Huron County

Manahan, Manning Willis, M.D., one of the prominent and able representatives of the homeopathic school of medicine in the state of Georgia, controls a large and prosperous professional business in the city of Atlanta, having his offices in the Grand Opera House building. He claims the old Buckeye state as the place of his nativity, having been born in Hartland township, Huron county, Ohio, Jan. 5, 1859. He is a son of George W. and L. Sophia (Morse) Manahan, the former of whom was born in Cayuga county, N.Y., Oct. 1, 1812, and the latter in Venice, that county, March 18, 1818. The father died in East Orange, N.J., in February, 1891, and the mother died in Norwalk, Ohio, in September, 1894. The doctor’s paternal grandfather was Thomas Manahan, who was born on Long Island, N.Y., Dec. 25, 1772, and died in Hartland, Ohio, Dec. 3, 1858. He married Violetta Silcox, who was born in Flanders, N.J., Jan. 7, 1779, being a daughter of Henry and Sally Silcox, who afterwards moved to what is now Elizabeth, N.J. She died in Norwalk, Ohio, Dec. 19, 1873. Her father distinguished himself during the Revoluntary war, as a trusted follower of the great Washington. He was a lineal descendant of Captain Luce, who was born in 1680 and who was an officer in the British army in the war of 1712 between England and France. Captain Luce died in 1765. L. Sophia (Morse) Manahan was a daughter of Judge Isaac Morse, who was born in New Haven, Conn., Feb. 8, 1782, and who died at Venice, Cayuga county, N.Y., July 14, 1864. Judge Morse was descended from Rev. Jedediah Morse, a distinguished clergyman of the Congregational church and prominent as a geographer. There were three brothers in this family, Samuel F.B. Morse, the inventor of telegraphy, and Sidney Edwards Morse, a prominent American journalist, inventor and geographer. Doctor Manahan was graduated in the classical course in the high school at Norwalk, Ohio, and later took a university course. In March, 1882, he was graduated in Cleveland Homoeopathic hospital college, where he secured his degree of Doctor of Medicine, and also the first clinical prize, receiving honorable mention for a very high percentage in his class examinations. He has attained to distinction and prestige in his profession and has been engaged in the practice of the same in Atlanta since 1882. He is a member of the American institute of homoeopathy, the Southern homoeopathic medical association, and the Atlanta medical club. He is ex-president of the United States board of pension examiners at Atlanta; has been medical examiner for a number of life-insurance companies, and for a number of years has served as surgeon to the Commercial Travelers’ Mutual Accident association of America, surgeon to Iowa State Traveling Men’s association, also holding a similar position with the International Travelers association, of Dallas, Tex. He is a charter member of Gate City Lodge, No. 2, Free and Accepted Masons, of Atlanta, and was reared in the faith of the Presbyterian church, but is tolerant and liberal in his religious views. On Sept. 21, 1881, Doctor Manahan was united in marriage to Miss Jennie Estelle Walker, daughter of George R. and Lucyra (Scott) Walker, of Norwalk, Ohio, where her father is a prominent attorney at law. Dr. and Mrs. Manahan became the parents of two children, both of whom are now deceased: George Leroy was born in Norwalk, Ohio, Jan. 22, 1883, and died in Pensacola, Fla., March 3, 1886; Manning Maurice was born in Atlanta, Ga., Aug. 3, 1885, and died July 26, 1888.

Source: Georgia Sketches of Counties, Towns, Events, Institutions, and Persons, VOL II, by Candler & Evans, Publ. 1906.
Transcribed by Kim Mohler

