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independent company of sharpshooters, which however, was not long afterward disbanded. In October following he enlisted in what as known as "Lane's Brigade Band,” under the command of Captain W. R. Allen, of Jefferson. His service in that connection also was of short duration, as the company was by general order soon disbanded.
Young Cook was not a little discouraged by these failures to get to the front, where the enemy was. However, he concluded to make one more effort, which met with success, and August 16, 1862, he became a member of Company A, Fifth Ohio Volunteer Infantry. The first important battle in which he engaged was that at Perryville, Kentucky, October 8, in which he was wounded in the right shoulder and ankle. He however refused to go to the hospital, but marched with his company, using his musket for a crutch.
After this battle he was appointed Corporal. October 15, 1862, he was promoted Assistant Quartermaster, and November 16, following, Assistant Brigade Quartermaster. March 15, 1863, he was raised to the rank of Sergeant Major, in which position he served twelve months.
May 9, 1864, at the beginning of the movement toward Atlanta, Mr. Cook was promoted as Second Lieutenant of Company E, which he most gallantly commanded during that remarkable campaign, his regiment being in General Schofield's corps. Almost at the beginning of this campaign, at Dalton, he was wounded in the left arm, but continned with his company. Twice he was taken prisoner before Atlanta and each time made his escape. After the fall of Atlanta; his corps was attached to General Thomas' army, w ilia followed Hood on his march on Nashville. In this last campaign, Mr. Cook fought in the battles of Columbia, Franklin, Nashville and Spring Hill, in all of which engagements he, with his company, was most of the time at the front and in the hottest of the fight. At the battle of Spring Hill, he was taken prisoner during the night, but made his escape before morning. He never seemed to like the idea of being a prisoner. After the battle of Spring Hill, December 20, 1864, and the total defeat of Hood, his command followed the fleeing enemy as far as Columbia, almost destroying the late opposing forces. December 24, Captain Cook was transferred to Company G. At Clifton, his command embarked on transports going down the Tennessee, then up the Ohio to Cincinnati, from which place they were ordered by rail to Washington, and went into camp at Alexandria for a time. In February, 1865, Captain Cook was appointed Provost-Marshal of the Third Brigade, Second Division, Twenty-third Corps, and in March following, was promoted to the position of Division Provost-Marshal on General McLean's staff, same division. In April, 1865, he was still further advanced to an important position by the appointment to the place of Field Ordnance Officer on General Schofield's staff. His first and most important service while holding this important position was that accomplished when General Schofield detailed him with a thousand men, to rebuild the railroad which the rebels had torn up from New Berne to Kingston, North Carolina, a distance of sixteen miles. The rapidity with which Captain Cook accomplished this work astonished his superior officers and brought him the, highest commendations.
To return to his command: Leaving Alexandria, they embarked for Fort Fisher; from there they went to Wilmington, North Carolina, thence marched to Goldsboro, where
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they again joined Shreman's army, after a separation of almost six months. The two armies then operated together until the surrender at Appomattox. After General Joseph E. Johnston's surrender at Greensboro, North Carolina, Captain Cook was with a detail of eight officers sent under a flag of truce, to receive the ordance stores in behalf of the United States. Later his command went into camp at Salisbury, North Carolina, where he with his regiment was mustered- out, June 26, 1865. His old company (A) had been left without a captain, and Captain Cook was ordered to take command of it on the homeward journey. They embarked for Baltimore, thence via Pittsburg to Cleveland, remaining there two weeks, then took the cars for Camp Dennison, Ohio, where they were paid off and finally discharged, July 26, 1865. The Captain then returned to his home.
Thus briefly is given the military career of one of Ohio's bravest soldiers. He was always ready for duty, even though wounded. He was a special favorite of his superior of, ficers, and particularly was this so with General Schofield. When that general desired any service done that required judgment, dispatch and bravery he would send for Captain Cook, and the work was generally accomplished, and satisfactorily so.
After he returned home, Captain Cook engaged in mercantile business in Lenox, Ashtabula county, where he continued for thirteen years. He was brought out for County' Treasurer by the Republicans in 1877, and was elected. His administration of the office was so satisfactory to the people that he was re-elected, his second term ending in 1882, when he retired to private life on his beautiful farm in the suburbs of Jefferson.
Captain Cook was married November 1, 1865, to Miss Laura C., daughter of Rev. Rufus R. Clark, a prominent citizen of Conneaut, Ohio. They have two children: Hattie, now a popular teacher in the public schools; and Carlos .C., at home, attending school.
Captain Cook is a member of the Masonic order and of Giddings Post, No. 7, G. A. R., and is a pensioner. For the last five years he has been Trustee of Jefferson township, and three years member of the Board of Education, two years of which he has been president of the same.
As a citizen Captain Cook is much respected, having the confidence of all who know him. He is public-spirited, laboring for the welfare of the people. At present he is talked of by many as the Republican candidate for Representative for Ashtabula county. He is a man of pure character and domestic habits, and has an interesting family, to whom he is much devoted.
W. BENJAMIN, a farmer of Cherry Valley township, Ashtabula county, is a son of Wooster B. Benjamin, who was born in Litchfield county, Connecticut, in 1800. He was married at the age of
twenty-four years to Loretta Johnson, a native of Franklin county, Vermont, and a daughter of Nathan and Lucy (Joy) Johnson, natives also of Vermont. The father came to Lake county, Ohio, in 1814. Mr. and Mrs. Wooster B. Benjamin had four children: Alma F., now Mrs. Yeates; William C., deceased at the age of fifty-seven years; Lucy A., at the old bome farm; and Wooster,
the subject of this sketch. The mother died
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at the age of eighty-eight years. The father was drowned by the bursting of the head gate of his mill. He owned one of the first sawmills in this township.
Wooster Benjamin, our subject, now owns 125 acres of the old home farm, where he has all the conveniences necessary for a well regulated place. He was married in this township, December 26, 1861, to Helen L. Snow, a native of Ashtabula county, and a daughter of Azro and Vienna (Tourgee) Snow. Mr. and Mrs. Benjamin have two children: Arthur, who married Sarah L. Miller, of Crawford county, Pennsylvania; and Birney R. In his political relations our subject affiliates with the Republican party. He has served as Justice of the Peace fourteen years, and is now serving his fifth term. He was Town Assessor two terms, was Census Enumerator in 1891. Socially he is a member of the Masonic order, Andover Lodge, No. 506, and Jefferson Chapter, No. 241.
J. A. RASEY, proprietor of a leading livery stable in Ashtabula, Ohio, a good business man and esteemed citizen, was born on a farm near this city, January 12, 1843. His parents were Alonzo and Sophia (Rounds) Rasey, the former born in New Haven, Connecticut, in 1812, and the latter in Lowell, Massachusetts, in 1823. The latter was a daughter of Reuben Rounds, also a native of the Bay State, and of hardy Scotch ancestry. He served efficiently as a soldier in the American Revolution and the war of 1812, and later emigrated to Michigan, at that time a new and slightly settled country, where he resided until his death, at the venerable age of 109 years. Until he
attained the age of ninety-nine years he had never worn eye-glasses, and was so active at that age that he could easily mount a horse from the ground! The parents of the subject of this sketch were married in Ashtabula, and lived in the county of the same name until the outbreak of the Civil war, when they removed to Pennsylvania, where the father died in 1891, the mother still residing in Pottstown, that State. They had eight children.
The subject of this sketch was reared on a farm in Ashtabula county, and attained a fair education in the common schools of his vicinity. On the outbreak of the war, being then eighteen years of age, he enlisted April 2, 1861, as a private in Company I, of the Nineteenth Ohio Regiment, in which he served three months. He then enlisted in Battery C, First Ohio Regiment, in which he immediately became Quartermaster, serving in that capacity three years, having charge of the train of transportation all through the war. On the close of hostilities he returned to Ashtabula, where for fourteen years he worked for Mr. Harvey Nettleton, a prominent farmer of this vicinity. He then entered the employ of the Snyder Manufacturing Company, engaged in making carriage bows and shafts, remaining with that company for fifteen years. At the end of this time, in 1886, he started in the livery business on his own account in Ashtabula, in which he has ever since continued, his industry and perseverance being justly rewarded by a full 'need of prosperity.
In 1872 Mr. Rasey married Miss Parmelia Arnold, an estimable lady, who was a helpmate in every sense of the word. In 1888 this union was dissolved by death, the devoted wife and mother passing away, leaving three children to the care of the afflicted
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husband. In 1891 Mr. Rasey was remarried, his second wife being Mrs. Belle Wolsen, a lady of many sterling traits of character and greatly esteemed in her community.
Mr. Rasey is a stanch Republican and affiliates with the G. A. R., being a comrade in Paulis Post, at Ashtabula. His success is due to his honest, hard-working and persevering efforts, by which he has incidentally advanced the interests of his favorite city, of which he is a worthy representative.
SAMUEL WIRE, one of the prominent men of Lake county, Ohio, now engaged in the sawmill business in Perry, has long been identified with the interests of this county, and it is eminently fitting that some personal mention of him should be made in this work; indeed, without a sketch of his life a history of Lake county would be incomplete.
Samuel Wire was born in Yates county, New York, September 11, 1818. His father, Samuel Wire, born in Connecticut, December 13, 1786, was a son of Thomas Wire, a native of Ireland. Thomas Wire went to England, and there, at the age of fourteen years, was pressed into the English army. Subsequently coming to America, he deserted and settled in Connecticut. His son Samuel grew up and was married in Connecticut, and after his marriage went to New York, first settling in Auburn and afterward living in various parts of that State. In 1835 he came from Ontario county, New York, to Lake county, Ohio, and took up his abode in Madison township. In the fall of 1839 he moved to Perry, this county, and in 1841 went back to New York and located in Canadaigua. His next move was to Walled Lake in Oakland county, Michigan, where he passed the closing years of his life and died at the age of eighty two years. He was a clergyman of the Free-will Baptist Church; was engaged in the ministry at the various places where he was located, and was in active service until within a year of his death. He was an earnest and efficient worker for the Master and was the means of accomplishing a vast amount of good. His wife, whose maiden name was Abigail Sherman, was born in Connecticut April 17, 1789, and died at the age of sixty years. She, too, was a member of the Baptist Church, and was in full sympathy with her husband's noble work. They had eleven children, all of whom reached adult years, or nearly so, the first of the number to die being sixteen years old.
Samuel, the subject of our sketch, was the sixth born in this large family. He was still in his 'teens when his father moved out to Ohio, and went to school some after coming here, his education being obtained in the log schoolhouses of that period. When he was twenty-one he started out in life on his own responsibility, working at whatever he could get to do, chopping wood, ditching, etc. When he was a mere boy his father hired him out to work in a mill, and since then a sawmill has always had a fascination for him, and much of his life has been devoted to milling business. From 1839 until 1851 he was engaged in grafting trees, traveling through Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia, New Jersey, Mississippi and Arkansas, and during that time made and saved money enough to buy a farm. The land he bought and settled on after his marriage is now occupied by the Western Reserve Nursery, just north of Perry. In 1851 Mr. Wire bought a tract of timber land and erected the first steam sawmill in Perry town-
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ship. He operated this mill until 1862, when he sold out. The following year he bought a mill in Perry. In 1869 he was elected Sheriff of Lake county, was re-elected at the end of his first term, and served a second term. As an officer he faithfully discharged the duties devolving upon him. In 1880 he built his present large sawmill, in which he has since done an extensive business. His residence in Perry he built in 1868.
Mr. Wire was married in 1849, to Miss Mary A. Sinclair, a native of Vermont, who came with her father, Milton Sinclair, to Lake county, Ohio, in 1837. Their only child, Dorr, died at the age of ten years.
Mr. Wire is a good example of the self-made man. His father, a pioneer minister with a large family, had little with which to start his children in a business life; and that Samuel Wire has risen to a position of wealth and prominence is due to his own industry and good management rather than to any financial aid he ever received. During his long residence in the county he has witnessed nearly all the improvements that have been made here, and few men in Lake county are better known than he. Politically, he is a Republican. He voted for William Henry Harrison in 1840.
HALSEY HULBERT MOSES, a resident of Rock Creek, Ashtabula county, Ohio, was born here July 12, 1830. His parents, Jonathan and Abigail (Plumby) Moses, were born in Norfolk,
Litchfield county, Connecticut, where they lived for several years after their marriage. In June, 1814, they moved to Morgan township, Ashtabula county, Ohio, and settled upon a tract of land, 200 acres in extent, all a dense forest except a half acre. Upon that farm they spent the rest of their lives and there died, the father passing away in 1841, and the mother in 1853. The Moses family originated in England and were among the early settlers of the State of Connecticut.
The subject of our sketch remained at the old home with his mother for three years after the death of his father, at the end of which time, being then fourteen years of age, he started out to take care of himself. He hired out the first year to work on a farm, his compensation to be board, washing, mending, three months at the district school, and $45 in money. At the end of this year's service he attended a three months' term of select school at Rome, at the close of which term he applied for and secured a certificate to teach. Soon afterward he was employed to teach in what was then called the Clark District. H. L. Clark, expecting to be away from home that winter, offered to board the teacher providing he would do his chores. This proposition was accepted; and during the winter young Moses taught the school, numbering about twenty-five scholars, and took care of twenty head of cattle, thirty sheep, and eight or ten hogs, besides building the fires at both the home and school-house—not a bad winter's work for a lad of fifteen. The next summer he worked on a farm at $8 a month. The four succeeding winters he taught district schools, attended school the spring and fall terms, and between times worked on a farm or at the carpenter's trade.
At the age of nineteen Mr. Moses commenced the study of law in the office of A. L. Tinker, than living in Unionville, but afterward a resident of Painesville. He remained in Mr. Tinker's office seven months, when, learning that there was an opening for business in the province of Justice of the
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Peace at Rock Creek, he returned to that place, hired a room, bought a few law books, and launched out as an attorney. In connection with his practice he continued a systematic study of law, going to Mr. Tinker's office to recite. It was not long before he was engaged on one side or the other of nearly every magistrate case in Morgan and the surrounding townships, besides doing considerable office business. He continued at this business for a yen. and a half, at the end of which time he made application for admission to the bar. This was in August, 1851, the committee appointed to examine the candidates being Hon. J. R. Giddings, Hon. B. F. Wade, Hon. Horace Wilder, Hon. L. S. Sherman and Hon. Darius Cad well. In the case of young Moses, the committee reported favorably. It was now seven years since the subject of this sketch had started out for himself; he had attained a fair academical educationo and had taken a thorough course of legal studies, and every dollar of the expenses had been earned by himself. It is needless to say that he had been exceedingly economical in his living and had made every day's time produce as much as possible.
Upon his admission to the bar, Mr. Moses had no means except fourteen acres of land left him by his father, and this was of little value. As he had no money to go elsewhere, and as he had already built up a small business sufficient for an economical support, he continued the practice of his profession at Rock Creek, waiting for more favorable circumstances to justify a change of location. In 1862 he took up his residence in Warren, Trumbull county, and became a partner of Hon. Matthew Birchard in the practice of law, with whom he remained five years. He was afterward, for three years, a partner of Judge Ira L. Fuller. During the year 1865 and
1866 he wrote a work on mandamus, which was the first work on that subject ever written and published in the United States. It met a ready sale both in this country and in Canada, and is yet a standard text book in the courts of both.
In 1864 Mr. Moses was nominated by the Democracy of the nineteenth Congressional district as their candidate for Congress. The Republicans, for the second time, nominated James A. Garfield. This district then had the largest Republican majority of any district in the State, and perhaps the United States; consequently Garfield was elected by a large majority; but Mr. Moses had the satisfaction of receiving the entire vote of his party. In 1872 he moved to Youngstown, Ohio, where he immediately stepped into a large and lucrative practice. He was the attorney of the New York, Pennsylvania & Ohio Railroad Company there, and was also attorney for three of the five banks in the city, and for more than half of the manufacturing establishments in the vicinity, besides being frequently called to assist other attorneys. During the ten years preceding his retirement from practice, he was engaged almost daily in the trial of cases. As he was in partnership with General R. W. Ratliff, in Warren, he attended the courts of both Mahoning and Trumbull counties. While practicing law in Mahoning county, he was nominated by the Democrats in Mahoning, Trumbull and Portage counties as a candidate for the office of Judge of the Court of Common Pleas, and again, although he ran ahead of his ticket, he was defeated by his Republican opponent.
After practicing law in Mahoning county for fourteen years, he found that his health was giving way, which reason, together with his passion for stock raising, induced him to
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retire from the practice of his profession and devote his time to his stock ranch in Wayne county, Nebraska. He and his son are now operating there a farm of 800 acres, stocked with thoroughbred cattle. About a year ago he purchased of another brother the farm upon which he was born and upon which he has made extensive improvements. Being of the opinion that Northeastern Ohio is particularly adapted to the dairy business, he has commenced a Jersey herd, his cattle being of the best families of the breed.
Mr. Moses was married in 1852 to Mary Jane Murdock, a native of Mesopotamia, Trumbull county, Ohio, her parents having moved from Genesee county, New York, to that place. His older son, Franzi E., resides upon the farm above referred to, in Wayne county, Nebraska. His younger son, Hosmer C., is engaged in business in Omaha, Nebraska; and his daughter, who married W. E. Hawley, and who resided in Omaha for some time, died in 1889, leaving a little son, Melvin M.
