650 - LORAIN COUNTY, OHIO. which he followed in earlier life. Subsequently he engaged with the American Express Company, and finally entered the United States Mail service. He died a few years since. He married a Miss Martha Barker, and left two sons: George, agent of the Merchants Despatch Transportation Company, Chicago, III. ; and Howard, in the employ of the Troy Laundry Manufacturing Company, Chicago, Illinois. C. W. HORR, leading business man and capitalist of Wellington, is a native of Lorain county, Ohio, born in Avon, January 25, 1837. He was reared on the farm, during the brief winter months attending the schools of the locality till he was about sixteen years old, when he went to Cleveland, with but a few dollars in his pocket, there to seek employment, a total stranger in the place, with solely himself to rely upon. Casting his eye on the sign of a leading hack and omnibus line office, and understanding something of horses, he immediately applied for and found employment as an omnibus driver. Falling into no dissipation, and allowing himself no indulgencies of any kind, he succeeded in saving some money, and at the end of five months he found himself in a financial position sufficient to enable him to take a term at Oberlin College, which he did. He then taught school at Pittsfield Center, Lorain county. At the age of eighteen, with barely enough money to pay expenses, he took stage coach from Louisville to Nashville, Tenn., near which city he secured a position as teacher in Zion Seminary. In 1858 he became principal of the public schools of Napoleon, Ohio. In 1857 Mr. Horr entered Antioch (Ohio) College, graduating from there in 1860. On August 12, of the same year, he married Esther A. Lang of Huntington, Ohio, who has proved the kindest and wisest of wives and mothers. Indeed, Mr. Horr and all of his intimate friends would agree in regarding his marriage as the most fortunate event of his life. In the fall of 1860, with his wife as assistant, he became principal of the public schools of Vandalia, Ill. In that town he became a leading local agitator in the cause of the Union, delivering many eloquent and patriotic speeches, and finally he organized Company B, Thirty-fifth O. V. I., of which he was made captain. With his command he did duty in Missouri, and served under Fremont, Halleck, Curtis, Jefferson C. Davis, and other leaders of the movement in Missouri. During the larger part of his. service, he was employed as forage master or as brigade commissary of subsistence, and during the latter part of his service he was attached to Gen. Buell's army. At the commencement of the war he was a Douglas Democrat. After he left the army, he returned to Lorain county, and in company with his brother, J. C. Horr, commenced the development of the cheese industry, building in Huntington township the first cheese factory in Lorain county. The firm of J. C. Horr & Co. was succeeded by Starr & Horr, and at the end of a year that firm was succeeded by the present cheese and butter firm of Horr, Warner & Co. Of this firm Mr. C. W. Horr has always been the recognized head, and its great success is largely due to his ability as a business man, and to his sagacity as a financier. Mr. Horr is also a member of the firm of Wean, Horr, Warner & Co., the most extensive onion and celery growers in Ohio, and probably the greatest onion growers in the world. He is also president of the well-known Wellington Milling Company, and has for years been a stockholder and director in the First National Bank of Wellington, Ohio, and also of the Savings Banking Company of Elyria, Ohio. Mr. Horr owns an extensive tract of land in Lorain and Medina counties, and is to a large extent engaged in the breeding, of fine Holstein-Friesian cattle. In 1892 he was president of the National Holstein-Friesian Association, and he has recently been elected president of the National Dairy Union. LORAIN COUNTY, OHIO - 651 In his earlier days Mr. Horr read law, and was admitted to the bar, and his knowledge of both law and general business has been of invaluable service, not only to himself but also to friends and others who frequently consult him on matters of importance and difficulty. In politics he is a Republican, and few campaigns have taken place since the war in which he has not taken a more or less active part, as he is a forcible public speaker, and keeps well posted on all political and public questions. He is also a writer of ability, a master of the English language, and an accomplished rhetorician. Although deeply immersed in his many business enterprises, Mr. Horr still finds time for the study of literature in the quiet of his bome, where he is surrounded by every comfort and finds the purest and greatest enjoyment of his life. In the very prime of manhood, he is a man of fine physique, and of great physical and mental energy. He is by no means the meekest of men ; he is positive in his views and aggressive in his methods, and his power and influence have been felt in many political contests. Mr. and Mrs. Horr have had five sons, viz.: Norton T., a graduate of Cornell University, and member of the law firm of Boynton & Horr, of Cleveland, Ohio; Charles W., Jr., a graduate of Cornell University, now engaged in various business enterprises with his father; Clinton (deceased); Alfred R., at present a member of the junior class of Cornell University, and Harley M., who still resides with his parents. FRANCIS S. WADSWORTH, a thoroughly representative agriculWrist of Lorain county, is a native of Massachusetts, born in Becket, Berkshire county. Jonathan and Deidama (Snow) Wadsworth, grandparents of our subject, were of Connecticut birth, and moved to Becket, Mass., where their family of children were born, and where he died at the age of eighty-six years; his wife afterward came to Wellington, Lorain Co., Ohio, and died in the "American House," where she was living at the time with her grandchildren —O. S. and J. L. Wadsworth. She, as was also her husband, was a member of the Congregational Church. Lawton Wadsworth, father of subject, was born June 24, 1785. in Becket, Berkshire Co., Mass., and was reared to agricultural pursuits. In early manhood he taught school in the neighborhood of Otis, Mass., where he first met the young lady who' became his wife, in the person of Miss Nancy Rowena Lawton, daughter of Elijah Lawton, of that town. They were married October 15, 1806, in Becket, where they settled on a farm, and seven children, as follows, were born to them: Milo L., born October 2, 1807, who lived in Wellington township, died April 2, 1889; Oliver S., born May 2, 1809, was a farmer, and lived for a while at the "American House," in Wellington, subsequently returning to Massachusetts (he was killed in a railroad accident at Erie, Penn.); Jabez L., born August 27, 1813, who lived for a number of years at the "American House," in Wellington, and subsequently followed milling (he built a brick residence in Wellington, where he died; his widow now resides in Wellington); Elijah M., born February 9, 1815, learned the trade of carpenter and joiner, took a college and theological course at Oberlin, Ohio, then went to Wisconsin, and later went to Minneapolis, Minn., where he now resides; Albert 0., born August 27, 1819, who has always followed farming, first in Wellington, Lorain county, and at present in Saranac, Mich.; Francis S., born April 27, 1821, and David L., born June 1, 1825, who died in October, 1892. F. S. Wadsworth, the subject proper of this sketch, was twelve years old when the family arrived in Lorain county, Ohio, whither they traveled in wagons the entire 652 - LORAIN COUNTY, OHIO. way, the trip occupying from April 15 to May 9. He received a liberal education in the common and high schools (two terms at Wellington select schools), and, when he was of age, two years at Oberlin, where he displayed considerable aptitude and fondness for mathematics. For a trade he learned that of carpenter and joiner, at which he worked, engaging, at times, also in painting, and for four winters taught school. On September 20, 1854, he married Miss Sarah A. Leonard, born January 6, 1833, in New York State, and the young couple then located on a farm about one and one-half miles from their present home in Wellington, whither they removed in 1884. Two children were born to them, viz.: Ettie R, April 25, 1858, who was married to B. B. Herrick (has two children, viz.: Sarah E. and Hobart); and Frank L. O., of whom special mention is made farther on. Mrs. Wadsworth is a daughter of Truman Leonard, who was born in Worthington, Mass., March 23, 1784, and June 1, 1811, married Miss Roxanna Allis, born in Chester, Mass., September 15, 1786. After marriage they moved to Middlesex, Ontario Co., N. Y., and there lived until 1835, in which year the family, including eleven children, moved to Ohio, settling in Chatham, Medina county. The father died February 24, 1846, the mother on September 12, same year. Their daughter, Sarah A., received a fair education in the common and high schools, well preparing her for the vocation of a teacher, which she commenced to follow at the age of, fifteen years. For the past quarter of a century she has been a newspaper correspondent, chiefly for the Elyria .Republican,; also contributed to the Ohio Farmer, and the Young America, New York. A lady of culture and refinement, she shares with her husband the respect and esteem of a wide circle of friends. Frank L. O. Wadsworth, their sou, was born October 24, 1866, and received a superior education. He is the recipient of a diploma from Wellington (Ohio) High School (1883); graduated from the Ohio State University, Columbus, June 30, 1888, in Mining Engineering, and the following year took a diploma in Mechanical Engineering, and degree of Bachelor of Science. In 1889 he commenced to teach in the Ohio State University, but was soon given a Fellowship in Clarke University, Worcester, Mass., where he remained three years. In July, 1892, he received the appointment of senior assistant in the Astrophysical Laboratory of the Smithsonian Institute. While a student at Clarke University he assisted Prof. Michelson in perfecting an instrument for measuring the length of a meter, to establish a reliable standard for the metric system. This instrument was for the French goverment. In the fall of 1892, in company with Prof. Michelson, he visited Paris, adjusting and testing the instrument to the entire satisfaction of all parties concerned. At the present time, in connection with his laboratory work, he is a frequent contributor to several scientific papers published both in this country and in Europe. He was married September 6, 1893, to Miss Laura A. Poole, of Washington, D. C. DR. N. H. CORNWELL, a well-known practicing physician and surgeon of North Amherst, was born January 4, 1847, in Elyria, Lorain Co., Ohio. His father, N. H. Cornwell, was a native of Michigan, and married Mary Onstine, who was born in Amherst township, daughter of George and Rosina (Ruhl) Onstine, natives of Pennsylvania, who came in an early day to Amherst township, Lorain Co., Ohio, where they both died. Mr. Cornwell died in Elyria in 1847. N. H. Cornwell was reared by his grandfather Onstine, at Amherst, at the public schools of which place he received his LORAIN COUNTY, OHIO - 653 early education. He was for some time engaged in the lumber business, inspecting lumber at Chicago from 1873 to 1876. He entered the Eclectic Medical Institute, Cincinnati, Ohio, whence he was grad uated with the class of 1880, and first began practice at Port Clinton, coining shortly afterward to Lorain county, where he has since resided. Dr. Cornwell was married, in 1885, to Miss Josephine Barber, who was born in Amherst township, this county, daughter of Joseph Barber (now deceased). The latter was an early settler of northern Ohio, and came to Lorain county in 1863. Socially the Doctor is a member of the K. of P., and K. O. T. M., and is'also a F. & A. M. GIDEON L. STARR, who for many years has been actively identified with the business interests of Penfield township, is a prosperous, self-made agriculturist. He is a son of Talcott and Mary (Lindsley) Starr, the former of whom was born in Danbury, Conn., and was reared to farm life. Talcott Starr was married in Harpersfield, Delaware Co., N. Y., in which State five children were born to him, as follows: Matthew L.; Maria, who was married in New York State to David Turner, a Methodist Episcopal minister, and died in Schoharie county, N. Y.; Angeline, who was married in New York to Benjamin Turner, and died in Rhinebeck, that State; Gideon L., subject of this sketch; and Alden, of Flint, Mich. Talcott Starr had made three trips to Penfield, Lorain Co., Ohio (driving the entire distance), where three of his brothers—Orrin, Raymond and William—had located, and in 1839 he sold his farm and other effects in New York State, and set out for the West. They arrived here after a long, tedious journey, driving a team of two horses, having come via Cleveland to Elyria, where they remained some years on a farm one mile east of his brother Raymond, who conducted a mercantile business. Later, Mr. Starr traded that farm, which he had bought, to a man named Kemp for land in Penfield township, whither the family removed in 1855, and here the parents passed the remainder of their lives, the father dying October 15, 1872, the mother May 10, 1876; they are buried in Center cemetery. They were members of the M. E. Church, and in politics he was a Democrat. He was a very successful farmer, and was quite well-to-do. Gideon L. Starr was born February 13, 1816, in Jefferson, Schoharie Co., N. Y., was trained to farming pursuits, and obtained his elementary education in the common schools. Later he attended a Methodist Episcopal school in Dutchess county, N. Y., preparing himself for the profession of teacher, which he followed in Delaware county (N. Y.) and elsewhere for several years. He accompanied his parents on their journey to Ohio, and drove the team, but after a short sojourn there returned to New York State, where, in Harpersfield, Delaware county, he was married, November 10, 1839, to Miss Polly Baird. She was born July 7, 1818, in Harpersfield, daughter of Daniel and Abigail (Dayton) Baird, early residents of that place, whither they had come from Watertown, Conn. After his marriage Mr. Starr settled on the old family home in Schoharie county, N. Y., which he had bought (going into debt for the same), and here followed farming, teaching school during the winter season. Later he was elected township examiner, and conducted teachers' examinations. While living in New York State Mr. and Mrs. Starr had children as follows: Lemuel T., born November 30, 1840, a farmer of Penfield township, Lorain Co., Ohio; Similde A., born October 5, 1844, who died February 8, 1857, and Emer Gene, born July 14, 1847, who married Charles Canfield, of Litchfield, Medina 654 - LORAIN COUNTY, OHIO. Co., Ohio, and died August 12, 1887. In the spring of 1849 our subject traded his farm in Schoharie county, and set out with his family for Ohio, after a two days' drive reaching Spraker's Basin, N. Y., whence he started, by way of the Erie Canal, for Buffalo, where he arrived six days later. Here he took the lake-boat for Cleveland, arriving the following morning in that city, where he was met by his brother Alden, who drove the family to Elyria, Lorain county, where the father lived. After some visiting in and around Elyria, Mr. Starr arrived on May 2, in Penfield township, passing the first night at the home of Lewis Hart. Here he purchased land, 121 acres in lot No. 51 east of the center, and forty-three acres west of the center, locating on the first-mentioned tract in a log house, quite different from the home in New York. Some of the wood on this farm had been cut by lumbermen, but the land was not yet fit for agricultural purposes, and it required considerable hard work to convert it into a fertile farm. S'bme time later another house was erected, which. still stands, and on this place three children were added to the family circle, namely: Munson B., born October 30, 1849, who died February 8, 1854; Estella, born February 27, 1855, who married Edwin Sears, and lives in Litchfield, Ohio (while absent from home December 27, 1893, their house was burned); Lee W., born December 25, 1856, a farmer of Litchfield, Ohio, who was married June 25, 1882, to Celia Henderside. Mr. Starr was obliged to go into debt for his farm, and in the face of the predictions of older men, who had lived here for years, to the effect that he would never pay for it, he went to work with a determination, and met with a marked degree of success. Since his residence here farming has been his chief vocation, but he has also dealt extensively in stock. He is a hard worker, a good manager, and an excellent judge of stock, which knowledge has been of considerable benefit to him in managing vari- ous details of his business to advantage. He now owns 300 acres excellent land. Politically he is a Democrat, and in religious faith he and his wife belong to the M. E. Church, of which she has been a member sixty years. In 1885 they removed from the farm to the village of Penfield, where they now have a pleasant, comfortable home. Mr. Starr has twelve grandchildren and two great-grandchildren. PAUL W. SAMPSELL, M. D. (deceased), was born in Columbiana county, Ohio. June 22, 1828. He received a liberal education in the common schools, after which he attended the Eclectic Medical School, then the Homeopathic School of Medicine at Cincinnati, Ohio, from both of which institutions he graduated. He first practiced his profession at Ashland, Ohio, whence he removed to South Bend, Ind., where he practiced till failing health compelled him to seek a change. Concluding that a trip to the Pacific slope would materially assist him in recuperating, he crossed the Plains, about the year 1852, in a wagon in company with the Studebakers of South Bend, then young men and friends of the Doctor. On the journey they had in charge a number of wagons and several families. In California he remained for one year, at the end of which time he felt sufficiently well to return to his native State, which he did, and in 1854 made a permanent settlement in Elyria, where he continued in eclectic practice of medicine up to the time of his death. After locating in Elyria he was offered a Chair or Professorship in one of the colleges of Cincinnati, but declined acceptance, preferring to remain in active practice. As a physician Dr. Sampsell had no superior, and during his career probably