OHIO GENEALOGY EXPRESS
EARL NELSON BALDWIN. There is a Michigan side to the family store of Earl Nelson Baldwin of Fayette. He was born Nov. 3, 1878, in Medina township, Lenawee county. He is a son of Nelson and Sarah (Sims) Baldwin. Nelson is a son of Charles Baldwin and a native of Lenawee county, while the mother came from Monroe county, New York. However, they were married in Michigan. For many years they were farmers, finally locating in Morenci, that haven of retired farmers. The mother died in 1905, and the father in 1914 in Morenci.

Besides his common school education Earl N. Baldwin attended the Fayette Normal, and then entered the hardware business in Morenci. Four years later he transferred his business interests to Fayette, and he has prospered in a general hardware store.

Source: Standard History of Fulton County, Ohio - by The Lewis Publishing Company - Chicago & New York - 1920 - Page 125 WILLIAM BALDWIN. While the life time home of William Baldwin has been in Fulton county, his parents came from Pennsylvania. He is a son of John and Lucy Ann (Clingerman) Baldwin, and was home in August, 1855, in Fulton Township, where the Baldwin were early settlers. However, in 1863 they removed to Amboy, where they purchased eighty acres in the timber and made it their home the remainder of their days. Their children are: Joseph, of Toledo; Levi, of Toledo; William; Mrs. Mary Ann Techworth; and John, of Amboy.

On May 26, 1885, William Baldwin married Marie Celeste Higley. She is a daughter of Darius and Sabina (Johnson) Higley and was born in Huron county. They began on twenty acres in the timber, and they have cleared and added land until they now have 114 acres of well improved farm land, and there are good buildings on it.

The Baldwin children are: Jesse Earl, of Toledo; Milford Ray, of York; Gertrude Pearl, wife of William Krieger, of Fulton; Tressa May, wife of Perry F. Churchill, of Swan Creek; Ruby Etta, wife of Ollie Albright, of Royalton; and Ella May and William D., at home with the parents.

Mr. Baldwin votes the republican ticket and has served the community as a member of the board of education.

As the facts above related show he began life with an exceedingly modest capital, and while he was born in the pioneer era, he repeated many of the pioneer's experiences in his own manhood by developing a tract of heavy timber, clearing away the woods, putting the land under cultivation, and creating a farm that bears favorable comparison with any in its vicinity. It is appropriate to speak of him therefore as one of the useful men of Fulton county, and only good influences have emanated from his home.

Source: Standard History of Fulton County, Ohio - by The Lewis Publishing Company - Chicago & New York - 1920 - Page 513 CHARLES ROSS BATES. The fundamental industry of farming is becoming recognized as being so important as to loom up large among other callings of the world. Not only are all of the lending colleges and universities including agricultural departments in their courses of study, but there are also a number of educational institutions devoted exclusively to agriculture. The governments, both national and state, are urging the young men to remain on the farm, and those not satisfied with city life to return to the farm, as well as offering every encouragement to the men already engaged in agricultural pursuits. With the great scarcity of food all over the world, and the seeming necessity for this country to bear a large part of the burden of providing for the unfortunates in the war-devastated regions of the old world, the responsibilities resting upon the farmer have given to him added dignity and importance. One of the men of Fulton county who has worked all this out for himself and trained himself, for an agricultural career is Charles Ross Bates, owner of a well-improved farm in Clinton township.

Charles Ross Bates was born in Fulton county on Jan. 16, 1888, a son of F. A. and Esther (Marks) Bates, farming people. The Bates family is of English origin, but has long been established on American soil. Growing up in his native county, Mr. Bates attended its schools, following which he had the advantage of a two-years' course at a normal school and then became a student of the Ohio State University, where he took the agricultural course. Returning home, he operated the old homestead until the spring of 1919, when he bought forty-one acres of land in Clinton Township and is now devoting it to general farming and himself to the improvement of this property.

In 1916 Mr. Bates was united in marriage with Tressa Metcliff, a daughter of William and Carrie (Russ) Metcliff. Mr. and Mrs. Bates have no children. A Mason, Mr. Bates belongs to Lyons Lodge, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons. A republican, he has always given an intelligent support to the principals and candidates of his party and sees no reason for changing his politics, for he believes that under republican administrations this country has made its best progress and been the most prosperous.

Mr. Bates belongs to the class of specially trained farmers, and his work is carried on according to proven scientific methods worked out from actual facts. He does not go ahead "hit or miss," but studies his soil, the climate and region before putting in a crop. If his land lacks certain elements he can find out what they are and supply them in the proper amount. If his trees blight, it is not difficult for him to determine the cause, and he is equally fitted to learn how to avoid such conditions. Naturally, being progressive and intelligent, he favors the good roads movements, for he knows that those communities on the great national highways are the ones which will forge ahead, and then, too, he wants to have easy access to the larger cities so that he an keep in close touch with current events. The influence of such men as Mr. Bates on his neighborhood cannot help but be inspiring, and Clinton Township is fortunate in securing him as one of its property holders.

