850 - LORAIN COUNTY, OHIO. maturity: Sarah A., the wife of George Chadwick, by whom she had one child, a son, Frank; Eliza, the wife of Homer E. Barrett, to whom has been born one child, Earl; Perry A., who married Ella J. Mann, daughter of Bradley Mann, of Rochester, and whose family consists of three girls, Grace, Bertha and Mary, and two sons, Wayne and Perry Allen; and Mary, who became the wife of Wilbur W. Hall, and who after a few brief years passed on to another world, leaving, to mourn the loss of a sweet mother, two children—Clayton G. and Kate. Harriet Fancher Noble married DeGrasse Thomas, and to this union have been born three children, two of whom grew to maturity: Alma M., wife of Walter D. Hall, to whom have come two children—Ethel and Ford; and Fred Fancher, a sketch of whom follows. FRED F. THOMAS, the subject of this sketch son of De Grasse and Harriet Thomas, was born Sunday, May 29, 1859, on the homestead farm in Rochester township, Lorain county. He attended the school of his district until his fourteenth year; then the graded school at Rochester until the fall of 1876, when he entered the Wellington High School. The superintendent was W. R. Wean, a strict disciplinarian and excellent instructor; the principal was Mrs. Wean, a lovely lady and good teacher, to whom it was a delight to recite, and whose memory is cherished. At the beginning of the winter term of 1877 he entered the Preparatory Department of Oberlin College, and remained in that institution until the spring of 1879, when impaired health compelled him to suspend for a time work of that kind. After a summer spent at home on the farm, he entered, in the fall of that year, the law office of George P. Metcalf and Amos R. Webber. Here the time passed swiftly and pleasantly until the winter of 1881, when he matriculated at the University of Michigan. The following fall he entered the class of 1882 Law Department, and, carrying the work of two years in one, graduated with the class. On the organization of the class he was elected secretary, and on graduation was chosen alternate Alumni Orator. Returning to Elyria, he opened an office in the old Snearer building, where Sharp's block now stands. Here he remaiued, slowly but surely gaining business until the winter of 1885, when, becoming convinced that there were superior advantages for getting on in the world offered young men in the South, he moved to Monroe county, Ark., and engaged in cattle ranching on Grand Prairie. This venture not proving a success, in November, 1887, he accepted the position of attorney for the U. S. Antimony Co., a mining corporation composed of Philadelphia capitalists. Resigning this position in December, 1888, he returned to the prairie country, and after several months opened an office for the practice of law in the Fourth Judicial District of Arkansas. His health becoming impaired on account of malaria so prevalent in that climate, he determined to move back to Ohio while yet there was time to re-establish himself in his profession at his old home. On the first day of January, 1893, he opened an office in Elyria for the second time, and was happy to be once again among suchpeople as compose the inhabi- tants of the Western Reserve. Entering the contest for the nomination to the office of prosecuting attorney, on the Republican ticket, he was, after a spirited contest, on the third day of June, 1893, nominated in what up to that time was the largest county convention ever held in Lorain county, receiving on the seventh ballot 153 votes out of a total of 217, and the nomination, which on motion of Charles A. Metcalf, his strongest opponent, was made unanimous. Mr. Thomas' ancestors were of old New England stock, his great-grandfathers LORAIN COUNTY, OHIO - 853 being soldiers of the Revolution, and his grandfathers soldiers and pensioners of the war of 1812. He is a Republican and Protectionist of the most pronounced type, believing America should so shape its industrial policy as to afford American citizens the opportunity to supply American markets with American manufactures, and the products of American farms at American prices. He is not a member of any church or sect, reserving to himself, as he grants to all others, perfect freedom of belief. He is a member of Wellington Lodge No. 127, F. &. A. M., and a charter member of Myrtle Lodge No. 61,, K. P., of Stuttgart, Arkansas. On the evening of October 28, 1885, at the family home in Elyria, Mr. Thomas was united in marriage with Fannie E. Smith, daughter, of William L. Smith and Frances (Perry) Smith, the latter a daughter of Horatio Perry, one of the old settlers of the Western Reserve. There is one child from this marriage: Mary Smith Thomas, born at the old homestead in. Rochester, March 26, 1889. Mrs. Thomas is an alumna of Lake Erie Seminary, graduating with the class of 1879, and a member of Elyria's oldest literary society—" The Fortnightly." HENRY HOBART HITCHCOCK was born in Montville township, Medina county, Ohio, December 14, 1843, a son of Daniel B. Hitchcock, who was born January 13, 1815, and came from Oswego county, N. Y., to Ohio in 1836. He was a wheelwright and chair maker by trade, which businesses he followed after coming to Ohio. He settled on a farm he had bought about five miles south of Medina, and tilled the soil in connection with his other vocations. Daniel B. Hitchcock married Miss Sarah E. Welton, March 14, 1841, and the children born to them were Henry H., and Mary (now Mrs. Samuel C. Rosenbury, of Kalamazoo county, Mich.). The father died in Montville, Ohio, in 1865, at the age of fifty years, the mother in Kalamazoo county, Mich., in 1885, at the age of seventy-four years, and they are buried in Montville township cemetery. They were both consistent members of the First Episcopal Church at Medina, where they and their family regularly attended worship. In politics he always stood with the Republican party. Henry H. Hitchcock, whose name opens this sketch, attended the school in the district at home until attaining years of maturity, when he finished his education in the Medina schools. He was reared in agriculture, and after finishing school applied himself to its pursuits. On August 17, 1867, he was married to Eleanor S. Breckenridge, youngest child of Justin and Elizabeth K. Breckenridge. Eleanor S. was born July 4, 1844, in Grafton township, Lorain Co., Ohio, and always lived at the place of her birth, excepting about two and one-half years she spent in Montville after her marriage. Justin Breckenridge was born in Bennington, Vt., August 7, 1798. In early life he went to St. Lawrence county, N. Y., where he lived until the spring of 1841, when he moved to Pittsfield township, Lorain Co„ Ohio; in July, same year, he came to Grafton, Lorain Co , Ohio. On January 13, 1824, he was married to Elizabeth K. Pohlman, of St. Lawrence county, N. Y. Justin Breckenridge died January 30, 1874, aged seventy-five years and six months; Elizabeth K. Breckenridge died March 17, 1872, aged sixty-eight years. They are buried in the Nesbitt cemetery, three-fourths of a mile east of their former home. To Henry H. and Eleanor S. Hitchcock have been born four sons, viz.: Clarence P., born August 30, 1868, in Montville township, Medina Co., Ohio (he is following insurance as a business); Willis N., 854 - LORAIN COUNTY, OHIO. born October 14, 1870; Howard H., born June 18, 1874; and Dwight B., born April 19, 1880. After their marriage our subject and wife located in Montville township, Medina Co., Ohio, on the farm formerly owned by his father, and which after the latter's decease was purchased by said Henry H. Hitchcock, he buying the interests of the other heirs. Here Mr. and Mrs. Hitchcock made their home until April 10, 1870, at which time they located on the Breckenridge homestead at Grafton, consisting of 225 acres where they still reside, having bought the farm from Justin Breckenridge. In the year 1892 were added twenty acres more by purchase, on the north end of the farm. Henry H. Hitchcock has held township office, for six years as trustee. In politics he is a Republican, and in Church denomination a Congregationalist. He is a thrifty, well-to-do farmer, living one mile east of Grafton, Lorain Co., Ohio. CAPTAIN JOHN BOOTH, a prominent representative citizen of Carlisle township, was born July 30, 1823, in Lancashire, England, of which country his parents were also natives. His father, John Booth, born in 1777, was united in marriage, in 1798, with Miss Betsy Lord, who was born November 27, 1781, and they became the parents of eleven children, as follows: Eliza, wife of William Woodward, of Cottage City, Martha's Vineyard; Sarah, Mrs. Husband, of Providence, R. I., deceased; Jane, wife of Thomas Featherston, of Providence, R. I.; Mary, Mrs. Brown, deceased; Ann, residing in Oberlin, Ohio; William, who died in Lorain county, Ohio; James, who died at Cape Cod, Mass.; Richard, who died in Texas; a son and daughter who died in infancy, and John, the subject of this sketch. This family of eleven left England in July, 1827, landing in Boston in August. They lived in Pawtucket and Smithfield a short time, then moved to Taunton, Mass., where they resided for twelve years, when, in 1839, they moved to East Liverpool, Ohio. The father died in April, 1863, when aged eighty-six years; the mother died in 1872, when in her ninety-second year. In religious faith they were both members of the Episcopal Church. Grandfather John Booth was a farmer, and passed his entire life in England, his native country. Capt. John Booth, the subject proper of this memoir, received part of his education at the Bristol County Academy, which he attended until fifteen years of age. He was reared to farm life. During the Civil war he enlisted in Company H, One Hundred and Third Regiment 0. V. I., was mustered into the service as lieutenant, and served in Kentucky and Tennessee, participating in the battles of Blue Springs and Knoxville, and in many minor engagements. In 1863 he was commissioned captain, and was mustered out in April, 1864, owing to physical disability, immediately returning to Carlisle township, Lorain county, Ohio (whither he had come from East Liverpool), where he has since resided. In 1868 Capt. John Booth was married to Miss Nellie King, and they have three children, namely: John, Mary and Bessie. Our subject has been extensively engaged in general farming and stock raising, and was formerly engaged in buying sheep, which were driven from Coln mbiana county, Ohio, to Missouri, in 1844, thence from St. Louis county, in 1845, to Saline county, in the western part of the State. He takes an active part in politics. COLONEL J. W. STEELE, the genial and popular postmaster at Oberlin, was born at Middlebury (East Akron), Ohio, December 21, 1836, a son of Alexander and Maria (Whedon) Steele. The father was a native of New LORAIN COUNTY, OHIO - 855 Hampshire, and died. April 6, 1872; the mother, a native of the State of New York, is still living at Oberlin. Alexander Steele received his elementary education at the public schools of his native place, after which he attended a medical school at Castleton, Vt., from which he graduated M. D. In 1835 he came to Ohio, and commenced the practice of his profession in Middlebury (East Akron), from which place he came to Oberlin, Lorain county, when the subject of this sketch was about three months old. Here, the first regular practitioner in the town, he practiced until 1872. The subject of our sketch received his education at Oberlin, and after leaving school read law in the office of Judge G. M. Barber, in Cleveland. In 1859 he graduated at the Cleveland Law School, after which he continued to reside in Cleveland until the spring of 1861, when he returned to Oberlin. On September 16 of that year, he enlisted in Company H, Forty-first O. V. I., raised in Lorain county, which was attached to the army of the Cumberland. For the first year he served with his regiment, and was then placed on Gen. J. M. Palmer's staff, as judge advocate, also as engineer officer. By President Lincoln he was appointed aide-de-camp with rank of major, and assigned to duty with Gen. D. S. Stanley, commander of the Fourth Army Corps. In July, 1865, he was sent to Texas to oppose Gen. Kirby Smith, and in his entire service he participated in the battles of Shiloh, Perryville, Stone River, Chickamauga, etc., the Atlanta Campaign, engagements at Franklin, Nashville, and others. On March 23, 1866, he was mustered out of the service with the rank of Lieutenant Colonel and A. D. C., U. S. V., and returned home. In 1867 he was elected probate judge of Lorain county, and reelected in 1871, serving about one year of his second term, at which time he resigned on account of impaired health. He then commenced the business of railroad contractor, construct ing sixty-five miles of the Canada Southern Railway, which occupied about one and one-half years, and on completion of this he was engaged on a survey in South America, for a railway through the valley of the upper Amazon. Following this he contracted on other railroads in the north and west. In 1888 the Colonel was appointed postmaster at Oberlin, under the Harrison administration, and has since filled the position with eminent ability. In 1867 Col. J. W. Steele and Miss Ella F. Clark were married. They have had born to them four children, as follows: Ella Louise, a teacher in Oberlin college; Margaret and Marion, both at school; and John, living at home. Our subject is a member of the G. A. R., and secretary of the Society of the Cumberland, to which position he was elected in 1870. REV. J. P. BARDWELL, who in his lifetime was one of the well-known and prominent citizens. of Oberlin, intimately connected with its early history, was born in the town of Edmiston, Otsego Co., N. Y., September 16, 1803, of English lineage. Mr. Bardwell was converted under the preaching of Rev. Spalding, and in order to qualify himself for the ministry came to Oberlin, where he attended the college, and studied theology under Rev. Finney. In 1835 he married, in New York, Miss Cornelia C. Bishop, a lady of English ancestry, and they went out as missionaries to the Indians, their station being at Leech Lake, northern Minnesota. Prior to this, however, he had spent some time in the South locating teachers among the negroes, and he was frequently assaulted and insulted while in the discharge of his good work, at one time a friend losing his life in an endeavor to protect him. He was connected with the A. M. A., and collected funds for the same, besides working hard 856 - LORAIN COUNTY, OHIO. for the cause, so much so that his health became much impaired. His death occurred, in 1872, at Leech Lake (his last illness being brought on by hardship and exposure), and his body was brought to Oberlin for burial. Three children were born to Rev, and Mrs. J. P. Bardwell, as follows: (1) John N., who is married, and had two daughters, the elder one being dead; (2) Cornelia E., wife of Henry Chapman, of Cleveland, Ohio (they have three children: Henry Bardwell, a graduate of Oberlin and Cambridge Colleges, now in Cleveland;. Harriet, a graduate of Wellesley College, and who also attended Oberlin College; and Willie, now in college); and (3) Alonzo, who died at the age of eleven years. ALTON HENRY MOOERS, a representative self-made man, an honored and respected citizen of Elyria, and proprietor of the chair factory in northern Ohio, is a native of the State. New York, born in Ithaca, May 2, 1830. Phineas Mooers, father of subject, was a native of New Jersey, born of Scotch ancestry, the first of whom to come to this country (in 1730) settled in New York. The names and places of settlement of the brothers and sisters of Phineas Mooers are: James, in Kingston, Canada; Jonathan, in Wilkes-Barre, Penn.; Henry, in Toledo, Ohio; Daniel, in New Orleans, La.; Kate (Mrs. William Young), in Toledo; Nancy and Mary, spinsters, passed all their lives in Ithaca, N. Y., dying there at over ninety years of age; Julia A. (Mrs. Armstrong) lived at Niagara Falls. In the order of birth Phineas comes next to Jonathan. He passed his early life in New Jersey, receiving his education at the public schools of that locality. While yet a youth he moved to Watertown, N. Y., where he learned the trade of chair maker, becoming a journeyman, and from there in course of time he moved to Ogdensburg, same State. Here in 1825 he married