Source: Commemorative Biographical Record of the counties of SANDUSKY & OTTAWA, OHIO
J. B. Beers & Co. 1896

* Twentieth Century History of Sandusky County, Ohio & Representative Citizens -
by Basil Meek, Fremont, Ohio
Publ. 1909 Richmond - Arnold Publ. Co., Chicago.

Biographies will be added upon request.
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

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 - ZZ

MERLIN BABCOCK, one of the substantial and popular farmers of York township, Sandusky  county, comes of pioneer stock.  He was born in Ontario county, New York, June 27, 1819, son of Elisha and Prudence (Hinkley) Babcock, both natives of Stevens township, Rensselaer Co., N. Y.
     ELISHA BABCOCK was born in 1783, of remote Holland ancestry, but he himself always used to insist that he was a Yankee.  He was a Whig in politics.  In 1823 he migrated by team with his family from New York to Green Creek township, Sandusky Co., Ohio, where he puyrchased government land, and was among the earliest settlers, the family living for a few weeks in an old sugar shanty while a cabin was being erected.  The parents went to their long rest many years later, after they had converted the wilderness into a fruitful farm.  To Elisha and Prudence Babcock were born five children, as follows:  Laura, who first married P. C. Chapel, and for her second husband wedded J. C. Coleman, a grocer of Fremont, where she died; Esther, who married George Waldorf, of Allegany county, N. Y., and died there; Clark, who married Ann Lee, and was a farmer of Porter county, Ind.; Hiram, who married Mary Ann Lay, and after her decease wedded Josephine Woodruff, and who died in Green Creek township, in 1886, leaving seven children; Merlin, the youngest child is the only survivor of the family.
     Merlin Babcock was bur four years of age when he migrated with his parents to Sandusky county.  He remained on the old homestead in Green Creek township until he has twenty-seven eyars old, in his youth attending school in winter about three months, and in summer two montyhs.  For his first wife he married Almira Dirlam, a native of Massachusetts.  She died in 1846, leaving three children: Sarah, wife of John J. Craig, of Coffey county, Kans.; Callie B., who married G. M. Kinney, by whom she had one child, Merlin, and who now keeps house for her father; and Frank, a resident of Gibsonburg, who has five children – Burton, Edith, Amy, Chauncey and Jesse.  After the death of his first wife Mr. Babcock left his father’s homestead and moved to his present farm in York township.  Here he married Agnes E. Donaldson, by whom he had one child, John C., now resident of Nevada.  He engaged in general farming for a time, then removed to Wadsworth, Nevada, and there engaged in the hotel business.  After his wife died in the western home he returned to Sandusky county, and has since resided on his farm in York township.  In politics Mr. Babcock has been a Henry Clay Whig.  He cast his first vote for W. H. H. Harrison, and also voted for his grandson, Benjamin Harrison, for President.  Mr. Babcock remembers hearing Gen. Harrison make a speech at Old Fort Meigs in 1840.  He remembers, too, with vividness, the remarkable change that has come upon the face of the country during the past fifty years, and among other things the three old mills on Coon creek, near Clyde, that ran several months each year, that stream then being filled from bank to bank, in striking contrast to the present attenuated flow of water.  He served York township for nineteen years as assessor, and has filled various other local offices.  Mr. Babcock is an upright citizen, and is without an enemy.  At his old home in York township he enjoys the serenity and comfort which should crown a life so well spent as his has been, and he commands the highest respect and esteem of a wide circle of friends and acquaintances.
 Source: Commemorative Biographical Record of the counties of SANDUSKY & OTTAWA, OHIO - J. B. Beers & Co. 1896  ~ Page 142  - Portrait available

