800 - HISTORY OF THE WESTERN RESERVE church and town in such a way that his career is part of the history of that community. He died in Conneaut in 1907. He married Mary Rutherford, a native of Pittsburg, and they had five children, all of them born in Mercer county, namely : Elizabeth, a resident of Erie, Pennsylvania ; Samuel R., a resident of Conneaut ; Gertrude M., Mrs. J. E. Close, of Conneaut ; Walter T., of Cleveland ; and Anna Bell, who died at the age of eleven months. The father was in the ministry at Mercer, Pennsylvania, from 1857 to 1874, and at Rock Island, Illinois, from 1874 for five years. He then moved to Bradford, Pennsylvania, and from there to Conneaut. The son Walter completed his early schooling at Rock Island, and at Bradford became a reporter for a newspaper. On coming to Conneaut he became editor of the Herald, and was in that position until he became associated with the manufacturing business of Mr. Record. After the sale, in 1901, of the tin-plate works to the American Can Company, he became state manager for the corporation, with office at Cleveland. His marriage to May Ellidia Record in 1890 is mentioned in the preceding pages. HENRY WHITE TYLER is one of the venerable and honored pioneer citizens of Garrettsville. He is a native son of Portage county, a scion of one of the old and honored families of the Western Reserve, has lived from the time of his birth in Portage county, and has contributed his quota to its development and material upbuilding. For nearly a quarter of a century he was the leading contractor and builder of Garrettsville, and in this community are many splendid monuments to his skill in his chosen vocation. After a business career of signal activity and usefulness, attended with its due complement of success, he is now living virtually retired, favored with an attractive home and its attendant comforts and surrounded by a host of friends, tried and true, so that he may well feel, as the shadows of his life begin, to lengthen, that his "lines are cast in pleasant places." Henry White Tyler was born in Hiram township, Portage county, Ohio, on the 22d of February, 1834, and is a son of Calvin and Emma (White) Tyler, both natives of the State of New York, where the respective fami-. lies were founded in an early day. Calvin Tyler was reared and educated in the old Empire state of the Union, where .he remained until after his marriage and whence he immigrated to the Western Reserve in 1832. He located in Hiram township, Portage county, where he secured a tract of land from the state of Connecticut, whose holding of its possessions in Ohio gave title to the Western Reserve. The deed to the property was given to him by the duly constituted authorities of Connecticut. The land was still practically unreclaimed from the virgin forest, so that upon him devolved the strenuous and protracted labors which fell to the lot of other sturdy pioneers in this now opulent and favored section of Ohio. .He developed one of the valuable farms of Portage county and continued to reside on the old homestead, one of the honored and influential citizens of his community, until 1872, when he went with his wife to Rouseville, Pennsylvania, where they passed the remainder of their lives in the home of their son, Dr. W. C. Tyler. Calvin Tyler was to transcend the span of three score years and ten, allotted by the psalmist, since he was about ninety-four years of age at the time of his demise—a veritable patriarch in a goodly land. He was a son of Hiel Tyler, who passed his entire life in the state of New York and who was a representative of a sterling family founded in New England in the colonial epoch. The family is 0f staunch English origin. Mrs. Emma (White) Tyler was born in the eastern part of the state of New York, where she was reared and where her marriage to Calvin Tyler was solemnized. She was a daughter of Jeremiah White, who likewise was a native of the state of New York, where he passed his entire life. She was about eighty-two years of age at the time of her death and passed away in the secure Christian faith through which her life had ever been guided and governed. Both she and her husband were devout members of the Baptist church. They became the parents of three sons and two daughters, all of whom are living except the oldest daughter, Matilda, who became the wife of L. A. Burroughs, and who died at the age of seventy-two years. Henry W:, of this review, who was the third in order of birth, is the only one who still resides in Portage county. Henry W. Tyler reverts with pleasing memories to his boyhood days on the old homestead farm which was the place of his birth and there he was reared to years of maturity, in the meanwhile availing himself of the advantages of the common schools of what may be termed the middle-pioneer epoch in this section of the state. He thus attended the primitive HISTORY OF THE WESTERN RESERVE - 801 district school during the winter terms and through the summer seasons gave his aid in the work of the home farm, where he waxed strong in mind and body under the sturdy discipline involved. He continued to be associated in the work and management of the farm until he had attained to his legal majority, when he entered upon an apprenticement to the trade of carpenter, serving the full term and becoming a skilled artisan and master builder. Thus admirably qualified for his chosen vocation it is not difficult to realize that his ability, coupled with energy, ambition and sterling integrity of purpose, soon gained to him definite prestige and success. He took up his residence in Garrettsville in 1864, and no other man has contributed in so large measure to the upbuilding of this village as he, for it is a matter of record that he has here erected more buildings than has any other carpenter or contractor who has ever been engaged in business in the village. He continued to be actively engaged in contracting and building until 1891, since which time he has lived retired in his fine homestead, which was erected by him and which is pleasantly located on Windham street, being one of the most attractive homes in the village. Not only has Mr. Tyler thus aided in tbe advancement of his home town through his specificMors as a contractor and builder, but he has also shown the public spirit and progressive ideas which ever prove potent in furthering civic advancement. All worthy measures for the general good of the community have received his support and co-operation and he has viewed with much gratification the various stages of the development of Garrettsville from an obscure hamlet to the status of an attractive and thriving little city. In politics Mr. Tyler has been identified with the Republican party from the time of its organization, as he cast his first presidential vote for its first presidential candidate, General John C. Fremont, and since that time each successive election has witnessed his deposition of a ballot in support of the Republican candidate for the presidency, while in state and local affairs he is always found arrayed in support of the party principles. He and his wife are most zealous and devoted members of the Congregational church and bave been active in all parents of its work in their home village. He served many years as a memberof the board of trustees of his church and in the same has held other official preferments. In the connection it may be stated that he erected the Congregational church edifice, besides two of the other three church buildings in Garrettsville, where many of the best residences also stand in evidence of his ability and effective labors in past years. On the 8th of September, 1860, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Tyler to Miss Jane Clark, who was born in Nelson township, Portage county, Ohio, July 7, 1836, and who is a daughter of Silas and Sarah Ann (Paine) Clark, the former of whom was born in Connecticut and the latter in the state of New York. Silas Clark was about six years of age at the time that his father, Wells Clark, removed with his family from Connecticut, to the Western Reserve, where he numbered himself among the early settlers of Nelson township, Portage county, and where he reclaimed a farm and passed the remainder of his life. Silas Clark became one of the representative farmers and influential citizens of the same township, where he was reared to maturity and where he continued to make his home until his death, in the fulness of years and well earned honors. His wife was reared and educated in the state of New York, whence she came to Portage county when a young woman, for the purpose of engaging as a teacher in the local schools. She was thus employed, in Nelson township, until Silas Clark prevailed upon her to abandon the pedagogic profession and become his wife. Their married life was one of mutual affection and helpfulness and was idyllic in character during the long years of their companionship. Mr. Clark died at the, age of sixty-three years, and his wife long survived him, passing away at the exceptionally venerable age of ninety-three years. They became the parents of two sons and four daughters, and of this number, three are now living. The parents were devout members of the Congregational church and their lives counted for good in all relations. Mrs. Tyler was reared and educated in Nelson township, and that she made good use of her opportunities is evident when we revert to the fact that when but fifteen years of age she became a teacher in the district schools. She continued in this vocation for eight years and was one of the successful and popular teachers in her native county at the time of her marriage. Mr. and Mrs. Tyler have one daughter, Myrta, who is an expert stenographer and who is employed as such in the office of A. S. Cole, engaged in the law business in the city of Ravenna, the capital of Portage county. 802 - HISTORY OF THE WESTERN RESERVE RANSOM KEN NEDY.—There is all of consistency in according in this publication a tribute to the sterling citizen and honored pioneer whose name introduces this article. He was long identified with lake marine affairs, in which connection he was the owner of vessels and active master of one or more, and later he became one of the leading business men of the village of Willoughby, Lake county, where the enterprise of which he was the founder is still continued, his son Hiram F., being one of the two interested principals in the same. Ransom Kennedy was born at Parkman, Geauga county, Ohio, on the 2d of December, 1820, and died at his home in Willoughby on the 3d of July, 1887. His father was a. native of Connecticut and was one o f the pioneer settlers in Geauga county, where he continued to reside until his death ; his wife was eighty-seven years of age at the time of her demise. Ransom Kennedy passed virtually his entire life in the Western Reserve and to its pioneer schools he was indebted for his early educational training. In his youth he learned the dual trade of carpenter and millwright, and he eventually became a successful ship builder, having constructed the "J. C. Hills" and also the "H. G. Williams" at Fairport Harbor, Lake bounty. He sailed as master of the latter vessel and was familiarly known as Captain Kennedy. He also purchased the "Saginaw," of which he was master. In 1848 he settled on the shore of Lake Erie, in Willoughby township, and there he developed a valuable farm while still actively identified with lake-navigation interests. On the, 17th of June, 1850, the steamer "Griffith" was wrecked off the coast near his home and he saved several lives at the time of this disaster,, as he did later on the occasion of those of minor order. He continued as a vessel owner and master about twenty years and he then, in 1865, removed from his farm to the village of Willoughby, where he opened a tin and grocery store. In 1870 he established a general hardware. store, in the conducting of which he associated himself with his son Hiram F., under the firm name of R. Kennedy & Son. He continued to be actively identified with this flourishing business until his death, since which time it has been continued under the firm name of Kennedy & Rockafellow. Of this firm Hiram F. Kennedy is now the senior member. The original store was destroyed by fire in 1882, and within a short time the present substantial brick structure was erected. The same is two stories in height, and the main building is twenty-five by eighty feet in dimensions. Back of this is a warehouse, twenty by seventy feet in dimensions and two stories in height. The entire building is demanded for the accommodation of the extensive business controlled by the firm. All kinds of heavy and shelf hardware are handled .and a first-class plumbing department has been added to the establishment. The stock carried represents an investment of ab0ut fifteen thousand dollars and the annual trade has reached the noteworthy aggregate of fully thirty thousand dollars a year. Mr. Kennedy was a man of sterling character and marked business acumen. As a citizen he was essentially public spirited and he to0k an active interest in local affairs. He was a Republican in his political proclivities and he served in various local offices of trust, including that of township trustee, as well as that of member of the village council of Willoughby. His wife was a devout member of the Christian or Disciples' church and he accorded to the same a liberal support. When about twenty years of age Rans0m Kennedy was united in marriage to Miss Laura White, daughter of Joseph White, an early settler of the village of Willoughby. Mrs. Kennedy was summoned to the life eternal in the year 1882, and of their children brief rec0rd is here given : Hiram F., the eldest is made the subject of more specific mention in following paragraphs ; Helen M., is a teacher in St. Paul, Minnesota; Joseph W., resides in New Y0rk City, where he is treasurer and purchasing, agent for the New York Steam Heating Company ; James L., is a successful merchant at Weeping Water, Nebraska ; Clara M., is the wife of U. M. Thomas, of Los Angeles, California ; Bertha E., is the wife of James T. Ingersoll, of St. Paul, Minnesota ; and Ransom S. died at the age of forty years. Hiram F. Kennedy was born in Mayfield, township, Cuyahoga county, Ohio, on the 14th of January, 1847, and was reared on the old homestead farm to which reference has been made in the preceding context. He continued to be associated with his father in his farming and navigation interests for fourteen years and for some time he held the position of first mate of the "Saginaw," a vessel owned by his father, as already noted. Of his connection with the fine business enterprise in the village of Willoughby mention has been 'made, and it is largely due to his energy and administrative ability that the 'firm now controls so large and substantial a trade. He is one of the HISTORY OF THE WESTERN RESERVE - 803 popular citizens and representative business men of Lake county, and he has ever stood ready to contribute to all enterprises and measures tending to conserve the general welfare and progress of his home town and county. He was treasurer of Willoughby township for a period of ten years, served nine years as a member of the village council and was a member of the village board of public affairs about six years. At the present time he is a member of the board of health of Willoughby and is a trustee of the .Andrews Institute for Girls, at Willoughby, being secretary and treasurer of the board of trustees. His political allegiance is given to the Republican party and he is a member of the board of trustees of the local Presbyterian church, in which his wife holds membership. In the Masonic fraternity Mr. Kennedy has attained to the 32d degree in the Ancient Accepted Scottish Rite, in which branch he is identified with the consistory of the valley of Cleveland. He is pastmaster of Willoughby Lodge, No. 302, Free and Accepted Masons ; past high priest of Painesville Chapter, No. 46, Arch Masons, at Painesville ; and past eminent commander of Eagle Commanders, No. 29, Knights Templars, in the same city. also holds membership in Al Koran Ternple, Ancient Arabic Order of the Mystic Shrine in the city of Cleveland, has served as represenative in the grand lodge, chapter and commandery, and is past worthy patron of Willoughby Chapter, No. 202, order of the Eastern Star, with which Mrs. Kennedy also is identified. In the year 1878 was solemnized the marriage of Hiram F. Kennedy to Miss Annah Rockafellow, who was born at Kirtland, Lake county, Ohio, and who is a daughter of Howell and Chloe (Parks) Rockafellow, both now deceased. Mr. and Mrs. Kennedy have no children but they have reared in their home the latter's niece, Miss Della Wightman. The attractive family home is a center of gracious hospitality and is a favored rendezvous for a wide circle of friends. LEWIS B. FISH—That part of the Western Reserve included within the boundaries of Ashtabula county is fortunate in having been settled by a remarkably enterprising., industrious and intelligent class of people; and among the number were the parents of Mr. Fish, and three of his brothers. His father, Benjamin Fish, settled not far from Geneva, and subsequently lived and died on the homestead he redeemed from the wilderness. He reared four sons, all of whom became residents of Ashtabula county, namely : Lathrop, Lewis B., Elijah B., and Hosea. Lathrop Fish bought land lying west of Geneva, and was there successfully engaged in tilling the soil a few years and then moved to DeKalb, Illinois. Elijah B. Fish owned land near the old village of Geneva. He was a carpenter by trade, being first located at Kingsville, and later in Geneva. When Geneva was incorporated, he owned considerable property in the village, but during his later years he resided on West Main street, in the west side of the city, his home being now owned by his nephew, David Fish. He died at the age of four score years. Elijah B. Fish was twice married, his first wife having been Calista Peck, and his second wife Patty Maria Keeley. He had no children by either marriage. Hosea Fish, the youngest son of Benjamin Fish, at one time was the owner of the old homestead in this county, but he sold out, and moved to Michigan and later to Kansas. A son of Benjamin and Achsa (Osborn) Fish, Lewis B. Fish was born, 1819, at Warehouse Point, Hartford, Connecticut, where he was brought up and educated, being trained to habits of industry and thrift in his New England home. At the age of twenty-one years, he came to the Western Reserve, following in the footsteps of his elder brother, Lathrop Fish, who was already living here. Marrying soon after coming to this county, he bought a tract of land lying one and one-half miles west of old Geneva, beginning life in the typical pioneer manner, and for many years after was one of the foremost in advancing the agricultural interests of that section of the country. Selling out in 1844, he moved to the North Ridge, buying a part of the farm formerly owned by his brother Lathrop, who had migrated to Illinois, where he spent his last days. On this farm, which was one and one-half miles west of Geneva, he made' improvements of a substantial character, and was there profitably engaged in general farming until his death, April 5, 1885. Lewis B. Fish married Emily Smith, a daughter of David Smith, for whom he worked when first coming to Ashtabula county, and a sister of Anson Smith, a prominent resident of Geneva. She survived him for more than a score of years, passing away March 3, 1906. Three children were born of their union, 804 - HISTORY OF THE WESTERN RESERVE namely : Marilla, now living, unmarried, in Oregon ; David A. ; and Frank L., residing in Oregon. David A. Fish, born August 21, 1843, on the farm which his parents first owned, remained at home until becoming of age. Since 1884 he has worked at the carpenter's trade, and has been associated with the erection of many of the more important residences and public buildings of this locality. Prior to 1884, however, he was variously employed, for four years being foreman of a toothpick and basket factory in New York. On October 10, 1866, Mr. Fish married Fanny C. Fobes, a daughter of Henry C. and Electra (Ward) Fobes. She was born in Wayne township, Ashtabula county, and died at her home, in Geneva, March 31, 1905, after a happy wedded life of nearly forty years. Mr. and Mrs. Fish were the parents of two children, namely : Mertie K., wife of Walter Locke, of Geneva ; and Mabel E., wife of Charles H. Merritt, a farmer in Geneva township. Politically Mr. Fish is a staunch advocate of the principles of the Republican party. CHARLES W. SEIBERLING.—In view of the progressiveness of Akron's captains of industry and the many channels in which their energies are directed, it is not surprising that the city has forged to the front along industrial and commercial lines. An idea of the diversity of interests here represented may be gained from a perusal of the various personal sketches appearing in this publication, and among those who have contributed to the substantial upbuilding of Akron as a manufacturing and distributing center is Charles W. Seiberling, who is one of the representative business men of this city, and thus of his native county, and who is vice president and treasurer of the Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company, besides which he is interested in various other manufacturing concerns of important order. His honored father held a position of prominence and influence in connection with industrial affairs in Summit county and through his genius as an inventor and his success as a manufacturer he did much to further the industrial pre-eminence of the city of Akron, with whose business and civic interests he continued to be actively identified until his death. Charles W. Seiberling was born on the homestead farm in Norton township, Summit county, Ohio, on January 26, 1861, and is the second in order of birth of the sons of J0hn F. and Catherine L. (Miller) . Seiberling, the former of whom died, in Akron, on September 3, 1903, and the latter is still living in Akron. They became the parents of eleven children, of whom nine are living. John F. Seiberling was a scion of one of the honored pioneer families of Summit. county. He was born in Norton township, this county, on March 10, 1834, and there was reared to maturity on the pioneer farm, the while his educational advantages were those afforded in the common schools of the locality and period. He was possessed of marked mechanical genius, and through his studies and experimentation evolved many useful inventions, especially in the line of agricultural implements and machinery, through which he gained eventually distinctive success and precedence. For a number of years he operated a saw mill in Norton township, and in the meanwhile he gave much time and study to the perfecting of his inventions of the agricultural machinery with which his name is still identified and which gave him place among the leading inventors who have added to the economic utilities of the world. In the spring of 1861 he removed with his family to Doylestown, where he engaged in the manufacturing of his inventions, and in 1865, prompted by the same desire for wider facilities and better commercial privileges, he removed to Akron, where his success in his chosen field of endeavor was thereafter of the most pronounced type. Here he became the promoter of manufacturing industries which have had great influence in furthering the industrial precedence and substantial upbuilding of the city, and, unlike many other invent0rs, he was a man of fine business acumen, s0 that he brought his administrative powers into effective play in connection with the development of the various industrial enterprises with which he identified himself. Some time after locating in Akron he called. to .his aid in developing his plans his eldest son, Frank A., who was then attending college and who is now president and general manager of the Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company, and individual mention of him is made on other pages of this work. In 1871 John F. Seiberling effected the organization and incorporation of the Akron Strawboard Company ; in 1883 he founded the Seiberling Milling Company ; and in 1889 he secured a controlling interest in the Akron HISTORY OF THE WESTERN RESERVE - 805 Electric Street Railway. His original enterprise in Akron was that of manufacturing the Empire mowers and reapers, of which he was the inventor, and the business was conducted under the title of J. F. Seiberling & Co. until 1884, when the business was incorporated under the name of the J. F. Seiberling Company, which was retained until 1896. John F. Seiberling left a deep and indelible impress upon the industrial history of Akron and his native state, and his career was one of noble productiveness and generous objective beneficence. He was a man of impregnable integrity, unostentatious in bearing, democratic in his views, and secure and certain in placing proper values upon men and affairs. His political allegiance was given to the Republican party, and his religious faith was that of the Lutheran church, of which his wife also is a devoted member. He wielded much influence in the community and through his industrial enterprises aided in the maintenance of many families. He was progressive and public-spirited, but was essentially a business man and had no ambition to enter public office of any description, though ever ready to aid in the support of all worthy objects advanced for the good of his home city. Charles W. Seiberling gained his early educational training in the public schools of Akron, and after completing the curriculum of the same he was matriculated in Oberlin College, where he completed a two years' select course. In 188o he left college and returned to Akron, where he became foreman in the extensive works of the Empire Reaper and Mower Manufactory, of which his father was the head. Upon the incorporation of the J. F. Seiberling Company, in 1884, he became a member of the directorate of the same and subsequently he assumed the superintendency of the great manufactory and retained this position until 1896. In 1896 Mr. Seiberling became associated with his father in the organization and incorporation of the India Company, of which he became secretary and of which his father was president. He retained this incumbency two years, at the expiration of which he resigned the same to accept a similar office with the Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company, which was organized in 1848 and with which he has thus been identified since its incorporation. He has been treasurer of the company since 1907 and vice president and treasurer since January, 1909. The concern is one of the largest of its kind in the world, and in its extensive and well equipped plant in Akron are manufactured solid and pneumatic carriage and automobile tires, bicycle tires, rubber horseshoes, rubber tiling, golf balls, moulded rubber and many other rubber specialties. The officers of this important corporation are : Frank A. Seiberling, president and general manager ; C. W. Seiberling, vice president and treasurer ; George M. Stadleman, secretary ; and Paul W. Litchfield, superintendent. Charles W. Seiberling is a man of fine executive ability and practical business experience, and his progressive ideas have led him to identity himself with important manufacturing enterprises other than that just noted. He is one of the able and loyal business men who have aided in developing Akron into one of the leading manufacturing and commercial cities of its class in the Union, and his interest in all that touches the welfare of the city is of the most insistent type. He is a Republican in politics. On November 18, 1895, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Seiberling to Miss Blanche C. Carnahan, and they have four children,—Charles W., Jr., T. Carnahan, Lucius Miles and Catherine. The attractive family home is at 76 Fay street, in one of the most attractive residence districts of Akron. GENERAL JOHN S. CASEMENT, who died December 13, 1909, at his residence in Painesville, was a veteran of the Western Reserve who "did things" with a vim and good cheer, both in times of war and peace. The main work of his life had been the building of railroads, and he was identified in early life, as an employe, with the pioneer work in the middle west ; in the vigor of his later manhood, when his military efficiency and bravery had earned him the bars of a brevet brigadier, he was one of the contractors who pushed the Union Pacific across the continent ; and, after he had entered the seventh decade of his working life and held the national record for construction mileage and rapidity of execution, he entered the Central American field because business and financial depression had placed an embargo on railroad building in his own country. Small of stature, but from boyhood noted for his unusual strength and endurance, General Casement always put the full energy of his being into every action of his body and mind, and made every stroke tell in bringing about the realization of his ends. The good people of the Western Reserve stood by 806 - HISTORY OF THE WESTERN RESERVE him as their ideal of a useful, dependable, manly. citizen, from the time he went from them as a young "hustling" railroad builder and bravely upheld their honor on the battlefields of Virginia and the south, until his honorable retirement to fully-earned rest and comfort. General Casement was a native of Ontario county, New York, born on the 19th of January, 1829, his parents being natives of the English Isle of Man. In 1844 the family moved from Geneva, that state, to Michigan, and two years afterward the youth commenced his railroad career with the Michigan Central Railroad. His first job was to spike down the strap iron to the wooden rails, and, although he was a short, slight youth, it is said he was soon doing two men's work, and slighting nothing. He