, commencing with the first generation on record: (1) George Tomlinson married Maria Hyde in January, 1600, at St. Peter's Church, ___, England. (2) Henry Tomlinson was born in Derby, England, came to America in 1852, and died at Stratford, Connecticut, in 1681. (3) Jonas Tomlinson married Alice Hannak, lived on Grant Hill, Derby, Connecticut, and died in 1693. (4) Isaac Tomlinson was born in 1687, married Patience Taylor in March, 1712, and died in 1854. (5) Noah Tomlinson, born March 6, 1727, married Abigail Beers July 2, 1747 and lived and died at Derby, Connecticut. (6) Daniel Tomlinson, born in 1749, married Susanna Hotchkiss, June 3, 1774, and died near Marbledale, Connecticut. (7) Abijah Tomlinson was born in 1780, married Betsey, daughter of David and Ruth (Hawkins) Tomlinson, April 29, 1805, and died at Marbledale, Connecticut, in 1862. Their children were Ruth, George, Giles H., Daniel, Charles, Eliza, Agnes, etc. (8) Giles H. (father of Walter S.) was born at Marbledale, Connecticut, September 22, 1809. In 1842 he married Eunice Ensign, daughter of Oren and Nancy (Pepoon) Ensign, who came from near Painesville to Farmer township in 1837. Besides Eunice their children were: Oscar, Dwight P., Henry A. (deceased), and Frank and Elbridge (still living). Three children were born to this marriage of Giles H. and Eunice (Ensign) Tomlinson, as follows; (1) Walter S., our subject; (2) Dwight O., who served as a soldier in Company C., One Hundred and Eleventh Ohio Volunteer Infantry during the Rebellion, and never recovered from the effects of the hardships of army life, his death, which occurred in 1890, being doubtless hastened thereby. His wife died in 1874. They had no children. (3) Frank A. resides near Des Moines, Iowa, and is engaged in farming. He has two children - Alta, married to J. G. Black, and L. G., married to Stella Morrison, all living near Des Moines. Mrs. Eunice Tomlinson died at Williams Center in September, 1854, at the age of thirty-three, and for his second wife Giles H. Tomlinson married Electa Hemenway, who is still living, as is also Mr. Tomlinson.
     Walter S. Tomlinson, whose name introduces this sketch, was born June 16, 1854, in Bryan, Williams county, Ohio, and was reared to farm work at the old home in Williams county, where he remained until his enlistment in August, 1861, in Company A, Thirty-eighth Ohio Volunteer Infantry. He continued with this regiment throughout the war, taking part in numerous engagements, including the battles of Stone River, Chickamauga, Jonesboro, and the Atlanta campaign, and was with Sherman in the march to the sea. When there was no longer any fighting to be done he returned to Williams county and engaged in farming and teaching, later purchasing his present farm in Section 1 and 2, Farmer township, Defiance county. He is a man of intelligence and public spirit, and has always taken an active part in local affairs, being one of the most prominent workers in the Republican organization in his county. For several years he has held the office of justice of the peace, and since 1895 he has been a notary public. In 1892 he received the nomination of his party as county commissioner, and was defeated by only ninety votes by the Democratic nominee, F. J. Clemmen, although the county gives the Democrats 1,350 majority. Two years later he was a candidate for the Legislature, and although defeated by Hon. J. W. Winn, of Defiance, his popularity was shown in the contest. He is a member and present commander of Lew Bowker Post, No. 725, G. A. R., of Farmer township, and is also active in religious work, he and his wife being leading members of the Christian Church at Farmer Center.
     On January 3, 1867, Mr. Tomlinson was married in Farmer township, Defiance county, to Miss Emily Lane, by whom he as had two children, Orlo L., who resides in Farmer township; and Eva T., wife of Prof. W. H. Bender, of the Iowa State Normal School (they have two children - Walter D. and Miriam E.). Mrs. Tomlinson was born in Tuscarawas county, Ohio, April 16, 1848, a daughter of John and Elizabeth (Allabaugh) Lane. Her father was a native of Fayette, Pennsylvania, born March 2, 1822, and her mother was born July 11, 1828, in Tuscarawas county, Ohio, where her ancestors were early settlers. This worthy couple were married in Tuscarawas county in 1847, and two years later removed to Milford township, Defiance county, where they spent one year. For the next thirteen years they resided in Williams county, but they afterward made their home in Section 10, Farmer township, Defiance county, where their last days were passed, Mr. Lane dying Jan. 23, 1881, and Mrs. Lane on July 31, 1892. They had six children, viz.: Emily (Mrs. Tomlinson); William H., an agriculturist residing in Farmer township; Jennie (deceased); Ellen E., wife of M. V. Garner, of Bryan, Ohio; Laura M., wife of R. W. Scott, of Farmer township; and Rhoda E., wife of E. T. Binns, of Bryan, Ohio.
