OHIO STATEWIDE FILES OH-FOOTSTEPS Mailing List *********************************************************************** USGENWEB NOTICE: These electronic pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit or presentation by other organization or persons. Persons or organizations desiring to use this material, must obtain the written consent of the contributor, or the legal representative of the submitter, and contact the listed USGenWeb archivist with proof of this consent. *********************************************************************** OH-FOOTSTEPS-D Digest Volume 99 : Issue 266 Today's Topics: #1 BRIG.-GEN. EDWARD SIGERFOOS-DARKE [AUPQ38A@prodigy.com (MRS GINA M RE] #2 FRAZER E. WILSON - DARKE COUNTY [AUPQ38A@prodigy.com (MRS GINA M RE] ------------------------------ X-Message: #1 Date: Thu, 29 Apr 1999 15:45:18, -0500 From: AUPQ38A@prodigy.com (MRS GINA M REASONER) Subject: BRIG.-GEN. EDWARD SIGERFOOS-DARKE COUNTY HISTORY OF OHIO, The American Historical Society, Inc., 1925 BRIG.-GEN. EDWARD SIGERFOOS was the highest ranking officer of the American Expeditionary Forces killed in the World war. He was mortally wounded at the front September 29, 1918, and died in the base hospital eight days afterward. He is properly ranked as one of the famous Ohioans of his generation. His old home community was in Darke County, though he was born in Miami County, December 14, 1868. His father, George W. Sigerfoos, was born in 1825, in Maryland, was taken to Montgomery County, Ohio, in 1834, and in early life was a farmer and school teacher and subsequently a brick maker. He became a merchant, and in 1872 established a business at Arcanum in Darke County, where he was engaged until his death, on October 16, 1875. He married in 1850 Nancy Shanck, who was born in Montgomery County, Ohio, in 1830. Of the children of George Sigerfoos and wife three, including Edward, gained distinction as educators. Miss Arabella, whose home is at Arcanum, graduated from the Michigan State Normal College and taught in Ohio and also in California. A son, Charles P. Sigerfoos, the older brother of Edward, was a graduate of the class of 1889 from the Ohio State University, and for a quarter of a century has been professor of zoology at the University of Minnesota. Edward Sigerfoos attended public schools until he was sixteen, and in the fall of 1885 accompanied his older brother, Charles, to the Ohio State University, spending two years in the preparatory school and graduating with the class of 1891. He took a lively interest in all phases of student life, distinguishing himself in his class rooms, becoming editor in chief of the "Lantern," took a prominent part in the literary society and won honors on the platform, and began his military career on the campus by becoming the captain of a company in the University Battalion, winning the prize sword for the best drilled company, and later a medal in a state contest at Portsmouth. With such thoroughness of preparation it was not difficult for him to gain admission to the United States Army, which he did in less than two months after his graduation. On August 1, 1891, he was appointed second lieutenant of the Fifth United States Infantry. He did not find army life inconsistent with his serious habits of study, and while at Fort Leavenworth he achieved the title of "Honor Graduate" of the United States Infantry and Cavalry School in 1895. During the Christmas holidays of that year he married Miss Opal Robeson, of Greenville. In April, 1898, he was promoted to the rank of first lieutenant, and four months later was sent to Cuba, where he served for more than a year as commissary under Gen. Leonard Wood. The war with Spain afforded him still further experience beyond the immediate boundaries of the Untied States, for he spent the next four years in the Philippines, and was commissioned a captain February 2, 1901, and made an adjutant the following September. In 1905 Captain Sigerfoos was detailed to serve as professor of military science and tactics at the University of Minnesota, where his brother was professor of zoology. During his four years in the institution Edward Sigerfoos not only gained an enviable reputation as a teacher and commandant of University Cadets, but also found time for his self-improvement by completing the regular and post-graduate courses in law, receiving the degree of Bachelor of Laws in 1908 and that of Master of Laws in 1909. In 1915 he graduated highest in the class in the War College at Washington, though the youngest officer in the class. He remained there a year as a professor of war games, and then was given a taste of active service with Pershing on the Mexican