Simon Kenton
Simon Kenton, one of the famous pioneers and scouts whose names fill the pages of the early history of our country, was born in Fauquier county, Virginia, April 3, 1755. In consequence of an affray, at the age of eighteen, young Kenton went to Kentucky, then the "Dark and Bloody Ground," and became associated with Daniel Boone and other pioneers of that region.
For a short time he acted as a scout and spy for Lord Dunmore, the British governor of Virginia, but afterward taking the side of the struggling colonists, participated in the war for independence west of the Alleghanies. In 1784 he returned to Virginia, but did not remain there long, going back with his family to Kentucky. From that time until 1793 he participated in all the combats and battles of that time, and until "Mad Anthony" Wayne swept the Valley of the Ohio; and settled the supremacy of the whites in that region. Kenton laid claim to large tracts of land in the new country he had helped to open up, but through ignorance of law. and the growing value of the land, lust it all and was reduced to poverty. During the war with England in 1812-15, Kenton took part in the invasion of Canada with the Kentucky troops and participated in the battle of the Thames. He finally had land granted him by the legislature of Kentucky, and received a pension from the United States government. He died in Logan county, Ohio, April 29, 1836. (A Biographical Record of Boone County, Iowa, 1902, Page 189 - Submitted to Genealogy Trails by our host Peggy Thompson

(Source: Georgia Sketches of Counties, Towns, Events, Institutions, and Persons, VOL II, by Candler & Evans, Publ. 1906. Transcribed by Kim Mohler)

REUBEN FANCHER.
For a half century Reuben Fancher has made his home in Lake county and is now living a retired life at Crown Point. He was for many years actively identified with agricultural interests, but now is enjoying a well earned rest. His birth occurred in Huron county, Ohio, on the 28th of April, 1834, and he comes of English ancestry. His grandfather and his father both bore the name of Thaddeus Fancher, and his mother bore the maiden name of Amy Chapman. She was born in Connecticut and was a daughter of Cyrus Chapman, who was also of English lineage. To these parents were born twelve children, of whom seven are yet living.

Reuben Fancher, the eldest of the family, was reared in Huron county, Ohio, until twenty years of age, when he started out in life on his own account and, believing that he might have better business opportunities in a less thickly settled district, he went to Michigan, where he attended the public school during the winter months. March 20, 1855, he came to Crown Point, and at that time his capital consisted of only forty dollars in gold, but he possessed a resolute and determined spirit, renting a tract of land on which he began farming. He also bought stock, and when his financial re-sources had increased to a sufficient extent he purchased eighty acres of land, to which he added until his farm comprised one hundred and sixty acres. Subsequently he traded that for property in Crown Point and took up his abode in the city. For three years he served as deputy sheriff. He has, however, been largely engaged in dealing in farm machinery and live stock, but is now living a retired life, for through his perseverance and energy he accumulated a handsome competence that now supplies him with all of the necessities and many of the comforts and luxuries of life.

In August, 1857, was celebrated the marriage of Mr. Fancher and Miss Mary Hawkins, who was born in New York and died in Lake county, Indiana, in 1895. They were the parents of four children, the eldest of whom died in infancy. The others are William; Mary, the wife of E. H. Crowell; and Grace, at home.

Mr. Fancher is a Republican, and cast his first presidential vote for Fremont and afterward supported Lincoln in 1860 and again in 1864. He has never wavered in his allegiance to the party, but has always voted for its presidential candidates and has put forth every effort in his power to promote its growth and secure its success. For thirty-five years he has been a member of the Masonic fraternity, and has been identified with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows for about the same length of time. For half a century he has lived in Lake county, spending much of the time in Crown Point, and his life record is thus closely identified with the history of this portion of the state. He has watched the development of the county as it has emerged from pioneer conditions and has advanced toward its present progress and prosperity. His mind bears the impress of the early historic annals of northwestern Indiana, and what to many others are matters of record are to him affairs of intimate knowledge if not of personal experience.
Many years ago he established the important business, with its adjuncts, of putting down wells; an occupation still carried on by his son; and although nominally retired from business life, being now seventy years of age, he may be found quite regularly in their office on Main street, looking after the interests of their business. The wells which they put down are known as tubular walls. They go down to various depths. Furnishing windmills and pumps is one of the adjuncts of this business.

Mr. Fancher is a believer in Christianity, a friend to Sunday schools and churches, and became a member of the Methodist Episcopal church many years ago.

The fuller genealogic record, which in such a work as this it is desirable to preserve, is the following:
1. Thaddeus Fancher was born in England in 1777. He was by trade a harness-maker. When a young man he came to the United States and settled in Connecticut. He there married Sally Mead, "a daughter of General Mead of Revolutionary fame." There were of this family twelve children.

