Nat Belknap History

Nathaniel J. Belknap died at the age of eighty-six years on October 1, 1976. He was born on January 23, 1890 to Jeremiah and Clara Hartman Belknap.

On September 4, 1915, Nat married Mary Ragan. Mary died in 1978. Their son, Jerry Belknap, lives in Indianapolis, Indiana. Their daughter, Mrs. Eleanor Giltinan, lives in Chambersburg, Pennsylvania. His sister, Marian Belknap Cuff lives in Napoleon.

Nat Belknap started in 1897 on his newspaper career. At the age of seven he began work as a printer's devil with his father. He acquired the paper in 1918 when his father died.

John Orwig, Nat Belknap and Estil Cradich formed the Napoleon Publishing Company and merged the Henry County Signal and the Napoleon Northwest News on June 1, 1959. The paper changed from a weekly paper to a daily paper in 1961.

Nat Belknap sold his interest in the Northwest Signal to John Orwig who in turn sold the paper to James K. Kuser, who is the present owner, in 1966.

For many years Nat wrote a well-remembered column entitled "Downtown" in which he gave personal opinions, historical facts and interesting items of local life. He continued writing this column until three months before his death.

The Historical Society best remembers Nat Belknap as the guiding hand for the formation of a historical society for the county. It was a dream of Nat's that Henry County would have an organization to preserve the history of the county and it was mainly through his efforts that the Henry County Historical Society was formed in 1970. Nat was one of the first trustees of the society and was the only honorary trustee ever elected by the society.

Nat was a member of the St. John's Episcopal Church, the Napoleon Masonic Lodge, Odd Fellows, Elks Lodge, the Henry County Republican Club and a member of the Northwest Ohio newspaper association.

Nat was chosen as "Man of the Year" by the Napoleon Area Chamber of Commerce in 1965.

GLE