remained with that road until the spring of 1850, when he came to Ohio to begin track laying on the Cleveland, Columbus and Cincinnati line. At the completion of that work he was similarly employed on the Lake Shore Railroad, and on the first of November, 1852, track laying was brought to a temporary conclusion on the main line of that road. During the winter of 1852-3 the young man ran a Lake Shore freight train, which gave him a good preliminary training for his later work of ballasting the road-bed. He was employed in this line, in filling ravines and laying double tracks for the Grand Trunk, Erie and Pittsburg, and other roads which were being constructed and extended in northern Ohio, until the outbreak of the Civil war: The unfinished work, of which he was superintendent, was then turned over to his brother, Daniel, who was vigorously completing it while John S. was making a record as a Union officer. Soon after the firing on Fort Sumter General Casement volunteered for the three months' service, and was elected major of the Seventh Ohio Volunteer Infantry, his commission to date from April 25, 1861; but 'on the following 19th of June he re-enlisted for three years, was re-commissioned accordingly and the regiment ordered to West Virginia. He had enjoyed no military training prior to his enlistment, but his railroad experience had taught him the value of quick decision, promptness and the secret of handling men so as to inspire them with his own energy and determination. During the long and tiresome marches 'in Western Virginia he made it his business to see that the soldiers were made as comfortable as possible, and that their supplies and equipments were in good order and condition. Close observation and hard study also soon gave him a thorough insight into military tactics, so that when the time came he was qualified to assume command in the field. His opportunity soon came ; for at the battle of Cross Lanes, Virginia, August 26, 1861, the regiment was defeated with severe loss, the two wings retreating in opposite directions. Throughout the rout and carnage Maj0r Casement retained his composure and, at the head of the left wing, commenced a retrograde march of unusual difficulties through the enemy's country, but he led his command over mountain ranges and rivers to Charleston, without the capture of a man. He also fought at Winchester, where at the head of a score of men he captured a Confederate cannon and assisted in Stonewall Jackson's only defeat of the war. In the evening succeeding the battle he found that ten bullets had passed through the cape of his coat near his left arm —leaden balls evidently intended for his heart. In the winter's march to Blues Gap Major Casement was at the head of his regiment, and his speech before reaching the fortifications is still treasured by his few surviving comrades: "Boys, you've not got much of a daddy, but with such as you have I want you to go for those rebels." But then, and always, the boys had such a respect and affection for their "daddy" that they would follow him anywhere; and he always led to protect the weak spots in his own command or to find the weak ones in the enemy's ranks. In numerous marches and skirmishes he proved of especial value- t0 the Union movements in the construction of bridges and roads. On arriving at Falmouth, on the Rappahannock, he tendered his resignation as major of the Seventh Regiment to accept his promotion as colonel of the 103d Ohio Infantry. This commission dated from August 18, 1862. The regiment was at once ordered to Kentucky, subsequently participating in the battles of Knoxville, Tennessee, Resaca, Georgia, and all of the flanking movements preparatory to Sherman's grand advance on Atlanta, losing 255 men killed and wounded out of a force of 450 men. Such military writers and authorities as Generals Cox and Scofield give General Casement. the credit of saving the day for the Union army at the battle of Franklin. Officers and men were impressed and thrilled by his coolness, magnetism and his splendid control over both himself and his HISTORY OF THE WESTERN RESERVE - 807 men, and when, in the face of the approaching enemy, he mounted the Union works, spoke to his troops with that ringing voice famous throughout the army, fired his revolvers in the air and then rejoined the ranks, good judges of human nature felt that the battle could not be lost. General Cox says: "It is generally conceded by all writers of the history of that great battle that General Casement saved the day. His coolness, sound judgment. bravery and wonderful control over men at a most critical time in tbe battle, brought victory when defeat seemed certain. General Casement had a voice that was most wonderful; perhaps no other commander in the army was endowed with such a voice. He could be heard giving his commands even in the midst of the rattle of musketry and the booming of artillery. He seemed to know no fear, and so wonderful was the confidence of the men under his command that where he went they would follow, even to the cannon's mouth." And General Scofield: "It was Colonel Jack Casement's example that held the troops to the firing line (at Franklin). As a commander of men he had no superior, having that magnetic influence which drew from them their full capacity of service. His look and command held them as firmly as the silken sashes that bound together the Greeks at the Pass of Thermopylæ." This same Major General Scofield commanded a corps of the Union army at Franklin, and it was chiefly through his superior's admiration for General Casement's splendid work on that battlefield that the latter received a brigadier general's star by brevet. The gallant colonel of the One Hundred and Third now took part in the pursuit of the disorganised forces of Hood, after which the regiment was transferred, under Scofield, to Wilmington, North Carolina. In tbis movement General Casement commanded a brigade, as he bad done for a year previous. The brigade remained in this department until the surrender of General Joseph E. Johnston near Raleigh, and June 23, 1865, was mustered out of the service, as the war was at an end. Immediately after the war General Casement took the contract for laying the track of the Union Pacific Railroad and for the greater portion of the grading; and after putting through that vast undertaking with remarkable celerity and thoroughness constructed the following lines: Union and Titusville, Canada Southern, Toledo, Canada Southern and Detroit, Detroit and Butler, and the Nickel Plate from Cleveland to Buffalo, besides short roads in Indiana, Kentucky, New York, West Virginia, Ohio and Nebraska. On account of business depression and the panic of 1893, followed by a slow revival of prosperity, railroad enterprises were at a standstill in the United States for several years, and during that period General Casement obtained a contract from the government of Costa Rico, Central America, in the completion of which he was occupied for three years. That was his last active work as a railroad builder. In politics he was a Republican. While the Union Pacific Railroad was building he had a seat in Congress two winters, while the territory of Wyoming was being created from parts of four other territories. He represented Ashtabula, Geauga and Lake counties in the Ohio state senate in 1872 and 1873, and was presidential elector and president of Ohio electoral college for Taft in January, 1909. In 1857 he married Miss Frances Marian Jennings, a native of Painesville, and was the father of three sons, only one of whom survives. General Casement was over eighty years at the time of his death, and at the burial in Evergreen cemetery an address was delivered by Capt. J. B. Burrows, in compliance with a wish expressed by General Casement some months before. WILLIAM JESSE HAYMAKER, one of the honored residents of Ravenna, traces his descent through a long line of ancestors to the land of Wales, from whence came John Olin to found the family in this country. He took up his abode in Rhode Island in 1700, and died there on June 17, 1725, when but sixty-one years of age. Among his children was a son also named John, born in Rhode Island in 1714. He married Susanna Pierce, and among their children was another John, and both he and his wife, Sarah Card, were born in Rhode Island. Ezra Olin, a son of John and Sarah, was born in that state on March 23, 1772, and in March of 1791 he was united in marriage to Ruth Green, who was born in Rhode Island on November 10, 1770. Soon after their marriage the young couple went to Vermont and located on the old Green homestead about three miles from the Green mountains, but in 1824 he sold his farm there and with team and wagon went to Perry, New York, where two of his sons had preceded him. His wife died there on May 19, 1847, and he survived until November 5, 1858. Vol. II-7 808 - HISTORY OF THE WESTERN RESERVE Arvin Olin, one of the fourteen children born to Ezra and Ruth (Green) Olin, was born, in Shaftsbury, Vermont, July 13, 1797, and after obtaining his educational training he followed school teaching and farming in New York. On March 18, 1817, he started out in search of work, and going to Perry, that state, where he had a brother living, he purchased a tract of timber land, but after clearing and improving the place he sold it on November 22, 1834, to come to Franklin township, Portage county, Ohio. Here he again bought timber land, and in time placed his farm under an excellent state of cultivation and was also engaged in the making of brick there. In the splendid brick house which he erected on that farm he died on June 7, 1870. Arvin Olin married Betsy Bennett, who was born in Bennington, Vermont, February 6, 1801, and she died on January 5, 1872. Arvin and Betsy (Bennett) Olin were the maternal grandparents of William Jesse Haymaker. Frederick and Rachel (Davis) Haymaker were his paternal grandparents, and among their children was numbered James D. Haymaker, who was born in Kent, Ohio, on September 2, 1809. He was his mother's only child, but she was the second of the four wives of Frederick Haymaker. The latter located in Kent, Ohio, as early as 1806, becoming one of the first owners of the upper village, and his nephew was they first white child born in Franklin township. The mother of his son James died at his birth; and the little child was taken to Meadville, Pennsylvania, but contracted smallpox on the journey. During his young life he was given but six months' schooling, and he learned the trade of a woolen manufacturer in his father's factory. After reaching his twenty-first year he followed the manufacture of wooden pails for two years; then had charge of a hotel at Fairport, Ohio, for a year and a half, and at the close of that period he returned to Franklin township, Portage county, and located on a farm. His death there occurred on January 31, 1889. His widow, who was in her maidenhood Mary R. Olin, born February 22, 1820, in Perry, New York, continued to reside on the old home place in Franklin township until her death on January 27, 1907. Of their large family of six sons and eight daughters, eleven lived to years of maturity, and three sons and five daughters are yet living. William J. Haymaker, the next to the youngest of the fourteen children, was born in Franklin township, Portage county, February 2, 1860, and he received his educational training in its public schools and in the. Kent high school, which he attended for two years. Remaining in his parents' home until attaining his twenty-first year, he then rented his father's farm' at Kent, and moving seven years afterward to Streetsboro, Ohio, he conducted his father-in-law's farm there until the latter's death on April 3, 1895. On September 1, 1902, he, moved to Ravenna and located in the home which he had purchased in the preceding April. He has served three years as a member of the city council, being the president of the board two years, .and he votes with the Republican party. He has fraternal relations with Unity Lodge No. 12, A. F. & A: M., of Ravenna. Mr. Haymaker married on March 1, 1882, Mary L. Olin, who was born in Streetsboro, Ohio, a daughter of Elam and Helen (Thompson) Olin, the father born in Perry, New York, July 28, 1825. The mother, born near Edinburg,' Scotland, June 3, 1827, came with her parents to the United States, and her father located in Streetsboro, Ohio, in 1834. Tier grandparents, Samuel and Betsy (Green) Olin, were born respectively on April 29, 1797, and on July I, 1793, and they married in December of 1815. Among their children was Ezra Olin, who was the great-grandfather of both Mr. and Mrs. Haymaker. Samuel Olin erected a house on the Cleveland and Pittsburg turnpike in Streetsboro township wherein he kept a tavern called Owens Inn, but after eleven years the Cleveland and Pittsburg Railr0ad was built and he was obliged to discontinue his tavern. His wife Betsy died on April 1, 1831. Mrs. Olin, the mother of Mrs. Haymaker, died at the latter's home on June 9, 1905. The children born to Mr. and Mrs. Haymaker are : Frederick .Elam and Elizabeth Olin. The son is a graduate of the Ravenna high school and of the Ohio State University, and he is now farming on the old home farm near Streetsboro. The daughter is a graduate of the Western Reserve University with the class of 1908 and is teaching in the Kent high school. LEWIS C. NICHOLSON.-A man of versatile talents, energetic and progressive, Lewis C. Nicholson is making a wise use of his natural gifts, and as junior member of the firm of Paine & Nicholson, of Garrettsville, Portage county, is rapidly building up an extensive business as a dealer in real estate, and as an HISTORY OF THE WESTERN RESERVE- 809 insurance agent. A native of this county, he was born, September 14, 1861, in the eastern part of Nelson township, which was likewise the birthplace of his father, L. S. Nicholson. Mr. Nicholson's paternal grandfather, Isaac Nicholson, was born and reared in Connecticut. In 1837 he and his brother William came to the Western Reserve, locating in Nelson township, where they took up 15o acres of timbered land. They erected a log cabin in the midst of the woods, and began the improvement of a farm. After the death of William Nicholson, his brother Isaac succeeded to the ownership of the homestead which they had reclaimed from its virgin wildness, and there spent his remaining years. L. S. Nicholson was born in the original log cabin seventy-two years ago, and during his active life has been engaged in agricultural pursuits in Nelson township, where he is held m high esteem as a man of worth and integrity. He married Frances Carpenter, who was born in Princeton, Indiana, in 1846, a daughter of Lewis Carpenter. Her father died when she was a mere child, and she came soon after that to the Western Reserve, where she was brought up and educated. Mr. and Mrs. L S. Nicholson have five children, namely : Lewis C., with whom this brief sketch is chiefly concerned ; Jennie E., wife of C. J. Hedges, of Hiram township; Eugene, who left home when twenty-eight years old, and has not since been heard from ; Jessie died at the age of sixteen years; and Mabel, wife of George Bancroft, of Nelson township. Receiving in his youth the usual training of a country lad, Lewis C. Nicholson remained on the old homestead until attaining his majority, in the meantime becoming familiar with the various branches of agriculture. Starting then for himself, he was engaged in general farming in Nelson township, and continued in his pleasant and independent occupation for nearly sixteen years. Embarking in mercantile pursuits in 1898, Mr. Nicholson dealt in feed, grain, and farm implements until 1906, when he sold out his stock. Continuing his residence in Garrettsville, he then formed a copartnership with Mr. Paine, and has since been actively engaged in the real estate and insurance business, in his undertakings meeting with satisfactory success. Mr. Nicholson married, in 1883, Bertha C. Taylor, who was born in Geauga county, Ohio, a daughter of John P. Taylor, now residing in Nelson township. Mr. and Mrs. Nicholson have two children, Alice M. and Lena, both of whom are teachers in the public schools. Politically Mr. Nicholson is a sound Republican, and has filled many of the local offices, including that of justice of the peace, and of assessor, and while in Nelson township was a school director. He has ever taken an intelligent interest in educational matters, and when a young man taught school a number of terms. Fraternally he belongs to the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and to the Independent Order of Foresters. HARRY A. WADSWORTH.—A prominent and highly esteemed resident of Garrettsville, Portage county, Harry A. Wadsworth, now living retired from active pursuits, was for twenty-five years the leading undertaker and furniture dealer of this vicinity, having a large and lucrative patronage throughout this section of the state. A son of Harry A. Wadsworth, Sr., he was born, June 15, 1855, in Hudson, which is now included within the limits of Summit county, Ohio. A native of Pennsylvania, Harry A. Wadsworth, Sr. was born in Harbor Creek, Erie county. Sr., a boy of twelve years he came to the Western Reserve with his parents, settling in Hudson. He subsequently learned the trade of a blacksmith, and while the Erie Railroad was being laid in that part of the Western Reserve he was kept busily employed in sharpening the picks used by the workmen. He. afterwards removed to Burton, Geauga county, where he carried on farming for many years, clearing and improving a valuable estate. Now, a venerable man of eighty years, he lives in Windham, Portage county. On July 9, 1852, fifty-seven years ago, he married Caroline Cummins, who was born in Mantua, Portage county, but was brought up from the age of five years in Summit county, after the death of her parents having made her home with Mr. and Mrs. H. C. Thompson. She is the mother of four children, all of whom are living, as follows : Clara, wife of W. B. Wright, who has recently removed with his family from Burton, Ohio, to Los Angeles, California ; Harry A., of this sketch; William R., of Alliance, Ohio, for more than a score of years editor of the Hubbard Enterprise; and Fred of Cleveland, formerly a resident of Warren, Ohio. Obtaining his early education in the public schools of Burton, Geauga county, Harry A. Wadsworth subsequently served an appren- 810 - HISTORY OF THE WESTERN RESERVE ticeship of three years, 1876, 1877 and 1878, at the tinner's trade, in Ravenna. Completing his trade, Mr. Wadsworth located in Windham, Portage county, in 1878, opening a hardware and tinner's establishment, which he conducted with profit for ten years. Desirous then of enlarging his business operations, he added a line of furniture to his stock, and opened an undertaking department. Coming from there to Garrettsville in 1898, Mr. Wadsworth. continued his furniture and undertaking business until 1908, when he retired from active pursuits, having during his quarter of a century of experience as a furniture dealer and undertaker accumulated a competency. He is largely interested in real estate matters, owning some of the choicest property in Garrettsville. Mr. Wadsworth married November 14, 1878, Etta C. Miller, a daughter of H. L. and Maria Miller. Her father, who for fifty-two years resided in Ravenna, Ohio, died at his daughter's home in Garrettsville, in 1906. Mrs. Wadsworth died. November 5, 1907, leaving two children, namely: Joseph L., an accountant in the employ of the Cleveland Audit Company, in Cleveland, and Bessie, wife of A. M. Cline, assistant cashier of the First National Bank of Garrettsville. Politically Mr. Wadsworth votes the straight Democratic ticket, and during the administration of President Cleveland served for four years, from 1893 till 1897, as postmaster at Windham. He was also treasurer of the Windham school board for a number of years. Fraternally he is prominent in the Masonic order, belonging to lodge, chapter and commandery, and is a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and of the Royal Arcanum. On March 2, 1909, Mr. Wadsworth married for his second wife Miss Charlotte A. Harrison, of West Cornwall, Connecticut. LOUIS S. SWEITZER, M. D.—Among those who are ably upholding the prestige of the medical profession in the Western Reserve is Dr. Sweitzer, who is one of the representative physicians and surgeons of the city of Akron, where he has been successfully established in practice for more than a quarter of a century and where he has ever maintained a tenacious hold upon popular confidence and regard, both as a physician and as a citizen of utmost loyalty and public spirit. Dr. Sweitzer was born in Tuscarawas county, Ohio, in 1851, and is a son of Samuel and Elizabeth (Myers) Sweitzer, the former of whom was born in the canton of Berne, Switzerland, in 1817, and the latter of whom was a native of Prussia. Samuel Sweitzer was reared to the age of fourteen years in the beautiful little republic in which he was born, and in its excellent schools he secured his early educational training. At the age noted he came to the United States, and thereafter he was employed in farm work in. Ohio until he had attained to his legal majority, when he settled in Tuscarawas county, where he eventually became the owner of a well improved landed estate-and where he continued to be actively identified with the great basic industry of agriculture until his death. He passed away secure in the esteem of all who knew him. He won success and independence through his own well directed efforts, and his life was characterized by indomitable industry and inflexible integrity of purpose. Dr. Sweitzer passed his boyhood days on the home farm, and his initial experiences in c0nnection with the practical duties of life were those gained in connection with the work of the farm. In the meanwhile he duly availed himself of the advantages of the district schools of his native county, and he was matriculated in Heidelberg College, at Tiffin, Seneca county, Ohio, in which he was a student for a period of years. Thereafter he devoted his attention to teaching in the public schools for some time, and in the meanwhile began the study of medicine under effective preceptorship. For the purpose of properly fortifying himself for the exacting and responsible work of his chosen profession he then entered the Cleveland Medical College, in which well ordered institution he was graduated as a member of the class of 1875 and from which he received his well earned degree of D0ctor of Medicine.. His initial work in the practice of his profession was in Tuscarawas c0unty, where he remained, until 1880. In the year mentioned he completed an effective postgraduate course in the College of Physicians and Surgeons, New York City, and in the same year he located in the city of Akron, where he soon gained recognition. as an able physician and surgeon and where he soon built up a successful practice. His professional clientage has continued to be of the most representative order and he has been unwavering in his devotion to the profession through whose beneficent functions he has done so effective work for suffering humanity. The Doctor is a valued HISTORY OF THE WESTERN RESERVE- 811 and appreciative member of each the Ohio State Medical Society, the Northeastern Ohio Medical Society, and the Summit County Medical Society. He is a member of the consulting staff of the Akron City Hospital and his high standing in his profession is reinforced by study and investigation which keep him in close touch with the advances made in the sciences of both medicine and surgery. Dr. Sweitzer is essentially public-spirited as a citizen and has shown a loyal interest in all that has made for the advancement and wellbeing of his home city, and while he has had neither time nor inclination for public office, he consented to serve as a member of the board of education, where his influence was productive of much good. In association with N. R. Sterner he has been prominently identified with the development of South Akron, now an important and finely improved section of the city, to which it has been annexed. Dr. Sweitzer is identified with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, the Royal Arcanum and other organizations. In 1875, Dr. Sweitzer was united in marriage to Miss Frances E. Mackey, who was born and reared in Mercer county, Pennsylvania. Dr. and Mrs. Sweitzer have one daughter, Bessie, Who remains at the parental home. GENERAL JAMES FRANKLIN WADE, of Jefferson, was retired by operation of the law, April 14, 1907, after having given more than forty years of his life to the volunteer and regular service of the United States army. This includes a record for remarkable gallantry in the Civil war ; a leading identification with the government of the American insular possessions and dependencies, and connection with the war department as commander of the Atlantic division for the three years preceding his retirement. General Wade is a native of Jefferson, Ohio, h0rn April 14, 1843, and is a son of Hon. Benjamin F. Wade, United States senator from the state from 1851 to 1869, acting vice president under Andrew Johnson in 1865, and a lawyer and statesman of national fame. He died at Jefferson, March 2, 1878. James F: received a common school education, and began his army career May 14, 1861, by receiving the appointment of first lieutenant of the Sixth United States Cavalry. On June 9, 1863, he was brevetted captain for gallant and meritorious services in the battle of Beverly Ford, Virginia, and was successively brevetted major, lieutenant colonel, colonel and brigadier general of volunteers for merit and gallantry on various battle fields of the Civil war, the last named, February 13, 1865, being for gallant services in the campaign of southwest Virginia. On May 1, 1864, he was appointed lieutenant colonel of the Sixth United States Cavalry ; was promoted colonel September 19th of that year ; brevetted brigadier general February 13, 1865, and honorably mustered out of the volunteer service of the colored cavalry, April 15, 1866. He was appointed a captain in the United States army May 1, 1866; major of the Ninth Cavalry, July 28th of that year ; lieutenant colonel of the Tenth Cavalry, March 20, 1879; colonel of. the Fifth Cavalry, April 21, 1887 ; brigadier general, May 26, 1897; major general of volunteers, May 4, 1898; honorably discharged from the volunteer service, June 12, 1899 ; major general United States army, April 13, 1903, and retired, as -stated, April 14, 1907. In 1898 General Wade served as head of the Cuban Evacuation Commission ; was connected with the military department of the Philippines in 1901-4, commanded the division of the Philippines in 1903-4 and the Atlantic division in 1904-7. ANSEL T. SIMMONS.-A man of marked ability and worth, A. T. Simmons, now serving his third term as postmaster at Geneva, is devoting his time and energies to the duties of his position, being a most popular and efficient public official. A son of the late William P. Simmons, he was born, December 16, 1859, in Rome, Ashtabula county, of English ancestry. Born and bred in Lincolnshire, England, William P. Simmons was reared to horticultural pursuits, and as a youth worked in the famous gardens at Kew, and at Eton Hall, becoming skilled as a florist. Emigrating to this country when young, he lived for a number of years in Rome, Ohio, from there coming, in 1864, to Geneva, where, as a landscape gard- ener, he laid out Mount Pleasant Cemetery, of which he was afterwards superintendent for thirty years. About 1874 he opened a wholesale florist's establishment, and shipped the products of his greenhouses all over the county, building up an excellent business, in which he continued until his death, February 9, 1898, at the age of eighty-one years. He was a stanch Republican in politics, although never an office seeker, and was an enthusiastic anti-slavery man, his home in Rome having 812 - HISTORY OF THE WESTERN RESERVE been one of the stations on the underground railway. He was an Episcopalian in his religious beliefs, and both he and his wife were charter members of Christ's church, in Geneva. The maiden name of his wife was Vincy L. Ackley. She was born in East Haddam, Connecticut, and moved with her parents to Medina county, Ohio, where they were married. Three 'children were born of their union, namely : William H., a merchant in Bath, New York ; Lydia, wife of Edwin Booth, of Cleveland, Ohio ; and A. T. Learning the florist's art and trade while working with his father, A. T. Simmons was subsequently foreman for two years of a large plant on Long Island, after which he assisted in the management of his father's greenhouses in Geneva for many years. On May 31, 1898, Mr. Simmons was appointed postmaster of Geneva, a position of much importance, the office, under his administration of affairs, having developed from a third class office to a second class office, with both' city and rural free deliveries. In 1898, when he assumed 'charge of the office, but $90 was allowed for a clerk, but this sum has been increased by the addition of $7,383 to the former amount. In the management of the work now devolving upon him, Mr. Simmons has eight assistants, including mail carriers and clerks, four being employed in rural free delivery service. An earnest supporter of the principles of the Republican party, while his brother is an equally strong supporter of the Democratic platform, Mr. Simmons was for eight years a member of the city council, resigning to accept his present official position under the Government. For the past twenty years he has been a member of the Geneva school board, which is not a political position, being now president of the board. On July 12, 1882, Mr. Simmons married Lillian, Down, who was born in Maidstone, County Kent, England, but was brought up and educated in Queens county, Long Island, New York, and'they have one child, James W., a substitute clerk in the Geneva post office. Fraternally Mr. Simmons is a member, and an officer, of the Knights of Pythias, and of the Royal Arcanum. Mrs. Simmons is a valued member of the Congregational church. CHARLES P. ROSE. of Painesville, Lake county, is an energetic and leading member of the Lake Erie Concrete Company, and is doing his full part in the practical demonstration of the manifold uses to which concrete may be put as a substitute for wood and stone. In paving, building blocks, bridge and house building and the manufacture of :artistic designs for architectural repairs, Mr. Rose is perfectly at home, and is a strong force in forwarding the business of his company. Mr. Rose is a native of Wayne county, New York, born in 1858. His father is Ge0rge Rose, born in Oneida county, that state, in 1834; retired some years ago from his farm work and is now living with his son of this sketch. It is known that the grandfather, Phineas T. Rose, was a native of Dutchess county, New York, and fought in the war 0f 1812, and that the great-grandfather was in the Revolutionary ranks.. So that there is n0 dearth of patriotic blood in the several generations of the Rose family. Charles P. has never had an opportunity to strengthen the stream, his life having been passed in business and mechanical occupations. He has always been a builder up in his home communities, and Lake county contains many evidences of his skillful and honest handiwork. JOHN F. WELLS.