Page:History of Richland County, Ohio.djvu/950

 -^

��938

��BIOGEArHICAL SKETCHES:

��instead of one ; so rapid was the increase of the popula- tion that in a few years other schoolhouses were built and several schools were in progress in the township. Crestline was commenced in 1850, the first passenger train on the railroad having reached that point in Janu- ary of that year. Mr. Ogden erected the first frame building in the village, and the first barn raised in the township without whisky was on the Ogden farm.

REED, JAMES M., now a grocer of Crestline, but for many years a prominent farmer and .Justice of the Peace of Sandusky Township, was born in Cumberland Co., Penn., on May 28, 1814, and removed with his father's family to the farm upon which Reedsburg was afterward laid ofiF, in Wayne Co., Ohio, and from there to the vicinity of Crestline in April, 1847, where he served for twenty-one years as Justice of the Peace of Sandusky Township. In 1875, he removed to Crestline, was again elected Justice of the Peace, and is now sup- plying the people with family groceries, and is one of the leading citizens of the place.

TYLER, SILAS, farmer, Crawford Co., 111.; he was born Oct. 30, 1796, in Wayne Co., Penn. He was mar- ried June 11, 1820, to Elcy A. Austin; afterward, he resided in Sullivan and in Tompkins Co., N. Y.; he settled in Richland County in October, 1837 ; he kept the hotel at Ontario two years ; then removed to the 80-acre tract of land now owned by James S. Trimble, for which he paid |750 ; after improving the land, he sold it to Mr. Trimble for |4,000 in 1865. His wife died Sept. 3, 1864, and in September, 1865, the old gentlemen removed to Crawford Co., 111., where he now

��lives, being 84 years of age. He was married the second time in 1865, his wife is yet living ; he and his first wife raised a family of seven children, five of whom are living. Bezaleel, one of the sons, is an influential citizen of Sandusky Township ; he is married to Mary A., daughter of John Sheffer. Nathan L., another, is conductor on the P., Ft. W. & C. R. R.; he is mar- ried to a daughter of J. M. Reed, and lives in Crest- line.

WILLIAMS, JESSE, Justice of the Peace, Crestline ; was born in Jefiferson Co., Ohio, Feb. 14, 1806, and re- moved with his father, Thomas Williams, to the land now owned by Christian O'Rourk, near the Spring Mill, in this county, in 1818. The land had been purchased of Rolin Weldon in 1817, and in that year the fath- er and his oldest son, John, had come to the premises, erected a cabin and cleared a few acres of ground, on which they had raised corn. Jesse, after assisting in clearing up the farm, now one of the best in the neigh- borhood, embraced every opportunity then attainable to procure such an education as would qualify him as a school teacher, which was his occupation for about ten years. He was married on Sept. 15, 1829, to Miss Eliza Bailey, then residing in Springfield Township ; she was born in Allegheny Co., Penn., on .Jan. 10, 1811 ; Squire Williams has been eight times elected to the office of Justice of the Peace, and twice as County Auditor, besides holding other positions of honor, and the old gentleman says he hopes to live long enough to assist in electing a Democratic President of the United States.

��POLK TOWNSHIP, CRAWFORD COUNTY.

��REED, SAMUEL J., farmer ; was born in Oxford Co., Me., Dec. 13, 1809, and was married Sept. 6, 1832, to Miss Elizabeth Jackson ; he removed with his father's family to this county in 1823, and settled in that part of Sandusky now forming Polk Township, Crawford Co., where a cabin was erected in the woods, and where the family commenced clearing up the forest and converting the wilderness into fertile fields. Mr.

��Reed first earned enough money, by hard work, to en- ter 80 acres of land, and, by his indomitable energy and industry, continued to add to his farm till he be- came the owner of 411 acres of most excellent land, now well improved, and proved himself to be one of the most successful farmers in the county. Four of his children are married, and living in the vicinity of their parents.

��ASHLAND, ASHLAND COUNTY.

��ABRAMS, JAMES S., was born in Ashland Co., in the month of January, 1855, where he has since resided. He is by profession a painter, having finished his trade

��in 1875 ; he is considered by all to be proficient at his business and enjoys the respect of those in the com- munity in which he resides.

�� �� �