The Crozier Family

The bustling, growing canal town of Texas with its seemingly limitless opportunities drew William John Crozier and his family to it from Defiance, in 1862. William's intent was to establish a carding mill, an enterprise at which he and his father had been successful in Piqua and Defiance, and, in fact, in Ireland.

No water mills in the county could be away from the Maumee, because those streams lacked power, and so Texas, on the River, the Canal, and the Ravine assuredly was an ideal site, and William had both experience and skill.

William's family had never been afraid to make a change for the better. The Croziers were French Hugenots, followers of John Calvin, who left France for Ireland and settled near Devenish Island, Derrynaughten, and Trory Point, in Armagh and Fermenagh Counties. Their names appear in records there as witnesses to legal documents before 1777, and their mills were located there.

In 1837, William John arrived in the United States with his father, George William, and four of his five brothers and sisters: George, Robert, Mary, Lena (Brilin), and Mary Jane. Effie stayed in Ireland, where she married a Mr. Black, and the children's mother, Jane McKinna (McKenna, McKinley) had died and was buried there before 1837.

In Piqua, William John married Anne (Anna) Ross. Their children were Sarah Elizabeth (1843), "Lena" (Brilin), George, Robert, and Mary Frances, the youngest, born October 25, 1852. William John, later to be known as "Squire" Crozier, established a new carding mill in Defiance, in 1851, where Anna died in 1856. Sarah, then 13, assumed the household responsibilities, until her father remarried.

The new young bride with her ready-made family was Louisa Lucas, beautiful auburn-haired school teacher who had once boarded with the Croziers, daughter of David Lucas and Catherine DeMuth. By 1862, when the Croziers came to Texas they had added to their family Louisa Jane (1857), Arabella ("Arlie") (1859), and Stephen Arnold (1860). The Protestant Methodist congregation welcomed them and it became their church.

From both sides of the family the Croziers had inherited inventive and mechanical skills, a love of music and art, and a respect for education. Somehow, they managed music lessons and painting lessons; they rode horses and learned the proper riding habits, as well as the social graces which might excusably have been neglected in so busy a household.

Encouraged in her studies by her new step-mother, Sarah taught four years at Ayersville, and she taught a term at Colton and one at Texas before she married John Wesley Wright, in 1866. Then she established a small millinery shop, designing and creating fashionable bonnets, and making periodic trips to the city for material and copies of the Godey Ladies' Book. Her husband, later to become the owner of the J. W. Wright General Store on the canal, also bought and sold grain. They had no children of their own, but became foster parents of her sisters, Grace Mae and Emma Eugenia, after 1881, when Louisa Lucas Crozier died. She is buried in the quiet Texas Cemetery.

Besides Louisa Jane and Stephen Arnold ("Arlie" had died in 1875), she was survived by James Ross, Gertrude Belle, David Tilden, Grace, and Emma. The children were divided, to be cared for mainly by their older sisters.

Of the children of William John and his first wife, Anna, only one besides Sarah Elizabeth remained in Henry County, Mary Frances (1852-1930), who married Samuel Ginder, of Texas (1852-1932). They lived quietly there on the banks of the Ravine near the still-visible foundations of the carding mill so hopefully constructed. They had no children who lived pastinfancy, so they especially cared for "Davey," the littlest boy.

Stephen Arnold Crozier (July 23, 1860-March 24, 1925) started his merchandising career in the Wright store in Texas, then became a clerk in the Ed Pennock store, Liberty Center's first grocery. In 1913 he bought the Pennock business, and operated The Bee Store until it was destroyed by fire, shortly before his death.

Stephen and his first wife, Mary Elizabeth Woodard, were parents of Rollo, Earl, Sarah Louisa (1890-1897), Neva Pearl, and Lelah. After Mary's death he married Cynthia Showman, September 15, 1897. Cynthia died in April, 1909. His third wife was Claudia Arnette, whom he married July 11, 1917. Mrs. Arnette had two children. Her son, Judson, now with the Detroit Free Press, has made Liberty Center the "home town" of many a Detroiter. A daughter, Geneva, has remained in Kentucky in care of other relatives.

Earl William Crozier, Stephen Crozier's only son to survive him, married Grace West, daughter of Adam Grant West, Liberty Center business man and community leader. Her mother was Charlotte DuShannon, of French descent and originally from Massachusetts. Grace and Earl had three children: Stephen Adam, Coral Elizabeth, and Norene DuShannon. As his father had done, Stephen works in Toledo but lives in Liberty Center. He is the father of Cynthia (Quinn), Stephen Arnold, and Jeffrey, now all of Indiana. Coral and Norene and their families live in Toledo. Grace died July 28, 1975.

David Tilden Crozier, born September 21,.1876, in Texas, Ohio, served in the Spanish-American War, perhaps encouraged to join the military forces by the career of his uncle, Robert. He died on December 27, 1900, in Luzon, Philippine Islands, during the Philippine insurrection. He is buried in the Texas cemetery.

Grace May Crozier (January 22, 1872-1956) became the wife of Dr. Lincoln Gary Ennes (1861-September 11, 1951), a young physician who had been educated at the New York City Medical Society. He had begun his practice in Grand Rapids, but moved to Liberty Center in 1891, and served the area for almost 50 years. He was the son of Alonzo and Olive Bird Ennes.

Ruby Olive Ennes, their only child, attended Virginia College for Women after her graduation from Liberty Center High in 1908. In 1914 she married Paul Parker. The family has moved far from Ruby's home on the southeast corner of Maple and Damascus. Their daughters, Mary Etta and Paula Jane, have homes in Pittsburgh and Milwaukee, respectively, and Ruby and Paul Parker live in Lakeland, Florida.

Of the other older children, Louise Jane married Dr. Karschnar and moved to Oklahoma; Gertrude Belle, reared by Lena in Cleveland, where Lena's husband was headmaster at a military school, married Percival Oliver Wadsworth, and lived in Royal Oak, Michigan, Miami Beach, and finally, California. They had two daughters, Eileen and Trudy, both living in California.

James Ross' mechanical aptitudes were encouraged by his father and uncles, and he became a successful foundry man in Elmore, Ohio. He was married twice, but had no children.

Emma Eugenia (July 3, 1880-October 12, 1959) was a frail child who required loving care from her fostermother-sister Sarah. She attended public school in Texas when she could, and was tutored at home by her sisters and later by her brother-in-law, Dr. L. G. Ennes. She was 29 when she married John Stimmel Mires, editor of the Liberty Center Press in the parlor of her foster-father's newly built home at the corner of Damascus and Maple.

She took a part in the activities of St. John's Church and the Carnation Social Club, and later, in school organizations. She was the mother of Hannah Louisa, John Kingsley, and David Wesley, trying to pass on to them the heritage of their Crozier ancestors. After the children were grown, she competently assisted with duties at the Press office, and lived to celebrate their fiftieth anniversary.

And so, though Squire Crozier failed to foresee that the birth of the railroad was the death blow for the Canal, or that few sheep would ever be grazed on those acres around Texas, he must have realized before he died in 1905 that he had made a notable contribution to the development of his adopted land.

Submitted by Louisa Mires Strock