JOHN F. BAUMAN, retired farmer, with residence in Fremont, Sandusky county, was born Mar. 23, 1827, in Wayne Co., Ohio, a son of John W. and Mary (Fry) Bauman, the former of whom was born in Lancaster county, Penn., in 1794, where his father and mother, Mr. and Mrs. Jacob Bauman, lived and died.
     John W. Bauman afterward removed to York county, Penn., thence to Wayne county, Ohio, where he remained about ten yeas, and in 1844 moved to Jackson township, Sandusky county, and there remained a year, after which he located permanently in Loudon township, Seneca county.  After the death of his wife he broke up housekeeping and lived with his children, his death occurring at the home of his daughter, Mrs. Sarah Tucker, in Bellevue, Ohio, and his interment taking place in Bellevue Cemetery.
     The children of John W. and Mary Bauman were:  Elizabeth, wife of Daniel Sloan, a farmer of near Warsaw, Ind. (she died Aug. 2, 1895, leaving a family of eleven children); John F. Bauman, our subject; Anna, wife of Joseph Arnold, a farmer of Barry county, Mich.; Mary, wife of George Stebbins, a blacksmith, of Peru, Huron county, Ohio (she died in 1883); Sarah, wife of John Tucker, a blacksmith, formerly of Bellevue, Ohio (they now reside at Greenville, Montcalm Co., Mich.); Jacob Bauman, unmarried, was a soldier in the regular army before the Civil war, and served, later, as a volunteer in the regular army before the Civil war, and served, later, as a volunteer in the Third Ohio Cavalry, until his death, which occurred in Georgia; Susan, wife of Solomon Good, a farmer of Coldwater, Mich.  (she died leaving two children); Solomon Bauman, unmarried, a farmer and ex-soldier, who died in Greene county, Ind.; Lucinda, wife of John Turner, a blacksmith, of Barry county, Mich., where they both died; David, who died in childhood; twins that died in infancy; Delilah, wife of William Durn, a farmer of Wood county, Ohio; and twins that died in infancy, Feb. 18, 1847, the mother dying at the same time.
     John F. Bauman grew to manhood in Wayne county, Ohio, where he worked as a farm laborer, and attended common schools in the winter seasons.  In his youth he learned the business of gelder, which he has followed about fifty years with good success both professionally and financially.  His father followed the same occupation forty years, and his grand-father forty-five years.  Our subject came to Jackson township at the age of twenty-one years.  On May 30, 1850, he married Miss Harriet E. Winters, daughter of Jacob Winters, of Jackson township.  In 1852 he went to California with a Bettsville company of fifteen men, the party taking the overland route, with oxen, mules, horses and prairie-schooner wagons.  They started from Independence, Mo., May 2, 1852, arriving in Portland, Oregon, August 14, of the same year, and soon after entered the gold mines.
     Mr. Bauman's first mining claim was at Long Gulch, on a mountain side, and his next was in a valley.  He had good success as a miner, and remained at the business two years, then returning to Sandusky county and following farming.  He next bought a farm of 160 acres in Seneca county, north of Fostoria, and lived there two years; then sold it and bought several tracts in Washington township, Sandusky county, amounting in all to 340 acres, most of which he has sold to his children, reserving one hundred acres for himself in Section thirty-five, as a residence.  He is extensively and favorably known, and has held the office of justice of the peace.  The children of John F. and Harriet E. Bauman were: Alice, wife of Charles Burgett, liveryman (they have one son - Clarence); Emma, wife of A. J. Doll, son of Samuel Doll, a farmer (they have two sons - John and A. J.); Sarah, wife of Calvin Biddle, superintendent of the S. Doll & Co.  Gas Company, Fremont, Ohio (they have one daughter - Hattie); Jerome J., a liveryman, whose place of business is opposite "Ball House," Fremont (he married Florence Lease, and they have one daughter, Lulu).
Source: Commemorative Biographical Record of the counties of SANDUSKY & OTTAWA, OHIO - J. B. Beers & Co. 1896 ~ Page 431