Elizabeth Shaw, a native of that town, and soon afterward the young couple made their home in Ithaca, Mr. Mooers carrying on a shop there for his own account; but after some time they proceeded to Watertown, remaining there some five years. From Watertown they came by canal, lake and team to Birmingham, Erie Co., Ohio, where he opened out a chair factory, carrying same on till 1839, in which year they removed to Sandusky City. Here Mr. Mooers carried on the same business ten years, but on account of cholera breaking out there, he returned to Birmingham, whence after a two years' residence they came to Ridgeville township, Lorain connty, passing the rest of their days in peaceful retirement at the home of their son, A. H. The tither died January 26, 1855, the mother September 30, 1879. Mr. Mooers in his political predilections was originally a Democrat until the election of Van Buren for President, when he united with the Whig party, later becoming, on its organization, a stanch Republican, remaining in the ranks of the party the rest of his life. He served as a justice of the peace in Erie county. The following is a brief record of the children born to Phineas and Elizabeth (Shaw) Mooers: Oscar D. is deceased ; Matilda T. married Jonathan Taylor; Julia B. married Hanson S. Mitchell; A. H. is the subject proper of this memoir; Mary J. married Charles Arbogast; Charles is a resident of Chicago, Ill.; Carrie is the wife of William II. Tucker; George, who enlisted in the Indiana Heavy Artillery, three-years service, was killed at the battle of Port Hudson; Frank enlisted in the Twelfth Ind. V. I., was wounded at the battle of Chickamauga, and died at Danville, Va.; Emeline and William are both deceased. Alton H. Mooers received a liberal education at the schools of his native town, and in his father's factory learned chair making. At the age of twenty-two he LORAIN COUNTY, OHIO - 859 came to Elyria, and there followed his trade until 1853, in which year he came to Ridgeville, and embarked in his present business. The chair factory, probably the most extensive of any kind in the county, has a capacity of eighty thousand chairs per annum, and is still growing, promising to become in the near future an establishment of mammoth proportions. In September, 1854, Mr. Mooers was united in marriage with Miss Arlette, daughter of Wyllys Terril, of Ridgeville township, and children as follows were born to them: Etta (Mrs. Charles Ingersol), deceased; Nettie (Mrs. B. H. Starr); Frank C. (Mrs. Clayton Chapman); Phineas, who died at the age of three months; Fred, deceased when ten days old, and one that died in infancy. In politics Mr. Mooers was a Democrat until 1885, when he joined the Republican party. He has held various township offices; was school trustee seventeen years, and president of the board of education five years; was township trustee and treasurer five consecutive years each, and was superintendent of roads two years. For fourteen years he has been a member of the Lorain County Agricultural Society—eight in the capacity of president, and one as treasurer. In religious faith he is a member of the Congregational Society at Ridgeville, of which he has been a trustee eighteen years. An active, enterprising citizen, and a man of the steadiest probity, Mr. Mooers commands the respect of every one with whom he comes in contact. HORACE J. CLARK, dealer in general merchandise, and one of the prominent and influential citizens of Oberlin, is a native of Ohio, born in Medina county January 27, 1839, a son of John and Betsey (Tyler) Clark, and of Massachusetts descent through his paternal grandfather. John Clark, father of subject, was born in New. York State, whence in the pioneer days of Ohio he came to Medina county, where he passed the rest of his days in agricultural pursuits. He was a very active, aggressive and prosperous man, a Whig in politics, and in religion a Congregationalist. He married Miss Betsey Tyler, a native of Poultney, Vt., who with him and their children came west to Ohio, driving an ox-team. After his death in 1845 Mrs. Clark with her children revisited the old home, traveling the same route, this time with a horse team. Mrs. Clark lived to be seventy-seven years old, the mother of nine children, five of whom —William P., Mary E., Merrit, Lucinda B. and Horace J.–reached mature age, and of these the following is a brief record: William P., who now lives on the old homestead in Medina county, Ohio, for many years owned and conducted a select school at Medina, and afterward was superintendent of Norwalk (Ohio) public schools, and also of the public schools at Hillsdale, Mich.; Mary E. is unmarried, and now lives on the old homestead with her brother; Merrit married and settled in Covington, Ohio, where he died in 1852; Lucinda B. died in 1846 at Medina, Ohio, at the age of twenty-four years. Horace J. Clark, the subject proper of this sketch, received his elementary education in the select school of his brother at Medina, Ohio. At the age of nineteen he entered Western Reserve College, where he graduated in the class of 186i. After this he had charge of the Shaw Academy at East Cleveland two years; then had charge of the Tallmadge (Ohio) Academy, four years, at the end of which time, finding his health impaired, he abandoned teaching for a time, and embarked in the business of manufacturing stoneware, building the first works of the kind in Tallmadge, Ohio. On regaining his health at the end of two years, he accepted the position of principal of the Poland (Ohio) Union Seminary, an in- 860 - LORAIN COUNTY, OHIO. cumbency he filled during the greater part of a decade. For eight years he was a member of the board of examiners of Mahoning county. For the next two years he was traveling agent for the publishing house of Van Antwerp, Bragg & Co., at the close of which engagement, in 1879, he was appointed superintendent of public schools at 'Oberlin, Lorain county, in which capacity he served three and one half years, when he resigned, and was reappointed by election to his old position in the Poland Seminary. At the end of two years, however, he resigned this position, and returned to Oberlin in order to give his children the advantages of Oberlin College. Here for the past eight years he has successfully carried on a general merchandise business. In 1861 Mr. Clark was united in marriage at Hudson, Ohio, with Miss Lizzie P. Blackman, who was born in Mt. Vernon, Ohio, and whose parents emigrated from England before the days of steamships, being nine weeks on the ocean. To this union have been born five children, as follows: (1) Mary A. is a graduate of the classical course of Oberlin College, class of 1886, has since been engaged in teaching, and was at one time assistant principal of the high school in Wellington, Ohio. (2) Frank S. is a graduate of the classical course of Oberlin College, class of 1887; he took the medical course in the Medical School of Western Reserve University, Cleveland; he was for one and one-half years in charge of Lakeside Hospital, for one year of the time as house physician; for one year had charge of the Charity Maternity Hospital, and is now a member of the staff of St. Alexis Hospital, Cleveland, Ohio, where he is practicing medicine. (3) Edward W. is also a graduate of the classical course of Oberlin College, in the class of 1889; for two years he has been employed as tutor of Latin in the College; is now pursuing his studies in Leipsic, Germany, perfecting his preparation to teach College Latin and Ger man; he married Miss Lottie Life, daughter of the late S. Life, of Oberlin, and one child has come to brighten their home, named Gertrude. (4) Anna Ida died at the age of five years at Poland, Ohio, and (5) Alice Gertrude died in Oberlin in 1886, when seven years old. Politically our subject is a Prohibitionist. He and his wife are members of the First Congregational Church. A. W. SHERBONDY, a wide-awake, active farmer, and one of the most extensive grape-growers in Avon township, has resided on his present farm since 1851. Our subject was born in 1823 in Westmoreland county, Penn., son of Peter and Martha (Reagan) Sherbondy, natives of Virginia, who in an early day removed to Westmoreland county, Penn., thence migrating to Portage (now Summit) county, Ohio, where they both died, the mother in 1830, the father in 1884. They had six children, namely: Malachi, who died in Summit county in 1888; A. W., subject proper of this sketch; John, who went to California in 1849; Peter, married, who resides in Akron, Ohio; Ella, wife of Jason Brown, of Akron, Ohio; and Esther, wife of Nelson Hawkins, of Summit county, Ohio. The Sherbondy family are of French extraction. A. W. Sherbondy, who was always of rather feeble health, was reared in Summit county, on a farm, working thereon till his nineteenth year, in the meantime receiving his primary education at the common. schools of his day. He then attended an academy for portions of two seasons, after which he engaged as clerk in a grocery store in Akron, Summit Co., Ohio, for a term of years, continuously, except that in the intermediate time he taught two terms of district school in Summit county. He was then engaged in the grocery business in Akron until 1851, also continuously, LORAIN COUNTY, OHIO - 861 excepting that in the meantime he taught five successive terms of district school in Lake township, Stark Co., Ohio. He then moved from Summit county to Avon township, Lorain county, and was there engaged in mercantile business seven years, after which he bought the Moore farm of seventy-five acres, one of the first settled tracts in the township. Here he has erected a good barn and comfortable residence, and is successfully conducting a general farming and grape-growing business; his vineyard covers an area of twenty-five acres. In 1847 Mr. Sherbondy was married, in Portage county, to Rebecca A. Buckman, who was born in Stark county, Ohio, daughter of Abram and Rebecca A. (Lippincott) Buckman, who were natives of New Jersey, whence in an early day they came to Ohio, locating first in Stark and later in Portage county. The father, who was a farmer, died there in 1879, preceded to the grave by his wife in 1876. Mr. Sherbondy is president of the Lorain county Grape-growers Association, a growing organization, which was founded in 1889, and now has a membership of about one hundred. In politics he is a Republican, and in 1854 he was elected justice of the peace in Avon township, which office, with the exception of two terms, he has since continuously held; he has also served as notary public and township trustee, and he was postmaster at Avon Lake for eighteen years. SAMUEL BUSBY. Among the prosperous farmers of LaGrange township, none stand higher in the esteem of their fellow-citizens than the gentleman whose name opens this sketch. He was born July 29, 1846, in Bedfordshire, England, son of William and Harriet (Russell) Busby, farming people in moderate circumstances. Our subject was reared' on a farm, and being denied the full advantages of the day schools, attended the night schools, where he learned to write. When five years old he was put to work, picking stones from the land, and also pulling a weed, there called " twitch-weed," which grew very profusely in his native country. When sixteen years old he left home to make his own way in the world, and first worked as a farm hand for five shillings a week, boarding himself. By being economical and saving he struggled along until 1870, when he concluded to leave England and seek his fortune in the United States. At this time his employer was owing him a sum of money, sufficient to bring him to America, which, on learning his intentions, he refused to pay him; but Mr. Busby was determined to come, and by borrowing from his friends he managed to get enough to pay his way across, sailing from Liverpool in the vessel "Tripoli," and after a voyage of twelve days landing, on April 27, 1870, at Boston, Mass. He had a ticket for Cleveland, Ohio, his destination being LaGrange, Lorain Co., Ohio, where his friends had located some time before, and he arrived there with eight dollars in his pocket, and anxious for work. He secured employment with William Stevenson at twelve dollars a month, and gave good satisfaction, for, though small in stature, he was not only an excellent worker but a steady-going young man. He afterward worked for various people, among them Warren Miller, L. G. Parsons, and Dr. George C. Underhill, the latter employing him for eighteen months at twenty-two dollars per month, the highest wages then paid for farm labor. He was in the employ of Dr. Merriam over four and a half years, and then worked nearly two years for A. R. Underhill, always receiving the highest compensation for his services. On March 21, 1882, he was united in marriage with Mrs. Leruah Miller, who was born, August 7, 1846, in Ridgeville township, Lorain county, daughter of Marcus Terrell. In 1880 he had purchased, from Chancey D. Brown, his present farm, con- 862 - LORAIN .COUNTY, OHIO. sisting of ninety-one acres of fertile land, where he has ever since resided, successfully engaged in farming. He is a systematic agriculturist, and a self-made man, having won success in the face of every obstacle, and he deserves no small amount of credit for his perseverance and industry. Politically he is a stanch member of the Republican party. Socially he is a member of LaGrange Lodge, Knights of Pythias. E. F. LOOMIS, a successful and well-known agriculturist of La Grange township, is a native of same, born March 10, 1845, a son of Richard N. Loomis. Russel Loomis, the grandfather of our subject, was born November 28, 1786, in Westmoreland, N. Y., a member of the fifth generation of his family in the United States, and a descendant of Joseph Loomis, who came in 1638 from Braintree, Essex county, England, to Windsor, Conn., and from whom the genealogy of the family dates. This genealogy was compiled in recent years, and was completed in 1870 by Elias Loomis, LL. D., professor of Natural Philosophy and Astronomy in Yale College. The name has been variously spelled-Lomas, Loads, Lomys, etc. Russel Loomis was the first of the family to come to Ohio, he settling in LaGrange township, Lorain county, in 1831. He was married March 1, 1810, in Oneida county, N. Y., to Betsey French, who was born in 1788, and died October 21, 1860, in LaGrange township. Previous to his settlement Mr. Loomis had come to Ohio on horseback, and selected land here, becoming one of the very first settlers. He had a family of four children, all born in New York State, as follows: Erastus, born December 2, 1810, a lumber worker, who died July 8, 1839, in the South; Sarah, born January 22, 1813, who was married in LaGrange to James K. Pelton, and died in Putnam county, Ohio; Richard N., father of our subject; and Mary, born May 8, 1819, who died June 4, 1825, in New York State. Russel Loomis passed the remainder of his life in LaGrange township, dying in 1880 at the age of ninety-four years; he was interred in LaGrange cemetery. Richard N. Loomis received his education in the common schools, and when fourteen years old came with his parents to Ohio, where he was reared to farm life. On May 23, 1840, he was married to Jane Pelton, who was born February 4, 1820, in Jefferson county, N. Y., daughter of James and Harriet (Clark) Pelton, the former of whom lived to be seventy-six years old, the latter eighty-four. James Pelton was the second permanent settler in LaGrange township, his brother-in-law, Nathan Clark, being the first. After his marriage Richard N. Loomis took up his residence on the homestead farm with his father, who lived with him, and there made his permanent home. At one time there were four generations of the Loomis family living in the same house. Richard Loomis was a lifelong farmer, and attained no small degree of success in his chosen vocation. He died March 19, 1883, and was buried near his parents. To him and his wife were born children as follows: Susan, born June 23, 1842, who was married May 20, 1865,, to Harrison Smith, and died in October, same year; Erastus F., subject of this memoir; Calvin, born April 28, 1853, a farmer of LaGrange township; and Sarah M., born June 23, 1855, now Mrs. George Rawson, of Elyria, Ohio. Politically Mr. Loomis was originally a Whig, afterward a Republican, and he was actively interested in the success of his party; he