2. Thaddeus S. Fancher was born in Ulster county, New York (to which state his father had removed in 1808), April 8, 1809. His father was a soldier in the American army in the war of 1812, and in 1815 visited the then new and truly wild region of Huron county, Ohio, to which state he removed with his family in November and December of 1820, when Thaddeus S. was eleven years of age. The Fancher family therefore were true pioneers of Huron county, Ohio, knowing well the experiences of a frontier life. Thaddeus S. Fancher was married to Annie M. Chapman, September 8, 1833. In 1894 they were "the oldest married couple in Huron county."

3. Reuben Fancher, the oldest of twelve children, of whom the foregoing sketch has been written, it thus appears, is a descendant of soldiers of the war of the Revolution and the war of 1812, and of resolute and successful pioneers of the state of Ohio.

[Obit reprinted from the Lake County, Indiana Post Tribune in the "Encyclopedia of Genealogy and Biography of Lake County, Indiana from 1834-1904" - Submitted to Genealogy Trails by our host Kim Torp]

REV. WALTER L. HUFFMAN, one of the pioneer ministers of the Methodist Church in Northern Indiana, was born in Tioga County, New York, on the 5th day of June 1816. When about three years of age, his parents removed to Livingston County and settled near Genessee, the same State. Here young Walter was sent to the district school in a little deserted cabin that had been vacated by some previous occupant. This primitive building was fitted up with rail seats and other furniture in keeping, and here the young student was required to study until both head and back were almost racked with pain. When he had arrived at sufficient age he worked on the farm in summer and attended school at intervals during the winter seasons. • Subsequently his parents heard of the far west, which was then Ohio, and possessed of an ardent desire to move to a place where cheap lands could be obtained they sold out after the lapse of a few years, and emigrating to Northern Ohio, settled near Florence, in Huron County. Here Walter, being now a young man, took charge of his father's farm and while thus employed, snatched what time he could from his daily toil to study. By a thorough course of reading, the greater part of which was done by the flickering light of the old lard lamp stuck in the jamb of the chimney, he soon became well informed on all the current topics of the day, besides making substantial progress in history and some of the higher branches of learning. As he advanced in his studies, he sought an opportunity to recite to an instructor which was soon gratified in the person of Rev. J. F. Chaplin, a minister of much learning and piety, then stationed at Elyria, Ohio. In 1828, before leaving his native state, in a revival meeting near Brook's Grove, conducted by Rev. A. Haywood, he, with a number of others, gave his young heart to Christ and connected himself with the Methodist Episcopal church. At the same time and place he felt that he was called to the work of the ministry, to which end he directed his education and all his mental and moral nature that he might become, as he afterwards did, a successful preacher of the gospel. In the winter of 1837 he came to Indiana and settled at Crawfordsville where he was licensed to preach, and during the interim of the session of the Annual Conference in 1839, taught school in various parts of the country. He was subsequently requested by Major J. C. Elston, at the time postmaster at Crawfordsville, to take charge of the post office, which position he accepted and filled to the entire satisfaction of the people and his employer. In the fall of 1839, he was recommended as a suitable candidate to be received into traveling ministry, and at the Annual Conference held that year at Lawrenceburgh, he was duly received and sent to Covington circuit as junior preacher, the Rev. James L. Thompson being preacher in charge. In the fall of 1840 he was sent to the Rensselaer circuit and the fall of 1841 to Williamsport, where he remained for only a short time. As the preacher sent to Logansport had by reason of poor health resigned, the Presiding Elder changed him from Williamsport to Logansport to fill out the unexpired term. The following year he was sent to South Bend, from the latter place to LaPorte, thence to Crawfordsville station, and from the latter place to Centreville, in Wayne County. At the close of his second year at this station he was appointed agent for the Asbury University, now DuPauw, in which capacity he continued for a period of two years. Severing his connection with the agency, he was sent to Peru station, and during his two years' pastorate he built the Main Street Church, which still stands an eloquent monument to his untiring energy and industry. At the close of his pastoral labors in this city he was appointed Presiding Elder of the Peru District, the duties of which responsible position he discharged for two years. Near the expiration of his term in the district it was but too plainly seen by his many friends that his health was giving way, and that lighter work and less exposure to the rigor of the weather was absolutely necessary. The Bishop sent him the second time to take charge of the Logansport station. It was during his second pastorate in that city that he commenced the erection of that beautiful stone temple of worship on Broadway, one of the most commodious church edifices in Northern Indiana. He closed his labors in Logansport at the end of one year, and, although strongly solicited to return, saw fit on account of rapidly failing health to decline, and it was at his request that that year was granted by the conference a certificate of location. Since then he has been an earnest laborer in the local ranks, and, as such, has done as much work for the Master as he could possibly have done as traveling minister, having had and still has more calls to preach than he can find time to fill. His popularity as a minister is attested by the fact that the people, who have had the privilege of once hearing him, always desire to attend his meetings the second time, and scores of persons, noted for their deep piety and active Christian experience, were induced to abandon the ways of sin for the better way leading to Life and Holiness, through the effect of his eloquent and powerful appeals. As a pulpit orator he is always clear and logical in his statements, eloquent and impressive in application, and well calculated in his manner to effectually reach the hearts of the people. During the half century of his ministry he has united in marriage over eleven hundred couples, and in the dark hours of bereavement, has officiated at the funerals of more than twelve hundred persons. The companion of his youth died in 1871. The children, one son and a daughter are still living. This venerable and highly honored servant of God is now in his seventy-first year, and although the frosts and snows of many winters have been scattered upon his brow-—eloquent of the rapidly passing time—yet life's evening is full of hope and the promise of a brighter day to come.

