Elias S. Myers, a lifelong resident of Williams County, Ohio, except for a brief western sojourn, embodies the enduring spirit of agricultural dedication and pioneer resilience. Born in 1846 on a pioneer farm in Jefferson Township, Myers is the last survivor among the five children of George W. and Emily (Lewis) Myers, early settlers from Pennsylvania and New York. His journey from a boyhood on his father’s farm to a respected farmer and stockraiser in Pulaski Township reflects a lifetime of agricultural innovation and community involvement. Married to Caroline Reeves in 1876, their legacy includes two children and seven grandchildren, symbolizing the familial and agricultural continuity that has characterized their quiet, esteemed lives.
Elias S. Myers is one of the venerable and honored representatives of farm industry in Pulaski Township, has been a resident of Williams County from the time of his birth, save for an interval of two years passed in the West, and is a representative of one of the sterling pioneer families of this county.
Mr. Myers was born on his father’s pioneer farm in Jefferson Township, this county, October 12, 1846, and is now the only survivor of the five children of George W. and Emily (Lewis) Myers, the former of whom was born in Beaver County, Pennsylvania, December 23, 1808, and the latter of whom was born in Dutchess County, New York, June 18, 1818, both having been young at the time of the removal of the respective families to Huron County, Ohio. George W. Myers became a successful contractor and builder in Huron County, where his marriage was solemnized and where he continued to reside until 1835, when he came to Williams County and secured a tract of 160 acres of timbered land in Jefferson Township. This land is now the site of the Williams County infirmary. He established his residence on the place in 1836, cleared off much of the timber and reclaimed the tract into a productive farm, upon which he made good improvements, as gauged by the standards of the locality and period. In 1853 he sold this farm, and in 1855 he removed with his family to Bryan, the county seat, where he continued to maintain his home until he purchased the land of which the farm of Elias S., of this review, is a part. The father remained on this farm for a number of years but both he and his wife were residents of Bryan at the time of their death. They believed fully in the spiritual verities of the Christian religion but were not formally identified with any church organization. The father was affiliated with the Masonic fraternity for many years prior to his death. Concerning the deceased children brief data may consistently be entered: Julia became the wife of John M. Welker; Gilpha was the wife of Frank M. Carter; Amzi died in California; and George W., Jr., likewise was a resident of this county at the time of his death.
Elias S. Myers was a lad of seven years at the time of the family removal from the Jefferson Township farm to Bryan, and here he acquired his early education in the village schools of that day. After the close of the Civil war he and his brother George became associated in the work and management of their father’s farm in Pulaski Township, and there he remained until he had attained to his legal majority, when he signalized his independence by passing two years in the West. He then returned to Williams County, and here, on December 16, 1876, was solemnized his marriage to Miss Caroline Reeves, who was born and reared in Center Township, this county. The young couple forthwith established their home on the farm which is their present place of abode and which has been the stage of Mr. Myer’s very successful activities as an agriculturist and stockraiser. He still maintains a general supervision of the farm, the area of which he has reduced, by sale, to fifty-seven acres, but in a general way he may be said to be living retired, in the enjoyment of the merited rewards of former years of earnest toil and endeavor. His wife is nearly a decade his junior, as she was born January 26, 1856. They have two children: Frank, who was born December 16, 1877, is a prosperous farmer in Pulaski Township; and Cora May, born June 1, 1879, is the wife of Edwin Hester, their home being in Calhoun County, Michigan. Mr. and Mrs. Myers take marked pride in the fact that they have seven grandchildren. They have lived a quiet and uneventful life, have done well their part in community affairs and have the unqualified esteem of all who know them. In politics Mr. Myers is a democrat.
Source: Bowersox, Charles A. ed. A standard history of Williams County, Ohio: an authentic narrative of the past, with particular attention to the modern era in the commercial, industrial, educational, civic and social development , 2 vols. Publisher Chicago: Lewis Pub. Co. 1920.