had not a peer. He was in the enjoyment of a large office practice as well LORAIN COUNTY, OHIO - 657 as an extensive ride both in and outside the city, and his popularity both professionally and • socially brought him a wide circle of friends. In 1855 Dr. Sampsell was married in Elyria to Miss Evaline Childs, and one son, Warren W., was born to them, but died Dec. 1, 1887. The doctor was called from earth May 8, 1888. Mrs. Sampsell is a native of Elyria, and comes of an early and much respected family. She is a lady of high culture, and commands the highest esteem in the county. WILLIAM H. H. SUTLIFF, retired, one of the best known and most highly esteemed citizens of Wellington township, has been closely identified with Lorain county and vicinity for the past seventy-three years. He is a native of New York State, born July 22, 1815, in Erie county, a son of Salmon and Anna (Beeman) Sutliff, the former of whom was born in Genesee county, N. Y., in 1786, the latter on the Susquehanna river. In August, 1820, the family, consisting of father, mother and children, set out from their home in the East to seek a new one in the then wilds of Ohio. The journey was made with a team of horses and a wagon, conveying a few household goods; two cows and fifteen sheep being driven along. They passed through Buffalo, N. Y., at that time a low- lying village consisting of a few dirty cabins or shanties. On their arrival at Cleveland they counted thirteen small log houses, with not an acre of land cleared in any one place on Superior, the only street in the place. They were ferried across the Cuyahoga river, landing on the west side, where not a house was visible, but abundance of land for sale on which there was not a stick of timber, the soil being simply yellow sand. Proceeding onward, the party in due course reached Avon township, Lorain county, where they tarried a short time until a piece of land could be purchased on the so-called "Murray Tract," in Carlisle township, and a log house built for the family. Into this they moved January 1, 1821, before any of the cracks were chinked or mudded, and when only one-half of thefloor was laid with puncheons or split logs. This cabin was afterward i tnproved, being fully floored, chinked and mudded, a chimney built and hearth and fireplace constructed, with a pole placed a few feet above the hearth, from one side of the chimney to the other, on which to hang the pot or kettle. Their bread was made chiefly of cornmeal, smietimes rye-wheat flour being kept for special occasions; their meats were for the most part venison and young fatted pork.; tea was scarcely known, and " coffee" was made by burning an ear of corn black and then steeping it in hot water, cooled with milk and sweetened with maple sugar. It should be mentioned here that on their way to their new home they passed through what is now the thriving town of Elyria, Lorain county, then composed of three little huts inhabited respectively by Heman Ely, A. Beebe and a Mr. Sholes, who kept a small grocery. Salmon Sutliff vas a great hunter, and the deer he killed supplied the family with not only venison, but also hides which were tanned into leather, from which they made shoes for all the family and breeches for the men's winter wear; he also trapped wolves for the Goverment bounty, eight dollars per scalp, in addition to which he could get one or two dollars for each hide. Bears he would run down by tracking them in the snow or driving them up trees; their hides were also of value, and their meat as good as pork for family use. Trees were cut down and burned in large heaps, the ashes being saved and leached, then liquid being made into black salts, same being sold for $2.25 to $2.50 per one hundred pounds—half cash and half trade, the latter being in goods at high figures, to wit: calico or cotton, twenty-five cents per 658 - LORAIN COUNTY, OHIO. yard. In those days men raised flax and dressed it, then the women spun and wove it into linen and cloth for domestic use. Wild fruits of all kinds were found in abundance, especially cranberries, which would fetch seventy-five cents per bushel. So much for the natural history of the place about seventy years ago, although a vast deal more might be written of interest did space permit. Something has been said of the average dwelling, and next in importance come the schoolhouses. They were built of logs, chinked and mudded in the same manner as the cabins were, and supplied with a fireplace and chimney. The furniture consisted of slabs (with pegs stuck into them for legs) placed at side up for seats, and a board, laid on pins let into the house logs, for writing desk. The grim dominie, armed with an awe-inspiring birch rod, sat in a corner by the fireplace, and at times varied the monotony of the school hours by flogging warmth into the more stupid boys at the farther end of the class. Five years elapsed after the coming of the Sutliff family before there were enough children in the neighborhood to. warrant the organizing of a school district, and the using of such a building. Before the Sutliffs had raised any grain, Salmon would have to walk to Avon, a distance of twelve miles, and there labor for a bushel of corn, which he would carry on his shoulder to a gristmill known as " Hecock's mill," which after he had got it ground he would carry home through a dense forest teeming with wild beasts. On one occasion, accompanied as usual by his faithful dog, he came across a she bear and cubs, and the dog and bear had a fierce battle, which resulted in the total discomfiture of the former, he being badly "chawed up," though not killed. In the early farming days the family would sow a little wheat or rye, as the case might be, and when ripe they would cut it down with a hand sickle, thresh it with a couple of sticks or flails, and clean it of the chaff, etc., with a large fan held by the hands and knees. In many things, especially in cases of sickness, they imitated the customs of the Indians, and in this respect it is related of Salmon Sutliff that when somewhat advanced in years he was stricken with what was supposed to be consumption, and hearing of an alleged cure for that disease, he resolved to adopt it, viz.: the swallowing of a rattlesnake's heart. Accordingly on a certain day he killed a yellow "rattler," about six feet long, took out the heart, put it into a bowl of cold water, and swallowed it all, his son, William H. H., being a witness to the act. It is not known how much of the consumption was cured, but he lived to see his seventy-second birthday pass, dying in 1858. He was a lifelong Whig and a member of the M. E. Church; he served in the war of 1812, and was a great admirer of Gen. Harrison, for whom he named his son, our subject. His widow was called from earth in 1870. Thirteen children, as follows, were born to this honored couple: Silas B., who was captain of a steamboat, died of cholera at Joliet, Ill.; William H. H.; Asa G., who died in Minnesota about twelve years ago, was a farmer and drover, driving cattle from Texas; O. H. P., a resident of Carlisle township, Lorain county; Charles B., who was killed twelve years ago in a railroad accident near Elyria; Ralph O., a farmer at Chapin's Corners, Mich.; Lusetta, wife of Eli Wright, now residing in Wood county, Ohio; Warren C., a justice of the peace in Carlisle township;, Lucinda, Mrs. Perkins, who died of dropsy (she was first married to a man named Lee); Jessie, residing in Michigan; Theodore, residing in Potterville, Eaton Co., Mich.; Miles W., in Penfield township, Lorain county; and Rosetta, wife of William Gott. The mother of this family was left an orphan when a child, and was brought up by a family named Osborne; she was a daughter of Silas Beeman. The grandfather of our subject, Gad Sutliff, was a native of England, whence with two brothers he came LORAIN COUNTY, OHIO - 659 to America, all being single men, and here they separated, all trace of the two who accompanied Gad being lost; the latter died at Clyde, Ohio, aged ninety years. William H. H. Sutliff, the subject proper of this sketch, received his education in Carlisle township, Lorain county, attending the old log schoolhouse of the period, and experienced all the sufferings and privations incident to three-quarters of a century ago. His clothes were of the most primitive home-make, and he was twenty years of age before he had a pair of boots on his feet; but he was tough and hearty, and underwent all kinds of hardships—working on the farm by day, and hunting raccoons, skunks, porcupines, opossums, etc., by night. At the time the town of Oberlin was being laid out he worked there the better part of three years, chopping down the timber and clearing it off the land. In October, 1834, a Mr. Sill, wlio had come in from Black Rock to Oberlin, where he lived one year, bargained with our subject for the latter to drive four heavy oxen, pulling a load of goods (wagon and load weighing 6562 pounds) to Jonesville, Hillsdale Co., Mich., the route lying through a totally new country. Mr. Sill drove four oxen with a lighter wagon, containing the family, and they experienced many difficulties, at one place, near Maumee, the mud being so thick and deep that they made but little progress. They passed thirty-one taverns in thirty miles, but required to stop at only one of them, two nights, finally reaching Jonesville in safety; Mr. Sutliff then returned to Ohio, and did hard labor until March, 1838, when he engaged to drive a four-ox team from Carlisle township to Ionia, Mich. They traveled through the Maumee swamp before the frost had passed out of it, but got over in safety, and then proceeded with comparative ease to Jackson-burg through mud and storm, but were still seventy-five miles from their destination. From Jacksonburg they traveled to Marshall, the county seat of Calhoun county, thirty miles; thence to Kalamazoo thirty miles; thence seventy-five miles northeast to Ionia county, the entire journey occupying twenty-six days. Here Mr. Sutliff assisted in hewing out a new home in the woods, and building a log house, 18 x 24, into which the family moved within eleven days after their arrival, during which time .they were living with a man named Webster. In the same year, Mr. Sutliff having decided to revisit Ohio, he shouldered his knapsack, and set out alone, on foot, in one day reaching St John's, the county seat of Clinton county, Mich. From there he proceeded to Detroit, taking the nearest route, which was forty miles through the woods along an old Indian trail. About an hour before noon he met a big Indian, fully equipped with a rifle, tomahawk and knife; but Mr. Sutliff gave him a very brief interview, his looks being much more suggestive of a villain than a friend, and left him roasting a muskrat for his noon-hour meal. Our hero arrived in safety, however, at Livingston, Berrien county, after a tramp of forty miles between sunrise and sunset, and from there, after a rest, made his way to Detroit, which he reached in due time. From Detroit he took steamboat to Cleveland, a rough voyage, thence home by way of Carlisle, &c. After this, in the same year, William H. H. Sutliff, Asa G. Sutliff and Philo Murry converted their effects into twenty head of cattle—oxen, new milch-cows, &c. —and started for Ionia, Mich. They pursued the same route, in due course reaching Marshall, Calhoun Co., Mich., and from there proceeded northward eleven miles, to the village of Hastings; thence to Vermontville, Eaton county, from which place they plodded their way through an unbroken wilderness, taking an Indian trail, one of the party leading the way with an axe, with which now and then he had to cut an opening through the bush. Sometimes the oxen would be "mired down" in 360 - LORAIN COUNTY, OHIO. a tamarac swamp they had to pass through, and then they would have to be assisted out, and the entire party make a detour of about a mile. At the close of each day a halt would be made at some convenient spot, a fire built, the cows milked, and a quilt spread on Mother Earth, whereon the weary wayfarers would rest for the night. To use Mr. Sutliff's own graphic words : "We ate and drank and fared sumptuously during the three days and three nights we were in the wilderness, and came out hale and hearty!" In September, 1840, Mr. Sutliff was married to Miss Phcebe D. Gott, of LaGrange, Ohio, a native of New York State, born March 22, 1821, and they had twelve children, all sons except one, of whom the following is a brief record : William H., born October 7, 1841, a dray-man in Lorain, married Emily Allen, and they have two children - Milton and Phcebe; George B., born January 9, 1843, died July 21, 1845 ; Charles E. (his sketch is on page 603), born February 16, 1845, married Mary Hoffman, and they have two children, May E. and Floyd E ; George Warren, born March 12, 1847, now residing in California, married Emma Bruce, and has four children-Belle, Bruce, George W. and one whose name is not given; John Laverdo, born May 6, 1849, died October 20, 1852; Stephen S., born August 16, 1851, died January 14, 1861; Martin Beeman, born April 16, 1854, died January 5, 1861; James Alvord, born August 5, 1856, died September 12, 1892 (he farmed on the home place; he was married to Miss Leona Barber. but had no children); Frederick Eugene (a hackman in Welling-. ton), born November 17, 1859, married Prudence Coding, and they have two sons-Walter and Wilber; one son was still-born; Emma Jane, born August 7, 1862, wife of Bart Whitehead, residing in Wellington they have one child, Phcebe Delilah); and Franklin Pierce, born September 9, 1864, a farmer who married Frances Dorchester. In December, 1841, Mr. and Mrs. Sutliff (the latter carrying her two-monthsold babe), with a pair of oxen, two cows and seven sheep, set out for Michigan to establish a new home on his property above alluded to, where they arrived in safety, rich in youth and health and strength, but poor in pocket, not having a dollar at their command. The young husband and father soon, however, had a good log house put up and furnished, and he continued making improvements on his land, besides working for others, clearing away the timber and brush and assisting in the building of schoolhouses, bridges, and log crossways; chopping out highways, and lumbering in the winter season. In this wilderness he encountered many dangers, especially from wild animals, and he did a good deal of trapping, catching in that way nine large grey wolves; he also killed a bear, first by the aid of his dog, driving it up a tree, which he chopped down, and then with his axe finished Bruin's earthly career. The amount of small game he killed was something that would make a modern-day Nimrod gasp with wonder. ment. On this land he lived from December, 1841, to February, 1852,- eleven years-at the end of which time he was induced to return to Lorain county, to care for his parents in their declining years. Accordingly he " swapped " his Michigan farm for one in Wellington township, and here he has since resided, for the past forty years, in the town of Wellington. One day in 1842, in passing through a piece of heavily-timbered land, four or five miles, with a team of oxen and a wagon, when about half-way through, he found a dead man, evidently thrown from a wagon, the horse having taken fright at something. Mr. Sutliff picked the body up, placed it in his wagon, and conveyed it to the nearest house, the act being justified by the law, which provided that after a dead body had lain in the woods eighteen hours, subject to mutilation by wild animals, the finder of the corpse may remove it. A LORAIN COUNTY, OHIO - 661 coroner's jury was summoned, and they endorsed by their verdict the facts as related by Mr. Sutliff. Our subject's first wife died in 1888, and in December, 1891, he married Mrs. Dency Rugg, a native of LaGrange township, born in 1831, who by her first husband had three sons, namely: (1) Orrin David Rugg, born July 1, 1855, who is married and has two children—Leona C. and Edmund; (2) Frank E. ;Rugg, born July 27, 1857, residing in Huntington township, is married and has four children —Ermie, Earl, Laverdo and Grace; and (3) Charles Edison Rugg, residing in Huntington. The father of these, Edmund Rugg, was born in the State of New York, whence he came to Ohio when eleven years old. In February, 1854, he married Miss Dency Hulbert, of LaGrange township, Lorain Co., Ohio. Mr. Sutliff's Michigan farm comprised 140 acres; his one in Wellington township, 126 acres. In politics he was originally a Republican, his first Presidential vote being cast for W. H. Harrison ; in matters of religion he has been a member of the M. E. Church since he was sixteen years old. A. G. COMINGS, mayor of Oberlin, and proprietor of one of the most extensive bookstores in Lorain county, is a native of Franklin county, Vt., born in 1856, a son of A. C. and Amanda (Jones) Comings, both also of the "Green Mountain" State, where they were married. They came to Lorain county, Ohio, when our subject was nine years old, and settled on a farm in Russia township, one mile from Oberlin. They had a family of six children, all educated at Oberlin, A. G. being the youngest; he has one brother living, publisher of a paper at Springfield, Mo. The father is living; the mother is deceased. The subject of our sketch, after coming to Russia township, attended Oberlin Col lege till he was twenty-one years old, after which he taught school ten years, in course of which time he served in the capacity of principal and superintendent at Conneaut, Ohio, and other places. He then permanently settled in Oberlin, and in 1889 bought his present business, which has since increased to such an extent that he has had to enlarge his premises. On June 20, 1878, Mr. Comings was united in marriage with Emelie Royce, who was born in Oberlin March 27, 1856, a daughter of S. and Martha Royce. To Mr. and Mrs. Comings two children have been born: Charles and Harriet. In his political predilections our subject is a Republican, has been a member of the city council two years, and mayor of Oberlin since April, 1892. He is a member of the Royal Arcanum. R. E. BRAMAN, county coroner for Lorain county, and township assessor of Elyria township, is a native of the county, born at Carlisle October 20, 1838. Anson Braman, father of our subject, was born in 1811 in Genesee county, N. Y. In 1822 his parents came from that county to Avon township, Lorain Co., Ohio. In 1832 Anson removed from Avon to Carlisle, where he followed the business of a farmer and nurseryman, and in 1855 came to Elyria, same county, where he established the nurseries now owned by J. C. Hill. From. Elyria he went to Northport, Mich. He was married, in 1835, in Carlisle, to Miss Emeline Vincent, who was born at Mt. Washington, Berkshire Co., Mass., October 10, 1818. R. E. Braman was reared on his father's farm and educated at the Elyria public schools. At the age when he should have been entering the arena of professional or business life, the Civil war broke out, and fired by the spirit of patriotism he enlisted, August 9, 1861, in Company I, 662 - LORAIN COUNTY, OHIO. Eighth O. V. I., and was mustered into the service at Columbus, Ohio On the first day of his service he was promoted to corporal, afterward to sergeant, and finally to lieutenant, his commission, however, not being issued till July 25, 1864. Our subject participated in the following battles and skirmishes: Hanging Rock, Va.; Romney, Va. (both battles); Blues Gap; French Store; Blooming Gap; Cedar Creek; Strasburgh; Kernstown; Winchester; Cedar Creek (second battle); Woodstock; Edinburgh; Mt. Jackson; Rood's Hill; New Market; Front Royal; Harrison's Landing; Chickahominy Swamps; Germantown (all these in Virginia); Monocacy Bridge, Md.; South Mountain, Md.; Chancellorsville, Va.; Gettysburg, Pa.; Kilwinter, Md. After which he was present at the following engagements in Virginia: Falling Water, Culpeper Courthouse, Robinson's River, Rappahannock Station, Bealeton, Auburn, Bristol Station, Centerville, Kelly's Ford, Robertson's Tavern, Mine Run, Morton's Ford, Wilderness, Todd's Furnace, Po River, Spottsylvania and North Anna. At the last named battle he received a shot through the thigh, which crippled him for life, and he remained in hospital until August 25, 1864, when he returned home. In 1865 Mr. Braman married Miss Helen M. Nickerson, a native of Wellington, Ohio, and four children—Edith M., Harry E., Hattie L. and Frank R.