 Source: Standard History of Fulton County, Ohio - by The Lewis Publishing Company - Chicago & New York - 1920 - Page 172 EDWARD BIDWELL BEATTY. At Old Homestead Farm in Chesterfield, A. D. 1919, there are three generations sheltered together, Elizer Bidwell Beatty looking backward at his father, Sidney S. Beatty and forward at a son and daughter, David S. and Elizabeth. Old Homestead has been the Beatty habitation since 1858, it being the first land acquired by S. S. Beatty in Fulton county.

It was Oct. 20, 1845, that Sidney S. Beatty landed in Chesterfield, coming direct from Sussex county, New Jersey. His father, Holloway H. and his mother, Elizabeth (Jefferson) Beatty, and their eight children constitutes the immigrant family from New Jersey to Ohio. They went by wagon to New York City, and from thence by steamboat up the Hudson to Troy, New York. From Troy they went to Buffalo via the Erie Canal, and from Buffalo to Toledo across Lake Erie by steamboat. In Toledo they hired a team for the remainder of the journey, and since he was a boy ten years old S. S. Beatty has lived within a few miles of the original homestead of the family in Chesterfield. For a short time he lived in Morenci - barring that, always in Chesterfield.

The children in this immigrant family were Nancy, Margaret, Sidney S., Julia, Mahala, Whitfield, Samuel and Jane, and those born in Ohio were Elizabeth and George. The pioneer Beatty family certainly understood all about wilderness conditions in Fulton county. Today only Mr. Beatty and one sister, Mrs. Julia Gates of Morenci, remain to tell the story. The Beatty family burial plot is in the Roos Cemetery in the immediate community - East Chesterfield.

It is another case of some brothers who ventured into the New World in search of their fortunes, and in the Beatty family, Thomas, father of H. H. and grandfather of S. S. Beatty, was one of three brothers who came over from Scotland in 1812 - the second war with England, being British subjects engaged in warfare against the United States, but as time went by they deserted the British Army and became citizens of the country they were fighting against - transferred their allegiance to another country.

After the smoke of battle cleared away Thomas Beatty located in New Jersey - the head of the family now living in Chesterfield, and at Cleveland and Columbus there are branches of the Beatty family who are descended from the two brothers, Daniel and Samuel Beatty. The manufacturers of the Beatty organ are known to have the same lineage as the family in Chesterfield. Such was the beginning of the Beatty family history in the Western Hemisphere - the New World. It is understood that Admiral David Beatty of Scotland, who commanded an English fleet in the recent war of the nations, is from the same parent stock - the Beatty family tree having its beginning in Scotland.

On Nov. 22, 1859, Sidney S. Beatty married Elizabeth Welch. She was a daughter of James and Amy (Clark) Welch, and was an Ohio woman. Thee was a sister, Mary Jane and two brothers, Elizer and Chester, and one child who died early, Perry. Elizer Welch and Mrs. Mary Jane Briggs are still living in the community. Mr. Beatty and his wife established their home where he lives today, although for a number of years they had lived in Morenci. After the death of Mrs. Beatty, Apr. 28, 1905, he returned to the old home in Chesterfield.

Four children were born to Mr. and Mrs. S. S. Beatty: The first born, Albert, died before the birth of the others. Clarence C. married Viola Lester. He lives in Freedom Center, Michigan, where he conducts a general store. His children are: Dawn, wife of William Kass, and they have one son, Gaylord, Margaret, wife of Clarence Deittle, and the others are Carrie and Whitfield the latter having been "Over There," in the World war. He spent three years in training camps and service, and was "Somewhere in France," and later in the Army of Occupation in Germany.

Sept. 30, 1866, was a momentous day - two sons were born to Mr. and Mrs. Beatty. Elias C. and Elizer B. Beatty were born the same day, and they have never been long separated from each other. To their friends they are "Chuck" and Pune" Beatty - names that have always attached to them because of their physical characteristics. Indeed, they were old enough for school before other names were given them, and today they seldom hear anything but Chuck and Pune. Chuck was always lusty while Pune was puny - a delicate child, although in manhood one is as robust as the other - different physiques, but both are strong men. At one time when the father tipped the scales at 220 pounds, Chuck weighed 219 and Pune was just one pound lighter, although he is 2½ inches taller than his brother. The older brother, C. C. Beatty, stands six feet and five inches high although his weight has always been under 200 pounds. The Beattys have always been portly men and women.

Elias C. Beatty married Melinda Jane Ferguson. Their children are: Lira, wife of John Maitland and they have two children, Virginia and Hilda; Lena, wife of Cleve Garsuch, and they have one child, Ellsworth; Sidney S. who married Mary Lambb, and they have one daughter, Adonna Belle; and Letha is the youngest daughter.