—The venerable and honored postmaster in the village of Kirtland is a member of one of the well known pioneer families of Lake county, of which he is a native son and within whose borders the major portion 0f his long and useful life has been passed. He was for many years engaged in the mercantile business in Kirtland and retired from the same in 1907. Mr. Wells was born on the homestead farm of his parents, four miles east of the village of Kirtland and in the township of the same name, and the date of his nativity was March 16, 1835. He is a son of John and Emily (Billings) Wells, both of whom were born near Greenfield, state of Massachusetts. In coming to Ohio, John Wells walked the major porti0n of the distance from Massachusetts to Buffal0, where he took passage on a stage for Cleveland, from which place, then a mere village in the midst of the forest surrounding he made his way also by stage to Painesville, the county-seat of Lake county. Here Dwight Martindale, who came from the same place in Massachusetts, had already established his home, and Mr. Wells was in his employ about three years, at the expiration of which he returned to his native place and was there married. Upon coming again to Lake county, in company with his young bride, he settled on a tract of wild land, in Kirtland township, and the only im- HISTORY OF THE WESTERN RESERVE - 813 pavements on the place were those represented in a log house and a clearing of about five acres. He secured the property from the Man who had originally purchased the same from the Connecticut Land Company, and there he established his permanent home. He added to his land until he had one hundred and sixty-five acres, and he reclaimed this entire tract to cultivation, living up to the full tension of the pioneer epoch and sparing himself naught in the application of energy and productive toil. About the year 1837 he erected a comfortable frame dwelling on his farm, and this building still stands, in a good state of preservation, after the lapse of nearly three- fourths of a century. When well advanced in years John Wells sold his old homestead, which had been transformed into a valuable through his arduous labors, and purchased a small tract of land in the village of Kirtland, where he continued to reside until his death, at the venerable age of eighty-four years. He was a man whose entire life was guided and governed upon a lofty plane of integrity and honor and he was not denied the fullest measure of popular confidence and esteem in the county to whose civic and material development he contributed in a most generous degree. He was for many years a deacon in the Congregational church in the village of Kirtland was recognized as one of its pillars, strong in his religious faith and ever desirous of fostering the spiritual welfare of his fellow men. He first married Miss Salome Billings, who was born and reared in his native place, and who died when a young woman, leaving three daughters—Martha, a loved maiden woman of Kirtland, remained with her father until his death and she is now, in 1909, eighty-one years of age; Mary became the wife of Benjamin F. Ladd and they removed to the state of Iowa, where she died when about seventy years of age; Emily became the wife of Charles F. Button and they removed to Bowling Green, Wood county. Ohio, where they passed the remainder of their lives. Miss Emily Billings, a sister of the first wife of John Wells, had come to Ohio and after the death of his first wife he wedded this sister, who reared the children with all of the maternal solicitude, and who survived her husband by a few years, passing away at the age of eighty-four years. Of the four children of tbe second marriage the subject of this review is the eldest ; Charles F., the next, a retired fanner, resides at Tabor, Fremont county, Iowa; Margaret became the wife of William P. Whelpley and died when a young woman ; and Henry O. is a representative farmer of Kirtland township. John F. Wells, whose name initiates this article, was reared to maturity on the pioneer farm, contributing his quota to its work and in the meanwhile availing himself of the advantages of the somewhat primitive schools of the locality and period. As a young man he went to Illinois and later to Iowa, but after an absence of about five years he returned to Lake county, Ohio, in 1857. In this county he continued to be actively identified with agricul- tural pursuits, in Kirtland township, for some years, after which he followed the same vocation in Chardon township, Geauga county, whence he finally returned to Lake county and purchased a farm in Mentor township. He continued his identification with the great basic industry of agriculture until. 1877, when he took up his residence in the village of Kirtland and opened a general merchandise store, which he conducted successfully for a period of about thirty years, at the expiration of which, in 1907, he retired. He built up a large and substantial enterprise and gained and maintained a strong hold upon popular confidence and esteem. The store which he so long occupied was erected at the time when the Mormons had their headquarters in this section, and the original owner, a member of that faith, accompanied his fellow "saints" on their memorable exodus to Salt Lake, Utah. His name was N. K. Whitney, and the building has changed hands but three times since erected by him, having been utilized as a store the major portion of the time during all the long intervening years. It is now one of the landmarks of the village and county, and is still owned by Mr. Wells, of this review. Mr. Wells was appointed postmaster at Kirtland under the administration of President Garfield, an honored native son of the Western Reserve, and with the exception of a period of eight years has been either postmaster or assistant postmaster for thirty years. This office having been abolished October 15, 1909. For nearly a quarter of a century Mr. Wells has served in either the office of township clerk or township treasurer, of the latter of which he is the present incumbent, besides which he is township assessor. He was at one time elected justice of the peace but found it inexpedient to qualify for this position. He gives an unqualified allegiance to the Republican party and has.been an active worker in its cause. He has been an 814 - HISTORY OF THE WESTERN RESERVE appreciative member of the Masonic fraternity for a quarter of a century and is actively affiliated with Willoughby Lodge, No. 302, Free and Accepted Masons, in the neighboring village of Willoughby. On the 15th of January, 1857, Mr. Wells was united in marriage to Miss Nancy J. Benton, who was born in Chardon township, Geauga county, Ohio, in 1836, and who is a daughter of Elihu and Jane Benton, who passed the closing years of their lives in Chardon township, where the father was a pioneer farmer. Mr. and Mrs. Wells became the parents of three children,—Charles Clinton, who is a successful fruit-grower in Boulder county, Colorado ; Emma. J., who is the widow of Riley Harris, a farmer in Kirtland township, where he died, and she now resides in the village of Mentor, Lake county ; Eunice B., who remained at the parental home and assisted her father in the store and postoffice, died in 1902, unmarried. CHRISTOPHER C. GARDNER, who is prominently identified with the business interests of Ravenna as a florist, was born in Freedom township of Portage county June 5, 1846, a son of William and Merritt (Madison) Gardner, the father born in Berkshire county, Massachusetts, and the mother in Bennington county, Vermont. William Gardner was a son of Henry and Abigail (Stedman) Gardner, and Henry was a son of James Gardner, from Rhode Island. On the maternal side Christopher C. Gardner is a grandson of Robert and Lois (Vaughn), Madison, from Vermont, and a grandson of Robert Madison, from Rhode Island. Both James Gardner and Robert Madison served their country in the Revolutionary war. Robert and Lois Madison with their family settled on timber land in Hiram township of Portage county, Ohio, in the fall of 1833, but in time this pioneer couple succeeded in clearing their land and placing it under cultivation. William Gardner, the father of Christopher, came to Freedom township, Portage county, Ohio, in 1829, making the journey by stage and on foot. On his arrival he purchased a tract of land, and being a brick-maker he followed his trade during the summer months and worked at clearing his land in the winters. His farm at the time of purchase was an unbroken wilderness of timber, and after he had it cleared he followed farming exclusively during the remainder of his life. During the early years of his residence here he helped make the brick for the old court house. Born in the year of 1805, his life's labors were ended in death in 1887. His wife died in 1891, aged seventy-four years. In his early life William Gardner served as a captain of militia. His son Henry was a Civil war soldier for four years, for three years serving as a member of the. Eighth New Jersey, volunteers, and then enlisting with the First New York volunteers, an engineering corps, he served with that command until the close of the conflict. The family of Mr. and Mrs. Gardner numbered five children : Henry, deceased ; Robert, whose home is in. Kansas; Maria, who resides with her brother Christ0pher, the next born ; and Frank, who is als0 deceased. After the death of his parents Christopher C. Gardner continued to reside on the old home farm with his sister, who has never married, until in August of 1903, when -he built his residence in Ravenna, on Freedom street. Embarking in the hot house business, he has ab0ut three thousand feet under glass, and being a natural mechanic he was able to erect all his own buildings. He disposes of his plants in this immediate vicinity. As did his father, Mr. Gardner affiliates with the Democratic party, and the former at one time served as the trustee of Freedom. township. NEWTON CHALKER.—The history of the Chalker family in America, according to the best information now obtainable, dates back to about the year 1650, when, according to an unauthenticated tradition, three brothers of that name emigrated from England and located in the then colony of Connecticut, where, ever since that time, people bearing that name have continued to reside. There are people of that name also residing in Plymouth, England, at this time. The following genealogy is furnished by Samuel Alfred Chalker, of Saybrook, Connecticut, aged over eighty years. Alexander Chalker married Patience Post, September 29, 1649, in Saybrook, Connecticut, Their children were : Stephen, Samuel, Mary, Abraham, Patience, Sarah, Jane and Alexander. The above named Samuel Chalker, who was born April 27, 1651, married Phoebe Bull, October 31, 1676. Their children were : Stephen, Samuel, Phoebe (deceased) and Phoebe. HISTORY OF THE WESTERN RESERVE - 815 The last named Samuel, who was born October 6, 1679, married Rebecca Ingram, June 24, ander and Gideon. The last named Samuel, or Samuel III, was born probably about the year 1712. He married and had the following children : Daniel, Selden and Sarah. Newton Chalker, of this sketch, furnishes the following supplement to the above: The above named Daniel was born probably about the year 1740, and was married probably about the year 1765. ills children were: Samuel, Sarah, Daniel, Anna, Patty, Phoebe and James (twins), Joseph, Charles and Nathaniel. All of the above, except the immigrant, Alexander Chalker, are supposed to have been born in or near to Saybrook, Connecticut. The above named Daniel Chalker, Sr., his wife and several of their children, about the year 1800, removed from Connecticut and settled in Choconut township, Susquehanna county, Pennsylvania, where the parents passed the remainder of their lives and their children married and reared families. The history of the Chalker family in Ohio begins with the settlement in Southington township. Trumbull county, of the above named James Chalker, the grandfather of Newton. In his youth he emigrated from Saybrook, Connecticut, in the year 1805, bringing with him by means of an ox team and wagon, his young wife Mercy ( Norton), an infant son Orrin, and all of his earthly belongings, which then consisted only of his faithful ax, his trusted gun and a few household utensils. In the summers of that year he moved upon a tract of woodland one-half mile west of the center of Soutbington, where, out of the dense forest which confronted him in every direction, inhabited only by bears, wolves, deer and other wild game. he carved for himself and family a home which he continuously occupied until his death in the year 1867, at the age of about ninety years, his faithful wife preceding him in the year i860. They and Luke Veits and wife, Hannah Norton, were the first families who settled in Southington. In that home, which consisted at first of a rude log cabin, but later of a convenient frame dwelling, taken down in the year 1906 to make mom for the present commodious home of his grandson, Lewis Chalker, that pioneer couple reared to manhood and womanhood a family of nine sons and four daughters, viz : Orrin, Joseph, Edmond, James, Phoebe, Anna, Polly, Daniel, Calvin, Philander, Harrison, Allen and Mercy ; all of whom, except Polly and Mercy, who removed to the state of Indiana, and Anna, who removed to Nelson, located in Southington and reared families. There, in that early wilderness home with neighbors few and far between, that couple and their large group of rugged children braved and endured the privations and hardships known only to pioneer life. In the graveyard at the center of Southington their ashes and those of all of their sons but one (Philander), who is still living, and of all of their sons' wives are now reposing. James Chalker, Jr., the father of Newton, was born in Southington, June Is, 1811. He received but a very limited education, having attended school only about three winter terms during the whole of his childhood and youth, and that was in a log schoolhouse one mile east of Southington Center. But by much reading in after years he became well informed in history and a thorough student of the Bible. During many years of his life he frequently engaged in public debate upon various religions and secular questions, and was always regarded as a formidable antagonist in the forensic arena. Early in life he purchased, 0n credit, fifty acres of land, located two miles west of Southington Center, where, like his father before him, with only an ax, a strong body and a resolute mind, he carved out of the forest a home for himself and family. From time to time he added to his first purchase and eventually became one of the largest land owners and one of the most thrifty farmers of his township. He first married Miss Eliza Jane Hyde, of Farmington, October 27, 1836. To them were born Benson, who died in childhood ; Byron, who became a farmer and died in Southington, 1892, aged fifty-two; Newton; and Columbus, who also was a farmer in Southington, and died in 1876, aged twenty-seven. Mr. Chalker having lost his wife, December 24, 1849, married Miss Adeline Timmerman, of New York state, 1851. To them were born Mary Jane, subsequently the wife of A. J. Morris, of Southington, where she died, 1888, aged thirty-six ; and Bertha, now Mrs. Thomas McConnell, of Youngstown, Ohio. Mr. Chalker was a Republican in politics, and he and both of his wives were members of the Methodist church. He departed this life September 23, 1893, aged over eighty-two years. Newton Chalker was born in Southington, 816 - HISTORY OF THE WESTERN RESERVE Trumbull county, Ohio, September 12, 1842, the third son of James, and Eliza J. Chalker, referred to above. Jr.,e remained on his father's farm in Southington most of the time until twenty years of age, attending the district schools of his neighborhood until fourteen years of age. At the latter age he began, and continued for six years, to attend at irregular intervals the Western Reserve Seminary at West Farmington, this county. At that school Mr. Chalker, without encouragement and with but little assistance, made his greatest efforts to obtain an education. Some of the time he worked for his board, but most of the time boarded himself ; at one time, when but fifteen years old, chopping his own firewood and hauling it with ox team to his school, a distance of more than six miles ; at other times doing the janitor work of the seminary building for his room rent and tuition, and most of the time walking home, a distance of six miles, at the end of each school week to help on the farm on Saturday, then returning to school on foot, carrying the following week's supply of provisions. At the age of sixteen he began teaching the winter term of a country district school, teaching successively in the townships of Braceville, Southington and Champion, in Trumbull county, and Park-man, in Geauga county, and in the state of Michigan. In the spring of 1862 he enlisted in Company B, Eighty-seventh Regiment, Ohio Volunteer Infantry. He was in the hard fought battle of Harper's Ferry, Virginia, which began on the 12th and terminated on the 15th of September of that year. In that battle the Union forces were under command of Colonel D. H. Miles and numbered about 14,000. The rebel forces were under command of General "Stonewall" Jackson, and numbered two or .three times as many. After three days' hard fighting the Union forces were surrendered by their commander and 12,000 infantry were taken prisoners, the 2,000 cavalry having made good their escape during the preceding night. These prisoners, among whom. was Newton Chalker, were soon paroled and sent north. Later in the same year, by reason of expiration of term of enlistment, this regiment was mustered out of service and Mr. Chalker returned to his home. In the spring of 1863 Mr. Chalker entered Allegheny College, at Meadville, Pennsylvania, and graduated therefrom in June, 1866, receiving the degree of bachelor of arts, and later, master of arts. The year 1866-7 he was principal of Dixon Seminary, at Dixon, Illinois, and the following year he was superintendent of the public schools of Darlington, Wisconsin. In September, 1868, he entered the law school of Albany, New York, and graduated therefrom the following- year and was at once admitted to practice at the bar of that state. After passing a few months in a law office in the city of New York he located, in the autumn of 1869, in Cameron, Missouri, and there began the practice of his profession. He remained in Cameron nearly five years, but not realizing his expectations which he had entertained of the west he returned, in 1874 to Ohio and on August 14 of that year he located in Akron, where he resumed the practice of law and continued therein the ensuing twenty years. As a lawyer Mr. Chalker's fellow members of the bar readily accord to him the reputation of being able, industrious and honorable. In addition to his profession Mr. Chalker has engaged in various lines of business. He was one of the founders of the People's Savings Bank of Akron and during the entire time of his connection therewith he was a. member of the board of directors and also of its advisory board. He was one of the founders and for a long time a stockholder of the Savings Bank of Barberton, Ohio. He is a charter member and a stockholder of the Central Savings and Trust Company Bank of Akron, one of that city's largest and most prosperous financial institutions. Mr. Chalker has dealt extensively in real estate, his principal transactions being the purchase of a tract of land within the limits of the city of Akron and also the purchase of twenty-one acres in the north suburb of that city, known as "North Hill" and allotting them into more than a hundred residence lots and selling to individual purchasers. He has dealt largely also in real estate in the island of Cuba since the Spanish-American war there; his holdings at one time amounting to more than 2,200 acres of the most fertile lands in the province 0f Puerto Principe of that island. These with other enterprises in which Mr. Chalker has at various times engaged, together with a lucrative practice at the bar, have constituted f0r him a life 0f varied labor and much activity which he has ever enjoyed far more than he ever did the trivial pleasures of life. At the close of the year 1893 Mr. Chalker practically retired from the practice of law and his other business and devoted several years HISTORY OF THE WESTERN RESERVE - 817 thereafter to travel. Seven times he crossed the continent visiting nearly every state and territory of our nation. He traveled extensively in In Canada, Alaska and Mexico. In June, 1895, be started on a tour abroad and visited the chief places of interest in Ireland, Scotland, England, France, Belgium, Germany, Switzerland, Italy, Greece, Palestine, Egypt, India, Burmah, China, Japan and the Sandwich Islands. making a complete tour around the world in one year. In February, 1905, Mr. Chalker made his second tour abroad, visiting the Azores Islands, Morocco, Algeria, the island of Sicily, Italy, Southern France and Spain, returning the following, June. Notwithstanding the busy life which Mr. Chalker has led he has never lost his interest in education nor forgotten his native township. In the year 1907 he completed and equipped, at a cost of over $20,000, and presented to the board of education of Southington, a high school building which for beauty of design, completeness of equipment and commodiousness of appointments is scarcely equaled in any other rural township of the state. It contains a public auditorium with check room, dressing rooms and stage; assembly and recitation rooms for the high school students of the township; a public library of the choicest hooks and a banquet hall and kitchen fully equipped to accommodate 100 guests. The building is lighted with gas and heated by furnace throughout. Its dedication on August 22, 1907, was the most notable event in the history of Southington. The assembly of people was the largest that had ever convened within the borders of that township, being estimated at 2,000 and was addressed by the most distinguished speakers that had ever spoken there viz., United States Senator Charles Dick, of Ohio, President A. B. Riker of Mt. Union College and President C. C. Rowlinson of Hiram College. In the year 1878 Mr. Chalker inaugurated the "family reunion" among tbe descendants of the pioneer James Chalker and wife. Later the descendants of the pioneer Norton and Viets families united with them. These descendants have continued to hold their reunions annually ever since. The reunion in the year 1905 was made the occasion for celebrating the one hundredth anniversary of the settlement in Southington of those pioneers. Next to the dedication of Southington's high school building that celebration is the greatest event in the history of Southington. It was held at the old home of the deceased pioneer, James Chalker and wife. A thousand people were present, coming from five different states. A most fitting program for the occasion was successfully carried out. In politics Mr. Chalker is a Republican. He is a member of the Grand Army of the Republic and was commander of Buckley Post of Akron when that post had a membership of about 500 comrades, which was not equaled by more than one or two other posts of the state. GEORGE R. FRENCH, M. D.—Among those who are ably upholding the high prestige of the medical profession in Portage county is-Dr. French, who is a physician and surgeon of marked ability and who is established in the general practice of his profession in Garrettsville. He was born in the village of Park man, Geauga county, Ohio, on April 28, 1873, and is thus a native of the historic old Western Reserve. His father, Dr. John French, was born in the Genesee valley of the state of New York, in the year 1830, and was a son of William M. and Hannah French, who removed from the Empire state to Ohio and took up their residence in Ashtabula county about the year 1840. There they passed the remainder of their lives, and there the father was engaged in agricultural pursuits until his death. In Ashtabula county Dr. John French, who was a lad of about ten years at the time of the family removal to Ohio, was reared to manhood, and he took up the study of medicine when a young man, thoroughly fortifying himself for the work of his chosen profession, in which he was a successful and popular practitioner for many years. He took up his residence in Parkman, Geauga county, about 1854, and there he followed the work of his humane profession, with zeal and self-abnegation, for thirty-six years. He continued in active practice until within a few years prior to his death, which occurred in the year 1890. He was a man of fine intellectual and professional attainments and one of exalted character, so that he naturally gained and retained a strong hold upon popular confidence and esteem in the community where he so long lived and labored and where his memory is held in reverent regard now that he has passed to his reward. He took a lively interest in public affairs and was a stanch supporter of the principles of the Democratic party. Mrs. Emeline (Raymond) French, wife of Dr. John, French, was a native of Hiram, Portage coun- 818 - HISTORY OF THE WESTERN RESERVE ty, Ohio, and was a daughter of Charles Raymond, one of the early settlers of this county. Mrs. French was summoned to eternal rest in the year 1874, and of the five children four are living, one having died in infancy. Of these children, Dr. George R. of this sketch, is the youngest. Dr. George R. French was reared to maturity in his native village of Parkman, to whose public schools he is indebted for his early educational discipline, which included a course in the high school. In preparation for the exacting work of his chosen profession, which had been dignified by the lifelong services of his honored father, he was matriculated in the medical department of Western Reserve University, in which he was graduated as a member of the class of 1896 and from which he received his well earned degree of Doctor of Medicine. In the same year he completed an effective course in the New York post-graduate school, in New York City. Dr. French served his professional novitiate by locating in the village of Mantua, Portage county, where he was engaged in practice about two and one-half years, at the expiration of which, in 1899, he removed to Garrettsville, where he has since continued in Successful business and where he has built up a large and appreciative practice, based alike on his well recognized professional ability and his distinctive personal popularity. He continues to keep in close touch with the advances made in both departments of his profession and is identified with the Ohio State Medical Society and the Portage County Medical Society. He is affiliated with the Masonic fraternity, in which he holds membership in the lodge and chapter in Garrettsville and also the auxiliary organization, the Order of the Eastern Star. He is a member also of the Independent Order of Foresters. In politics he accords a stanch allegiance to the Republican party. In 1901 Dr. French was united in marriage to Miss Florence Tilden, who was born and reared in Portage county, where her parents, Horace and Margaret (Rutherford) Tilden have long maintained their home. Dr. and Mrs. French are actively identified with the social life of their home village. AVERY K. SPICER.