held various local offices of honor and trust. Since his decease Mrs. Loomis has been living with her son on the homestead farm, where they have a very pleasant and comfortable home. Erastus F. Loomis, whose name opens this sketch, was born March 10, 1845, LORAIN COUNTY, OHIO - 863 received a liberal education in the common schools of the neighborhood, and was reared to farm life under the direction of his father. He was united in marriage, June 16, 1866, with Miss Sarah J. Mynderse, a native of New York State, daughter of Andrew Mynderse, who is now a resident of LaGrange Center. For four years after marriage Mr. Loomis lived at home with his parents, and afterward located on twelve acres of land he owned in LaGrange township. He has been a lifelong tiller of the soil, and now owns 114 acres of good land, upon which he has erected various farm buildings. In his political preferences he is a Republican, and has held several offices in his township, serving as trustee three terms. He has prospered in his business, and now has a comfortable competence. Mrs. Loomis is a member of the Methodist Church at LaGrange. They have no children. J. C. LEHMAN, one of the leading farmers and well-known successful mechanics of Grafton township, was born at one o'clock in the morning of March 1, 1833, in London, England. His father, Joseph Lehman, was born in Wurtemberg, Germany, where he married Hannah Malay, also a native of that country. He was reared a farmer boy, but for nine years sailed the seas, visiting probably every commercial port in the world. Immediately after his marriage he proceeded to London, England, and in the fall of 1837 he sailed from Liverpool for the United States, landing in New York, the voyage occupying sixty days. From that city they moved west to Cleveland by river, canal and lake, and from the last named place they made an overland trip by wagon to Liverpool township, Medina county, in which vicinity Frederick Malay, father-in-law of Joseph Lehman, had previously located. In that section the latter bought a small piece of land. Here children were born to him, as follows: Mary, married to Frederick Garling, and died in Liverpool; Louisa, now Mrs. Joseph Hudson, of Grafton township, Lorain county, and a son that died in infancy. In course of time Joseph Lehman moved from Liverpool township to Grafton township, where he passed the rest of his days, dying in 1866, his wife following him to the grave in 1884, and both rest from their labors in the cemetery at Liverpool, Medina county. They were members of the Lutheran Church, and highly respected, industrious and frugal citizens; in politics he was a Democrat. The subject proper of these lines was between four and five years of age when the family came to America, and in Liverpool, Ohio, he received a fair education at the common schools of the locality. His parents were strict Church people, the rules of which they observed very closely, and at the age of fourteen he was confirmed by the Bishop at Liverpool, the first confirmation ever held in the place. Immediately after that he left school and home to seek his fortune in the world. His first work was on the farm of Eli Warner, at six dollars per month, and then, an acquaintance at Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio, having induced him to go there, he set out on foot, with nothing wherewithal to appease his appetite on the journey. He reached his destination, however, in safety, and remained there three years, after which he went to Cleveland to learn the trade of carpenter. Having served an apprenticeship of two years thereat (receiving six dollars per month for first year, and sixteen dollars per month for second year), he found he had attained such proficiency as to be able to earn one dollar and fifty cents per day; and thus he continued at his trade several years, working one year in Chicago, and three years in Indianapolis Ind. Coming to Grafton township, L( rain county, he here continued his trade till 1888, when he retired from it. F 864 - LORAIN: COUNTY, OHIO. twenty years he followed this, in connection with farming, during the proper seasons, erecting some of the best residences and barns in his section of the State, besides churches, town halls and other public buildings, frequently having under him as many as three gangs of carpenters. He had no superior as a calculator on estimates, and it was due to this, coupled with an accurate idea as to cost and amount of material necessary, that he made such an enviable success. In 1868 he bought in that township twenty acres of land at thirty-five dollars per acre, and afterward eighty-five acres from Josiah Taylor heirs, to which he from time to time added until he now owns 312 acres of excellent land. He has been thoroughly economical, and assisted his parents to pay for their home, giving them all his earnings, up to the time he came of age, and not a little afterward. His aged mother made her home with him for thirty years. On February 24, 1863, Mr. Lehman was married to Amelia Lyndes, who was born September 26, 1840, in Grafton township, Lorain Co., Ohio, daughter of Orville and Mary Lyndes, who came from Vermont and Massachusetts, respectively, to Lorain county, he in 1823, and she in 1816. Children as follows were born to this union: Cassius W., who died at the age of twenty-six years; and Clayton De Witt, Clifford E. and Corinna B., at home. Politically our subject was a Republican up to 1873, since when he has been a Democrat. CLARENCE HUGH SLATER, proprietor of a bus and dray line, at Lorain, is a prominent representative native-born citizen of that place. His grandfather, Robert Slater, was a native of Pennsylvania, and in 1811 came to Lorain county, Ohio, where he followed his trade, that of carpenter, erecting some of the early residences in Lorain. His death occurred in the South. Hugh Slater, son of Robert Slater, was born, in 1826, in Lorain county, Ohio, where he was reared and educated. He learned the trade of carpenter, and for a while carried on a farm in Sheffield township, after his marriage settling in Lorain. In 1849 he was united in marriage, at Elyria, with Miss Tirzah Bedortha, and they had one child, Clarence Hugh. Mr. Slater was an active politician, an ardent supporter of the principles of the Democratic party. He served as lighthouse-keeper of Lorain three years. he died in 1863, Mrs. Slater in 1891, aged sixty-three years. Clarence Hugh Slater was born August 10, 1850, in Lorain, Lorain Co., Ohio, at the public schools of which place he received his education. He commenced life as a sailor, working for five years under Capt. Church, and after leaving the lakes engaged for five years in the fishing business. For the next five years Mr. Slater was employed in the shipyards at Lorain under H. D. Root; then engaged in farming in Sheffield township, and afterward ran the first milk wagon in Lorain, conducting the Ayrshire Milk Dairy. He was then engaged in the building of the new courthouse at Elyria, Lorain county, thence going to Marion, Ind., and assisted in the erection of the courthouse there. After his return to Elyria Mr. Slater worked for a time in the Elyria Screw and Tap Factory, and then coining to Lorain engaged with F. M. Whitman in the Sussex Sauce Works. He next ran a pleasure yacht to Randall's Grove and Lake Breeze, and then embarked in the dray business, which he sold out after three years, since which time he has conducted his present bus line between Lorain and Oak Point. On January 20, 1874, Mr. Slater was married to C. N. Wallace, a native of Elyria,who was divorced in 1887, leaving him one child, Maud. In 1889 he married, for his second wife, Miss Ida Gleeson, a native of Lorain, daughter of Frank Gleeson, a LORAIN COUNTY, OHIO - 865 resident of Lorain, and to this union was also born one child, Goldie. Mr. Slater owns a farm of forty acres in Black River township, situated on the Lake, two and a half miles west of Lorain, which he devotes to the raising of fruit. He also owns four residences in Lorain. In politics he votes with the Democratic party, and he takes an active interest in everything tending to promote the welfare and advancement of his county. Socially he is a member of the O. U. A. M., and of Lorain Lodge No. 680, I. O. O. F., and he and his wife are both members of the Order of Rebekah. In religious faith Mr. and Mrs. Slater are Methodists. Mr. Slater has watched the progress and growth of Lorain from its very beginning, and he remembers the time when there was but one house across the river. HENRY H. CLOUGH. The gentleman here named is one of the most prominent and progressive of Lorain county's prosperous citizens. He is a grandson of Deacon John and Judith (Gerrish) Clough, the former of whom was born in Canterbury, N. H., the latter being a descendant of Sir Matthew Hale, of England. Baxter Clough, father of subject, was born in Canterbury, N. H., in 1807, and was reared to the arduous duties of agri-culture on his father's farm till 1830, when he came westward, and after some misad-ventures located in Solon township, Cuya-hoga county, at that time an unbroken wilderness. Subsequently he moved to Cleveland, thence to Berea, Cuyahoga county, and finally to Lorain county, his attention having been called to the free-stone quarries in North Amherst, whither he moved in 1852, and formed a partnership with P. & L. Dean, which was of short duration, however, he having purchased his partner's interests. He then commenced the manufacture of grindstones, which industry from small beginnings de-veloped into gigantic proportions. About 1860, there having sprung up a demand for block stone for building purposes, Mr. Clough turned his attention more particularly to that branch, which in course of a few years increased to a business of enormous magnitude. Docks were built by him at the lake, and a railroad was constructed to the dock, which supplied a direct outlet of his own to ship by water. He also purchased and developed what was known as the Independence and Columbia quarries, where he also manufactured great quantities of block stone and grindstones. On July 19, 1832, he was married to Miss Hannah Gerrish, formerly of Boscowan, N. H., at that time residing with her brother in Solon, and eight children were born to them, of whom Henry H. is the seventh. The father died in November, 1872, the mother on January 21, 1893, in her eighty-seventh year, having been born April 20, 1807. They were consistent members of the Congregational Church. Henry H. Clough, the subject proper of this memoir, was born in Cleveland, Ohio, August 22, 1846, and when a child was brought by his parents to North Amherst; where he was reared. His elementary education he received at the common schools of the town, which was supplemented with a course of study at Oberlin College, on leaving which he became connected with the Clough Stone Company. At the death of their father, the sons J. B. and Henry H. succeeded to the business, and the latter became president of the company. On December 16, 1868, Henry H. Clough was united in marriage with Miss Margaret Barney, of Black River township, Lorain county, Ohio, and six children were born to them, as follows: Hallie M., Mattie B., Otis H., Karl B., Albert G. and Henry Hale, of whom Albert G. died in infancy. For four years Mr. Clough was president of the pool which controlled al the stone quarries in his section. He is secretary-treasurer of the Giles-Clough 866 - LORAIN COUNTY, OHIO. Fruit-jar Manufacturing Company at Redkey, Ind. Of late he has been interested in banking, and he is now president of two banks—one, the National Bank of Bowling Green, Ohio, the other, the Volusia County Bank of De Land, Fla.; he is also a director of the Savings and Deposit Bank of Elyria. In politics he is a Republican. Mr. Clough is one of the leading capitalists of Elyria, and out of the stone business has amassed a fortune. His elegant stone residence, the architecture of which is especially recherche, and which is built after his own design, commands the admiration of all. HERBERT S. FOLLANSBEE. Prominent among the progressive citizens and enterprising manufacturers of Lorain county stands this gentleman. He is a native of Massachusetts, born in Taunton, February 15, 1857. The Follansbees were among the early settlers of Amesbury, Mass., several generations of the family having been born there down to and including Joshua Follansbee, father of the subject of this sketch. He, Joshua, was a tradesman in the leather business, in Rhode Island. He was married in Warren, R. I., to Miss Hannah Adams, daughter of Nathaniel and Polly (Hunter) Adams, the father being of the early Massachusetts family of that name so famous in American history. Mrs. Polly (Hunter) Adams was of an old Massachusetts family, and some of her ancestors owned a large tract of land that is now in the heart of the city of Providence, R. I. A copy of the deed for this land, which bears the date of 1768, is now in the possession of Mr. Follansbee. After their marriage Mr. and Mrs. Joshua Follansbee resided in Massachusetts and Rhode Island alternately, finally settling in Pawtucket, that State, where they died, he in 1890, at the age of seventy-six years, she in 1880, aged fifty-six. They were the parents of eight children: One died in infancy; the remaining children are all now residents of either Massachusetts or Rhode Island, except our subject, who was the only one in the family to settle in the West. Herbert S. Follansbee was an infant when his parents removed to Rhode Island, six years old when they took up their home again in Taunton, Mass., and ten when they moved to Central Falls, R. I., where he received the main part of his education, at the high school of which place he graduated. From Central Falls the family removed to Pawtucket, R. I., where for a short time he was engaged in real-estate and insurance interests, after which he was employed in various lines of business, including two years in a printing office, and seven years as clerk and salesman. At the end of this tune he accepted a position with Reed & Barton, of Taunton, Mass., extensive silverware manufacturers, and spent ten months in their factory learning the business—the mode of manufacturing, etc. He was then offered by the firm a position to represent them as traveling salesman, which offer he accepted, and for ten years he was " on the road" as salesman. Elyria, Lorain Co., Ohio, was one of his stopping places, and on one of his trips, he here met the young lady who subsequently became his wife, in the person of Miss Minnie Mountain, of that town, and they were united in marriage October 1, 1885. About one year later Mr. Follansbee formed the acquaintance of Mr. A. L. Garford and Mr. F. N. Smith, of Elyria, and a close friendship springing up between them they decided to unite themselves in business, the result being the establishment of the bicycle saddle manufacturing concern in Elyria, Mr. Follansbee's special duties being to introduce the saddle to the eastern and western trade. At the commencement of this business the firm consisted of A. L. Garford, F. N. Smith and H. S. LORAIN COUNTY, OHIO - 869 Follansbee, and the style thereof was " Gar-ford Manufacturing Co." After about one and one-half years the business was incorporated under State laws, with A. L. Gafford, president; H. S. Follansbee, vice-president, and Fred N. Smith, secretary and treasurer, retaining the original title. The present stock company consists of some of the brightest business men in the county, and men of high financial standing. Mr. Follansbee was up to October 1, 1892, for ten years; identified with the Reed & Barton Co., before mentioned, but had to resign his position, the business of the Garford Manufacturing Co. having grown to such proportions as to demand his undivided attention. Since his marriage Mr. Follansbee has made his home in Elyria. He and his wife had one child, named Stanley, that died in 1890. They are members of the Episcopal Church at Elyria, of which he is a vestryman. He is a member of the Cleveland Commercial Travelers Association; a stockholder in the Savings Deposit Bank, of Elyria, and in the Hunt Manufacturing Co., of Westborough, Mass., of which Mr. Garford is president. JOHN BERG, one of the best-known and most successful citizens of Russia township, was born February 5,1842, in Bavaria, Germany, son of Jacob (a coal miner) and