Carpenter, Jesse H., Auditor.  This gentleman was born in Erie County, Ohio, July 12, 1837 and is the son of Harlow J. and Fanny (Mery) Carpenter, he a native of Vermont and his wife of Connecticut, who settled in Otsego Township, of this county, in 1850, where they still reside.  Jesse did not come until the spring of 1851, having remained at school in Ohio.  He began teaching shortly after coming to this county, and at the age of 19, was appointed station agent at Lawrence, Ohio, which position he filled three years, then went to Illinois, where he followed farming three years, and in 1862 volunteered in defence of the Union; was mustered into the United States Marine Artillery, serving a year and a half, when he was discharged and immediately entered the engineers' corps, in which he remained a few months, when he returned to Steuben County and began farming in connection with his father.  He was married in Clyde, Ohio, September 29, 1870 to Miss Frances Brown, a native of that State, to whom has been born one son, Robert Carpenter.  She is a member of the M.E. Church, and Mr. Carpenter's parents were also Methodists, his father being a local preacher of that church.  Mr. Carpenter was a Trustee of Otsego Township five years, and in the fall of 1874 was elected County Auditor, which he still occupies.  Politically a Republican, still he was elected on the Independent ticket.  He has made a good efficient officer, and has ever labored to perform the duties of his office in an upright, honest, manner, and in so doing has won the respect
and good will of all classes.
 

Submitted by Jean Ann Childers