Biographies
(Transcribed by Sharon Wick)

Source:
 A Portrait and Biographical Record of
Mercer and Van Wert Counties, Ohio
Containing Biographical Sketches of Many Prominent and Representative Citizens,
together with Biographies and Portraits of all the
Presidents of the United States
and Biographies of the Governors of Ohio
CHICAGO: A. W. BOWEN & CO.
1896

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JOHN DILBONE, a farmer of Dublin township, Mercer county, was born in Miami county, Ohio, Jan. 16, 1834.  He is a son of William and Lydia (Baltzell) Dilbone, the former of whom was born in Miami county, Jan. 28, 1813, and was a son of Henry and Priscilla (Millhouse) Dilbone.  Henry Dilbone's father was a resident of Pennsylvania, and a teamster.  He was shot to death from ambush by robbers while returning home after receiving his pay; but his four-horse team ran away and the mercenary assassins failed to secure the money they were after.      HENRY DILBONE, was a native of Pennsylvania and was married in that state.  He and his wife were the parents of four children, as follows:  John deceased; Margaret, wife of Samuel Lindsay; Priscilla, deceased all of whom died on the home place, and William, father of the subject of this sketch.  Henry Dilbone early removed to Miami county and there settled on a farm.  In August, 1813, he and his family were in the field pulling flax, the children being left on a quilt in the shade of a tree, Mrs. Dilbone, having taken them through the cornfield and arrived first at this place.  Her husband went round past the spring to get a jug of water, and as soon as he reached his wife and children he was shot down by Indians, who immediately afterward tomahawked his wife.  A consultation was then held among the Indians as to what should be done with the children, the conclusion arrived at being to spare them.  Mr. Dilbone was only severely wounded and managed to conceal himself in the field near by, but he died the next day, being found shortly afterward by his neighbors.  The eldest of the four children was then but six years old, but he took the younger ones to the house and barred the door, where, in the evening a neighbor-woman who lived a mile away and who went to the house on an errand, found them and also found that a horrible tragedy had been committed.  Returning home she sent her husband for the children, aroused the three or four families that lived in the neighborhood, and started for the fort at Troy, which they reached the next morning.  There they remained until the excitement had quieted down.  It was learned afterward that another man, named Girard, was murdered at the same hour which witnessed the death of Mr. and Mrs. Dilbone, and the neighbors naturally expected they would all be killed.      The four orphan children were then taken by the pioneer families, and William Dilbone, son of John, still resides on the home place.  Grandfather Millhouse reared William Dilbone, the father of the subject, on his farm, and the latter received his education in Miami county, his old slate being kept in the family as a kind of heirloom.  In March, 1831, he married Lydia Baltzell, a daughter of Henry and Mary (Benim) Baltzell, and to them they were born ten children, as follows:  Priscilla, wife of Bird Methena, a mechanic of Carey, Ohio; John, the subject of this sketch; Henry, deceased; Jane and Margaret, twins, the former the wife of Josiah Dull, a farmer of Dublin township, and the latter deceased; Eliza, wife of John Dull, whose biography appears elsewhere in this volume; Isaac, a farmer of Mason county, Ill.; Wesley, a farmer of Dublin township, and William, a butcher of Bluffton, Ind.      LYDIA BALTZELL was born in Hamilton county Ohio, Mar. 26, 1813, her father being also a native of Hamilton county, removing to the latter county in 1836, where he entered eighty acres of land, upon which Charles Frisinger, whose biography appears elsewhere in this volume, now lives.  Henry Baltzell lived on teh farm until about 1846, when he sold it and removed to Shelby county, where his wife died.  He then returned to Mercer county and lived among his children until his death, in 1867.  He was a soldier in the war of 1812 and a democrat in politics.  A full history of the Baltzell family may be found in the biography of J. B. Tingley and in that of Aaron T. Sutton.  The mother of the subject ha living two brothers and one sister, viz.: Elias of Wisconsin; Benjamin, of Kansas, and Saville Clay, wife of John Clay, of Union township.      WILLIAM DILBONE, after his marriage, lived in Shelby county about two years, moved then to Miami county, and in 1843 moved to Mercer county, entering forty acres in each of Van Wert and Mercer counties, locating in the latter county, and lived there four years.  He then sold out and purchased an uncleared piece of land near where the subject of this sketch now lives, upon which he passed the remainder of his life.  In politics he was a democrat and held the office of constable for several years or more.  He was a good man in all respects, prominent and public spirited, and highly esteemed by all as a worthy citizen.  His death occurred Jan. 13, 1879.  His wife still lives among her children, and is a member of the Lutheran church.      John Dildone, the subject os this sketch, was educated in Mercer county and was married Oct. 10, 1858, to Almira Roebuck, a daughter of Garrison and Caroline (Everett) Roebuck.  To them four children have been born, as follows: Helen, wife of Allison Near; Alonzo, deceased, dying Feb. 17, 1892; Owen, who married Malinda Malinda Miller, of Dublin township, and Alwilda, who died at the age of one year and ten days.  Almira Roebuck was born in Mercer county, Jan. 5, 1840, her father being the third son of Reuel and Sarah (Jones) Roebuck.      GARRISON ROEBUCK was born June 23, 1811, and came with his parents to Mercer county in 1819, was reared on the farm and married in March, 1839, to Miss Carolina Everett, a daughter of John and Rebecca (Taylor) Everett.  The Taylor family is a Scotch descent, great-grandfather Taylor having been born in Scotland.  Grandmother Everett was born in North Carolina, and grandmother Roebuck was born in Wales, or at least was of Welsh descent.  To Garrison and Caroline Roebuck there were born four children, as follows:  Almira, wife of the subject; Warren, deceased; Anbeline widow of Thornton Mullon, of Van Wert, Ohio, and Byron, deceased.  The mother of these children was born in Tuscarawas county, Ohio, Jan. 6, 1820, and in 1838 she removed with her parents to Mercer county, where she was married.  She was a member of the United Brethren church, and died in September, 1867.  Her mother, John Everett, was a native of Pennsylvania, was an early settler of Tuscarawas county, Ohio, where he lived until he removed to Mercer county.  Not long afterward he went to Decatur, Ind., remained one year, returned to Mercer county and bought a farm, upon which he lived until his death.  Garrison Roebuck, after his marriage, bought a farm which was known as Old Town, cleared it of its timber, and lived upon it until his death, Apr. 10, 1852.  After his death his widow lived one year on the farm, then moved to Delphos, where she lived seven months, returned to the homestead upon which she lived a few years, then sold it and went to Van Wert to live with her brother, and there she died.      After living on his uncle Branson Roebuck's farm one year after marriage, the subject of this sketch then lived on his wife's farm about six years.  Then, buying forty acres of land partially cleared adjoining his present farm, he lived on that one year.  In 1880 he purchased seventy-two acres of uncleared land, where he lives at the present time.  This he cultivated and improved, and now has an excellent farm.  In 1881 he erected the house in which he has lived eve since.  He has always been a farmer and stock raiser, draft horses having been for some time with him a specialty.  In politics Mr. Dilbone is a democrat and in religion a member of the Church of God, in which he has held several of the offices, as deacon and director.  He is a wide-awake, public-spirited man, and is highly respected by all who kow him as a good man, a good citizen, and a good and obliging neighbor. Source: A Portrait & Biographical Record of Mercer and Van Wert Counties, Ohio - Publ. Chicago: A. W. Bowen & Co. - 1896 - Page 239

JAMES W. DUTTON, formerly a prominent farmer, now retired, and living at Mendon, Mercer county, Ohio, was born on the Still Water, Miami county, Ohio, was born on the Still Water, Miami county, Ohio, Nov. 3, 1833.  He is a son of JONATHAN and Elizabeth (Smith) Dutton, natives respectively of Highland county, Ohio, and Virginia, the former of whom was born in 1819.  Jonathan Dutton was reared in his native county to young manhood, and then removed to Miami county, where he remained until 1834, when he became a resident of Union township, Mercer county, opening a tannery there, which he conducted till his death in 1877, aged fifty-eight years.  When he reached Union township there were but very few inhabitants, and almost no conveniences or even necessities.  Milling he was obliged to do at Piqua, but before his death great changes were made in every respect.  After carrying on his tannery for some years he purchased a farm and managed that in connection with his tannery, and when he died he was possessed of a comfortable competency.  Mrs. Dutton's death occurred in 1858.  By his first wife, Elizabeth Smith, Jonathan Dutton became the father of two children - James W., our subject, and Thomas J.,  who to manhood, but is now deceased.  To his second marriage, which was with Louisa Rider, a son, John M., was born, and is a farmer of Neptune, Mercer county.  By his third wife, Nancy Edge, was born Elizabeth M., who became the widow of Sylvester Ellis, and later of Marion Archer.  His fourth marriage was with Barbara Hines, whose children all died young.      James W. Dutton, the subject of this sketch, passed his boyhood days in learning the business of a tanner with his father, and in attending school as opportunity afforded, which was not often or long at a time.  In 1857 he married Elizabeth Chittington who lived afterward but two years, and who left one child, Joseph Watson Dutton, born Jan. 5, 1859, at Mendon, and died in infancy.  Mr. Dutton next married Sarah C. Grant, who was born in 1844, and is a daughter of William and Elizabeth (Taylor) Grant, who were among the early settlers of Union township, and were respectively natives of Virginia and Maryland.  William Grant was born in 1800, and came to Ohio at an early day, settling at Cedarville, Green county.  About 1853 he removed his family to Union township, where he had purchased forty acres of unimproved land.  Here he made a good home for his family, added to his land, and died well to do, confining his attention to farming all his life.  He died Mar. 27, 1883, aged eighty-three years.  Mrs. Grant died seven weeks later, also aged eighty-three.  They had been married sixty years, and both were for many years members of the Church of God.  They were the parents of nine children, as follows:  Mrs. Jams W. Dutton; William Jackson, who died at the age of forty-five years; Jesse Witte, who married Lucinda Coil, and died at the age of about fifty-two years, and left six children - Livonia, Hester, Charles, Isom, Cora and Elizabeth; Martha Jane, widow of Nimrod Rice who afterward married Samuel Shipley; Mary Elizabeth, who married William Beaty; Margaret Ann, who married Lewis A. Barber, and Lucinda Adelaide, who married John J. Martin.  John Taylor Grant and James Madison Grant died in their infancy.      About 1861 Mr. Dutton began farming, has been engaged in that vocation ever since, and has in addition been largely engaged in mercantile business and in running a hotel.  The first hotel in Mendon was erected by his father, and it was conducted by our subject at several different times.  From time to time, as he had opportunity to purchase, he has kept adding to his land, until now he owns 269 acres, and it is under a high state of cultivation and well improved.      His children have been as follows:  Sophronia Bell, who married Moses S. Hamilton, bore him a son, Lee Ivan, and died Sept. 18, 1892, aged thirty-one years, five months and eight days; Elizabeth Luella, a resident of of Chatanooga, Mercer county, Ohio, and wife of Dr. George R. Hagerman; William Edward, a business man of Mendon; Thomas Wallace, of Mendon, and Pearl Leota, the latter being the only one not married.  Mr. and Mrs. Dutton resides in one of the finest homes in Mendon.  He has the following brothers and sisters living: Elizabeth M.  (Dutton) Archer, of Delaware, Ohio; and John M. Dutton, of Neptune, Mercer county, who served all through the war in the Eighty-eighth Ohio volunteer cavalry, as a drummer.  Both stand high in the estimation of the people of their respective communities, as do also Mr. and Mrs. Dutton, the subject of this brief sketch.      Mr. and Mrs. Dutton hold to the faith of the Church of God, and he also held membership in the Masonic order for many years. Source: A Portrait & Biographical Record of Mercer and Van Wert Counties, Ohio - Publ. Chicago: A. W. Bowen & Co. - 1896 - Page 298

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