—As a representative of one of the old and honored families of Summit county, with whose annals the name has been identified for practically a century, and as a sterling citizen of his native county and of the city of Akron, which has been his home during nearly his entire life, Mr. Spicer is specially well entitled to consideration in this compilation, which has to do with the fine old Western Reserve and its people. He was long identified with business interests in Akron, and now, at the age of three score years and ten, is living retired, in his attractive home at 221 Spicer street, which thoroughfare was named in honor of the family of which he is a member. Avery K. Spicer was born in Akron, which was then a small village, on December 24, 1839, and thus became a right welcome Christmas guest in the home of his parents, Hiram J. and MariHa (King) Spicer, the former 0f whom was born in Summit county, in August, 1816, and the latter of whom was also a native of Summit, county, where she was born October 14, 1822. Hiram J. Spicer was a son 0f Major Minor Spicer, who was born in New England, a scion of one of the sterling colonial families of that section, in which was cradled so much of our national history, and who was there reared to manhood. In 1811 Major Spicer removed from Connecticut to the Western Reserve, and the long and ardu0us overland journey was made with an ox team, by means of .which he transported his little stock of household necessities, with a few primitive farming implements. He became one of the pioneers of Summit county, where he purchased a tract of 150 acres of heavily timbered land, in Portage township, and where he made a clearing in which to erect his pioneer log house. Here he passed the residue of his life, a man of unflagging industry and stanch character, and before he was summoned from the scene of his mortal endeavors he had reclaimed to cultivation a considerable portion of his land. He gained his title of major through his service as an officer in the militia. He was widely and favorably kn0wn in the pioneer community and exercised much influence in connection with public affairs, as he was a man of strong mentality and \yell fortified convictions. His name merits a place of honor on the roll of those sturdy pi0neers who did well their part in the initial stages of the development and upbuilding of the Western Reserve. Hiram J. Spicer was reared under the sturdy discipline of the pioneer farm and his educational advantages were such as were offered in the primitive schools of the locality and HISTORY OF THE WESTERN RESERVE - 819 period. He was one in a family of nine children, and all assumed their share of responsibility when young, thus equipping themselves for the practical duties of life. The major part of his active career was spent as a carpenter and contractor and he lived to attain the patriarchal age of eighty-six years. He died in Akron, in 1903, secure in the esteem of all who knew him and recognized at the time as one of the most venerable pioneer citizens of Summit county, where his entire life was passed. He was a stanch Republican in politics and took an intelligent interest in the issues and questions of the day even to the time of his demise. He was a consistent member of the Methodist cburch, as was also his second wife, his first wife being a member of the Universalist churcb. The first wife, the mother of Avery K. Spicer, died in 1861, and the father later married Mrs. Serena Barnett, who survived him by about one year, as her death occurred in 1904. Five children were born of the first marriage, and of this number the only one living is Avery K. Avery K. Spicer was reared to maturity in Akron, which he has seen develop from an obscure village into one of the most thriving and attractive cities of Ohio, and his early educational training was secured in the village is, which he continued to attend until was about eighteen years of age. He served apprenticeship to the trade of machinist the shops of the Buckeye Harvester Company, and with this concern, long one of the largest and most important in Akron, he continued to be identified, as a trusted and skilled employe in different departments, for a quarter of a century. All of this period, with the exception of about five years passed at varying intervals, in Davis county, Missouri he was employed in the Akron shops of the company. After having thus been identified with this great industrial enterprise for twenty-five years, he severed his connection therewith and engaged in contracting for house painting and similar work, besides developing a successful enterprise as a building contractor. With these lines of business he was actively and successfully concerned until 1906, since which time he has lived virtually retired, having accumulated a competency and finding pleasure in the repose which he is enabled to enjoy, together with the pleasing association with a host of leal and loyal friends of long tried adoption. In politics Mr. Spicer is arrayed as a stalwart supporter of the principles and policies for which the Republican party stands sponsor, though he has never manifested any ambition for public office of any kind. He is a zealous member of the Universalist church, with which he has been actively identified for many years. During the Civil war Mr. Spicer served as a member of the Eighth Regiment of the Ohio Home Guard and otherwise contributed his quota to the support of the Union cause. On January 24, 1861, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Spicer to Miss Emily F. Payne, a daughter of George and. Annie E. (Busby) Payne, of Akron. Of this union five children have been born, and, concerning them the following brief data are entered : Perry H. died at the age of thirty-seven years ; Marina K., who remains at the parental home, is a successful and popular teacher in a leading private school in Akron ; Anna B., likewise with her parents, is a talented musician and is a teacher of music ; Alice N. is the wife of Frank Beardsley, of Salt Lake City, Utah ; the first child born died at the age of two years. Mrs. Spicer died February 7, 1908. MILO A. AUSTIN.—Possessing in an eminent degree the discretion, sound judgment and ability qualifying one for a public position, Milo A. Austin is widely known as one of the trustees of Geneva township, and as a useful and valued resident of Geneva. A son of the late David Austin, he was born January 12, 1853, in Geneva township, on the old Austin farm, which was originally owned by his grandfather, Horace Austin. John Austin, the great grandfather of Milo A., came with his family from Cattaraugus county, New York, to the Western Reserve in in 1811, journeying in an ox cart, making his way through the almost pathless woods by a trail marked with blazed trees. Between 1806 and 1811, a small portion of what is now Geneva township had been cleared, but the settlers were very few in number, and long distances apart. John Austin first located in the northeast corner of the township, on the bank of Lake Erie, but later bought the farm now owned by E. D. Humphrey, on the North Ridge, a mile and a half east of Geneva. Clearing off a large part of the heavy timber, he was there a tiller of the soil until his death, about 1831. He reared three sons and two daughters, namely: Horace, who settled in Geneva township ; Lester moved to Indiana about 1854 ; Sanford succeeded to the owner- 820 - HISTORY OF THE WESTERN RESERVE ship of the farm, and there spent his life of seventy years ; Maria married Davis Montgomery ; and Sally became the wife of Laban Waterman. Ten years of age when he came with his parents to Ashtabula county, Horace Austin was engaged in agricultural pursuits during his entire life. After his marriage he bought land lying two and one-half miles northeast of Geneva village, and by dint of strenuous labor cleared and improved a homestead, on which he resided until his death, at the venerable age of eighty-five years. At the age of twenty-six years, he married Nancy Alford, who attained the age of eighty-four years. Both were charter members of the Baptist church, of which he was for forty years a deacon. They were the parents of three children, as follows : Alfred, David and Isaac. Alfred Austin, who served in the Civil war as captain of a Pennsylvania company of volunteers, was a noted school teacher, and for a number of years principal of the Waterford Academy, in Waterford, Pennsylvania, where his death occurred, at the age of sixty-two years. Isaac Austin went west as a young man, settling as a merchant in Madison, Wisconsin, where he died when but fifty-five years old. David Austin, born on the parental homestead, northeast of Geneva, on the Austin road, March 11, 1831, cared for his parents in their declining years, and finally succeeded to the ownership of the home farm. He was successful .as a farmer, living on the home place until his death, July 16, 1906. He was a noted musician, having a fine tenor voice, . and in addition to teaching a singing school for thirty years was chorister in the Geneva Baptist church for forty years. He married, at the age of twenty-one, Mandana A. Todd, a daugther of Amos and Harriet (Pratt) Todd, who, in 1833, moved from Homer, New York, to Michigan, and in 1835 settled on a farm in Geneva township, Ashtabula county. Mandana A. Todd was born in Allegany county, New York, and was married at the age of eighteen years. She is now living in Geneva. To her and her husband, two children were born, namely : Milo A., the subject of this sketch ; and Hattie M., who married Thomas P. Klumph, a traveling salesman, of Geneva. Mrs. Klumph died at the age of forty-five years, leaving no children, and her husband is also dead. Leaving the old home at the age of eighteen years, Milo A. Austin worked as a mechanic on the railroad for nine years, for one year running a stationary engine. Returning then to the old homestead, he was there busily employed in general farming and stock raising until 1901, when he took up his residence in Geneva, although he still retains the management of the farm. He is now in business in Geneva, dealing extensively in agricultural implements, and for the past three years has rendered appreciated service as township trustee. He takes great interest in local affairs, and is now chairman of the building committee for the new Carnegie library in process of construction. He is a member of the Methodist Episcopal church, and superintendent of its Sunday school. Mr. Austin married, December 24, 1874, Fanny A. Butler, who was born in Geneva, Ohio, a daughter of Samuel and Martha (Tye) Butler, both natives of England. Bertha D. Austin, the only daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Austin, married Roy A. Fuller, who died a year and -a half later, and she is now living with her parents. JONATHAN WARD, is numbered among the representative farmers and honored pi0nee of Willoughby township, Lake county, within whose borders the family was founded near four score years ago. He himself ,is now one of the most venerable residents of Will0ughby township and is living virtually retired, after many years of well directed and fruitful effort as one of the world's noble army of workers. Jonathan Ward was born in Pittstown, Rensselaer county, New York, on the 15th of March, 1823, and is a son of Elliott Ward, Jr., and Sally (Sherman) Ward. His father was born in Pittsfield, Connecticut, and his mother in the state of Rhode Island.. Their marriage was solemnized in the state of New Y0rk and in 1835 they removed thence to Ohio, making the trip by way of the Erie canal and Lake Erie to Fairport, Lake county. The father, who was a tailor by trade, engaged in the work of the same in the village of Willoughby. His sons Elijah and Jonathan and also his daughter Mary assisted him in the shop, and soon after his arrival in the county he purchased land just south of the village, opp0site the present home of Watson Brown, where he continued to reside until venerable in years. Both he and his wife passed the closing years of their lives in Shelby, Richland county. He was about eighty-five years of age at the time HISTORY OF THE WESTERN RESERVE - 821 of his death, and his wife, who survived him by several years, was about ten years his junior. His brother Allen also became one of the early settlers of Lake county, and here also came their honored father, Rev. Elliott Ward, who gained wide recognition as one of the able and honored pioneer clergymen of the Methodist Episcopal church in this section of the state. Of the children of Elliott Ward, Jr., brief record is given in the following paragraph. Mary Ann, who became the wife of Dr. Sidney Green, a representative physician and surgeon of Norwalk, Ohio, was seventy years of age at to time of her death. Elijah, who died in 1908, is individually mentioned on other pages of this work. Jonathan, the immediate subject of this sketch, was the next in order of birth. Ziporah became the wife of A. Lyon Mattson, a representative member of the bar of Mansfield, Ohio, and she likewise lived to a venerable age. Emily first married Charles G. Bruce and after his death became the wife of Christopher Smith. She was seventy years of age at the time of her demise. Lydia married Captain Cyrus Askew ; Lucy, who became the wife of Lewis White, of Wickliffe, Lake county, was about sixty-five years of age at the time of her death. Hiram went forth in defense of the Union in the Civil war, was wounded and then captured by the enemy, and he died in Libby prison, as the result of his wounds. Jonathan Ward was about twelve years of age at the time of the family removal from New York state to Ohio, and his early educational discipline was secured in the common schools of his native state and those of Lake county, Ohio. He continued his father's assistant in the work of the latter's tailor shop until he was about twenty years of age, when he entered upon an apprenticeship to the cooper's trade, under the direction of his uncle, Allen Ward, of Willoughby, with whom he remained three or four years. After working at his trade for some time he and his brother Elijah bought land and became associated in farming, in which they continued after the death of their father, whose old homestead they divided after the marriage of Elijah. Jonathan secured as his share one hundred acres, besides which he is the owner of a farm of thirty-seven acres, one mile distant from the old homestead. The major portion of his large farm is rented and is devoted to diversified agriculture and dairying. He maintains his home on this farm, and his present attractive and commodious residence was erected by him in 1887. He has made other substantial improvements on his farms and has aided in the development of this section from a comparative wilderness into one of the most opulent portions of the Western Reserve. He has ordered his course according to the highest principles of integrity and honor and thus has retained at all times the confidence and esteem of the community which has represented his home from his boyhood days. In politics he was formerly aligned as a stanch supporter of the cause of the Republican party, but he is well fortified in his opinions and now has marked socialistic tendencies in designating his political faith. He is a member of the Willoughby Grange, Patrons of Husbandry, and still takes an active interest in ,its affairs. At the age of twenty-five years Mr. Ward was united in marriage to Miss Ruth Maria Carpenter, who was born at Mentor, Lake county, a daughter of Benjamin Hodges Carpenter, who was then a popular school teacher of Lake county. Mrs. Ward, who was a devoted member of the Universalist church, and was survived by three children: Belle, who became the wife of Edwin Barnes and died about two years after her marriage ; Mary, who is the wife of John P. Curtis, of whom individaul mention is made in this work ; and Hiram E., who is the youngest of the children, is a successful evangelist and is the owner of a. fine ranch and fruit farm near Los Angeles, California. HON. E. G. JOHNSON.—Among the able, rugged and benevolent characters who have contributed their work and good influences to the progress of the Western Reserve, none have a more secure place in its annals and in the hearts of its people than Hon. E. G. Johnson, the veteran lawyer of Elyria, leading Republican and public man, and, in 1892, nominee for congressional representative of the Fourteenth district of Ohio. In active practice for more than half a century, he has not only maintained his professional and intellectual eminence among his fellow attorneys, but has clung so closely to the highest ethics of the law, to the highest standards of manhood and morality, that warm admiration and profound respect have never been divorced in the public estimate of his character. His official service for Lorain county has been equally, efficient and honorable, while his personal relations with friends and kindred have evinced that 822 - HISTORY OF THE WESTERN RESERVE straightforwardness, helpfulness and openhearted generosity which have saved him from mere popularity and brought him, the higher blessings of general affection. From the time of his service in the Civil war to the present, there is no phase of his life which has failed to demonstrate aught but bravery and independence, based upon intellectual and moral sincerity ; and both his friends and his enemies have always found him where he believed, in his deepest soul, that he was a champion of the right. Mr. Johnson was born on the old home farm in LaGrange township, Lorain county, Ohio, on the 24th of November, 1836, his father, Hon. Nathan P. Johnson, migrating to that section of the Western Reserve from Jefferson county, New York, in 1833. Securing a tract of heavily timbered land, with the assistance of his sons he eventually reclaimed a valuable homestead from the wilderness, and at the same time made his influence strongly felt in the pioneer legislation of the state. At his death in 1874 he had served two years in the Ohio house of representatives arid two in the senate, as well as filled various local and county offices. The deceased was a man of fine mentality and morality and his son obviously inherited the strongest and best traits of his character. E. G. Johnson was therefore reared under parental and home influences of the most salutary nature, and most generously did the boy and youth respond to such a fostering environment. His work on the farm insured him physical hardihood, which largely gives birth to mental and moral stanchness, and after he had drained the facilities of the country schools of his home neighborhood he attended Oberlin College for several terms. Before he attained his majority he had commenced to teach, and during the several years in which he thus imparted knowledge to others the fundamentals of a thorough education were firmly laid in his own mind. His case was no exception to the general rule—that teaching has always been a fine preparation for the law ; and the latter profession Mr. Johnson had already determined to master. His first professional studies were under the tutelage of L. A. Sheldon, of Elyria, who. subsequently 'distinguished himself as a Union general, a Louisiana congressman and governor of New Mexico. On. the 12th of March, 1859, Mr. Johnson obtained a certificate of his admission to the Ohio bar, although he had been elected justice of the peace in 1857. LaGrange township and Elyria have since been the headquarters of a continuous, lucrative and laudable practice. Soon after the outbreak of the Civil war he closed his law and justice's office and enlisted in Company A, afterward Company I, of the Eighth Ohio V0lunteer Infantry, for three months. He went out as first lieutenant and was promoted to the rank of captain. While at Camp Dennison he re-enlisted for three years, but was rejected by the surgeon, who declared him physically unfit for military duty, and he was therefore honorably discharged. It was several years after his return before he recovered his health. He resumed his duties as lawyer and justice of the peace, retaining the latter until 1867. In 1868 he was elected auditor of Lorain county, and, by successive elections, remained in office until his resignation in 1876, the former year marking the commencement of his continuous residence in Elyria. Since his retirement fr0m the county auditorship he has given himself to the work of his profession, having appeared in much important litigation in both the state and federal courts. Such practice has gained him high repute, both as an able and versatile advocate and as a counselor abundantly f0rtified with the minutiae of jurisprudence. In politics, Mr. Johnson has long been recognized as a leader of his party in the Western Reserve, For twelve years he served as chairman of the Lorain county Republican committee ; was a delegate to the national convention of his party in 1884, and in 1892 was his party's nominee for congressional representative from the Fourteenth district of. Ohi0, but met defeat in the Democratic landslide of that year. His long political career has br0ught him into close association with President Garfield, President McKinley, John Sherman, Senators Hanna and Foraker, and other great Ohio leaders, and such contact has always resulted in warm and enduring friendship. Faithfully wedded to his professi0n, Mr, Johnson has seldom long deserted it, although he made quite an extended European trip in 1886 and a western tour in 1887. On 0ne of his tours to the Rocky mountains, his companion was Rev. T. C. Warner, the pastor 0f the Elyria Methodist church, to whom he had become greatly attached, and who enj0yed a much-needed vacation at Mr. Johnson's expense. This is but one illustration of many which might be adduced showing his practical and thoughtful helpfulness. The instance illustrates but one of the many traits which have HISTORY OF THE WESTERN RESERVE - 823 given, Mr. Johnson such a strong and enduring hold on the people of Lorain county and the Western Reserve. On January 1, 1859, Mr. Johnson was united in marriage with Lydia D. Gott, born April 4, 1841, and she died very suddenly on November 4, 1909. Mrs. Johnson came from splendid pioneer stock. Her father, Peter Gott, was one of the strongest of those strong men who settled in LaGrange township in the early day and cleared the forests and cultivated prosperous farms. Some one speaking of him said he seemed like a sturdy oak in a forest of great trees. To her parents Mrs. Johnson no doubt owed that rich religious nature which she enjoyed, for Mr. and Mrs. Gott were devout Christians and enjoyed the confidence of all who knew them. Mrs. Johnson was stricken while seemingly in perfect health, and her death was a severe shock to family and friends. Seldom does a community possess such a beautiful character. She became a Christian when a girl and was a central figure in the work of the Methodist Episcopal church. She was a woman of an intense religious nature; her religion was no cold form of profession, but her heart was in it to such a degree that it took first place. Exceedingly generous to all worthy causes, especially to the poor, such times as Christmas and Thanksgiving she gave substantial expression of her sympathy for them. Exceedingly kind to the sick, sbe remembered them either by her presence or in a substantial way. Her enthusiasm for her church was so marked that no lady member in its history did more as an individual than Mrs. Johnson. She was also an active and effective worker in the cause of temperance, being a member of the W. C. T. U. She loved her home, whicb has now suffered the loss of a faithful wife and devoted mother. Her home was her castle. For it no sacrifice was too great, no labor too exhausting. Eleven children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Johnson, seven of whom are living, as follows : Nathan P., of Beaverton, Oregon ; Webster H., of Elyria; Laura, wife of O. C. Trembley, of Tiffin, Ohio ; Agnes, at home; Hale C., a success-fill attorney of Elyria, member of the firm of R. G., H. C. & T. C. Johnson ; Bessie is Mrs. E. Mudge, of Elyria ; and Thomas C., an attorney of Elyria, member of the above mentioned firm. JOHN P. CURTIS.—As a scion of one of the sterling pioneer families of the Western Re- Vol. II-8 serve and as an able and popular exponent of the great basic art of agriculture in Lake county, Mr. Curtis, who is operating one of the valuable farms of Willoughby township, is well entitled to representation in this work. He is a grandson of Eleazer Curtis, who was numbered among the early settlers of Florence township, Erie county, Ohio, where he took up his residence in 1831. Eleazer Curtis came to the Western Reserve from Salisbury, Connecticut, and as he was the possessor of three thousand dollars, considered a comfortable fortune in those pioneers days, he became the wealthiest citizen of Florence township, where he purchased a tract of land and reclaimed a farm from the forest. There he continued to reside until his death, at the age of sixty years, and the old homestead still remains in the possession of his descendants. He was the father of John W., Lucius, Henry and Birdsey, and the two first mentioned became the owners of the old homestead farm after his death. In 1848 John W. Curtis removed to Milan township, Erie county, where he became the owner of a good farm and where he maintained his home until his death, which occurred when he was seventy-one years of age. His wife, whose maiden name was Patience Tucker, was a native of Homer, New York, and was a child at the time of her parents' removal from the old Empire state to Erie county, Ohio. She was eighty-six years of age at the time of her death. John W. and Patience (Tucker) Curtis became the parents of five children, all of whom are still living. John P., subject of this review, is the eldest of the number ; Lee is identified with the Winchester Arms Company, of New Haven, Connecticut ; Laura is the wife of Adam Stewart, and they reside on her father's old homestead farm in Florence township, Erie county ; Clara is the wife of Donald Donaldson, of Houston, Texas ; and Walter J. is a prosperous farmer of Cobb county, Georgia. John P. Curtis was born in Florence township, Erie county, Ohio, on January 12, 1846, and in his native county he received the advantages of the common schools of the period. He continued to be associated in the work of the home farm until the time of the Civil war, when he enlisted as a member of Company B, One Hundred and Ninety-seventh Ohio Volunteer Infantry, with which he served about one year, at the expiration of which he received his honorable discharge. As a youth he put his scholastic attainments to 824 - HISTORY OF THE WESTERN RESERVE practical use by teaching in the district schools, in which he was engaged for about twelve winter terms, principally in Erie county, Ohio, but for a time also in the state of Illinois. He was also employed as a clay worker for some time. In 1875 Mr. Curtis was united in marriage to Miss Phoebe A. Peasly, who died two years later, leaving one child, Bertha A., who is now the wife of Ernest Milliman, of Milan township, Erie county. In December, 1888, Mr. Curtis wedded Miss Mary Ward, daughter of Jonathan Ward, an honored pioneer of Lake county, to whom a specific tribute is given on other pages of this work. The only child of this marriage is John Carlyle Curtis, who was born in October, 1900. Since his second marriage Mr. Curtis has had charge of the farm properties of his venerable father-in-law, in Willoughby township, Lake county, and he is known as one of the progressive and loyal citizens of this county, where he enjoys marked popular esteem. In politics Mr. Curtis has never lacked the courage of his convictions nor failed to support the principles and measures which appealed to his judgment. In early manhood he was aligned with the Republican party and later he became an active worker in the cause of the Democratic party, on whose ticket he was at one time nominee for the office of county commissioner of Lake county. In 1904 he did not approve the choice of the party in selecting its presidential nominee, and he has since been a zealous supporter of the cause of the Socialist party. JOHN E. RICHARDSON, a public-spirited business man and citizen of Ravenna, is one of the dyeing experts of the country, president of the Atlantic Milling Company of that place and interested in other large industries of Portage county. He is also president of the city council—a man whose influence is broad and strong and whose enthusiasm for wholesome progress is contagious and inspiring. He is an Englishman, born in Liverpool, in August, 1862, son of Benjamin and Mary (Peace) Richardson, both natives of Yorkshire. They were the parents of five sons and seven daughters, John E. being the third child. The boy obtained an elementary education in the Yorkshire schools and some experience in the trade, science and art of dyeing woolens for the' processes involved call for the application of mechanics, technical knowledge and a fine sense of harmony and contrast in colors. At the age of eighteen, John E. Richardson went to Germany and Austria to complete his training in dyeing and finishing, and after spending several months in the leading woolen mills 0f those countries returned to Yorkshire to succeed his brother as a boss dyer. Three years later he moved to Tourcoing, north France, where he assumed a similar. position. A year later he returned to England, but after f0ur months spent at home emigrated to the United States and spent two years in charge of the dyeing at the Lymansville (Rhode Island) woolen mills. Mr. Richardson spent the succeeding two years in England, as a master dyer, and upon his return to this country became superintendent of dyeing in the worsted mills of James Roy and Company at West Troy, New York. Four years and a half later he located at Ravenna to accept a responsible position in his line with the Cleveland Worsted Mill, the leading manufactory of the kind in the United States. Besides being the president and largest stockholder in the Atlantic Milling Company of Ravenna, he is a director of the Byers Machine Company of Ravenna and of the Seneca Chain Works of Kent, as well as the largest stockholder in the latter. A sturdy Republican in politics, Mr. Richardson has taken an active interest and a leading part in local public affairs for s0me years past. He has been a councilman of Ravenna since 1904 and president of the city board since 1906. He is a thirty-second degree Mason, being a member of the Troy (New York) Commandery, Oriental Temple of Cleveland (Ohio) and the Mystic Shrine of Troy ; and is also affiliated with the Knights of Pythias and the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, Ravenna. In September, 1894, Mr. Richardson was united in marriage with Miss Sarah Redfern, a native of England and daughter of William and Martha (Wormsley) Redfern. WILLIAM L. POE is a native son of Ravenna, and during many years he has been prominently identified with its business interests, at the present time being connected with its wholesale trade. He traces his lineage back to the fatherland of Germany, from whence came his paternal great-grandparents, and his grandfather was born on the ocean en route. He was given the name of Andrew, and his wife bore the maiden name of Sarah Rutan. Among their children was a son Adam, who was born in Beaver county, Pennsylvania, and he be- HISTORY OF THE WESTERN RESERVE - 825 came the father of William L. Adam Poe served his country during the war of 1812, and during his military period he suffered a broken foot fr0m the accidental falling of his horse, this accident occurred while in service. After the close of the war, arid while passing through Ravenna and its subsequent territory, he became so pleased with its outlook that he invested in two hundred and forty acres in what is now the western part of the city. But continuing his journey to Beaver county, Pennsylvania, the remained there until 1822, and then returned to Ravenna and began the work of clearing his land, for at the time of the purchase it was heavily wooded. He had the brick made with which to build his house, at that time the finest in the township, and in time he cleared and improved his- land and farmed it until his death in the year of 1859. His widow afterward resided with her children in Ravenna until her death in 1876. She bore the name of Eliza Laughlin; and was also from Beaver county, Pennsylvania, as were also her parents, Thomas and Sally (Simpson) Laughlin. William L. Poe, the fifth born of their seven sons and one daughter, received his educational training in the district schools and in the Ravenna high school, and he entered upon his business career as a clerk in the F. W. Seymour Dry Goods store in Ravenna. At the close of three years as an employe he purchased Mr. Seymour's interest, and during fourteen years he was also identified with the dry go0ds and clothing business. Since 1888, however, he has been engaged in the making of cheese and in the wholesale produce business, shipping his products over all the western states. Mr. Poe married in 1865 Lois Hotchkiss, also born in Ravenna, a daughter of Julius and Corinthia (Babcock) Hotchkiss, from Connecticut. The children of this union are : Arthur H., of Massillon, Ohio ; Sarah, whose home is in Cleveland ; and Adah, at home with her father. Mrs. Poe died on the 15th of January, 1879, and in January of 1883 Mr. Poe was united in marriage to Le Mira E. Clark, b0rn in Hudson, Summit county, Ohio, a daughter of Theodore and Annie (Metcalf) Clark. There are no children of this union. The family are Congregationalists in their religious belief, and Mr. Poe is serving as a deacon and as one of the trustees of his church. He is a Republican politically and fraternally is connected with the Royal Arcanum. EDWARD L. DAVIS.