Mr. Moses has indeed had a successful career. In addition to the labors of an extensive law practice, and the management of his own estate, he has from time to time contributed articles for newspapers, law journals, and agricultural and stock publications, the most extensive of which was a series of articles on improved breeds of cattle, their history, and proper handling. Besides accumulating a competency for himself and family, he has contributed liberally for public improvements in every place where he has resided. The chief element of his success has been prompt attention to business. During the thirty-five years he practiced law, there was not a single judgment, order, or dismissal entered against him by reason of his not being on time. If he agreed to be in a remote township on a certain day, he was there on time, whatever might be the condition of the weather or roads. No client ever lost a dollar by his neglect to attend to business at the proper time.
Mr. Moses has been an ardent Democrat all his life and in his early days did a large amount of work for the party. The only public office he ever held was that of Postmaster at Rock Creek for a year and a half. The appointment was made by James Buchanan, and without any solicitation on the part of Mr. Moses and without his knowledge.
DR. LABAN PATCH, one of the prominent and influential men of Troy —J township, Geauga county, Ohio, was born in Warren township, Grafton county, New Hampshire, September 14, 1820. Of his life and ancestry we present the following review:
Joseph Patch, his father, was born in New Hampshire, January 15, 1780, and- his grandfather, also named Joseph Patch, was a native of that same State. The senior Joseph Patch was the first permanent settler in Warren township, Grafton county. The Patch family are descended from English ancestry. Three brothers came from England to America and settled at Hollis, Massachusetts. Grandfather Patch lived to a ripe old age and died on his farm in Grafton county, leaving a family of seven sons and one daughter, the Doctor's father being the second born in this family. He, too, was a farmer. He acted as Sheriff of Grafton county, and served in the Legislature of New Hampshire. He also served in the Legislature of Vermont, to which State he moved in 1821, locating at Hardwick, Caledonia county, where he lived
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about eleven years. Subsequently he settled in Calais, Washington county, that State, afterward moved to Ontario county, New York, and a year later went to Cohocton township, Steuben county, New York, where he lived four years. In the winter of 1838-'39 he emigrated to Ohio, and for a short time lived in Auburn, Geauga county. Then he purchased a farm in Troy township, half a mile north of Pope's Corners, where he spent the residue of his life, dying near the close of the year 1867. Few men in this vicinity were better known than he. He was at one time Captain of a company of militia, and distinguished himself as a fine drill master. The Doctor's great-grandfather was in the Pickwacket battle, where thirty-nine out of fifty men lost their lives, he being shot in the head but not fatally wounded. Of the mother of our subject, we record that her maiden name was Nancy Hall, and that she was born in Rumney, New Hampshire. Her ancestors have long been residents of America. She was a woman of many estimable traits of character, was a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and lived to be nearly eighty-six years old. They had fourteen children, twelve of whom lived to maturity, and four of whom are still living. Laban was the ninth born.
Up to the time he was eighteen years old, the only schooling Dr. Patch received was eighteen months in a district school. When he was twenty his father gave him his time, and after that he worked and educated himself. For a few terms he attended a select school taught by B. F. Abets. He worked on a farm one summer, at $11 a month, and after that worked two summers at the carpenter's trade, receiving $8 per month. With the money thus earned he paid his expenses at school during the winters. He afterward worked two years at the carpenter's trade. In 1845 he went to New England, and while there began the study of dentistry, spending some time in New Hampshire, Vermont and Massachusetts. He also read medicine for a time. Returning to Geauga county, Ohio, a year later, he resumed work at the carpenter's trade, in connection with which he also practiced dentistry until the close of the year 1849. He then spent one winter with Dr. M. L. Wright, an experienced dentist of Cleveland, after which he practiced his profession at various points in northeastern Ohio for several years. During the latter part of the sixties he went to Chicago and invested in real estate. Since then he has made his home at his present location in Troy township, practically retired from the active duties of his profession. He owns about 640 acres of land in this county, among the improvements on which are a commodious residence, large barns, etc. His career as a professional man and a financier has been a most successful one.
Dr. Patch votes with the Republican party, but takes little interest in political matters. For many years he has been a Mason. He is unmarried.
REV. H. P. HAMILTON is the able and popular pastor of the Presbyterian Church at Orwell, Ashtabula county, Ohio. He was born in Pennsylvania on the 5th day of August, 1847. He is of Scotch descent, and his father, Thomas Hamilton, was a man of fine education and scientific culture. He was a successful school-teacher and a politician of note in the locality of his home. He adhered to the principles of the Democratic party, and
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was elected to many official positions of trust and honor. In addition to this, he was a practical surveyor and civil engineer. A native of Venango county, Pennsylvania, he was born, August 16, 1799, and was called from this life, June 27, 1887. In the cause of Christianity he was an earnest and zealous worker and a life-long member of the Presbyterian Church.
The mother of our subject was formerly Miss Sarah Prather, and came from an old and aristocratic family of Pennsylvania. After fifty-two years of happy married life, her husband was deprived of her loving companionship, September 30, 1879. She, too, was a consistent member of the Presbyterian Church. Her birth occurred in Venango, Pennsylvania, in the year 1864, and by her marriage she became the mother of two sons, our subject, and James It, who died April 28, 1884. Like his venerable father, he followed the vocation of a surveyor and civil engineer, and his death was directly traceable to exposure in severe weather while performing his duties as a surveyor.
The early life of our subject was passed on his father's farm. His time was divided between working on the farm and attending the schools of the neighborhood. He became convinced, while still in early youth, that his tastes were not in the direction of agricultural pursuits to any extent, and he therefore determined to so educate himself that he might enter some useful profession which he might make his life work. After leaving the district school he entered the high school at Cooperstown, Pennsylvania, later entering the Cherry Tree Academy, and after finishing his studies there, he took a thorough commercial course in the iron City College, of Pittsburg. For several years, subsequently, he was a successful teacher in the Cherry Tree Academy, and during the later part of his labor in that field he commenced studying for the ministry, and in 1868 was ordained.
The first ministerial work of Mr. Hamilton was with the Presbyterian Church, of Spring Creek, Pennsylvania, and he has proven a faithful servant in the Master's vineyard during the years that have passed. As an evangelist, he has been specially blessed, and as the result of his eloquence and earnestness, large numbers have given themselves and their services to the Master.
In Wayne, Ashtabula county, Ohio, on the 14th day of May, 1871, Mr. Hamilton was united in marriage to Miss Sarah A. Camp, daughter of Cyrus T. and Delilah Camp. Mrs. Hamilton was born, June 13, 1850, and is a lady of talent and culture. She is zealous in Christian work, and possesses the rare tact that is so necessary in the wife of a minister. She is devoted to her home and family, and by her amiable qualities makes friends of one and all. Two sons and one daughter have come to bless the union of Mr. and Mrs. Hamilton. The oldest, John W., was born March 2, 1873; George W. was born June 1, 1875, and Ella G., June 14, 1877. These young people are receiving a fine education, and have decided musical talent. The youngest son is quite an artist as well, and is particularly fond of pen drawing.
Cyrus T. Camp, the father of Mrs. Hamilton, was born May 15, 1795, while his wife, whose maiden name was Delilah Forbes, was born July 8, 1809. The former departed this life December 11, 1876, and the latter December 15, 1865. Their children are as follows: Amarette, born March 1, 1840; William E., August 24, 1843, lives in East Wayne, Ohio; Charles D., a physician and
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surgeon, of Chicago, March 25, 1845; Rachel L., December 5, 1846; George R., April 7, 1848; Mrs. Hamilton is next; and Laura A., who was born January 24, 1852, died October 10, 1854. By a former marriage, Mr. Camp had four children: Mary, born May 4, 1826; Cyrus T., Jr., whose birth occurred September 16, 1828, and who, it is supposed, died in the late Civil war; Elizabeth, born in June, 1832, died in Tennessee, March, 1891; and Isaac W., born September 5, 1838, and now a resident of Illinois.
Reverend Hamilton took charge of the pastorate in Orwell on the 1st of March, 1893, and was installed June 6, 1893, by the Presbytery of Cleveland, and is giving universal satisfaction. He owns a valuable fruit farm, called the Diamond Fruit Farm, near Jefferson, Ohio, which is a great source of pleasure to him, and which is kept in a fine state of cultivation.
C. L. BEALES, a representative of one of the pioneer families of Troy township, Geauga county, Ohio, is one of the most worthy and prominent citizens of the township. He was born here December 29, 1840. His father, Osman Beales, was born in Covington, Massachusetts, February 20, 1802, son of John Beales, also a native of Massachusetts. The Beales family were among the early settlers of New England. John Beales emigrated from Massachusetts to Ohio in 1812, being one of the first to locate in Troy township, Geauga county. Here he bought land, built a cabin, and in pioneer style began to clear and improve 'a farm. His first shanty was built of bark. He made the journey here with ox teams, before there were any roads in this part of the country. The woods were full of wild game, the settlers were few and far apart, and to get provisions Mr. Beales had to go to Painesville. Although he endured many hardships and privations in his frontier home, he was prosperous and happy and lived to the ripe old age of ninety- eight years, passing away in 1864. The first sawmill in that section was built by him and his sons. At the.time of the Perry fight on Lake Erie he volunteered his services and went to Cleveland. He and his wife had a family of seven children, six of whom reached adult years, Osman Beales, the father of our subject, being the third born. Osman was ten years old when he came with his parents to Ohio. His education was received chiefly in the school of experience, as he never attended school more than six months. He assisted his father in clearing the farm, and continued to live on the old homestead until the time of his death, February 15, 1884. His wife, whose maiden name was Marcia Evaretts, was a native of Ontario county, New York. She came to Ohio with her parents when she was three years old. She died here December 1, 1890, at the age of seventy- seven. Both she and her husband were among the charter members of the Congregational Church at this place.
C. L. Beales was the second born in a family of three children, and is one of the two who are still living. He received a common and high school education. In 1872 he went to Gorham, Ontario county, New York, where for three years he was engaged in mercantile business. Previous to that he spent one year in Wyandotte, Michigan. Since then he has been engaged in farming. He owns eighty- five acres of well improved land. .
In 1871 Mr. Beales married Miss Sarah Barber, a native of Potter, Yates county, New York, and a daughter of Ira and Elizabeth
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(Merrifield) Barber, both of New York. Her father is a farmer. Previous to her marriage she was a popular and successful teacher in western New York. She is a member of the Congregational Church. Mr. and Mrs. Beales have three children: Charles L,, Lizzie E. and Arthur C.
Mr. Beales has been a Republcan ever since the organization of that party. During the war he rendered efficient service in the Union ranks. He enlisted in March, 1865, in the Eighteenth Ohio Volunteer Infantry, joining the regiment at Chattanooga, Tennessee, serving seven months, and being mustered out at Columbus, Ohio. He held the rank of Corporal. Mr. Beales' father was a strong anti-slavery man, and on account of his church not taking a firmer stand against slavery both he and his wife withdrew from it.
PROF. MORRISON L. HUBBARD, the efficient and popular principal of the commercial and elocutionary departments of New Lyme Institute, New Lyme, Ohio, enjoys an extensive reputation as one of the ablest educators in these departments in the United States. He not only established the commercial departments of New Lyme and Grand River Institutions, but has also established and supplied instructors for every commercial school in Ashtabula county.
Eri Hubbard, father of Prof. Hubbard of this notice, was the first male white child born in Cherry Valley, Ohio. Thrown on his own resources at the age of fifteen, Eri Hubbard struck boldly out for himself and soon found a temporary home in the family of Mr. Charles Woodworth, of West Williamsfield, for whom he worked for some years. He spent several years more on the Erie Canal, which was then being constructed, when, having in the meantime learned the trade of wagon making, he removed to Jefferson, Ohio, where he established himself in that occupation. In 1848, he returned to West Williams- field, where he now resides. He was married in 1847 to Elvira Woodworth, daughter of his former employer, Charles Woodworth, a well-to-do farmer of Williamsfield. Of their three children, the subject of this sketch is the oldest; Edwin died in infancy; and Charles, born January 2, 1834, resides in Youngstown, Ohio, where he is employed by the Lake Shore & Michigan Southern Railway -Company.
The subject of this sketch was born in West Williamsfield, Ohio, May 29, 1849, and received his preliminary education in the district schools of his vicinity. When nineteen years of age, he entered Orwell Normal Institute, at that time the leading academy of Ashtabula county. In 1869 he began studying in Grand River Institute, but owing to the failure of his vision he was obliged to discontinue his studies one term before completing his course. After a few terms at Soule's Business College, Philadelphia, and the Spencerian Business College in Cleveland, Prof. Hubbard returned to Grand River Institute and conducted a commercial school during the summer of 1873. He had already taught these branches in that institution in connection with his studies, and so successful had he been that his summer school was liberally patronized. The prestige of this work secured him a position at Oberlin Business College, where he remained until 1876, when he resigned to accept a similar position at Erie, in the National Business College. After six months' successful teaching, he, in partnership with one C. A. Wood of Morris,
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New. York, purchased the National Business College of Erie, and, during their three years' management, made it one of the foremost institutions of the country.
In 1878, the failure of Prof. Hubbard's health, rendered it necessary for him to dissolve his connection with that institution, and, by advice of physicians he devoted a few months to out-door pursuits, pursuing meanwhile the study of physiology and anatomy, preparatory to the study of medicine. Returning subsequently to Grand River Institute, he once more resumed teaching in order to defray his expenses, and continued the study of medicine under the instruction of the celebrated Dr. Tuckerman, of Cleveland, and later under Dr. H ubbard, of Ashtabula. After two years thus occupied, and finding a course of lectures beyond his means, he abandoned the idea of practicing medicine and devoted himself entirely to teaching. Under his able management, the commercial department of Grand River Institute became recognized as one of the leading schools of its class in the State.
In 1882, that grand old educator, Prof. Jacob Tuckerman, withdrew from the principalship of Grand River Institute and accepted a similar position at New Lyme. Prof. Hubbard also received a flattering offer from the same institution to accompany the principal and establish a commercial department in the same school, which proposition he accepted, and the acquisition of two such excellent educators could not fail to give the school great prestige. It has grown in popular favor ever since, mull New Lyme Institute is now recognized as one of the leading academies of the country and its commercial school as one of the best in the State. Its graduates have established all the commercial departments in the county and many elsewhere, among Prof. Hubbard's students being numbered some of the leading business men and educators of the country, notably Prof. Mc- Key of Oberlin Business College fame; Prof. Loomis, of the Spencerian College; W. H. Cook, Assistant Deputy United States Marshal at Cleveland, and many others of equal note and prosperity.
Successful as Prof. Hubbard has been in commercial school work, however, his efforts in elocution deserve, if possible, even greater commendation. He, to-day, has a wide reputation as one of the most thorough and successful teachers of elocution in the country. The secret of his phenomenal success in both of these departments is, no doubt, his careful and extensive preparation. Much of his life has been devoted to perfecting himself in elocution, and his school expenses were largely defrayed by teaching this art at Orwell and Grand River Institutes. IIis studies have been prosecuted under some of the ablest teachers, such as Samuel Wells, of the Albany (New York) Conservatory of Elocution; Prof. W. K. Fobes, of Boston; Webster Edgerly, A. M., LL. B., of Washington, an author of numerous standard works on elocution; and many other instructors of equal reputation. Many books in his well-filled library are devoted to this eminently pleasing and useful art, of which he is at all times a student. Among the Professor's scholars in this department are some of the best elocutionists in the country, notably R. D. Lampson (a brother of Senator Lampson), who was chosen as orator by the Michigan University; A. M. Ingraham, orator-alternate of Oberlin College; President Fuller, of Walnut Grove College, Tennessee; Prof. B. C. Chapin, rapidly becoming known as one of the most brilliant elocutionists that the country affords; Prof. Ed. Amherst Ott, Professor of Elocution in
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Drake University, at Des Moines, Iowa, and recognized as one of the best of Western orators; and others of local and national reputation. All of these unite in testifying that their success is largely due to the thorough and careful instruction given them by Prof. Hubbard.
May 2, 1874, Prof. Hubbard was married to Alice E. Hart, a lady of culture and refinement, daughter of a prominent fanner near Williamsfield, Ohio. They have seven bright children, all at home except the eldest, who is employed by the Wheeling-Chair Company at the Columbian Exposition, a vocation especially adapted to an intelligent and well- educated young man. The children are as follows: Fred, born March 2, 1875; Burton, born February 14, 1877; Alice E., August 5, 1879; Carl, November 20, 1881; Flora, December 1,1884; Diodate, February 23, 1887; and Edith, May 25, 1889.
Politically, Prof. Hubbard was a stanch Republican until the birth of the Prohibition party, since which time he has allied himself with that moral reform. He belongs to the Presbyterian Church, in which he takes an active interest. He is a man of the highest integrity, most conscientious scruples, of broad views and liberal culture, and is recognized as one of New Lyme's best citizens and most ardent reformers.
MARSHALL CONANT, a farmer of Dorset township, Ashtabula county, was born in Chittenden, Vermont, in 1826, a son of Thomas Conant, a native of Massachusetts. The latter's father, Thomas Conant, Sr., was also born in that State. The mother of our subject, nee Mrs.
Mary (Evans) Allen, was a native of Vermont. She had two children by her. first marriage,— Mary and Joseph, both now deceased. Mr. and Mrs. Conant subsequently located in Harpersfield township, and later removed to Dorset, Ashtabula county, where the father died, at the age of ninety years. He was a farmer by occupation, voted with the Whig party, and was a member of the Congregational Church. The mother departed this life in Lenawee county, Michigan. They had nine children, five sons and four daughters.