     Mr. Tomlinson, our subject, had three great-grandfathers in the Revolutionary war, one being a captain, while the other two were ensigns.

GEORGE TRACHT. This gentleman owns and operates a fine farm of two hundred acres, which is pleasantly located in Section 23, Hicksville township, Defiance county. The well-tilled fields and excellent buildings, including a handsome residence, testify to the industrious habits and progressive spirit of the proprietor. He is a man of sound judgment and intelligence, and is well worthy of representation in a work of this kind.
     Mr. Tracht is a native of Ohio, born in Crawford county, Sept. 18,1847. His father, Peter Tracht, was born Mar. 8, 1802, in Germany, where he grew to manhood and married Miss Elizabeth Heist, who was born in the same country July 2, 1808. In 1832 they emigrated to the New World, the voyage occupying eighty-two days. The vessel struck on a rock, and the passenger and crew had to be landed by means of lifeboats. For the first two years after their arrival they lived in Maryland, at the end of which time they removed to Crawford county, Ohio, where they made their home until November, 1864, and they came to Defiance county, locating in Hicksville township, where the father died Feb. 28, 1898, an honored and highly respected citizen. The mother departed this life in 1883.
     Of their children, Elizabeth married Peter Tracht, and died in Crawford county; Anna is the wife of William Beck, of Morrow county, Ohio; Margaret wedded George Rozman, and died in Hicksville township, Defiance county; Michael and John are the next of the family; Eli died in Hicksville township at the age of thirty-seven years; Catherine is the wife of Albert Farnsworth, of Hicksville; Agnes lives at the homestead; Caroline is the wife of Peter Huffman, of Milford township, Defiance county; George is the subject of this sketch; and Mary is the wife of Frank Maxwell, of Hicksville township.
     The first seventeen years of his life George Tracht spent in his native county, and then accompanied his parents on their removal to Defiance county, remaining under the parental roof until 1870, when he went to Tazewell county, Illinois. After working upon a farm there for five months he went to Brown county, Kansas, where he was similarly employed some fifteen months, returning to his father's home in Hicksville township, at the end of that time, and remaining there until his marriage.
     In Hicksville township, Sept. 17,, 1874, Mr. Tracht wedded Miss Matilda Hofmeister, who was born in Hancock county, Ohio, Feb. 25, 1854. Her father, Jacob Hofmeister was a native of Germany, born July 12, 1814, and in that country married Miss Fredericka Schwarz, who was born there Aug. 30, 1822. In 1852 they crossed the Atlantic and took up their residence in Mahoning county, Ohio, where they continued to live until coming to Defiance county in 1861. Here they made their home in Hicksville township, where the mother died Feb. 8, 1886. Their children were Margaret, now the wife of M. Collins; Fredericka, wife of A. Dierstein; John who died in Hicksville township when nearly twenty years of age; Jacob; Paulina, wife of Edward Tracht; Matilda wife of our subject; Marietta, wife of A. Weber, of Hicksville township; and William. To Mr. and Mrs. Tracht have been born ten children, namely: Lillie M., Elmer R., Oscar J., Charley W., Olke P., Harold H., Claren E., Alice E., Floyd A. and George E. All months; and George E., who died when eighteen months old.
     For three years after his marriage, Mr. Tracht continued to live on his father's old homestead, and then removed to a farm in Section 13, Hicksville township, residing there until he located upon his present place in 1893. For one term he served as township trustee, and for twelve years he has been a capable and prominent member of the school board. Politically he has always affiliated with the Democratic party, and religiously has been a member of the Lutheran Church since the age of seventeen years. His wife belongs to the same Church, and in the social circles of the community they and their family occupy an enviable position. As a public-spirited , enterprising man, Mr. Tracht is recognized as a valued citizen of Hicksville township. In 1893 he erected his elegant and comfortable residence, and in 1896 built his barn, which is one of the finest and most commodious in the county.

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