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RICHARD E. BETTS, a substantial farmer of Green Creek township, Sandusky county, is more than a tiller of the soil or the owner of a productive and finely located farm; he is a student of the world's history, and by means of the leading newspapers from various cities he is thoroughly informed upon the varying phases of current national affairs. He is distinctively a man of ideas. He wants first the facts of history. His clear and well-trained intellect can then make proper deduction from these facts, and the opinions thus formed are modern, considerably in advance of those held by the average citizen. His deep convic­tions are inherited, and have received an additional impetus from associations. His ancestors, of Quaker faith, came from England in Cromwell's time. His father-in-law, "Uncle" George Donaldson, was one of the most noted Abolitionists in northwestern Ohio, at a time when Abolition sentiment was a reproach and stigma, often a menace to personal safety. Mr. Betts was born in Cayuga county, N. Y., December 30, 1829, son of Zachariah and Mariah (Mitchell) Betts. Zachariah Betts was born in Bucks county, Penn., December 24, 1793. In Cromwell's time three brothers named Betts came to America, settling near Philadelphia. The eldest, who had an entailed inheritance in England, at one time placed in jeopardy, returned to that country when political turmoil subsided. The younger two remained in America and founded a numerous family of their name, Zachariah being one of the descendants. His wife, Mariah Mitchell, was born March 4, 1798. After marriage Zachariah Betts moved to Aurora, Cayuga Co., N. Y., where he farmed for many years, and in 1834 he moved to Honey Creek, Seneca Co., Ohio, where he purchased a large farm. Many years later he removed to La Grange county, Ind., where he died February 3, 1868, his wife surviving until July 23, 1874. In politics he was a Whig. In early life he held allegiance to the Quaker faith, but later became a member of the Protestant Methodist Church. In physique he was a man of powerful frame. The nine children of Zachariah and Mariah Betts were as follows: Edward L., born December 18, 1821, served in an Indiana regiment in the army of the Potomac during the Civil war, and died in La Grange county, Ind., March 2, 1894; Howard M., born August 25, 1823, for thirty years a druggist at La Grange, Ind.; Louis C, born October 1, 1825, moved to Iowa in 1856, and died at Mt. Pleasant, that State, November 19, 1867; Albert F., born August 27, 1827, a tanner and currier at Republic; Richard E., subject of this sketch; Elizabeth A., wife of Van Norris Taylor, of Wolcottville, Ind.; Thomas C, born August 20, 1833, an ex-soldier of the Civil war, ex-sheriff of La Grange county, Ind., now living at La Grange; Martha M., born April 30, 1836, lives, unmarried, at La Grange, Ind.; Emiline, born January 14, 1838, wife of Nelson Selby, of La Grange, Indiana.
     Richard E. Betts was five years old when he migrated with his parents from New York to Seneca county, Ohio. He was reared on his father's farm, and October 28, 1852, he married Miss Lavinia Donaldson, who was born in Pickaway county, Ohio, in 1825, daughter of "Uncle" George and Ann (Patterson) Donaldson, the former of whom was born in Center county, Penn., July 7, 1793, the latter on January 15, 1796. He learned the blacksmith's trade, and lived for a time in Lycoming county, Penn.; then migrated with his family in a one-horse wagon to Pickaway county, Ohio, arriving with a capital of five dollars. Seven years later he moved to Tiffin, and in 1833 to Green Creek township, Sandusky county, where he followed his trade and farmed. Himself and wife were Methodists, and in political convictions he was a radical Abolitionist. He was connected with the "underground railroad," and once sent his team with five runaway negroes, concealed beneath straw and carpets, to Sandusky City, whence they escaped to Canada. "Uncle" George Donaldson was the most noted character of his time in this part of the country. On account of his Abolitionism an attempt was made to expel him from the M. E. Church. He gave James G. Birney, Abolition candidate for President in 1840, the only vote cast for him in Green Creek township, and for its numerical insignificance the judges, who were in sentiment strong anti-Abolitionists, refused to count it. Mr. Donaldson died September 14, 1873, his wife November 30, 1863. Their nine children were as follows: James, born February 13, 1820, died November 15, 1843; William, born February 25, 1821, died April 21, 1846; Robert, born November 21, 1822, died December 30, 1846; Lavinia, wife of Mr. Betts; Susannah, born August 11, 1827, wife of W. Dixon, of Rome City, Ind.; Saul, born December 20, 1829, residing in La Grange county, Ind.; David, born April 10, 1831, died December 13, 1881; Elizabeth, born August 14, 1834, died October 11, 1858; Nancy Ann, born June 29, 1839, died January 7, 1850.
     After his marriage Mr. Betts lived for several years in Seneca county. He then came to Sandusky county, bought a farm, and for two years lived with his father-in-law. In 1856 he purchased his present farm, and has occupied it ever since. He owns 114 well-cultivated acres, and en­gages in general farming. Mr. Betts cast his first Presidential vote for J. P. Hale, anti-slavery candidate for 1852, and in 1876 voted for Peter Cooper on the Greenback ticket. He has been a prominent member of Monticello Lodge No. 244, F. & A. M., for many years. He is a firm believer in Spiritualism, as was also his wife, who passed from earth in February, 1895. She was a lady of high mental and moral attainments. In political affairs Mr. Betts thinks the election of millionaires to Congress and the various State Legislatures is highly detrimental to the best interests of the people.
     Mr. Betts has a number of relatives on his mother's side residing near Rochester, N. Y., among them an aunt, Sarah Cox (sister to his mother), who is now at the advanced age of ninety years, with her faculties unimpaired. Mr. Betts' weight at the present time is 260 pounds.