Marshall Conant, the subject of this sketch, came to Ashtabula county, Ohio, in 1832, at the age of eight years, and was early inured to farm life. In 1850 he came to his present farm of seventy-five acres, all of which is under a good state of cultivation, having a double cottage, a barn, 36 x 36 feet in dimensions, and many other improvements.
Mr. Conant was married, at the age of twenty-five years, to Mary Bassett, a native of Massachusetts, a daughter of Nathan and Hannah (Cole) Bassett, natives also of that State. Our subject and wife had one son, Ora, of Bay City, Michigan. The wife and mother died in February, 1880. In November of that year, our subject was united in marriage to Rosalia A. Bissell, a native of Bainbridge, Geauga county, Ohio, who was reared and educated in Dorset township, Ashtabula county. Her father, Lorenzo Bissell, still resides in this township. His father, Justin Bissell, was one of the -first settlers of Geauga county, and died at the age of ninety-two years. The mother of Mrs. Conant, nee Sarah Marsh, was a native of Geauga county, Ohio, and she died in 1871, at the age of forty-two years. She left the following children: Rosalia A., wife of our subject; and Henry, also now deceased, leaving two daughters, Lillie and Lola, who
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reside with Mr. Conant. Lorenzo Bissell served two years and nine months in the Sixth Ohio Cavalry during the late war. Mrs. Conant is a member of the Church, and our subject affiliates with the Republican party.
FRANK E. GEE, a leading druggist of Ashtabula, Ohio, was born in Thompson, Geauga county, this State, March 8, 1849. His parents, Ebenezer and Susan (Tilley) Gee, were natives of Ohio and England, respectively. The former was a son of William Gee, who came from Connecticut to Ohio in an early day, and the latter accompanied her parents to A merica about 1827. This worthy couple had four children, and when they were small the mother was deprived of her husband by death, after which she was the sole support of the family, until the subject of this sketch became old enough to assist her. She reared them all in Geanga county, giving them such advantages as her limited means permitted, while her wise counsel and affectionate care proved a rich dower and a liberal education.
The subject of this notice was reared on a farm and enjoyed but limited opportunities for securing an education, being thrown upon his own resources early in life. When about eighteen years of age, he began clerking in a grocery in Painesville, Ohio, where he remained three years. He had during this time accumulated by careful economy sufficient means to start in business for himself, and accordingly opened in Andover, the same State, a grocery which he successfully conducted three years and then sold out. He then returned to Painesville, where be again clerked until 1878, at which time he came to Ashtabula and entered the drug and grocery business with a partner, but eight years ago became sole proprietor. Since 1888 he has handled only drugs, and enjoys a large and lucrative patronage in his line.
In 1885 Mr. Gee was married to Miss Ida May Stafford, a lady of domestic tastes, and they have one son.
Fraternally, Mr. Gee belongs to the Knights of Pythias, the I. 0. 0. F., the Royal Arcanum and the Foresters. As a business man lre is upright, energetic and obliging; as a citizen he is public-spirited and progressive and justly holds a high position in the regard of his fellow-men.
E. W. MORLEY, one of the leading business men of Andover, was born in Bradford county, Pennsylvania, February 22, 1832, a son of W. H. and Sybil (Watson) Morley. The father was one of the pioneers of Andover, and is a mechanic and farmer by occupation. Our subject was brought to this city when a babe. For the past thirty years he has been one of the leading clothing merchants of Andover. His store building is 45 x 60 feet, and he carries a stock amounting to about $20,000. In 1875 he built the leading hotel in Andover, known as the Morley House, at a cost of $7,000, the same being two stories high, 50x50 feet, and a great acquisition to the town and accommodation to the traveling public. Mr. Morley also built the Giant Rink building, which was opened March 4, 1887, and is 50 x 200 feet, with a solid maple floor. It was erected at a cost of $3,500, and is located near the depot. In 1892 he laid out the Morley addition to Andover, con-
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sisting of sixty-five lots, and adjoins the Lake Shore & Michigan Southern depot grounds. This plat offers the best building sites in the city, convenient to both the railroad and business part of the town, and will afford profitable investments to all who purchase lots.
Mr. Morley was married in Andover at the age of twenty-six years, to Miss Eliza J. Butler, a native of this town and a daughter of George Butler, one of the first settlers of Andover. Mr. and Mrs. Morley have two children: Frank W., of Collingwood, Ohio; and Kitty, of Andover. In political matters our subject was formerly a Republican, but now affiliates with the Democratic party.
JOHN AVERY CARTER was born October 3, 1850, at Warren, Litchfield county, Connecticut, a son of Charles and Mary M. (Avery) Carter. His father, also a native of Connecticut, was born August 1, 1819. Acquiring a good education in the academy, he followed agricultural pursuits until middle life; then embarking in mercantile trade, he conducted the business for a few years, after which he built a hotel at Lake Waramaug, Connecticut. He kept this hostelry for a period of twenty years, and in 1892 retired from business. He was Major in the old State militia, and was Selectman in the towns of Warren, Plymouth and Washington. The maternal grandfather of Mr. Carter was John Avery, also a native of Connecticut, and a manufacturer of hats and woolen goods at Cornwall, Connecticut. For many years he was Justice of the Peace and was a most efficient officer. The paternal grandmother of our subject was a granddaughter of Brigadier-General James Wadsworth of the. Revolutionary war. (see page 312 of "Appleton's Encyclopaedia of Amer. ican Biography.") John Avery Carter received an academic education, and, until he was a youth of seventeen years, lived on his father's farm ; at this time be was employed as clerk in a general store at Terryville, Connecticut, where he remained three years. Afterward he. entered the wholesale house of Hart, Merriam & Co., Hartford, Connecticut, continuing in the employ of this firm nearly two years.
In 1872 Mr. Carter was united in marriage to Eva May Beach, daughter of Edward S.. and Caroline M. Beach, the great-granddaughter of Eli Terry, who in 1792 made the first wooden shelf-clock in America. This clock is still in the family, treasured as a precious heirloom, Soon after his marriage Mr. Carter went to Michigan and spent four years in the lumber business. Returning to Connecticut in 1876 he entered the wholesale flour and feed house of N. W. Merwin & Co., where he remained until his removal to Geneva, Ohio, in October, 1878. Here he took a position with the Western Lock Company as general foreman and special salesman. The plant and business were sold in 1882 to Eagle Lock Company of Terryville, Connecticut, at which time Mr. Carter was made western manager of the business, no bonds being required of him. For the past three years he has been one of the directors of the Eagle Lock Company, and his untiring energy and superior business ability have done much toward placing the company in its present prosperous condition.
Mr. and Mrs. Carter have. a son and a daughter. Lerria Terry Carter was born August 7, 1875; she is now a student at. Wellesley College, Massachusetts, and will be graduated from the institution in 1894.
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Charles E. Carter, the son, was born March 18, 1882. Mr. Carter joined Geneva Council, No. 303, Royal Arcanum, as a charter member in 1879, and is now Past Grand Regent of Ohio and Representative to the Supreme Council from Ohio. Be is a member of the Knights of Pythias, of which he is Past Chancellor and Past Grand Officer. He is a member of the Masonic fraternity, belonging to the blue lodge and chapter. He organized the first council in Ohio of Loyal Additional Benefit Association, to which order he belongs and is Supreme Deputy for Ohio. He is a member of the Congregational Church, and one of the board of trustees, and for several years was Superintendent of the Sabbath -school. In all the relations of life, whether social or business,. he has shown the same earnest purpose of benefiting his fellow-men, and enjoys the highest regard of all who know him.
Although educated a Democrat, he began early to read and think for himself, and corning to believe ardently in the principles proclaimed by the Republican party, his first ballot was cast for the party nominee, and under its banner he is still a willing worker.
HON. JAMES P. SMEAD, a prominent and wealthy farmer of Madison, Ohio, has been identified with the interests. of Lake county for a number of years. Following is a resume of his life:
James P. Smead was born in Greenfield, Massachusetts, in 1827. His father and grandfather, both named David Smead, Were natives of Massachusetts and were farmers by occupation. Grandfather Smead lived to a good old age and died in Massachusetts. His son David came West to Ohio in 1848 and settled on the farm on which the subject of our sketch now lives. On this farm he spent the rest of his life and died at the age of seventy-two years. His wife, nee Alsamena Hastings, also a native of Massachusetts, survived him several years, her death occurring when she was eighty-seven years of age. James P. was the third born in their family of seven children, and one of the five who reached adult years. Both parents were worthy members of the Congregational Church, in which the father was a Deacon nearly all his life.
James P. Smead received his education in the public schools of his native State. He first came to Ohio in 1846, but went back to his home in the East, and in 1848 the whole family came out here and settled in Lake county. At that tune, there being no railroads, the chief overland travel in this part of the State was made on the stage route between. Buffalo and Cleveland. The Smead fam ily made the journey here via the Erie canal and lake. James P. and his father owned the home farm jointly until the latter's death, both working to develop it, Oul' subject is now the owner of 112 acres of finely cultivated land and has an elegant and commodious brick residence in the east edge of the village of Madison.
In June, 1857, Mr. Smead married Ellen H. Bailey, a native of Madison. Her father, Dudley Bailey, came from Connecticut to this county in 1827, and located on the river, south of Madison.
Politically, Mr. Smead is a Republican. For many years he has been Trustee of his township. , In the fall of 1877 he was elected to the Ohio State Legislature, and for two years served most acceptably as a member of that honorable body. During his term of office he introduced several local bills and
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was a member of a number of committees, among which were those of Agriculture, Drains, and Water Courses. He was President of the Board of Education for a number of years, and closely identified with all measures looking to the best interests of the school work of the village. He has been a stockholder and director of the Exchange Bank of Madison for many years. Politically, socially and financially Mr. Smead is ranked with the leading and most substantial citizens of his community, and, his success in life is due to his own pluck and energy, he having started out a poor boy and unaided worked his way to the front.
Mr. Smead and his wife are members of the Congregation al Church.
PERRY GREEN, a farmer of Cherry Valley township, Ashtabula county, was born in Monroe county, New York, April 15, 1827, a son of Caleb and Mary (Oaks) Green, both of Connecticut. When Perry was three years of age the parents came to Ashtabula county, Ohio, locating in Cherry Valley township, where they were among the first settlers. The father owned a farm of
600 acres. He died at the age of forty-eight years, leaving a widow and twelve children, seven of whom still survive, namely: Lois Clark, of Ottawa, Illinois; Manilla Gay, of Ohio; William O.; Eveline L,; Chapman; Leander L., of Genoa, Nebraska, has served in the Illinois Legislature; Perry, our subject; and Dewitt, of Wyoming. The deceased children were: Allen J., who died in Indiana; Mary Ann Brower died at Ottawa, Illinois; A. N., in this county; H. S., in Pottawattamie county, Iowa; and Charles D., at La Honda, California, having been a soldier in the Mexican
war. The mother died in LaSalle county, Illinois, at the age of eighty-eight years.
Perry Green, the subject of this sketch was reared to farm life, and was also engaged in the manufacture of cheese many years. He now owns 120 acres of fine farming land in Ashtabula county, where he is engaged in general farming and stock raising. He was married March 24, 1849, to Marie Clark, who was born, reared and educated in Wayne township, this county, a daughter of Alfred and (Jane) Oatman Clark, the former a native of Chenango county, New York and the latter of Vermont. The father died at the age of seventy-eight years, and the mother at seventy- one years. Mr. and Mrs. Clark had six children: Marie Green; Andrew, of Richmond; Willard and Wilbert, twins; Charles E., of Colebrook township, Ashtabula county; and Dillon, deceased at the age of seven years. Mr. and Mrs. Green have two children: D. L., at home, and Roscoe, deceased at the age of two and a half years. In political matters, Mr. Green votes with the Democratic party, and has held the position of Township Trustee and other offices of trust.
ANDREW J. WIIIPPLE, one of Ashtabula county's most respected citizens, has been identified with the interests of this county all his life, and is now one of its well-to-do farmers.
Zebulon Whipple, his father, was born in Tolland, Connecticut, May 28, 1796. He was a boy in his 'teens when the war of 1812 came on, and, young as he was, he enlisted his services in the American cause, and was present at the attack at Stonington Point: He remained in the vicinity of his birthplace till 1818, when he started on foot to seek a
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home in what was then called " New Connecticut." After thirty days of travel he arrived in Kingsville, Ohio, and purchased a piece of wild land and at once began to fell the dense forest. November 24, 1822, he married Aveline Stanton, who still survives to mourn the loss of a husband with whom she had lived fifty-seven years. He had been a resident of Kingsville and Sheffield townships more than sixty-one years, and in that long period had not failed to win the confidence and esteem of all with whom he came in contact. He died June 7, 1879, of congestion of the lungs, aged eighty-three years and ten days. The funeral services were conducted in the Baptist Church of Sheffield, the Rev. Edwin Dibbell officiating. Mr. Whipple was a prominent member of the Masonic order. A remarkable coincidence in connection with his death was that his brother in Summit county, Ohio, died and was buried about the same respective hours as occurred his death and burial. Zebulon Whipple was a son of Zebulon and Lydia (Russell) Whipple. The former was a native of Connecticut and a soldier in the Revolutionary war. He spent the closing years of his life and died in. Portage county, and after his death his widow came to Ashtabula county, where she died. The Whipple family is of English descent The mother of our subject, Aveline (Stanton) Whipple, was born in 1803, and is now the oldest settler in Sheffield township. When nine•years of age she came with her parents to Kingsville, Ohio, and remained with them until her marriage to Mr. Whipple. She is the daughter of Andrew and Lucy (Ufford) Stanton, natives of Connecticut, who, in 1813, made the journey to this State with an ox team, and upon their arrival here located two miles southwest of Kingsville. Her paternal grandparents were Samuel and Rachel (Main) Stanton, also natives of Connecticut, and her maternal grandparents, Jonathan Ufford and his wife, the latter being a .Miss Gutridge before her marriage, were natives of New England. The parents of our subject were married in 1822, as above stated, and had a family of six children, as follows: Susan S., who died in August, 1847, was a teacher; Gilbert, who was engaged in farming in Sheffield township, this county, died October 8, 1890, leaving a widow and daughter, Susan; John, who died March 16, 1892, left a widow and one son, Spencer S.; Andrew J., whose name heads this article; Perry NI., who died from the effects of a hog bite at the age of thirty-three years; and Wilson S., a resident of Denmark, Ohio, married Lonie Custard, and has two children, Genevra and John.
Andrew J. Whipple was born in 1832, in Kingsville, Ohio, and remained with his parents until he was twenty-five years of age. For several years he taught school during the winter and worked on the farm during the summer, and with the money thus earned he purchased a farm of fifty acres, upon which he located when he was married in 1857. He married Martha Jane Richards, a native of Crawford county, Pennsylvania, who came with her parents to Ashtabula county, Ohio, in 1851, and remained with her widowed mother until she married Mr. Whipple. She is the daughter of Daniel and Maria (Olin) Richards. Her father was killed by falling from a wagon onto a pitch fork, and her mother died January 11, 1877, in Sheffield township. The latter, a native of Vermont, was the daughter of Ezra and Ruth Olin, who were also natives of the Green Mountain State, and who spent the closing years of their lives and died in New York. Mr. and Mrs. Whipple have had four children, viz.: Carlosse Z., who died in infancy; Bina A., a
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resident of Denmark township, this county, married Stella Van Slyke and has two children, Andrew J. and Paul D.; Fred George, a farmer of Sheffield township, married Louisa Bates, and has one child, Guy R.; and Aldin R., at home. Aldin married Katie Lyons.
Mr. Whipple commenced work at $6 per month when he was fourteen years old. Financially he has been successful, and he is ranked with the prosperous men of his vicinity. Politically, he affiliates with the Republican party, and for twenty-three years continuously has held the office of Justice of the Peace, having also filled various other official positions. For a number of years he has been called upon to settle estates, and frequently in such cases is not required to give bond. He and his wife are active members of the United Brethren Church, of which be is a Trustee.
JAHIAL PARMLY, a wealthy farmer of Perry township, Lake county, Ohio, was born in Augusta, Georgia, in April, 1830.
The Parmly family are descended from a noble Belgium house named Parmelie. Maurice de Parmelie was a prominent reformer of the sixteenth century, who, about 1567, fled to Holland to escape the persecutions of the Duke of Alva, his estate being confiscated. There he founded the house of You Parmelee. His third SOD, Johanes, became Baron of Batavia. In the list of passengers for America, on the ship Elizabeth and Anne, is the name of John Parmelee, aged twenty. This was the first ship to enter the harbor at New Haven, Connecticut, 1635. John Parmelee is supposed to be the progenitor of all the Parmly families in America, and the
subject of our sketch belongs to the sixth generation in this country. Many of the Parmlys have occupied honorable and useful positions in life, and several have been ministers of the gospel. The spelling of the name was changed in 1810.
Eleazar Parmly, the grandfather of Jahial, was born in Vermont. He was a farmer by occupation. In 1816 he removed to New York State, and in March, 1817, came to Lake county, Ohio, making the journey with horses and wagon on the ice along the lake shore. Near Ashtabula the ice broke through with him and he came near drowning. His first settlement in the county was made on the river road in Perry township, and a year later be moved to the bank of the lake. Here he built a cabin in the woods, and in true pioneer style began life on the frontier. He had cleared some land and was making an impress on his surroundings, when his untimely death occurred, the result of a kick from a horse, July 44825. His son, Jahial, the father of our subject, was born in Vermont, July 14, 1799, and was eighteen when he came with his parents to Ohio. He was large and strong and full of ambition, and the western life had for him many attractions. The Indians were numerous here then, and the forest abounded in bears and wolves. Young Parmly was noted in all the country round as an expert wood-chopper. The stump of a black-walnut tree he cut down when he first came here was still to be seen a few years ago. He helped to build the first sawmill on the creek here, the iron for which the settlers carried on their backs from Grandon, on the Grand river, near Painesville.