—were born to them. For a short time after the war Mr. Braman was engaged in the coal business, but since 1868 he has almost constantly been holding local offices of trust. In that year he was elected township assessor of Elyria township, an incumbency he has filled continuously since, with the exception of the period he was county sheriff-1872 to 1876. He was elected county coroner in 1881, and has filled the office ever since without interruption. He has served as constable of Elyria township several years, and is, at present, deputy city marshal. His pen sion for services in the war was originally thirty dollars per month, which was raised to forty-five dollars by special Act of Congress. Politically he is a stanch Republican; socially be is a member of the G. A. R. Post, No. 65, Elyria (in which he has been senior vice-commander), of the Royal Arcanum and Knights of Honor. G. H. ROBBINS, ex-treasurer of Lorain county, is a native of same, born September 25, 1826, fourth in the order of birth of the nine children of Joseph and Mehitabel (Hurlbut) Robbins, natives of Connecticut. The parents of subject moved to Jefferson county, N. Y., and there followed farming until 1825, when they came to Ohio and settled in the woods of LaGrange township, Lorain county, where they cleared a farm and remained till the father was about seventy years old. They then retired into.the village of La Grange, and there passed the remainder of their busy lives, the mother dying in 1878, at the age of seventy-nine years, the father in 1880, at the patriarchal age of ninety-one. He was in politics first a Democrat, then a Free-soiler, and lastly a Republican. He and his wife were members of the Baptist Church, in which he was a deacon from 1840 up to the time of his death. His father (grandfather of subject) was a native of Ashford, Conn., a farmer by occupation, and died in La Grange, Lorain county, when his grandson, G. H., was a boy. The subject proper of these lines received a liberal education at the common schools of the vicinity of his first home, and until he was twenty-four years old followed agricultural pursuits. He then entered mercantile business in the town of La Grange, and continued in same with encouraging success until 1880, when he was elected county treasurer, in which office he served two terms (four years). At LORAIN COUNTY, OHIO - 663 the time of his receiving the incumbency he moved into Elyria, and has since been one of its most prominent and respected citizens. Since 1856 he has been a zealous Republican, prior to which he was a Democrat. In 1853 Mr. Robbins was united in marriage with Miss Mary F. Perkins, who has borne him two children, Louise L. and Hettie J. Mary F. Perkins was born February 12, 1828, at Burlington, Otsego Co., N. Y., and is the eldest daughter and second child in the family of eight children—four sons and four daughters—born to Thomas and Lucy (Fitch) Perkins, who were also natives of the same place. Her early years were spent in Virgil, Cortland Co., N. Y., and in 1849 she removed with her parents to Grafton, Ohio. For several years previous to her marriage she was engaged in teaching, in which profession she was.very successful. Thomas Perkins was a descendant of John Perkins, one of two brothers who migrated from England to Boston about the year 1700. HENRY E. MUSSEY, a prominent business man of Elyria, and a leading financier of Ohio, commands more than a passing notice in the pages of this volume. He was born August 18, 1818, in Washington county, N. Y., where he passed his early school days. Reuben Mussey, father of our subject, was a native of New Hampshire, born in Dover, October 14, 1785. He studied law, and was admitted to the bar at Albany, N. Y., in 1818, and practiced his profession at Sandy Hill, N. Y., in partnership of the time with Judge Skinner, also law partner with B. F. Butler, of New York, and part of the time with Hon. Silas Wright, subsequently U. S. Senator in New York State. In 1825 he came to Elyria, his family following August 10, 1826, and here he remained, devoting himself chiefly to the practice of his profession, teaching school in the county, and in other occupations, including that of justice of the peace, until the fall of 1837, when he removed with all his family (excepting his son, Henry E.), to Rockford, Ill., where he continued in the practice of the law until his death, which occurred October 14, 1843. Henry E. Mussey completed his education in Elyria under the preceptorship of Rev. John Monteith, and at the age of fourteen commenced the battle of life with no capital save energy, willing heart and hands, and sound judgment. He takes pride in relating how he chopped cordwood in Elyria at eighteen and three-quarter cents and twenty cents. Choosing the arena of mercantile trade, he became clerk for Kendall & Parsons, where close application to business, steadiness and integrity soon brought him advancement till we find him in course of time senior partner of Mussey & Fuller, which subsequently became H. E. Mussey & Co., and he claims that the secret of the unbounded success the firm met with was the strictly cash basis upon which they operated—buying for cash and selling for cash. In 1842 Mr. .Mussey went west and took up a large amount of land in Minnesota. He was in Chicago when land there that is now worth millions could have been bought for a mere song; but from his experience he avers that money loaned at six per cent per annum is a better and safer investment than average real-estate investments. During the " forties " he made more than one trip to Michigan and elsewhere, carrying with him different bank currencies, and making exchanges at various places, selling at a discount for gold and trading currency for currency, in order to get Ohio money or gold. In 1857 he sold out his mercantile business to Baldwin, Laundon & Nelson, and engaged in lake shipping, becoming, from that time, interested also in banking and real estate. 664 - LORAIN COUNTY, OHIO. In 1843 Mr. Mussey was united in marriage with Miss Caroline M. Kendall, of Suffield, Conn., and five children were born to them—three sons and two daughters—Henry, who died at the age of eighteen months; and Eugene K., Reno F., Caroline E. and Flora-B., all living at the present time. A stanch Democrat, Mr. Massey has at all times been loyal to his party and country, but has never aspired to office, nor has he ever taken active part in political contests. For thirty continuous years he has been a member of the school board of Elyria, for twenty-four its treasurer, and during many years its president. He is vice-president of the National Bank of Elyria, and a director of the Cleveland National Bank of Cleveland, both of which institutions he assisted in organizing; is president of the Mussey Stone Company, one of the largest stone interests in Ohio; is largely interested in the Cambridge Consolidated Coal Company; besides in many other enterprises—financial and otherwise—and has taken pride and pleasure in contributing liberally of his time and means to whatever tended to the prosperity and welfare of the community at large. Mr. Mussey is possessed of a most retentive memory, recalling with wonderful accuracy the details of incidents which occurred within his own view during his long life; and he believes that memory is the divinest attribute of man, permitting him to live over again the happy days of his past life. He has in his possession a budget of souvenirs illustrative in a measure of the rapid strides this country has made during the past few decades—such as letters written in the " thirties " before envelopes came into use, and the postage was thirty-seven and one-half cents per Half ounce between Elyria and Indiana. He saw the day when the mail for Elyria was brought on horseback in a single bag three times a week, and has witnessed all the improvements since, from the daily stage to the present age of steam, telegraph and telephone, with postage gradually reduced to two cents per ounce to any part of the United States, and the single mail bag of three times a week developed into many such—pouring their contents, correspondence from all parts of the civilized world —several times a day in every day of the year. He has also been a witness to great political changes in the nation, and one of the greatest improvements that he marks was the transformation of a State currency to a National one. Mr. Mussey has seen dark periods of panics and financial depression, but by keen foresight and careful management he always succeeded in steering his affairs clear of shoals and the impending vortex. During the war of the Rebellion, he was true to his colors, gave much of his time and means toward the defense of the Union, and was a member of the local military committee. In religious connection his family are members of the Baptist Church, of which he has ever been a liberal supporter. Socially he has always been liberal, frank and genial, in business never else than scrupulously honorable and honest. H. M. PARKER, A. M., superintendent of public schools, Elyria, is a native of Licking county, Ohio, born in December, 1835, a son of John and Persis (Follett) Parker, natives of Franklin county, Vt. They come of old Puritan stock, and the first of the family in Ohio came about the year 1835. His grandfather was a soldier of the Revolution, and an officer in the war of 1812. One of his great-grandfathers was killed in the Revolution, and another was an officer throughout that war, and judge of the first Supreme Court of Vermont. Our subject received a liberal education at the corn mon schools of the neighborhood of his birthplace, and at Marietta College, Marietta, Ohio, from which insti- LORAIN COUNTY, OHIO - 667 tution he graduated in 1859. He entered upon the profession of teaching at the Granville Male Academy, of which he was principal for one year. He served two years as principal of the Second Ward Schools in Zanesville, Ohio, under the superintendency of Gen. M. D. Leggett. He resigned this position to accept the superintendency of the Elyria Public Schools, from which work he was called two years later, 1864, to take charge of the Mansfield Public Schools, which position he held till 1873, when he resigned to return to the Public Schools of Elyria, where he still remains. Mr. Parker Is a member of the National and the Ohio State Educational Associations, aid is a regular attendant at their meetings; :he has served on various committees thereof, and as president of the Ohio AssociatTOn; he was a member of the State examining board three years, having received his appointment from Col. D. F. DeWolf. While a resident –of Richland county, Ohio, he was a member of to board of county examiners, and sincelcoming to Lorain has been a member of the board of examiners of that county, some twenty years. At a convention of the Knights of the Maccabees of Ohio, held at Lakesidp, Ohio, in July, 1892, Mr. Parker was elected Great Commander for the State. At the close of the year he was reelected to the same responsible position. WILLIAM HELDMYER, prominent in the circles of Elyria, and one of the most extensive hardware merchants in Lorain county, is a native of the Buckeye State, born in Medina county April 13, 1850. He is a son of Jacob and Julia Heldmyer, natives of Wittenberg, Germany, who came to America in 1848, settling in Medina county, Ohio. The father, who was first a harness maker and later a farmer by occupation, died early in life; the mother is yet living in Elyria. William Heldmyer at about the age of fourteen years left home and worked in various cities throughout the country, finally, in 1867, locating in Elyria, where he first found employment on the L. S. & M. S. Railroad. but it was not until 1880 that his career of success commenced. At that time he opened, out, in conjunction with Mr. Wright and Mr. Semple, a hardware store in Elyria, under the firm name of Heldmyer, Wright & Semple, and three years later he bought out the entire concern, carrying same on for some three years longer as sole proprietor. He then received into partnership Mr. John Krantz, and for the past several years the prosperity of the firm has become as a proverb in the community, while others have not succeeded so well. William Heldmyer & Co. bought out the entire stock of IL Brush & Co. (at the time of their failure in Elyria), consisting of hardware, implements, etc. About this time the firm of W. H. Semple & Son also failed in business, and our subject purchased their stock of stoves, etc. The firm also bought out the stock of W. E. Brooks, one of the largest implement dealers in northern Ohio, and with this lame stock of goods—the practical consolidation of four separate businesses—William Heldmyer & Co. presented themselves to the public as the largest general hardware dealers in Lorain county. In addition to the articles already enumerated, they include in their stock agricultural implements of all kinds, farm vehicles, buggies, wagons, etc., as well as hardware of every description, seeds, phosphates, etc. The building they occupy, and which they own, is 50 x 165 feet, three floors of which they use, besides a warehouse filled with goods. Mr. Heldmyer is a stockholder in the Savings Deposit Bank Co., of Elyria, in the Lake Erie Electric Light Company at Lorain, and in the steamship " Veca." In politics he is a Republican, and has been a member of the city council for four years. He is a representative self-made man, all that he 668 - LORAIN COUNTY, OHIO. has made being due entirely to his own indomitable perseverance and irrepressible energy. In 1874 Mr. Heldmyer was united in marriage with Miss Mary Beese,of Elyria, by which union there are four children: Florence, Alice, Leona and Harry, all living. In the spring of 1893 Mr. Heldmyer purchased the "Metropolitan Hotel" of Elyria, and August 1, same year, bought a one-third interest in the "Andwur Hotel," an elegant hostelry costing ninety thousand dollars. His home is situated at Middle avenue and Fourth street. HEMAN E. STARR, who for the past sixty years, or nearly so, has been a resident of Penfield township, is a son of Orrin Starr, who was a representative pioneer citizen of same. Orrin Starr was born October 30, 1803, in Delaware county, N. Y., a son of Eleazer and Rebecca (Clapp) Starr, old settlers of that county, where he passed his early years on the home farm. He received his literary training in the common schools of his native county, but when seven years old he was left fatherless, and the duties of assisting in the support of the family and his widowed mother devolved upon him. In 1834 he disposed of his interest in the family estate, and migrating to Lorain county, Ohio. settled on a. farm a mile and a half northeast of Penfield Center, at which time the present territory of Penfield township contained but two frame dwellings. On September 12, 1825, he had married Miss Abigail, daughter of Heman and Lucinda Hickok, of Schoharie county, N. Y., and they had passed a happy wedded life of over fifty-six years, when, on April 30, 1882, he was called from earth; he was buried in Penfield cemetery. Since the death of her husband Mrs. Starr has resided on the home farm with her son Clapp R., who now owns the place. Mr. and Mrs. Starr were the parents of eleven children, viz.: Melinda (deceased), Minerva and Maria (twins), Heman E. (our subject), Elizabeth (who died in Kansas), Alonzo B. (who died at Mount Vernon, Ky., of disease contracted in the army), Hiram H., Emma L. (deceased), Edna, Clapp R., and Marian A. (deceased). In politics he was originally an Old-line Whig, later a Republican, and was elected justice of the peace in his township, but resigned after serving a year, feeling that his personal affairs required his exclusive attention ; he was also elected to other township offices. He and his wife were both members of the Methodist Episcopal Church, the latter having joined it in her youth. He was a very successful man, and at the time of his death owned 2371 acres of excellent land in the center of Penfield township. Heman E. Starr was born March 30, 1831, at Harpersfield, Delaware Co., N. Y., and when three and a half years old was brought by his parents to Penfield township. He received his education in the district schools of the neighborhood of his boyhood home, then held in old log houses, his first teacher being Miss Mary Hayes, but being the eldest son he was unable to avail himself of many advantages. He was reared to agricultural pursuits, which he followed on the home farm until the age of twenty-one, when he took up his home with an uncle, Talcott Starr; but after residing with him only thirteen days he was taken ill, and he did not recover for a year. On November 13, 1852, he