700 - HISTORY OF LORAIN COUNTY Elyria, and the various bodies of Masonry up to and including Al Koran Temple, Mystic Shrine, of Cleveland; and the local lodges of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks and the Knights of Phythias. On April 11, 1911, Mr. Thomas was married to Miss Frances Leiner, who was born and educated at Jamestown, Ohio, and they have two daughters, Una Clare and Martha Fleeta, both born at Elyria. THEODORE CHRIST GOW. A practical electrician by trade, Theodore C. Gow has applied his knowledge to a capable performance while in the employ of others, and now for a number of years has been an independent business man and is head of the Parkside Auto Company at Lorain. Born on a farm in Elyria Township of Lorain County July 13, 1871, he is a son of Henry and Hannah Gow, both of whom were born in Germany and came to the United States in 1866. Though reared on a farm and educated in country schools, Mr. Gow has spent all his active career in the industrial centers of Lorain County. Learning the electrical trade, he was in the employ of the National Tube Company of Lorain for eleven years, and then became one of the interested parties in the Lorain Electric and Automobile Company, of which he was president for eleven years. On selling out his interests in that concern in September, 1914, Mr. Gow organized the Parkside Auto Company, and built for it a brick and cement fireproof garage and shop at Washington and West Erie avenues in Lorain. This company now handles the agency for the Chalmers and Dodge Bros. cars, and carries on a large business with its capitalization of $10.000. Mr. Gow is well known among automobile men, is a very popular citizen in Lorain, and fraternally is identified with the Knights of Pythias Lodge. In September, 1896, he married Elizabeth Geist of Erie County, Ohio. They are the parents of four children : Irving Frank, Harold Paul, Lester Carl and Gladys May. Mr. Gow and family are members of the German Evangelical Church. He is a republican in polities and a member of the board of commerce. CHARLES E. TUCKER. There are few offices that furnish greater opportunities for real and substantial service to a community than that of mayor in a thriving commercial city like Elyria. While the present incumbent of that office, Mr. Tucker, has made an admirable record as a business man in this city and was also for eight years county recorder, it is probable that his most lasting claim to local distinction will rest upon his able, conscientious, efficient and economical administration as mayor of Elyria. First elected to that office in 1911, and now a candidate on an independent ticket for re-election, Mr. Tucker has been a real executive, has devoted himself without reserve to the practical needs of the city, and has performed his exact duties both in the letter and spirit regardless of political consideration. Perhaps the soundest testimonial to his service is found in the hearty response given to his present candidacy for re-election. Recently The Elyria Democrat, in a strong editorial, explained its position in urging the re-election of Mayor Tucker instead of the regular democratic nominee. After stating the cardinal principle that party politics should have as little influence as possible in the selection of candidate's to municipal offices, the editorial continued : "The city of Elyria is in a position where everything must soon be put on the most economical basis. That means every department must be run at a maximum of effiicency. Now, does it appeal to anybody of good judgment that a HISTORY OF LORAIN COUNTY - 701 good official who has worked towards that end and made good, should be turned out simply because a party candidate wants to win for his party's advantage ? Mr. Tucker has made a good mayor. He has attended to the work faithfully and his appointees have been men of ability and judgment and the city has had better service through their efforts than it has enjoyed for years. Why should the voters throw him out and put in an entirely new set of men who will experiment on different lines and then in turn likely be thrown out in two years? This does not make towards an economical and intelligent administration of city affairs. Mr. Tucker is honest, industrious and capable. Keep him in for four years if possible." Lorain County was Mayor Tucker's birthplace. He was born in Carlisle Township February 11, 1860, a son of the late William H. and Clarissa (Andrews) Tucker. His mother died at Elyria January 20, 1870, and his father passed away May '22, 1902. William H. Tucker was born March 21, 1826, in Windham, Portage County, Ohio, the youngest son of Jacob and Chloe Tucker. As a boy he removed with his parents to Lorain County, the family settling in the woods of what is now Eaton Township. It was a time when the public school