Page:History of Richland County, Ohio.djvu/882

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��BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES:

��member of the Presbyterian Church in Plymouth. Mr. Packer is a thorough-going business man, and has one of the finest farms in Plymouth Township, and as a farmer is a success, as also a successful school teacher. He was married in 1872, to Miss Mary L. Ammerman ; they have one child, Mildred E., born in .January, 1875.

RALSTON, JAMES, farmer ; P. 0. Plymouth ; was born in Washington Co., Penn., in January, 1799 ; came to Richland Co. April 13, 1814; he lived twenty years in the vicinity of Ashland ; in 1884 he removed to his present farm about three miles west of Plymouth ; there was but little improvement on the farm when he came here, and by hard and honest labor he has succeeded in making for himself a fine farm and a pleasant. home ; Mr. Ralston is perhaps the oldest settler in the town- ship now living, having been in the county over sixty- five years ; he has never been out of the county since he moved here, more than four weeks at a time ; he has lived through the "pioneer" days, and fully under- stands the term "pioneer ;" they first settled in Mont- gomery Township ; there were but seven other families in the township when they moved in ; the first thing that they could get money for was "ginseng" ; about 1819 they began to find a cash market for their corn by selling it to distilleries that had come into the county ; they paid from 2C. to 25 cents per bushel for it ; Mr. Ralston at one time sold 160 bushels of wheat at 3 shil- lings per bushel, and waited a year for his pay, to get the cash for it ; they used to trade wheat, rye and corn to the distilleries for whisky, and then trade whisky for other merchandise at the lakes, and sometimes got money enough out of it to pay their taxes with ; they were not high, only about $2 ; they could realize about 50 cents for wheat in trade; had to go to Knox Co. to mill, on horseback ; he did the milling in this way for twelve of the family; usually took five days to go and come ; they came soon after the war, and were com- pelled to move into a little log cabin about thirteen feet square, with no chimney or chamber ; the first coffin that was made in the neighborhood Mr. Ralston's father helped make ; they split a walnut log, hewed and planed it, and made a box, which they thought was pretty nice ; he well remembered old Johnny Apple- seed ; he had a nursery near where Mr. Ralston lived. Mr. R. was married first in 1824, to Miss Murray ; they had two children ; she died in the spring of 1827 ; he was married again in December, 1828, to Miss Lincoln; they have eight children now living — one son in Ten- nessee, one in Texas, one in Illinois, and one in West Virginia ; one son was accidentally killed in Montana Territory ; he was Sheriff of the county where he lived, and went out to quell a riot, and was shot by- mistake ; one daughter in Indiana, and two in Rich- land County. The first salt they got he and a neighbor took maple sugar in sacks and went down to Huron, following an Indian trail down the river, And traded it for salt and carried it home, nearly fifty miles ; there were no houses till they reached what is now called Milan.

REYNOLDS, BENJAMIN, farmer and stock-raiser; P. 0. Plymouth ; was born Jan. 26, 1820; at an early day the family lived near Mansfield ; the country was very wild, and the woods full of game, such as deer, turkeys, bears and wild hogs ; they moved near where the town

��of Shiloh now is; Mr. Reynolds remembers well when the land that Shiloh now stands on was an entire wilder- ness, and the brush and timber were so thick that they could scarcely see through it, and the wolves would make night hideous with their deafening howls; he first moved to Plymouth in 1854 ; his first purchase of real estate was in Ripley Township, Huron Co.; he bought 50 acres at $8 per acre ; he now has a very fine farm and residence only three-fourths of a mile south of the town, which makes it a desirable location, both as to church and school privileges. He was married in 1834 to Miss Sarah Jane De Witt, of Huron Co., Ohio ; they have five children now living. Mr Reynolds is one of the solid men of the township, and has been a member of the M. E. Church in town for fourteen years ; their children are all grown up, and they are a fine and re- spectable family. When Mr. Ptcynolds first started out for himself, it was with his ax, to cut and split rails, and thus got a start in this world by hard and honest labor. His son, W. G., now lives about two miles south of his father's, and has a nice little home of 25 acres, all well improved. In 1870, he was married to a Miss Parsel, of Plymouth Township ; they have oiie child-^ AVilliam Orrin, born June. 1879.

ROGERS, WELLS, boot and shoe dealer, Plymouth ; was born in Delaware Co., N. Y.; came to Ohio in 1832 ; moved to Plymouth in 1851, and opened a grocery store and continued in this business till 1863, when he retired for a short time. In 1864, he enlisted and commanded Co. H, 163d 0. N. G., and did sei-vice under Gen. Butler, in and around City Point and Peters- burg; in the fall of 1864, he returned home, and the following year engaged in the boot and shoe business, and has remained in it to the present time. He has occupied nearly all offices of trust in the gift of the people, from Mayor to Councilman, and has been a mem ber of the School Board for more than twelve years, and perhaps has done as much toward making the schools of the town what they are as any other man in Plymouth. He was married first in 1854, to Miss Bra- ven, who', a few years after, died, when he married for his second wife a Miss Day, in 1862, daughter of Esq. B. F. Day, of Plymouth ; they have four children — Hattie, born in 1855 ; Mack, born in 1859 ; May, born in 1867; Nellie, born in 1877. Mr. Rogers' store is situated on the north side of the public square. He is regarded as a good, reliable and thorough-going business man.

RUCKMAN, JOSEPH, farmer; P. 0. Plymouth; was born in Hampshire Co., Va., in 1811. The family came to Plymouth Township in 1817, and entered three quarter-sections of land under the dollar and a half per acre act; there were only one or two other families in the township when they moved here. The Indians were very numerous, and used to camp near where they now live. He tells a story of a squaw who came to the house one very cold day to warm herself, and had her "pappoose" tied to a board. As she came into the house, she left it standing up against the house, out of doors, in the cold and snow, and an old sow that belonged to Mr. Ruckman came along and rooted it over, and was in the act of making a dinner of the pappoose, when the old squaw heard a noise and went out in time to rescue her little one. He tells about

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