was united in marriage with Miss Amelia M. Gaylord, who was born May 12, 1833, in Harpersfield, N. Y., daughter of Milton and Hannah (Eells) Gaylord, who came to Penfield township in 1836, and later settled in Wellington township. The ceremony was performed by Rev. William Runnals, a Methodist Episcopal minister. After their marriage Mr. and Mrs. Starr resided for a short time with her father in LORAIN COUNTY, OHIO - 669 Wellington, and in the following spring settled on their present farm, three-quarters of a mile south of the center of Penfield township. At the time of their coming but a small portion of this place was cleared, and they first lived thereon in a home that cost twenty dollars, complete. Here he has since erected a pleasant dwelling, and now owns 130 acres of excellent farm land. Mr. and Mrs. Starr have had three children, viz.: Milton G., a farmer of Penfield township, who married Miss Hattie Noble (daughter of Mortimer E. and Helen A. (Olmstead) Noble, residents of Swanton, Ohio), and has one child, Winifred L.; Lizzie, who died young; and Harry E., a hardware merchant of McComb, Hancock Co., Ohio. Our subject has always followed farming, and for a number of years has conducted a dairy business in connection therewith. In his political preferences he is a Republican, . and has served as trustee and in various other township positions. He has also held offices in the Congregational Church, of which he and his wife are members. WILLIAM GRAVES SHARP is a native of Ohio, born at Mount Gilead March 14, 1859, and is descended from one of the oldest and most honored families in Maryland. George Sharp, grandfather of subject, and his son (also named George), both natives of Maryland, were among the first editors in Ohio, in which State and in Maryland they held honorable political positions. The grandfather died at Mount Gilead, and is buried there. The father of William G. married Miss Mahala Graves, who was descended from an old Connecticut family. They had but two children, William G. and George W., the latter of whom was the youngest senator of Michigan; he is a graduate of Elyria high school and Michigan University, and is now an attorney at law in Michigan. The subject of these lines received a liberal education, in part at the common schools, and in part at the high schools of Elyria, from which latter he graduated. He then took a course at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, where he graduated in the crass of 1881 in law, and part of the literary course. When he left college he round himself poor in a financial point of view, but rich in a harvest of literary and legal lore. He then made trip west to Minnesota and Dakota, and at Fargo, in the last named State, entered newspaper work, becoming local editor and finally editor-in-chief. Returning to Ohio, he opened a law office in Elyria, and soon afterward we find him forming a partnership with Lester McLean in Elyria. In 1884 he was elected, on the Democratic ticket, to the office of prosecuting attorney, overcoming an adverse majority of more than 2,000, and after three years was nominated for State senator in his District, but was defeated, although he ran considerably ahead of his ticket. In 1892 he was a Presidential elector for Ohio on the Democratic ticket, and has been chairman of County and Congressional District Committees at various times. About five years ago he became interested as attorney for oertain Tennessee business corporations, and in many other enterprises, from which connection with Tennessee capitalists he was enabled to organize a number of large manufacturing concerns in the United States and Canada. He also visited several South American Republics for the same purpose, meeting with encouraging success, but was interrupted by the Chilean war. Mexico was also visited by him in similar interests, and with a like result, and he is now a director and stockholder in half a dozen different companies, requiring more or less attention. He numbers among his friends and business associates some of the most prominent capitalists in this country, both in the North and South, whose confidence he enjoys in the highest degree In the meantime his 670 - LORAIN COUNTY, OHIO. home is still in Elyria, as is also his law office; but so much of his time is given to manufacturing enterprises that he has but little to spare for clientage. While in regular practice he made a record equal to the best, being successful in a very large proportion of the State cases entrusted to him as prosecuting attorney. In 1891 he began the erection of the W. G. Sharp block in Elyria, which is built of pressed brick, and is three stories in height, having the interior fitted up with hardwood, marble and tile. Mr. Sharp has traveled extensively in nearly every country except the extreme Orient, and has profited much by his observation of men and things. Socially he is a member of the F. & A. M., I. O. O. F., K. O. T. M. and K. of P. FRANK W. BENNETT, president of the Wellington (Brick) Machine Co., of Wellington, Ohio, comes of stalwart English ancestry, and of patriotic Revolutionary stock in this country. His grandfather, a native of either Vermont or Massachusetts, served in the Revolution. He was a Baptist preacher for a very long period, and died at the patriarchal age of ninety-two years in Wellington, Lorain Co., Ohio, where his wife also ended her days. They came to Ohio with their family some time in the winter of 1832-33. They had two childrer4: Isaac, father of subject, and Fannie, who married Peter Lost, .of Penfield, Lorain county. Isaac Bennett, fathei of subject, was born in Vermont in 1800, and came with his parents to Ohio when he was about thirty-two years of age. He taught school both before and after coming here, but chiefly gave writing lessons in Lorain county. In course of time he opened out a brick manufacturing business, which he carried on some years; also owned a sawmill, and made rakes and such like agricultural implements in a shop he built for the purpose. For seventeen years he served as a justice of the peace, and it is stated by good authority that no decision of bis was ever overruled by higher courts. He was librarian of the public library at Wellington many years, and in every public enterprise showed himself in a substantial way to be a useful, loyal citizen. He was a zealous Baptist as long as there was a church or congregation of that denomination in the neighborhood, but died a member of the Disciple Church, that event taking place in 1886, when he was aged about eighty-seven years; his wife, Esther (Childs), passed away in 1891. They were the parents or six children, as follows: Lewis, of whom special mention will presently be made; Tirzah, who married a Mr. Kirk; William, residing in Wellington; Charles, also in Wellington ; Levi, deceased, and Frank W., subject of sketch. Frank W. Bennett, whose name introduces this sketch, was born December 5, 1843, in Wellington, Lorain Co., Ohio. He received a liberal education at the common schools of the neighborhood of his place of birth, and at the age of nineteen laid aside his Ovid and Sallust for the musket and sword. In 1863 he enlisted in Company C, Eighty-sixth O. V. I., six months service, and was discharged February 10, 1864; February 1, 1865, he enlisted, second time, in the One Hundred and Seventy-sixth O. V. I., and was honorably discharged June 8, 1865. In the first company he served he was a corporal, and during his last enlistment he was in the regimental band. After the war he commenced the manufacture of cheese boxes in Wellington, Lorain county, which industry he conducted until purchasing an interest in his present business, originally known as Bennett Bros. & Co., but since incorporated into a stock company under the title of the Wellington Machine Co. This company is extensively engaged in the manufacture of brick machinery, an industry which, under their management LORAIN COUNTY, OHIO - 671 and control, has grown from small proportions to one of considerable magnitude. In connection with this they own the Quaker Brick Machine, the sale of which they have pushed in all parts of the United States, as well as brickyard supplies. In 1890 they put up their present manufacturing building, which contains about half an acre of floor space, and they employ an average of seventy-five men. In 1867 Mr. Bennett married Miss Ella Roys, who was born in Norfolk, Litchfield Co., Conn., in 1848, and came to Ohio with her parents in 1857. Mr. and Mrs. Bennett have one child—Roy C. Politically our subject is an ardent Republican. Lewis Bennett, eldest brother of Frank W., is a native of Vermont, born September 7, 1824, and received nearly all his schooling in Lorain county. Till he was in his twenty-third year he worked in his father's brickyard, after which he carried on a similar business for his own account, some thirty years, in Wellington, Lorain county, making by hand most of the brick used in the erection of all the best houses in the town. In 1871 he built the "Park Hotel", in Wellington, a well known and popular hostelry. In 1847 he married Miss Fannie Lewis, a native of Medina county, Ohio, born in September, 1830, and two children have been born to them, both now deceased, the son at the age of two years, the daughter (who had married, but had no children) when thirty years of age. Politically Mr. Bennett is a lifelong Republican, and in matters of religion is a member of the Disciple Church. O. T. MAYNARD, M. D., a leading physician of Lorain county, and a resident of Elyria, was born September 14, 1851, in Ripley township, Huron Co., Ohio. He is a son of George and Polly (Woodward) Maynard, natives of New York State, both of whom are yet living, and carrying on farming in Ripley township, Huron county, where they have resided ever since their marriage, in 1850. Our subject was reared on a farm, and received his elementary education in the common schools of the neighborhood of his place of birth. So hard did he study, and so apt was he as a student, that from being a scholar he became a teacher before he was twenty-one years old, and all the money he earned up to that age went toward the support of the family. After that period of his life he continued teaching during winter time, and working on a farm in summers, saving his money in order to enable him to follow out the ambition of his boyhood and youth—to become a physician. In 1873 he commenced the study of medicine, the same year entering the Eclectic Medical Institute, Cincinnati, Ohio, where he took his degree of M. D. in 1875. During the two succeeding years he was assistant physician in the Northwestern Ohio Asylum for the Insane at Toledo, Ohio. In the general practice of his profession Dr. Maynard opened out first at Middletown, Ohio, whence, in 1878, he moved to North Amherst, in Lorain county, and here he practiced over seven years, during which time he took a post-graduate course at the Medical College, Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio, graduating there in 1884. In 1885 and '86 the Doctor spent six months in the Polyclinic, New York, taking another post-graduate course. In 1886, on his return, he moved to Elyria, Ohio, and established his present lucrative practice. The winter of 1888-89 he passed in Europe, visiting various medical institutions in London, Paris, Berlin and Vienna, spending a whole year in post-graduate work; in addition to all of which he took a short course at the Homeopathic Medical College, Chicago, in 1892, and spent six weeks at the Post-graduate School of New York, in the fall of 1893. This is an experience of study that few medical men in Ohio can boast of, and Dr. Maynard is 672 - LORAIN COUNTY, OHIO. justly recognized as one of the leading practitioners in his county, while at the same time he is almost the youngest man there in the profession. Dr. O. T. Maynard was married, in 1877, to Miss Mary E. Lyman, niece of Dr. B. A. Wright, superintendent of the Northwestern Ohio Asylum for the Insane at Toledo, already mentioned. In politics he is a Republican, and socially is a member of the Royal Arcanum, the I. O. O. F., the Cuyahoga County Medical Society, the Society of Medical Sciences of Cleveland, and the Ohio State Medical Society. He has been an active member of the Baptist Church ever since he was married, having united with that Church at Cincinnati during his student life. CHARLES E. WILSON, county commissioner of Lorain county (with residence in Elyria), is a native of same, born in Avon township, August 26, 1840. His father, William Wilson, was born in 1812 in Northamptonshire, England, whence at about the age of eighteen years he came to the United States, locating in Cleveland, Ohio, for a few years. He there married Miss Elvira Clisbee, and the young couple then (1839) moved to Avon township, Lorain county, settling on a piece of land, at that time all covered by the forest. He died January 19, 1860, aged forty-seven years, two months, nineteen days, a Democrat in politics, a Baptist in religion. His father, also named William, came from England to this country, and died in Avon township, Lorain county; he was twice married, his first Wife dying in England, his second in Avon township. Our subject's mother, who is at present living at Tabor, Iowa, aged seventy-three years, comes of New England stock. She is the mother of six children, of whom the following is brief mention: Charles E. is the subject of this sketch; Nancy is the wife of N. S. Phelps, of Glenwood, Iowa; Louis E. is in Atchison county, Mo.; Anna is the wife of J. Graves, of Tabor, Iowa; Willis S. died when twenty-three years old; Alice is also deceased. Charles E. Wilson, the subject proper of this sketch, received his elementary education at the common schools of Avon township, which was supplemented with an attendance of one term at Oberlin College. In 1864 he enlisted in Company H, First Ohio Heavy Artillery, which served in eastern Tennessee. He remained in the army until the close of the war, and was in active service at the time of Lee's surrender, after which he came home, and in the fall of the same year drove a team to Iowa, where he resided one year on a farm. Once more coming to Lorain county, he married Miss Elzina Lucas, and then settled on the old homestead which at that time he rented, but later bought. They lived there until 1886, when he located in Elyria. He is a stockholder in the Elyria Savings Deposit Bank Co.; has been a member of the board of directors of the Lorain County Agricultural Society; he is affiliated with the G. A. R., and is a F. & A. M. He is a Republican in politics, and has been a member of the city council and of the board of education. To Mr. and Mrs. Wilson were born two children, viz.: Alice, who was married, June 8,1893, to F. E. Edwards, and lives in Medina, Ohio, where her husband is a leading dry-goods merchant, and Grace, who departed from earth at the early age of sixteen years. The family are members of the M. E. Church. SMITH STEELE is a son of John and Pollie (St. John) Steele, and was born in Avon township, Lorain Co., Ohio, October 27, 1819. His father, a native of Delaware county, N. Y., where he married, was a tanner and currier, and harness and saddle maker. In LORAIN COUNTY, OHIO - 673 1818 he came to Lorain county, settling in Avon township, where he followed his trade for some years, and then, about 1826, removed to North Amherst. Here he passed from earth at the age of sixty-six years. The mother of our subject was born in Connecticut, and reared in Delaware county, N. Y.; she died in California. A brief record of their children is as follows: Julia Ann married 0. Williams, of Avon township, Lorain county, and died there; at one time they lived in Michigan. John C., a farmer, lived in Avon township, Lorain county, for a time, then in North Amherst, where he died; his daughter is living on his late farm. R. E. went from North Amherst to California, where he had ranches, and died very wealthy. Horace S., who was a carpenter and joiner and also a farmer, went to California, and lived on a ranch. Nathaniel was a resident of North Amherst, and died while visiting in New York State. Mary B. married S. J. Finney, a professor and lecturer, who was elected to the Assembly of California; she died in Pescadero, Cal. The seventh in order of birth is Smith, the subject of sketch. Emeline married Isaac Steele, and is reputed wealthy; they live in Pescadero, California. Smith Steele received but a limited education, and was reared to the arduous duties of farm life. In 1841 he was united in marriage with Miss Lydia Ormsby, who was born in North Amherst January 27, 1822, and whose parents were among the first pioneers of North Amherst. After marriage Mr. and Mrs. Steele remained a short time on the farm, and then moved to North Amherst, where for six years he carried on a store, and for three years a hotel, at the end of which time they again went on the farm. In 1869 they returned to North Amherst, where they built a nice residence. Mr. Steele had twenty-two acres of prime land, and followed agriculture until his retirement from active life in 1873. He and his wife visited California three times, on one occasion spending a year in the "Eureka State." Mr. and Mrs. Smith Steele have two children living—H. N. and Eber —two having died—Mary, born January 29, 1843, died at the age of two years; Hattie May, born October 29, 1849, died October 8, 1864. H. N. was born December 20, 1845, and was educated at Oberlin College; he is now cashier of the Savings Deposit Bank of North Amherst. Eber was born December. 