—Prominent among the capable, intelligent and trustworthy citizens of Portage county who have been appointed by the President of the United States to government positions is Edward L. Davis, postmaster at Garrettsville. He was born in England, March 8, 1840, and there lived until eleven years of age. His father, Ellis Davis, was twice married, his first wife dying in the early part of the year 1840. He subsequently married again, and with his wife and children came, in 1851, to America, locating first at Hiram Rapids, Portage county, Ohio, as a miller. Five years later he established himself in the milling business at Garrettsville, and was here prosperously employed until his death, at the age of fifty-six years, in 1866. Coming with his father and step-mother to Ohio in boyhood, Edward L. Davis attended the common schools, and after removing with the family to Garrettsville, more than half a century ago, he began working with his father in the mill, familiarizing himself with its management. After the death of his father, Mr. Davis, who succeeded to the ownership of one-half of the mill, his step-father owning the remaining half, assumed its entire charge, and for twenty-four years carried on a substantial business. Giving it up in 1880, he was engaged in the grocery business until 1906, when he was appointed, by President Roosevelt, postmaster at Garrettsville. Mr. Davis has resided in the village for more than half a century. He was for twenty-five years clerk of the town, and for three years was a member of the Board of Education. Mr. Davis has been twice married. He married first, in 1861, Ann Ferry, who died in 1875, leaving two children, Mary and Ellis. -He married second, in 1876, Emma Morgan. She died in 1880, leaving two children also, Grace and Daisy. Politically Mr. Davis is a steadfast Republican, and fraternally he is a member of Garrettsville Lodge, I. O. O. F. JAMES P. CADWELL.—The patent of nobility which rested its honors and distinction in the person of the late Judge James Putnam Cadwell came, from high authority, since it was. based upon exalted character and marked ability. His life was one of generous accomplishment as one of the representative jurists and legists of his native state, but greater than this was the intrinsic loyalty to principle, the deep human sympathy and the broad intellec- 826 - HISTORY OF THE WESTERN RESERVE tuality which designated the man as he was. His was a fine mental and moral fiber, and his life, though unostentatious, was a public benefaction and one of cumulative usefulness. He died in the sanitarium at Battle Creek, Michigan, on the 12th of November, 1902, and his home city and county mourned the loss of one of their most popular and honored citizens. James Putnam. Cadwell was a scion of stanch English ancestry and the family was founded in New England, that cradle of much of our national history, in the colonial days. The first representative in Ohio came hither from the state of , and the parents of Judge Cadwell were numbered among the sterling pioneers of the Western Reserve. They settled in Ashtabula county and his father was for many years one of the representative business men of Andover, this county, where both he and his wife continued to reside until their death. Judge Cadwell was born in the village of Andover, on the 26th of October, 1853, and was a son of. Starr and Jane (Putnam) Cadwell. His early educational discipline was received in the public schools of his native village, and in later years he ever continued a close and appreciative student,, not alone along professional and academic lines but also in appreciative devotion to the best in classical and current literature. After attaining to years of maturity he put his scholastic attainments to practical utilization by drafting himself in the pedagogic service, and he made an excellent record as a successful and popular teacher in the schools of Andover and Jefferson, in his home county. It was while he was thus employed in the schools of Jefferson, the county seat of Ashtabula county, that he formulated definite plans for his future career and took up the line of preparatory work through which he so admirably equipped himself for the profession in which he was destined to attain so much of precedence and distinction. He here began ,reading law under the able preceptorship of the firm of Simonds & Cadwell, at that time one of the leading law firms of the county, and he made rapid and substantial progress in the accumulation and assimilation of legal lore, so that at the end of the prescribed course he was admitted to the bar of Ohio, upon examination before the constituted authorities in his native county. Fe forthwith established himself in the active work of his profession in Jefferson, where his powers and personal character soon won for him a representative clientage and enabled him to build up a successful practice. In 1883 he was elected to the office of prosecuting attorney, and during his six years' incumbency of this position he made a splendid record as a public prosecutor, appearing in and bringing to successful issue many important cases. In 1890, shortly after his retirement from the office of prosecutor, Judge Cadwell was elected judge of the probate court of Ashtabula county, to which position he was 'thereafter twice reelected. He presided with marked ability on the probate bench for a period of nearly nine -years, and resigned near the close of his third term to accept appointment to the bench 0f the common pleas court, to fill the vacancy caused by the death of Judge William P. H0ward, who died on the 14th of January, 1900. At the general election in the same year, Judge Cadwell was elected to the office for the sh0rt term, .and in November, 1g0', he was elected for the long term, of five years, so that he was incumbent of the office at the time when he was called from the scene of life's mortal endeavors. As judge of the court of common pleas Judge Cadwell showed most clearly the judicial bent of his mind and the wide and exact knowledge of law and precedent which made his rulings ever just and equitable. On the bench he had a most deep appreciation of his stewardship, and his decisions were invariably based on law and evidence, but with a sense of the proportionate values of equity and mercy. Concerning him the following pertinent words were offered in the leading newspaper of Jefferson at the time of his demise : "Until stricken with the malady which finally resulted in his death, Judge Cadwell was daily among us, and always with a hearty hand clasp of greeting and a cheery word for everybody. Long before he became prominent in public positions he was known as a big-hearted, generous and manly man, and of him it may be said that no appeal to him for help was ever made in vain. On the bench he was ever a just and upright judge, unflinching in the discharge of his duty, yet tempering the sometimes apparent hard lines of justice with mercy. Everybody knew and loved him, and we who knew him best at the home town he honored with his residence, loved him most. In court, at his lodge or club, he was uniformly kind and courteous to his associates, and at the home fireside he was a loving husband and father,— and what higher praise can be bestowed upon any American citizen." HISTORY OF THE WESTERN RESERVE - 827 In politices Judge Cadwell gave an uncompromising allegiance to the Republican party, but he never held public office save those in direcct line with the training and work of his chosen profession. He was an enthusiastic member of the time-honored Masonic fraternity, in which he was affiliated with Tuscan Lodge, No. 341, Free and Accepted Masons ; Jefferson Chapter, No. 141, Royal Arch Masons Conneaut Council, No. 4o, Royal and Select Masters; Cache Commandery, No. 29, Knights Templar; and the Consistory of the Valley of Cleveland in the Ancient Accepted Scottish Rite, in which he had attained to the thiryt-second degree. He also held membership in the adjunct organization, the Ancient Arabic Order of the Nobles of the Mystic Shrine, in which he was affiliated with Al Koran Temple, in Cleveland. He also held membership in various professional and civic organizations. On the 23d of December, 1885, was solemnized the marriage of Judge Cadwell to Miss Ida Baldwin, who survives him, as do also two daughters, Dorothy and Susie. Mrs. Cadwell is a native of Ashtabula county, Ohio, and is a daughter of James and Nancy (Dodge) Baldwin. She is prominently identified with social affairs in the village of Jefferson, where she has ever shared in the popular esteem accorded to her honored husband, and where, since his death, she finds a measure of compensation and solace in the gracious associations of the past and in the memory of his noble, kindly and useful life. ALONZO H. TIDBALL, M. D.—Through his many years of active practice of medicine, A. H. Tidball, M. D., has gained experience, wisdom and skill in his chosen profession, and is eminently deserving of the position which he has won, not only as a physician, but as one of the most highly respected and esteemed citizens of Garrettsville, where he has been located for nearly forty years. A son of Joseph Tidball, he was born. October 2, 1831, in Millersburg, Holmes county. Ohio. JosepH Tidball, a native of Allegheny county, PennsyIvania, came to Ohio at an early day with three of his brothers, and all four of them settled in Holmes county. He there followed the trade of a hatter (luring his active career, residing in Millersburg until. his death, in the ninety-seventh year of his age. He was of Welsh descent, and inherited in a large measure the substantial virtues of his forefathers. He married Eliza K. Linn, who was born in New Jersey, where her parents located on coming from Ireland to this country. She survived him, passing away at the advanced age of eighty-four years. Eleven children blessed their union, ten of whom grew to years of maturity, and of these five are still living, Dr. Tidball being the seventh child in succession of birth, and the fifth son. Alonzo H. Tidball received his rudimentary education in the common schools of his native county, and began the study of medicine in Mansfield, Richland county, with Drs. Cantwell and Chandler. He subsequently entered the Cleveland Medical College, now the Western Reserve University, from which he was graduated with the degree of M. D. The following two years Dr. Tidball was located as a physician at Freedom, Ohio, after which he was similarly employed for two years in Noble county, Indiana. Going in 1858 to California, he was engaged in the practice of his profession at Santa Cruz for two years. Returning then to Ohio, the doctor established himself at Mesopotamia, Trumbull county, where he remained until 187o, being quite successful in his work. Coming from there to Garrettsville in 1871, Dr. Tidball has since continued his practice here, having in the meantime won the confidence and esteem of the people to a marked extent, and gained a large and lucrative patronage. He is widely known throughout this part of the county, and has the distinction of being one of the oldest practicing physicians in the Western Reserve. Dr. Tidball married, in 1854, Eliza Jane Webb, daughter of Dr. James Webb, of Freedom, Portage county. The doctor and Mrs. Tidball have three children, namely : FrankW., of Minneapolis, Minnesota ; Dr. Fred L., a dentist in Garrettsville ; and Dr. L. A., a well known dentist of Ravenna, Ohio. The doctor stands high in professional circles, belonging to both the American and the Portage County Medical associations, and to two medical societies in Cleveland. He takes genuine interest in political matters, and was at one time the Democratic nominee for Congress, and was also a candidate on the Democratic ticket for representative from Portage county. The doctor is a prominent member of the Masonic Order, belonging to lodge chapter, commandery and consistory, having a life membership in the latter, and being a life member of 828 - HISTORY OF THE WESTERN RESERVE the Masonic Home, in Springfield, Ohio. He also belongs to the Garrettsville Chapter, O. E. S. IRVIN R. MANTON.—The potteries of Akron and other industries founded on the clay products of Summit county have a high reputation throughout the United States for honest and artistic workmanship, and anyone who is a local leader in that field is therefore one of the experts of the country. Without a doubt, Irvin R. Manton, superintendent .of factory. No. 3 of the Robinson Clay Product Company, one of the important corporations in this line, is in the front rank of his associate managers in the industry and trade. Mr. Manton was born in Akron, on the 24th of January, 1874, and is a son of James B. Manton, whose sketch appears elsewhere in this publication. After completing the public school course, for hree years he was a student at Saltsburg, Pennsylvania. Soon afterward he identified himself with the interests of the Robinson Clay Product Company at Akron, and his fidelity and practical efficiency won him constant advancement to his present responsible position. He is not only well known in his chosen field of industrial art, but has acquired decided standing as a breeder of. fine horses, of which he is now the owner of about fifteen. In this specialty, or "side issue," he finds both profit and pleasure, for he is an appreciative and sincere lover of the noble animal, aside from any financial consideration. On the 5th of April, 1898, Mr. Manton was united in marriage with. Miss Fredericka Wickdal Hurxthal, representative of one of the old and honored families of Canton, Ohio, where she was born and reared. The child of this union is Laona. The father is not only a progressive citizen of the younger generation, but one of the most popular of its native sons. He is a man of. substantial character and is also most companionable, being an especially earnest advocate of outdoor relaxations as evidenced by his active membership in such organizations as the Portage Country and Canton Country clubs and the Gentlemen's Driving Club of Akron. Both he and his wife are identified with the First Presbyterian church of their home city, and none stand higher within it and in the general community. NORMAN WEBSTER. — Conspicuous among the earlier settlers of the Western Reserve was Norman Webster, a man of strong individuality, clear headed and farsighted, who became prominent and influential in developing and advancing the agricultural interests of that part of Ashtabula county now included within the limits of Geneva township. He was described as a man of fine physique, with a head similar in its proportions to that of his celebrated kinsman, Daniel Webster, their emigrant ancestor having been identical. Coming from. noteworthy New England ancestry, he was born in Litchfield, Connecticut, a son 0f Timothy and Mabel (Biddle) Webster, who removed from Connecticut to New York when their children were young, settling in Durham. Norman Webster grew to manhood in New York, and in the early part of the last century came to the Reserve on a prospecting tour, and secured a solid tract 0f timber. In 1811 he came here with his family, consisting of his second wife, whose maiden name was Ruth Norton, and his children. He had three brothers and one sister, but he was the only one of the parental household to come to Ohio, although his uncle, Michael Webster, lived a long time in Jeffers0n, Ohio, dying there at the remarkable age of one hundred and three years. Norman Webster became one of the largest land owners in the county, acquiring title to several thousand acres, extending from Cole's creek to Saybrook plains, a distance of two and one-half miles, on the south side of the North Ridge road. He made his home on a farm lying on the north side of the road, at Myers Corners. He first erected a log house for himself and family, and began the clearing of a homestead. He subsequently erected the present residence, building it in 1824, and substantial farm buildings, and there resided until his death, at the good old age of ninety and more years, his body being laid to rest in the Evergreen Cemetery, in Geneva. He was a noted pedestrian, preferring always to walk rather than ride, and after he had passed his ninetieth birthday walked to Ashtabula, a distance of eight miles, and from there back to the home of his son Nelson, which was within two miles of his own home. He was a Whig in his earlier life, and afterwards a Republican. He never cared for public office, but delighted in a political discussion. He was a great reader, especially fond of poetry, which he could, quote by the hour. He was the father of eight children; as follows : Sally, who married Leonard Stephens, lived to the age of ninety-three years ; Lucy married David Kelley, and died when thirty-three years old; HISTORY OF THE WESTERN RESERVE - 829 Nelson, deceased, lived at Saybrook, Ashtabula county; Dennis, deceased; Louisa married Samuel W. Peck, a carpenter in Geneva, who died at the age of eighty-three years, and she is living, being now eighty-seven years old ; Horace, who died at the age of seventy-three years, succeeded to the ownership of the old home farm, which his widow, now living in Geneva, sold; Newton, for many years a resident of Michigan, died at tbe age of three score and ten years; and William, living in Richmond. Lake county. The reservation allotted to Standing Stone, an old Indian banished from his tribe for killing his squaw, was included in the homestead of Norman Webster. He used to make wooden ladles, which he would exchange with the white settlers for provisions. lie was finally killed by a Frenchman, La Motte, in revenge for the death of a son murdered by the savages years before. Norman Webster divided his land before his death, giving each child a farm or its equivalent, keeping three hundred acres in the homestead property. Dennis Webster, born November 17, 1820, born in Geneva township. in the log cabin erected by his father, died October 6. 1884. He studied dentistry, and spent several years Georgia, being specially employed on a large Subsequently going to California, he practiced his profession among the miners and Indians, receiving large prices for his dental work, accumulating a goodly sum of money. Returning then to Ashtabula county, he purchased his brother Newton's portion of the old homestead estate, and in addition to superintending the management of his farm practiced dentistry until well advanced in years. He had several students, among wbom was Jesse Kelley, who became prominent as a dentist. He was somewhat of an inventive genius. Dr. Webster married. December 9, 1857, in Seybrook, Mary A. C. Sampson, who was born at Port Huron, Michigan. June to, 1834, where her parents, Shubal and Asenath (Comstock) Sampson, lived for a few years. When she was about two years old, her parents returned to their early home, in Strafford. Orange county, Vermont, where she was educated. When she was about twenty-one years old, she came with relatives to Ashtabula county, and was immediately engaged to teach her first term of school at Kelloggsville. She subsequently taught in the South Ridge School, Squire Simmonds' district, and there met the doctor's father, who conceived a great admiration for her, and, when the doctor returned from California, the father introduced the young teacher to him. She resided on the farm for a number of years after the death of her husband, taking up her residence in Geneva in 1900. Dr. and Mrs. Webster reared four children, namely : George N., born August 21, 1858, died August 2, 1899 ; Julia A.; Mary S.; and Harriet W. George N., an attorney by profession, was drowned at the mouth of one of the branches of the Orinoco river, in South America, while on a mining expedition. Julia A. married W. F. Bentley, director of music at Knox Conservatory, in Galesburg, Illinois. Mary S. Webster, now living with her mother in Geneva, was educated at Smith College, in Northampton, Massachusetts, was for eight years assistant principal in the Bay City (Michigan) High School, afterwards being teacher of English in the Geneva High School for eight years. Harriet W. Webster, now a teacher of music at Knox Conservatory, being at the head of the piano department, was graaduated from that conservatory, after which she studied music in Chicago, Boston, and in Leipsic, Germany. WILLIAM R. CRARY.—A representative of one of the oldest and most honored pioneer families of Lake county, William R. Crary has well upheld the prestige of the name which he bears, and is one of the popular citizens and successful farmers and fruit-growers of Kirtland township, where he is the owner of a well improved landed estate of one hundred and twenty-five acres. He was born on the farm adjoining his present homestead, and the date of his nativity was October 22, 1855. Christopher Gore Crary, father of him whose name initiates this review, was a man whose memory is held in appreciative regard in Kirtland township, where his circle of friends was coincident with that of his acquaintances, and where he contributed his full quota to civic and industrial development. He was born in Becket, Massachusetts, on the. 22d of January, 1805, and was a son of Christopher and Polly (Witter) Crary, members of families founded in New England in the early colonial epoch. His father was a sailor in the American navy during the war of the Revolution and was for some time held in captivity on an old British prison ship, where smallpox added to the sufferings of the ma- 830 - HISTORY OF THE WESTERN RESERVE jority of the captives. In 1811 this Revolutionary veteran came with his family to the wilds of the Western Reserve and estalished his home in Kirtland township, Lake county. He erected a primitive log house at the point later designated as Peck's Corners, where, with the aid of his sons he instituted the reclamation of a farm in the forest wilds. One of his sons finally established a home in Darby township, Union county, Ohio, and there the venerable parents passed their declining days. Christopher Crary was eighty-nine years of age at the time of his death, and his wife, lived to be more than ninety years of age. Their son, Erastus, who had married prior to the removal from Massachusetts to Ohio; settled near his father and here passed the residue of his life as a farmer. He was ninety years of age at the time of his demise, and the first interment in the cemetery at Peck's Corners was that of one of his children. Oliver and Ebenezer, two other sons, established homes in other sections of the Union. Christopher Gore Crary, familiarly known as Christopher G. Crary, was about five years of age at the time of the family removal to Ohio, and he was reared to manhood on the old homestead farm at Peck's Corners. He aided in the reclaiming of much land in this section and witnessed the development of the Western Reserve from the status of a virtual wilderness to that of one of the most attractive and opulent sections of our great national domain. Though his early educational advantages were necessarily limited, owing to the conditions and exigencies of time and place, he effectually overcame this handicap by well directed self-discipline, through reading and study and active association with men, and affairs. He was possessed of .a singularly alert mentality and receptive memory, and his reminiscences in regard to the pioneer days were a source of great pleasure to those with whom he came in social contact in the later years of his life. He eventually became the owner of a farm of two hundred acres, in Kirtland township, while still a young man, and after reclaiming a portion of the same he sold it to one of the Mormons then a member of the numerous colony of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints in Lake county. He had spent a number of years of his early life in Kentucky, where he was engaged in sellings goods, and when he sold his farm he moved to Union county, Ohio. When the Mormons left this section, in 1838, he was compelled to take back his farm—the one on which his son William R., of this sketch, was born—and he devoted the remainder of his active career to agricultural pursuits, in connection with which his energy, discrimination and progressive policy brought to him a large measure of success. He continued to reside on his old homestead until 1876, when he sold the property and invested in a large tract of farm land near Marshalltown, Iowa. For the ensuing eighteen years he passed a portion of each year in Iowa and the remainder in Ohio, and he died at his home in Marshalltown, Iowa, March 11, 1895, at the patriarchal age of eighty-nine years and ten months. Some years prior to his demise Mr. Crary wrote and published a small book, entitled "Pioneer and Personal Reminiscences," and the same is a valuable contribution to the pioneer history of the Western Reserve, as it is a faithful and graphic record of the life and times in the pioneer epoch of Lake county, with special reference to the Mormon stronghold here maintained. Christopher Gore Crary was one of the prominent and influential citizens of Kirtland township for many years, and his broad mental ken and generous attributes of character made him a beneficent force in the community life. He served many years as county commissioner and held various township offices. including that of trustee. He showed a deep interest in the cause of popular education and was for many years a school trustee of his township. He was also active in the support of the Kirtland Seminary at Kirtland, which was a noted educational institution of its day. In politics he was originally an old-line Whig, but he transferred his allegiance to the Republican party at the time of its inception, and ever afterward continued a stanch and effective advocate of its principles and policies. He was a member of the Congregational church and was zealous in the support of the various departments of its work. His was a generous, benevolent and kindly nature, and he won to himself loyal friends in all classes. He was of fine physique, dignified in demeanor, but always affable and companionable, enjoying the society of his friends, and being specially graceful as a raconteur. He enjoyed greatly giving reminiscences of the early days. and it is to be considered, most fortunate that he perpetuated a portion of his large fund of such knowledge through the interesting little HISTORY OF THE. WESTERN RESERVE - 831 publication mentioned in the preceding para- graph. He was a man of fine intellectuality and mature judgment and had he cared to enter public life he would have proved himself eligible for offices of high trust and responsibility. He left the priceless heritage of a good name, as no blot or stain can be found 0n any portion of the fair escutcheon denoting his life and services. Christopher Gore. Crary was. three times married. For his first wife he chose Miss Aurelia Morse, who is survived by three daughters, all of whom still reside in Kirtland, township, namely: Miss Marian A. ; Virginia, widow of Porter Whelpley ; and Octavia, wife of E. D. Billings. For his second wife, Mr. Crary wedded Miss Nancy Davis, who is survived by two sons : Charles C., now a resident of California, and George E., of Mott, North Dakota. On the 16th of July, 1854, Mr. Crary contracted a third marriage, being then united to Miss Charlotte Sophia Ranney, who preceded him to the life eternal by about five months, as her death occurred on the 14th of October, 1894. She was a w0man of gentle and kindly nature and held the affectionate regard of all who came within the sphere of her gracious influence. She was a devout member of the Congregational church. The only child of the third union is William R., whose name initiates this article, and concerning whom more specific mention is made in the following paragraphs. William Ranney Crary was reared to maturity on the old homestead farm adjoining his present place, and to the public schools of Lake county he is indebted for his early educational training. At the, age of seventeen years he assumed charge of his present firm, which was owned by and was the home of his aunt, Mrs. Alice P. (Ranney) Axtell, widow of Silas Axtell. His loved and devoted aunt remained with him on the old homestead until her death, on the 9th of May, 1900, at the venerable age of eighty-seven years, and as she had no children of her own she deeded the farm to her nephew, who had cared for her with true filial solicitude during her declining days. The original property comprised ninety acres and he has since added to it by the purchase of a contiguous tract, making the farm now one of one hundred and twenty-five acres. Mr. Crary has remodeled and thoroughly modernized the residence, which is now one of the attractive homes of this section of the county, and he has made various other improvements on the farm, which is devoted to diversified agriculture, horticulture and fruit-growing. About twenty acres are devoted to the apple orchard, and the raising of fruit is made an important feature of the farm enterprise. In politics Mr. Crary is a stanch Democrat, but he has never cared to enter the arena of "practical politics." He has served as a member of .the school board of his district for many years, is a member of the Kirtland Grange, and also is identified with the Ohio State Horticultural Society. On the 24th of September, 1884, was. solemnized the marriage of William R. Crary to Miss Caroline M. Davis, who was born in Chickasaw county, Iowa, and who is a daughter of Edmond W. and Caroline (Randall) Davis, now residents of New Hampton, that state. Mr. and Mrs. Davis were formerly residents of Kirtland township, Lake county, Ohio. Mr. and Mrs. Crary have two children : Charlotte Beecher, who was graduated in Oberlin College, as a member of the class of. 1909, and, Marion Davis, who is a member of the class of 1910 in the high school in the village of Kirtland. The family enjoy distinctive popularity in their community and the pleasant home is one in which is dispensed a most gracious hospitality. NEWTON E. FRENCH.