In 1821 the father of our subject went to Boston to learn dentistry. After completing his studies he went South and began the practice of his profession in Georgia. His
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professional career there was one of marked success, and from time to time he came North and made investments in real estate in Ohio, until he owned 6,000 acres of land in different parts of the State. He finally settled in Painesville, where he spent the residue of his life retired from active business, and died May 26, 1873. His wife, whose maiden name was Eliza A. Pleasants, was born in Richmond, Virginia, August 2, 1799, and died March 2, 1891, being nearly ninety-two years of age. They had nine children, six of whom—all sons reached adult years, viz.: Jahial, James, Henry, Samuel, David and Leo. David is deceased. Henry and Samuel are wealthy real-estate dealers in Chicago. James lives in Painesville, and Leo in Florida.
Jahial Parmly spent part of his youthful days in the South. He attended school in Madison and Painesville, this county, and at the age of twenty-one entered the Baltimore Dental College. He practiced dentistry for four years. Leaving college, he located in Van Wert county, Ohio, where he was engaged in the lumber business until 1861. During that time he built the fourth steam sawmill in the county. From Van Wert county Mr. Parmly came to his present location, where he has 500 acres of land and is engaged in general farming. He has fifty acres of muck onion land, on which he raises immense quantities of onions. He also owns a gristmill on Harper creek.
Mr. Parmly was married July 5, 1855, to Martha J. Priddy, a native of Fayette county, Ohio. They had four children, as follows: Eliza A., now Mrs. Cramblett; Augusta G., now Mrs. Whitney; and Eugene P. and Cecil F., twins, the former having died at the age of fifteen years, and the latter at twenty-seven. Mrs. Famlly died February 16, 1892. Her grandfather, a resident of Fayette county, this State, lived to be 106 years old.
Mr. Parmly's political views are in harmony with the principles advocated by the Republican party.
NELSON D. CORNING, a citizen of Mentor, and a member of a prominent pioneer family of this place, was born here July 12, 1831.
Mr. Corning's grandfather, Colonel Warren Corning, was a native of Massachusetts. He came with his family to Lake county, Ohio, prior to 1812, making the journey here by wagon, and upon his arrival settled at what is now Mentor. This part of the country was then a dense forest. He lived to nearly the age of four score years, honored and respected by all who knew him. He was a Disciple, and took an active part in the organization of that church in this locality.
Deacon Nathan Corning, the father of Nelson D., was about six years old at the time they emigrated to Ohio. He lived on a farm at Mentor, and was also extensively engaged in the manufacture of brooms here. At various times he filled local offices, being County Coroner two terms. July 5, 1882, after a long life of useful activity, he passed from earth to his reward. His wife, whose maiden name was Phoebe Wilson, and who was a native of New York, died in August, 1878. They had six children, five of whom are living, Nelson D. being the second born.
Nelson D. Corning was reared on his father's farm, receiving his education in the district schools and the Kirtland Academy. His whole life has been spent at Mentor. He remained on the farm with his father several years after reaching his majority. Then he
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bought land of his own. He has helped to clear and improve considerable land in this vicinity. He has now within the corporation of Mentor twenty acres, on which he is raising small fruit. Some years ago he was largely interested in the manufacture of brooms.
Mr. Corning was married June 15, 1857, to Adelia Tyler, a native of New York. Their children are as follows: Frank B., married and living in Mentor; Emily, wife of P. G. Worcester, of Mentor; and Mary B., at home.
For nearly twenty years Mr. Corning has been a member of the Town Council, and for eighteen years he has served on the School Board.
WESLEY TROWBRIDGE, a leading farmer of Johnny Cake Ridge, Concord township, Lake county, Ohio, is a native of Arcadia, Wayne county, New York, born November 28, 1834. He is of English descent, but several generations of the family have been residents of America. Great-grandfather Seth Trowbridge was a native of Connecticut and was a soldier in the Revolutionary war, and Grandfather Minor Trowbridge was born in Rutland, Vermont. The latter was a farmer and lived to be ninety years old.
Seymour Trowbridge, the father of our subject, was born in Arcadia, Wayne county, New York, and in the fall of 1835 emigrated with his family to Solon, Cuyahoga county, Ohio. This part of the State was then a dense wilderness. He built his log cabin in the woods, and by dint of hard work and good management supported his family in pioneer style and cleared up a fine farm of 200 acres. When he first settled on this place he worked out at 50 cents per day to get money with which to buy provisions. In 1863 he sold his farm and moved to Brooklyn Village, Cuyahoga county, where he still lives, hale and hearty, at the age of eighty years. He has taken an active part in many of the leading enterprises which have materially advanced the interests of his county. With the building of the street railway on Pearl street, connecting Brooklyn Village with Cleveland, he was prominently identified, being a stockholder and director and the first president of the road. He served as Trustee of his township several terms, and two terms as Mayor of Brooklyn Village. He was married February 6, 1834, to Miss Sallie M. Johnson, a native of New York, who for sixty years has been his devoted companion. Both have been active and zealous workers in the Methodist Episcopal Church for many years. Their two children are Wesley, whose name heads this article, and Deborah, wife of John Thompson, of Solon, Ohio.
Wesley Trowbridge attended the district schools until he was fifteen, after which he was for a few terms a student in the academy at Chagrin Falls, Ohio. The day he was nineteen he began teaching school, and taught four winter terms, the first term being in the old schoolhouse in which he learned his alphabet.
In 1858 Mr. Trowbridge married Miss Elizabeth B. Foster, a native of Cuyahoga county, who died in 1877, leaving six children: Elmer E., deceased; George G.; Seymour D.; Armina M.; Alberta E., deceased; and Warner W. In 1878 Mr. Trowbridge wedded Susan F. Galusha, his present companion, a native of New York.
Immediately after his first marriage he located in Solon township, Cuyahoga county,
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and engaged in farming, which he continued until the fall of 1861. From that time until 1874 he made his home in Brooklyn Village, and since 1874 has been a resident of Concord township, Lake county. Upon locating here he purchased his present farm of 207 acres of choice land, to the improvement and cultivation of which he has since given his attention.
During the troublous times of our late civil conflict Mr. Trowbridge tendered his services to the Union cause. He enlisted in August, 1862, as a member of Company D, One Hundred and Third Ohio Volunteer Infantry, and served almost three years, being mustered out in May, 1865. He was with his company and regiment at the front until after 1863, when he was taken sick, and upon his convalescence was detailed for hospital duty, serving in hospitals at Frankfort, Lexington and Covington, Kentucky, and subsequently being transferred to the general hospital at Cleveland, Ohio. His chief duty was keeping books in the surgeon's office.
Politically Mr. Trowbridge is a Republican. He has filled various minor offices in his township, but is not an active politician or office-seeker. He and his wife are both members of the Methodist Episcopal Church at Painesville.
LEWIS WATERS, ESQ., of Orwell, Ohio, once an active farmer, a prominent and progressive citizen, energetic in his labors for the advancement of the interests of his town, faithful to the positions of trust imposed upon him, is now retired from active life.
This venerable man was born in Milford, Otsego county, New York, December 29, 1822, son of Judah and Ruth (Putnam) Waters. His parents were married in Massachusetts, and passed the closing years of their lives in Ohio, where they died, the father in May, 1867, and the mother in June, 1869. They had a family of seven children, one of whom died in infancy. The others are as follows: Nathan, Sarah, Freeman, Harriet, Lewis and Olive. The senior Mr. Waters, was by trade a scythe and hoe maker, an occupation which he followed il, early life, subsequently turning his attention to milling. The boyhood days of Lewis Waters were spent in doing chores around the mill, and in attending the district school. At the age of thirteen he became a full hand in driving team, hauling grain, flour, etc., for his father.
January 20, 1840, young Waters, with a single horse and wagon, left his native town, en route for Orwell, Ohio, arriving at his destination February 20. His parents joined him in this Slate about a year later. His father had previously purchased a farm here, and this land he at once went to work to clear and develop. The fall he was twenty he attended Welchfield Academy one term, after which he taught school for some time. After teaching in Ohio for a while he went to Missouri, where he was engaged in the same occupation, and where he formed the acquaintance of the lady, who, a year later, became his wife.
This lady was Miss Frances Sappington. She was born in St. Louis county, Missouri, June 18, 1818, the eldest of a family of eight children, the others being as follows: William J.; Overton S., who died and left a family; Joseph B.; Nicholas, who was killed in a railroad collision; Sarah, who died May 17, 1835; James, who died in Kansas and left a family; and Mary E., wife of Thomas Baker, died in December, 1882, leaving a family. The fa-
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ther of this family was born November 23, 1796, and died April 5, 1885. The mother, nee Amney Wright, born in 1800, died in 1831. Mrs. Waters was only thirteen years old at the time her mother died, and, being the oldest of the family, upon her devolved the charge of the other children. She continued at the head of their household affairs until her father married again. May 21, 1840, he wedded Miss Tabitha Pipkin, and they had one daughter, Margaret, who died at the age of thirteen years.
After their marriage, Mr. and Mrs. Waters came to Orwell, Ohio, and settled on a fine farm south of the town. Here they lived until the death of Mrs. Waters, which occurred July 23, 1884. This farm, 188 acres, is now under the efficient management of J. G. Kingdom Mr. Waters' son-in-law. Mr. and Mrs. Waters had eight children, namely: James F., born December 30, 1845; Amney G. and Ruth P. (twins), born May 27, 1847; Ruth P., who died October 20, 1849; Olivia F., born December 30, 1848; George W., born May 5, 1850; Granville E., born April 4, 1852; Ida E., born October 8, 1853; Cora Idel, born August 7, 1858. Amney G. married Mr. J. G. Kingdon of Orwell, and they have two sons and o ne daughter. Olivia wife of Frank Bissell, of Orwell, has had tone daughter, who died at about the age of eleven years. Mr. Waters makes his home with his daughter, Mrs. Bissell. Ida E. is the wife of John Runciman; and Cora I. married William R. Winters. Mr. and Mrs. Winters have one daughter.
The life of Mr. Waters has been an exemplary one. Honesty, integrity, industry and generosity have been the chief charratistics of his life. Few men of this vicinity have done more to advance its best interests than he. For many years he has been interested in the breeding of fine horses, and still owns some fine specimens of horse flesh. The first standard-bred stallion ever brought to Orwell was " May Day," owned by Mr. Waters. Politically, he is a Democrat. He has always been identified with the best elements of his party and in various ways has rendered it valued service. During President Cleveland's first administration he served three and a half years as Postmaster of Orwell. For a number of years he served as Justice of the Peace. During the Civil war he was appointed clerk for the Quartermaster's Department at Chattanooga, Tennessee, and after rendering efficient service as such for a short time was appointed General Superintendent of the Quartermaster's Department, at the same place, remaining in that position until the close of the war. He was then honorably discharged, with letters of commendation from his superior officers. Mr. Waters was Chairman of the first County Board of Electors under the Australian ballot system. Socially, he is a gentleman of the highest order, kind and agreeable to all, and respected and esteemed by both old and young. For over thirty-five years he has been a member of the I. O. O. F.
HIRAM J. MARSH, a dealer in coal, and one of the prosperous business men of Conneaut, Ohio, was born at this place, March 28, 1835, his parents being among the pioneers of Ashtabula county. He and an older brother, Steven W., are now the only ones of the family residing here. Of them we make the following record:
Among the people from New York who came West to Ohio, in 1828, were Silas Marsh
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and his family. Mr. Marsh was of Scotch descent, was born in New York, in 1792, and in 1818 married Miss Mary Williams, also a native of that State, the date of her birth being 1800. He was a pearler by trade, and after coming to Conneaut worked in the ashery where the Shenango station is now located. His home was within a few rods of this spot. Mr. Marsh was a man of sterling qualities and was well known and highly respected here. He was a soldier in the war of 1812, and during that struggle received a wound, from the effects of which he never recovered and which no doubt hastened his death. He died in the faith of the Christian religion, in March, 1861, aged sixty-nine years. His wife joined the church the year she was married, and hers was a beautiful Christian character. She passed to her reward in November, 1877, at the age of seventy-seven. They had a family of twelve children, namely: Jefferson, who died in Rochester, in 1859; Lucy, wife of B. Jones, is a resident of Valparaiso, Indiana; Sarah, wife of John Laferty, is deceased; Steven W.; Betsey, wife of Charles Condon, is deceased; David F., of Chicago; Hiram J.; Electa, wife of James Goldring; Lucius, who died in 1866; and two that died in infancy.
Hiram J. Marsh began life as a farmer boy, working for wages. The first pair of shoes he ever wore were a pair for which he and his brother earned the money to bny them by picking mulberry leaves, and they took turns in wearing them, he wearing them one week and the next week going barefoot while his brother wore them. After he was eleven years old he went on the lakes, being employed as cook, handy boy, etc., on various vessels until the war broke out.
August 9, 1862, the three brothers, Hiram J., David F. and Steven W., all enlisted in the Second Ohio Independent Light Artillery, and their war record is perhaps without a parallel in the history of any country. They were with the forces that operated in the West and South. To give an account of the engagements in which they participated would be to write a history of the greater part of the war. Suffice it to say that three truer, braver, more patriotic soldiers never went into battle; that all enlisted on the same day, served in the same command three years, returned 'home together on the same day ; and that none of them were ever wounded or taken prisoner, although they were often in the thickest of the fight with comrades falling all around them. The date of their discharge was in August, 1865, exactly three years from the day of their enlistment.
Hiram's health was so impaired after the war that the first winter he was unable to do much work. March 1, 1867, he was employed by the Lake Shore & Michigan Southern Railroad Company, and remained in the service of that corporation sixteen years, being first employed as baggage master, afterward as clerk and later as chief clerk in the freight office. Then he turned his attention to the coal business, in which he has since been engaged.
He was married March 12, 1854, to Miss Louisa Biffin, a native of England, and a daughter of William Biffin. Following are the names of their children: James H., who married Emma Culbertson, is a resident of Conneaut; Lina, wife of Joseph G. Salsbury, conductor on the Lake Shore & Michigan Southern Railroad; Alice L., wife of Byron L. Gifford, of Conneaut; George H. married Mollie Darling and lives in Conneaut; Fred E., fireman on the Nickel Plate Railroad; and Clara Bell, of the home circle. Both Mr. and Mrs. Marsh are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and he is a member of the
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G. A. R. Mr. Marsh is one of the self-made and substantial men of Conneaut.
Steven W. Marsh, of whom mention has been made in the preceding sketch, is another one of the highly respected citizens of Conneaut.
He was born in Conneaut, July 25, 1829, six weeks after the family landed here. His war experience has already been referred to in the biography of his brother, Hiram J., and was very similar to that of his brother, with this exception, however: He was detailed at the Soldiers' Home in -Vicksburg, through the recommendation of Mrs. Plummer, of Springfield, Pennsylvania, who in person went to the headquarters of General Grant and had him detailed to attend hospital, which he did for fourteen months. By a mistake on the part of the lady in not giving him a duplicate of the detail, he drew no money for this service. During this time his good wife supported herself and two children by rolling cigars at her home in Conneaut.
On his return from the war, Mr. Marsh engaged in railroading, and was employed as baggage master of this station for fifteen years. Then he was engaged in draying for some time. He is now an invalid and not in any active business.
February 22, 1853, he married Minerva Clark, daughter of Norman S. and Amanda (Laferty) Clark. Her father and mother were natives respectively of Virginia and Pennsylvania, were married in New York, and came to Springfield township, Erie county, Ohio, about 1846. Mrs. Marsh is the oldest of eleven children, seven of whom are still living. Her father died in 1873, aged sixty-three years, and her mother in 1888, aged seventy- five. The latter was a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church. Mr. and Mrs. Marsh have two children: William H., of Cleveland, married Mary E. Brown, and has two children, Arthur S. and Dora M.; and Kate I., wife of Stillman Vining, of Lisbon, Dakota. Mr. Marsh and his wife are among the oldest members of the Methodist Church of Conneaut, having united with the same in 1857. He is a member of the State Police and also of Custer Post, No. 9, G. A. R., he and his brother Hiram being charter members of this post.
ALBA B. MARTIN, secretary of the Geneva Tool Company, is a native of Ohio, born in Windsor, July 12, 1841, a son of Leonard and Louisa (Burnham) Martin. His father was born in Washington county, New York, May 22, 1809, and for many years was successfully engaged in mercantile pursuits in Buffalo. Emigrating from that city to Ohio, soon after his arrival, he settled upon a farm in Windsor, where he remained until the time of his death, July 22, 1882. He was a useful citizen, and held the confidence and respect of the community in which he dwelt.
Louisa Burnham was a native of Connecticut, and a daughter of Captain Burnham, for many years a prominent character in this vicinity, a man of exceedingly fine social qualities. They were the parents of six children; Sarah L., Milton, Edgar, our subject (Alba B.), Emma F., and Orlan J., all living and residents of Ashtabula county with the exception of Milton, who was burned to death in childhood.