16, 1847, and educated at Oberlin; he is now secretary in the same bank as his brother. Politically our subject was originally a Democrat, but is now a Republican; he and his wife are Spiritualists. He is a stockholder in the North Amherst Bank, and in the Lorain Steamship Company. Rev. Caleb Ormsby, father of Mrs. Smith Steele, was born at Becket, Berkshire Co., Mass., August 10, 1789, and died July 31, 1864, in North Amherst, Ohio. He received his education in his native town, and in New York State, in which latter he was married in 1811, to Catherine Stanton. In 1820 they came to Ohio and made a settlement in Amherst township, having previously bought the land on which the village of North Amherst now stands. He was a circuit preacher in the M. E. Church for about forty years, riding many toiled to the various meeting houses, and he had a wide reputation for preaching funeral sermons. Besides his duties as a preacher, Mr. Ormsby carried on farming, and became wealthy. He died July 31, 1864, a lifelong Republican. His wife was born in Rhode Island, and died hi 1872. Their children were as folio wst Isaac C., born January 5, 1813, died in 1875 (he was a sailor on the lakes); Mary C., married to John Williams, of Avon township, Lorain county, died about the year 1832; Caleb N., born August 27, 1824, was a farmer, and died June 1844. H. N. STEELE, cashier of the Savings Deposit Bank, North Amherst, is a native of that town, born December 20, 1845, a 674 - LORAIN COUNTY, OHIO. son of Smith and Lydia (Ormsby) Steele. He received his education at Oberlin College, after which he commenced business at North Amherst. For some time he was in the milling business, and for about five years carried on agriculture. He was one of the organizers of the Savings Deposit Bank in North Amherst, and March 12, 1891, he was appointed cashier of same. Mr. Steele was united in marriage, September 20;1867, with Miss Ellen Gawne, and four childrn have been born to them, as follows: Edgar, Franklin, Florence and May. Our subject is a Republican, and a member of the K. of P. He is a stockholder in the North Amherst Furniture Company, and in the Lorain Steamship Company. Mr. Steele is a man of excellent business capacity, and an expert in financial matters. JOSEPH L. WHITON, JR., a prominent farmer of Amherst township, is a worthy representative of an early pioneer family. His grandparents were Joseph L. and Amanda Whiton, and the following is a brief record of their children: Harriet, born March 7, 1796, is now deceased; Amanda, born October 10, 1797, is also deceased; Samafitha, born August 30, 1794, came to Lorain county, and died December 13, 1878, in St. Charles, Minn.; Joseph L. is the father of our subject; Daniel G., born March 20, 1801, came to Lorain county, but subsequently went to Wisconsin, and died there March 20, 1866; Edward V., born June 2, 1805, came to Lorain county, and afterward went to Janesville, Rock Co., Wis., where he became prominent in the early history of the county, and served as judge, deciding the Barstow case (he died April 12, 1859); Eliza, born April 16, 1807, died June 15, 1885, at Clifton, Va.; Catherine, born March 8, 1810, died August 14, 1836; and Agnes, born August 12, 1813, is deceased. The father of this family was a soldier in the Revolutionary war. He died August 16, 1828. Joseph L. Whiton was born July 14, 1799, in Lee, Berkshire Co., Mass., and came to Lorain county, Ohio, at the age of twenty years, locating on land in Black River township. He afterward returned to Massachusetts, where he was married December 18, 1829, to Lavina Wright, a native of Springfield, that State, and in 1830 they came to Amherst township, Lorain county, settling in the then wilderness, where they passed the remainder of their lives. They became the parents of three children, viz.: Agnes, who married Henry Allen, of NeW York, and died in Amherst township August 1, 1863; Catherine, wife of M. W. Axtell, of North Amherst, and Joseph L. Mr. Whiton took great interest in the politics of his day; he served for twelve years as justice of the peace; for seven years he was associate judge in the court of common pleas; he represented his county in the Legislature during the winter of 1849-50, and was always very active in public affairs. He died April 26, 1869, his wife surviving him till April 8, 1874, when she too passed away. Joseph L. Whiton, Jr., was born March 28, 1848, on his present farm in Amherst township, received his education in the district schools, and has always followed farming. On June 24, 1874, he was married in Amherst township to Miss Annetta J. Gawn, a native of Lake Breeze, Sheffield township, Lorain county, whose grandparents, John and Ann Esther Quail) Gawn, were natives of the Isle of Man, and came to Lorain county in a very early day; they died in Amherst township. Their son, Daniel Gawn, who was also born in the Isle of Man, learned the trade of carpenter, and when a boy of sixteen came to Lorain county, Ohio. He was married, at Black River, to Susanna Spooner, a native of Maine, and to their union were born nine children: Annetta J. (Mrs. Whiton), Thomas E. (living in Amherst LORAIN COUNTY, OHIO - 677 township), Mary E. (wife of Charles Griffin, of Amherst township), John L. (a resident of Lorain), Charles L. (living in North Amherst), James (in North Amherst), Susanna C. (wife of Adam Schubert, of Lorain county), Joseph L. (in Amherst) and Daniel C. After his marriage Mr. Gawn operated Lake Breeze farm, and in 1867 moved to Amherst township, where he died January 22, 1876; his widow is now residing in Lorain. To Mr. and Mrs. Whiton have been born five children: Joseph Edward, Curtis Warren, Edith Lovina, Agnes L. and Arthur Lucas. In politics Mr. Whiton is a Democrat, and has served repeatedly as trustee, assessor, and member of the school board. He conducts a general farming business, giving his principal attention, however, to stock farming, raising Shorthorn cattle. EDWARD WEST, familiarly known as " Deacon West," is a capitalist and farmer of no small prominence in Lorain county, and a citizen of unquestionable loyalty and probity, holding many offices in the township where he resided. He was born October 3, 1818, in Greenwich, Mass., a son of Roger West, who was born in Octobei., 1787, in the same place, and died August 21, 1837. Roger West married, in 1813, Miss Cynthia Sears, born April 12, 1792, and died July 12, 1840. Roger received a fair education in his native town, and became a good bookkeeper and business man. By occupation he was a miller, owning saw, carding and grist mills. In 1831 he came west with his family to Ohio, the first winter tarrying in Brooklyn, Cuyahoga county, near Cleveland; thence in March, 1832, moving to Strongsville, same county, where they resided two years, and then came to Ridgeville, Lorain Co., Ohio, where for nearly four years the father followed farming. Here he died, and the family in March (1838) following proceeded to Huntington township, where they made a permanent settlement, the mother dying there July 12, 1840. Mr. and Mrs. Roger West were upright, honorable people, held in respectful remembrance for their many virtues. They were the parents of seven children, a record of whom is as follows: (1) Lyman was born July 3, 1814, and was twenty-four years old when the family settled at Huntington; here he was shortly afterward converted, and joined the Baptist Church at Huntington, of which he was an active member and deacon until 1867, when he removed with his family to Michigan, locating on a farm in DeWitt township, Clinton county. He united by letter with the Baptist Church at that place, where he was made deacon in September, 1867, serving until 1877, when he removed to Lansing, same State, and united soon after with the Baptist Church there. He finally returned to his old home in DeWitt township, Clinton county, as his health was poor and he wished to be near his son, and there he died, August 1, 1886. (2) Hannah was born September 3, 1816, and in February, 1834, was united in marriage to Marvin E. Stone, who was killed by a runaway horse October 14, 1879, when he was seventy-five years of age. He had lived in Strongsville for almost sixty years. They had nine children. Mrs. Stone died November 18, 1893. (3) Edward, of whom special mention is made further on, is the subject of this sketch. (4) Turner was born March 5, 1821, and spent most of his life in Lorain county, but in his later years he went to Kansas to encourage and help his sons. He had a fall in a cornfield, which proved fatal, and he died September 26, 1875. (5) Alpheus was born June 18, 1823, and died August 1, 1828, when five years old. (6) Henry B. was born July 3, 1832, at Strongsville, Cuyahoga county, and spent three years in study at Oberlin College, Ohio; he was soon after chosen 678 - LORAIN COUNTY, OHIO. recorder of Lorain county, in which position he served for nine years, holding the office three years longer than any other man up to that time. Shortly after the expiration of his third term he went to Put-in-Bay, and engaged in the hotel business, being the pioneer in that line there; and here he continued in this for fifteen years, when the "Put-in-Bay House" was destroyed by fire. Some time prior to this event Mr. West had become interested in the "West House," at Sandusky, and after the fire he removed thither, remaining there three or four years, when he removed to Shelby, Ohio, conducting the "Junction House" at that place two or three years. He next went to Cleveland, where, as stated by the Cleveland press, he became one of the oldest and most successful hotelkeepers in the city, and died there July 12, 1888. (7) Harriet R. was born July 3, 1834, in Ridgeville township, Lorain county, and in 1859 was married to Fazelo Hubbard, with whom she removed to Illinois in 1860. She embraced religion when very young, and was always a meek and Christian-like woman, and an ardent worker in the church, ever ready to do her Master's will. She died at Pana, Illinois, November 11, 1870. Edward West, whose name opens this sketch, received a fair education at the public schools of his native place, and two and a half years at Oberlin College, Ohio, and assisted his father in his woolen mill, chiefly in the carding room. He was also employed on a farm till 1850, when he commenced dealing in sheep and wool, a business he followed for about thirty years in connection with his farm, ,which was located in Huntington township about three-quarters of a mile south of the center. In 1881 he came to Wellington, with the business progress of which town he has since become intimately identified. Soon after the organization of the bank there he become one of its heaviest stockholders and a director, and has been connected with same ever since. On September 24, 1840, he was united in marriage with Miss Erneline C. Chapman, born August 26, 1821, in Montgomery, Hampden Co., Mass., a daughter of Abner and Olive (Fisher) Chapman, natives of Connecticut and Massachusetts, respectively, and a record of whose children is as follows: (1) Luther, born .November 20, 1798, came to Ohio on foot, settling in Geauga county, where he was married February 19, 1830, to Anna Granger; he died March 30, 1886, near Troy, Ohio, and was a member of the M. E. Church. (2) Calvin, born March 24, 1800, was married November 5, 1823, to Eliza Van-Horn, whose father was a cabinet maker in Boston, Mass. Calvin Chapman died June 1, 1827. (3) Achsah, born February 10, 1802, died January 10, 1804. (4) Olive, born April 22, 1804, died January 10, 1870, in Wisconsin; she was married on February 4, 1822, to Julius Hatch. (5) Achsah, born Eebruary 1, 1806, died December 28, 1823. (6) Laura, born February 29, 1808, was married December 19, 1823, to Sumner Otis; she died January 9, 1832. They had a son who was a major-general in the regular army, and. a graduate of West Point, and lived with his grandfather, Abner Chapman. (7) Abner, Jr., who was born March 8, 1810, and was married March 25, 1835, to Eliza A. Cone, who died February 5, 1884. He resides in Wellington. (8) William, born April 30, 1812, was married November 19, 1835, to Rowena Babcock, who died 1Vlay 3, 1885, in Huntington, a member of the Baptist Church; he died December 26, 1880. (9) Eunice, born July 3, 1814, was married December 7, 1840, to Lyman West; she died March 18, 1887. (10) Hulda A., born June 19, 1817, was married October 5, 1841, to Josiah C. Lang, who was a soldier in the Civil war, and died November 17, 1861; she died September 20, 1872. (11) John Austin, born April 7, 1819, was married November 6, 1844, to Isabel Lindsey; he died May 22, 1891. (12) Emeline C. is LORAIN COUNTY, OHIO - 679 the wife of Edward West. Mrs. Emeline C. West was twelve years of age when she came to Lorain county, and she attended school in Huntington township, after which she taught some years. At about the age of nineteen she united with the Baptist Church, but two years after her marriage she became identified with the Congregationalists. Politically our subject has been a stanch Republican since the organization of the party, and he was always a pronounced Abolitionist. In February, 1840, he united with the Congregational Church, in which he was deacon for many years. All his life he has been an active and zealous church worker, and has been liberal of his means in the cause of education, in charities and in public improvements, giving at one time a thousand dollars to Oberlin College and smaller amounts since that time, and about a year ago he gave five hundred dollars to the village library of Wellington. GEORGE H. ELY, one of the leading spirits of enterprise in Elyria, and one of her most prominent citizens, is a native of that beautiful town, born November 15, 1844, a son of Heenan and Mary H. (Monteith) Ely. After attending the common schools of the place, the subject of this brief notice entered Yale College, from which he graduated in the class of 1865. On his return from college he became a member of the firm of Topliff & Ely, in Elyria, giving his entire attention to the development and management of that concern until 1888, when he sold out his interest. At present he is connected with several prominent businesses in Elyria, most of which owe their origin to his enterprise and forethought. In the fall of 1893 he was elected senator to represent the 27th and 29th Districts in the 71st General Assembly of Ohio. For many years he has shown great interest in the Lorain County Agricultural Society, and is at present the president. Moreover, rather as a diversion from the cares of business than otherwise, he has for some considerable time been interested in the live-stock industry, and he is now the owner of one of the best stock farms in Ohio, and of the far-famed "Elyria." On December 11, 1867, George H. Ely and Miss Annie Moody, daughter of Loman A. and Louisa (Patrick) Moody, of Chicopee, Mass., were married in that town. In his political preferences Mr. Ely is a Republican. CHARLES COOLEY, superintendent of the County Infirmary, was born in Brownhelm township, Lorain Co., Ohio, in 1835, a son of Moses B. and Jane M. (Peck) Cooley, lifelong farmers, the latter of whom died at the age of seventy years. They were members of the Presbyterian Church. Moses B. Cooley was a native of Massachusetts, born in Stockbridge in 1800, and in 1818 came west to Ohio, settling as a pioneer in Brownhelm township, Lorain county. He died in 1889, a Republican in politics, originally an Old-line Whig. The pioneer of the name in Lorain county was Hanson Cooley, who, in 1818, settled with his family in what is now Brownhelm township. He was a millwright by trade, and built the old Ely mill, the first one in the county. Charles Cooley received a liberal education in the schools of his native township, and at Oberlin College. He married Miss Anna Bacon, who died in 1865, leaving two sons—George, now in St Louis, Mo., and Charles. For his second wife he married, in 1870, Miss Addie Appleby, by which union there is one child. Mrs. Cooley is a lady of refinement, possessed of superior personal attainments and business qualifications, and by her popularity has surrounded herself with hosts of friends. After his first marriage Mr. 680 - LORAIN. COUNTY, OHIO. Cooley remained on his father's farm in Brownhelm township for five years. In 1888 he was appointed to his present position, since when he has been a resident of Elyria. In the conducting of the affairs of the County Infirmary he is assisted by his excellent wife, and they have given eminent satisfaction in every particular. In politics Mr. Cooley is a Republican; socially he is a member of the F. & A. M. and K. of P. HENRY WURST. Among the pre- eminently self-made men of Lorain county, and prominent in the business circles of Elyria, is to be found this gentleman, who is deserving of more than a passing notice in the pages of this volume. He is a native of Hessen-Cassel, Germany, born November 7, 1849. When he was about one year old, his parents emigrated to America with their family, making their way westward to Ohio, where they made a settlement in the fair town of Elyria. When our subject was six years old he lost his father by death, and after a few years' attendance at the common schools, at the early age of eleven, he commenced business life as a clerk in the grocery store of C. A. Parks, in Elyria. About 1866 Mr. Parks went out of business, and young Wurst commenced work for Mrs. C. A. Ely; from there went to Mr. D. M. Fisher's, and from there to Baldwin, Laundon & Nelson, with whom he stayed until they sold the grocery and crockery and hardware business to Harman & Obitts. With this firm he remained till October 2, 1875, in which year he and H. H. Andress jointly purchased the grocery and crockery business. After a short time, however, Mr. Andress retired, Mr. Wurst purchasing the entire concern. He remodeled the store and greatly extended the trade, which soon became one of considerable magnitude, bringing in profitable returns. In 1880 he purchased the property whereon now stands the Wurst block, but in 1885 his buildings were destroyed by fire. He immediately rebuilt, however, the result being one of the best business blocks in Elyria, and known as the " Wurst block," just mentioned. It is of brick, three stories in height, the main building being 44 x 75 feet, and the rear one 18 x 70. Mr. Wurst continued the grocery business till June 15, 1892, when he found himself so deeply engaged in other interests in the city that, in order to give his undivided attention to affairs of, to him, more importance, he sold out his grocery. He and his former partner, Mr. Andress, had purchased the " Beebe House," the leading hotel in Elyria, which at considerable outlay they repaired and refitted, and it now stands second to none in the State as a first-class hotel. Mr. Wurst is a stockholder in the Elyria Savings Bank; the Electric Light Plant Company of Lorain; the Savings and Loan Association of Elyria, and of the National Building and Loan Association of Cleveland. On November 27, 1873, Mr. Wurst was united in marriage with Miss Ella Robinson, of Ridgeville, Lorain Co., Ohio, she being of English birth, and two children have been born to them—Earl H. and Charles J., both now attending college at Oberlin. Politically Mr. Wurst is a Republican, and he is a member of the Knights of Pythias. FENELON B. RICE, the well-known director of the Oberlin Conservatory of Music, is a native of Ohio, born at Greensburg, Trumbull county, in 1841. He is the first son of Rev. David L. and Emily (Johnson) Rice, the former of whom was born in Trumbull