Elizer B. Beatty, who enrolls the family in the History of Fulton County, married Frances Grace Taylor Jan. 22, 1905, and beside David S. and Mary Elizabeth, already mentioned, thee was another child, Elias C., who died at two years of age. Mrs. Beatty is an only daughter of George and Laura (Shaffer) Taylor, and she was reared in the family of her grandparents, David and Elizabeth (Hochstetter) Shaffer, in Delta. The Shaffers were pioneers in Fulton county. It was in territorial days that they came, and there is a "mixed multitude" in the blood lines of the ancestral families. They are all blended, and today there is an American citizenship of the first order in the Fulton county branch Beatty-Welch-Taylor relationship. In all its past history these families have lived in Fulton county. "There's nothing in politics," said Pune Beatty, and yet the family is slated democratic. While he lived in Michigan a few years, he served as deputy sheriff in Lenawee county. Mr. Beatty is a member of the Chesterfield Centralized School Board, and he has the different medals showing his activities in the war loans. He was in every Liberty Loan drive, and Mrs. Beatty is secretary of the Oak Shade branch of the American Red Cross Society.

The Beatty family church relation is with East Chesterfield Christian Church, and both E. C. and E. B. Beatty are members of Royalton Union Lodge No. 434, Free and Accepted Masons, although E. B. Beatty's original membership was in Morenci. The family belongs to Chesterfield Grange, and they all attend the meetings.

The family military history began with the coming of Thomas, Daniel and Samuel Beatty as British soldiers in the second war with England, but they became American citizens instead of British subjects. The Mexican war claimed Amos and James Beatty, who were cousins to S. Beatty. In the Civil war his brother, Whitfield H. Beatty, represented the family, and in the World war was William Witfield Beatty. The Beatty family name stands for loyalty to home and country.

When S. S. Beatty was a young boy he trapped wild animals and sold the furs in Adrian, Michigan. One night he surprised his mother by bringing home the first cook stove. He had seen her cook before the hearth fire always. Many of the settlers came to see the stove, and in a short time others had them. They made their own maple sugar, and Mr. Beatty relates that "Old Uncle Johny Roos" would say it was time to dig out the sugar troughs, and make the spiles and tap the trees, and when he was supplied the Beatty family next used the camp, and then the privilege was extended to others. That was in "the good old days" of Lucas and Fulton county pioneer history.

While S. S. Beatty remembers Thomas Beatty "who used to talk Scotch to us," he can only name very few of his contemporaries. They are almost all gone the way of the world. He was the only Beatty present at the 1919 Old Settles Reunion at the Fulton county fair, while there were eight members of the contemporary Shadle family present. The Beattys came in October and the Shadles in November, 1845, but longevity was greater in the Shadle household.

S. S. Beatty was a farmer and later a cheese maker in his days of activity, and agriculture claims the attention claims the attention of Chuck and Pune today. For a time E. B. Beatty owned and operated barber shops in Morenci and Delta, and he was a journeyman barber for a number of years. Since 1908 he has lived at Old Homestead in Chesterfield. The children attend Chesterfield Centralized School, and the family is identified with all of the community interests.

 Source: Standard History of Fulton County, Ohio - by The Lewis Publishing Company - Chicago & New York - 1920 - Pages 451 - 453 HENRY BECHSTEIN. While Henry Bechstein was born in Swan Creek Township in Jan., 1862, his parents were immigrants from Germany. He is a son of Jacob and Anna (Goodlock) Bechstein The father was born in 1833 in Germany, but when he was about twenty years old he immigrated to America. When he first came to the United States he worked in a clay pit in Pennsylvania. Later he worked eight years in Erie county, Ohio, where he married and in 1858he bought a farm and removed to Swan Creek Township.

In 1888 Henry Beckstein married Ella Biddle, a daughter of Henry and Hannah Biddle. There is one daughter, Florence, the wife of H. T. Krauss, of Swan Creek. Another daughter, Bertha, died in childhood The wife died in 1897, and Mr. Beckstein married again in 1899. The second wife was Emma Wilhelm, a daughter of David Wilhelm of Seneca county, Ohio. From this marriage there is one daughter, Carmen.

For two years Mr. Bechstein lived on rented land, then he bought thirty acres in the brush and cleared it all but two acres, and from time to time he has added to the farm until he now has 100 acres, thirty-four acres still in timber. Mr. Beckstein has good farm buildings, making all the improvements himself. For a number of years he worked as a carpenter, and for eight years he did mason and cement work. In politics he is a democrat. He has served the community as road supervisor, and the family in identified with the Christian Union Church.

The outstanding facts in the career of Mr. Beckstein are the industry and perseverance that enabled him to perform the heavy work of clearing up new land in Fulton county, making a fine farm, and, nevertheless, finding time to serve his community in behalf of its good roads and other matters connected with the general welfare.