border, after which he was sent to China. Meantime, he was acquitting himself with unfailing credit in every duty to which he was assigned, and was earning his promotions through major to colonel. As commandant of the American Forces he was in charge of the Red Cross Relief during the foods at Tien-tsin. Colonel Sigerfoos was recalled from China, soon after America entered the World war, and after a few months was sent to France and put in charge of a group of army schools at Langres. It was in the course of this duty that he several times went to the front. He had just been detailed in command of the Fifty-sixth Infantry Brigade at Mount Balinville in the Argonne Drive, and was wounded, dying October 7, 1918. He has been promoted to brigadier-general on the basis of a citation from Big.-Gen. H.A. Smith, commanding the army schools. General Smith's citation read as follows: "I recommend that Col. Edward Sigerfoos, infantry, be promoted to be brigadier-general. Colonel Sigerfoos is a graduate of Ohio State University, is a polished and cultured man, and an officer of character and decision. He took charge of the Army School of the Line last May, and has made a great success of this school, which up to that time had been a failure. I believe that Colonel Sigerfoos merits this promotion." One of his classmates at the university wrote of him: "There was little of the traditional army officer about him and much that belongs to the newer type. He consistently maintained and strengthened the Christian character which he possessed in youth. I never heard him use a word unfitted for the presence of wife or daughter. He was an abstainer, even of tobacco; and in his room at Langres I saw three things in prominent places: A picture of wife, daughter and son, the Bible and an American flag. To them he gave full devotion and from them he received the inspiration of a life that was strong, true and useful." General Sigerfoos was survived by his wife and two children. Grace and Edward. The daughter Grace, attended the University of Minnesota for a time, but graduated from the University of Michigan class of 1923. After General Sigerfoos went to France his wife returned to her old home in Ohio, at Greenville, to live with her parents, but at present lives in Ann Arbor, Michigan. ------------------------------ X-Message: #2 Date: Thu, 29 Apr 1999 15:52:16, -0500 From: AUPQ38A@prodigy.com (MRS GINA M REASONER) Subject: FRAZER E. WILSON - DARKE COUNTY HISTORY OF OHIO, The American Genealogical Society, Inc., 1925 Vol. 5 Page 405-406 FRAZER E. WILSON, local historian of Greenville and Darke County, was born at Ansonia (then Dallas), Darke County, Ohio, September 10, 1871, and is the son of Augustus N. and Sarah C. (Niswonger) Wilson. From the best data at hand it seems that this branch of the Wilson family is of Quaker origin, tracing descent from one Steven Wilson, a carpenter of Cumberland county, England, who came over about 1688, A.D., and settled in the original Quaker community in the valley of the Delaware River near Trenton, New Jersey. His certificate from the Friends in England is recorded in full on the records of the Chesterfield monthly meeting in the southern part of Trenton. Steven soon crossed to the west side of the Delaware and settled in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, near Philadelphia, where he was employed in erecting Quaker meeting houses. Here he married one Sarah Baker, the daughter of an influential Quaker family. He soon became firmly established in this community and served in the Provincial Assembly. Here the family remained for several generations with varying fortunes until about 1820 when one Thomas Wilson, then a young unmarried man, left for the budding state of Ohio, walking from Philadelphia to Zanesville, Ohio. Later he conducted a flatboat load of goods down the Ohio and Mississippi rivers to New Orleans, and walked back to Cincinnati, Ohio. Thomas finally settled in Preble County, where he married Elizabeth Leas, the daughter of a prosperous pioneer farmer. Augustus N. Wilson was the sixth son of this union, being born in 1842. He served nearly four years in Company E, Sixty-ninth Regiment, Ohio Volunteer Infantry, and participated in Sherman's march to the sea. After teaching for a short time in rural schools he followed the bent of his natural inclinations and engaged in mercantile pursuits in a small way with his two brothers. In 1873 he came to Greenville, Ohio, and soon made valuable connections with practical business men who helped him to build up a prosperous business in dry goods and carpets. In 1880 his firm completed the commodious three-story brick business room on