county, Ohio, May 1, 1820, the latter in Canaan, Litchfield Co., Connecticut. The father of our subject received his literary education in Trumbull county, Ohio, and studied for the ministry in Geauga Seminary. The field of his cleri- LORAIN COUNTY, OHIO - 681 cal labors lay in Trumbull and Ashtabula counties, Ohio, excepting twenty years in which he was traveling from place to place in the country, from New York to Iowa, soliciting subscriptions or donations toward the founding of Hillsdale (Mich.) College, visiting all the Freewill Baptists on his route, he being a preacher in the church of that denomination. He died in Trumbull county in 1886. His father, David Rice, came from his native place, North Brookfield, Mass., to Trumbull county, Ohio, then a wilderness, where he lived seven years ere a death occurred in their township. He married a native of Brookfield, Vt., and they were members of the Congregational Church. Two brothers, one sister and quite a colony of relatives settled there. Enoch Rice, great-grandfather of the subject of this sketch, was a farmer and mechanic, and built grist and saw mills. Fenelon B. Rice received his early education at Orwell Academy in Ashtabula county, Ohio (Prof. Tuckerman being then in charge, now president of New Lyme Institute), and at Hillsdale College. In 1859 he went to Boston for the purpose of studying music, and in 1863 he graduated from the Boston School of Music. In that year he took charge of the musical department of Hillsdale (Mich.) College, where he continued until 1867, at which time he went abroad with his wife, who was herself musical and became an accomplished vocalist, for the extension of their musical culture. His time was spent at Leipsic, chiefly under the instruction of Dr. Papperitz, Ignaz Moscheles and Louis Plaidy in piano, and Prof. Richter in theory. He there found the standard of criticism higher than any he had hitherto met, and set about mastering the Leipsic point of view, with results that were determining for his own taste. His teachers, also, were men of high moral conceptions, and their influence fostered Prof. Rice's natural sentiment in favor of high morals in company with high art. On his return from Germany, in 1869, he began his professional work at Oberlin. He became associated with Prof. G. W. Steele, and entered into a joint arrangement to manage the Conservatory of Music in that place for two years, at the end of which time Prof. Steele withdrew, leaving Prof. Rice in sole charge. His connections at Oberlin proved congenial, both to himself and the College. With the characteristic moral and religious sentiment of the place he could heartily sympathize; and if the average musical feeling was not up to his standard, at any rate there were few places where it was better, or where the public mind was more tractable. He set about his work with the Leipsic Conservatory for his model of organization, and with an unbending devotion to the lofty art ideals which had won his heart. Prof. Rice has been director of the Oberlin Conservatory of Music since 1871. In 1880 the degree of Mus. Doc. was given him by Hillsdale College; in 1884 the honorary degree of A. M., by Oberlin College, and he has been twice elected president of the Music Teachers National Association. The Conservatory has experienced a remarkable growth since his connection with it. When he first entered its doors in a professional capacity he found the institution occupying two small leased rooms, and employing three teachers. To-day, mainly through his individual energy and enterprise, Oberlin Conservatory of Music stands among the very foremost institutions of the country, as a place for the study of music. The school occupies a fine sandstone edifice, the munificent gift of Dr. and Mrs. Lucien C. Warner, of New York City. It was erected at an expense of more than one hundred thousand dollars, and is one of the finest and largest structures ever built exclusively for the use of a school of music. It is a four-story building, with a frontage of 150 feet on North Professor street, and a depth of 120 feet, and contains a fine concert hall, lecture room, orchestra room, library, 682 - LORAIN COUNTY, OHIO. offices, and more than eighty instruction and practice rooms. It is heated throughout, by steam, lighted by gas and electricity and supplied with a fine passenger elevator, and many other modern conveniences. The three teachers of a few years ago have multiplied into twenty-three professors of unquestioned ability, who give instructions to more than six hfindred students every year, all under the immediate direction of Professor Rice. In 1863 our subject was married in Detroit, Mich., to Miss Helen M. Libby, who was born in Portland, Me., and they have one child, Louis M. They are members of the Second Congregational Church at Oberlin, of which he is a trustee. For the last twenty-three years he has been a member of the Faculty of. Oberlin College, and for the past eight years has been on the executive board, which has largely to do with the finances of the College. Politically he is a Republican. He has been a director of the Oberlin Bank since its organization, and for the past two years vice-president of same. HORACE WADSWORTH, better l known in his locality as Deacon Wadsworth, senior member of the firm of H. Wadsworth & Son, lumber dealers, of Wellington, is a native of Massachusetts, born in Tyringham, Berkshire county, May 26, 1822. Enos Wadsworth, grandfather of subject, was born in Massachusetts, and died in Portage county, in the woods. He had gone hunting one day, and not returning, his friends and neighbors instituted a fruitless search. Three weeks afterward a neighbor dreamed that he saw the body lying in a certain swamp; search was made at the place indicated, and the body was there found. Asa Wadsworth, son of Enos and father of Horace, was born in Tyringham, Mass., in 1794. He there married Electa Russell. In 1819 he brought his family to Ohio. This was the third family to enter Freedom, Portage county, at that time a per fect wilderness. Wild animals roamed undisturbed in the forests, and the sound of howling wolves was often heard. Their first home was built of round green logs, split logs forming the floor. There was no chimney till the kitchen fire, built at the end of the house, burned an opening large enough to start a stone chimney. Four children were born to this pioneer, in their forest home: Calista A., Elizabeth S., Emaret and Cyril. Edwin, the eldest, was born in Massachusetts. Emaret died when three years of age; tile others all live in Wellington. At this home the subject of our sketch spent his childhood days. The sound of the axe and the crash of falling trees were music to his ears. When but four years old, emulating the success of his elders, he wished to down one of the monarchs of the forest. In the absence of his father he started for a large tree near the house, thinking to astonish his mother by cutting it to the ground. On the way he slipped on the ice. In falling he cut his hand badly, severing one finger, thus crippling him for life. When he was eight years of age he attended the first school formed in the township. The family lived in this home twelve years. In 1835 they moved to Wellington, Lorain county. Wellington was then comparatively new, and the people lived, with few exceptions, in log houses. There were at the center two stores, two hotels and a blacksmith shop; a third building served the triple purpose of church, town-house and school-house. The first M. E. Church was erected and enclosed the year of their arrival. The family made a settlement on land three-fourths of a mile west of the center; their home was a log house, formerly used as a Methodist meeting-house. The father and his three sons, two of them thirteen and fifteen, respectively, formed the force necessary to clear the land and furnish the LORAIN COUNTY, OHIO - 683 means of subsistence. The elder son by reason of ill health was for a number of years unable to do heavy work. The youngest, but a child,was at this time unable to assist, and the burden of the work, therefore, fell upon the father and the second son Horace. To clear the laud and lit it for cultivation formed the task of those early days. At that time ready money was seldom seen. Wood at fifty cents a cord, cut from the farm, was exchanged at the store for clothing and provisions. This called for work with the axe early and late to provide for the family of seven. During the winter months Horace attended school, rising and doing the chores of the farm before daylight and swinging the axe till nine o'clock, then to study. On his return after school the same task was continued. This routine of work and study was persisted in for a number of years till the forest was replaced by cultivated fields of wheat and corn, and he gained an education fitting him for his future work. The youngest son, Cyril, with inegeasing years became old enough to assist in the work, and in 1844 a new frame house was erected and finished sufficiently for the family to enter. The outlook for the family appeared bright, but the following year, the father, after a brief illness, died. This left the management of the farm upon Horace, then twenty-one years of age. The next year the frosts killed the wheat and corn. With nothing to feed the stock it was sold at a very low price. With a debt of several hundred dollars upon them, they were still further burdened by the sickness of the mother, who became and remained a helpless invalid, cared for by the two daughters till her death in 1865. Hard work, however, cleared the farm, and good crops paid the debts and finished the house hitherto incomplete. At twenty-five years of age Horace, qualified by bard study, began teaching in the common schools. He taught with good success for ten winters, two of which were in the same schoolhouse which he had attended as a scholar. In connection with this work he became a contractor and builder, and for a number of years was the leader in this line. In 1879 he started in the lumber business, buying a small establishment which he enlarged, adding thereto a planing mill and factory which was afterward sold. In 1853 he married Sarah H. Phelps, a native of Connecticut, and daughter of Daniel Phelps. A member and worker in the Congregational Church and Sabbath-school, she was worthy of the love and respect of all who knew her. Mortimer H., their only child, was born June 27, 1857, and was educated and graduated at the high school at Wellington. He is now associated with his father in the lumber business. The subject of this sketch was originally an Old-line Whig, and his first vote was cast for Henry Clay. When sixteen years of age he united with the Congregational Church. At forty-one he was chosen deacon. He has been an active worker in the Sunday-school as superintendent and teacher, and is a ready and active helper in all church work. Now, at seventy-two years of age, he is in good health, and is always interested in church work as well as public improvement. M. A. POUNDS. In Lorain county, Ohio, was born September 17, 1848, the subject of this brief sketch, who is ex-sheriff of Lorain county, and at the present time a well-known horse dealer and trainer, than whom. there is no one in the county more deserving of the popularity he enjoys. He is a son of L. M. and Fidelia (Humphrey) Pounds, the former of whom, now living retired in Elyria, was educated at Delaware. Ohio, and became a prominent divine in the M. E. Church. The mother was born in Lorain county, Ohio, a daughter of Orson J. and Lucina Hum- 684 - LORAIN COUNTY, OHIO. pbrey. Their children, five in number, are as follows: M. A., subject of sketch; L. Hs, in real-estate business in Topeka, Kans.; T. M., engaged in banking in Topeka, Kans.; Amelia, wife of George Bowman, residing in Elyria; and Jessie, wife of William Jones, of Brooklyn, New York. Our subject received his education at the Elyria high schools and Berea College, and was reared to agricultural pursuits, but early in life evinced a great liking for horses, so that he naturally drifted into the buying and selling of such stock. He resided in Eaton township, Lorain county, until 1886, when he was elected sheriff, at which time he moved to Elyria, here to make his future home. As sheriff he served the county two terms, or four years, acceptably, and since retiring from the incumbency he has devoted his time and attention to breeding and rearing fine road horses, besides training all kinds of horses for himself and others. His stables are located in Elyria. On November 24, 1870, Mr. Pounds was married to Miss Mary E. Johnson, and three children have been born to them, viz.: Mabel, Harry and Ruth. Our subject is a member of the F. & A. M., Anchor Lodge No. 56, Elyria. HIRAM WOODWORTH (deceased) Among the leading representative families of Lorain county, none are more worthy of special mention in this volume than the one of which the gentleman, whose name opens this sketch, was an honored member. Hiram Woodworth was a native of Madison county, N. Y., born in the town of Fenner February 14, 1802, a son of Benjamin and Sophia (Allen) Woodworth, both also natives of the Empire State. Reared on the home farm, and trained to the arduous duties incident all the year round to the pursuits of agriculture, our subject remained under the paternal roof until about a year beyond his "coming of age." At that time he commenced working away from home, by the month, continuing chiefly in that line of his choice for some six years, diligently pursuing his vocation and carefully husbanding his earnings. By this time he was able out of his savings to purchase one hundred acres of land in the town of Randolph, Cattaraugus Co., N. Y., which two years afterward he traded for a hotel building in the town of Bristol, Ontario county, same State. In the meantime, in September, 1828, Mr. Woodworth was married to Caroline L. Wales, a daughter of Rev. Alvin and Polly Wales, and a native of the same town as her husband. In January, 1829, the young couple moved into the hotel just spoken of, which they conducted two and one half years, and at the end of that time our subject traded the hotel for 335 acres of land in what is now Rochester township, Lorain Co., Ohio, and eighty acres in what was then the Territory of Michigan. On May 22, 1832—sixty-two years ago—Mr. and Mrs. Woodworth arrived in their new forest home in Rochester township, the journey being made via the Erie Canal to Buffalo, thence Lake Erie to Cleveland, and from there by wagon to destination. From the time of their arrival till the middle of September following, this pioneer couple lived in the most primitive of primitive homes, the rude but being furnished with neither door, window, hearth, chimney, nor even a chair of any sort, much less any other kind of furniture. Nothing daunted, however, they cheerfully set to work to render their home comfortable, Mr. Woodworth making, with such tools as he was posessed of, some stools, table, etc.; and soon the surroundings began to take the garb of civilization —the monarchs of the forest disappeared neath the sturdy axe of the woodman, and the stately trees were superseded by smiling fields of golden grain, and pasture land redolent with clover. The improvements LORAIN COUNTY, OHIO - 687 were not only attractive in appearance, but also of the most substantial kind, and durable, Mr. Woodworth's maxim, in all his undertakings, being: " That which is worth doing at all is worth doing well." Having now succeeded in getting the new home in good order, and in comfortable condition, Mr. Woodworth embarked extensively in the live-stock business, which in time grew to such proportions with him that there was no room left for any competitor in that line in northern Ohio. Most of his stock was driven to Brighton, Mass., where the animals were sold, the round trip occupying in the neighborhood of forty days. In his live-stock ventures Mr. Woodworth was remarkably successful, nor could they be otherwise when under his immediate control, and his extensive trade gave employment to a small army of help, scattered, in their various lines of duty, all over northern Ohio. After a residence of thirty years in Rochester . township, the old homestead was sold, and Mr. and Mrs. Woodworth came into Wellington township, he having purchased a fertile farm, said to be the "premium farm" of Lorain county, which' is now part of the town site of Wellington. From here after a three years' residence they moved into a hotel in the town of Wellington—now known as the " American House "—which Mr. Woodworth had bought, and was conducted by him up to his death; the property is still owned by Mrs. Wood worth. He passed from earth October 10, 1873. In his political predilections he was a Republican, and while in Rochester he served as postmaster some six years. Mrs. Woodworth, though past the eightieth mile post on the highway of life, is still vigorous, both mentally and physically. She is residing in her pleasant home on Maygar street in the town of Wellington, and she worships at the Congregational Church. The record of her children, in brief, is as follows: Roxania (deceased) was the wife of John Braman, now a resident of Cleveland, Ohio; Rosenia is the widow of David L. Wadsworth, and resides in Wellington, Ohio; Warren A. is in West Virginia;t Roenia is the wife of F. M. Sheldon, of Hornellsvine, N. Y.; Rosetta is the wife of Stanley Wilcox, of Plattsburg, Missouri. W. E. BROOKS, vice-president and manager of the Topliff & Ely Company, manufacturers of special carriage hardware, Elyria, is a native of Lorain county, Ohio, born in Avon, August 13, 1846. His parents were James E. and Eliza (Sweet) Brooks, both natives of Vermont, and early settlers of Lorain county. The father died June 5, 1874; the mother January 5, 1894. Our subject received a liberal education in the common schools of his native place, and from early youth was brought up in the general hardware business, in which he was engaged. In 1870, he removed to Elyria, and became interested in the agricultural implement business .until 1888, in which year he sold out and became associated with the Topliff & Ely Company, which was founded in 1866 by G. H. Ely and J. A. Topliff, and incorporated in 1888. They began by making hubs and spokes, but in 1874, abandoning that line, they embarked in the manufacture of tubular bow sockets, for carriage bows, which industry has grown to enormous proportions, they being the only manufacturers of this patent in the world for many years. They ship not only to all parts of the United