Elizabeth (Morgenstern) Berg. The parents had four children born to them in Germany, namely: John; Charles, a farmer and mason in Russia township; Jacob, of Oberlin, Ohio; and Catherine, wife of James McIlrath, of Oceana county, Michigan. In April, 1854, the family, with the help of friends, started for the United States, sailing from Antwerp, but were detained when only twenty-four miles from home, as their passports had been improperly made out. Owing to this delay they were obliged to cross in a merchant vessel, the " Golden Spring," which sailed one week later, and after a voyage of forty-two days landed, about June 1, in Quebec. From the latter place they proceeded by boat to Cleveland, Ohio, and thence over the C. C. C. & I. Railway to Grafton, where they hired a team and were driven to the German settlement in Russia township, Lorain county. Here the father hired out as a farm hand, and shortly afterward purchased ten acres of land at twelve dollars per acre, for which he was obliged to go into debt. Mr. Berg, who was used to mining, suffered much after coming here from the change of climate; he died in 1858, and was buried in Carlisle cemetery. His widow is still living. After coming to Lorain county they had one child, Frank, who died at the age of twenty-eight. Our subject attended school in the Fatherland, and then for six months after coming to Lorain county, which completed his literary education. He was but sixteen years old when his father died, at which time he was working for eight dollars a month, and being the eldest his wages had to go toward the support of the family. When nineteen years old he commenced to learn the stone mason's trade under William and George Evans, receiving eight dollars a month the first year, and twice that amount the second year. In May, 1862, he enlisted, at Sandusky, Ohio, in Company C, " Hoffman Battalion," which afterward became Company C, One Hundred and Twenty-eighth O. V. I., and served till the close of the war, being stationed on Johnson's Island, near Sandusky. After receiving his discharge he returned to Russia township, and then resumed his trade. On December 16, 1868, he was united in marriage with Miss Mary Grieco, who was born October 20, 1849, in Germany, daughter of Joachim Grieco, who came to the United States in 1854, locating in 870 - LORAIN COUNTY, OHIO. Amherst township, Lorain Co., Ohio. After marriage Mr. Berg located on a farm of thirty-four acres in Russia township, which he had previously purchased for a home for the family. He has since given his chief attention to masonry and contracting, in which he has been very successful. He has a pleasant residence north of Oberlin, where he makes his home during the winter, in summer time living wherever his work takes him. In politics he is a Republican, in religion a member of the German Evangelical Church at North Amherst. J. B. THOMPSON, capitalist, a typical " hustler," and one of the live young business men of Lorain county, of which he is a native, was born in Columbia township in 1861. His grandparents, John and Amanda (Osborn) Thompson, were natives of Connecticut, and about the year 1810 came to Columbia township, Lorain county, where they passed the rest of their lives, the grandfather dying in January, 1893, the grandmother in 1890. Grandfather Asel Osborn, also a native of Connecticut, was one of the first settlers of Columbia township, and one of the first commissioners of Lorain county. S. B. Thompson, father of subject, was born in Columbia town- ship, Lorain county, where he married Miss Emular Osborn, and they are still living in the township. They had two children : W. B., in Lorain, Ohio, and J. B. The subject of this sketch was educated at the common schools of his native place, and at Berea College, after which he went on the road as a traveling salesman for a Cleveland cloak firm ; later for a New York house, his residence during that period (two years) being in that city. He then, in 1888, embarked in the live-stock business on a small scale at West View, Cuyahoga county, buying and selling, from which modest beginning he has already risen to be one of the prominent business men of the locality. In 1889 he commenced the real-estate business, buying seventy acres adjacent to West View, and buildings thereon; it will soon be incorporated in the southeast addition to that village. He has already thirty-seven lots platted on the east side of Rocky river, and purposes to plat his entire farm. Already he has put up twelve residence houses, store and blacksmith and carriage shop, which he rents, and is still building. In addition to all this he owns ten fine residences in Cleveland, one in Wadsworth, and a good farm near Medina, all in Ohio. The Columbia Stone Quarries adjoin his farm, and their business is expanding rapidly in Columbia township, which tends to enhance the value of his property as well as increasing the advantages of the village of West View. In 1886 Mr. Thompson was united in marriage in Cleveland, Ohio, with Miss Nellie Charter. In politics he is an ardent Republican, taking an active interest in the affairs of his party. EDWARD HILDEBRAND. Among the most progressive of Lorain county's native born young men, none stands more prominent than this gentleman. He was born on his present farm in. Black River township July 27, 1856, a son of Benjamin and Eliza (Applemann) Hildebrand, natives of Hessen, Germany. The father, who was by trade a ship carpenter, when a young man came in 1844 with his father, Edward David Hildebrand, to America and to Ohio, settling on a farm in Black River township, where he passed the rest of his days, dying in 1879; he was an active, intelligent, thorough- going man, commanding the respect of his fellow citizens, who elected him to the responsible position of township trustee. LORAIN COUNTY, OHIO - 871 His widow is yet living. They had a family of six children, of whom the following is a brief record: Rowena is the wife of William Fullmer, of Amherst township; Sophia is the wife of Henry Bickel, late of Black River township, Lorain county; Elizabeth is the widow of Henry Plato, of North Amherst; Christina is the wife of Adam Jaeger, also of North Amherst; Minnie died young; Edward is the subject of this biographical memoir. Edward Hildebrand has always followed agricultural pursuits, including stock raising, and is now the owner of a fine stock farm of eighty-eight acres in Black River township, Lorain county, well watered by Beaver and Wind creeks. In July, 1878, he was united in marriage with Mary. Wernert, a native of Germany, and daughter of John and Dora (Ilett) Wernert, who came from the Fatherland with their family in 1872; the father died in 1888, and the mother is yet living in North Amherst. To Mr. and Mrs. Edward Hildebrand have been born seven children, namely: Lizzie, Montana, Phillip, Henry, Paulina, Willie and Esther. The parents are 'members of St. Peter's Lutheran Church of North Amherst. Mr. Hildebrand is a member of the K. O. T. M. and I. O. G. T.; in politics he is a Democrat, but in local matters he invariably votes for the man on his individual merits without regard to his political status. HALSEY GARFIELD, a prosperous representative agriculturist of Sheffield township, is a native of same, born December 24, 1823. His father, Milton Garfield, was born in 1792, in Tyringham, Mass., where he was reared and educated, and whence in 1815 he came to Ohio, first locating in Lake county, and then, in 1816, settling in Sheffield township, Lorain county, where he bought a quantity of unimproved land. He was married in Avon township, in May, 1820, to Miss Tempe Williams, a native of Massachusetts, born in 1800, a daughter of John and Clarissa (Hamlin) Williams, also of Massachusetts, who came with their family to Avon township; Lorain county, where the father followed agricultural pursuits during the rest of his days. He died in November, 1862; his widow is yet surviving, now at the advanced age of ninety-three years, though still retaining her mental faculties to a wonderful degree. H. H. Williams, of Avon township, is her brother. "Col." Garfield (as he was best known) was originally a Whig, afterward, on the organization of the party, a Republican, and he served as county commissioner. To Mr. and Mrs. Milton Garfield were born six children—three sons and three daughters —of whom the following is a brief record: (1) Henry W. was reared in Lorain county, and in 1849 went to California, whence he returned home in 1869; he died in 1892. (2) Halsey is the subject of this sketch. (3) Eliza Paulina is the wife of George F. Smith, and they occupy the old homestead. (4) Fannie M. was the wife of Graham Harris; she died in 1870. (5) Daniel W. is a farmer in Sheffield township. (6) Julia C. is the wife of Edward Root, also of Sheffield township. Halsey Garfield received a liberal education at the schools of Sheffield township, and in his youth taught both in Huron and Lorain counties, Ohio; he also learned the trade of carpenter. Afterward he was for years 'engaged in selling goods at French Creek, Lorain Co, Ohio, and since 1863 he has carried on farming operations in Sheffield township. In all his undertakings he has deservedly prospered. In 1855 he was married, in his township, to Miss Harriet Root, daughter of William H. and Sarah Eliza (Case) Root, natives of Sheffield, Mass., the father born in 1803, died in 1889; the mother was called from earth in 1833, when Mrs. 872 - LORAIN COUNTY, OHIO. Harriet Garfield was an infant. To Mr. and Mrs. Garfield were born four children: Jessie, a teacher of music, and who is a pupil of the Oberlin Conservatory of Music; Shirley; William M., a graduate of Oberlin College, class of 1889; and Tempe F., also a graduate of Oberlin College, class of 1891, and who is now a teacher in the schools' of Batavia, Ill. The mother of these passed away March 7, 1889. In politics Mr. Garfield is a Republican, and has served his township as trustee three terms, and as assessor two terms. W. L. FAY, attorney at law, as one of the influential citizens of Lorain county, deserves a place in this volume. The first of the Fay family to land in America was John Fay, who came from England, A. D. 1656 in the good ship " Speedwell, " and settled in Massachusetts. From him descended in a direct line the subject of this sketch, as follows: John, Jr., James, Daniel, Aaron (great-grandfather, who married Rebecca Winslow), Lyman (grandfather, born in Vermont), Winslow (father), and Winslow Lamartine (subject), the eighth of his generation in America. Dr. Lyman Fay (grandfather) came to Ohio in 1815, and soon after located at Milan, Erie county. He soon gained a wide reputation as a physician aud business man. In addition to his professional labors he kept a drug and general store, a large grain warehouse, and was one of the promoters of the Milan Canal which, before the days of railroads, made Milan the principal grain market of northern Ohio. He accumulated a large property, and died of cholera September 2, 1854. On July 21, 1816, he married Catherine Kellogg, who survived him, dying December 3, 1862. Joseph Brooks (maternal grandfather) came to Ohio from eastern New York at an early day; his wife was Rachel Barnum of Danbury, Conn., related to Phineas T. Barnum, the great showman. WINSLOW LAMARTINE FAY, the subject of this sketch, was born at Clarksfield, Huron Co., Ohio, September 12, 1848,a son of Winslow and Mary Ann (Brooks) Fay, the former of whom was born April 21, 1817, on the Huron river, at Avery, near Milan, Erie Co., Ohio, and died August 4, 1884. He (the father) was the oldest of a family of ten children. He was a merchant during the greater part of his life, but during his later years was engaged in farming. He was married January 6, 1839, to Mary Ann Brooks, who was born at Florence, Ohio, December 30, 1818, and died May 4, 1878. The mother was educated at the seminary conducted by Dr. Monteith of Elyria, who at that early day was widely known as a successful and thorough instructor. W. L. was the second of three sons who grew to manhood. He received a liberal education at Oberlin College, and during his vacations taught school for a number of years in Huron and Lorain counties. When just past sixteen years of age, becoming dissatisfied with farm life, he asked the consent of his father to be allowed to start out and make his own way in the world; the consent was kindly granted, and without further aid, by perseverance and hard study and close application, he 'provided means to secure his own education, and obtain his profession. He read law with Hon. John C. Hale, then of Elyria, where he was admitted to the bar in 1870 under twenty-two years of age; for four years thereafter he practiced his profession with his preceptor, at the end of which time he opened an office on his own account. Up to 1879 he did a successful general practice; but close confinement to office and professional work seriously affecting his health, he gradually gave his attention to other matters less confining, until now his law practice occupies only a small portion of his time. He is the inventor of the Fay Sulky Scraper for mov- LORAIN COUNTY, OHIO - 875 ing earth, and was engaged in its manufacture for several years. Afterward he invented the "Fairy Tricycle" for ladies, girls and cripples, which he manufactured in large numbers, and which have been sold extensively all over this country, and many shipped to foreign lands. He organized the Fay Manufacturing Co., and was principal owner of same until he sold his entire interest in December, 1891. A short time previous to this he bought the controlling interest in The Elyria Stone Co., which has extensive quarries at Grafton, Ohio, and he now holds the offices of secretary, treasurer and manager of said Company.. Since his connection with this Company the plant has been greatly enlarged and improved, and the business very much increased. He is also engaged in the manufacture of Babbitt metal under the firm name and style of W. L. Fay & Co., which business he has conducted since 1876. He has also been engaged in farming all his life, he now owning an interest in a large grape farm on Avon Point, Lorain county; he also has vessel interests on the lakes, and has many other investments that require more or less time. In addition to his business Mr. Fay has found leisure to travel quite extensively, he having visited and traveled over the greater portions of this country, of interest, and a considerable part of Europe. Mr. Fay was first united in marriage in May, 1878, to Emma A. Vincent, who died in June, 1879, leaving to his care an infant daughter—Mary Emma. He was married, the second time, in 1886, to Ophelia Goss Lawrence, a daughter of Rev. John Lawrence, of St. Johnsbury, Vt. His present wife was the fifth of a family of eight children, and was born at Wilton, Me., during her father's pastorate at that place. Her father, Rev. John Lawrence, is a direct descendant of John Lawrence, born at Wisset, England, in 1609, and who soon afterward came to this country and settled in Watertown, Mass. Her mother was Nancy Temple Wakefield, of Reading, Mass. By his second marriage Mr. Fay has four children: Lamartine Brooks, and Lawrence Temple (twins), Rachel Charlotte, and Florence. Politically our subject is one of the stanchest Republicans, although he has never been an office seeker. He is a member of the Masonic Lodges of his place, and in this has followed in the line of his forefathers as far back as he has any record; is also a member of a number of other secret Societies. He is the examiner of the Savings Deposit Bank of Elyria; one of the directors, secretary and attorney for the Elyria Savings and Loan Co., of which he was one of the founders; is also director in a number of other enterprises of which he is a member. Whatever business he has undertaken, he has made a success of, and those that know him best are his best friends. Mr. Fay is a thorough believer in temperance, and at all times is ready and willing to lend his aid in anything that will help remove the curse of this evil from the land, although he ?does not follow all the ideas that are advocated by extremists in this direction; he is also a believer in the Gospel of Christ, but has never united with any Church. He is a stockholder in the Gospel News Co., of Cleveland, Ohio, publishers of the Gospel News, a weekly religious paper which