Source: Standard History of Fulton County, Ohio - by The Lewis Publishing Company - Chicago & New York - 1920 - Page 325\\ JACOB BECHSTEIN. Having spent all his mature years in general farming & stockraising industries, Jacob Bechstein of Swan Creek Twp. Is an authority on agricultural matters. He was born in his present Twp in October 1872, a son of Jacob & Anna (Goodlock) Bechstein, natives of Germany, who came a different times to the Unites States & located in Erie County, Ohio, where they became acquainted & were married. In 1862 they came to Fulton County & bought 80 acres of unimproved timberland in Swan Creek Twp, which they developed into a valuable farm & also became the owners of another 80 acre farm. Their children were as follows: Henry, who is a farmer of Swan Creek Twp; Ida, who is Mrs. John Reiber, of Wood County, Ohio; Mary, who is Mrs. John Evans, of Swan Creek Twp; John, who is a resident of Delta; Anna, who is Mrs. Henry Wenig, of Wood County, Ohio; Lucy, who is Mrs. Edward Smith, of Wood County, Ohio; Jacob, whose name heads this review; & Altha, who is Mrs Martin Andrews, of Swan Creek Twp.

Growing up in his native Twp, Jacob Bechstein learned to be a practical farmer while he was attending the District Schools, in them securing a knowledge of the fundamentals of an education. In October 1897, he was married to Clara Havens, born in Pike Twp, a daughter of George & Amelia (Steadman) Havens, natives of New York & Amboy Twp, Fulton County. Her grandparents, Alva & Thankful (Roger) Steadman, were early settlers of Amboy Twp. For 13 years after his marriage Mr. Bechstein conducted his fathers farm, & then bought 110 acres of Section 5, Swan Creek Twp, of which 60 acres are under cultivation, the balance being in pasture & woodland. Here he is carrying on a general farming & stockraising business & is making a success of his undertaking.

Mr. & Mrs. Bechstein have had the following children born to them: Marion J., who is a resident of Fulton County; & Henry, George Herbert, Earl V, Gertrude Margaret, & Neola Fern, all of whom are at home. In politics Mr. Bechstein is a strong Democrat. He is an attendant on the services of the Christian Union Church of his neighborhood, but is not a member of any religious body. A hard working man, he has steadily advanced through his own efforts & deserves his present measure of prosperity.

Source: Standard History of Fulton County, Ohio - by The Lewis Publishing Company - Chicago & New York - 1920 - Page 557

Contributed By: Frank H. Rieghard5 JOHN M BECHSTEIN. Having spent all his mature years in general farming & stockraising industries, John M. Bechstein of York Twp. Is an authority on agricultural matters. His home is at 313 Wood Street in Delta, & he has achieved his present comfortable circumstances through a life of earnest effort & industry. He was born in his present Twp in February 1869, a son of Jacob & Anna (Goodlock) Bechstein, natives of Germany, who came a different times to the Unites States & located in Erie County, Ohio, where they became acquainted & were married. In 1862 they came to Fulton County & bought 80 acres of unimproved timberland in Swan Creek Twp, which they developed into a valuable farm. Their children were as follows: Henry, who is a farmer of Swan Creek Twp; Ida, who is Mrs. John Reiber, of Wood County, Ohio; Mary, who is Mrs. John Evans, of Swan Creek Twp; John, whose name heads this review; Anna, who is Mrs. Henry Wenig, of Wood County, Ohio; Lucy, who is Mrs. Edward Smith, of Wood County, Ohio; Jacob, a farmer of Swan Creek Twp; & Altha, who is Mrs. Martin Andrews, of Swan Creek Twp.

Growing up in his native Twp, John M. Bechstein learned to be a practical farmer while he was attending the District Schools, in them securing a knowledge of the fundamentals of an education. He married at the age of 25 & for a quarter of a century has been busy performing his duties as a provider of home & other advantages for his family & discharging the duties of good citizenship. December 25 1894, he married Martha Prentiss, daughter of Jacob & Melissa (Joy) Prentiss. Her parents were natives of Ohio. Mr. & Mrs. Bechstein have 2 children, Helene & Doris E. Source: Standard History of Fulton County, Ohio - by The Lewis Publishing Company - Chicago & New York - 1920 - Page 519

Contributed By: Frank H. Rieghard GUY HARVEY BOGER. While Guy Harvey Boger lives in Royalton he was born Aug. 9, 1890, in Chesterfield. He is a son of George Alvin and Edith Todd) Boger, the father a Pennsylvanian by birth and the mother a native of Chesterfield. His grandfather, David boger, lived in Pennsylvania, while Oliver and Lucinda (Devereaux) Todd, lived in Chesterfield.

Guy Harvey Boger supplemented his common school education by graduating from the Fayette High School and from the Ohio State University at Columbus. He is a member and a deacon in the Church of Christ. He votes with the republican party and holds membership in Chesterfield Grange.

On Apr. 15, 1914, Mr. Boger married Erma N. Dennis, a daughter of Charles and Mary (Leininger) Dennis, of Franklin Township. He at once took up his residence on a quarter section farm owned by his father in Royalton. His father died Mar. 29, 1919, and his mother lives in Lyons. Mr. Boger operates a Holstein dairy, having twenty-five head of thoroughbred cattle.

The children born to Mr. and Mrs. Boger are: Mary Elizabeth and Robert Marlin.