States, but also to Europe, South America and Australia. In the manufacture of bow sockets alone, there are employed in the building about one hundred hands who turn out from 125,000 to 150,000 sets per annum. On August 8, 1877, Mr. Brooks was united in marriage with Miss Fannie Top- 688 - LORAIN COUNTY OHIO liff, daughter of John A. and Caroline (Beers) Topliff, the former a native of Massachusetts, the latter of Connecticut, and both now living in Elyria. To this union were born three children, as follows: Harold T. (who died January 27, 1893), Margaretta E. and John P. The mother of these died December 4, 1893. Mr. Brooks is a member of the F. & A. M., of P. and Royal Arcanum. DANIEL T. BUSH, a wealthy retired farmer and a citizen of Wellington, was born in Plymouth, N. Y., August 28, 1814. He is the son of Benjamin T. Bush and Elizabeth (Burst) Bush, and a grandson 01 Henry T. Bush. The father of subject was born in Albany county, N. Y., in which State he married Elizabeth Burst, a native of Dutchess county, N. Y. In 1834 the fain ily came to Ohio, the journey being made by wagon from Canandaigua, N. Y., to Rochester; by canal to Buffalo; Lake Erie to Cleveland, Ohio; and from there by wagon to Huntington township, Lorain county, where they settled on a farm of fifty acres covered with dense woods. The mother died in Rochester, Ohio, August 29, 1844, aged seventy years, seven months, and two days. The father died near Lansing, Mich., August 28, 1855, aged seventy-nine years and eight months. They were both members of the M. E. Church, and in politics he was a Democrat. Children were born to this pioneer couple as follows: John T.; Joseph T.; Martin T.; Nancy T.; Eliza T.; 'Daniel T. (subject of this sketch); and Amy T.; all were born in the State of New York, and all but Martin T. died in Michigan. Martin T. went south about the year 1825 or 1826, and has not been heard from since. The grandfather of subject served in the war of the Revolution, was taken prisoner by the British and conveyed to Canada, where he died of smallpox; his two eldest sons served during the Revolutionary war against foreign invasion, the younger entering the service of the Colonies at the age of fourteen years, and serving during the entire war. The rest of the family encountered great hardships being driven from their home in Cherry Valley, and becoming eyewitnesses to the destruction of all their property. D. T. Bush received his education in the little red schoolhouse on Baptist Hill in Bristol, Ontario Co., N. Y. On February 25, .1838, he married Sophia Clark, and settled on a farm in the woods one mile south of his father's farm, where he had to literally hew out what is now one of the finest farms in Huntington township, which in 1871 contained 2051 acres, having thereon a large and comfortable dwelling and commodious outbuildings. This farm was purchased in different parcels, covered by seven deeds, and here the following nine children were born to them: Almond D. (died in infancy), Melissa J., George C., Martin L., Mary A., Edwin D., Charles A., John 0., and Henry W. (died September 12, 1879, aged twenty-three years). Selling the farm in 1871, Mr. Bush moved to Wellington, Ohio, where he now resides in his eightieth year, enjoying the respect and esteem of his fellow citizens, and a loving and grateful posterity. C. F. LEE, the widely-known and popular photographer, of Elyria, was born in the town of Vernon, Conn., August 26, 1843, a son of George and Ida Harris (Skillman) Lee. Georgo Lee was also a native of Connecticut, born in the town of Vernon, in 1806. He was reared to the woolen manufacturing business, working from his earliest boyhood in what is known as the Frank Woolen Mills. His business ability was marked by the fact that in subsequent LORAIN COUNTY, OHIO - 689 years he succeeded to the management of these mills, and became the principal stockholder and proprietor of same. In about the year 1853 a disastrous fire destroyed the plant, and, financially, Mr. Lee was almost ruined. Concluding, in the hope of recuperating his fortunes, to come west, he set out with sanguine expectations, first locating at Utica, N. Y., where he was superintendent of the Globe Woolen Mills for about two years. He then made a trip still farther west, visiting different points in Illinois and elsewhere, but not finding satisfactory inducements to remain, returned eastward to Ohio, and made a settlement in Norwalk, remaining there until 1863. Removing in that year to Cleveland, he there engaged in the oil-refining business, and Fortune once more smiled on his enterprise and indefatigable industry. But again he was doomed to become a victim of the devouring element, the ravages of fire once more confronting him on his onward march to wealth, his oil mills being burned to the ground in 1870, whereby all he had a second time acquired was almost utterly destroyed. This second disaster was sufficient to crush the ambition of most men, and Mr. Lee, finding himself too far advanced in years to commence life anew the third time, gathered together what he could from the ruins of his estate, and retired to Berlin Heights, in Erie county, where passed the rest of his days in peaceful retirement, dying in 1874 at the age of sixty-eight years. Mr. Lee was a lifelong practical Christian, and a deacon in the Congregational Church. In his political sympathies he, in earlier years, was an Old-line Henry Clay Whig, and in later life affiliated with the Republican party. Ida H. Lee, the mother of our subject, was born at Riverhead, Long Island, N. Y., in July, 1812; in 1830 was married to George Lee; on .September 7, 1893, died in Elyria, Ohio, at the residence of her son, C. F. Lee, where for some years she had made her home. She was a descendant of one Fanning, a native of Ireland, who had settled in Long Island in an early day. To George and Ida H. (Skillman) Lee were born six children, of whom the subject of this sketch is the sole survivor. C. F. Lee received his education chiefly at the old seminary at Norwalk, Ohio. In 1864 he joined the Federal army, enlisting in Company B, One Hundred and Sixty-sixth Regiment, 0. V. I., at Norwalk, Ohio. This regiment belonged to what was known as the "one hundred days service," and was sent to the defense of Washington, D. C. At the close of his term of enlistment Mr. Lee returned home and took up his residence in Cleveland, Ohio, where he learned the art of photography with J. F. Ryder, and was in his employ most of the time until 1876. In that year he established himself in his present business in Elyria, where he has since successfully conducted the leading photographic establishment of the city. In 1868 Mr. Lee was married to Miss Ella Louise Morehouse, and three children have been born to them, viz.: George E., Ida V. and Nellie M. Politically, our subject is a Republican; socially, he is past master of King Solomon's Lodge, F. & A. M., Elyria, Ohio, and a member of Marshall Chapter No. 47, R. A. M. REV. JOHN KEEP was born in Long Meadow, Mass., in 1781, graduated at Yale in 1802, was pastor in Blandford, Mass., and in Homer, N. Y., from 1805 till 1833, when he came to Cleveland and became pastor of a new church on the West Side. While he was at Homer he had been a trustee of Hamilton College and of Auburn Theological Seminary, and was naturally interested in any educational enterprise in the neighborhood. In 1834 he was elected a trustee at Oberlin, and held the position until his death in 1870. By 690 - LORAIN COUNTY, OHIO. reason of his years and experience he was made president of the Board, and had the responsibility of the casting vote on the question of receiving colored students, in 1835. From that day he took Oberlin on his heart, and never laid it off unless when he laid off the eal tidy life. His last words pertained to a letter he bad planned to write in the interest of the college. He traversed the land to gather means to sustain it, and crossed the ocean to save it in a crisis. In 1850, then seventy years of age, he removed to Oberlin, and from that time his home was here. At every meeting of the trustees he was present, and encouraged all by his hope and his faith. When others were depressed he sustained and bore them on by his cheerful courage, and thus he held on to the end of his days. When more than fourscore years old he would often come out at evening, with his lantern, to find some one burdened with responsibility and care, and cheer him up with a word of encouragement. His sleep was sweeter after such a service. He died in his eighty-ninth year, not from disease, but because life was completed. [Taken from "Oberlin: The Colony and The College," by the kind permission of the author, Prof. James H. Fairchild. REV. HENRY COWLES was called to the professorship of languages at Oberlin, upon the resignation of Mr. Waldo, and came in September, 1835. He Was born in Norfolk, Conn., in 1803, and was thirty-two years of age when he came. He had graduated at Yale, and taken his theological course there. He completed the course in 1828, was ordained at Hartford the same year, and came at once to northern Ohio under appointment from the Connecticut Home Missionary Society. He preached in Ashtabula and Sandusky, and after two years, having received a call from the church in Austinburg, he re turned to his home in Connecticut, was married, and commenced his work in Austinburg. From a most successful pastorate of five years he came to Oberlin, and found himself in full sympathy with all the leading objects and aims of the work; and from the first day until the day of his death—a period of forty-six years—he gave himself, without reserve, to these objects. There seemed to be no thought of himself or his personal interests; no anxiety in reference to position. His heart was in the work, and all he asked was a place to lay out his strength. In 1838 he took the chair of Church History in the seminary, and of Hebrew and Old Testament Literature in 1840. In 1848, in. consequence of straitened means on the part of the college, and the necessity of reducing expenses, he resigned his work in the seminary, and took the editorship of the Oberlin Evangelist, a work which he had shared with others for some years preceding. From this time until the close of 1862 he gave his thought and heart to the Evangelist, and made it greatly what it was, a treasury of religious thought and experience, and of practical life. The twenty-four volumes of the Oberlin Evangelist, with which Professor Cowles had more to do than any other man, give a better exhibition of Oberlin thought and character and work during those years than any definite attempt to set them forth can possibly do. When the Evangelist was closed up Professor Cowles was about sixty years of age, and he might naturally feel that the chief work of his life was done; and it would have been a satisfactory work. But the habit of communicating his thoughts to others by writing was strong upon him, and by what seemed a divine leading he entered upon the work of writing commentaries upon the Scriptures. He commenced with the parts of the Old Testament to which he•had given more particular attention as an instructor, and went on, year after year, adding volume LORAIN COUNTY, OHIO - 691 to volume, devoting to it all his energies and all his resources, through a period of seventeen years. In 1881 he issued the last volume, and then felt that the Lord permitted him to depart in peace. His work was done; the result remains with us—a commentary on the entire Scriptures, full of practical wisdom and the ripe fruits of scholarship. He died in September of the same year. The interests of the college through all these years filled his heart and hands. He was a member of the "Prudential Committee" and a trustee, in constant attendance upon these duties, and often went out upon financial missions in behalf of the college. His last public duty was to attend the meeting of the trustees in 1881. [Taken from "Oberlin: The Colony and The College," by the kind permission of the author, Prof. James H. Fairchild. REV. ASA MAHAN reached Oberlin in May, 1835, having been elected to the presidency of the college, and entered directly upon his duties. He was then thirty-six years of age, a native of Western New York, educated at Hamilton College and Andover Seminary. He came from the charge of the Sixth Presbyterian Church of Cincinnati, and his earnest and vigorous preaching made at once a strong impression upon the people of Oberlin. He was a bold and aggressive advocate of all the Oberlin ideas and doctrines, and was always ready, at home or abroad, to give a reason for the faith that was in him with earnestness and full conviction. He was an enthusiastic teacher in his own department, that of philosophy, and gave an impulse to the study at Oberlin which it has never lost. His administration of the college was, in general, successful, and he gave his heart and strength to its prosperity without any reservation. An infelicity which often attends great strength of purpose and of character was sometimes suspected in him, namely, a greater facility in conviction than in conciliation. While he had many ardent friends, there would be another class who were as distinctly not his friends. Some of his colleagues felt at times that his strong aggressiveness awakened unnecessary hostility against the college; and in 1850, some of his friends having planned a new university at Cleveland, and invited him to take the direction of it, he resigned at Oberlin, having held the piresidency of the college fifteen years. With President Mahan, Oberlin lost somewhat of its positiveness and aggressiveness. The enterprise at Cleveland was not a success, and Mr. Mahan was called to a professorship in Adrian College, Mich., and at length to the presidency of the college. The last ten years he has spent in England, in abundant labors in the special work of promoting the "higher" Christian experience, and now [1883], at the age of eighty-three, he is preaching to large congregations, editing a magazine called Divine Life, and issuing one volume after another, such as " The Baptism of The Holy Ghost," " Out of Darkness into Light," and " Autobiography, Intellectual, Moral and Spiritual." While at Oberlin he published works on " The Will," " Intellectual Philosophy," and " Moral Philosophy." Other works, since published, are on Logic, Spiritualism, Natural Theologyy, and a Criticistn of the Conduct of the War.[Taken from "Ober- lin: The Colony and The College," by the kind permission of the author, Prof. James H. Fairchild. REV. CHARLES G. FINNEY came in June, 1835, about a month after Mr. Mahan. He was then nearly forty-two years of age, with health somewhat broken by the exhausting evangelistic labors of the preceding ten years. 692 - LORAIN COUNTY, OHIO. He found a theological department of thirty-five students, and entered at once upon his work, as professor of systematic theology. His habit was to preach once on the Sabbath, not often twice, and the year following he was called to the pastorship of the church. For many years he gave the long winter vacation to preaching as an evangelist, for the most part with some church at the East. In 1849 he went to England, and spent a year and a half in similar labors in London and other cities of England and Scotland. Ten years later he went again in the same work for about the same length of time. In 1851 he was elected President of the college, and held the position until 1865, with the arrangement that he was not to give attention to the details of the position, but only to the more public duties. His work as an instructor was not changed except that he took the Senior college class for some years in moral philosophy. In 1865 he resigned the presidency, being then seventy-three years of age. He had already, in 1858, surrendered the work in systematic theology, retaining the pastoral theology and his work as a pastor. In 1872 he laid down the pastoral work, but continued his pastoral lectures until the year of his death, 1875, having completed, lacking a few days, his eighty-third year. No brief mention can characterize him or set forth his work; nor is it necessary. He belongs to the world, and not to Oberlin alone. His "Sermons on Important Subjects" and "Revival Lectures" were published before his coming to Oberlin. His "Lectures to Christians" appeared a year or more afterward, and his two volumes on "Systematic Theology" in 1846 and 1847. These were numbered as volumes second and third, his purpose being to prepare a volume on " Natural Theology " to precede them. This volume was never written. While he was in England in 1850, he prepared and published an edition of his Theology in one volume, involving the substance of the two preceding volumes. His latest works were a volume on " Masonry," published in 1869, and his " Memoirs," written by himself, and published after his death. Upon the publication of his Theology very diverse opinions were expressed in regard to it, according to the standpoint. Rev. Wm. H. Burleigh closed a notice of the work in the Charter Oak, Hartford, Conn., 1846, with the following paragraph: "We will venture the prediction that fifty years hence this volume will rank among the standard works on theology, and the name of Finney be mentioned with those of Edwards, Dwight and Emmons. Sooner than that we fear he will not be generally appreciated. The time will come when Finney will have justice done to his exalted talents, and when the host of his revilers —men not possessing, in the aggregate, half his mental grasp—will be lost in oblivion unless he should preserve their names from utter extinction by an incidental allusion in his works." Dr. Charles Hodge, in the Biblical Repository, 1847, wrote as follows: "The work is, therefore, in a high degree logical. It is as hard to read as Euclid. Nothing can be omitted; nothing passed over slightly. The unhappy reader once committed to a perusal, is obliged to go on, sentence by sentence, through the long concatenation. There is not one resting-place, not one lapse into amplification or declamation, from the beginning to the close. It is like one of those spiral staircases, which lead to the top of some high tower, without a landing from the base to the summit; which, if a man has once ascended, he resolves never to do the like again. The author begins with certain postulates, or what he calls first truths of reason, and these he traces out with singular clearness and strength to their legitimate conclusions. We do not see that there is a break or a defective link in the whole chain. If you