Mrs. Martin, the mother of our subject, was a bright, companionable woman, highly accomplished, and a great favorite with the old and young, and is held in affectionate remembrance by all who knew her. She was
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born in Connecticut, June 11, 1810, and died in Windsor, Ohio, September 1, 1879.
Jervis Martin, the paternal grandfather of our subject, was well-known in central and western New York, as a ciwil engineer land large contractor, and was a soldier in the war of 1812; and his father, Ebenezer Martin, was a soldier in the Revolutionary War.
Alba B. Martin passed his youth on the farm of his father in Windsor, Ashtabula county, Ohio, receiving his education in the common schools and at Farmington Seminary. He was engaged in teaching when the call for men to defend the nation resounded from shore to shore. In August, 1862, he enlisted in the One Hundred and Fifth Regiment, Ohio Volunteer Infantry; but after a few months was discharged on account of disabilities contracted while in the service of his country. He then became engaged in the insurance business, acting for some years as general agent and adjuster, after which he became secretary and salesman for the Geneva Tool Company. He bought largely of the stock of the concern, and is now one of the largest owners of the company. This firm does an extensive business in the manufacturing of garden and hand farming tools, and has established a wide patronage,—their goods not only going into all of the States, but into all parts of the civilized world,
Mr. Martin was united in marriage, September 27, 1866, to Miss Azalia J. Waters, a daughter of Milton B. and Pluma (Moore) Waters, Middlefield, Geauga county, Ohio. She was born in Hart's Grove, Ohio, May 1, 1845. The families of both her father and mother were among the pioneers of this section of country. Her father died September 25, 1882, aged seventy-two years, and her mother, Febrnary 2, 1890, aged eighty-two years.
Mr. and Mrs. A. B. Martin have two sons and two daughters: the elder, Ward B., married Minnie Ford; Frank W. located in Cleveland, and both sons are engaged in mercantile pursuits; May Louise and Cora Pluma are the daughters. Mrs. Martin is a member of the Congregational Church. Mr. Martin is an active member of the Masonic fraternity; a member and Past Master of Geneva Lodge, No. 334, F. & A. M.; High Priest of Geneva Chapter, No. 147, R. A. M., and member of Eagle Commandery, K. T., No. 29, Painesville, Ohio; he is also a member of Geneva Lodge and Geneva Encampment, I. O. O. F., and Commander of Bowers Post, No. 29, G. A. R. In politics, he is a stanch Republican.
Mr. Martin has always taken an active part in the local affairs of the community, and has aided largely in its advancement, having served many years as a member of the School- Board and City Council. He is a man of liberal views, and public-spirited, and is held in high esteem by the community in which he dwells, all recognizing in him an active, representative citizen of the commonwealth.
ALBERT MORLEY, deceased.– Among the old families closely associated with the early growth of Painesville is the Morley family. Albert Morley, deceased, the head or founder of the
family here, was born in the town of Brutus, Cayuga county, New York, October 21, 1797, and came to Painesville in July, 1837. He was a man of sterling worth and of great force of character. He died July 12, 1883,
at the age of eighty-six. His wife, Esther Healy, was born in Charlestown, New Hampshire, February 14, 1798. A woman of a
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broad, sanguine and sympathetic nature, her influence was not only deeply impressed upon, but extended far beyond, the circle of her large family. She died April 22, 1889, at the advanced age of ninety-one. Eight sons and two daughters were born to them.
Of the four surviving children, J. H. Morley, of the J. H. Morley Lead Company, now lives in Cleveland; G. W. and E. W. Morley, of the Hardware Company of Morley Brothers, in Saginaw, Michigan; while J. R. Morley, connected with the banking and other interests, occupies, with his family, the old homestead in Painesville.
F. E. CROSBY, a lumber dealer residing in Rome township, Ashtabula county, Ohio, was born here July 29, 1834. He received good educational advantages in his youth, and has proved himself a man of more than ordinary business ability. As a member of the firm of Crosby & Beckly, wholesale lumber dealers, he has established a reputation that extends not only over this part of Ohio, but also throughout the East, West and South. They have a branch office in New Haven, Connecticut.
Mr. Crosby was married September 12, 1863, to Miss Emma Wood, who was born November 6, 1846, the daughter of a prominent merchant of Ashtabula. They have two children: Nora, born December 16, 1864, and Charles C., January 10, 1877.
During the war Mr. Crosby was one of the brave soldiers in the Union ranks. He enlisted April 25, 1861, in Company D, Nineteenth Ohio Infantry, and was discharged August 30, 1861. On the 5th of the following October he re-enlisted in the Sixth Ohio Volunteer Cavalry, and remained in the service until he was honorably discharged, October 4, 1862. A portion of this time he served as hospital steward. Mr. Crosby is a Freemason, having attained the Royal Arch degree.
BONDINOT SEELEY, a prominent and wealthy farmer of Painesville township, Lake county, Ohio, was born on the farm on which he now lives, March 23, 1823, being the son of one of the earliest pioneers of this part of Ohio.
The Seeley family is of Welsh descent, three brothers of that name having come from Wales to America in Colonial times. One of these brothers was killed in the French and Indian war, another became Governor of New York, and from the third the subject of our sketch is descended. Many of the Seeleys were men of prominence and worth, occupying honorable and useful positions in life. Ebenezer Seeley, a native of Connecticut, and a highly respected farmer of Weston, Fairfield county, that State, had a son, Uriah, born at that place, May 25, 1791.
Uriah Seeley was the father of Bondinot, and was a man whose unique character and prominent connection with the early history of northeastern Ohio entitles him to more than a passing notice on the pages of this work. He was reared on his father's farm and remained in his native State until he was twenty-three years old. In 1815 he came West on horseback to what was then the frontier, and in Lake county settled on the farm which his son now owns and occupies. A few acres of this land had been partly cleared, and a log cabin built on the place. The Indians frequently called at his cabin.
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Deer and bears were plenty here, and for some time Mr, Seeley had to keep his hogs shut up in a log pen to protect them from the bears. On one occasion he captured a young bear, which he kept for a while. He had married before coming to Ohio, and in 1816 returned to Connecticut and brought his wife and child to this pioneer home, making the journey by wagon. In those days it was sometimes pretty hard getting along. There was no money in the country, and supplies were hard to procure. At one time he traded four bushels _of wheat for a pound of sole-leather, with which to repair his boots. It was several years before he could get cash enough to pay his taxes. It took plucky men to come out here, live in cabin homes surrounded by Indians and wild animals, clear away the forest and develop farms. Mr. Seeley was one of these plucky men; indeed, all the elements of the true pioneer were found in his make-up. Few of the early settlers did more to advance the interests of this part of the country than did he. Be was one of the commissioners appointed by the governor to settle the boundary between Ohio and Michigan. In 1824 he was Sheriff of Geauga county, all this part of Ohio then being included in Geauga county. He served in the State Senate in 1832—'33, being nominated on the anti-Jackson ticket, and as the opponent of a local faction here which he fought and finally wiped out. A strong Abolitionist, he was subsequently nominated by that party to represent Ashtabnla and Geauga counties in the State Legislature. He was connected with the underground railway, keeping one of its stations and assisting more than 1,000 colored people in making their escape to Canada, In politics he was independent and conservative. He took an actiwe part in the,. campaign when Horace
Greeley ran for president, frequently presiding at the Greeley meetings held in Painesville. He was not only a man of undaunted courage, but also of strong moral and religious convictions, and he lived up to his convictions in the truest sense. He and all his family were members of the Congregational Chnrch. Mrs. Seeley's maiden name was Abbie Turney, and she too was a native of Weston, Connecticut. They had ten children, of whom Bondinot was the fifth born, and one of the six who reached adult years. The names of these six are as follows: Anna, Parthena, Abbie, Elizabeth, Lavinia and Bondinot. Their mother died at the age of sixty-five years.
Bondinot Seeley was born and reared amid frontier surroundings, receiving his education in one of the typical log schoolhouses of the period, which, with its open fireplace, its slab benches, and its teacher "boarding around," is a picture that has frequently been presented. Hunting wild game was one of his boyish sports, and to kill a deer was no unusual thing for him. When he was nineteen he went to Lawrence county, Ohio, and settled at Hanging Rock, now known as Ironton, and there for thirty years he was extensiwely engaged in the manufacture of pig iron. In 1873, on account of his father's advanced age, and in order to educate his children, he came back to the old home place, and here he has since been engaged in agricultural pursuits, his honored father hawing passed away some years ago. Mr. 'Seeley now has 300 acres of well-improwed land, all of which is devoted to general farming.
He was married in 1847, to Charlotte A. Austin, a native of Ashtabula county, Ohio. They have six children and fifteen grandchildren, the names of the former being as follows: Kate A., wife of Prof. Albert H.
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Tuttle, Charlotteville, Virginia; Lamar B.; Mrs. Anna W. Renard, Portland, Oregon; Uriah of Tacoma, Washington; Edward A.; Orvill W., Portland, Oregon.
Mr. and Mrs. Seeley are members of the Congregational Church. Politically, he is a Republican. He is well posted on the general topics of the day, takes a commendable interest in the general welfare of the community in which he lives, and is regarded as a most worthy citizen.
ROBERT A. MOODEY, deceased, was a member of one of the early pioneer families of Painesville, Ohio, and for many years was prominently identified with the interests of Lake county. Following is a brief sketch of his life:
Robert A. Moodey was born in Lake county, Ohio, in the year 1832. His father, Robert Moodey, a native of Pennsylvania, was among the first settlers of Lake county, and for many years one of its honored citizens. Robert A. attended the high school at Painesville, and also the academy at Austinburgh, Ashtabula county. He was energetic and ambitious and usually succeeded in whatever he undertook. For many years he was one of the successful merchants of Painesville, dealing in gentlemen's furnishing goods, and doing an extensive business. He was also connected for a time with a drug and hardware firm. In 1873 he was elected Treasurer of Lake county, the duties of which office he faithfully performed one term. He was elected Clerk of the county. in 1882, and while an incumbent of that office his useful career was terminated by his death, which occurred November 16, 1884. Few men in Lake county had more friends than did Robert A. Moodey. Politically, he was a Republican; fraternally, an Odd Fellow.
Mr. Moodey was married in 1855 to Fanny V. Morse, who was born in Concord township, this county, and who is still living. Collins Morse, her father, was born in Vermont in 1803, and for some time was engaged in farming. He came to Ohio at an early day, about 1830, and established marble works at Painesville, where he did an extensive business for many years. He accumulated considerable property, owning at various times several farms, and by his sterling character won the respect and esteem of all who knew him. He died in 1883, at the age of eighty years. His wife, whose maiden name was Fanny Curtiss, was born and reared in Vermont, and died at the age of thirty-one years. They had eight children, six of whom reached adult years.
Mr. and Mrs. Moodey had two children: Robert and Mary, the latter being now Mrs. Alvord. Mrs. Moodey resides on North St. Claire street, Painesville, in the residence bought by her father nearly fifty years ago. She is a member of the Congregational Church, and is held in high esteem by a large Circle of friends here.
A. M. TYLER, grocer, Geneva, Ohio, is a native of the State of New York, born in Otsego county, May 20, 1850. His parents, Horace M. and Mary M. (Graff) Tyler, were also natives of Otsego county, New Y ork; both died when he was yet a child, but he was reared on the homestead and was educated in the district schools. At the age of nineteen years he
was employed as clerk in a country store with his elder brother,. W. H, Tyler, at
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Westford, Otsego county. There he remained until the spring of 18'75, when he took a similar position at Joliet, Illinois. In the summer of the following year he came to Geneva and purchased the business of M. C. Gilbert & Son, dealers in groceries and crockery. He has since conducted the trade with gratifying success. In 1885 a disastrous fire consumed his business house, but he immediately rebuilt, and is now the owner of one of the most substantial blocks in the town.
Mr. Tyler was united in marriage October 17, 1880, to Miss Carrie R. Gill, a daughter of Elihu B. Gill, of Geneva. Mr. Gill is a railroad engineer by profession, and for more than thirty years drove his engine over the Lake Shore & Michigan Southern Railroad.
In politics Mr. Tiler holds to the tenets of the Republican party. He is a member of the 1. O. O. F., the A. F. & A. M. and the K. of P. fraternities. In both his business and social relations he bears a reputation for strict integrity of character.
His brother, John K. Tyler, was one of the many loyal citizens who responded to his country's call in her hour of peril. Enlisting at the age of nineteen he saw three years of hard service, and at the end of that period was one of the two members of his company who alone survived, the others having lost their lives on the field of battle.
ARCHBALD P. LAUGHLIN, a brilliant young lawyer and a representative citizen of Ashtabula, Ohio, was born in Andover township, Ashtabula county. this State, June 12, 1863. His father, Andrew C. Laughlin, was born in Pennsylvania, and was a on of Hugh Laughlin, a
native of New Jersey, of Scotch-Irish ancestry. In 1840 the latter removed with his family from the Keystone State to Ashtabula county, Ohio, where he spent the remainder of his days. Andrew was but a child when his parents settled in this county, where he was reared and educated. He married Miss Mary A. Caldwell, sister of Judge J, P. Caldwell, an able jurist of this county. They have three children: the subject of this sketch and two sisters, Janet B. and Jennie C. The parents still reside on the homestead in Andover township, where the father is a successful farmer, both parents being held in universal esteem.
The subject of this notice was reared on the home farm, and was engaged in farm work and teaching until nearly the age of twenty-one. He first attended the district schools, then the Jefferson high school, and in 1883 graduated at the high school of Bloomfield, Ohio. At the early age of seventeen, he began school teaching, being thus occupied as many as seven winter terms, three of which were taught in Texas. On his return from the Lone Star State, he went to Jefferson and entered the law office of J. P. Cad- well, now Probate Judge of Ashtabula county, and uncle of the subject of this sketch. Mr. Laughlin thus began the study of law. In March, 1887, he was admitted to the bar, and a few months later became Deputy Clerk of the Probate Court, where he served until May, 1892, when he began the practice of law in partnership with Judge L. S. Sherman. The firm of Sherman & Langhlin is one of the strongest co-partnerships in the county, holding a very large and lucrative clientage. Both are men of superior training and legal ability, the highest honor and unwavering energy and perseverance, the senior member having had years of experience at the bar and
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on the bench. They justly deserve the prosperity which their efforts have secured. In April, 1893, Mr. Laughlin was elected, on the Republican ticket, City Solicitor for an unexpired term.
May 26, 1893, he was united in marriage to Miss Katherine E., daughter of Edward E. and Marjorie (Turch) Ives, of Jefferson, Ohio.
Mr. Laughlin is an ardent Republican in politics, and, fraternally, is a member of the Knights of Pythias, Columbian Lodge, No. 491. Aside from his distinguished family connections, he possesses ability and worth of character which alone would have gained for him a prominent position in the world's affairs and esteem. Though yet young in the profession he shadows forth that quality which justifies the prediction that in the not distant future he will be one of the distinguished members of the Ohio bar.
F. E. PALMER, owner and proprietor of the sawmills at West Williamsfield, was born in Dorset township, Ashtabula county, in 1854o a son of Elihu and Lydia Palmer, residents of Denmark. The father was born in this county, where the family were the among the early pioneers. Our subject was engaged in agricultural pursuits for a time, and since 1890 has followed the milling business in Ashtabula county. He has had malls located at Denmark, Pierpont, Wayne and Williamsfield. During the last eighteen months 800,000 feet of lumber has been cut in Mr. Ralmer's mill, Our subject's time is divided between his mill and farm at Denmark, where his father resides. He was also engaged in buying, pressing and shipping hay for two years.
In 1886 Mr. Palmer was united in marriage with Miss Alice Knapp, also a native of Ashtabula county. They have three children: Alfred, aged thirteen years; Carrie, eight years; and Alice Betina, eighteen months. Mr. Palmer affiliates with the Republican party, and is a member of the I. 0. 0. F., Ensign Lodge, No. 400.
J. S. SWEET, a well known citizen of Ashtabula county, was born September 21, 1841, a son of Samuel N. and Olive A. (Ellis) Sweet, natives of New York. The paternal grandfather of our subject, Captain Noah Sweet, was an early pioneer of Ashtabula county, Ohio. Samuel Sweet departed this life in Trumbull county, Ohio, in November, 1891, and his wife died previous to that time. They were the parents of seven children: Julia Fowler; Ellen; Albert, deceased at the age of thirty-one years; Sarah Wilcox; Jellett S.; Frank, a resident of Detroit, Michigan; and Emma Adams. The father was a farmer by occupation, a Republican in his political views, and, religiously, a member of the Wesleyan Methodist Church.
J. S. Sweet, our subject, retrained in Windsor until twenty years of age, and was educated in the district schools of his native county and at Farmington. In 1862 he enlisted in the One Hundred and Fifth Ohio Volunteer Infantry, Company K, and, on account of disability, was for a time on the Reserve Corps. He was honorably discharged at Detroit, Michigan, in July, 1865. In 1866 he returned to the old Captain Sweet farm at Windsor, this county, which is one of the finest places in the community. This fine farmstead is well equipped, and has excellent buildings, including a good barn
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52 x 82 feet, another 30 x 54 feet, and a residence built by Captain Sweet. The place has also a good dairy, and many other improvements.
