WILLIAM S. BACON, proprietor of the Clifton Mills, Tiffin, was born in Crawford County, Ohio, December 1,
1829,
and comes of a line of pioneer of Massachusetts and Pennsylvania, antedating the "Revolution."
His father, Ralph Bacon, a native of Massachusetts, and descended of pioneers in that State from the Isle of Man,
settled in what is now known as Lake County, Ohio, about 1798, and married Polly Jordan, a native of
Pennsylvania, whose grandfather settled in that State from Ireland. Ralph Bacon raised a family of five sons Ad
eight daughters (all of whom except one daughter reared families). The subject of this sketch was reared in
Crawford County (whither his parents had removed in 1820), and at fifteen, went west, returning at the age of
nineteen to his native place, where he carried on carpentering (also in Wyandot County), for several years. He
subsequently took up saw-milling, at which he was engaged till the breaking out of the war, when he retired from
that business and carried on a tannery, which, in 1804. he abandoned, coming to this county and purchasing a half
interest in the Bloomville Flouring Mills. This he subsequently sold out and returned to saw-milling and building in
Crawford County, till 1868, when he, in partnership with Dr. I. B. Squier, bought the "Liberty Mills"
(flouring-mills), in Crawford County, and carried on that industry there till 1875, when he returned to Bloomville
and purchased his former property and operated the Bloomville Mills till 1879, when he purchased his present
mills, which he has brought up to a leading prominence in the milling interests of this county. He is a public spirited
and progressive citizen, and has contributed in no small degree to the development of the many excellent social
and industrial institutions of Tiffin. He was married in Bucyrus, December 1. 1859, to Miss Savena Hawk,
daughter of the late David Hawk, an early pioneer from Pennsylvania. Mr. and Mrs. Bacon have three sons and
two daughters, Frank (a practical miller associated with his father), Clara, Willis, Herbert and Helen. Mrs. Bacon,
a lady of estimable attainments, is a member of the Lutheran Church.
Trancribed by Bonnie Walsh.
WARNER, BEERS & CO., 1886
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES, Part IV, p.754
BLOOM TOWNSHIP, OHIO