William M. Lord - Civil War Soldier Buried in Farmer Cemetery

William M. Lord was the son of Randall and Amarilla Lord, early settlers of Farmer Township, coming here with other folks from New York in 1835.  This account from the 1876 Historical Atlas of Defiance County, p. 20, gave details on the family:

"RANDALL (Alonzo) LORD is the second son of William and Betsey (Brooks) Lord, the former of Massachusetts, the latter of New Hampshire, both deceased.  He (Randall) was born in Rutland county, Vermont, December 16, 1812.  He has two brothers, Jeremiah, born in 1810, and William, born in 1819; both reside in New York.
Randall Lord was married in New York, in 1835, to Amarilla Rice, of Vermont.  Mrs. Lord was born in New York September 17, 1815.  The same year of his marriage, Mr. Lord, in company with six other families, viz: Oney Rice, Jr., John C. Rice, Jacob Conkey, William G. Pierce, Mrs. Hopkins and Oney Rice, Sen., settled in Farmer Township, Defiance county.  
They were among the first settlers, and had to endure the hardships of pioneer life.  Mr. Lord made the first pair of boots and the first pair of shoes made by a white man in the township.  
Randall and Amarilla Lord have a family of seven children: Jeremiah, William M., Betsey A., Benjamin F., Olive S., Lydia U., and Fannie A.  Two of these sons were in the Union Army in the war of 1861-5.  Live in section 15."

It was William M. Lord and his younger brother, Benjamin F., who answered the call to serve their country.  In the 1860 census of Milford Township, William, 22, lived with his wife, Susanna, 21, born Iowa, and their eight month old son, Frank.  William was farming.  Perhaps something happened to Susanna and the child because they were not mentioned in any subsequent census; in fact, on April 18, 1861, William married Louisa Randall.  

William did not enlist until February 20, 1865, when he joined Company F, 111th O.V.I.  Soon he was transferred to the 183rd Regiment, Company D.  He was on the Draft Registration list for Farmer Township, taken in June 1863.  He still had plenty of time to see battle action in Tennessee and later South Carolina before mustering out on June 17, 1865, at Salisbury, North Carolina.

 After he came home from the war, William and Louisa settled in Farmer Township and purchased farm land there. They lived south of Farmer in Section 35. They had only one son, David Clayton, born about 1864.  

 By 1880, William had a job as a hotel keeper in Farmer Center, but he also kept his hand in farming, although on a small scale.  The agricultural census of that year indicated that he had only 15 acres tilled and 15 acres of woods, and the rest was pasture/orchard perhaps.  He had one cow, one swine, 12 poultry and no eggs.  Six acres of wheat yielded 70 bushels and one acre of potatoes gave him 30 bushels.  One acre of apple trees were on the place with 30 trees planted, and he cut 50 cords of wood that year.    

The Democratic Northwest and Henry County News, Napoleon, reported a story about William Lord on April 9, 1896 that was carried by the Defiance Crescent-News:

"SAME OLD GAME.  A WEST END FARMER TAKEN IN BY LIGHTNING ROD AGENTS.

William Lord, of Farmer township, is in the city today and is evidently trying to find out where he's at.  Mr. Lord had some dealings with lightning rod agents and it is a question with him whether he has been taken in or not.

According to Mr. Lord's story, a couple of smooth lightning rod agents called at this farm and said they would like to leave some sample rods with him and asked him to consider the matter and having them put on his building.  He signed a contract with them which he was to keep until he made up his mind whether he wanted rods or not.

The contract was placed in an envelope and left with him, with the instructions that if he desired the rods, he should mail the envelope which contained the contract.  After consulting his wife and family, Mr. Lord decided he did not want the rods, so he took the contract out of the envelope, examined it closely, then burned it with the envelope.

A few days ago, a wagon loaded with lightning rods, ladders and implements for work drove up to Mr. Lord's gate, and began to unload, ready to put up the rods.  Mr. Lord was not at home, but the son would not allow the work to go on.

The men persisted and claimed they had a contract signed by William Lord for $600 worth of rods.  The son said that as long as the bird shot he had on hand lasted, they would never put up the rods.  The men left and nothing has been heard of them since. but Mr. Lord is expecting something to turn up." 

William Lord appeared in the 1900 and 1910 census, both in Farmer Township.  In 1900, Louisa is named as his wife, but in 1910, the enumerator called her Eliza.  The couple were married 48 years at that point, so it had to be the same wife.  William did report that he had been married twice, explaining Susanna mentioned above. 

William M. Lord died on May 23, 1915.  His cause of death, as it appeared on his death certificate, was gangrene of the foot.  He was 76 years, 11 months and 15 days old.  Only a short death notice could be found for him in the Bryan Democrat in the March 26/30, 1915 edition:

"Wm. Lord, a prominent citizen of Farmer, died Thursday of blood poisoning, caused by a scuttle of coal falling on one of his toes some time ago."  

The American Legion in Farmer requested a tombstone from the United States government for William in 1951, and it was placed in Farmer Cemetery.