—Any piece of biographical writing should be both an interpretation and an impression, quite as much as a summary of facts. Facts are of use as wholesome correctives of prejudice, but in a condensed narrative of a life there is danger that they may tyrannize. In studying a clean-cut, sane, distinct character like that of the venerable and honored subject of this sketch, interpretation follows fact in a straight line of derivation. His character is the positive expression of a strong nature, and his name looms large in connection with the business and civic annals of Ashtabula county, which has been his home from the time of his birth and which has been honored and dignified by his services in offices of high public trust and his labors in connection with the productive activities of life. He has been president of the First National Bank of Jefferson for more than thirty years and has been identified with the institution in an executive capacity for more than half a century. He has held public office of some order almost continuously since he attained to his legal majority, and now, 832 - HISTORY OF THE WESTERN RESERVE venerable in years, he rests secure in the confidence and high regard of the people of the county to whose civic and industrial advancement he has contributed so large a measure. He is a scion.: of one of the sterling 'pioneer families of the Western Reserve, and from even the brief outline of his career given in this initial paragraph it may well be understood that no citizen of Ashtabula county is more clearly entitled to representation in this compilation than is he. Newton Ethan French was Dorn in Lenox township, Ashtabula county, Ohio, on January 4, 1824, and he is today undoubtedly the oldest citizen to continue actively identified with business interests in his native county. His father, Ira French, was born in Sandisfield, Berkshire county, Massachusetts, and amidst the hills of that picturesque section of the old Bay state he was reared to maturity, in the meanwhile receiving the advantages of the common schools of the period. He was a son of Joseph French, who was of English lineage and a scion of a family founded in Massachusetts in the colonial epoch of our national history. Joseph French was a farmer in Berkshire county and there continued to reside until the close of his life. In the year 1817 Ira French severed the ties which bound him to the old home in Massachusetts and set forth for Ohio, which was then considered on the frontier of civilization. He became one of the pioneers of the Western Reserve, as he settled in Lenox township, Ashtabula county, where he secured a tract of wild land, a considerable portion of which :he reclaimed from the virgin forest, thus developing one of the productive farms of this now opulent section of the Buckeye commonwealth. In his native state he had learned the carpenter's trade, but after his removal to Ohio he gave the major portion of his time and attention to the improvement and cultivation of his farm. He was a man of strong mentality and inflexible integrity of character, and he became one of the influential citizens of his township, of which he served as one of the early trustees, besides which he held other minor offices of public trust. In politics he was originally an old-line Whig, but upon the organization of the Republican party he transferred his allegiance to the same, whose cause thereafter received his uncompromising support. He was a consistent supporter of the Congregational church, as was also his cherished and devoted wife. He lived to attain the venerable age of eighty-two years. The family is one that has been notable for longevity in the various generations, and Newton E. French stands as a type of that sturdy vig0r which is the heritage from those whose lives were correctly lived in preceding generations. As a young man Ira French was united in marriage to Miss Minerva Bailey, who was born in New Hartford, Connecticut, and wh0 was a daughter of Benjamin Bailey, a representative of a family which was founded in New England in the early colonial days and which was of stanch English origin. Mrs. French was forty-eight years of age at the time of her death and was survived by two children, of whom the subject of this review is the elder ;. the daughter, Mary Louise, died when about thirty-five years of age. Newton E. French was reared under the conditions and influences of the pioneer epoch in Ashtabula county, and his reminiscences 0f the early days are graphic and interesting. He has witnessed the development of this secti0n from the formative period to that of advanced civilization and opulent prosperity marking the twentieth century, and it has been a matter of satisfaction to him that he has been able to contribute his quota to the civic and industrial upbuilding of his native county, of whose native sons he is now one of the oldest. He assisted in the reclamation and cultivation of the home farm, and eventually he became the owner of a well improved farm property in Lenox township, where he continued to be actively identified with agricultural pursuits until 1858, when he removed to Jefferson to assume the duties of the office of county treasurer, to which he 'had been elected in the preceding autumn. He remained incumbent of this fiscal office for four years, and here his administration gained the most unequivocal popular commendation, as is true in all the official positi0ns to which he has been called. At the age of twenty-one years Mr. French was elected treasurer of Lenox township, and he also served in the office of township clerk and that of justice of the peace, to which latter he was elected in 1853 ; this position he resigned when he became county treasurer. The advantages which he received in the common schools of the pioneer days were not neglected by him, and the discipline there received has been most effectively supplemented by well directed reading and investigation and by long association with the practical affairs of life, so that he is recognized as a man of superior intellectual endowment and as one well fortified in his opinions. HISTORY OF THE WESTERN RESERVE - 833 As before stated, Mr. French has been almost continuously in service as a public official since the time of attaining to his majority, and in every position he has given an earnest and able devotion to the work in hand, being appreciative of the responsibilities imposed and of the confidence so uniformly accorded him by those who have known him best and have placed a definite estimate upon his character and ability. In the village of Jefferson he has served as mayor as a valued member of the common council and as a member of the board of education. lie is now a member of the board of trustees of the Jefferson Cemetery Association, of which position he has been incumbent during the major portion of the long period of his residence in Jefferson. In 1879 came a still higher mark of public esteem, for in that year Mr. Frencb was elected to represent his native county in the state legislature, where he made an admirable record during his term of two years. lle was reared in the faith of the old Whig party and early began to form his own ideas in regard to matters of public policy. He has shown in politics, as in other relations of life, a reason for the faith that he has held, and he has been identified with the Republican party from the time of its organization. He cast his first presidential vote in support of General John C. Fremont, the first presidential candidate of this party, and be has since voted for every in esidential candidate forward by the "Grand Old Party" to w his allegiance is of the most uncompromising order. In 1863, about two years after his retirement from the office of county treasurer, Mr. French became cashier of tbe First National Bank of Jefferson, and he retained this executive office until 1875, when he was elected to the presidency of the institution. He has since continued the executive head of this old and substantial banking house, with the management of whose affairs he has thus been identified for the long period of forty-six years, and he has the distinction of having been thus an officer longer than has any other man at the present 'time identified with any national bank in the state of Ohio with perhaps one exception. His record has been one marked by the utmost integrity of purpose and on no portion of his career as a citizen, business man, or public officer rests the slightest shadow. He has made his life count for good in all its relations, and thus finds, as the shadows lengthen from the golden west, that his lines are cast in pleasant places, for he is known and honored by the people of the community which has ever represented his home and been the center of his interests. On October 18, 1848, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. French to Miss Sarah Bailey, who was born in the state of Massachusetts, in 1825, and who was a daughter of Caleb and Betsy (Hill) Bailey, who settled in Ashtabula county in 1832 and here passed the residue of their lives. Mrs. French is survived by two daughters,—Kate, who is the wife of of B. W. Baldwin, of Jefferson, and Fannie, who remains with her father in the attractive family homestead and who is prominent in connection with the social activities of the community. Mrs. French, who was a member of the Congregational church, was summoned to the life eternal on July 5, 1890, and her memory is revered by all who came within the lines of her gentle and gracious influence. JOHN HUGHES CHRISTY.-A retired manufacturer and honored citizen of Akron is John Hughes Christy, who is a representative of one of the well-known pioneer families of Summit county, which has been his home from the time of his birth, and which he honored by his services as a valiant soldier in the Civil war. John Hughes Christy was born in Springfield township, Summit county, Ohio, on the 7th of August, 1830, and is a son of Patrick and Elizabeth (McMoran) Christy. His father was born in Trenton, New Jersey, in the year 1791, and came to Ohio in 1811, first locating near the present city of Canton, Stark county, where he secured a tract of heavily timbered land, on which he initiated the work of developing a farm. After remaining there about three years, however, he removed to Summit county, and settled in Springfield township, not far from the present city of Akron, which was then a mere hamlet in the midst of the forest. He reclaimed a farm in the township mentioned and was known as a man of much energy and ambition and as one possessed of marked business ability. For a number of years he was associated with James Douglass in business, and in the early days he did much business in hauling goods over the mountains from the eastern markets to the various settlements in the Western Reserve, utilizing teams of from four to six horses and building up a successful enterprise. He was identified with this business until 1853, when he sold his farm and his 834 - HISTORY OF THE WESTERN RESERVE   teams and wagons that had been used in the transportation enterprise, and he then took up his abode in Akron, where he continued to reside until his death, which occurred in the year 1864. His wife survived him by about a decade, as she was summoned to the life eternal in 1874. They were members of the Presbyterian church and were folk of sterling character, respected by all who knew them. They became the parents of five sons and three daughters, and of the number the sub ject of this review is now the only one living. John H. Christy passed his boyhood days on the home farm which was the place of his birth, and his early educational advantages were those afforded in the somewhat primitive schools of the middle pioneer period in this section of the state. Later he was enabled to attend a select school conducted by Professor M. D. Leggett, an able instructor, under whose direction he continued his higher studies during 1847-48. In 1851, soon after attaining to his legal majority, Mr. Christy became associated with his brother James and engaged in the tanning and leather business in Akron, where he continued to be identified with this line of enterprise until 1882. He was a stockholder in the Akron Iron Company fourfoui years, and he gave much of his time and attention to the supervision of this. His activities have been directed along normal lines and he gained prestige as an able business man, the while .his name has ever stood exponent of the highest integrity and honor. In May, 1864, Mr. Christy tendered his services in defense of the Union, by enlisting as a private in Company F, One Hundred and Sixty-fourth Ohio Volunteer Infantry, commanded by Colonel John C. Lee, and he was with this command on duty in defense of the city of Washington until the expiration of his term of enlistment, when he received his honorable discharge. In politics he maintains an independent attitude. In the year 1862 Mr. Christy was united in marriage to Miss Jane Louisa Burton, daughter of Merrick and Adeline Burton, who settled in Summit county in 1835, and who here passed the remainder of their lives. Mr. and Mrs. Christy became the parents of two children, one of whom died in infancy. Edwin Burton Christy, the other child, died in his twenty-first year, a young man of sterling characteristics and distinctive promise. JAMES MANLEY COATS.—One of the oldest citizens of Geneva, and a prominent member of its agricultural community, James Manley Coats is known throughout this secton of Ashtabula county as an upright, honest man, and a worthy representative of those courageous pioneers who settled in the county in the days of its infancy. Since boyho0dhood days he has witnessed wonderful changes in this vicinity, the log cabins of the early settlers having given way to costly residences, while railways, telegraph and telephone lines now span these broad acres. He was born, Octo30, 3o, 1827, in Allegany, county, New York, a son of Warren Coats. A native of Pompey, Onondaga county, New York, Warren Coats lived in the Empire state until, 1844, when he joined the t0fe of emigration going westward, coming to Ashtabula county. He worked for a few years at his trade of blacksmith, in 1847 buying the farm on which his son, J. M. Coan0w now lives. In 1848 he erected the present dwelling house, which is still in a fine st0fe of preservation, and here lived until his death, June 7, 1891, aged eighty-four. His health was not very good for many years, and being unable to manage the farm, which was small, containing but thirty-six acres,, its care was left to his son. Warren Coats marrRh0dahoda Pratt, a native of Connecticut, and she survived him a short time, passing away February 6, 1892, aged eighty-two years. He was active in public affairs, serving as just0fe of the peace, and for many years was a deacon in the Baptist church at Geneva. To him and his good wife four children were born, as follows : James Manley ; Charlotte D., who died in Geneva, June 15, 1909, marrJer0merome Todd, and for fifty years lived in Wisconsin, returning to Ashtabula county after the death of her husband ; Amelia B. marrJer0merome Kibbe, and both died in Geneva, her death occurring in May, 1908, aged sixty-seven years ; and Amanda C., wife of Norton Holcomb, of Geneva village. James M. Coats comes of patriotic stock. His grandfather, Benjamin Coats, died at Friendship,. New York, aged fifty-four years, having served as a soldier in Revolution.ion. About seventeen years old when he came with the family to Ashtabula county, James Manley Coats remembers much about this part of the country at that day. He can remember seven. mill dams on Cowles creek, between the 835 - HISTORY OF THE WESTERN RESERVE Lake Shore Railway and Lake Erie, a distance of four miles, the upper one having a grist mill, owned by Eliphalet Mills ; next a saw mill, owned by Mr. Casson ; then Thomas Jennings' cabinet shop; the fourth was the site of a mill at North Center, owned and operated by H. P. Castle, who had a three-story end a furnace, and was engaged in the manufacture of plows and engines, an important industry, which had previously been established by Jason Norton. Joel G. Cowles' mill was the first one on the creek, in whose honor the creek was named; a little farther along was John Cook's saw mill ; and nearer the lake stood the remains of an old woolen and carding mill and the Castle Foundry and Manufactory, located in sight of Mr. Coats' present home. Mr. Coats assisted his father in the improvement of the home place, and with the exception of ten years spent in Wisconsin. with his wife and family, has always resided on this farm. fie has labored with good success, added to the acreage of the estate by purchase of additional land, and has made improvements of value, rendering his place attractive and desirable as a place of residence. In his political affiliations he was a Whig in his earlier years, afterwards becoming a Republican, and for thirty years was an active worker in the Prohibition party. For more than fifty years he has been a faithful member of the Methodist Episcopal church, in which he held all the offices, and in 1908, when he resigned his position as class leader, he was made class leader emeritus for life, at the suggestion of District Superintendent J. K. Morris. On May 5, 1853, Mr. Coats married his cousin, Lucretia Todd, a daughter of Amos and Harriet (Pratt) Todd, her mother being a sister of Rhoda Pratt, who married Warren Coats. Mrs. Coats' only brother, Jerome Todd, married Mr. Coats' sister, Charlotte, as above mentioned. After their marriage, Mr. and Mrs. Coats went with Mr. and Mrs. Amos Todd to Merrimac, Wisconsin, and stayed there ten years. There Mr. and Mrs. Todd died, her death occurring when she was sixty years of age, and his at the age of seventy-six years. Mr. and Mrs. Coats have one child, Ada Elenore, who married John Finley, and is living with her parents. Mr. and Mrs. Finley have one child, Miles Todd Finley, aged eighteen years, now a student at Mount Union College, Alliance, Ohio. WARREN L. HOOSE, a prominent and successful farmer living on Waite Hill, three miles southeast of Willoughby Village, was born in Mayfield township, Cuyahoga county, November 11, 1847. He is a son of Cornelius and Jane (Usher) Hoose, the latter of whom made three trips with her parents, with an ox team, from New York state to Ohio. Reared on a farm with his parents, Warren L. Hoose, after receiving a common-school education, attended Mayfield Academy. Though he married at the age of twenty-three years, he remained with his father until twenty-six years old. At that time his father deeded him twenty-four acres, and he has since lived on this place ; subsequently he purchased his brother's interest, making forty-eight acres altogether. He has owned other land, but sold it again. He has made a special feature of fruit for many years, his best crop now being peaches and berries. For' ten years he had twenty-four acres of grapes, but from various causes the crop became unprofitable, and he has now discontinued it. Mr. Hoose is a man of unusual enterprise and industry, and pays close attention to the interests of his farm, thereby gaining a fair degree of success. He is a splendid manager, and as he has spent his life in agricultural pursuits, his judgment in these matters is of the best. He takes an active interest in local matters, and has served as trustee and school director. His good principles and sterling qualities are appreciated by his fellow townsmen, and he stands well in the community. Mr. Hoose married, when twenty-three years of age, Sarah, daughter of Oliver and Maria Hanson, born in Kirtland, and at the 'time of her marriage twenty-one years old, and living in Mentor. They have three sons, namely : Leon B., a grocer in Nottingham, Cuyahoga county; A. C. (Bert), an optician and jeweler, in Billings, Montana; and Arthur, now with his brother Leon in Nottingham. Mrs. Sarah Hoose died on Waite Hill in September, 1896. Mr. Hoose married, in 1897, Clara M. Phelps, of Little Mountain, Ohio. CHARLES JEDEDIAH HUBBELL, prominently identified with the business interests of Ravenna as the proprietor of a grain elevator, was born in Chagrin Falls, Ohio, September 17, 1867, a son of Charles Harold and Mariam Eliza (Russell) Hubbell, and a grandson on the paternal side of Jedediah and Sarah (Par- 836 - HISTORY OF THE WESTERN RESERVE shall) Hubbell, also from Chagrin Falls. The Hubbell family came originally from the Isle of Man, and its progenitor located first in the state of New York, but afterward the family were numbered among the earliest settlers of Warrensville, Ohio, while the Russells are of English descent, and were early residents of Chagrin Falls. The maternal grandparents of Mr. Hubbell were Hezekiah and Rosena (Wickizer) Russell, the former from New York and the latter from Pennsylvania. During his early life Charles H. Hubbell, who was born in Warrensville, Ohio, in 1832, learned the carpenter's trade, and he continued as a contractor and builder until he had, attained the age of forty years. He then went with the J. A. Garfield colony to Pawnee, Kansas, and secured a soldier's claim, for he had served in the Civil war with Company D, One Hundred and Third Ohio Volunteer Infantry, as chief clerk in the quartermaster's department, at Louisville, Kentucky. He remained in the Sunflower state for three years, although his family were there but one year, and his son, Walter H., was born there, he having been the first white child born in the town of Garfield. Returning then to Ohio, Mr. Hubbell worked at his former occupation of carpentering until 1892. With two others he then founded and built the first telephone line in Chagrin Falls, and he served as president of the company until 1903, when the company's interests were sold to the Cuyahoga Telephone Company. He died on the 17th of November, 1908, but he is still survived by his wife, a resident of Chagrin Falls. Of their five sons, Charles J. was the first born ; Melvin James and Walter Harold are in the grocery business in Ravenna ; Leon J. is the manager of the telephone company at Chagrin Falls ; and Frank N., the youngest of the sons, was drowned in February of 1896, when fourteen years of age. Charles J. Hubbell was but eleven years of age when he began learning the wood-turner's trade, and when he had attained the age of sixteen he went to Chicago and worked at his trade there for one year, subsequently spending three years with the Taylor Chair Company at Bedford, Ohio, after which he worked at his trade for two years in Detroit, Michigan, and then locating at Kent, he was employed with the A. L. Shaddock Chair Company until the 14th of February, 1893. Coming then to Ravenna, he served as the foreman of the Buckeye Chair Company f0r two years, and then, with two of his brothers, Melvin J. and Walter H., he engaged in the grocery business, but in May of 1904 he sold his interest in the store to his brothers, and on the 16th of June following bought from the American Cereal Company the grain elevator which he is now operating. He handles all kinds of grain and feed, also does custom grinding, and his elevator has a capacity of forty thousand bushels. Mr. Hubbell married, on the 22d of February, 1889, Elizabeth A. James, who was born in Syracuse, New York, a daughter of William and Mary (Thomas) James, natives of Wales. Their two children are Susie G. and Harold L. Mr. Hubbell upholds the principles of the Republican party, and he has served one term as a member of the city council of Ravenna. He is a member 0f the Royal Arcanum, of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks and of the Church of Christ. ROBERT BRATTEN.