 Source: Standard History of Fulton County, Ohio - by The Lewis Publishing Company - Chicago & New York - 1920 - Page 514 `` ASA BORTON. Seventy years of continuous residence, his time of service in the Civil war counted out, is the citizenship record of Asa Borton of Pine Grove Farm in Dover, Fulton county. Mr. Borton was born in Columbiana county Mar. 24, 1845, and when he was but four years old his father, Asa Borton, Sr., moved to Fulton, one year before it was an organized county. Mr. Borton was a boy n Franklin Township when Fulton set up its own county government - one of the few remaining men who are living in Fulton when it was part of Lucas county.

Mr. Borton lived a short time in Michigan, but he has always considered his home in Fulton county. Mr. Borton was the youngest in a family of ten children born to Asa and Elizabeth (Hazen) Borton. They are: Deborah, Ahimaaz, Lucinda, Mary Ann, Sarah, Ruth, Mercy, Roland, Arthur and Asa. All except Deborah Ruth and Arthur were living, A. D. 1919, when this family history was being tabulated. When Asa Borton was seventy-five years old he still had six brothers and sisters who were older than himself, a very unusual record for longevity. On the day of this interview, Oct. 13, 1919, he was in the field husking corn and his older brothers and sisters were all active men and women. (The biographer one time wrote the story of a man who at sixty had ten brothers and sisters older than himself.) Mr. Borton had cultivated nine acres of corn alone. All of his life has been spent in action, and that accounts for his physical condition.

There are many different branches in the Borton family history, the branch from which Asa Borton is descended having come from England. There were three Hazen brothers who came in an early day form Brazil, and Elizabeth Hazen came from that ancestry. While it is known that the Hazens were a long lived family, only Mrs. Borton ever lived in Fulton county. Asa Borton, Jr., married Sarah Hagerman Mar. 26, 1868, and their children are: Ellis H., who married Sarah Riger, their children are Dessie, Nettie, Paul and Hazen. Arthur D. Borton married Addie Fausey. Their children are: Asa and Thelma Aline. Elizabeth Borton is the wife of Clarence W. Belknap. They have one daughter, Marjey Amelia.

Mrs. Borton died Feb. 9, 1905, and since that time a niece, Miss Elizabeth Mason, has been housekeeper for Mr. Borton. While all the Borton children, were given educational advantages all have continued in the pursuit of agriculture. Ellis has invested in land in the "cut-over" district in Michigan, and while he hires men to operate it he divides his own time between Michigan and Ohio, his land in Franklin and Dover. Although he owns a farm in Dover, A. D. Borton lives in Warren, Ohio. (See sketch, Belknaps.) When Asa Borton located at Pine Grove there was a nucleus of twenty acres, but he has added to it until he now has 105 acres, with no waste land except the banks of an open ditch, and that is well set in blue grass. "I never was a democrat," said Mr. Borton when asked about his political faith. In a moment he exclaimed: "Well, I have known some good men who only had that one failing." He served Dover Township as a trustee at one time, although he did not seek the honor.

While he is not identified with any church, Mrs. Borton was a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church in Spring Hill, and of course that is the church nearest the heart of the Borton family. Mr. Borton was not yet a voter when he enlisted in the Civil war, Mar. 31, 1864, and served until the end of the war. His brother, Arthur Borton, was also a soldier. A number of younger relatives were enlisted in the World war, and George Oldfield lost his life "somewhere in France." He was a nephew to Miss Mason, and a grand-nephew to Mr. Borton. A brother's son, Abram Mason, had the necessary military training but did not get "over there," before the signing of the Armistice.

Mr. Borton keeps in close touch with the news of the day through the Wauseon republican and the Literary Digest. He attributes his activity to the fact that he has always worked - has always been busy, his two years in Michigan being in a sawmill, and the rest of the time in the great out-of-doors on the farm. There are two stock water ponds on the farm that mark the site of a brick yard that Mr. Borton operated for many years. His father before him was a Fulton county brickmaker, and the pioneer families all knew about the Borton brick kilns. Mr. Borton made brick by hand, and he began off-bearing o his father's brick yard when he was such a small boy that he only carried two bricks at a time.

The brick in the house in which Mr. Borton lives, built in 1882, were made in his own factory. That was the last of his output from the factory. Since that time Mr. Borton has done general farming, with special attention to livestock. He has always bred and fed a great many hogs, but recently he plans only enough labor to keep him in good physical condition. They say "Uncle Asa Borton" in the community.

 Source: Standard History of Fulton County, Ohio - by The Lewis Publishing Company - Chicago & New York - 1920 - Page 426 B. M. BORTON. Among the enterprising and successful business people of the City of Wauseon should be placed Mr. B. M. Borton, owner of the Wauseon Auto Garage formerly conducted by David Morningstar. Mr. Borton has a substantial business, being agent in Wauseon for the Doge and Oldsmobile cars and the Republic truck, and also doing a satisfactorily business in general auto supplies, handling the Dodge commercial line.