was started for the purpose of furnishing Christian reading matter to the masses, at a low price. ANTON JUNGBLUTH, a prosperous farmer of Sheffield township, where he owns and operates a highly cultivated farm of 2501 acres, is a native of Germany, born in 1848. Anton Jungbluth, father of subject, was born in Prussia during Christmas week of 1802. In his native land he was a grape grower, a business he followed there with considerable success. In 1852 he emigrated to the United States, coming to Lorain 876 - LORAIN COUNTY, OHIO. county, Ohio, where in Sheffield township he settled on a farm of twenty-five acres, then all in the woods, which he cleared and improved, and where he carried on general farming. In politics he is a Democrat, in religion a Catholic. He married Maggie Schuver, and their children were as follows: John, living with subject; Nicholas, in saloon business in Cincinnati, Ohio; Peter, who died at the age of forty years; and Anton. The father is yet living in the enjoyment of good health; the mother died February 13, 1892. The subject of this sketch received a good education in the common schools of Sheffield township, Lorain county, whither he had come when about four years old, and he has been an agriculturist from the time he left school. At the age of twenty-five years he was united in marriage with Miss Catherine Young, born in Sheffield township, Lorain Co., Ohio, and by her has had six children, as follows: Anna, Mary, Catherine, John, Bernard and Francis. Mr. Jungbluth has been very successful at his occupation, and the old homestead of twenty-five acres which he bought he has added to from time to time till he has now 250 acres, as already related. He is a member of the Catholic Church, in politics a Democrat, and he is a member of the school board. J. R. BARROWS, one of the most prosperous of the well-to-do agriculturists of Avon township, came here in July, 1828, from Genesee county, N. Y., where he was born in 1821. He is a son of Adnah and Clarissa (Day) Barrows, natives, respectively, of Connecticut and Bennington, Vt. Joseph Day, grandfather of subject, who was originally from Massachusetts, served as a soldier throughout the entire Revolutionary war, and after the close of the struggle settled in Bennington, Vermont, where he died at the age of ninety-three years. Adnah Barrows, father of subject, when a boy, in 1811, moved to New York State, and served in the war of 1812, for which he received a pension. He was married in that State to Miss Clarissa Day, and in 1828 they came to Avon township, Lorain county, settling in the woods where they cleared a farm. Here the father passed from earth October 3, 1856, the mother November 26, 1882. They had a family of six children, five of whom grew to maturity, as follows: J. R.; Lyman, who went in 1883 to Shiawassee county, Mich., where he died about 1889; Heman, residing in Avon township; Lydia, widow of Jacob Walker, of Amherst township; and Eliza, wife of. Edward S. Fitch, of Avon town- ship. J. R. Barrows, our subject, as will be seen, was seven years old when he came to Avon township, where he received such education as the primitive district schools of those early times afforded. He was carefully trained to the pursuits of the farm, and has made agriculture the vocation of his life, remaining on the old homestead until 1852, in which year he took possession of his present farm in the same township. His property at first numbered fifty-three acres, to which he from time to time added until now he is the owner of 114 acres, all in an advanced state of cultivation. In 1844 our subject was married in Avon township, Lorain county, to Miss Melvina P. Sawyer, daughter of John Sawyer, of New York State. To this union were born four children, viz.: Warren J., who died in 1872 in Erie county, N. Y.; Ellen C., who married John S. Blackwell, and died in 1882; Henry J., residing in Lorain; and Marietta, wife of F. H. Richardson, of Tampico, Whiteside Co., Ill. The mother of these died in 1860, and in 1861 Mr. Barrows wedded Mrs. Eunice (Royce) Griswold, widow of L. S. Griswold, and she dying in 1882, our subject married, in 1883, for his third wife, Mrs. Aurelia (Terrell) Sawyer, daughter of Willis Terrell (an early LORAIN COUNTY, OHIO - 877 pioneer of Ridgeville township, Lorain county), and widow of Philip Sawyer. There are no children .by the last two marriages. In his political preferments our subject is a Republican, and has served as trustee and assessor of his township several terms. In Church relationship he is a Baptist, Mrs. Barrows being a member of the M. E. Church. H. M. ANDRESS, the popular and enterprising liveryman of Elyria, is a native of Henrietta township, Loraincounty, Ohio, born in 1855, a son of Carlo and Weltha (Smith) Andress. The father, who was a farmer, was born in Essex county, N. Y., in 1804, one of a family of ten children, came to Ohio in 1817, and died November 8,1870; the mother died April 24,1871. H. M. Andress received a liberal common-school education, and in early youth commenced commercial life. For a time he owned a half interest in a grocery, which he sold out to Henry Wurst, and purchased a share in a livery, with Jno. T. Houghton ; but, his partner subsequently retiring, our subject was left with his interest, and has continued the business alone ever since. The livery is one of the best equipped in Northern Ohio, and enjoys a wide and lucrative patronage. Soon after commencing in this line Mr. Andress opened an emporium for vehicles, handling all kinds of carriages, buggies,road wagons, farm wagons, sulkies, etc., in which he has met with well-merited success, selling both wholesale and retail. He has also traded considerably in horses—buying and selling. In connection he also opened out a harness shop in the lower story of the Odd Fellows Block, in the fall of 1891, which, like all his other enterprises, is a pronounced success. In company with Henry Wurst he purchased the " Beebe House," the leading hotel in Elyria, which at considerable out lay they repaired and refitted, and it now stands second to none in the county as a first-class hotel. H. M. Andress and Miss M. G. Boynton, also a native of Elyria, were united in marriage July 9,1878, and three children have been born to them: Maude, Jeane and George. Joshua Boynton, father of Mrs. H. M. Andress, was born in Wiscasset, Maine, in 1811; her mother, Barbara (Arman) Boynton, was born in Germany. Of Mr. Andress it can be truthfully said, that as a " hustler " in business, and in financiering, he is a leader in the county, and, although yet a young man, he is owner of considerable property besides his business interests. He claims he has " never yet been guilty of voting for a Democrat, except for corporation or county offices;" so to particularize his politics would indeed be superfluous. H. L. HECOCK, a rising and popular young attorney of Lorain, comes of an old family in Lorain county, his grandfather having been a pioneer of Sheffield township. Our subject was born February 24, 1869, in Sheffield township, Lorain Co., Ohio, a son of I. B. and Mary (Drake) Hecock. He was educated at the common schools of his native township, and also at the Union schools of Elyria, where he graduated in the class of 1889. He taught school during the winter 1889-90, and in 1890 commenced the study of law under Mayor Thompson, of Lorain. He was admitted to the bar in December, 1892. By dint of hard study and close reading of books, both literary and legal, Mr. Hecock succeeded in securing a good professional education, and at the same time assisted in the support of his parents. He has manifested a special aptitude for mastering the technicalities of law, and has succeeded in winning the confidence and friendship of a 878 - LORAIN COUNTY, OHIO. wide circle of acquaintances, which speaks well for his prospects in his business, and he already enjoys a creditable clientage. He is an advanced member of the I. O. O. F., being a member of Subordinate Lodge, Encampment, and Daughters of Rebekah, and a member of the Jr. O. U. A. M. In the spring of 1893 he was elected justice of the peace, and hats always taken an active part in politics since the time that he commenced to study law. On September 30, 1893, Mr. Hecock was married to Miss Annabel Burrell, formerly of Sheffield, the daughter of I. H. Burrell and Hanna (Hall) Burrell. ELEAZER ABBE, one of the best known and most highly respected of the retired agriculturists of Lorain county, was born December 28, 1805, in Lisle, Broome Co., N. Y., a son of Abel Abbe, who was born in Windham, Conn., August 7, 1767. Solomon Abbe, grandfather of subject, was a native of the "Nutmeg State," where he married and had three children, viz.: One son, Abel, and two daughters, Esther and Rena. Abel Abbe was married August 26, 1789, in Connecticut, to Mariam Bingham, a native of Mansfield, Conn.. born April 29, 1772, and the children of this union were as follows: Lura, born January 20, 1791, died in 1888; Rena, born August 31, 1792; Linda, born July 5, 1794 ; Origin, born April 20, 1796; Charles, born May 3, 1798; William, born April 15, 1800; Phoebe, born February 11, 1802; Foster, born January 23, 1804; Eleazer, subject; Abel, born February 15, 1808; Luther, born August 5, 1811, and Matilda, born June 11, 1813. The parents both died in Ohio, the father in 1845 at the home of his son Eleazer, the mother in 1854, at the home of her daughter Matilda, in Elyria. Abel Abbe followed farming in Connecticut, whence in the early part of this century he moved to New York State, where he carried on a sawmill and woolen mill. In 1817 he came to Ohio, locating in what is now Lake county, and opening in Madison township a blacksmith shop, but agricultural pursuits were his chief life work. In his political affiliations he was a Jackson Democrat, and in his military experience he was a captain of cavalry in the Connecticut militia. Eleazer Abbe, the subject proper of these lines, received his education at a public school taught by his sister Linda, first held in a log schoolhouse, afterward in a frame one. On reaching maturity he commenced life for his own account. In 1831 he came to Lorain county, and purchased a sixty-acre tract of land in Elyria township, where he nowresides, and also twenty-one acres adjoining, on credit. In addition to his farming interests he did considerable teaming, and among numerous other articles he brought from a distance was the first stove seen or used in Elyria, and also a pair of forge hammers and collars, hauling the latter articles from the Geauga furnace. He also carried loads of the product of the Elyria furnace to Ashland, Wayne county, which he would trade for produce. In this manner he succeeded in paying for his land purchase. He and his brother also hauled timber to Elyria, to be used in the construction of the earlier buildings, and in 1839 they were among the contractors for the macadamizing of the Maumee road. Mr. Abbe also furnished wood for the Geauga furnace, as well as ore. To Pittsburgh he carried produce by team, the trip usually consuming some nine or ten days. In 1849, the year of the "gold fever," he embarked at Cleveland on the sailing vessel " Eureka," for a voyage to California. They went through the canals and down the St. Lawrence river to Quebec, where they remained a couple of weeks, and then proceeded down the Gulf of St. Lawrence to the Atlantic Ocean. When they arrived in the vicinity of Cape Horn, they LORAIN COUNTY, OHIO - 881 found that, owing to a dense fog prevailing, they had to " double " it, instead of passing through the Straits of Magellan, the shorter route. Finally, after a voyage of nine months, our subject reached San Francisco, from where after landing he proceeded at once to the gold mines,. and after a time returned to San Francisco for the winter. In the following spring he ascended the Yuba river; thence to Feather river; thence to Nelson creek, spending the ensuing winter again in San Francisco. In 1851 he concluded to return home, and took passage on the steamer "Republic" at Frisco for Panama. A short time after taking the steamer, she sprang a leak in mid-ocean, owing to her having run against a rock on the previous trip. She was kept afloat by hard pumping, and was run ashore at Acapulco bay, right on the beach, for repairs. The passengers were sent ashore with all their bedding. In an hour afterward her stern went down. There on the beach they saw the old bark " Eureka "; they say that the passengers were about to mutiny with their captain. He (the captain) gave up his bark, and ran off across. Mexico. Mr. Abbe and the rest went to Panama on a Panama boat of the same line, which left San Francisco two weeks later. They crossed the Isthmus, thence Mr. Abbe sailed for New York, and from there traveled by rail homeward. He was absent about three years, during which time he made good wages, but experienced great hardships and many trials. After his return he devoted himself almost exclusively to agricultural pursuits, up to the time of his retirement from active life, and his fine farm of. 300 acres in Elyria township is now carried on by his sons, Horace and Norman. On October 31, 1835, Mr. Abbe was united in marriage with Miss Betsy Wilcox, a native of Cornwall, Conn., born March 21, 1807, but a resident of Elyria, Ohio, at the time of her marriage. A record of the children born to Mr. and Mrs. Abbe is as follows: Mary D. (Mrs. John H. Taylor, of Ridgeville) was born April 3, 1837; Horace, born November 24, 1840, was married February 16, 1870, to Mary A. Aston, and they have four children: H. Nelson, Norah D., Eula B. and Jane A.; Norman, born March 19, 1842, was married October 15, 1868, to Mabel A. Taylor, of Perkins township, Erie Co., Ohio (they live on the homestead); George was born September 30, 1843, and John on December 30, 1845. In his political preferences the subject of this sketch is an old-school Democrat. NORMAN ABBE, the well-known stockman and farmer, received a liberal education at the schools of Elyria, and was reared on his father's farm, which he and his brother Horace operate, and where they are engaged in the breeding of fine cattle, in addition to carrying on general agriculture. Politically Mr. Abbe is a Democrat, and he is a member of the Disciple Church. JOSEPH BALDAUF, one of the foremost among the German residents of Russia township, was born December 23, 1843, in Bavaria, Germany. His father, also named Joseph, died when our subject was three years of age, and the mother afterward married Joseph Haller. In 1852 the family, consisting or Mr. and Mrs. Haller, two sons and five daughters, immigrated to America, sailing from Bremen and landing in New York after an ocean voyage of four weeks. From New York they came westward, by canal and lake to Cleveland, Ohio, thence to Avon township, Lorain county, where Mr. Haller bought twenty-five acres of land. Joseph Baldauf had attended school in his native country, but after their emigration to the United States received no educational advantages whatever, thongh at that time he was but eight years of age. He was put to work, giving such assistance on the farm as he was able, and 882 - LORAIN COUNTY, OHIO. when fifteen years old started out in life for his own account. For two years he was employed by George Bryant, of Amherst township, then going to Oberlin hired out as a farm hand in Russia township, receiving twenty dollars a month for three years. On November 22, 1864, he married Theresa Schmidt, a native of Grafton township, Lorain county, daughter of Jacob Schmidt, and after his marriage bought a farm of fifty acres, the " Schmidt Homestead," where he has since resided. In 1878 he erected his pleasant residence, and has made many other improvements on the place, increasing the area of the farm until he now has 180 acres of choice arable land. Mr. and Mrs. Baldauf are the parents of the following named children: Margaret (wife of Joseph Klinkshirn, a farmer of Avon township), Anna (wife of Anton Klinkshirn, of Avon township), John (a farmer), Catherine, Frank, Willie, Mary, Charley, Elizabeth and Theresa, all living. Mr. Baldauf has been an energetic, industrious farmer, economical from boyhood, and, though starting in life with nothing, he has amassed a comfortable competence. Though having few opportunities for an education, he has, by observation and study, acquired a very fair store of practical