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GEORGE J. BLOOM. Among the thousands of emigrants, of various nationalities, who, during the last half of the nineteenth century, have come to our shores from the overcrowded hives of population in the Old World, none have contributed more to our national prosperity and the stability of our American institutions, than those who came from the German Fatherland. Wherever they have settled, whether in the busy marts of our rapidly growing cities, the stirring lumber and mining regions of the mountains, or the broad fertile prairies of the West, they have, as a class, established an enviable reputation for industry, frugality and thrift, and are today among our most trustworthy and law-abiding citizens. As a gentleman possessing these characteristics, in a modest way, we present the subject of this sketch.
     George J. Bloom, retired farmer, Fremont, Ohio, was born in Baden, Germany, November 25, 1836. His parents were Jacob Bloom and Barbara (Florien), the former of whom was also born in Baden, where he followed the trade of shoemaker, and after his marriage in the year 1854, emigrated with his family to America. They took passage in a sailing vessel, encountered severe storms and adverse winds, and were fifty-four days on the ocean.  Proceeding westward, they came to Sandusky county, Ohio, and settled on a forty-acre farm in Ballville township, on which they made their home. After a useful and exemplary life, and living to see his children in good circumstances, Jacob Bloom died, July 2, 1883. His wife, Barbara, was born in Alsace, France (now Germany), and passed away at the age of forty-five, after faithfully performing her duties as a helpmeet to her husband and mother to her children. Her father, Joseph Florien, a pioneer of Sandusky county, died here at the advanced age of one hundred and nine years. His children were: Joseph, Barbara, Magdalene, Catharine, George and Julia. The children of Jacob and Barbara Bloom were: Jacob, a physician, who lived in Indiana and died in Ballville township, Sandusky county (he was unmarried); William, who is engaged in the manufacture of potash, at Fostoria, Ohio; George J., our subject; Barbara, who married Lewis Mutchler, and lives on a farm near Green Spring; and Mary, wife of George Bloom, a laborer, at Fremont, Ohio.
     Our subject went to school in his native city of Baden about eight years, also attending the services of the Lutheran Church, and learned the trade of barber. At the age of eighteen years he came with his father's family to Sandusky county, Ohio, where he assisted his parents in the purchase and clearing up of a farm, besides working several years as a farm hand among the neighbors, learning the methods of well-to-do farmers. On February 18, 1863, he married Miss Annie Coleman, who was born February 2, 1841, in Hanover, Germany, of which place her parents, Frederick and Marie (Stratman) Coleman, were also natives; they emigrated to America in 1845, and settled near Woodville, Ohio, where the father died in 1887, aged eighty-one years, and the mother at the age of thirty years. Their children were: Annie, wife of our subject; William, a farmer, living in Ot­tawa county, Ohio; Henry, a farmer of Sandusky county; John, a soldier of the Civil war, now an employe of the Lake Shore & Michigan Southern railroad, living at Fremont, Ohio, and Frederick, living at Woodville, Ohio.
     After his marriage Mr. Bloom settled on a farm near Green Spring, Ohio, where he lived about nine years. He then sold his farm and bought another near Genoa, in Ottawa county, on which he remained four and a half years, when he again sold, next buying a farm of eighty-five acres in Ballville township, about three miles southeast of Fremont, which he greatly improved and made his home thereon for seventeen years. He was quite successful in the raising of grain and the rearing of live stock. In the year 1892 he bought property in and removed to Fremont, to give his children the advantages of the city schools. This property he traded, a year later, for a farm of seventy-three acres (formerly the Thraves' homestead), adjoining his other farm in Ballville township.
     Mr. Bloom has been a Democrat in politics, but is not a partisan. He and his wife were reared in the doctrines of the Lutheran Church, but during the last twenty years have been worthy members of the Evangelical Association. Their children were: Caroline, wife of Charles Martin, a farmer, who has four children-— Ralph, Blanche, Vinnie and Mabel; Amelia, who married Oscar Lemon, and has two children—George Edward and Hazel; and Mary, Barbara, Anna, George, Ida and Charles, all of whom are unmarried and living with their parents.

