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OREN ELBRIDGE ENSIGN.
Fortunate is he who has back of him an ancestry honorable and distinguished, and happy is he if his lines of life
are cast hi harmony therewith. Our subject is blessed in this respect, for he springs from a prominent family,
which was early founded in Ohio. His paternal grandfather, William Ensign, was a native of Massachusetts, served
in the Revolutionary war, and died in Madison, Lake county, Ohio, at an advanced age.
Oren Ensign, our subject's father, was born in 1785, in Pittsfield, Berkshire county, Massachusetts, where he grew
to manhood, but at a very early day in the history of this State he became a resident of Lake county, Ohio, where
he married Nancy Pepoon, who was born in Hartford, Connecticut, about 1795, a daughter of Lewis Pepoon, who served
with distinction as a captain in the Revolutionary war. After his marriage Oren Ensign, Sr., located on a farm
near Painesville, in Lake county, Ohio, where he continued to live until his removal to Farmer township, Defiance
county, about 1836. His death occurred there in the autumn of 1857, and several years afterward his widow went
to Wisconsin to live with her eldest son, dying in Beloit. that State, at the age of seventy five years. Our subject
is the youngest in the family, the others being William O., who also died in Beloit, Wisconsin, during the early
'70's, when about sixty five years of age; Henry A., a physician, who died in Nevada, Missouri, at the age of sixty;
Dwight P., who died in Farmer township, Defiance county, Ohio, at the age of sixty nine; and Francis E., a prominent
attorney and judge living in Idaho.
Mr. Ensign, whose name introduces this sketch, was born in Painesville, Lake county, Ohio, November 29, 1831, and
was five years old when taken by his parents to their new home in Farmer township, Defiance county, where he grew
to manhood. During early life he successfully engaged in teaching school in Farmer township for eight winters,
and was similarly employed for one winter in Center township, Williams county. He had received a good common school
education, and also attended the Academy in Painesville for six months.
For two years (in 1854 and 1855) he was employed as foreman on the Air Line railroad (the L. S. & M. S.), and
for one year was freight agent at Edgerton, Williams county. After leaving the employ of the railroad he purchased
the farm of one hundred and eighty acres in Section 36, Center township, Williams county, where he now lives, a
portion of which had been bequeathed to him by his father. Since 1857 he has devoted his attention to agricultural
pursuits, and has met with a well deserved success in his undertakings.
On April 9, 1857, in Toledo, Ohio, Mr. Ensign married Miss Clarissa L. Dunkle, a native of New York, born near
Canandaigua, June 13, 1839. She is a daughter of Charles and Minerva (Coller) Dunkle, the latter of whom died in
Center township, Williams county, Ohio, late in the '50's. Four children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Ensign, namely:
Marvin A., who died at the age of two and a half years; Albert E., who was only twenty four days old at the time
of his death; Clara E., who is now the wife of Matus R. Scott, of Center township, Williams county; and Adda R.,
wife of John Woods, of Center township, Williams county.
In politics Mr. Ensign is an ardent Republican; is an earnest Christian gentleman, a faithful member of the United
Brethren Church, and takes an active part in all Church work, having filled many important places of trust in the
Church. Over his life record there falls no shadow of wrong, his public service was most exemplary, and his private
life has been marked by the utmost fidelity to duty. Prior to his leaving the L. S. & M. S. R. R. service,
his father gave him a farm in Center township, Williams county, with the understanding that he (our subject) should
pay to the other heirs a specified sum of money.
From:
Commemorative Biographical Record of Northwestern, Ohio
Including the counties of
Defiance, Henry, Williams and Fulton
Published by: J. H. Beers and Company
Chicago, Illinois
1899
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