Broadway, near Third Street, which has since continued to be one of the best trading centers in the county seat. Besides conducting an active and prosperous business Mr. Wilson raised a family of seven children and served in various official capacities, notably as a member of the City Board of Education, president of the Board of Trustees of the Dayton Sta te Hospital and mayor of Greenville. He was active both physically and mentally, and for thirty years never missed his annual fall hunting trip to the wilds of various states. He died in 1923, commanding the respect of the community for his active and useful life. Frazer E. Wilson, third in a family of seven surviving children, was educated in the public schools of Greenville and was graduated from high school in 1893. He later attended Ohio Wesleyan University and Oberlin College. In 1892 he became a member of the firm of A.N. Wilson & Sons, and has given some thirty years to this business, which, since 1920, has been reorganized and conducted as a corporation, known as the Economy Store Company, of which he is now president. While in high school, Mr. Wilson manifested great interest in the study of natural science, particularly geology and related subjects, and later developed a strong liking for the study of ethnology, archaeology and local history. In 1894 he compiled a book dealing with the military campaigns of St. Clair and Wayne in the wilds of the old Northwest Territory and the resulting treaty of Greenville. This book which he later revised under the title The Peace of Mad Anthony," received high commendation as a literary production and was placed in many of the best city and university libraries of the country. In 1914 Mr. Wilson compiled a comprehensive history of Darke County, which is recognized as a standard of authority in his community and state. Mr. Wilson was one of the founders of the public museum in 1901 and has served on the Board of Curators since that time. He was a charter member of the Greenville Historical Society and is now its secretary. In recognition of his contrib utions to local history and various historical articles published in the Quarterly, he was made a life member of the Ohio Archaeological and Historical Society in 1907. Although not a politician, in the common conception of that term, he has served as city treasurer, clerk of the City Board of Education, and is now president of the City Council being elected on the republican ticket in a democratic community. Socially he is a member of the local Kiwanis Club, and has served as chairman of its civic affairs committee. In spite of these various activities Mr. Wilson is vitally interested in church life. Although raised in a liberal atmosphere and being inclined to a broad interpretation of the Scriptures, Mr. Wilson has been actively associated with church work for nearly thirty years. Through marriage he became connected with the Reformed Church, and has served in various offices in the church, being now an elder, superintendent of the Bible School and teacher of the Men's Class. Chur ch history and theological subjects are subjects of intense interest to him. Mr. Wilson married at Greenville, Ohio, June 7, 1904, Miss Pearl Larimer, oldest daughter of John Wright and Caroline (Mowen) Larimer. The Larimer family is of Scotch-Irish descent. Isaac Larimer, Mrs. Wilson's great-grandfather, settled in Fairfield County, Ohio, with the pioneers. Enlisting for the War of 1812, he served as an ensign in Captain George Sanderson's Company of Ohio Militia. He was taken prisoner at the capture of Detroit but was allowed to retain his sword, which is still in the possession of the family. His son Isaac, born in 1808, represented his district in the Ohio Legislature for two terms. He married October 9, 1838, Margaret Ray. Their son, John Wright Larimer, father of Mrs. Wilson, was born near Lexington, Perry County, Ohio, June 24, 1846. He was a soldier in the Civil war, serving in Company B, Seventeenth Ohio Infantry, and participated in Sherman's march to the sea. In 1865 he settled in Darke County, and on November 12, 1872, married Miss Margare t Mowen, daughter of David and Sarah (Hartie) Mowen. Mrs. Wilson was the first child of her parents and was born September 8, 1873. Mr. and Mrs. F.E. Wilson have three children: John Larimer, born October 13, 1905, now a student in Ohio state University; Wayne Alden, born November 29, 1908, now a student in the Greenville High School; and Miriam, born March 30, 1912, now a pupil in the seventh grade of the Greenville schools. -------------------------------- End of OH-FOOTSTEPS-D Digest V99 Issue #266 *******************************************