—The late Robert Bratten was one of the best known residents of Ashtabula county, revered and honored for his true worth of character, and the name which he bore is an honored one in this. community. He was born in Shaftsbury, Vermont, June 10, 1823, but as a boy of ten he came with his parents, Robert and Hulda (Knowlton) Bratten, and their family to Ohio, locating at Brecksville, in Cuyahoga county. This family numbered six sons, David, Robert, Harry, Timothy, died when eight years old, Alonzo, died when young, and Joseph. David spent his life in Brecksville as a farmer, and died there when about eighty years of age. Joseph, a Civil war soldier, died in 1903, in New Lyme township, Ashtabula county, where he had lived ,since before the war. Harry had come , to this vicinity before Robert, in about 1845 or 1846, and in 1867 bought the farm now owned by his daughter, Mrs. John Houser, Here he lived and died, passing away in March of 1898, at the age of seventy-two. His wife, nee Harriet Beckley, from Dover, in Cuyahoga county, preceded him in death twenty years, the mother of their six children: Ellen, who married Levi Wait and died at the age of thirty-five years ; Adelbert, who was killed by a falling tree at the age of thirteen; Sally, the HISTORY OF THE WESTERN RESERVE - 837 wife of Samuel Houser ; Rosaline, the wife of John Houser ; Loren, who was killed by a train at the age of thirty, and Adaline, who died at the age of ten. Robert Bratten, when he had attained the age of thirty years, brought the family from Brecksville to Ashtabula township, the family then consisting of his father, mother and two sisters, Lydia and Sally, and after the death of his parents, at the ages of seventy-two and ninety-six, respectively, his sisters remained with him, neither having ever married. Lydia died at the age of sixty-eight years, and Sally died in 1909, some eight weeks after the death of her brother Robert, she being then eighty-eight years of age. Robert Bratten passed away in death on the 30th of May, 1909, when he had reached the eighty-sixth milestone on life's journey. To his original farm of 204 acres on Lake Erie he added until it contained about 50o acres, and he also owned 15o acres in New Lyme township and half a section in Nebraska. He continued to cultivate his land until past sixty, and afterward divided his vast estate among his nieces and nephews, but continued to live at his old home, now the property of Mrs. Samuel Houser. Ernest Bratten also received a part of the homestead, as well as the niece, Rosa-line, now the wife of John Houser. During the last fifteen or eighteen years of his life Robert Bratten lived retired. He was a devout Christian, a great Bible student, and his name is revered in the community where he lived and labored for so many years. John Houser was born in Ashtabula township, Ashtabula county, April 22, 1856, a son of Samuel and Elizabeth (Sindlinger) Houser, both from Germany. They came to this country in their early lives and were married, in Ashtabula county, and at their homestead on the Middle road they spent their lives and died, the mother when sixty-eight years of age. Their family numbered the following children : Samuel ; Kate, who died when young; John ; Elizabeth, the wife of Almon Seager, of Ashtabula township ; Philip, of the same place ; Julia, the wife of Ernest Bratten, of Ashtabula township ; and one who died when young. John Houser married Rosaline Bratten on December 23, 1883, and their seven children are : John, Ralph, Harriet, Mary, Florence, Harley and Hugh, all at home with their parents with the exception of the oldest son, who is a machinist in Cleveland. LEANDER BARTHOLOMEW, of Harpersfield, is a native of Harpersfield township, born January 16, 1824, a mile and a half south of Geneva. He is a son of Benjamin D. and Lovina (Potter) Bartholomew, both natives of Vermont. Benjamin D. Bartholomew came to Ohio with his father when two years of age; they came from Buffalo on the ice, landing north of Cowle's creek, March 3, 1800, p. m., and camped there over night. The father had to wade out, and lead the horses over a gap between the ice and shore, on a bridge made of sleigh boxes. In the morning the ice was gone across the lake. The father, Daniel, was a son of Joseph Bartholomew. Daniel Bartholomew was routed out to go to Sandusky with others to head off the British, but sent his son Benjamin, although. at the time he was but fourteen years of age; the father was a very fleshy man. Benjamin went up to Sandusky and came back at once, thinking the British had returned to Canada, but they had not. One boy of the party, Enoch Barnum, had his left arm and part of his nose shot off by the accidental discharge of a gun. The Bartholomew family settled on the Harpersfield road, and Daniel, who died in middle life, when his son Benjamin was but sixteen years of age, was buried in the old burying ground. Benjamin Bartholomew spent the last years of his life in Geneva, and was helpless the last year before his death. He died at the age of eighty-four years, and his house is the present home of his son Leander. His wife, who was born in 1800, came to Buffalo with her parents when twelve years of age, and twelve years later they came to Harpers-field, to the old Clyde furnace. She died at the age of seventy-eight years. They had three sons and four daughters, namely : Lemuel D., a merchant living at Charlevoix, Michigan ; Mary Edilla Dikeman, now aged eighty-two years, lives at Geneva; Leander, of Harnersfield ; and Dexter, Elzada, Lovisa and Lovina. Leander Bartholomew is a public-spirited citizen, and interested in public affairs. He married, at the age of twenty-four years, Calphurina, adopted daughter of Judge Jonathan Gregory, who at the time of her marriage was nineteen years old, and they had six children, of whom only two are now living. Mrs. Bartholomew died March 7, 1909, after living with her husband sixty-one years, and they lived on the farm now occupied him for fifty-eight years. The oldest child to die was William, who was twenty-one years of age. Valda R. 838 - HISTORY OF THE WESTERN RESERVE lives at South Bend, Indiana, and Hattie married William Beeman and resides with her father. Mr. and Mrs. Beeman have five children, namely Nina, wife of Ralph Tyler, of Geneva; Clara, wife of Charles Robinson, of Geneva ; Calphurina, Luella and Leander. Leander Bartholomew is the oldest person now living in Harpersfield who was born there, and has outlived all other male members of the family except Colonel Riley, who died at the age of ninety years. He has seen and can remember seven generations of his family, from his great-grandfather and great-grandmother Potter to his own great-grandchildren, and also seven generations on his father's side as well. At one time the Bartholomew family owned a large part of Harpersfield, but now there are only a few of the family living in the vicinity. Mr. Bartholomew has been a Repub lican since the inception of the party, as was his father and his son. He has never been in enjoyment of very robust health, but has ever been temperate in his habits, never has used tobacco, and but very little liquor. For fifty years he has not failed to be up in the morning in time to see the sun rise. He is a man of intelligence and good judgment, and his conversation is interesting to all ; he has many experiences and reminiscences well worth listening to. SAMUEL RHOADES HOUSE, who has been a citizen of Denver, Colorado, for nearly twenty years, was identified with Painesville, Lake county, from his birth to 189o, and was at one time a leading Republican of Ohio. He was an ardent admirer of Garfield, served as a delegate to the electoral college which cast the formal presidential votes for Ohio's favorite son, and was a stanch supporter of the administration so tragically terminated. Since going to Colorado, he has been especially prominent in religious work, the building and organization of the Corona church being largely due to his activity and generosity. Mr. House was born in Leroy, Geauga county, Ohio, December 14, 1831, and married Miss Laura Morse, daughter of Colonel John F. Morse, of Painesville. Colonel Morse was one of the most prominent Free Soilers of Ohio for many years before the Civil war. In 1848 he was representing his pafty in the state legislature and, with his colleague, Dr. Townsend, of Elyria, held the balance of power in that body. It was their votes, not only that year but later; which virtually sent Salmon P. Chase to the United States senate. The colonel was government architect at New Orleans, for a number of years, and died at Painesville, in 1882, leaving a record both in political and social circles of which his many friends are proud. John House, Jr., the father of Samuel R., was born at Chesterfield, Massachusetts, in 1802, and came to the Western Reserve in the thirties. At first he was a farmer of Leroy township, Geauga county, but at a later date became a general merchant of Painesville, where he died in 189o. The children born to the marriage of Mr. and Mrs. Samuel R. House were seven in number, of whom four are living. Mary, born October 12, 1858, married Rev. George R. Merrill, who for a number of years has been pastor of the First Congregational church at Minneapolis, Minnesota, and is the mother of Eunice, Robert, Laura and Marjorie. Edward L. House, the oldest son, born April 10, 1861, is the stirring business man of Painesville, proprietor of the Painesville Steam. Laundry and Carpet Cleaning Works. His wife (nee Urania Holcomb) is a daughter of Henry Holcomb, the Civil war veteran, and was born August 9, 1862. Mr. and Mrs. Edward L. House have no children of their own, but have an adopted daughter. Herbert G. House, the. third child of Mr. and Mrs. Samuel House, was born in Painesville, February 14, 1864, but is now a resident of Denver and member of the insurance and real estate firm of Samuel R. House & Son. He is married to Clara G. Robinson, of West Newton, Pennsylvania, and is the father of Katherine, Samuel, John, Margaret, Virginia and Urania. His son, Samuel, married Alma Pratt, daughter of F. P. and Estelle J. Pratt, the latter the noted vocalist and leader of choruses of the "Smith Family" of singers and at this date (1909) living in Colorado. Everett Jay House, assistant postmaster at Painesville, was born October 7, 1868 ; on December 14, 1899, married Miss Alice C. Hendricks, of Erie, Pennsylvania, and their three children are Everett J., Jr., born in 19o1; Eleanor G., born in 1903, and Laura C., born in 1906. The mother was born March 27, 1874. EVERETT J. HOUSE, assistant postmaster at Painesville, Lake coimty, is the grandson of John House, Jr., and the son of Samuel R. House, who were both prominent in the mercantile and public activities of Lake county. HISTORY OF THE WESTERN RESERVE - 839 The House family had been established in Massachusetts for several generations before entering into the development of the Western Reserve, the great-grandfather of Everett J. having been born in Hanover, that state, in 1774. His grandfather was a native of Chesterfield, Massachusetts, born in 1801 ; came to Ohio about 1825 and settled in the township of Leroy, then a portion of Geauga county. There he followed his trade as a blacksmith until 1843, when he located at Painesville and purchased the point of land at the junction of State and Bank streets, erected a shop and operated it until 1850. He then sold his business and good will, and established a general store on State street, under the firm name of J. House & Son (Samuel R.). The business was successfully conducted for many years before the dissolution of the partnership, the death of the senior occurring. in 189o. The deceased was at one time postmaster in Leroy township and after coming to Painesville was a prominent member of the First Congregational church. Samuel R. House is a native of Leroy township, born in 1831, and after the dissolution of the firm of J. House & Co. served as treasurer of Lake county for two terms. He was also councilman of Painesville for four years ; was chosen presidential elector in Garfield's district ( the Nineteenth congressional), and was widely known as a leading insurance man. In 1905 he moved to Denver, Colorado, where he is now a leading dealer in mining stocks and bonds. Everett J. House, youngest son of Mr. and Mrs. Samuel R. House, was born in Painesville; graduated from its high school in 1887 and from Adelbert College in 1891, and was appointed assistant postmaster of his native city August r, 1899. He is an official of executive talents and a citizen of fine character. JACOB M. RUEDI.—During his years of activity, Jacob NI. Ruedi, late of Garrettsville, was closely identified with the agricultural interests of Portage county, as general farmer hayitF met with praiseworthy success. He was widely known throughout this section of Portqe county, and in his death, which occurred February 29, 1908, the community lost a citizen of value and worth. A man of high principles and exemplary habits, he was straightforward and honest in all of his business dealings, and in his domestic life he was a kind husband, ever attentive to the welfare of his household, where his kind presence was a daily benediction, and will ever be missed. A native of Portage county, he was born, January 21, 1857, in Atwater, three months after the death of his father, Jacob M. Ruedi, Sr:, who came to this country from Switzerland, and while working for a railway company, was accidentally killed at Alliance, Ohio, when but twenty-three years of age. Brought up in Geauga county, Ohio, Jacob I. Ruedi received a practical common-school education, making the very most of his limited opportunities for acquiring knowledge. Thrown upon his resources when a boy, he steadily climbed the ladder of attainments, developing his many good talents through a constant use of every faculty, early displaying excellent business tact and ability. At the age of seventeen years he took up his residence in Portage county, and thenceforward devoted his time and attention to agricultural pursuits. Becoming associated with his father-in-law, he carried on general farming until 1903, when failing health compelled him to give up active pursuits. Removing then to the beautiful residence which he had erected in Garrettsville, Mr. Ruedi continued to reside in this city until his death. A man of quiet, unassuming manner, he made a host of friends, who will ever cherish his memory. On April 11, 1882, Mr. Ruedi married Jennie Wells, who was born in Portage county, a daughter of Frank Wells. Her grandfather, William Henry Wells, emigrated from Massachusetts, his place of birth, to the Western Reserve in pioneer times, locating in Portage county. Frank Wells was born, bred, and spent his entire life in Portage county, his birth occurring in Freedom. He married Sophia A. Harris, who was born in Hiram, Portage county, the daughter of an early settler of that part of the county. She survived her husband, and is now living in Garrettsville, with Mrs. Ruedi, her only child. They are esteemed and worthy of the respect accorded them by their neighbors and friends. JOHN V. VANDERSLICE. — Possessing good business ability and judgment, earnest in purpose, and upright in his dealings, John V. Vanderslice holds an assured position among the enterprising and valued citizens of Garrettsville, Portage county, where, as a miller, he is intimately associated with the advancement of its industrial prosperity. A son of Benjamin Vanderslice, he was born, Novem- 840 - HISTORY OF THE WESTERN RESERVE ber 4, 1844, in Montgomery county, Pennsylvania, of Dutch descent, the emigrant ancestor of his family having come to the United States from Holland in colonial days. Benjamin Vanderslice was born and bred. in the Keystone state, where during his earlier life he was engaged in agricultural pursuits. In 1862 he came with his family to the Western Reserve, locating in Geauga county; where he resided until his death, at the advanced age of eighty-three years. He married Lydia Llewellyn, who was born in the eastern part of Pennsylvania, of Welsh ancestry. She, too, attained a ripe old. age, living to be upwards of four score years of age. Fifteen children were born of their union, fourteen of whom grew to years of maturity, married, and reared families. Nine are now, in 1909, living, John V. being the eighth child in order of birth, and the fifth son. About seventeen years old when he came to. Ohio, John V. Vanderslice secured work in Mantua, Portage county, in what was then called Mud Mill, where he was employed a year and a half. Going then to Parkman, Geauga county, he worked for nine months in a flour mill, after which he was in the employ of the government at Chattanooga, Tennessee, for a year. The ensuing year Mr. Vanderslice spent in Geauga county: Returning then to his native state, he was there engaged in milling, and also assisted in developing some of the first oil wells sunk in that part of Pennsylvania. In 1886, Mr. Vanderslice located in Garrettsville, becoming a part owner of the Garrettsville Flour Mill, one of the first plants of the kind established in Portage county. It was built originally in 1804. was rebuilt" in 1847, and in 1894, four years after becoming its sole proprietor,. Mr. Vanderslice rebuilt it, enlarged its capacity to sixty barrels of flour per day, and has now one of the best equipped plants of the kind in this part of the state. Mr. Vanderslice married, in 188o, Lavinia J. Hilliard, who was born and brought up in Jefferson county, Pennsylvania, and they are the parents of four children, all daughters, namely : L. Ersilla ; Lydia L., wife of E. J. Russell, of Sharon, Pennsylvania ; Ida E.; and Elma V. Politically, Mr. Vanderslice is a stanch supporter of the principles of the Republican party, and takes much interest in public affairs. He is not an officeseeker, but has been a member of the city council since i9oo. He is a member of the Masonic fraternity, belonging to the blue lodge and to the chapter. CHARLES C. JENKINS, a very successful business man and prominent citizen of Willoughby, was born September 27, 1840, in Mentor, and is a son of John Jr. and Cyrene (Huntoon) Jenkins ; his grandfather was also named John Jenkins. John.Jenkins Jr.. worked some time for Grandison Newell, the famous opposer of Mormonism, and later purchased a foundry of Charles Newell, of Mentor, where the family was located, and manufactured plows until after the Civil war, when he sold out and removed to Willoughby. Soon afterward he started a foundry and subsequently a planing mill, in partnership with his son Charles, and engaged in the manufacturing of plows at Willoughby until about 1869, when Charles C. Jenkins bought the business. It was located on the rear of a lot on Euclid, but a few years later removed to its present location along the. Lake Shore Railroad. During the last sixteen years it has been operated as a planing mill in connection with a lumber yard. Mr. Jenkins married a daughter of Scribner Huntoon, born in Concord township, and they had three children who lived to maturity, namely : B. F., a carpenter residing in Mentor ; Violet married F. E. Wasson, of Painesville ; and Charles C. Mr. Jenkins died at the age of ninety-one years, having been seriously afflicted for years ; his wife died at the age of eighty. Charles C. Jenkins served three years in the Civil war, in the Eighty-eighth Ohio Infantry, Company C, being detailed to Camp Chase, a parole .camp, to a prison camp, and also did considerable clerical work. Before going into partnership with father in the foundry and planing mill, he spent four years in Cleveland. He is a man of business acumen and enterprise, and has devoted his chief energies to the advancement of his commercial interest, by which he has gained a gratifying measure of success. However, he has time from his business responsibilities to interest himself in the public welfare, and he has served since 1872, a period of thirty-seven years, in the office of.townShip and village clerk. GILMAN A. WOODWORTH. A highly esteemed resident of Ashtabula county and a prominent member of its agricultural community, owning and occupying a good farm near Geneva, Gilman A. Woodworth is a HISTORY OF THE WESTERN RESERVE - 841 worthy representative of those courageous pioneeer who settled in the county in the days of its infancy, and were active in, its development and subsequent growth. A son of the late Elijah Woodworth. he was born, August 20, 1861, on the home farm near Conneaut, this county. His grandfather, Lothrop Woodworth, came with his family from Connecticut to Ohio in 1818. and settled in Ashtabula county. He was a carpenter and builder by trade, and in this new country his work was in constant dehind. He improved a homestead, and was employed in carpentering and farming until his death, when but little past the prime of life. His wife survived him, dying at the age of eighty years. They reared six children, as follows: Elijah ; Milton died in Conneaut, at an advanced age : Almon also died in Conneaut; Lothrop, deceased ; Jane, deceased ; and Cordelia, deceased. Elijah Woodworth was born, June 10, 1808, in Salisbury, Connecticut, and died in Coneaut, Ashtabula county, Ohio, November 28, 1900. A lad of ten years when he came with the family to the Western Reserve, he witnessed many wonderful changes in the face of the country during his four score and more years of residence here. In those early days school houses. churches and costly residences were conspicuous only by their absence ; there were neither railways, telegraphs nor telephone lines, few, if any, evidences of civilization being then evident; while now flourishing towns and cities and magnificent agricultural regions have usurped the place of the forest, the fertile acres round about yielding abundantly and to spare. He grew to manhood in the open, became a great hunter and fisher, and every winter for years would go into Upper Michigan, where he has killed hundreds of deer, taking these trips until past eighty years old. As a young man, he was employed in the fishery business, which he found profitable, owning his own fishing vessels, which went up the lakes as far as Mackinac, in search of fish. Later he was extensively engaged in mercantile pursuits in Conneaut. After the war, Elijah Woodworth purchased two hundred and twenty acres of land adjoining Conneaut, and in the years that followed made many and valuable improvements, rendering it one of the very best and most attractive estates in the whole county. He erected substantial buildings of all needed kinds, installed the most modern farm machinery, and in addition to carrying on general farming was largely engaged in dairying and stock raising. He had also other interests, in company with his brother being engaged in shipbuilding, and until well advanced in years managed his own affairs, retaining full control of his varied interests until almost ninety years old. His farm was sold in 1900 to the steel company for $77,000, the largest price ever paid for a farm in this locality. He never forgot old New England, but from early life until old age, even when eighty-five' years old, would visit Connecticut, usually going once a year, but occasionally making two trips. He was not especially interested in politics, but he was a man of generous impulses, very charitable, and gave much to the poor. Mr. Elijah Woodworth was three times married. His first wife, a Miss Ferris, 'died in early womanhood, leaving no children. He married, second, Sarah Ferris, a sister of his first wife. Of their children, six grew to years of maturity, namely : Lothrop, who served in the Civil war, died at the age of three score years ; 'Mary, wife of R. M. Palmer, lives on a portion of the old homestead ; Charles died at the age of forty years ; Fremont, of Conneaut ; Gilman A., the subject of this sketch ; and William, of Ashtabula. Mr. Woodworth married for his third wife, when eighty-five years of age, Harriet Woodworth, a native of Connecticut. Until the family homestead was sold to the steel company, Gilman A. Woodworth actively assisted in its management. He subsequently bought, in 190o, his present farm, the old George Shepard estate, lying one mile from Geneva, on the South Ridge road. Here he has one hundred and eight acres of rich and fertile land, and is carrying on dairying and stock raising, keeping a fine herd of Holstein cattle. He is fond of outdoor sports, enjoying both hunting and fishing, and was for, merly an enthusiastic ball player. Mr. Wood! worth has been twice married. He married, in 1884, Harriet Germond, who died in 1906, leaving three children : Harrison, Arthur and Lee. Mr. Woodworth married, second, November 19, 1907, Mrs. Ida (Bedell) Winchell, daughter of Benjamin Bedell, of Leroy township, and widow of Henry Winchell, of Rock Creek. Politically, Mr. Woodworth is identified with the Republican party, and has served four 'years as township trustee. Socially, he 842 - HISTORY OF THE WESTERN RESERVE is a member of the local Grange. Both he and his wife are members of the Congregational church. FRANK A. SEIBERLING.—An able exponent of the progressive spirit and strong initiative power that have caused the city of Akron to forge so rapidly forward as an industrial and commercial center, is Frank A. Seiberling, who is a native son of Summit county, of which Akron is the judicial center, and who has here attained prominence and influence as a business man and loyal public-spirited citizen. He is president and general manager of the Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company and also has other local interests of importance, so that he, stands as one of the representative "captains of industry" in his native county and the historic Western Reserve. Mr. Seiberling was born on the parental farmstead, near Western Star, Summit county, Ohio, and the date of his nativity was October 6, 1859. He is a son of John F. and Catherine L. (Miller) Seiberling, the former of whom was born in Western Star township, Summit county, Ohio, of stanch German lineage, and the latter was a native of Berks county, Pennsylvania. In 1861 the family removed from the farm in Norton township to the village of Doylestown, whence removal was made to Akron in 1865. Here the father engaged in the manufacturing of mowers and reapers and here both he and his wife passed the remainder of their lives. Of their eleven children nine are living. John F. Seiberling was a stanch advocate of the principles of the Republican party and both he and his wife held membership in the Lutheran church. Frank A. Seiberling gained his rudimentary education in the old building which stands adjacent to the Congregational church in Akron, at the south, and thereafter he was for one year a student in the high school. He then entered Heidelberg College, at Tiffin, where he remained as a student until the completion of the work of the junior year, when he withdrew in order to assist his father, who had shortly before initiated the manufacturing of the Empire iharvester. His collegiate training stood Frank- A. Seiberling well in value in the executive duties which developed upon him in "connectionwith this business, and when the enterprise was expanded in 1884, by the organization and incorporation of the Seiberling Company he became secretary and treasurer of the new corporation. Mr. Seiberling has been prominently identified with the promotion and operation of other large and important industrial concerns, whose success has been signal through his able executive services and capitalistic support. Notable among such corporations may be mentioned the Akron Twine &. Cordage Company, the Werner Printing & Lithographing Company, the Superior Mining Company, the Canton Street Railway Company, the Zanesville Street Railway Company, the Akron Street Railway Company, the Manufacturers' Mutual Fire Insurance Association, the Thomas Phillips Company, and the National City Bank of Akron. As an executive officer he now gives the major portion of his time and attention to the supervision of the affairs of the Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company, one of the most extensive corporations of its kind in the world. He is president and general manager of this company, whose other officers are as here noted: Charles W. Seiberling, vice-president and treasurer ; George M. Stadleman, secretary; and Paul W. Litchfield, superintendent. The company was organized. and incorporated in 1898 and in the same Mr. Seiberling has been an interested principal from the start. The products of the large and finely equipped plant include various kinds of rubber goods and special attention is given to the manufacturing of solid and pneumatic carriage and automobile tires, bicycle tires, rubber horse shoes, rubber tiling, golf balls, moulded rubber and rubber specialties. The products of this great concern, which has in large degree added to the commercial precedence of Akron,, now find sale in all parts of the civilized world and thus carry far and wide the fame of the city in which they are manufactured. In the midst of the cares and exactions of an especially active. and busy life Mr. Seiberling has had a full appreciation of his civic duties and is one of the loyal and public-spirited citizens of Akron, where he is held in unqualified confidence and esteem and where he wields much influence as a progressive business man of splendid qualifications. His political allegiance is given to the Republican party, and he is identified with various fraternal and social organizations. On the 12th day of October, 1887, Mr. Seiberling was united in marriage to Miss Gertrude F. Penfield, daughter of the late James W. Penfield, of Willoughby, Lake county, Ohio, and they have five children, namely : John Frederick, Irene Henrietta, HISTORY OF THE WESTERN RESERVE - 843 Willard Penfield, James Penfield, and Gertrude Virginia. HON. CHARLES LAWYER.