Oswald E. Gravell
OSWALD E. GRAVELL, carriage manufacturer, Bucyrus, son of Thomas and Mary (Keys) Gravell, was born Sept. 12, 1844, in Hollidaysburg, Penn., and came with his parents, when but one year old, to Upper Sandusky, Ohio. He lived there until grown, going to school until 18 years old, part of the time with Indians, in the old council house, until it was burned. In May 1861, he volunteered in Co. D 15th O. V. I., and served through the war; was in some twenty general engagements including Shiloh. Murfreesboro (where he was a prisoner for a few minutes), Nashville, Mission Ridge, Chickamauga and all the battles of the Atlanta Campaign, was wounded in the right arm by a shell, at Burnt Hickory, in Georgia for which he now draws a pension. He was mustered out at Columbus, in December 1865, and afterward traveled over the States of Indiana, Illinois, Missouri, Kansas and the Indian Territory, returning to Bucyrus in 1868, where he learned carriage making with Jefferson Norton, serving for two years. He worked for a time at Mansfield and Kenton and in the latter place he started in business and continued it until 1876, when, at the death of Mr. Norton, he came to Bucyrus and managed the business for one year, and in 1877, became the proprietor. Since then he has done a large business in manufacturing carriages, buggies and spring wagons. He was married Oct. 2, 1872, to Miss Flora Norton, eldest daughter of Jefferson Norton. Has one son, Leroy living, another son, Elmer, died at the age of two years. He was a member of Demas Lodre. No. 108. Knights of Pythias. His wife's father, Jefferson Norton, was a son of Samuel Norton, the first settler of Bucyrus. He was a carriage-maker by trade, and for over twenty five years the leading mechanic in that line in the town. He died Aug. 20, 1876. He married Eleanor M. Byron, May 23, 1850 and had six children: Mary died in infancy: Flora, Hattie, Charles, Fernando and Byron, Flora married O. E. Gravell, the subject of this sketch; Hattie married Joseph Boure. The sons are residents of Bucyrus. The mother is still living and makes her home with her daughter, Mrs. Boure, at Upper Sandusky.
From History of Crawford County and Ohio, Baskin & Battey, Historical Publishers, Chicago, 1881