Our subject was married at Windsor, at the age of twenty-four years, to Laura Adams, who was reared and educated in this county, a daughter of Horace and Asenath (Norris) Adams. The former is deceased, and the latter still resides at Windsor, aged ninety- one years. They had six children, three sons and three daughters. The sons took part in the late war,--Herbert in the One Hundred and Seventy-seventh Ohio Infantry; Austin in the One Hundred and Fifth: and Emery J. in the One Hundred and Seventy- seventh. The daughters are Ellen, Laura and Mary. Mr. and Mrs. Sweet have two children,—Austa M., wife of H. C. Spencer, a physician of this county; and Mabel, aged twelve years. Mr. Sweet affiliates with the Republican party, has served as Justice of the Peace two terms, and as Township Trustee nine terms. He is a member of the G. A. R., File Post, No. 80, and of the Baptist Church.
CHARLES F. HOUSE, a leading practitioner of Painesville, Lake county, Ohio, has here made his home and field of operation for the past nineteen years. He keeps thoroughly abreast of the time in regard to all new discoveries and applications of the science of healing, and enjoys now not only a local reputation, but has patients from a large area of the surrounding country.
John House, the father of our subject, was born in Westfield, Massachusetts. He was a farmer and blacksmith and for many years was Postmaster at Leroy. For a long period of time he was engaged in the dry-goods business in Painesville, the firm being known as J. House & Son. He was an active member of the First Congregational Church and in politics was first a Whig, afterward a Republican, and for the last four years of his life used his franchise in favor of the Prohibition party. His death occurred when he had reached the good old age of eighty-four years. He married Jane E. Mosely, who was born in Massachusetts and came to Ohio when quite young. Her father was a prominent early settler and large land-owner of Geauga county. He. was over ninety years old at the time of his death. Mrs. House became the mother of eight children, six of the number living to mature years. She was called from this life in her seventy-seventh year.
Dr. House was born December 12, 1847; was brought up in. Painesville and was given the best school advantages, both here and also at Oberlin College, where he spent six months. Afterward going to Hudson, he entered the Western Reserve College, where he took a classical course and graduated in 1871, with the degree of Master of Arts. In the spring of 1871, he began the study of medicine and after two and one-half years of stndy in the Cleveland Medical College he went East to complete the required years. In 1874, he graduated from the Long Island Hospital College and soon after returning here "hung out his shingle." His practice is now as large as that of any other physician in the city, and he is often called into consultation with other leading members of the profession.
The marriage of Dr. House and Miss Mary I. Radcliff was celebrated October 4, 1888. She is a member of the Episcopal Church, but the Doctor prefers the Congregational Church, but is quite liberal and tolerant in Ins views. In politics he is a Republican, and fraternally
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is a member of the Masonic order. From 1879 to 1888, Dr. House was Secretary of the Board of Pension Examiners of Painesville. Be is a member of the American Medical Association and of the American Academy of Medicine.
John House, grandfather of our subject, Was born in North Adams, Massachusetts. He was of English extraction, the family having located in America during the Colonial days. He was a farmer in Geauga county, to which he came at a very early day and entered large tracts of land, owning at one time fully 1,000 acres. He developed a large share of this and greatly increased its value. John House was a blacksmith and wagonmaker by trade, and at one time engaged in merchandising. He departed this life at the age of eighty-two years.
CHESTER J. McNUTT, manufacturer of steam engines and mill machinery, in Ashtabula, Ohio, a capable business man and public-spirited citizen, was born in Austinburg township, Ashtabula county, this State, September 29, 1845. He comes of hardy New England stock, his parents, John C, and Lucy Ann (Tinker) McNutt, having been born, reared and married in Russell, Massachusetts. The former, born in 1810, is now living, hale and hearty, at the age of eighty-two years. In 1832, he, with his wife and three children, joined the westward emigration, coming to Ashtabula county, Ohio, settling first in Lenox, but later removed to Austinburg. The father has always been a mechanic, and is a man of genius in his department, having invented and manufactured many valuable mechanical appliances. He has followed sawmilling many years, and built and operated the first portable engine and sawmill in the United States. Few have contributed more by their ability and energy to the growth and prosperity of the county, and are more worthily entitled to the admiration of their fellow men. Mr. and Mrs. McNutt are living on their farm in Saybrook, and are in the enjoyment of good health. He and his estimable wife had ten children, eight of whom survive: Charles A., James A., Lucy A., Henrietta, Lindsey B., Curtis, Mary L., our subject, Frederick E., Hurbert. Lucy and Hurbert are deceased.
The subject of this sketch was reared in Ashtabula county, and received his education in the common schools. When nineteen years of age, he and his brother, L B. McNutt, opened a machine shop in Ashtabula, in which business other brothers became associated, but which was afterward closed. In the spring of 1877, Mr. C. J. McNutt became sole proprietor of a shop, and in 1884 established his present shop on Center street. He has been the manufacturer for the last fourteen years of the patent bevel jig mill for ship timber, and of the patent shaft and pole bending machinery, all of which have been pecuniarily remunerative. Combined with this, he possesses unusual business tact and ability, which. have placed him .in his present prosperous position.
October 28, 1881, Mr. McNutt was married to Miss Annie 0. Cheney, a lady of many graces of mind and character. Both are worthy members of the Reformed Episcopal Church, to which they render much valuable assistance.
In politics, Mr. McNutt advocates' the principles of Democracy, but as evidence of his universal popularity, it is only necessary to refer to his present incumbency as a member of the City Conncil, a position to which
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he was elected in a ward which is largely Republican. Socially, he belongs to the I. O, O. F., the Knights of Pythias and the Order of Elks. In domestic and business life he has ever been characterized by the highest integrity, liberality and cordiality, and enjoys the esteem of a large circle of friends.
JOHN A. BARRETT, of Cherry Valley, Ashtabula county, was born in Geauga county, Ohio, January 13, 1841, a son of David Barrett, a native of New York. The latter was a son of David and Esther (Beebe) Barrett, the former a native of Massachusetts and the latter a daughter of a Revolutionary soldier. The mother of our subject, nee Susan Warren, was a native of Vermont, and a daughter of Horace and Susan (Hathaway) Warren, also born in that State. Horace Warren located in Thompson, Geauga county, Ohio, in 1823, and was a soldier in the war of 1812. David Barrett, the father of our subject, located in Geauga county, this State, when a young man, and was a farmer and carpenter by occupation; a Whig in his political views, later a Republican, and a Methodist in religious faith. His death occurred in Trumbull township, Ashtabula county, at the age of fifty-eight years. His widow still resides in that township, aged seventy-one years. They were the parents of nine children,---John Austin, Mary Jane, Calista Amerette (deceased), Rosince Cordelia, Ruth Maria, Caroline A., Georgiana, Ida May (deceased), and Charles Wesley.
John A. Barrett, the subject of this sketch, was reared to agricultural pursuits. August 19, 1864, he enlisted for service in the late war, entering the One Hundred and Seventy-seventh Ohio Volunteer Infantry, Company C, and was honorably discharged at Greensboro, North Carolina, June 4, 1865. From that time until 1873 he made his home in Trumbnll, Ashtabula county, Ohio, and in the latter year located on his present farm of sixty-seven acres in Cherry Valley, Ashtabula county, Ohio. He is engaged in general farming, and also keeps fifty stands of bees. In political matters, Mr. Barrett affiliates with the Republican party. He has served as Township Trustee, and as a member of the School Board.
December 15, 1866, he was united in marriage to Ellen Hayward, a native of Erie county, Pennsylvania, but reared in Trumbull, Ashtabula county, Ohio, and a daughter of Artemas and Lucy Jane (Jowles) Hayward. Two of their sons took part in the late war, Jerome and John, and the latter served in the Twenty-ninth Ohio Infantry. Mr. and Mrs. Barrett have had five children: Nelly M., wife of R. E. Prentice; Mary E., a successful and popular school-teacher; Mabel A.; Maud A., and one deceased. Mr. Barrett is a member of the G. A. H., H. Kile Post, No. 80, and both he and Mrs. Barrett are members of the Disciple Church of Trumbnll.
JAMES K. STEBBINS, a prominent jeweler and progressive citizen of Ashtabula, Ohio, was born in Dansville, New York, February 8, 1843. His parents, Almerick and Lydia (Barnard) Stebbins, were both natiwes of Massachusetts, the former born in Deerfield and the latter in Whately. The father was a son of Sylvester Stebbins, born at Deerfield in the old Bay State, around which are entwined so ninny historic memor-
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ies. He was a direct descendant of Rowland Stebbins; who came from Ipswich, England, to America in 1634, and who was one of the first two settlers at Springfield, Massachusetts, the person who bore him company in this pioneer venture being John Pinchon. This remote ancestor is buried at Northampton in that State. One branch of this family remained in Springfield, while the other went North with the Casey settlers of Deerfield, in the same State. Members of this family, as of many others, suffered in the Indian wars. John Stebbins was the only one who escaped uninjured from the Bloody Brook massacre. Col. Joseph Stebbins was in the Revolutionary war, being a Lieutenant at the battle of Bunker Hill, after which he was promoted to the rank of Captain for valiant services, his commission, which is still preserved, being signed by John Hancock, President of the Colonial Convention, whose name is first on the Declaration of Independence. Almerick Stebbins, father of the subject of this sketch, was a carriage manufacturer, and removed from Massachusetts to Dansville, New York, in an early day. His wife was a daughter of Ebenezer Barnard, also a prominent descendant of an early family of the Bay State. This worthy couple had five sons and four daughters, and four of the former were efficient Union soldiers in the Civil war. Both parents died in Dansville, New York.
From the time when he was ten years of age until he had attained his sixteenth year, the subject of this sketch lived at the home of his cousin, Carlos Stebbins, an artist and hanker, of Pike, Wyoming county, New York. During this period he improved his time in attending school, and, at the age of sixteen years, he entered a jewelry establishment for the purpose of learning the trade. At the outbreak of the Civil war, although but eighteen years of age, he enlisted for service, May 15, 1861, as a private in Company F of the Thirty-third New York Regiment, with which he served two years. He was one of the ninety-eight men who made the famous charge at Williamsburg, Virginia, May 5, 1862, and, incidental to this, it should be made a matter of record in the connection that this was the first instance in the late war in which the general commanding the army paid the high tribute of honor in issuing an order that the name of a battle should be inscribed upon a regimental banner, as a mark of gallantry in action.
At Golding's farm, Mr. Stebbins was the only one of his company to wolunteer the undertaking of an extremely perilous service, the re-establishing in the face of the enemy, of a picket line which had been withdrawn by mistake. This act entitled him to the medal voted by Congress as a mark of special acts of bravery. He was with his regiment every time they were under fire, until he was wounded at Antietam, where he was shot through the lungs and left on the battle-field for dead. In consequence of his severe wound, he was afterward discharged. In 1867 he removed to Ashtabula, Ohio, and there engaged in the jewelry business, which he has since snccessfully followed, winning the golden opinion of his fellow men for his uniform uprightness and courtesy in his dealings.
In 1874, Mr. Stebbins married Miss Emma H. Selby, of Williamson, N. Y., who was born in Ashtabula, where she is well known and highly esteemed. She is a granddaughter of Deacon Amos Fisk, an early settler and prominent citizen of that place, and they have two children; Lola May and J. Rowland, named for the early ancestor.
Socially, Mr. Stebbins affiliate's with the G. A. R., being a charter member of Paulus
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Post, Ashtabula, and is a Chapter Mason. Religiously, he is a member of the Baptist Church, in which faith he was baptized at the age of twenty-four, in Rushford, New York, and with which he has faithfully continued ever since. He has served for twenty-two years as Treasurer of the Baptist Church in Ashtabula, in which he is now a Deacon, though always a more sturdy champion for what he believes to be right and true. He is a genial, whole-souled gentleman, and enjoys the highest regard of a host of personal friends.
CYRUS RUSSELL, of the firm of C. Russell & Son, furniture manufacturers and proprietors of a saw and planing mill at Andover, was born in Williams- field township, Ashtabula county, July 21, 1840, a son of Julius Russell, a native of Tyringham, Massachusetts. The latter was two years of age when he was brought by his father, John Russell, to Ashtabula county, Ohio, where they were among the pioneer settlers. The mother of our subject, nee Polly Wilcox, is a native of New York, and now resides at Conneautville, Pennsylvania, aged seventy years. Mr. and Mrs. Russell had three children: Cyrus, Phyletus and Lovill.
Cyrus Russell, the subject of this sketch, has been a natural mechanic from youth, and has been an active business man in Andover for twenty-one years. The manufacturing house of Russell & Son is located on East Main street, and is one of the leading institutions' of the kind in the southern part of the county. The factory is two-stories high, 50 x 100 feet in dimensions, the sales room being 44 x 60 feet. The packing room is located on the second story. Their mill is also a large building, and has a brick engine house 18 x 24 feet. The firm employ twenty- fiwe skilled workmen, and select the best of lumber for the mill.
Mr. Russell was married at the age of twenty-two years, to Esther Gaugh, a native of North Chenango, Crawford county, Pennsylvania, and a daughter of James and Elizabeth (Alexander) Gaugh. To this union have been born four children: Manson P., John B., Elmer C. and. Lottie E. Mr. Russell is identified with the Republican party, and is a member of the Masonic order, Andover Lodge No. 506, also of Jefferson Chapter, No. 141. Religiously, he is a member of the Congregational Church. He takes an active interest in education and religion, and is one of the leading business men in Andover.
F. H. MASON, a successful farmer and stock-raiser of Richmond township, Ashtabula county, was born in Cherry Valley township, this county, June 30, 1836, a son of George and Martha N. (Kingsley) Mason. Our subject was a successful and popular teacher for five years, and for a number of years was engaged as a traveling salesman. In 1882 Mr. Mason located on his present farm of 150 acres in Richmond township. All of the farm is well improved, and among its buildings are a good two-story residence, 18 x 36 feet, with an L, 16 x 34 feet, and a barn, 40 x 76 feet, which is one of the best in the county. For the past twenty years Mr. Mason has been dealing in blooded horses and Ayrshire cattle. He has one noted horse, Headlight, a son of Atlantic, and many other animals of great promise.
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Mr. Mason was married April 8, 1871, to Jenette Houghton, who was born and reared in Ashtabula county, a daughter of John and Hannah Houghton. November 1, 1883, our subject was joined in marriage to Miss Jennie O. Liddle, who was born and reared in New York city, and who is a lady of education, culture and refinement; she was formerly a popular teacher. Mrs. Mason is a daughter of George and Helen (Beman) Liddle, both of whom died at Harlem, New York. Mr. and Mrs. Mason have three children: Nettie H., Fred H. and Helen. Martha. Mr. Mason was a soldier in the war, is a Republican in his political views, and socially a member of the G. A. R.
EDWARD B. WHITING, of Austinburgh township, Ashtabula county, I Ohio, is a descendant of one of the pioneer families of this county. His wife also comes of one of the first families of the township. As such they are eminently deserving of some personal consideration in this work.
The Whitings lived at Winsted, Connecticut, several generations before Grandfather Benjamin Whiting's time. In 1811 Benjamin Whiting, with his wife and four children, came to Ohio and located at the center of Austinburgh township, Ashtabula county, where for a long period of years, as innkeeper, he served the traveling public. Here his son; Benjamin, the father of Edward B,, grew to manhood; and while acting as host of the inn and catering to the Lathrop family, who were en route to Windsor township, he met the lady whom he afterward married. Her name was Miss Minerva Lathrop. They had four children, of whom the subject of this sketch is second, the others being as follows: Emily, who died in California, was the wife of Hiram A. Plumb; Hiram L., who also died in California; and Augusta M., wife of George E. Downing, died in southern Ohio. Some time after the death of the mother of these children, the father married Emily L. Snw, who bore him two sons, namely: Theodore, deceased; and Eugene L., now a resident of the old Whiting homestead. Benjamin Whiting died August 25, 1876, and his wife survived until November, 1890.
Edward B. Whiting was born March 25, 1828, in Austinburgh township, and has passed his entire lifetime within its limits, as a farmer. In politics he is a stanch Republican; in religion a Congregationalist.
October 19, 1853, he married Isabelle, daughter of "Deacon" Henry and Sybyl (Austin) Webb. Her father was a brother of Oliver Webb, a well-known citizen of this county, and her mother was the youngest daughter of Judge Eliphalet Austin, the founder of the town of Austinburgh. As Mrs. Whiting is closely related to this gentleman, we take occasion to note something of his coming here:
In 1799 Eliphalet Austin, in company with two others, came out from Litchfield, Connecticut, and located at the present site of Austinburgh. The following year he returned and brought his wife and nine children, and here his children grew up and became prominent and useful members of the community. The family of which Mrs. Whiting was a member consisted of four children: Thomas A. and Henry C., both of Austinburgh township; Kate E., who died at the ago of seventeen years; Mrs. Whiting was the second born.
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Mr. and Mrs. Whiting have six children: C. Martin, proprietor of a gold and silver mine in Idaho; Kate A., wife of B. B. Bliss, a merchant of Iowa Falls, Iowa; William L., connected with a fruit commission establishment in Portland, Oregon; Charles E., a stock-buyer of Anstinburgh; Mary E., wife of O. W. Seeley, Austinburgh; Edward D., a salesman in L. 0. Bliss' mercantile establishment at Iowa Falls, Iowa.
For a few years Mr. and Mrs. Whiting lived on a farm of their own, but at the request of Mrs. Whiting's people they came back to the old homestead, where they now reside.