knowledge, and is possessed of sound judgment and good common sense. Politically he is a lifelong Democrat, and in religion he is a member of the Catholic Church at Elyria. During the slimmer of 1893 Mr. Baldauf paid a visit to the World's Fair, Chicago. LEWIS WISE, a typical self-made man, and one of the most prosperous farmers in Grafton township, was born January 80, 1850, in Wittenberg, Prussia, a son of Peter Wise, who was born November 7, 1810, also in Wittenberg, and married a native of that city in the person of Miss Louisa Miller. In 1854 the family, consisting of father, mother and six children--Louisa, Fredericka, Henry, Lewis, Frederick and Crist—set sail from Havre, France, for the United States, and after a voyage of twenty-one days landed at New York, toward the latter part of December. From that port they came west to Liverpool, Medina Co., Ohio, traveling by rail to Cleveland, from which point Peter's brother brought them by wagon to Liverpool township, Medina county, where they arrived on Christmas Day. In Germany Peter Wise had been well-to-do, but through going security for a friend, who afterward failed in business, he lost over two thousand dollars. In Liverpool township, Medina county, he rented a farm for a short time, and then removed to Columbia township, Lorain county, later coming to Grafton township, same county, where he bought fifty acres of wild land on credit, and here lived seven years, at the end of which time he moved to the farm whereon he died August 8, 1886; his wife had passed away June 19, 1883, and both are interred in Belden cemetery. In Ohio the family was increased by three children, as follows: Hannah J., born September 11, 1857; Catherine S., born September 12, 1859, and Jacob J., born July 24, 1864. The parents were hardworking, industrious people accumulating a comfortable competence, and they were honored and respected by all. Lewis Wise, the subject proper of this sketch, was four years old when the family came from Germany to America. In course of time he and his brother Henry purchased land, going in debt nine thousand six hundred dollars for it, and the predictions of many were that "the Wise boys would fail." But these ominous words were not fated to come true, for the " Wise boys" did not fail; on the contrary, they succeeded, by dint of hard work and judicious economy, in paying off every dollar of their indebtedness. At the end of fifteen years (in 1886) the brothers ef- LORAIN COUNTY, OHIO - 883 fected an atnicable division of the property, each one settling on his own share. Our subject has an excellent piece of land and a comfortable residence, surrounded with commodious outbuildings, including a very fine barn, and everything pertaining to a well-regulated farm. On January 6, 1874, Mr. Wise was united in marriage at Liverpool, Ohio, by Rev. Scheliha, with Miss Catherine M. Law, who was born November 29, 1854, in Grafton township, Lorain county, daughter of Jacob Law. The children born to them were as follows: George H., born November 27, 1874; Clara L., born September 19, 1876, deceased December 11, 1876; Charles W., born October 26, 1877; Herman J. P., born July 29, 1886; Louisa A., born March 21, 1884, deceased July 13, 1886; Eddie J., born October 6, 1888; and Arthur L., born April 23, 1893. Politically Mr. Wise is a Democrat, and he and his wife are members of the Evangelical Lutheran Church, of which he has been trustee for over ten years. JEROME MANVILLE, a well-known member of the agricultural community of LaGrange township, was born May 28, 1823, in Jefferson county, New York. His father, Henry Manville, was one of a large family of children born to David Manville, who removed from Meriden, Conn., to Jefferson county, N. Y. Henry Manville, who was a farmer, married Miss Matilda Wait, and they had seven sons and one daughter, as follows: Henry W., of Crawford county, Penn.; George C., of Amboy, Ashtabula Co., Ohio; a son that died in infancy unnamed; Hiram D., of Minnesota; Jerome, subject of this sketch; Milton, a farmer of Crawford county, Penn.; Chester C., of Elyria, Ohio; and Mary M., deceased in Michigan, who first married David Ambrose, and later Myron Bronson. Mr. Manville built a sawmill on his farm (which was a good one), and just had his business ingood running order, when he died, on February 23, 1833, aged thirty-six years. After the father's decease the family became scattered, and the widow was married in LaGrange, Ohio, to R. Humphrey, moving to Crawford county, Penn. By this union she had three children, viz.: James R., of Kansas; a daughter that died in infancy, and Orson, of Cleveland, Ohio. The mother died July 3, 1866, and was buried in Center cemetery. Jerome Manville attended the common schools until ten years of age, when his father died, and he was obliged to leave home and live among strangers and relatives, like the rest of the family. He spent his first season with one Rotiers, a farm agent, and then made his home for a time with Nathan P. Johnson, who moved to Ohio. Our subject next resided with Dorastus Waite, and in February, 1835, came with him to Ohio, walking the greater part of the way. After his arrival here he went to live with his former employer, Nathan P. Johnson, with whom he remained till he was nearly twenty-one years of age, working hard and saving his earnings. On October 20, 1847, he was united in marriage with Miss Cynthia M. Merriam, who was born in Jefferson county, N. Y., daughter of Sylvester and Cynthia (Johnson) Merriam, who settled in LaGrange township, Lorain Co., Ohio, prior to 1830. After his marriage our subject rented the farm of his father-in- law, and made his home thereon until 1849, when he purchased his present place, then comprising forty acres, which he has since increased to 110 acres. To Jerome, and Cynthia M. Manville were born children as follows: Charles D., born July 16, 1848, at one time a telegraph operator in the employ of the " Big Four " Railway, who died at the age of thirty-eight years; and Adelbert B., born May 9, 1853, Frederick E., born January 884 - LORAIN COUNTY, OHIO. 31, 1855, Rector J., born November 19, 1857, and Jennie M., born January 5, 1862, all four deceased when young. The mother of these died November 30, 1890, and was buried in Center cemetery, and on March 29, 1892, Mr. Manville married Miss Mary J. Thickstun, a native of Crawford county, Penn., daughter of William and Rachel (Freeman) Thickstun. Mr. Manville has also two houses and lots and four vacant lots in LaGrange village. Since residing on his present place he has made many improvements thereon. In spite of his lack of educational advantages in early life, he has acquired a good practical business training, and this, combined with good judgment and common sense, has brought him success. He is a man of much natural intelligence and ability. In political connection he is a stanch Republican. He is a member of the M. E. Church, in which he holds the office of steward; Mrs. Manville is a member of the Baptist Church, and is a Prohibitionist. JACOB P. BRECKENRIDGE, more familiarly known by his many friends as "Jake Breckenridge," a name as widely known as his many kind acts and hospitable deeds are, deserves more than a passing notice in this Commemorative Record. He is a native of the State of New York, born April 3, 1827, in Morristown, St. Lawrence county, a son of Justin and Elizabeth K. (Pohlman) Breckenridge, the latter of whom was born in Lower Canada (now Province of Quebec) in August, 1803, of German parents. Justin Breckenridge was born in Bennington, Vt., July 30, 1798, a son of Daniel Breckenridge, who in his family of children had five sons—Norman, Lewis, Justin, Daniel and James—three of whom, Norman, Lewis and Justin, came to Lorain county, locating in Camden township. Justin Breckenridge was reared to farm life, but he was a natural mechanic, doing all kinds of carpenter work, including the building of barns, etc., though he never learned the trade. While living in New York State eight children were born to this old pioneer and his wife: Daniel, deceased in Grafton township; Jacob P., subject of this memoir; Cecilia, who married Frank Marlatt, died in Michigan; Lewis, an attorney of Elyria, Ohio, who died in Cleveland, where he was superintendent of the library for some time; Nan: cissa, wife of James Golden, residingin Santa Barbara, Cal.; Benjamin, who died in Minnesota; John, a wholesale merchant and well-to-do citizen of Baltimore, Md. (he was a lieutenant in the Civil war); and Hannah, Mrs. William Durand, of Oberlin, Ohio. In 1841 the family came to Ohio, the trip from Ogdensburg (N. Y.) to Cleveland being made by boat, and from there they proceeded by road to Camden township, Lorain county, making a stay at the home of one of Justin's brothers. Soon afterward the father purchased a farm in Pittsfield township, but after a two months' residence there he removed to Grafton township, settling about half a mile south of Rawsonville. One child was born to him in Lorain county, named Eleanor S., now Mrs. Henry H. Hitchcock, of Grafton township. Justin Breckenridge died January 30, 1874, his wife in 1871, and they sleep their last sleep in Nesbit cemetery. She was a member of the Presbyterian Church. Politically he was a Republican, originally a Whig, and one of the precinct voting places in the fall of 1840, for the election of W. H. Harrison, was at his house in New York State. He was a hardworking man, strong and muscular, and possessed of wonderful endurance. The subject proper of our sketch received a liberal education at the subscription schools of the neighborhood of his place of birth, and early in life was inducted into the mysteries of agricultural pursuits. At the age of thirteen years he LORAIN COUNTY, OHIO - 885 came to Ohio, and the rest of his boyhood and his youth were passed in the then wilds of Grafton township, Lorain county, which he materially assisted in clearing and subduing to a condition of fertility. Until 1844 he continued to live with his parents, and then moved to his present farm, which at that time was covered with heavy timber and undergrowth, which he at once set to work to clear. He has cut logs on this farm six feet in diameter at the butt, and fifty-four feet eight inches in length, to the first limb, when the diameter was thirty-nine inches. On February 22, 1853, Mr. Breckenridge was married to Fanny Woodmansee, who bore him three children: A daughter that died in infancy; Lucy, now Mrs. Mathews, of Albion, Mich.; and Charles, a farmer of Grafton township, Lorain county. Mr. Breckenridge was divorced from this wife, and he subsequently married Mrs. Lucinda (Darwin) Blanchard, a widow lady of LaGrange township, Lorain county. Politically our subject is an out-and-out Republican, and he says that as a reader for many years of the Cleveland Leader and Elyria Republican he is thoroughly convinced that his political leanings are in the right channel. HERBERT CHAPIN, a representative wide-awake native-born agriculturist of Lorain county, first saw the light of day in North Amherst, February 25, 1854. He is a son of A. and Julia (Broughton) Chapin, the former a native of Massachusetts, born in 1816, the latter of Carlisle township, Lorain Co., Ohio, born in 1831. The father came to Lorain county in 1835, and in 1851 married Julia Broughton, who bore him children as follows: Emma; Herbert; Charles; Anna, wife of Frank Starr, of Camden township, Lorain county; Mary, at home; and William, attending college at Oberlin. The father of this family was a tanner by trade, which he followed for some years in North Amherst, and then removed to Brownhelm township where he is yet living with his son Herbert. His wife died in 1886. Aaron Chapin, grandfather of our subject, came to Lorain county in an early day, and died here; grandfather Broughton was also an early settler of this county. Herbert Chapin since four years of age has lived in Brownhelm township, where he received his education and was inducted into the mysteries of the farm. He is one of the active young men of his township, and takes a lively interest in all matters pertaining to the advancement and prosperity of the county, advocating good schools, good roads and all else tending to public improvement. He is a Republican' in his political affiliations, and a member of the Farmers' Alliance. Mr. Chapin is owner of a snug farm of seventy-five acres, all under fine cultivation. WILLIAM BACON is one of the earliest born citizens of Lorain county; having first seen the light in 1819; in Brownhelm township, on the farm whereon he now lives, located between Brownhelm postoffice and Bacon's' mills, on the Vermillion river. He is a son of Benjamin Bacon, a native of Massachusetts, born in Old Stockbridge, whence in 1818 he came to Ohio,. locating in Brownhelm township, Lorain county, and making a settlement where the subject of this sketch now lives, having bought wild land from one. Henry Brown. In 1820 he erected a mill at what is known as " Mill Hollow," on the Vermillion river, and about 1835 increased its' capacity from one set of burrs to two sets. Ten years later he equipped it with modern improvements. He was three times married, first time to Ruth Gifford, who was born in Lee, Mass., in 1797, and died in 1819. By this union there were two chil- 886 - LORAIN COUNTY, OHIO. dren: William, and Mary C., wife of J. A. Perry. For his second wife Benjamin Bacon married Lydia Atwater, and two children—Lydia and Samuel—were born to them. For his third wife he wedded Miss Anna W. Graham, a native of West Hartford, Conn., and they had three children: T. H., Julia and Sarah. The father passed away in 1868 at the age of seventy-nine years. William Bacon, the subject proper of this memoir, received such education as was obtainable at the subscription schools of the primitive days of his boyhood. In 1841 he was married to Miss Mary Cooper, and four children were the results of their union, as follows: (1) William S., married and has three children—Leonard, Ella and Gertrude;(2) Lemuel, now living in Dover, Ohio; (3) Mary R., wife of W. H. Moulten, has one child—Ruth; and (4) Benjamin A., has two children—Lottie E. and Edna L. Mr. Bacon in his political predilections was in his early days an Old-line Henry Clay Whig, and of late years has been a stanch Republican. LIVA BROWN, a highly respected citizen of Brownhelm township, is a native of New York State, born in Cayuga county, N. Y., December 8, 1830, a son of Daniel and Adaline (Peck) Brown. The father of our subject was born in New York State, and about 1836 came to Erie county, Ohio, locating in the town of Florence for a time, but later moving to Vermillion, same county, thence to Brown-helm township, Lorain county. In 1851 he moved to Marshall, Mich., where he died in 1886 at the age of seventy-seven years. He was an active politician, voting the straight Democratic ticket. His wife died when thirty-three years old. Five children were born to them, viz.: Mary, widow of James Raney; Liva; Jane, who married A. Thompson, and afterward married Nuten Case (she lives in Marshall, Mich.); Jerry, in Wisconsin; and Sallie, wife of Charles Bodfish, of Vermillion, Ohio. Both the paternal and maternal grandparents of our subject died in New York State. Liva Brown, whose name appears at the opening of this sketch, was about six years old when his parents brought him to Ohio. He received a fair education at the public schools, and was trained to farming pursuits, but for about thirty-one years devoted his time chiefly to the buying and selling of wool, live stock, etc.; for the past few years, however, he has withdrawn from that work and confined himself to farming, as better suited to his health. In 1851 Mr. Brown married Miss Clarissa Harris, who was born at Berlin, Erie Co., Ohio, February 13, 1832, and four children—one son and three daughters—have been born to them, as follows: (1) Jerry, born December 6, 1851, married October 11, 1882, to Lillie L. Penson (they have four children: Manda S., Liva, Orrin D. and Blanche); (2) Ara, married January 1, 1872, to Wilber Wood, of Brownhelm, Lorain Co., Ohio (two children were born to this union, a daughter, Bertha, born February 20, 1873, and a son, Liva, born in 1875, and died in 1879; Ara Wood died at Cheboygan, Mich., January 25, 1885); (3) Bertha, born May 16, 1859, married May 23, 1880, to John Hull, of Brownhelm, Lorain Co., Ohio, and died