grant his principles, you have already granted his conclusions. . We propose to rely on the reductio ad absurdum, and make his doctrines the LORAIN COUNTY, OHIO - 693 refutation of his principles. We consider this a fair refutation. If the principle that obligation is limited by ability, leads to the conclusion that moral character is confined to intention, and that again to the conclusion that when the intention is right nothing can be morally wrong, then the principle is false. Even if we could not detect its fallacy, we should know it could not be true." Dr. George Redford, of Worcester, England, in the preface to the London edition, which he edited, 1851, writes: " As a contribution to theological science, in an age when vague speculation and philosophical theories are bewildering all denominations of Christians, this work will be considered by all competent judges to be both valuable and seasonable. Upon several important and difficult subjects the author has thrown a clear and valuable light which will guide many a student through perplexities and difficulties which he had long sought unsuccessfully to explain. The editor frankly confesses that when a student he would gladly have bartered half the books in his library to have gained a single perusal of these lectures; and he cannot refrain from expressing the belief that no young student of theology will ever regret the purchase or perusal of Mr. Finney's lectures." [Taken from "Oberlin: The Colony and The College," by the kind permission of the author, Prof. James H. Fairchild. JACOB BARTH, a representative self- made and progressive agriculturist of c Grafton township, is a native of Germany, born November 7, 1826, in Wittenberg. His father, John Jacob Barth, was a peddler and huckster, and also owned a small piece of land, which his wife and family of ten children looked after. When our subject was ten years of age his parents hired him out as a shepherd boy, he receiving in compensation a few clothes and his board for a summer's work. In the winter season he attended school a short time, but home labor required his attention so much that but little time was left for his education. Up to his fifteenth year he had been working round at various places, and at different kinds of work, getting but small wages. At the age of fifteen he commenced to learn shoemaking, his three-years apprenticeship costing him a premium of some twenty-five dollars, after which he followed his trade as a journeyman for the equivalent of one dollar per week. He also found employment on the public highways then being repaired, receiving therefor twenty cents per day, out of which he had to hoard himself. After he had passed his twenty-first birthday he joined the regular army, in which he served nearly six years. While yet in Germany he married Rosina Merika, who bore him one child, Jacob L., in the Fatherland. In 1853, leaving his little family behind, he set sail for America, and after a three-month's voyage landed at New York, whence he continued westward to Liverpool, Medina Co., Ohio, where he found himself, a stranger in a strange land, with a capital of just two cents. However, he soon found employment in Liverpool at his trade at five dollarsper month, after which he worked in Litchfield, same county, two years. By his employers, who had confidence in him, he was trusted, and being honest and industrious he never lost their confidence. Having saved some money he sent for his wife and son Jacob (now foreman of the Grafton Stone Sawmill) to come out to him, which they did, arriving in due course at Litchfield, from which place they shortly afterward removed to York same State, where for nine years he followed his trade. At the end of that time they went to Abbeyville, Medina county, where Mr. Barth bought a farm of sixty-two acres, running in debt to the amount of three hundred dollars, on which he paid six per cent. interest. For three 694 - LORAIN COUNTY, OHIO. years they lived here, and then in 1866 came to the place he now owns and lives on, in Grafton township, Lorain county, running in debt two thousand dollars, on which he paid ten per cent. interest. With the assistance of his sons he has cultivated and improved this property, which consists of eighty-four and a half acres (all paid for) equipped with good buildings, in the aggregate presenting the result of indefatigable perseverance, honesty of purpose, energy and economy, and accumulated from the commencement of the two cents he had when he landed in Ohio. In this country ten children were born to him, as follows: Henry F., of Cleveland, where he is a skilled mechanic in the Steel Works, making steel; Frederick, a molder, in Rochester, N. Y.; John J., Jr., a farmer in Rochester, N. Y.; Mary C., Mrs. Andrew Hartung, of Chicago, Ill.; Martha L., Mrs. J. A. Weaver, of Cleveland, Ohio; Catherine L., Mrs. Fred Keller, of Liverpool, Ohio; William A., of Belden, Ohio, an engineer; George M., of Cleveland, an iron-worker; Joseph H., a farmer, living at home with his father; and Charles A., a carpenter by trade, living at Cleveland. Politically Mr. Barth is a Republican, and he and his wife are members of the Lutheran Church at Liverpool, Ohio. FREDRICK B. MANLEY. No greater pleasure can be enjoyed by the aged than to look back on a life usefully spent for the good of others as well as themselves—a happiness that can be enjoyed in an eminent degree by the gentleman whose name here appears. Mr. Manley is a native of Berkshire county, Mass., born in the town of Otis March 10, 1817. He is the eldest son of Josiah B. and Betsey (Webster) Manley, also of the Bay State, who came to Ohio in 1821, the journey occupying forty days and forty nights. The father located land in Wellington township, Lorain county, and immediately entered upon the labors of " rolling up a log cabin," and opening up a new farm in the "forest primeval," at which and similar work he was actively and successfully engaged until his death, which occurred August 22, 1824. Of the noble army of pioneers he was the first to pass away in Wellington township, and he is remembered as a devoted husband, a kind and indulgent father and a true friend. While his remains were being consigned to their last resting place, marks of respect and esteem were abundantly shown by warm-hearted, sorrowing friends. His widow taught school for three successive seasons in her log house, and two terms in a district schoolhouse. She died at the home of her son, Fredrick B., at the advanced age of eighty-three years. The subject proper of this sketch was, as will be seen, about four years old when his parents brought him to Lorain county, and he was reared among the many privations of pioneer life. In Wellington township he attended the first school taught there, continuing his attendance thereat, both summer and winter, until he was thirteen years old, after which he availed himself of the winter term only, later enjoying the benefit of excellent select schools. He has followed farn'iing for the most part all his life, and is well-trained in the calling of the agriculturist, occasionally engaging, sometimes quite extensively, in the business of speculation in live stock. The three-lin d red-acre farm, which by careful thrift and assiduous labor he has brought to an excellent state of cultivation ; the commodious dwelling and ample and comfortable outbuildings—all combine to attest to the characteristic skill and sound judgment of the owner. And a true description of the spot would be incomplete, were a notable and far-famed attraction left unnoticed—the grand old elm—widely known as "Manley's famous elm "—that graces the lawn, spared by the pioneer axe-man LORAIN COUNTY, OHIO - 697 on account of its majestic appearance, its height from root to topmost limb being at least a hundred feet. "Woodman spare that tree, Cut not a single bough; It used to shelter me, And I'll protect it now." On the 10th day of March, 1847, Fredrick B. Manley was united in marriage with Miss Mary L., eldest daughter of Major Judson and Lucinda Wadsworth, of Wellington. By this union there is one son, Henry W., married, and the father of one child—Floyd DeWitt. Mrs. F. B. Manley died March 25, 1883, aged fifty-nine years. Our subject in his political views is a sound Republican, his first vote having been cast for Gen. W. H. Harrison. He served his township as constable, one term, and assessor eight consecutive years. Socially, he has been president of the Union Agricultural Society by seven successive reelections, faithfully and acceptably discharging the duties imposed. During the way of the Rebellion, he was enrolling officer, receiving the compliments of the managing board for his carefully prepared and neatly-written enrollment paper, and he was in a marked degree energetic in securing men to put down the Rebellion. Mr. Manley is one of the oldest pioneer settlers in Wellington township, none now living antedating his arrival. During his long residence of over seventy-two years in the county, he has ever sustained a reputation for integrity and good citizenship, alike creditable to his judgment and character. As one of the men who in an early day took part in subduing the wilderness, transplanting in its place the fine farms and beautiful homes that the present generation enjoy in comparative ease, Mr. Manley is well worthy of being memorized in the biographical record of Lorain county. Now at the honored age of seventy-seven years, well preserved, of a commanding presence, possessed of a vigorous mind, good practical business sagacity, and a reliable memory as to early events, he is deeply grateful that time has dealt gently with him. Ofttimes he ruminates upon the changes that have taken place, in his midst, since the days of the stick chimney and puncheon floor, and the twang of the thread as the good mother faithfully plied her needle, by the dim light of a tallow candle, to "keep the wolf from the door." Anon! When the "hamlet is still," recalling in a retrospect the marvelous work of the first settlers of Wellington, 'their memory and the goodly heritage abideth. CHARLES E. TUCKER, a member of the enterprising firm of Hart & Tucker, proprietors of lumber yard, planing-mill and coal yard, Elyria, is a native of Lorain county, Ohio, born in Carlisle township, February 11, 1860, a son of William H. and Clarissa (Andrews) Tucker, the latter of whom died in Elyria January 20, 1870. William H. Tucker was born March 21, 1826, in Windham, Portage Co., Ohio, the youngest son of Jacob and Chloe Tucker. In boyhood he came with his parents to Lorain county, and the family made a settlement in the woods of what is now Eaton township. He received as liberal an elementary education as the home schools of the times afforded, and by hard work and judicious saving was enabled afterward to place himself in a select school at Ridgeville, Ohio. He then commenced teaching, an occupation he followed the long period of twenty-two years in various parts of Ohio. In 1864 he was elected recorder of Lorain county, a position he filled, by two re-elections, for nine consecutive years. In the meantime he had been making a study of law, and on retiring from the recordership was admitted to the bar at a sitting of the district court at Cleveland, Ohio. In 1864 he came to Elyria, where he is yet residing. Mr. Tucker was 698 - LORAIN COUNTY, OHIO. prominent in the organization, in his adopted town, of the Royal Arcanum and of the Knights of Honor, and has filled the highest positions in both these Societies in the State of Ohio. Charles E. Tucker received his primary education in the common schools, and afterward attended the high school of Elyria. In 1882 he entered the employ of John W. Hart, in the lumber and planing-mill business, and by faithful attention to his duties, steadiness and trustworthiness, soon won the confidence and goodwill of his employer. In 1892 he and L. J. Hart, son of John W. Hart, purchased the entire plant from the latter, and, by close application to business and honorable dealing, the young firm have succeeded in building up a large and lucrative trade, in which they enjoy the utmost confidence of their patrons. Mr. Tucker was married, September 20, 1882, to Miss Hatty E. Hart, daughter of John W. and Caroline O. Hart. In politics he is a Republican, and he is a member of the Royal Arcanum and the F. & A. M. and Chapter. Young, energetic and thoroughly experienced, our subject is specially well adapted to his branch of the business—attending to the sales of lumber, coal, etc., and the outside business. REV. JOHN MORGAN arrived at Oberlin, in company with Mr. Finney, in 1835. He was then thirty-two years of age, a native of Ireland, having been brought to this country at the age of ten, trained as a printer in eastern cities, prepared for college at Stockbridge, Mass., and graduated at Williams, as valedictorian, in 1826. He had taken no seminary course, but studied theology some years in New York. He was an instructor in the literary or preparatory department of Lane Seminary, at the time of the anti-slavery excitement there, and was in entire sympathy with the students in their withdrawal. His first appointment to Oberlin was as professor of mathematics, but the call which he accepted was to the chair of the literature and exegesis of the New Testament. This work he entered upon at once, but his broad and thorough scholarship enabled him to fill many a gap, upon emergency, in the new college. There was not a study in the entire curriculum in which he could not give instruction, at an hour's warning, as successfully as if it were his own specialty. But the New Testament was his chosen field, and for this field his linguistic, historical and philosophical gifts and attainments abundantly qualified him. He was no mere mechanical or technical interpreter, but reached at once the soul of the matter, where language and philosophy both harmonize. The influence of Professor Morgan in the enterprise was conservative in the best sense, not by reason of any inertia or immobility of nature. His enthusiasm, in any well-considered movement, was always prompt, but his breadth of nature and thought and knowledge gave him a view of all sides of every question, and he could not hold an extreme position, or enjoy any extreme action. He could patiently tolerate the extravagances of others, because of his kindliness and his hopefulness. Probably no one among the many instructors who have been at Oberlin has held a larger place in the hearts of all. For many years he was associated with Mr. Finney in the pastorship of the church, preaching once on the Sabbath, and more in Mr. Finney's absence or ill health. At the age of seventy-eight he retired entirely from his work, and since that time has been residing with a son and a daughter in Cleveland. By all right he belongs to Oberlin, and the benediction of his presence in these latest years ought to rest upon us. He expended his interest and his labor upon his classes, and rarely felt that he was ready to commit his thoughts to writing. Thus far he has LORAIN COUNTY, OHIO - 699 given us no books. A few valuable essays are all that we have from him in this form. The " Baptism of the Holy Spirit" and "Acceptable Holiness" were published in the Oberlin Review, and an article on the " Atonement," in two parts, can be found in the Bibliotheca Sacra for 1877-8. [Taken from "Oberlin: The Colony and The College," by the kind permission of the author, Prof. James H. Fairchild. FREDERICK A. ROWLEY. In the front rank of the galaxy of newspaper men in Lorain county stands this gentleman, thoroughly representing in propria persona, the hustling, enterprising and wide-awake typical American journalist. By birth he is a Hoosier, having first opened his eyes to the light of day in Steuben county, Ind., April 17, 1860. His father, Martin V. Rowley, was born in Cuyahoga county, Ohio, in 1836, and is now a' prominent real-estate dealer of Oberlin, Lorain county. He was married to Miss Lydia Clarke, a native of Caledonia county, Vt., also still living, and they had five children, as follows: Lillian, who died in youth; Willis A., who has a responsible position with the Pennsylvania Railroad Company at Coshocton, Ohio; Frederick A., the subject of this sketch; Mary E., deceased when eighteen years old; and Kate M., attending Oberlin College, Ohio. Enos Rowley, paternal grandfather of our subject, was born in Montgomery county, N. Y., of English ancestry, and the Clarke family also date back to England. Frederick A. Rowley, whose name introduces this sketch, received his education at the public schools of Huron county, Ohio, and at the age of seventeen precipitated himself into the arena of journalism in the Arcadian role of " devil" for the Times, in Carey, Wyandot Co., Ohio, where he served his apprenticeship. From there he proceeded to Oberlin, intending to take a regular course in college, but after a short time turned his back—literally, not figuratively—upon the college, with his face and footsteps toward the town of Lorain. Here he again took up newspaper work, ultimately establishing the Lorain Times, which, after conducting it successfully some six years, he sold out. He then sought employment in western cities, securing positions on leading newspapers, finally halting at Kansas City, Mo., where he found employment on the 'local staff of the Times. While in that city he was elected assistant secretary of the v Inter-State Fair Association, in which capacity he served during the fall of 1877. In that year he returned to Ohio, and was engaged for a time as court reporter on the Cleveland Press, and later he launched into the world, for weal or for woe, the Herald, at Lorain. After a year the _Herald became a semi-weekly paper, and is a bright and spicy sheet, clean both in type and in matter, newsy, trenchant and vigorous, and like its publisher and editor, uncompromisingly Republican. ROBERT MERRIAM, the most extensive farmer and landowner in Pittsfield township, is a native of same, born January 7, 1840. His father, William A. Merriam, was born April 5, 1811, in Pittsfield township, Berkshire Co., Mass., and was reared to farm life, receiving in his youth a common-school education. In 1836 William A. Merriam married Miss Lucy H. Fairfield, a native of the same place, and in the following spring (1837) the young couple migrated westward, journeying by way of canal and lake to Cleveland, Ohio. Their boat was the first to make the trip to Cleveland that spring, and the passengers were obliged to travel for eleven miles over the ice; during this journey the boat took fire, and they