(Submitted by Barb Zigenmeyer)

COE, Miss Emily M., educator, born near Norwalk, Ohio. She was graduated from Mt. Holyoke Seminary, in 1853, w1th the honors of her class. For a time she turned her attention to oil-painting and other art-work, for which she has a talent. She then taught with success in seminaries and colleges in New England and Pennsylvania, and afterward in the Spingler Institute, in New York City. Realizing more and more the futility of building upon the imperfect foundations of character usually laid in early childhood, she saw clearly that the hope of the world is in the right training of the little children. That led to the establishment of the American kindergarten, the first school of the kind in New York City. The American kindergarten system is the result of more than twenty years of practical work in the school-room. She erected a kindergarten building at her own expense, in the Centennial Exposition of 1876, where material, much of her own invention was exhibited and examined by educators from all parts of the world. In 1872 Miss Coe went to Europe for the purpose of studying educational methods. Her life is an exceedingly busy one. She has given courses of lectures and conducted training classes in Normal institutes in all parts of the country, besides single lectures in many places. At home she conducts the American Kindergarten and Normal Training School in New York City and East Orange, N. J. Miss Coe is editor and proprietor of the "American Kindergarten Magazine," established ten years. She is president of the American Kindergarten Society. She is a member of the Association for the Advancement of Science and a life member of the National Teachers' Association. She is a very earnest Christian.
(American Women Fifteen Hundred Biographies Vol. 1, by Frances Elizabeth Willard & Mary Ashton Rice Livermore, Publ. 1897. Transcribed by Marla Snow)

METZGER, Joseph, manufacturer; born, Norwalk, O., (Huron Co) May 6, 1870; son of Raymond and Barbara (Sattig) Metzger; educated in public schools of Detroit; married at Detroit, 1892, Emma E. Allor. Came to Detroit with parents, 1875; in 1895, became associated with Carl E. Schmidt & Co., tanners of the Schmidt calf leathers, as superintendent and manager; was admitted as partner of the firm, 1899, and still continues. Republican. Member harmonie Society. Clubs: Detroit Yacht, Detroit Automobile, Recreations: Automobiling and outdoor exercises. Office: 54 Macomb St. Residence: 322 Pennsylvania Av.
The Book of Detroiters. Edited by Albert Nelson Marquis Copyright, 1908 - transcribed by Christine Walters