AUSTIN O. AMSDEN, a well known jeweler and progressive business man of Ashtabula, Ohio, was born in Ashtabula county, January 9, 1836. His remote ancestors came from the tight little isle of England, and settled in Massachusetts in Colonial times. Abraham Amsden, his grandfather, was born near Boston, that State, where he was reared. He married Submit Moss, and they had six sons and four daughters, with whom he started, in 1828, for the West, as Ohio was then called. He settled in Saybrook township, Ashtabula county, that State, where he improved a farm on which he resided until his death. Samuel Amsden, his son, father of the subject of this sketch, was born in Windsor, Vermont, October 20, 1799. He was reared in the East, where he married. Previous to his father's emigration to Ohio, in 1828, Samuel came with his family to Ashtabula county, of which he was a prominent resident for many years. Abigail
Hazelton, his wife, was the daughter of a well known and esteemed pioneer of this county. This worthy couple had five sons and two daughters: Laura, deceased; George W.; Eunice; Guilson A., deceased; Edwin; Austin 0., whose name heads this sketch; and Lucius K.
The subject of this biography was reared on the home farm and received his education in the common schools of his vicinity. When eighteen years of age, he went to Ashtabula, where he learned the jeweler's trade, which business he has followed in this place ever since. In 1857 he had accumulated sufficient means by industry and economy, to start in business on his own account, but in 1859 sold out his interests, and for eighteen years thereafter worked for other parties. In 1877 he again embarked in business for himself, and has since continued, the firm being now Amsden & Son, who do a large and lucrative trade in their line.
In 1856 Mr. Amsden was married to Mary J. Dickinson, an estimable lady, daughter of Moses Dickinson, well and favorably known in this locality, and they have had six children, fiwe now living: Mary Elizabeth, a student of music in New York city; Lewis A., a civil engineer, residing in Ashtabula; Arthur D., a watchmaker and graduated optician; Frederick H., died in 1885, aged eighteen; George S., a student at Harvard College; and Jay M., at home.
In politics, Mr. Amsden is a Republican; and for the last nine years has served efficient:. ly on the Board of Education, doing much to advance educational interests. Fraternally, he is a Royal Arch Mason, a Knight of Pythias, a member of the Eastern Star, of the Order of Elks, of the Pythian Sisters, Knights of Honor, and the Knights of Labor. Both he and wife are prominent members of the Reformed Episcopal Church, in the cause of which they take an active interest.
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It is to such men that Ashtabula owes her present advanced position among the sister cities of Ohio, contributing as they have by their ability and worth to her growth and enterprise.
A. DALIN, agent for Leisy's Brewery, at Harbor, Ohio, is an efficient business man and popular citizen, and was born in Gottenburg, Sweden, February 6, 1851. His father, Lars Dalin, a farmer by occupation, was a native of the same place, where he spent his life and died in 1855, greatly lamented by all who knew him.
The subject of this sketch was reared on his father's farm near his native city, and was educated in the schools of that section. He was engaged in farm work until he attained the age of twenty-two years, when, induced by enlarged opportunities of a new country, he embarked for the United States, landing in New York city, May 6, 1873. Be came thence direct to Ashtabula, Ohio, where he secured employmant on the Lake Shore Si Michigan Southern Railroad. In the fall of the same year he went to Chardon, Geauga connty, the same State, where he remained a month, going thence to Cleveland, where he broke stone on Euclid avenue and was in the employ of the city two years. He then made short stays in Ada and Dunkirk, this State, after which he returned to Cleveland and entered the employ of the Collins Rolling Mills as teamster, where he remained eighteen months. He then returned to Ashtabula, where he was at first employed on the dock, but later bought a small store and engaged with his small capital in the saloon business, in which he has ever since continued. After three years he closed out his first place only to take charge of his present large and well equipped place. He owns some of the best improved property at the Harbor, situated on Bridge street, while the finest residence in the city is his, the same hawing been erected at a cost of $15,000. Besides this he owns much valuable unimproved real estate. He also has a flourishing farm of forty acres, lying south of the Harbor, —all this representing the accumulations of twelve years of steady industry and unaided effort.
May 16, 1881, Mr. Dalin was first married, by which union he had one child, Cenia, now eight years old. His second marriage occurred in 1890,when he wedded Annie Olson. They have one son, fourteen months of age.
Thoroughly upright in his dealings, industrious and courteous to all, he has gained many warm friends, and is deservedly popular in a city the interests of which he has done so much to advance,
WILLIAM T. ATKINSON, a prominent farmer and stock-raiser in Wil- loughby township, Lake county, Ohio, was born in Sackville, New Brunswick, October 4, 1829, son of Robert Atkinson, a native of the same place, born in 1797. Grandfather Robert Atkinson, a native of Yorkshire, England, emigrated to New Brunswick and here engaged in farming. His son Robert was also a farmer by occupation. The latter moved to Ohio in October, 1833, and settled on a farm on which his son William T. now lives. This farm had been partly improved before he located here, having three log houses upon it and a portion of the land being cleared. He spent the rest of his life here, and died in 1877, at the age of eighty
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years. He was a man of some prominence, and held various local offices. Of his life companion we record that her maiden name was Jane E. Huggard, and that she was born near Belfast, Ireland. When she was eight years old she came with her sister to America, and was reared in New Brunswick. She died in November, 1891, at the age of eighty-four. Both she and her husband were members of the Methodist Episcopal Church. They had seven children, of whom William T. is the oldest and only son. All are still living, the only death among the descendants of these parents being one great-grandchild.
William T. Atkinson attended the district school and was a student for one term in the high school at Chagrin Falls. It is now nearly sixty years since he came with his parents to the farm on which he lives: will be sixty years in October, 1893. His present residence he built in 1855. The farm comprises 110 acres of land, and is devoted to general farming and stock-raising. For the past fourteen years Mr. Atkinson has given considerable attention to the breeding of thoroughbred cattle, raising and selling for breeding purposes. His herd are all eligible to registry, with one exception. He has an excellent assortment of fruit on his place,---a fine vineyard and choice apples and pears.
Mr. Atkinson was married in 1855, to Elsie J. Brott, who was born in Mayfield, Cuyahoga county, and was reared in Willoughby. Her parents, Reynold and Malona Brott, natives of Connecticut and New York respectively, were married in Mayfield. Her father was only thirteen when he came to this county. He blazed trees on his way here. Both parents died in Lake county, the father on November 15, 1874, and the mother on May 24, 1877. They were members of the Methodist Episcopal Church. Six of their eleven children are still living. Mr. and Mrs. Atkinson have one child, Howard E., born March 3, 1856; married Jane Cummings; has had three children: Arland C., Ralph H. and William C., the last named being deceased.
Mr. Atkinson and his wife, following in the footsteps of their honored parents, are identified with the Methodist Church, he being a Steward and Trustee in the church. In politics he votes with the Republican party.
ALVA S. STILLMAN, a prominent and respected citizen of Andover, Ohio, a retired farmer and one of the earliest settlers of Ashtabula county, was born in Norfolk, Connecticut, February 21, 1825. His parents, Erastus and Sarah (Seymour) Stillman, were both natives of Connecticut and representatives of old and respected families of that State. In 1828, this worthy couple came overland with a one-horse wagon to Ashtabula county, Ohio, theirs being the first team driven into the county. They settled in the woods near Andover, where they erected the primitive log cabin and made a home for themselves and children. The father was a pronounced Whig in politics, and he and his wife were prominent members of the Congregational Church and active in all good work. Their five children were: Horace, Sarah and Hannah, deceased; Alva S., whose name heads this brief biography; and• Orson S. The father died at the age of seventy-six, and his wife at the age of eighty, both being widely lamented by all who knew them.
The subject of this sketch was three years of age when his parents settled in Ashtabnla
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county. He was reared on the home farm and attended school in the rudimentary log schoolhouse of early times. His youth was passed in grubbing and chopping, and he early learned those lessons of perseverance and endurance so essential to the pioneer and to success in all the departments of life. He lived at home until he attained his majority, when he began to work for himself. At the age of twenty-three, he married' arid settled on land northeast of Andover, where he remained six years. He then sold out advantageously and bought a larger tract of 200 acres in the woods, which he industriously cleared and cultivated, erecting a good house and barns and fencing it all in good shape, making it one of the most valuable farms in the township. He still owns the farm, which yields an independent income. In February, 1889, Mr. Stillman moved into town and retired from active labors, to enjoy, in well merited repose, the results of his many years of active exertion. He bought the Denslow property in Andover, situated on a pleasant site on Chestnut street, and provided with a substantial and comfortable residence, good barn and other modern improvements, altogether a most desirable place in which to pass a lifetime.
As previously mentioned, Mr. Stillman was married, at the age of twenty-three, in Williamsfield township, Ashtabula county, December 8, 1847, to Alma Mack, an intelligent lady, a native of New York State, and daughter of Ezra Mack, one of the earliest settlers of Ashtabula county. They had three children: Adelbert D., residing on the farm; Marianna L., wife of Frank Ayers, a successful farmer of Andover township; and Eddy, who died at the age of seven years. March 23, 1883, the family were deprived by death of the loving wife and mother, whose life had
been one of unselfish devotion to their interests. January 10, 1884, Mr. Stillman was married again, his second wife being Mrs. Julia Nichols, widow of 0. D. Nichols, an old settler of Ashtabula county. Her maiden name was Birge, and she was a daughter of Marvin and Sally (Hntchinson) Birge, also early settlers of this county. Mrs. Stillman was born in Bolton, Connecticnt, and accompanied her parents to the wilds of Ohio in 1832, when she was but six years of age. She was married at the age of twenty-four to 0. D. Nichols, a native of Massachusetts, who came to Portage county, Ohio, in 1830, where he resided until his death in December, 1881, leaving three sons: George D., Charles D. and Hartley B. Mrs. Stillman's father died in Cleveland in 1866, and her mother expired in Pemberton, New Jersey, at the extreme age of 100 years. They were the parents of four daughters: Antoinette, deceased; Julia, wife of the subject of this sketch ; Mary, now Mrs. Woodin; and Hattie, unmarried.
Mr. Stillman supports the principles of the Republican party, and has served his constitnents faithfully as Township Trustee, evincing in that capacity his usual good judgment and integrity of character. He affiliates with the I. 0. 0. F., Lodge No. 28. He is a man of influence in his community, which he never fails to exercise on the side of justice and morality, and to which map be attributed in no small measure the high standard which it at present enjoys.
EDWIN S. HENRY is the efficient and popular superintendent of the Minite rota Dock Company and of the works of the firm of Pickands, Mather & Company,
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the former dealers in iron ore and pig iron and the latter miners and shippers of coal. He was born in Newark, Ohio, November 17, 1849, and is a son of William H. and Helen M. (Cowen) Henry, both natives of New York. They removed to Cleveland, Ohio, when the subject of this sketch was six years of age, where they passed the rest of their days, rearing five children to useful manhood and womanhood. Three of these are now living: George H., Edwin S. and Helen, now Mrs. Bragg.
The subject of this notice was reared in Cleveland, that picturesque and romantic city of Ohio, and received his education in its public schools. When eighteen years of age he commenced to work for Rhodes & Company, of Cleveland, miners and shippers of coal, iron ore and pig iron, with whom he remained continuously for ten years. He was then with another firm in the same business, in the same city, and, as their representative he came to Ashtabula in 1878, to take charge of the Lake Shore docks. He has since remained in the latter city, with the exception of four years, when he was in charge of the docks in Cleveland. He has held his present position since 1888, discharging his important duties with integrity and ability. He takes an active part in the business, educational and governmental affairs of the city in which he has resided so long and to the advancement of which he has so materially contributed. Re is vice-president of the Marine National Bank at the Harbor.
Politically, he is a Republican, by which party he was elected a member of the School Board, of which he is Clerk. He also has been a member of the City Council, serving two years. Socially, he is Past Chancellor Commander of the Knights of Pythias and is a thirty-second-degree Mason.
In 1884, Mr. Henry was married to Miss Large, daughter of Crawford Large. She is a lady of education and refinement, and they have three interesting children: Harrison C., Susie B. and Katie M.
Such continuous endorsement by his superiors and fellow citizens is sufficient proof of his ability and worth of character, and he enjoys the best wishes of all for his future prosperity and happiness.
CAPTAIN JOHN P. MANNING, the efficient and popular agent of the Lake Shore Railroad Company, at Ashtabula Harbor, Ohio, was born in Ireland, July 24, 1837. His parents, Michael and Mary (Doyle) Manning, were also natives of Ireland, who came to the United States about 1850, and settled in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, where they passed the remainder of their lives.
The subject of this sketch was reared in the city of Brotherly Love, receiving his education in the public and high schools of that place. When sixteen years of age, he went West and spent two years, after which, in 1856, he came to Ashtabula, where he entered the service of the Lake Shore Railroad Company as telegraph operator at their depot in this city. He held this position twenty-three years, interrupted only by his service in the Civil war.
April 28, 1861, Mr. Manning enlisted as a private in Company 1. of the Nineteenth Ohio Regiment. The day after his enlistment, he was appointed Lieutenant of his company and afterward became Captain, which rank he held when the company was mustered out. He participated in the campaign of Western Virginia under McClellan and Rosecrans, and was in all the engage-
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ments of that time. Five months after his entrance into the army, he became an operator in the military telegraph service, but shortly afterward, in the latter part of 1861, he returned to Ashtabula, and resumed his position of telegraph operator at the Lake Shore Depot. July 1, 1879, he was appointed Depot Agent at the Harbor by the same company, which position he has ever since retained.
In 1857, Mr. Manning was married to Miss Margaret Doran, a lady esteemed for her many excellent qnalities. They have had eight children, seven of whom survive: Mary, Anastacia, Margneretta, Michael F., John P., Nellie, Frank and Lizzie. All are living but Mary, who died at the age of twenty-three years.
In politics, Mr. Manning is conservative. He takes a deep interest in public affairs of importance and everything pertaining to the welfare of his city and county. He is an able member of the City Council of Ashtabula, in which he is serving his second term.
Socially, he affiliates with the G. A. R. As a business man and citizen he is universally esteemed and has the best prospects for his future prosperity.
JOHNATHAN WARD, one of the successful farmers and self-made men of J Willoughby township, Lake county, Ohio, was born in Rensselaer county, New York, March 15, 1827. Of his life and ancestry the facts that have been gleaned are as follows:
Mr. Ward's grandfather, Elijah Ward, familiarly known as Elder Ward, was a native of Massachusetts and a Methodist minister of considerable note in pioneer days. He served on various circuits throughout this section of the country. Indeed, he preached in nearly every log schoolhouse in the Western Reserve, continuing in the ministry until he was eighty. He died at the age of ninety-four. Few men of his day were the means of accomplishing more good than he. It was his zeal for soul-winning that led him into the service of the Master, for he never received any salary or pay for his preaching. He supported himself and family by the sweat of his brow, working at his trade— that of cooper—through the day and preaching the word of God at night and on Sunday. He was also a forcible political speaker. He and his wife had twelve children, all of whom are now deceased.
Elliott Ward, the father of Johnathan, was a native of Massachusetts, and was among the oldest of his father's children. He learned the trade of tailor when young, and early in the '30s emigrated with his family to Ohio, locating in Willoughby, and for some time working at his trade here. Subsequently he bought a small farm and turned his attention to agricultural pursuits. He died at the home of one of his daughters, in Mansfield, Ohio, at the age of eighty-three. His wife, Sadie (Sherman) Ward, was descended from an old and distinguished family. She died at Mansfield the same year as did her husband. Johnathan was the third born in their family of eight children, three of whom are still living. The youngest, Hiram B., died in Richmond hospital during the war.
Johnathan Ward was twelve years old when he came with his parents to Ohio. When he was twenty-one he and his brother Elijah began farming in partnership. They bought land in Pleasant Valley, and during the war purchased another farm north of
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their first location and in Willoughby township. After being associated in business for a number of years they dissolved partnership and divided their holdings. Mr. Johnathan Ward is now the owner of 200 acres, twenty- five acres of which are devoted to vineyard purposes. He has always taken a deep interest in breeding fine stock. For some years he bred Durham cattle, but recently has given more attention to Holsteins. He has developed dairy interests for the Cleveland market. Mr. Ward started out in life a poor boy, and his present prosperity is the result of his own honest toil and good management.
His wife, whose maiden name was Ruth M. Carpenter, and who was a native of Mentor, Ohio, and a daughter of Benjamin Carpenter, one of the pioneers of Mentor township, died in 1886. She hail three children, namely: Adelia, deceased; Mary E.; and Hiram E., a minister in the Disciple Church, now located in Springfield, Ohio.
Mr. Ward is a Republican.
NOAH SPITLER, a farmer and stock-raiser of Lenox township, Ashtabula county, was born in Bristol township, Trumbull county, Ohio, September 30, 1832, a son of Absalom and Sarah (Bower) Spitler. The father was horn in Shenandoah county, Virginia, July 7, 1803, where he was
reared on a farm, and also worked in the mines and foundries at different times. His grandfather was the founder of the Spitler family in America, and was a native of Switzerland. He made his way to Virginia, where he died in the eighteenth century. His son John, the grandfather of our subject, owned landed interests in the Shenandoah Valley, and was of mechanical turn of mind, which stood him well in hand in the pioneer life he afterward led. He also teamed for many years to Harper's Ferry, Baltimore and elsewhere. He came by team to Ohio, settling in Bristol township, Trumbull county, which was then a veritable wilderness. Here he bought 200 acres of timber land. He made his own farm implements, did his own building, and also made spinning wheels, weaver's looms, chairs, fanning mill, shoes, etc. He spent the remainder of his life on that farm, dying about 1856. His son, Absalom, the father of our subject, inherited 100 acres of the home place, and afterward purchased his sister's interest in the same. At the time of the late war he sold that place and bought a small farm near by, where he died in 1889. He was a member of the Baptist Church, and an old-time Democrat, having voted for General Andrew Jackson, but later having supported William Henry Harrison, and the Republican ticket. The mother of our subject was a native of Virginia, where she was married at the age of twenty years. She was proficient in all the arts of the pioneer home, and was a member of the German Lutheran Church. Her death occurred in 1885. Mr. and Mrs. Spitler had thirteen children, ten of whom grew to years of maturity, and seven of whom are now living.