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PHILIP BRADY, who is numbered among the leading and influential farmers of Clyde, Green Creek township, Sandusky county, is a native of County Wexford, Ireland, born in 1824.  His parents, Terrance and Mary (Clear) Brady, were both born in County Wexford and were of old Celtic stock.  The father died on the Emerald Isle, after which the mother came to America, where her death occurred at the age of seventy years.  They were farming people of Ireland, where the grandfather, Patrick Brady, also carried on agricultural pursuits, and for generations the family occupied the same homestead.
     Our subject is one of a family of eight children, comprising six sons and two daughters, and the eldest sister still occupies the ancestral home.  In order of birth they are as follows:  Ellen, still a resident of Ireland; Thomas, who died in Clyde, Ohio; Patrick, who makes his home in Wisconsin; Mary¸ who was the wife of Matthew Nolan, and died in this country; Michael, a resident of Clyde; and Martin Philip and James.  Philip, the subject of this memoir, grew to manhood in his native land, with such meager school and other advantages as were available to him.  Like so many of his countrymen who love the greatness of American liberty, he resolved to cast his fortunes under the flag of the young republic, and make it his adopted land.  Accordingly at the age of sixteen he embarked for the Western World.  He took passage on board a ship leaving Ross, Ireland, and in due time reached Quebec, Canada.  He found his first employment in the New World with farmers in Lower Canada, but subsequently came to the United States, where he worked on the railroads, or at any employment which he could find.
     Desiring to become a permanent resident, Mr. Brady purchased five acres of land near Clyde, Ohio, and by frugality and thrift soon became the owner of a good home.   This he subsequently sold, and then bought a tract of uncleared and unimproved land north of Clyde.  Here he found in the densely wooded land ample field to exert all his energy and industry; but stubborn nature yielded, and Mr. Brady is now the proud proprietor of an excellent and well-tilled farm.  It has now all been cleared, and there is no better land to be found anywhere in the county.  His old log house, which he erected many years ago, is still standing as a relic of the times that were, and a memento of the hardships of pioneer life.  At Elyria, he wedded Miss Mary Keating, a native of County Carlow, Ireland, and to them have been born eight children, as follows:  Mary  is the wife of John Furlow, of Buckley, Wash., and they have two children – John and Eustatia; Ella is the next in the family; Joseph  is a resident of Buckley, Wash.; Maggie is the wife of Grant Andrews, a merchant of Millersvile, Sandusky county, and they have two children. – Mabel and May; John, Philip Jr., Kittie and Martin complete the family.
     On his arrival in the New World, Mr. Brady had only a few shillings left; but by enterprise, industry and economy he is now one of the well-to-do citizens of Sandusky county.  He is a man whose honesty and integrity are above question; is of a happy, genial disposition, and thoroughly enjoys a good joke.  In his political views he strongly adheres to the principles of the Democratic party, and he and his family are members of the Roman Catholic Church. 
Source: Commemorative Biographical Record of the counties of SANDUSKY & OTTAWA, OHIO - J. B. Beers & Co. 1896  ~ Page 152

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LINES ON THE DEATH OF MISS CARRIE BUCKLAND
How still she lies amid the flowers,
And night itself seems deaad;
The city sleeps; no sound we hear
Save the lone sentry's tread.

The slender fingers slightly clasp
Pale flowers, sweet and white;
All pure and lovely as you moon
Of cold and silver light.

The soft, luxuriant, pale brown hair
Waves in the evening wind;
Yet in that marble, changeless face
No wave of life we find.

The fair face looks like peaceful sleep,
The lips full as in life;
Yet the red blood has ceased to flow
Ceased has life's busy strife.

A broken lily-bud; no eye
Of earth may ever see
How gloriously it blooms above,
Flower of Eternity.

Were death but an unchanging sleep,
How sad would be this night;
But there's a land beyond the grave -
A home of living light.
Memphis, June 18, 1864.

     The Memphis Bulletin said of her:  "Three weeks ago she arrived with her mother from Ohio.  With all the attractions of her sixteen summers about her, an amiability that won every heart, a fascination of manner whose gentle influence, wherever she appeared, awakened interest and admiration, and a kind and genial sympathy that captured affection, she was everywhere a favorite, and her company was sought and valued wherever she became known.
     "Fresh as the spring whose charms at the moment deck every hill and meadow, she enjoyed her advent to new scenes, welcomed with youthful zest the appreciative regard of the new circle amid which she was introduced, and rejoiced once more to join her honored and happy sire, himself proud of the sweet blossom Providence had vouchsafed as the treasure of his life - when death plucked the flower in the very youth of its loveliness, and stamped the fleeting charm with the impress of immortality."
 

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*War of the Rebellion, Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, Series 1, Volume XVII, Part II, page 336.

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SAMUEL BURKETT is a worthy representative of one of the honored pioneer families of the Buckeye State.  He was born in Sandusky county, on his father’s farm in Washington township, Jan. 11, 1860, and is a son of Edward and Catherine (Ockes) Burkett, the former a native of Perry county, Ohio, and the latter of Pennsylvania.  Grandfather Burkett was one of the first settlers of Perry county, and secured a tract of government land, upon which he carried on farming.  Upon his death, his widow and her son, Edward, then a child of ten years, came to Sandusky county, locating near Hessville.  Subsequently he removed to Madison township, where he purchased forty-nine acres of timber land, the greater part of which he succeeded in placing under cultivation before his death.  He was familiar with all the experiences and hardships of pioneer life, and always bore his part in the upbuilding and development of the locality with which his lot was cast.  His death occurred Apr. 21, 1884, and his wife, who survived him several years, passed away July 7, 1891, and was laid to rest in Washington township.
     Samuel Burkett was one of a family of twelve children, and was born and reared on the farm which is still his home.  He received a good common-school education, and early became familiar with the duties of farm life, giving his father the benefit of his services until after he had attained his majority.  When quite young he was obliged to shoulder an axe and help to clear away the timber and prepare the fields for cultivation.
     On Dec. 25, 1888, Mr. Burkett was united in marriage with Miss Edith Kuntz, a daughter of David and Eva (Clapper) Kuntz, who were natives of Pennsylvania, and had a family of twelve children, namely: Charles, Henry, Frank, Edith, Emma, Jacob, Evangeline, David, Daniel, Cleveland, Winfield, and one who died in infancy.  Mr. and Mrs. Burkett have but one child – William, who was born Dec. 1, 1889, in Madison township, Sandusky county.  They are well-known people of the community, and have the warm regard of many friends.  Mr. Burkett is a Democrat in politics, and has held the office of road supervisor.  His land is now leased to the Ohio Oil Company, and on it are three good wells, which net him a monthly income of $35.
Source: Commemorative Biographical Record of the counties of SANDUSKY & OTTAWA, OHIO - J. B. Beers & Co. 1896  ~ Page 765

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