He was born at the family homestead in Franklin township, Fulton county, Ohio, in 1881, the son of Samuel and Sarah (Riddle) Borton. He attended county schools until he was about seventeen years old, after which he assisted his father in the operation of the home farm for five years. Then for a while he farmed independently, having a property 100 acres in extent near Wauseon. He was, however, a man of aggressive characteristics, and more suited to executive or commercial occupations than for the more manual requirements of farming. Eventually he decided to give p his farm. For a year thereafter he was in Adrian, Michigan, in clerical capacity in the offices of the Wabash Railway Company. Next he was in Spokane, State of Washington, and there for a year he found employment as a salesman for a well-known seed house. He might have remained on the Pacific Coast had it not been for the illness of his father, which called him back to his native place. Thereafter he remained in his home state. He purchased a general store at Elmira, Fulton county, in 1908, operating it successfully for ten years. In 1918 he sold the store, in order that he might acquire the Wauseon Garage, owned by David Morningstar. Since that time he has lived in Wauseon, and has become well-known in the city among auto owners. His auto repairs and accessories trading is of wide scope. He handles the U. S., the U. S. Federal, Goodrich and Miller tires, and has an up-to-date tire repair department. With the Dodge agency for the city and three townships, and the agency for the Republic trucks and the Oldsmobile for Fulton county, Mr. Borton has control of a good business, and with his ability as a salesman he will probably know how to use it to good advantage.

He has made many friends since he has lived in Wauseon, and has shown an interest in the affairs of the city. He is a republican in politics, but in his busy life has not had the time to take active part in political matters. He belongs to the Church of Christ, and is generous in support of many activities of the community.

In Spokane, Washington, in 1907, he married Katherine E., daughter of George Becker, of Manchester, Michigan, Mr. Borton having met her when he was at Adrian, in the employ of the Wabash Railway Company. They have three children: Samuel B., who was born in 1908, Bernice Otillo and Marie Dorothy.

 Source: Standard History of Fulton County, Ohio - by The Lewis Publishing Company - Chicago & New York - 1920 - Page 131 JOHN SAUNDERS BOYES. There is Scotch blood in the Boyes family represented by John Saunders Boyes, of Royalton, although his own birth occurred in March, 1875, in Virginia. He is a son of Alexander and Jessie (Saunders) Boyes, who in 1866 immigrated from Scotland, settling in Virginia, where they lived until 1883, when they removed to Fulton county. The family lived for a time in Chesterfield. The father had been married before his marriage to Jessie Saunders. In 1906 he died at the home in Chesterfield.

On Nov. 25, 1900, John S. Boyes married Bertha E. Todd. She was born Sept. 30, 1877, and is a daughter of Oliver and Lucinda (Devereaux) Todd, of Chesterfield. The father was a native of Putnam while the mother was born in Lorain county, Ohio.

J. S. Boyes has lived in Chesterfield, Gorham and Royalton townships. When he was married he lived for two years on a small farm he owned in Chesterfield, when he sold it and moved to Gorham, where he remained eight and one-half years on a rented farm, from which he removed to his 120 acre farm, already partly improved, in Royalton. Mr. Boyes built a new barn and tiled and fenced the farm. He installed a hot air heating system in the house and otherwise improved the surroundings.

Mr. Boyes is a general farmer, giving special attention to pure bred Holstein cattle. While he only attended common school, Mrs. Boyes had high school advantages at Manton, Michigan. They are members of the Disciple Church of East Chesterfield, and since 1917 he has been president of the church board. For seven years he has served Royalton township on the Board of Education, and in 1920 was elected as township trustee. In politics he is a republican, and he holds membership in the Chesterfield Grange. There are two children: Lyle Jay and Juniata Lucile.

Coming to Fulton county, a boy of eight years, growing up in the atmosphere of the country, Mr. Boyes has found success through the constant exercise of industry and self-reliance. His valuable farm, his home, his family his relations with the community, are all measures of a commendable degree of success and indicates the esteem which he enjoys throughout his home township.

 Source: Standard History of Fulton County, Ohio - by The Lewis Publishing Company - Chicago & New York - 1920 - Page 98

C. J. Brindley

Eva A. Brindley

CHARLES JACOB BRINDLEY

Source: Standard History of Fulton County, Ohio - by The Lewis Publishing Company - Chicago & New York - 1920 - Page 373

FRANK ELLSWORTH BRODBECK, of "The Pioneer Home" in Amboy, has the same lineal descent as F. E. Brodbeck, being a son of John and Mary (Myers) Brodbeck. He remained at the family homestead where he was born, Apr. 18, 1869, as long as the father and mother lived, and he bought eighty acres and later inherited forty acres of it. Mr. Brodbeck has 120 acres of well improved farm land, and "The Pioneer Home" tells the whole story.

There is a brick farm house, placed at "The Pioneer Home" by John Brodbeck, and it has descended to the son, unlike some of the old homesteads that go to strangers when it comes to a division of an estate. On Nov. 26, 1907, Mr. Brodbeck married Rosanna Iffland, a daughter of Adam and Louise (Reichardt) Iffland, an immigrant family from Germany. Their children are: Ellsworth Frank, deceased at the age of six years; Wilford, Aug. 5, 1912; Marvin, born Nov. 25, 1916; and Marie Louise, Dec. 26, 1918.