Noah Spitler, the subject of this sketch, assisted his father in clearing the farm, and attended school during the winter months. In 1859 he came to Ashtabula county, Ohio, purchased sixty acres cif timber land, only a small amount of which was cleared, and which was provided with a log house and small barn. He has since added to his original purchase, until he now owns eighty-five acres of choice agricultural and timber land. Mr. Spitler also has a fine residence, good barns
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and sheds, an orchard, and every farm convenience. He is engaged in general farming, stock-raising and dairying. In political matters, he lends support to the Republican party, having east his first presidential vote for John C. Fremont. He has held the office of Township Trustee many terms, and has also served as School Director and Supervisor. He was one of the first to advocate the establishment of the Rowenton post-office.
Mr. Spitler was married January 1, 1859, to Miss Esther Ann Sherman, a daughter of Albert and Sarah Sherman. The father was born in Berkshire county, Massachusetts, where he afterward learned the shoe-maker's trade. After coming to this State he followed that occupation for a number of years in Trumbull county, and his death occurred in Green township, that county, in April, 1880. At that time he was living with his third wife. The mother of Mrs. Spitler was born and raised in Butler, Pennsylvania, was well educated, and taught school seven years. At one time she owned seven barrels of whisky, taken in pay for tuition, as in those days whisky was considered legal tender for debt. Her death occurred in 1865. Mrs. Spitler also was born in Butler, Pennsylvania, where she learned the trade of tailoress, following that occupation many years. She passed one year at Akron, Ohio. Finding the business detrimental to her health she engaged in the manufacture of cheese, in which she became proficient,. For eight years she was engaged as manager of a dairy, frequently milking as many as sixteen cows. She Was married at the age of twenty-three years. Mr. and Mrs. Spitler have had three children: Willard L., born February 13, 1861, married Ida MaImney, and is now an employe of the Standard Oil Company, at Youngstown, Ohio; Allie S., born August 14, 1869, is at home; and George H.., born June 27, 1874, is also at home. Mrs. Spitler is a member of the Congregational Church.
Mr. Spitler was a member of Company H, One Hundred and Ninety-sixth Ohio Volunteer Infantry, and served with his regiment during the whole time of its stay in the field.
GEORGE C. CURTISS, one of the oldest and most successful dry-goods merchants and most capable business men in Painesville, Ohio, was born on a farm in Madison, Lake county, State of Ohio, in 1827. He comes of hardy New England stock, both his parents, Charles and Fanny
(Cowles) Curtiss, having been natives of Connecticut. General Solomon Cowles, of Revolutionary fame, was his maternal grandfather and was one of the original owners of the
Western Reserve. In 1812, the parents of the subject of this sketch came overland from
Connecticut to Geauga county, since subdivided, part of which is now Lake county, Ohio, being obliged to blaze the trees to prevent losing their way. They settled on a tract of 600 acres of uncultivated land in Madison township, which was then but a mere settlement, and lived in a small log' house for many years. This was replaced in time by a more pretentious dwelling, and there the father resided until his death in 1833, at the age of fifty-six years. He was a man of public spirit and enterprise and left many friends to mourn his loss. His wife, who had been his
faithful companion for many years, survived him some time, expiring in 1859 at the age of seventy-six years. She reared to maturity eleven children, whom she trained to be noble men and women. She was an earnest
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member of the Congregational Church and was most able and worthy in every walk of life.
The subject of this sketch was the youngest of the children and was reared on the home farm, attending the district schools of his vicinity. There being a large family, and his parents posessing limited means, he early learned the important lesson of self-reliance, to which much of his future success is attributable. When ten years of age, he began to perform light duties in a store in Madison, where he was employed during the winter and assisted at home on the farm in summer. His business education may thus be said to date from childhood, and his long training is made apparent in his present prosperity and wide knowledge of business affairs. He afterward came to Painesville and worked two winters in the store of Henry Williams, when, in 1852, he became a partner in that establishment, where he continued for nine years. He then formed a partnership with Dr. Pan- cost, under the name of Curtiss & Pancost, which association also lasted eight years, at the expiration of which time the Doctor retired and Mr. Curtiss continued the business with E. C. Smart, under the firm name of Curtiss & Smart. This also lasted eight years, when, in 1878, Mr. Curtiss took his son into the business, buying Mr. Smart's interest, and, in 1888, took in his other son, the firm name being now Curtiss & Sons. He has enlarged the store, whicA now occupies four floors, and carries the largest stock of dry goods in the city. his prosperity is due entirely to his own unaided efforts, as he received but a few hundred dollars from his father's estate, and has accumulated what he has by continued industry and careful economy. He Las been in business in this city longer than any other storeboeper and is considered one of the shrewdest and best managers in the dry-goods line. He has witnessed about all the development of his county, to the advancement of which he has materially contributed.
In 1850, Mr. Curtiss was married to Mary E. Pancost, a lady of domestic and social accomplishments, daughter of Dr. Pancost, a dentist, who came to Painesville in 1860. They have five children: Samuel W., now of Chicago; Frank C., a partner in his father's store; Charles F., a student of medicine; George W., also a partner with his father; and John H., a clerk in the same store.
In politics, Mr. Curtiss advocates the principles of Republicanism. Mrs. Curtiss is a useful member of the Disciples Church, and both are highly esteemed in the vicinity, the society of which they are amply qualified to adorn.
THOMAS S. HARBACH, a venerable citizen of Willoughby, Ohio, now living retired, is one of the best known men in this part of Lake county. Of his life we present the following resume:
Thomas S. Harbach was born in Sutton, Worcester county, Massachusetts, June 28, 1812. His father, grandfather and great-grandfather were each named Thomas Harbach, the first two being natives of Sutton, Massachusetts, the date of the father's birth being March 1, 1782. Great-grandfather Harbach, a native of England, emigrated to America in 1720. He served an apprenticeship in England at the trade of manufacturing and dressing cloth, and his son Thomas followed the same line of work in Massachusetts. The father of our subject was a manufacturer of woolen goods in Sutton and
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Worcester, Massachusetts, and subsequently in Maine. He died in the latter State in 1850. A man of many estimable qualities and possessing more than ordinary business ability, he occupied a prominent position among his fellow citizens. During the war of 1812 he was a musician in the army and 'Was there given the title of Major of Music. He held various minor offices in Massachusetts and at one time was a member of the State Legislature. Religiously, he was a Congregationalist. Of his wife we record that her maiden name was Nancy Sherman, and that she was born in Grafton, Massachusetts, March 16, 1789, a descendant of Captain John Sherman, who settled on American soil in 1634. Her death occurred in 1833.
Thomas S. Harbach was the first born in a family of eight children, only two of whom are living. His educational advantages were limited to the district school, and when only eight or nine years old he commenced work in his father's shop. When he grew up he became a partner in the business with his father, continued with him until the latter's death, and ran the business by himself for a year afterward.
In 1851 his brother Frederick, who had come to Cleveland several years before, died, and Thomas S. came west to settle his estate. This brother Frederick was a civil engineer and a railroad contractor, and had been connected with the building of the Cleveland, Columbus & Cincinnati & Lake Shore railroads and other lines.
In 1855 Mr. Harbach located in Willoughby. Since that date he has been engaged in various occupations. For a few years he farmed and from that turned his attention to the milling business, operating a flouring mill at Painesville. He had an interest for a time in the copper mines in the Lake Superior region, and was also interested in the Pennsylvania oil fields. For the past few years, however, he has been retired from active business cares. During his business career he acquired considerable property and is now in comfortable circumstances. He is a stockholder in the Willoughby Manufacturing Company, and owns real estate in Willoughby. He has been Town Clerk, a member of the Town Council and the Board of Water Works Trustees, etc. Politically, he is a Democrat, religiously, a Presbyterian, being an Elder in the Church. In political, business and religions circles he has long taken an active part, holding rank with the leading men of the town. Intelligent, genial, generous and courteous, he has made many warm friends wherever he has been.
Mr. Harbach has never married.
LEWIS W. PENFIELD, general man, ager of the manufacturing establish ment of J. W. Penfield & Son, Willoughby, Ohio, was born at the old Penfield homestead near Willoughby Center; Lake county, Ohio, July 31,1857. He is a young man of push and enterprise, holds prominent position among his fellow citizens, and is eminently deserving of more than a passing notice on the pages of his county's history.
Nathaniel E. Penfield, the father of Lewis W., was born in Bridgeport, Connecticut, son of Wakeman Penfield, also a native of that State. Their ancestors came from Scotland to this country and were among the early settlers of New England. Wakeman Penfield emigrated to Ohio at an early day and settled in Willoughby township, Lake county, where he cleared and improved a farm and where he died at a ripe old age. He was an
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earnest Christian, an exhorter in the Methodist Episcopal Church, and during the days of slavery took an active part in agitating the slavery question, he being a stanch Abolitionist. Nathaniel E. Pentield was the oldest of three children. He was engaged in farming when the Civil war broke out, and at the first call for volunteers he left the farm and entered the army. He went to the front with his command in the spring of 1861, and remained on active duty until the fall of 1862, when he died at Little Rook, Arkansas. He left a widow and two children, Mary L. and Lewis W. Mrs. Penfield afterward became the wife of James J. Cogley, and is 'now a resident of Springfield, Ohio. She was born in Lake county, and her maiden name was Rachel M. Rush.
After the death of his father the subject of our sketch spent some time in Cleveland and Painesville, attending the public schools in those places. He came back to Willoughby, and after going to the district school here one year, entered Willoughby College, where he was a student three years, working in the mean time to get money with which to defray his expenses in college. He taught school five years in Willoughby and Kirtland districts. In 1880 he entered the employ of J, W. Penfield & Son, manufacturers of brick and tile machinery at Willoughby, one of the largest firms of the kind in the United States. For three years he was their bookkeeper and genera purpose man, at the end of which time be was promoted to general manager, and has since performed the duties of that position most efficiently.
Mr. Penfield was married January 3, 1883, to Miss C. Emma Johnson, daughter of Mr. F. Johnson, a pioneer business man of Toledo, Ohio. They have one son, J. Arthur.
In his political views Mr. Penfield is in harmony with Republican principles. He is at present serving his fourth term as President of the Village Board of Education and is likewise the Mayor of Willoughby. He and his wife are active members of the Methodist Episcopal Church, he having been a member of the choir for several years. He is also a member of the Masonic fraternity.
SYLVANUS PETRIE, a successful farmer of Cherry Valley, Ashtabula county, was born in Little Falls, Herkimer county, New York, August 19, 1815, a son of Richard J. and Margaret (Bishop) Petrie, both also natives of Herkimer county. The paternal grandfather of our subject was a native of Germany, and the maternal family are of French and German descent; Richard J. Petrie was a soldier in the war of 1812, and he died at the old farm in tIlis county at the age of seventy-six years. The mother died at the age of eighty-two years. They were the parents of eleven children, viz.: Elizabeth, Conrad, Margaret, Joseph, Polly, Charles, Richard, Nancy, Sylvanus, Henry and Sarah. Only three are now livingSylvanus, Henry and Sarah.
Sylvanus Petrie, the subject of this sketch, came from his native State to Wayne township, Ashtabula county, Ohio, with ox teams. He was engaged in farming on 250 acres of land in that township for a number of years, but since 1884 has resided in Cherry Valley Center, where he has a good residence. In his political relations, Mr. Petrie joins issues with the Republican party, and at one time was the choice of his party for Township Treasurer.
Our subject was married at the age of twenty-seven years, to Eliza Harrison, a na-
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tive of New York, and a daughter of William and Electa (Finch) Harrison. Mr. and Mrs. Petrie have had four children: Clarence H. and Frank L., of Cherry Valley; Robert A., who was killed in the late war, at the age of twenty-one years; and Vine A., deceased at the age of twenty-three years. Frank L. is married and has four children: Arthur, Jay, Goldie and John. Mrs. Petrie is a member of the Baptist Church.
DAVID E. KELLEY, .D.D. S.—The modern art of dental surgery has an ) able exponent . in the subject of this sketch, who brings to it the skill and experience acquired by many years of successful practice.
Dr. Kelley, of Ashtabula, Ohio, prominent as a dentist and citizen, was born in Saybrook, this State, May 8, 1852. His parents, David H. and Maria (Simonds) Kelley, early settlers of this commonwealth, now reside in Geneva, where they are well known as persons of sterling worth of character. The subject of this sketch was reared on a farm near Saybrook and was educated at the Normal School in Geneva, and completed a liberal course of study at Grand River institute, in Austinburgh, this State. When eighteen years of age, he commenced to teach a district school, and is remembered as a conscientious, pains-taking teacher. Shortly afterward, he began to study dentistry under the direction of his brother, J. P. Kelley, of Geneva, with whom he spent two years. He then went to Philadelphia College, at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, at which institution he graduated in the spring of 1875. He subsequently settled in Ashtabula and entered upon the active practice of his profession, in which he has successfully continued, winning deserved laurels by his skill in his chosen work. He is one of the most active members of the American Dental Association, to the general information of which he has contributed many papers of interest. Besides his professional duties, as a matter of relaxation and profit, he has a small farm near the city of Ashtabula, on which he breeds some fine horses, being the owner of Russell B, who made a record, when two years old, of a mile in 2:25i minutes, making him the champion of Ohio for 1892. Dr. Kelley was the main mover and organizer of the Ashtabula Driving Park Company, of which he has since been secretary. This company has one of the beSt equipped half-mile tracks in the State. He has also taken an active part in the development of the Ashtabula harbor, and has improved property in the city which has proved not only a profitable investment for himself, but has also been a valuable ornament to the city.
In 1875, Dr. Kelley was married to Miss Nella Moore, of Erie, Pennsylvania, an estimable lady and daughter of M. M. and Helen (Allen) Moore, old residents of that city. They have had five children, four of whom survive: Raymond Edward, Ralph Moore, David Howard, Helen Mariah, and Clara Louise. All are living except Ralph.
Politically, the Doctor advocates the principles of the Republican party, and for two years has efficiently served as member of the Council of Ashtabula, suggesting and aiding many reforms.
Religiously, he and his worthy wife are useful mem hers of the Congregational Church, in which he is an active worker. He has been Superintendent of the Sabbath-school, in which capacity he served three years with ability and zeal. He was one of the organ-
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izers of the Young Men's Christian Association in Ashtabula, to which cause he has devoted much time and means. He is a member of the Royal Arcanum, I. O. O. F. and the Knights of Pythias. Altogether, he is a representative citizen of Ashtabula, which he has enriched and beautified by his ability and means, and he deservedly enjoys a high position in the regard of his community.
HENRY HOOPER, a prominent and successful farmer of Kirtland, Lake county, Ohio, was born in Holsworthy, Devonshire, England, July 4, 1827, son of William and Elizabeth (Hunkin) Hooper, both natives of England. At the age of two years and a half he was deprived of a father's counsel and support, and to the loving care of his devoted mother he owes much of the success he has attained in life. She died in Cleveland, Ohio, in 1876, at the age of seventy-four years. His parents had two children, he being the older. His sister Mary is now the wife of George Sleeman.
Mr. Hooper grew up in his native land; receiving his education chiefly in the school of experience, as four months was all he ever attended school, and that was when he was fifteen. From the time he was seven until he was fifteen he worked in a brick yard, and during all that time the only pay he received was his board and a few clothes, his mother providing a portion of even this allowance. After that he served a five years' apprenticeship at the millwright's trade, paying $50 for the privilege, and upon completing his apprenticeship worked two years at the trade for wages, thus earning the money which enabled him to come to America. Sailing from Plymouth, April 9, 1851, he landed in Quebec, after a voyage of four weeks and four days. From Quebec he came to Cleveland. He worked at wagon-making in Mayfield one year, work at his own trade being scarce; spent fourteen months at Chagrin Falls, and then returned to Cleveland, and for four years and a half worked in Mr. Lowman's carriage shop. At the end of that time he and a partner engaged in business for themselves on Michigan street, in Cleveland. Two years later, on account of failing health, he came to Kirtland township, Lake county, to try farming, and was engaged in agricultural pursuits here for eleven years. Then he went back to Cleveland and worked in a cooper shop, having the supervision of the machinery, and remaining in the city five years. Returning to Kirtland, he again engaged in farming, and here he has since remained, He has a nice farm of 190 acres, all well improved, ten acres being devoted to vineyard and five in peaches.
Mr. Hooper was married in 1883 to Elizabeth Stevens, who was born in England and who came to America in 1870. She is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and he of the Baptist. Politically, he is a Republican.
When a boy Mr. Hooper made a firm resolve to refrain from strong drink and bad company, and to this purpose he has strictly adhered all through life.
OLIVER ANDREWS, a prominent and influential farmer of Mentor township, Lake county, Ohio, was born in Madison county, New York, January 23, 1826. Following is a brief sketch of his life and ancestry: