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WILLIAM C. KELLEY, Esq. For but a little more than two score years was Mr. Kelley a resident of Fulton county; yet, during that time he made a record as a citizen and lawyer second to none within its boundaries. As a lawyer he stood at the head of the bar in the county, and ranked equal with any in Northwestern Ohio. He possessed far more than ordinary legal ability, and was thoroughly successful both in the counsel room, and as an advocate before the court and the jury.
     In the political history of the county, during the first ten or twelve years of his residence here, Mr. Kelley was a prominent central figure, and one of the recognized leaders of the Republican party. He fully enjoyed the excitement of a political campaign, and lent his every effort for the success of the candidates of his party, but he would never consent to become its nominee, except for some local office of minor importance. During the latter eight or ten years of his life he cared less for the exciting political issues of parties but interested himself in the ability, honor, integrity and fitness of the candidate for the office. One reason for this was the fact that his professional duties required his careful attention, for he was as true to his client as he was to his friends. This was one of the marked and striking characteristics of the man, and one that always kept him high in the esteem of his professional associates and fellow-men. In a trial of a case he was entirely devoted to the interests of his client, yet equally watchful and careful of his client's conscience. He had true moral courage, and if at times aggressive, he never carried personal feeling beyond the doors of the court room. He could, and he did look an antagonist squarely in the face and express his sentiments, uncomplimentary or otherwise, as forcibly as if out of his presence. He was also singularly free from professional jealousy. He desired consideration for himself, he demanded it, and obtained it too, but he never sought it at the expense of another. He wished his light to flame high, but he never thought it necessary for that end that other lights should be dimmed.
     He won his position and success by sturdy and sterling qualities of mind, by undaunted courage, by mental readiness, by untiring industry, and unflagging patience, by self-denial, and setting his face against temptations to idleness and frivolity.
     By nature he was free from cant, and impatient of shams, and always gave more heed and attention to the substance than the form of anything, and thus, though not pretending to be polished in manner, was powerful and thorough in his work, holding with an unyielding grip every step he won in his business or profession. Possessing a thorough understanding of the law, he was not given to misconstruction of doubtful cases, and before the jury he was a logical, influential advocate.
     William Clay Kelley, of whom these things are said by his associates at the bar, was born in Liberty township, Hancock County, O., on the 24th day of March, 1838. His father, Daniel R. Kelley, was a carpenter and joiner, but our subject, at an early age, showed a strong inclination for professional life. This was a determination more easy to arrive tat than to perform. His father was a man in quite modest circumstances, and whatever young Kelley might accomplish must be the result of his own personal effort and perseverance. He was not wanting in any of the essential elements that make success possible, and he had, moreover, an unusually bright mind and an abundance of perseverance. His early education was received at the Findlay High School, but prior to that time he had attended school only about twenty months. At the age of fifteen years he began teaching. During these years of study, and in those that followed, he supported himself by such work as he could find to do. In the month of December, 1859, he entered the law office of Hon. Henry Brown, of Findlay, for a course of study, having fully determined to enter the legal profession. He continued his studies until the month of July, 1861, when he dropped them for a time, and helped to recruit, and took a commission as second lieutenant of Company D, 99th O. V. I. With this command he served until November, 1862, when his resignation was accepted because of impaired health.
     In January, 1863, Mr. Kelley entered the Ohio Union Law College, at Cleveland, and was graduated therefrom in June of the same year, and soon after was admitted to practice in the courts of the State. The next year, in March, 1864, Mr. Kelley came to reside at Wauseon, and became a member of the Fulton county bar. After having been a resident here of some three years, Mr. Kelley was, on the 2d day of November, 1867, married to Minnie L. Ayers, daughter of Eli Ayers,,,, of Kossuth, Iowa. At the time their acquaintance was formed Miss Ayers was a teacher in the schools of Wauseon. Her home had been in Gouveneur, St. Lawrence county, N. Y., her parents having recently moved to Des Moines county, Iowa.
     From 1864 until 1885, William C. Kelley, resided and was actively engaged in practice at WAuseon, and during this time his life was one of almost uninterrupted success. But during the latter portion of this period the destroyer was not idle. Mr. Kelley was attacked with a malignant tumor of the throat, which resulted in his death on the 30th day of June, 1885.
     In his religious views Mr. Kelley was a radical free thinker, although he never forced his theories upon unwilling listeners. At his burial ceremony remarks were made by prominent members of the bar from Fulton and other counties, and while clergymen were present, they took no part in the services.
     In concluding this sketch, no higher, or more fitting tribute of respect to the memory of this man an be written, than is embodied in the record of the Common Pleas of Fulton county, being the action of the bar upon the occasion of his death. The record is as follows:
     "The State of Ohio, Fulton county, ss. In the Court of Common Pleas. At a Court of Common Pleas, begun and held at the court-house in the town of Wauseon, in the county of Fulton, and State of Ohio, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and eighty-five. Present, Hon. William H. Handy, judge of said court.
     "WHEREAS, It has pleased the Supreme Architect of the universe in His inscrutable wisdom, to remove from earth our esteemed friend and fellow member of the Fulton county bar, the Hon. William C. Kelley; and
     "WHEREAS, In his untimely death the community has been deprived of the services of one of its most useful citizens, and the bar of this county one of its most faithful representatives, and his friends and relatives of one who was loved for his virtues and respected for his integrity; therefore be it
     "Resolved, That we hereby bear testimony to his acknowledged talents, his public and private worth, uprightness of character, and the many estimable and sterling qualities of mind and heart; that, feeling our own loss we deeply sympathize and condole with the relatives of the deceased in their greatest bereavement.
     "Resolved, That these resolutions be ordered spread upon the journal of the court, and a copy thereof be transmitted to the relatives of the deceased."
(Source #2)