Mr. Brodbeck is independent in politics. He is a member of the Independent Order Odd Fellows of Metamora.

Mr. Brodbeck has the industry which has been a dominant characteristic of the Brodbecks through all the long years they have lived in Fulton county. He has made his industry productive of a good home and other evidences of material prosperity and he is a believer in comfortable living, well being, and has exemplified a commendable degree of public spirit in all his relations with his community.

Source: Standard History of Fulton County, Ohio - by The Lewis Publishing Company - Chicago & New York - 1920 - Page 97 FRED E. BRODBECK. The name Brodbeck harks back to Wurtemberg, Germany, the birthplace of John Brodbeck, the father of Fred E. Brodbeck of Amboy. He was born Feb. 8, 1858, and is a son of John and Mary (Myers) Brodbeck. She was born in Sandusky county. John Brodbeck came as a young man to Toledo and worked as a day laborer, but he saved his money and in time he owned and operated a brick yard in Toledo. In 1860 he located in Amboy, buying eighty acres in the timber and clearing it. He built a plank house when most of the settlers were living in log cabins in the new country.

As he improved the farm Mr. Brodbeck bought forty acres adjoining, and later he bought an eighty and still another eighty and he owned a fine farm when he left it to end his days in Metamora. He was born in Germany Dec. 10, 1830, and died Jan. 5, 1914, in Metamora. Mrs. Brodbeck was born Apr. 13, 1836, in Sandusky county, and she died Aug. 25, 1919 in Toledo. Their children are: Fred E. Brodbeck, Charles, deceased at the age of four years; Augustus, of Metamora; Josephine, wife of John W. Shaw, of Toledo; and Frank F., of Amboy.

On Feb. 3, 1881, F. E. Brodbeck married Altha Dennis. She is a daughter of "Alpheus and Sarah (Stahl) Dennis. She was born in Huron county, but her father was from Massachusetts and her mother from Ashland county. They settled in Amboy on an eighty Mr. Brodbeck had purchased from his father. There were log buildings and about twenty-five acres of cleared land and the rest in timber. He finished clearing the land and added to it until he now has 156 acres with up-to-date farm buildings on it. In 1895 Mr. Brodbeck built a brick house of nine rooms, and it has running water furnace heat and electric lights. There is one daughter, Iva Dell, born June 4, 1886. She is the wife of Clarence Cash of Amboy.

Since 1907, Mr. Brodbeck has been the republican member of the School Board in Amboy. For fourteen years he served as township trustee, and he helped organize the Farmers & Merchants Bank of Metamora. He is vice president and a member of the Bank of Metamora. He is vice president and a member of the board of directors. He has been through all of the chairs in the Independent Order of Odd Fellows Lodge No. 875 of Metamora.

For sixty years therefore Mr. Brodbeck has been a resident of Fulton county. He grew up in the home of a well-to-do farmer, but his own efforts, directed independently for thirty years, have achieved results that make him easily one of the prominent men of Fulton county today. The large and productive farm, started with a nucleus of a clearing in the woods, his beautiful and elaborate rural home, his position as a banker, his disinterested public service in behalf of education and other public causes, constitute a record honorable to any man.

Source: Standard History of Fulton County, Ohio - by The Lewis Publishing Company - Chicago & New York - 1920 - Page 486 MRS. MARY ELLEN BUTLER. The history of the Chesterfield family of Butlers represented by Mrs. Mary Ellen (Valentine) Butler and her immediate household began in the community with the purchase of the land for more than four score years known as the Butler homestead, Mar. 20, 1839, by Harlow Butler of Ontario county, New York. It was in territorial days when what is now known as Fulton was part of Lucas county, and since it was in the Michigan strip the purchase money was deposited in the land office at Monroe, Michigan.

Harlow and Mary (Hickok) Butler, of Ontario county, New York, felt the need of more land, and they came early to northern Ohio. They had six children born in New York; Derwin Elwell, Elvira Caroline, Corintha Sebra, Arretas Nathaniel, Harriet Jerusha and Arthur Dwight. Two of them, Elvira C. and Arthur D. died in Ontario county. After the family located in Ohio two others, Lewis Harlow and Marshall Wirt Butler, were added to the family, and Mrs. Butler, was the wife of Lewis Harlow, born June 19, 1837, on a farmstead now occupied by the family, although his father did not own it until two years later. Mr. Butler died here Mar. 24, 1915, when he was almost seventy-eight years old, and his entire life had been spent on one spot only as he worked as a cabinet maker in Wauseon - always maintaining his home in Chesterfield. While he was in the Civil war his home continued at the old homestead, now the home of Mrs. Butler.