—It is not often in modern times that we find one whose surname so significantly indicates his vocation as does that of Mr. Lawyer, who is one of the representative members of the bar of Ashtabula county, with residence and professional headquarters in Jefferson, the judicial center of the county, and who is at the present time a member of the state senate. He has gained marked precedence in the work of his profession and is one of the leading attorneys and counselors of the fine old 'Western Reserve. Charles Lawyer claims as the place of his nativity the old Keystone state of the Union, as he was born at Penn Line, Crawford county, Pennsylvania, on the 7th of December, 1857. He is a son of Dr. Charles and Caroline (Brown) Lawyer, the former of whom was born in Mercer county, Pennsylvania, a scion of one of the honored pioneer families of that state and one tracing its lineage to staunch German origin ; his wife was born in the state of New York and her genealogy is traced through a long line of sturdy French ancestors. Dr. Lawyer received excellent preliminary discipline in preparing for the work of his chosen profession. in whose practice he was engaged at Penn Line, Pennsylvania, until 1867, when he removed to Andover, Ashtabula county, Ohio, and became one of the representative physicians and surgeons of that section of the state. His name is revered by the many to whom his able and kindly ministrations were so long accorded. He continued in the active work of his profession for more than forty years and his death occurred in Jefferson, in 1897, at which time he was sixty-nine years of age. His widow now resides in the home of her son Charles, of this sketch. where she receives the utmost filial solicitude, having the affectionate regard of all who have come within the lines of her gentle and gracious influence. She is a member of the Methodist church. Dr. Lawyer was an ardent and uncompromising advocate of the principles of the Republican party, though he never sought or held official preferment. They became the parents of three children, of whom Charles is the second in line of birth; Mary L. is the widow of Chauncy Marvin, a resident of Jefferson ; and Frank is a retired merchant and department oil inspector of Ohio. Senator Charles Lawyer is indebted to the public schools of his native town for his rudimentary educational training and was a lad of ten years at the time of the family removal from Pennsylvania to Andover, Ohio, where he was reared to maturity, and where he duly availed himself of the facilities of the public schools. In the early '80s the senator removed to Jefferson, Ashtabula county, where he read law in Judge W. P..Howland's office. After due preliminary discipline Senator Lawyer was matriculated in the law department of the famous University of Michigan, at Ann Arbor, where he completed the prescribed technical course and was graduated as a member of the Class of 1883, with the degree of Bachelor of Laws. Immediately after his graduation he was admitted to the bar of Ohio and entered upon the practice of his profession in Jefferson, where his novitiate was of brief duration, as he soon proved his ability as an able advocate and well fortified counselor. Here he has since continued in the work of his profession, in which he has retained a representative clientage -and been identified with much important litigation, in both the state and federal courts. No more radical and appreciative advocate of the cause of the Republican party is to be found in the Western Reserve than is Senator Lawyer, and he has done most effective service in behalf of his party, both through his influence as a citizen of well fortified convictions and as an able campaign speaker. In 1889 he was elected prosecuting attorney of Ashtabula county, and was re-elected in 1892, so that he remained incumbent of this office for six consecutive years. He made an admirable record as a public prosecutor, and during his term of service he appeared in many cases of important order, in both the criminal and civil departments of his profession. In 1905 further official honors were conferred upon him, for he was then elected to represent the Twenty-fourth and Twenty-sixth senatorial districts in the upper house of the state legislature. His district comprises the counties of Ashtabula, Geauga, Lake, Portage and Summit, and this statement indicates how important is the constituency he was thus called upon to represent. During his first term he served on many important senate committees and proved an active, independent and conscientious worker both on the floor and in the committee room. The popular appreciation of his efforts was shown in his election as his'own successor in the fall of 1908, and he has con- 844 - HISTORY OF THE WESTERN RESERVE tinued his services as senator with such ability as to make him one of the recognized leaders of the deliberative body of the state government. He is loyal and public-spired as a citizen and gives his aid and influence in support of all measures tending to advance the welfare of his home city and county. He is affiliated with the local organizations of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and the Knights of Pythias. The senator is a man of genial personality and wins and retains inviolable friend ships. He is a close student of his profession and is known as a man of fine intellectual attainments, and as one who places true valuations on men and affairs. May 28, 1884, Senator Lawyer was united in marriage to Miss Flora Lindsley, who was born and reared at Andover, Ohio, and who is a daughter of Flora A. Lindsley, a representative citizen and business man of that place. The one child of this union is Leah C., who was born on the 26th of December, 1892. ALBERT D. FERGUSON is a representative in the third generation of a family that was founded in Lake county more than eighty years ago, and the name has been indissolubly identified with the development and civic and industrial progress of this favored section of the state. Mr. Ferguson is now living virtually retired in the attractive little village' of Willoughby, after having devoted his entire active life to agricultural pursuits, and he is a worthy and honored member of one of the sterling pioneer families of the Western Reserve. Albert Desbersy Ferguson was. born on the old homestead farm, one mile west of the center of Willoughby township, Lake county, on the 27th of March, 1844, and is a son of Finley and Olive (Atkinson) Ferguson. His father was a native of Orange county, New York, where he was born in the year 180o, and he was a son of John and Mary (Campbell) Ferguson, both of whom were born in Scotland, where they were reared and educated, being members of stanch old families of the land of hills and heather. They reared their children in the state of New York, where they continued to maintain their home until the year 1822, when they came to the Western Reserve and numbered themselves among the pioneers of Lake county, which was then a part. of Cuyahoga county. The trip from the old Empire state was made with ox teams, and John Ferguson was accompanied by his sons and daughters and also by one son-in-law. They settled in what is now Willoughby township, which was then known as Chagrin township, and John Ferguson passed the first few years about two and one-half miles east of Willoughby Center, where he owned and .operated the Eagle mill, one of the first grist mills within the borders of Lake county. The same was located on the Chagrin river, from which the operating power was secured. He also secured a tract of wild land located at Willoughby Center and instituted the development of a farm from the virgin forest. He finally entrusted the operation of the mill to his son Finley and gave his personal attention to the development of his farm, upon which he continued to reside until his death, when about eighty-five years of age. His devoted wife was about the same age at the time of her death, which occurred ten years later. The names of their seven children were Hezekiah, Ann, John, Margaret, Finley, Jane, and Leggett. Hezekiah was long numbered among the representative farmers of Willoughby township, and after his retirement from active labors resided in the village of Willoughby, where he died when nearly eighty years of age. His three daughters, all widows,' are still living, namely : Mrs. Martha Smith, of Warren, Ohio ; Mrs. Elsie Penfield, who makes her home at Akron, Ohio ; and the youngest daughter, Mrs. Eliza Fuller, also lives at Warren, Ohio. Mrs. Ann Moody, the eldest daughter of John Ferguson, returned to the state of New York, where she passed the remainder of her life. John, Jr., removed from Ohio to Indiana, later became a pioneer of the state of Iowa, and was a resident of California at the time of his death. Mrs. Margaret Cole, the second daug,hter, was a resident of New York state at the time of her demise. Finley, father of Albert D., is more specifically mentioned in following paragraphs. Jane became the wife of John Viall, and continued to reside in Willoughby township until her death, at the age of more than three score years. Her son Warren is now a resident of the village of Wickliffe, Lake county. Leggett continued to reside on the old homestead farm at Willoughby Center until the time of his death, when seventy-five Years of agt. He survived by two daughters,—Helen C., who the widow of Dewitt Pierce and resides Willoughby, and Cornelia, who also resides Willoughby, being the wife of Joseph War Finley Ferguson was twenty-two years o HISTORY OF THE WESTERN RESERVE - 845 age at the time of the family immigration from the old Empire state to the Western Reserve, and he soon assumed charge of the Eagle mill, as already stated in this context. While operating the mill he married Miss Julia Judd, who died eight years later, leaving three children,—Sarah Jane. who died at the age of fourteen years; Julia, who is the widow of George Glines and resides at Akron, Ohio ; and Thomas J.. who was a resident of Fulton county, Ohio, at the time of his death. With his three motherless little children left to his care, Finley Ferguson contracted a second marriage about one and one-half years after the death of his first wife. He wedded Miss Olive Atkinson, who was born in the province. of New Brunswick, Canada, and who had come to Ohio in company with her three brothers and one sister,—Thomas, Robert, William and Mary Atkinson, and who was about twenty-four years of age at the time of her marriage. In the meanwhile Finley Ferguson had left the mill and located on the old home farm, from which he soon afterward removed to a tract of heavily timbered land which he secured in the same township. He erected a log house and barn on this place and reclaimed much of the land to cultivation. The homestead comprised ninety acres, and on the same he erected, in 1844, a good farm house, which is still used for residence purposes. From this farm he eventually removed to another, not far distant, and on the second farm also made substantial improvements of a permanent nature. There he died in 1878, at the venerable age of seventy-eight years. He was a man of great industry and alert mentality, and his life was marked by the most impregnable integrity so that he ever commanded the unqualified confidence and esteem of his fellow men. He was one of the organizers of the Willoughby Center church, of the Methodist Episcopal denomination. and assisted materially in the erection of the first church building, which was constructed of logs. He also was a liberal contributor to the erection of the present church edifice, which was built about 1840, and at the time of his demise he was one of the oldest members of this church. He took an intelligent interest in the questions and issues of the day and while never a seeker of office he wielded no little influence in his community. He identified himself with the Republican party at the time of its formation and ever afterward supported its cause. His course was guided by mature judgment and inflexible honor, and his name merits a place on the roll of the sterling pioneers of the historic old Western Reserve. His wife, surviving him by about five years, was seventy-eight years of age when summoned to the life eternal. She likewise was a devout and zealous member of the Methodist Episcopal church, and was a woman of gentle and attractive personality. Concerning the children of Finley and Olive (Atkinson) Ferguson the following brief data are entered : Elizabeth is the widow of E. M. Wing and resides at Fort Scott, Kansas ; Adeline became the wife of Isaac Schram and died at Galesburg, Michigan ; Robert F. died in infancy ; John B. is a successful farmer of Madison township, Lake county ; Albert D. is the immediate subject of this review ; and Hezekiah C. owns and resides upon a portion of the old homestead farm, in Willoughby township. Albert D. Ferguson is indebted to the common Schbols of Willoughby township for his early educational training, and he was reared on the home farm, to whose work he began to contribute his quota when still a boy. He was associated in the work and management of the home farm until about 1869, when he removed to Galesburg, Michigan, where he remained two years and where he was engaged in farming for two years, at the expiration of which he returned to the home farm, in the operation of which he was associated with his youngest brother, Hezekiah C. They eventually purchased the interests of the other heirs and maintained a partnership association for fifteen years, at the expiration of which they divided the property, Albert D. securing forty-six acres, on which was located the house which had been erected by his father. He continued to give his time and attention to the farm, which was devoted to diversified agriculture and to the raising of fruit, which. was made a specialty, and in 1896 he sold the property and removed to the village of Willoughby, where he has since lived a practically retired life. Here he owns an attractive residence property. He has been called upon to serve as administrator of a number of estates and this indicates the implicit confidence and esteem in which he is held in his native county. He is a stalwart supporter of the cause of the Republican party and has served a number of times as delegate to the county conventions of the same in Lake county. He was for seven years incumbent of the office of trustee of Willoughby township. For a number of years 846 - HISTORY OF THE WESTERN RESERVE he was a zealous member of the Methodist Episcopal church at Willoughby Center, and he long held the office of trustee of the same. He and his wife now hold membership in the Methodist church in the village of Willoughby' and are active in the various departments of its work. On the 24th of November, 1875, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Ferguson to Miss Josephine Waterbury, who was born in the state of New York, a daughter of Robert and Orinda Waterbury, who removed to Lake county, Ohio, when she was a child, first locat, ing in Madison township, where they remained for a number of years, after which they removed to Willoughby township, where the father was a successful farmer and tile manufacturer and where both he and his wife passed the residue of their lives. Mr. and Mrs. Ferguson have two children,—Albert W. and Blanche. Albert M., who is manager of the Willoughby branch of the Cleveland Trust Company, married Miss Margaret Tryon, and they have three children,—Elizabeth, Margaret and Tryon. Blanche is the wife of Edward H. Bernhardt, of the village of Willoughby. FLAVIUS ADELBERT SPRING.—A life-long resident of Ashtabula county, and one of its most energetic, thrifty and progressive 'agriculturists, Flavius A. Spring is held in high respect as a man and a citizen. His small farm, located in Geneva, contains fifty-four acres of choice land, on which he has made all of the improvements, having a good residence, a substantial barn, and stock and machinery of first-class description, everything about the premises indicating the industry, prosperity and sound judgment of the owner. He was born in the old log house in which his parents first lived on coming to the Western Reserve,. January 27, 1847. He is a son of the late Amos Spring, and a descendant in the ninth generation from one John Spring who emigrated to Massachusetts in 1634, becoming one of the first settlers of Watertown, near Boston. A more extended sketch of his parents and ancestors may be found elsewhere in this work, in connection with the sketch of his brother, Amos Ashley Spring. When ready to begin life on his own account, F. A. Spring bought thirty-two acres of his present farm, and after the death of his father came into possession of twenty-two acres of the parental homestead. His original tract of land was pasture land when he bought it, but with characteristic energy and industry he began its improvement, and has since spared neither time nor expense in his labors, having now a valuable and attractive estate. Here he is carrying on mixed husbandry in a thorough and systematic manner, and in his work is 'meeting. with well deserved success. Mr. Spring 'married, April 16, 1868, Hattie Davenport, a daughter of William and Harriet (De Lavergne) Davenport, who came from Crawford county, Pennsylvania, to Geneva township when their daughter was fourteen years of age. Mr. and Mrs. Davenport located on a farm, and here spent their remaining years, her death occurring, at the age of sixty-seven years, on May 29, 1891, and his January 18, 1899, at the age of eighty-three years. Mr. Davenport's sister, Sarah Davenport, married John Day, of Spartansburg, Pennsylvania, who was a brother of the wife of John Brown, of Harpers Ferry fame. Two children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Spring, namely : Cora Allene and Lynn Adelbert. Cora Allene married William Westlake, and died a few years later, leaving two children, Maurice James Westlake, and Paul Herbert Westlake, the latter being then but four weeks old. These children have since lived with Mr. and Mrs. Spring, who are bringing them up wisely and well, giving them every needed advantage. Lynn A. Spring is now employed as a bookkeeper in Cleveland. Religiously Mr. and Mrs. Spring are members of the Methodist Episcopal .church. Mr. Spring: is a Republican in politics. WILL CHRISTY.—It is no inconspicuous position which the city of Akron occupies as an industrial and commercial center. Among the business men of prominence and large capacity in Akron to-day is found as an able representative of the younger generation the subject of this sketch, who is a native son of this city and who has found definite satisfaction in contributing to its upbuilding as a manufacturing and commercial center from whose large and important conceims products go forth to all parts of the civilized world. A distinctive captain of industry, Mr. Christy is well entitled to representation in this publication, He is president of the Central Savings and Trust Company, of which he was one of the promoters and founders and is identified with other of the most important industrial and public-utility corporations of his native city. Will Christy was born in the city of Akron, HISTORY OF THE WESTERN RESERVE - 847 on the 7th December, 1859, and is a son of James and Jennette (Warner) Christy; the former of whom was born in Summit county, Ohio, and the latter in Medina county, Ohio. The father was a man of marked business acumen and long numbered among the honored and influential citizens of Akron. In the public schools of Akron Will Christy received his early educational discipline, and in early manood he became associated with his fathger in the tanning and leather business, with which he continued to be identified for a period of about twelve years. In 1888 his progressive spirit led him to concern himself actively with the promotion and construction of electric railway systems, and it was through his well directed efforts that was effected the organization of the Cleveland Construction Company, now one of the largest corporations of its kind in the Union and one that has built many thousand miles of urban and interurban electric railways in the United States and the different provinces of the Dominion of Canada. With this company he is still identified, and his capacity for affairs of wide scope seems unlimited when is taken into consideration the fact that his energies and administrative talents have been called into requisition in connection with many of the most important concerns in Akron and elsewhere. In addition to holding the presidency of the Central Savings and Trust Company, one of the large and solid financial institutions of the Western Reserve, he is at the present time vice-president of the Northern Ohio Traction and Light Company, vice-president of The Firestone Tire and Rubber Company, president of the People's Telephone Company, of Akron, and president of the Hamilton Building Company, besides which he is a stockholder in many other corporations in this section of the state. The Central Savings and Trust Company, to which Mr. Christy gives a direct personal supervision in his executive capacity, was organized in 1897 by him and Joseph R. Nutt, the former of whom became president and the latter secretary. The enterprise was based upon a capital of one hundred thousand dollars, and in 1904 the business was incorporated under its present title, with the capital stock at the original figure and with a surplus fund of one hundred and forty thousand dollars. Upon the incorporation of the company Mr. Christy was continued in the office of president, of which he has since remained incumbent, and the other ecutive officers are as here noted : M. Otis Hower and Harry H. Gibbs, vice-presidents. Joseph S. Benson, secretary.; Edwin R. Held, treasurer and George H. Dunn, assistant treasurer. In both its banking and fiduciary departments the company controls a large and representative business and the institution takes high rank among those of similar functions in the state of Ohio. In politics Mr. Christy is aligned as a stanch supporter of the cause of the Republican party, but he is essentially a business man and has had no wish to enter the domain of practical politics. He is affiliated with various fraternal organizations and with a number of social orders, among the more notable of which may be mentioned the Portage Country Club, and the Union, Euclid and Country clubs, of Cleveland. Though the exactions of his manifold business interests are great Mr. Christy has not withheld himself from ably fulfilling his portion of work as a progressive and public-spirited citizen, and every movement which has as its object the futherance of the best interests of his native city is certain to receive his earnest and loyal support and co-operation. The amenities of social life also have a due appeal to him and he and his wife are prominent in connection with the leading social activities of Akron. On the 22nd of October, 1890, was solemn ized the marriage of Mr. Christy to Miss Rose Day, who was born and reared in Akron and who is a daughter of Elias S. Day, vice-president of the City National Bank and one of the honored and influential citizens of Akron. HENRY HOOPER, of Willoughby township, was born in Holsworthy, Devonshire, England, July 4, 1827, and is a son of William and Elizabeth (Hurikin) Hooper ; the father died during his son's childhood, and the mother in Cleveland, in 1876, at the age of seventy-four years. His sister Mary, now dead, was the wife of George Sleemin, of Willoughby. When Henry Hooper was seven years old he began working out for his board and clothes, and when he reached the age of fifteen he began learning the trade of millwright. While learning this trade he spent five years, receiving only his board and lodging, and no clothes, and for the five years paid fifty dollars in money for learning the trade. At the end of his apprenticeship, he started to work, spending two more years in England, and in 1851, sailing from Plymouth, he spent four weeks and two days on the ocean and landed at Quebec. 848 - HISTORY OF THE WESTERN RESERVE While on board ship he had studied an emigrant guide, and decided that Cleveland would be a good place to locate, so he proceeded to tnat city, on his arrival finding no one he had ever seen or heard of. However, he had good courage, and decided to remain in the country at least one year, having but one or two dollars left. His first work was at Mayfield, in a wagon shop ; his work was mainly on wagons, although he set water wheels in several counties in Ohio and Pennsylvania. Then in company with Mr. Pennhall and Mr. Orwell, Mr. Hooper had a carriage shop in Cleveland, which they operated until 1861, and then his health failed so that he left thiS and went on a farm in Kirtland. In 1854 Mr. Hooper sent for his mother and sister, and as a result of his success in this country, nineteen others came at the same time. He has been on the farm since 1861, with the exception of five years he spent in Cleveland as superintendent of a cooper shop. He liveS at present in Willoughby Village, although he still owns the farm, in Kirtland, consisting of one hundred and ninety acres. He was always very successful in the conduct of his affairs, and has always been very industrious and ambitious. In leaving his native land to come to America, he made a resolve to refrain from drink and bad company, and he attributes his great success to his ability and strength to live up to his good resolutions. He also had great respect and affection for his mother, who was a woman of very high character, and as long as she lived he led a single life. Mr. Hooper married, in 1,883, Elizabeth Stevens, who was born in England, and came to America in 1870. They have no children. MRS. ROLDON ). HINSDALE.--Both by blood and marriage Mrs. Roldon O. Hinsdale, of Wadsworth, Medina county, is identified with early and substantial pioneers of New England and the Western Reserve. She was born at Solon, Cuyahoga county, Ohio, on the 5th of November, 1844, daughter of Leander and Susan (Willey) Chamberlain. Her father was a farmer of English ancestry and her mother was of old-world Welsh forefathers, who settled in Vermont. Henry Chamberlain, the emigrant who established the family in America, was born about 1596, and in 1638, with a colony of 133 persons under the leadership of Rev. Robert Peck, emigrated from the county Norfolk on the ship "Diligent," John Martin, master. The ship sailed from Ipswich and arrived in Boston harbor on the loth of August, 1638. It is stated by Daniel Cushing, town clerk of Hingham, Massachusetts, from 1669 to 1700, and himself a. passenger on the "Diligent," that Henry Chamberlain brought with him his mother, wife and two children; but from other records it appears that there were three, and probably four children in the emigrating family, viz.: Susan, Henry, Williarn and John. The mother mentioned was probably the widow of Christian Chamberlain, who, died in Hingham, April 19, 1659, aged eighty-one years. ; The line of descent from Henry 'Chamberlain, first of Hingham and later of Hull, MaSsachusetts (where he died in 1674), is through. William Chamberlain, of Hull ; Joseph Chamberlain, of Hull and Hadley, Massachusetts, and Colchester, Connecticut; William Chamberlain, also of the latter place ; Peleg Chamberlain, Sr., of Colchester and Kent, Connecticut ; Peleg Chamberlain, Jr., of Kent and New Milford, that state; and Leander Chamberlain, the father, of Addison county, Vermont, and Solon, Ohio. Leander Chamberlain was born in the count) named, April 16, 1804, and was a son of Leander Chamberlain and his wife (nee Mercy Berry). Until he was seventeen years of age, he remained with his parents in his native town of Ferrisburg, but their death led him to leave the home locality and locate in the vicinity of Groton, Nemi York. He remained there for a year, then returned to Ferrisburg and spent a year, and afterward engaged in farming in Franklin county, New York. Mr. Chamberlain was married, December 12, 1827, to Miss Susan Willey, daughter of Ansel Willey, and after living in Constable, that county, for two years, moved to the neighboring town of Malone. It was not until several children had been born to them that they joined a party of neighbors and friends, left their New York home and accomplished the weary overland journey of twenty-four days which brought them to the fertile lands of the Western Reserve. They finally (1840) settled at Solon, Cuyahoga county, and commenced the operation of the model dairy farm which was th family homestead for fifty years. There th younger children of the household were born until five sons and three daughters gathered around the open hearth. Three of the boys afterward served in the Union armies. The daughter Maria obtained her early education in the schools of Solon, later attending the Eclectic Institute of . Hiram, Portage HISTORY OF THE WESTERN RESERVE - 849 county. For about six years before her marriage she taught at Solon and Newburg, the latter being now incorporated into the city of Cleveland. On June 15, 1869, she became the wife of Roldon 0. Hinsdale, since which she has resided in the vicinity of Wadsworth. Her husband was a widower, with one child (George) by his first marriage, who is now a machinist of Salem, Ohio, and himself the father of Pauline. Mrs. Maria Hinsdale became the mother of three daughters. Louise is now Mrs. Arthur G. Abbott, who resides on the old homestead in Wadsworth township, and is the mother of two daughters, Mary Louise and Mildred Abbott. Maude, the second daughter horn to Mr. and Mrs. Roldon O. Hinsdale, married George M. Elson, of Cleveland, Ohio, to whom she has borne James Hinsdale and Miriam Elson. Grace Hilda Hinsdale, the youngest daughter, was born December 27, 1880, graduated from the Wadsworth High School in 1898, and after a supplementary course of two years in the Cleveland Central High School, taught three years in the Wadsworth township schools and five years in those of the village. This talented and beloved young teacher, a leader in the intellectual, moral and religious life of the community, died suddenly of hemorrhage of the brain at the home of her sister in Cleveland. Her remains were brought to the old Hinsdale home northwest of Wadsworth and interred at Woodlawn cemetery, on the 14th of June, 1909. The death was so unexpected that none of the Wadsworth relatives were able to reach the bedside while life remained. To the loving mother, it was especially a deep grief and a profound shock. Mrs. Hinsdale, who has thus given to the world three noble women, is still active in the affairs of the community with which the family life has been so prominently connected for many years. She is closely identified with the advancement of the Woman's Christian Temperance .Union at Wadsworth, and is a member of the Wadsworth Cemetery Association and the Subordinate Ohio Grange, also a valued member of the First Church of Christ, Wadsworth. The home farm, under the skillful management of her son-in-law, Arthur G. Abbott, is still the model place founded by the labors of her lamented husband and herself. Roldon O. Hinsdale, whose death occurred August 25, 1906, at his homestead adjoining the paternal farm upon which he was born and where his parents spent most of the years < of their long married life, had been successful, both from the standpoint of pushing himself substantially forward and of having continuously contributed to the advancement of the community of which he was a native and always a faithful and a favorite son. He was born at Wadsworth, on. the old Hinsdale homestead, on the 27th of March, 1840, and it was here that his father, Albert Hinsdale, and his mother (nee Clarinda E. Eyles), spent forty-four years of their simple, useful and honorable lives, first hewing a home from the forests of the Reserve and then applying themselves, with loving patience to the founding of a moral and harmonious household. A woman of untiring industry and of great nervous vitality, she Was subject to various ailments, such as neuralgia and sciatic rheumatism, which, with consequent sleeplessness, continually sapped her natural strength. As her good husband pathetically observed, "she died from sheer exhaustion, April 28, 1880." He did not long survive her, dying August 14, 1882. They had become the parents of five children : Ellen Asenath, born in Norton, Ohio, October 2, 1834, a beautiful girl, who died. of consumption December I, 1847 ; Burke Aaron, who was born in Wadsworth, March 31, 1837 ; Roldon 0., of this sketch, who was also born in that village, March 27, 1840; Louisa, a native of Wadsworth, born April 23, 1844, who is still fondly remembered by the earlier settlers of the place as an active, amiable, artistic and religious child, a successful and popular teacher and a noble woman, whose death was a shock to the home, especially as died at the, comparatively early age of thirty-three years, September 8, 1876; and Wilbert B. Hinsdale, who was born in Wadsworth, May 25, 1851. The first American Hinsdale of whom there is any definite information was Robert Hinsdale, a freeman of Massachusetts ; one of the founders of the church in Dedham and a member of the artillery company of the place in 1645. As early as 1672 he moved to Hadley and afterward became a resident of Deerfield. He was twice married, and. met his death at Deerfield, with his sons Barnabas, John and Samuel, being massacred by the Indians at that place September 18, 1675. These male members of the family fell, while serving with Captain Lathrop at the Bloody Brook massacre. The name appears to have been variously spelled, but there is no doubt of the direct descent of the family in America from the Robert Hinsdale mentioned, who was the