DORR SANTEE KNIGHT, one of the advisory editors of the History of Fulton County, whose services are at this point speciallly acknowledged, has spent all his life in the county, is well known as a former county treasurer, and also as a business man and banker.
     Mr. Knight whose home is at Wauseon, was born in Royalton township Feb. 1, 1874. His father, George Tyler Knight, was born in Vermont, Jan. 22, 1833, and for many years was an active farmer of Fulton county. He was a republican and a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church. The mother, Almira Matilda Santee, was born Sept. 22, 1840.
     Dorr Santee Knight grew up on a farm, attended the district schools and also the normal schools of Fayette and Wauseon. In early youth he took up the vocation of a tiller of the soil, and followed that occupation on the old homestead in Royalton township to the age of thirty-seven. In the meantime he became well known over the county, and entered politics as a candidate for the office of county treasurer, was elected, and discharged the duties of office until September, 1915, in the meantime removing to Wauseon.
     In the spring of 1915 Mr. Knight formed a partnership with C. J. Ives and purchased the furniture store of E. L. Burgoon. Later he sold his interest, for about two years was engaged in the coal business, and during the period of the World War was cashier of the Lyons Commercial Bank. Since leaving this bank he has resumed his residence in Wauseon. Mr. Knight has always been an active supporter and a leader in the republican party in Fulton county, is affiliated with the Methodist Episcopal church, and is a thirty-second degree Scottish Rite Mason and member of the Eastern Star.
     June 18, 1895, in Richfield Township, Lucas county, he married Miss Etta Sanderson, a daughter of M. P. and Sarah Sanderson. She was educated in the public schools of Lucas County and in the Wauseon Normal. After the death of his first wife Mr. Knight married Florence Mary Meeker at Lyons on Oct. 18, 1899. She is the daughter of Walter S. and Rebecca L. Meeker. Mr. Knight has two children, Alice, born May 23, 1896, in Royalton Township; and George Myron, born Sept. 16, 1897. The son is now a student in the Ohio State University at Columbus. The daughter, Alice, is a graduate of the Wauseon High School, spent three years in Ohio Wesleyan University at Delaware, and is now the wife of Ralph A. Howard, a Pike Township farmer.
Source: Standard History of Fulton County, Ohio - Publ. by The Lewis Publishing Company - Chicago & New York - 1920 - Page 552

THEODORE W. KNIGHT
(Source #1)

REV. SEBASTIAN LIPE. There is probably no history so interesting to the American people as that which Switzerland furnishes. The love of liberty has forged many a link in common for the two republics so widely separated. Many of the sturdy sons of the mountain republic have sought homes across the sea. and lent the fruits of their toil to the trade of the New World.
     Rev. Sebastian Lipe, whose name opens this brief sketch, was born April 12, 1829, in Siblingen, canton of Schaffhausen, Switzerland, a son of Jacob and Ann (Keller) Lipe. Jacob Lipe was born in 1782, and for a long time followed the trade of a mason and stone cutter. He had his own quarry, and in connection with that he began contracting, building houses and furnishing stone, his business increasing until he employed many hands. Religiously he was a German Baptist, consistently following the laws of that sect up to his death in 1852. In his family were the following children: Rachel; Barbara, wife of John Weber; Conrad, a tailor in Germany; Henry, who came to America and died two years later; George, in Switzerland; Jacob, who emigrated to America, and died in 1850; Sebastian, our subject; and Margaret and Anna (both deceased). The mother of this family passed to her last rest in 1855.
     At the age of eighteen years Sebastian Lipe left the mountains of his native home, to cast his lot with the workers of the Western hemisphere. He first found a home in northern Ohio, Toledo, and along the banks of the Maumee, and here he worked as a carpenter and joiner, finding employment in the first cabinet shop in Toledo. At this time Toledo was only a small village, and could boast of but one brick store. The year 1849, well remembered as the great cholera year, found Mr. Lipe in the cabinet and china business in Toledo, Ohio. The prevalence of cholera had deadened trade for most branches, and Mr. Lipe did almost nothing but make coffins. He then bought a farm and gave up trade. In 1854 he sold his first land and invested the proceeds in seventy acres in Spencer township, Lucas county, Ohio, but later he sold off a portion, retaining only fifty acres, and then removed to Swanton, Fulton county.
     In 1852 Mr. Lipe was ordained a minister of the German Baptist faith, and while he still worked at his trade, six days in the week, he preached on the seventh, and for the past thirty years he has given most of his time to Church work. The results of his good work have proven that he was wise in listening to the inner voice calling for his service in the Master's vineyard. In deeds first, and then in works, he follows the light he has, and quietly and unostentatiously, like the faith he professes, is building his house upon the rock.
     In 1853 Rev. Sebastian Lipe was married to Mrs. Elizabeth Berthoud, who passed to the unseen life in 1880. No children were born of this union, but Mrs. Lipe had a son by a former marriage, Jacob Berthoud, who now lives in Spencer township, Lucas county, Ohio. After the death of his first wife Mr. Lipe was wedded to Barbara Ciegler. In 1892 they left the farm, and in 1893 removed to Swanton, where Reverend Lipe preaches every Sunday, as does he also in Spencer.
(Source #1)

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