June 23, 1880; and (4) Clara, born October 13, 1869. In his political affiliations Mr. Brown is a Democrat. C. A. STURTEVANT, dealer in real estate, in the town of Lorain, is descended, on his father's side, from an old New York Dutch family who originally spelled their name Stuyvesant, of whom Peter Stuyvesant, the last Govenor of New Netherland (New York), was LORAIN COUNTY, OHIO - 887 a member. A " Tree " of the family, now in possession of one of them, shows their lineage back over six hundred years. Asher Sturtevant, grandfather of subject, was born in Dutchess county, N. Y., and married an Englishwoman who lived to be one hundred and five years old. Our subject's paternal great-grandmother was a full-blooded French woman, while on his mother,s side he comes of Welsh and English ancestry. Horace Sturtevant, father of C. A., was born in Delaware county, N. Y., and was there married to Miss Sarah Weeks, his second wife; they moved to Cleveland, Ohio, where he passed the rest of his days, dying at the age of seventy-one years. He was for many years a farmer, and afterward a watchman for the Standard Oil Company in Cleveland. In 1861 he enlisted in Company B, Seventy-Sixth O. V. I., and was under Gens. Osterhouse and Sherman. Afterward he was transferred to Washington, D.C., and was one of the soldiers who guarded Lincoln. after he was shot. He served in the army nearly five years, and then received an honorable discharge. His widow is now aged seventy-two years. They were the parents of five children, all yet living. C. A. Sturtevant was born in Norwalk, Conn., November 5, 1852, and came west with his parents when seven years old. He received a fair district-school education, and between the ages of fourteen and nineteen had to work hard on his father's farm, for, being the.eldest in the family, and his father much disabled through exposure while in the army, a great deal of the duties about the home place devolved on him. When nineteen years old he commenced to work for the Standard Oil Co. in Cleveland—first as timekeeper and then as foreman. On leaving this he learned the trade of plumber, gas and steam fitter; but abandoning this business he took up that of contractor and builder, making a good success, erecting as many as forty-two houses in one year, besides the Gas Works. He then merged into the real-estate business. He came to Lorain in May, 1881, and has been identified with a number of interests since living here. He was married in 1876, and has five children: Ida, Ada, Ira, Eva and Ora. Politically our subject is a Harrison Republican, and he is a member of the K. of P., I. O. O. F. and A. F. & A. M. He had a half-brother who died in 1862 in Helena, Ark., while a soldier. BENJAMIN WADSWORTH., the largest landowner among the agriculturists of Lorain county, and a most progressive and enterprising citizen, was born in Becket, Mass., May 16, 1821, a son of Lorin Wadsworth, also a native of Becket, where he was born in 1800. Benjamin Wadsworth, grandfather of subject, came from the East to Lorain county, Ohio, and took up land in Wellington township, whereon he lived seventy years, and which is yet known as the old family homestead. His son Lorin came west in about the year 1821, and made his first home in Lorain county in the log cabin his father had erected in Wellington township. Here he carried on agriculture till within a short time before his death, which occurred in 1862. He was in politics originally a Whig, later a Republican, and in church affiliation he was a Presbyterian. At the time of his coming to Wellington, now a flourishing city, there were only four or five houses in the place. The subject of this sketch received a liberal public-school education, and worked on his father's farm till he was twenty-four years old, when he embarked in agricultural pursuits .for his own account, his first farm comprising ninety-five acres of wild land, to which he from time to time added until now he is the owner of 1,014 888 - LORAIN COUNTY, OHIO. acres, making him the largest landowner in the farming community of the county. For many years he reared, grazed and sold sheep, at one time effecting a sale amounting to four thousand dollars. In May, 1851, he married Miss Maria E. Ames, who was born in Becket, Mass., in 1825, and they have two children, viz.: Elmer, married, and living on one of his father's farms; and Jane, married to Frank J. Eckels, also living on one of the farms. Their family numbers six children, named as follows: Elmer P., Jennie W., Herron Ames, Frank, Jr., Maria and James Starr. In his political predilections Mr. Wadsworth is a strong Republican, originally an Old-line Whig. He is a member of the Congregational Church, and gave four thousand dollars to assist in building their handsome twenty-four thousand dollar church in Wellington. For the Civil war he furnished a substitute, paying. four hundred and twenty-five dollars for the same, besides helping the cause in many other ways. Though blind, he went to the "World,s Fair," and has a very good idea of its wonderful magnitude. GEORGE CLIFTON. Not in Avon township, nor indeed in all the county of Lorain, is there to be found any citizen, in any sphere of life, who is in the enjoyment of a higher degree of respect than was in his lifetime the gentleman whose name here appears. Mr. Clifton was born, in 1813, in Northamptonshire, one of the midland counties of England, a son of William Clifton, a native of the same county, where during nearly all his life he was engaged in agricultural pursuits andgardening. William was there married, and children were born to him as follows: William, George, John, Fanny, Elizabeth, Mary, Rosana, and one other daughter whose name is not remembered. The parents died in England. At about the age of eighteen or twenty George Clifton immigrated to America, and after landing carne at once westward to Ohio, making a halt in Avon township, Lorain county. Here he entered the service of Joel Townshend, remaining with him some years, earning the respect and confidence of his employer by his steady habits and plodding industry. Leaving, Mr. Townshend, he next found employment on a lake vessel in the capacity of steward, winning during his stay on the ship the utmost confidence of the captain and others, by his characteristic devotion to his duty, and his obliging manner to all alike. After a residence of a year or two in this country, our subject revisited his native land, where he married Miss Ann Moore, a resident of Northamptonshire. The young couple then set out for their new home in the " Far West," coining direct to Lorain county and to Avon township, in the eastern part of which they made a settlement. Here he took up agriculture, which he followed successfully until retiring from active work. Moving to the present homestead, he here erected large and substantial buildings, and here some of the family are yet living. The children born to George Clifton were one son that died in infancy, and one daughter, Rosana, now Mrs. E. P. Burrill, of Sheffield township. The mother of these dying in 1856, in September, 1857, Mr. Clifton married Miss Bessie, daughter of John Charlton, of Leicestershire, England, by which union there were three children, viz.: Alice and Lena (deceased in infancy) and S. G. (who now conducts the home farm). Mr. Clifton was a representative self-made man—a pioneer of the truest type--whose courage and perseverance, coupled with sound judgment, judicious economy and untiring industry, aided him in his hard struggle to found a home. "He filled the office of justice of the peace for several terms, was auditor of the county LORAIN COUNTY, OHIO - 891 four years, and was also county commissioner for a term or two, all of which offices he filled with ability and integrity. * * He was withal a great reader, and kept himself thoroughly informed not only on the affairs of this country, but of European countries as well. A stanch Republican, he always gave our Government his hearty support. In the time of the Civil war he was very active in the work of procuring recruits, giving more than any other man in the township toward raising the quota of soldiers, though on account of his age not subject to the draft. On account of his knowledge of law, and also his abilities as a financier, his advice was sought by many who always found him a willing and safe adviser. Much more might be truly said in praise of him, but time forbids. His place is not easily filled." In 1861 he was a member of the board of equalization. Mr. Clifton died February 7,1883. NATHANIEL TOMPKINS, a member of one of the early pioneer families of Eaton township, was born in 1829 in Tompkins county, N. Y. His parents, Samuel and Betsy (Tellis) Tompkins, were born in 1805 in Newfield, Tompkins Co., N. Y., and in early pioneer days came thence to Lorain county; Ohio, settling in Eaton township. Nathaniel Tompkins was about four years of age when he Came with his parents to Eaton township, where he was reared and educated. Mr. Tompkins was first married in New York, in 1861, to Mary O. Benedict, who died in Lorain county in 1881, and in 1885 he married, in Eaton township, for his second wife, Miss Esther A. Earl, a native of Lorain county. Mrs. Tompkins is a daughter of Recompense Crowell Earl, who was born March 10, 1799, in Essex county, N. J. In 1813 he moved with his parents to Tomp kins county, N. Y., where he lived till 1825, when he married Miss Anna Fauver. In 1836 they came with their five children to Eaton, Lorain Co., Ohio, where in 1828 Mr. Earl had purchased twenty acres of land, on which he resided until his death, which occurred in 1885. Mr. Tompkins rents the twenty acres of land which his father-in-law purchased, now well cultivated and highly improved, where he carries on general farming. In politics he is a Republican. In 1864 he went to Michigan, where he resided for some years. RICHARD WELLS POMROY, who is prominent in social and Insurance circles, is a native of Bristol, Ontario Co., N. Y., where he was born June 3,1825, the son of Samuel and Penelope (Allen) Pomroy. His father was a native of Springfield, Mass., and was a man of remarkable vigor, being ninety-four years old at the time of his death. Mr. Pomroy came of a family remarkable for their longevity, the grandfather and one uncle living to be ninety-four years of age, while two other uncles reached the age of ninety-three and ninety-five respectively. The subject of our sketch received his education at the Academy at Canandaigua, N. Y. He then taught school for a time, after which he embarked in the mercantile business in his own town, remaining in the same until 1857, in which year he came to Ohio. Here he was engaged in the same business until 1870, when he abandoned that line and took up the Insurance business, to which he has since given his entire attention. He commenced exclusively in Life Insurance, which branch he carried on for three years, since when he has been in Fire Insurance alone, having built up a large business. Mr. Pomroy was married April 10, 1853, to Miss Annie L. Sisson, daughter 892 - LORAIN COUNTY, OHIO. of General Horatio and Clotilda Taylor Sisson, natives of Ontario county, N. Y., and seven children have been born to them, of whom the following is a brief record: Frances L. is the wife of Dr. H. Pomeroy, of Cleveland, Ohio; Grace S. is the wife of Watson E. Boise, clerk of the State Legislature of North Dakota; Mary E. and Alice C. are both teachers; Charles W., the only son, is connected with the Western Automatic Screw Company, of Elyria; Annie M. is a teacher of music in the Conservatory at Grand Forks, North Dakota; and Harriet A. In politics, Mr. Pomroy was originally a Whig, and, since the formation of the party, has been a stanch Republican. E. THEW. for over forty years a resident of Columbia township, is a native of New York State, born in Clinton county in 1816, a son of Daniel and Electa (Nichols) Thew, also of that State, who both died in Clinton county. They reared a family of eleven sons (three of whom served in the war of the Rebellion), their names being as follows: Robert, Eleazar, Gilbert, Garret, Henry, Charles, Nathan, John, Josephus, Beth uel and James. The subject of our sketch received his education at the schools of Clinton county, N. Y., in those early days held in a log cabin with very primitive furnishings. He was thoroughly trained to agricultural pursuits, and has been a lifelong farmer, having now a well-cultivated piece of land of some ninety-five acres in Columbia township. He was married, in 1837, in Clinton county, N. Y., to Miss Mary Calkins, a native thereof, and in 1852 they came to Lorain county, where Mr. Thew bought a partly-improved farm, on which he erected a good residence and barn. Two children, -both now deceased, were born to this union, viz.: Cornelia, married to Lemuel Osborne, and Elizabeth. The mother of these died, and in 1872 Mr. Thew wedded Miss Amanda McNichols, a native of Vermont, who came when a child to Medina county, Ohio, where she was reared. Politically Mr. Thew is a Democrat, and served his township as trustee one term. CHARLES W. SUMNER, a retired school teacher, now a prosperous agriculturist of Eaton township, was born in Medina county, Ohio, in 1854. Clement Sumner, father of subject, was born in Vermont, and about 1853 came to Medina county, Ohio, where he followed the vocation of a farmer. For some years he had taught school in Ashland and Holmes counties, same State. In Medina county he married Mrs. Almira (Hier) Gardner (widow of Lewis Gardner), a native of Massachusetts, and their only child is the subject of this sketch. They died in Medina county, Ohio, the father in 1873, the mother in 1888. Clement Sumner had been previously married, and his children by that union were Catherine, wife of Edwin Helbert, of Ashland county, Ohio; Phebe, wife of Samuel Mullin, of Jewell county, Kans.; and Solon, married, residing in Cattarangus county, N. Y. Mrs. Almira (Hier) Sumner by her first husband had five children, as follows: Andrew (married), a farmer of Brunswick, Medina Co., Ohio; Lucas (married), a farmer of Page county, Iowa; Lewis (married), a farmer of Missouri; Lucinda, wife of William Johnson, of Preemption, Mercer Co., Ill.; Julia Ann, wife of Christiau Winegar, of Saranac, Ionia Co., Mich. Grandfather Sumner was a native of Vermont, while grandfather Hier was from Germany, in an early day immigrating to Massachusetts, thence moving with an ox-team to Medina county, Ohio, where he died in 1868, being preceded to the grave by his wife. LORAIN COUNTY, OHIO - 893 Charles W. Sumner was reared and educated in his native county, and at the age of twenty years commenced teaching in the same county, continuing three successive terms at the home district school, later in township schools in Eaton and Columbia townships, moving to Eaton township in 1889. In Columbia township he resided some ten years. In 1888 he gave up teaching, and has since applied his attention solely to farming, on his place of ninety acres, which he owns. In 1878, in Eaton township, Mr. Sumner was married to Miss Mary C. Longbon, a native of the township, daughter of John J. and Ellen (Walker) Longbon, early pioneers of Eaton, where the father died in 1888. To Mr. and Mrs. Sumner were born children as follows: Ellen, Irvin, Mary, Earl (deceased at the age of five years and Grace (deceased at the age of three . Originality and good judgment are the most prominent characteristics of Mr. Sumner, who is a Republican in his political sympathies, and is a highly-respected citizen. F. W. PIERCE. The subject of this sketch is now in the prime of life, one among the most active business men in the town of Lorain. His ancestors were of New England origin. His father, Philemon Pierce, who was a native of the State of New York, married Miss Diantha Hovey, of the same. State, and to them were born five children, viz.: George, Ann, Eliza, John and Fred. W. Those sterling characteristics of the New England people Philemon Pierce possessed to a great degree—ingenuity, industry and economy. His trade was that of a carriage builder, which he followed through life'. In 1850 he left the place of his birth to, seek for himself a home in Ohio, which Was then considered the" Far West:" Locating in Brunswick, Medina county, he here lived and worked at his trade until his removal to Carlisle, Lorain county, where he resided until his deaths which occurred in 1862. It was in the year 1855, amid those stirring times just preceding the Civil war, that Fred. W. Pierce was born, on the first day of November. Early bereft of his father, he was required to depend on his own resources for a livelihood. When fifteen years of age he went to Owosso, Mich., where he went to school for two years. With this education, and that other equally important, the knowledge of a good trade, he was well prepared for the practical duties of life. When he came back from Michigan he located, in 1872, in Lorain. His natural inclination leading him into mechanical pursuits, he served an apprenticeship as a regular carriage builder; but not satisfied with this he learned the carpenter's trade. Gradually he discontinued the trade of carriage building, and came to devote his whole time to building and contracting, which has absorbed his whole attention for the last seven years. His skill, industry and integrity have won for him his well-deserved success, which has come during these busy years. The many buildings which he has erected stand as substantial evidence of the work, for which he has no reason to be ashamed. Prominent among these are the school building in South Lorain and the Methodist Episcopal church, the finest building in the city, erected in 1892. Mr. Pierce has the knowledge of how work ought to be done, and the fidelity to see that it is done as the contract defines. While thus occupied, opportunities for some business in real estate were presented, which he has improved to great advantage, so that as a result he has come into the possession of some very valuable property, which in that growing town, with values increasing, will tend to enhance his wealth largely in the future. At times his business assumed large proportions, when he had under his employ twenty men working on public jobs amounting to thousands of dollars. 894 - LORAIN COUNTY, OHIO. That which is not the least item of importance is the home which he has been permitted to build and enjoy. The young lady of his choice, Miss Addie Bayless, resided at Lipton, Ohio, and they were united in marriage in Sandusky, Ohio, July 3, 1877. In both toils and successes they have been partners, and thus know how to enjoy the results of their labor and success. The truest independence is to make your own fortune, and enjoy it. The number of Mr. Pierce's family is exactly equal to that of his father, viz.: five. They bear the names: Pearl, Ray, Frank, Clara and Blanche. Like all wide-awake citizens of this Republic, Mr. Pierce possesses his positive convictions and party affiliations. This seems unavoidable, where politics are in the food, and in the very air we breathe. We grow that way. Or perhaps the well-known law of heredity may account for some of it. His father was identified with that party which had the honor of electing one of the best men who ever occupied the Presidental chair—the party which made the most brilliant history for a quarter of a century. It is unnecessary to say that it was the Republican party which had on its roll such respectable and heroic politicians as Stanton, Chase, Sumner and Abraham Lincoln. Hence we need not be surprised that a son of Philemon Pierce, a Republican, should likewise be a Republican. Mr. Pierce is thus a well-established and fixed quantity in the city of Lorain. It is no small honor which belongs to him, for he enjoys the confidence of its people. In obedience to their call he is serving them on the board of councilmen. They know that such a trust will be held in his hands with safety. One of the most useful and beneficial Orders of Lorain, in a business line, is that of the K. 0. T. M., and there are many widows and orphans in the town to bear witness to its benefits. Mr. F. W. Pierce was the twenty-fifth charter member of the Lorain Lodge of this Order. Truly the outlook for Mr. Pierce is encouraging. Yet but a young man, he occupies a good position among his fellows; he stands on the advantage ground of his past achievements, and certainly has much to hope for, and look forward to, in the years to come. No doubt with the same careful and industrious course in the future, Time will dispense his gifts with equal generosity. DEACON JOHN SEWARD CASE, one of the oldest citizens of Wellington township, is a native of Connecticut, having been born in the town of Granby, Hartford county, July 11, 1808. He is a son of Dr. Gideon Case, who was born in Canton, Conn., and who became an eminent physician and surgeon, educated probably in Simsbury, that State. He practiced in his native State until he came to Ohio, in 1818, when he resumed practice in Hudson, Portage county. He was killed by the kick of a horse, about the year 1822. His entire journey from Connecticut to Ohio was made in a three-horse wagon. He married Miss Persis Seward, a native of GranvIlle, Mass. (and daughter of Capt. John Seward, of Revolutionary fame), who died at the age of eighty-six years. Seven children were born to them, of which the following is a brief record: John Seward is the subject proper of this sketch; Gideon W. resides near Nauvoo, Ill.; Otis P. resides in Aurora, Portage county, on the old Grandfather Seward homestead; Jane married Mr: Nix, and died in Portage county, Ohio; Lucia married Mr. Demming, of Rootstown, Portage Co., Ohio (she is now deceased); Albert died in Michigan a year or two ago; Dr. Almon Case was a member of the State Legislature of Tennessee in the period of the Civil war, during which time he was killed by bushwhackers, it is presumed on account of his anti- LORAIN COUNTY, OHIO - 897 slavery views. The mother married, for her second husband, Arial Case (no relative of her first husband), and they afterward lived in Rootstown, Portage Co., Ohio, where two sons were born to them. The subject of this sketch was, as will be seen, ten years old when his parents came to Portage county, Ohio. After his school days he commenced learning the trade of tanner and currier, finishing the same at Kent, Portage county. In November, 1829, he came to Lorain county, and commenced the tanning business, in 1830, in the town of Wellington, opposite where the ice house now stands, and successfully operated the same until some twelve or fifteen years ago, when he retired from business. He taught school during the winter of 1829-30 in an old log house, where Mallory's store now stands, which cabin was also used as a church at the same time. Shortly after his arrival he became associated with the Congregational Church, in which he has been a deacon since 1846, and to which he has contributed liberally of his means, as well as to all charitable institutions. Mr. Case has been twice married: First time in October, 1832, to Miss Diantha Blair, a daughter of James Blair, of Massachusetts, and sister to the mother of Gov. Fairchild, of Wisconsin. The record of the children of this union is as follows: (1) Celia is the wife of Mr. Stewart, and lives in Romney, Tippecanoe Co., Ind.; she taught school for many years in Tennessee, and in Romney. (2) Helen married Mr. Luther Miller, of Cedar Hill, Ohio, but nearly all of her married life was spent in Romney, Ind., where she was buried in 18—; she was the mother of three children: Mary, now Mrs. U. Z. Moore, of Columbus; Frank Case, a recent graduate of the Ohio State University, and a civil engineer in Columbus; and Cassius, named after Gen. Cassius Fairchild, of Wisconsin, a farmer of Cedar Hill, Ohio. (3) Col. Frauk S. (now deceased) was an officer in the Second Ohio Cavalry dur ing the Civil war, being captain of a company, and was shot through the lungs; after the war he was colonel in the Seventh Ohio State Guards, and on Gov. Foster's staff; he was present at Garfield's inauguration at Washington, D. C., and his was the largest regiment out at the funeral of that President in Cleveland. He was born December 21,1838, received his education at Wellington and Oberlin. He was a good stump speaker, and was chairman of the Republican committee of Logan county. He died August 9, 1887, from wounds received in battle. At the time of his death he was treasurer of Logan county, Ohio. His widow, formerly Miss Clara Burr, of Brighton, to whom he was married in 1864 while home on leave of absence, now resides in Bellefon taine. (4) Emma married Rev. Charles E. Manchester, D. D., pastor of the Broadway M. E. Church, Cleveland, Ohio; they have children as follows: William C. (twenty-one years of age) and Frank S. (aged seventeen). The mother of this family was born, in 1807, in Blandford, Mass., and died October 19, 1848. For his second wife Mr. Case married Miss Lucinda A. Ely, of Elyria, who w.as born December 25, 1819, in Deerfield, Ohio, and died January 24,1893. To this union there were two children, both of whom died young—one in infancy, the other, Mary, at the age of six years. In his political preferences Deacon Case is a stanch Republican, originally an Old-line Whig, his first vote being cast for John Quincy Adams. ADAM KOLBE, a prominent farmer of Black River township, was born near Hersfeld, Germany, August 18,1848. He is a son of Henry W. and Elizabeth Kolbe, who were the parents of nine children, named as follows: Eliza (Mrs. Spiegelberg), Henrietta (Mrs. Bech- 898 - LORAIN COUNTY, OHIO. stein),  Christina (Mrs. Smithkous), Adam (subject of sketch), Henry, Catharine (Mrs. Holstein), Mary (Mrs. Neiding), Emma (Mrs. Bechtel) and William. In 1856 the family came to the United States, first locating in the, then, village of Lorain, Lorain Co., Ohio, afterward, in 1867, settling on a farm in Black River township, same county, where the parents followed agricultural pursuits till advanced age compelled them to retire from active life. The father died October 8, 1893; the mother, now in her seventy-seventh year, is living with her son Adam on the farm in Black River township. She is a member of the Evangelical Association, as was also her husband. Adam Kolbe received a liberal education at the public schools, and was reared to agricultural pursuits on his father,s farm. In 1873 he married Miss Caroline Faber, who died in May, 1891, leaving one child, a son named Lawrence A. Mr. Kolbe has remained on a farm ever since, and in the town of Lorain, in the same county, he en- gaged in the fishery business for about four years, as a member of the firm of Kolbe Bros. & Co., in which he was financially successful. In 1889 he withdrew from the firm, and has since been living on the farm in Black River township. In religious faith Mr. Kolbe is a member of the Evangelical Church; socially he is a member of Lorain Lodge, Knights of the Maccabees; politically he is a Republican. E. L. BURGE, an enterprising progressive citizen of Oberlin, was born in September, 1837, in Orange township, Ashland Co., Ohio, where he passed his early life. His father, John Y. Burge, was a native of Pennsylvania, and in an early day came to Richland (now Ashland) county, Ohio, where he passed the remainder of his days. He was a cooper by trade. He married Mary Lowry, a native of Vir ginia, and they became the parents of twelve children, six of whom are still living, namely: Benjamin, a farmer of Greenwich, Huron Co., Ohio; John Y., a farmer of Brighton township, Lorain county; E. C., also farming in Brighton township; Rachel, a resident of Ashland, Ohio; Sarah, wife of John Goldsmith, of Richland county, Ohio; and E. L. The father of this family died in 1841, the mother in 1878. E. L. Burge received his education in the district schools of his native county, and in 1859 came to Lorain county, which has since been his home. He followed farming for a few years in Brighton township, and in August, 1861, enlisted, at Wellington, Ohio, in Company H, Second Ohio Cavalry, for three years. He was mustered in at Cleveland, and served for a while on the frontier, in January, 1862, being stationed at Ft. Leavenworth, Kans., and later at Ft. Scott. He participated in the battles of Pea Ridge and Diamond Grove, was next in Kentucky, and after. ward took part in the Morgan raid at Knoxville, Tenn. In 1864 he veteranized, at Mossy Creek, Tenn., in the same company and regiment, and was subsequently in the engagements of the Wilderness and Cedar Creek, also serving under General Sheridan in the Shenandoah Valley. Mr. Burge took part in the Grand Review at Washington, thence going to Springfield, Mo., and on September 20, 1865, he was honorably discharged at Columbus, Ohio. He returned to Brighton township, Lorain county, where he remained until 1882, since which time he has been a resident of Oberlin. On March 8, 1864, Mr. Burge was married to Miss Harriet J. Tucker, a native of Camden township, Lorain county, daughter of Matthew and Rosanna (Martin) Tucker, early pioneers of the county; the father died in 1878; his widow is now residing in Pittsfield, Lorain county. To Mr. and Mrs. Burge was born one daughter, May B., who graduated from Oberlin LORAIN COUNTY, OHIO - 899 College in the class of 1891; she is now principal of a school at Delta, Ohio. Mr. Burge is actively interested in politics, and supports the principles of the Republican party; he has been delegate to various conventions, served one term as deputy sheriff of Lorain county, and in 1889 was elected city marshal of Oberlin, a position he still occupies. Socially he is a member of. Henry Lincoln Post No. 564, G. A. R, and in religion he and his wife are members of the Second Congregational Church of Oberlin. ROWELL CALVIN ADAMS, dealer in agricultural implements, seeds of all kinds, fertilizers, etc., Wellington, is a native of Wellington township, born February 1. 1838, of an old Connecticut family. He is a son of Calvin and Eunice (Smith) Adams, the former of whom was a native of the " Nutmeg State, " whence prior to his marriage he came west to Ohio, settling on a farm in Wellington township, Lorain county, where he was engaged in agricultural pursuits till a short time before his death, which occurred in 1864. He was twice married, and by his first wife, Eunice (Smith), he had five children, namely: Edwin, deceased in childhood; Fayette, who died when young; Marcia, now the widow of R. F. Jones, of Wellington, Ohio; Rowell Calvin, and Lois, who died, unmarried, in 1879. The subject of this biographical sketch received a liberal education at district school No. 4, Wellington township, attending a few winter terms, the remainder of the year being occupied on his father's farm, where he continued to reside till 1865, in which year he removed to Huntington township, and here bought a farm of 113 acres prime land, where, until about 1882, he carried on general farming, including dairying, buying and selling stock, etc. In that year he came to Wellington, after a time opening out his present prosperous business. On 'September 29, 1859, he was married to Miss Melva A. Whiting, born in Pittsfield township, Lorain county, October 15, 1840, and four children have come to this union: Rosa M., wife of Delmer I. Beckley; Mrs. E. L. Wilcox; Grace M., and Leon R. Politically Mr. Adams is a lifelong Republican, and two years ago he united with the Prohibitionists. He is not identified with any particular church; his wife is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Society. During the. war of the Rebellion he enlisted three times, but on each occasion he was rejected on account of physical disability caused by an accident he ,net with when fourteen years old, whereby his leg was broken, and he has been slightly crippled ever since. He is doing an excellent business, thoroughly understanding the wants of the community in his line of trade. FRANCIS N. ELDRED is one of the enterprising native-born agriculturists of Elyria township, where in 1850 he first saw the light. He is a son of Noah and Harmony (Redington) Eldred, the former of whom was born in the State of New York, whence, in company with his father, Moses Eldred, he came to Ohio in 1811, settling in Ridgeville township, Lorain county. Grandfather Eldred was a soldier in the Revolution ; by occupation he was a farmer, and he also kept a tavern in Ridgeville township; he died in Elyria, his wife in Ridgeville. Noah Eldred, father of subject, received a limited education at the subscription schools of Ridgeville township. In Amherst township he married Harmony Redington; then settled on the farm now owned by our subject, and here he died in 1882, his wife having preceded him to the grave in 1854.