Nathaniel Butler, of York state, later joined the family of his oldest son, Harlow Butler, and the names of Nathaniel and Sebra Butler are now chiseled on gravestones in the Butler Cemetery, given by their son Harlow to the Chesterfield community as a burial plot, and in this God's Acre are stones marking the graves of Nathaniel, Harlow and Lewis Harlow - the first three generations of the Butler family in Chesterfield. However, there are graves in the fourth and fifth generations - the gravestones in plain view from Mrs. Butler's window at the old family homestead. From the beginning this farmstead has remained in the name of Butler, and the cemetery will always perpetuate it.

It was Harlow Butler who planted the first fruit trees in the community - apples and peaches, and there has always been fruit, the parent stock of the peaches still perpetuated there. When his first cabin was erected in the clearing, Harlow Butler hung up some quilts to the doors until after he had planted his orchard, and in 1919 there are three trees still standing that he planted there. It was always fruit and venison on the Butler family dinner table, while most pioneer families only had the wild meats of the forest.

Lewis Harlow Butler married Mary Ellen Valentine, Mar. 31, 1867, and he brought her as a bride to this family homestead, where she relates the family history more than half a century later. She is a daughter of the Rev. George W. and Mary Ann (Leist) Valentine. Their children are: Mary Ellen, Samantha, Elmira, Melinda, Rosetta, Susan and Solomon. Elmira, Melinda and Rosetta all died of diphtheria, Melinda and Rosetta being buried in the same grave. At the time the Valentine family had never heard the words diphtheria or quarantine, and the disease was called putrid sore throat. Besides Mrs. Butler there is one sister, Mrs. Susan Clark of Wauseon, and the brother, Rev. Solomon L. Valentine of the Liberal United Brethren Church, living today.

The childhood home of the Valentine family was on Turkey Foot Creek in Henry county, and the burial plat is at Liberty Chapel there. The grandparents, David and Elizabeth Leist, were early settlers, locating their children around them in the Leist family community, but none of the older ones are living there today - illustrating the truth that the "places that know us now shall soon know us no more forever," a condition that has come true in so many communities.

The immediate posterity of Lewis H. and Mary E. Butler is as follows: Rosella Gertrude, wife of of Cramer G. Cochran of Wauseon, has one daughter, Mabel Gertrude.

Herbert, deceased, married Matie Terry. Their children are: Ellis Bryan, who died at three months; Ruth Belle, who died in young womanhood; and Marshall Herbert. He was a volunteer soldier in the war of the nations and because of his musical ability he was a bugler in different training camps, and he was "Over There" several months. He is a violinist and frequently plays in orchestras.

Clement Lewis Butler married Harriet Snow, and they live in Denver. Their children are: Helen Alta, Theodore Roosevelt and Constance. Mr. Butler graduated in music and is teaching in Denver. He is a member of the Denver Rifle Team and was fitting himself for a military instructor when the armistice ended the World war. He has won a number of medals in marksmanship contests, the use of firearms being second nature with him. While his father always went to the woods with a gun, he goes to the gun club shoots, and is frequently winner of first honors. His inclination to sports keeps him in excellent physical condition, health the best investment.

Mary Blanche, wife of James P. Punches, has always lived at the Butler family homestead with her mother. Their children are: Clement Alexander, Edson Lewis, Mary Ethel Viola, Velma Golda, Ruby and James Pirl, Jr. Clement and Ruby died in infancy.

Ethel Elvira died in young womanhood. She graduated from the Wauseon High School and was a teacher. The Butler children were all given common school advantages, and all had musical ability, their father having been a gifted musician for his opportunity.

The vote of the Butler household was with the republican party until the advent of the prohibition party, when L. H. Butler mounted the "water wagon," and from the founding of the National Women's Christian Temperance Union in Cleveland in 1874 Mrs. Butler has been identified with the Fulton county branch of the organization. She has served as president of the Fulton County Union, and still maintains her membership at Oak Shade. For twenty-five years she has been president of the Oak Shade Union, and it has had its part in making Ohio dry, and in creating sentiment for Sabbath observance in the community.

Mrs. Butler was active in promoting the organization oak Shade Methodist Episcopal Church, and there are few sessions when she is not in her place at Sunday school. She has been both superintendent and teacher, and her home has always been open to the itinerant minister. The family church membership had been at Spring Hill until the organization of the Oak Shade class. The meetings migrated from the town hall to the school house, and in 1916, the Oak Shade church edifice was open to the community.

While there is Revolutionary ancestry in the history of the Valentine family, there is no record extant of the Butler family that long ago. Lewis Harlow Butler and an older brother, A. N. and a younger brother. M. W., all served as privates in the Civil war. A. L. Butler was a drummer and gave an impetus to the "Tramp, Tramp, Tramp," of the northern soldiers and a similar service was rendered later by Marshall H. Butler in the war of the nations. G. W. Valentine and other relatives were Civil war soldiers.

Few pioneer families have given more to the community than has been given by the Butlers. They knew the hardships of the pioneer and the later generations have enjoyed the blessings of civilization. There are few families who round out four score years on the same "four corners," but such has been the Butler family history.

Source: Standard History of Fulton County, Ohio - by The Lewis Publishing Company - Chicago & New York - 1920 - Page 447