Page:History of Richland County, Ohio.djvu/859

 MONROE TOWNSHIP.

��847

��C, Feb. 4, 184.5; .Julia A., Sept. 9, 1846; George AV., Aug. 18, 1850; Mary L., July 21, 1854, and William M., Sept. 1, 1856. Henry married Malinda Culler; John, Martha Sackman ; Sarah, Herman Fox ; Martin L., Nancy J. Kayler ; Elizabeth C, M. L. Culler ; Julia A., Christian Ernsberger ; George W., Martha Lee ; Mary L., M. C. Culler; William M., Loisa Dome. Mr. Mowers and wife united with the Lutheran Church early in life ; he continued to be an active and zealous member as long as he lived ; his widow still retains her membership at Mt. Zion. They were both active work- ers in the church, and contributed largely of their means toward religious and benevolent enterprises. Mrs. Mowers is hale and hearty for a woman of her years, and is in the full possession of her mental faculties.

MOWRY, SAMUEL, farmer; P. 0. Perryville. Samuel Mowry was born in Chambersburg, Penn., on the 12th March, 1825 ; his father's name was Jacob Mowry; his mother's maiden name was Catharine Teeter ; his father came to Ohio about 1822, and pur- chased a farm in tlie southwestern part of Monroe Township, it being the farm now occupied by his son Adam ; with the assistance of his sons, he cleared, cultivated and improved this farm ; he continued to reside on the same farm till the day of his death, which occurred about 1850 ; he was buried at the Hersh, now the Mt. Olive, graveyard ; his wife survived him about twenty years ; she was buried by his side ; they were the parents of fifteen children, two of whom died in infancy ; nine sons and four daughters grew to be men and women ; they were named as follows : John, Eliza, Philip, .Jacob, Catharine, Daniel, Joseph, Samuel, Christina, Sarah, Adam, Mathias and Solomon. John, Eliza and Solomon are dead ; all the others live within the original boundaries of Richland Co. Samuel, their sixth son and the subject of this sketch, remained with his father and assisted him on the farm until he at- tained his majority ; during this time, he was per- mitted to attend the district school a few months during the year; his facilities for acquiring an education were quite limited ; he, however, succeeded in learning to read and write, and in acquiring a tolerably fair knowl- edge of arithmetic; soon after he was 21 years old, he went to Crestline and engaged to learn the cabinet trade with one Michael Hetflefinger, with whom he served an apprenticeship of three years ; he worked as journeyman in this business for about two years ; he then quit this business, thinking it injured his health ; he then took up the carpenter trade, and worked at this business for about fifteen years ; he was regarded by his patrons as a good mechanic, and seldom failed to give entire satisfaction to his employers. For the last twenty years, he has been engaged in farming ; his farm consists of 55 acres, and isapart of the farm entered by the old pioneer David Crawford ; it is highly fertile, well improved, well watered and well timbered, and there is a thrivingyoungorchard thereon. Mr. Mowry was married to Miss Elizabeth Smith, second daughter of Henry J. and Elizabeth Smith, of Worthington Township, on the 19th day of February, 1856, by the Rev. W. A. G. Em- merson. Pastor of the Lutheran Church at St. .Johns, in ^lonroe Township ; Samuel and Elizabeth Mowry are the parents of nine children, five sons and four daugh-

��ters—Henry Jacob, born Aug. 27, 1857 ; William Franklin, Sept. 1, 1869; Frederick Walter, June 10, 1863; Olive Alverta, Feb. 1, 1866; Laura Ann, Aug, 28, 1868; Harmon Lewis, April 16, 1871 ; Allen Har- lin. May 25, 1873, and Emeline May, Aug. 12, 1876. Mr. Mowry joined the Lutheran Church at St. Johns, about twenty-two years ago ; his wife united with the German Reformed Church when she was about 16 years old; she joined the Lutheran Church at the same time her husband did ; they have been active and zealous members of the church ever since they became mem- bers thereof; in proportion to their means they have, perhaps, conti-ibuted as liberally as any others toward the building of churches and the support of the Gos- pel. They have many warm friends, and few, if any, enemies.

ROSS, NATCHER (deceased); he was born near Harrisburg, Penn., Feb. 4, 1790; his fathers name was John Ross, and his mother's maiden name Char- lotte Natcher ; his father was of Irish and German de^ scent, and his mother of German. Natcher Ross was married to Sophia Arnold, daughter of Benjamin and Mary A. Arnold, of Harrison Co., Ohio; her parents were of Scotch-Irish descent ; Mr. Ross came to Rich- land Co. Dec. 1, 1819, and entered the northwest quar- ter of Sec. 4, in Monroe Township ; in the fall of 1821, he removed to this farm with his family ; they made this trip in wagons from Harrison Co.; his farm, at this time, was an unbroken forest ; the ground was covered with snow when they arrived at their destina- tion ; Mr. Ross split boards, out of which he built a rude shanty, in which they resided till he was able to hew timbers and put up a hewed-log house ; in this house they resided for many years ; Mr. Cassan bought it, some years ago, and removed it to Lucas, where it still stands, and is to this day a very com- fortable dwelling. He raised a large family of sons and daughters, the names of whom are given in the order of their births: William, Rezin Arnold, Mary Ann, Susan, Rachel, John, James and Nancy Jane ; AVilliam, Rezin Arnold and John are dead ; William died in California, and is >3uried near Frazer Rivers ; Resin Arnold died in Indiana, and is buried at War- saw ; John died Feb. 23, 1849, and was buried at Mount Zion, in this township. Mr. Ross continued to reside on the same farm from the time he came to the county till a few years prior to his decease, when he sold it to his son-in-law, Jacob Leiter, and removed to Lucas ; Mr. Leiter still owns this farm. Mrs, Ross died Sept. 20, 1848, and Mr. Ross March 3, 1864 ; they are both buried at Mount Zion.

PETERSON, WILLIAM, farmer; P. 0. Perryville. Among the enterprising and energetic farmers of Mon- roe Township, none are entitled to a more prominent place in her history than the subject of this biography. His father was one of the pioneers of the township, and he, too, may be justly termed a pioneer, for he was either born in this township or was brought here by his parents at a very early day. His father was a farmer by occupation and the owner of a large farm in the fertile valley of the Black Fork. AVhen he became the owner of this farm, it was in a state of mature, wild and uncultivated ; but, by persevering energy and patient toil on the part of himself and sons, a great

��^^

�� �