system had not yet been fairly started, though he received advantages as liberal as most boys of that time. As the result of his hard work and close savings he afterwards completed a higher education in a select school at Ridgeville. For many years his work was as a teacher, and many of the older men and women of Lorain County recall with gratitude his influence on their early lives. This occupation he followed for twenty-two years, in different parts of Ohio. In 1864 he was elected recorder of Lorain County, a position he held by re-election for nine consecutive years, finally retiring from the office in 1874. In the meantime he had taken up the study of law, and on retiring from the recorder's office was admitted to the bar during a session of the District Court at Cleveland. From 1864 until the close of his life, William H. Tucker was a resident of Elyria, and as a lawyer he enjoyed a substantial. practice. He was also prominent in the organization at Elyria of the Royal Arcanum and the Knights of Honor, and in. those two fraternities filled the highest positions in the State of Ohio. Charles E. Tucker grew up in Elyria, attended the common schools, but his practical career of self-support began in 1873, when he was only 'thirteen years old. In 1882 he became an employe of the late John W. Hart in the lumber and planing mill industry. In 1892 Mr. Tucker and L. J. Hart, a son of John W. Hart, bought the entire plant from the latter's father, and these two men developed the business and made it one of the principal supply centers for lumber and building material in Lorain County. L. J. Hart is now a resident of New York City. Mr. Tucker was engaged in the lumber business until 1901. In 1904 he organized The Lorain County Abstract Company, and is still its secretary-treasurer. This business has its offices at 212 Middle Avenue in Elyria. Nearly twenty years after his father had retired from the office of county recorder, Charles E. Tucker was elected to the same office, and served three terms, from 1902 to 1909. Fraternally he is affiliated with King Solomon Lodge No. 56, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, and with Elyria Lodge No. 465 of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks. On September 20, 1882, Mr. Tucker married Miss Hatty E. Hart, daughter of the late John W. and Caroline O. Hart. ALVIN J. PLOCHER. Few of the younger generation of business men in Lorain County have made their abilities count more quickly in the 702 - HISTORY OF LORAIN COUNTY business world than Alvin J. Plocher, now assistant secretary of the Lorain County Banking Company at Elyria. He was born in Elyria August 10, 1885, a son of Christian W. and Olive E. Plocher. He attended the public schools of his native city, and was graduated from high school in June. 1902, at the age of seventeen. During his school years he assisted in paying his way by employment at any task which a boy of his years could perform and in such capacities as were offered by a small town. He was always faithful and reliable in even these small duties. and his sturdy independence won him many friends among his schoolmates. On graduating from high school he applied for and received the position of bookkeeper in the Savings Deposit Bank & Trust Company of Elyria. a position he filled to the entire satisfaction of the officers for one year. At the end of that time, in 1903, he was offered a similar place at the Lorain County Banking Company. He went with this company and has continued in its employ up to the present time, a period of twelve years. On account of his fidelity and untiring service in behalf of the bank, he has from time to time been promoted and has held the positions of teller, assistant cashier and secretary, his connection with that institution at the present time being in the latter capacity. Mr. Plocher has a pleasant and genial way of meeting the customers of the bank and all other persons with whom he comes in contact, and this trait makes him a valuable man for any business position. From his known ability as a banker and accountant and from his popularity among the citizens of Elyria, he was elected in 1913, treasurer of the city. Of the five city candidates, he was paid the deserved compliment of an uncontested nomination. For the other four offices lively contests took place. especially for those of auditor and of solicitor. Mr. Plocher is known to practically every citizen and taxpayer of Elyria. His public work is as creditable as that which he has long performed in the bank, and has increased the honors with which his name is associated. He is. now treasurer of the Elyria Chamber of Commerce. Mr. Plocher early became interested in Masonry, and is a member and past master of King Solomon Lodge No. 56, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons; a member of Marshall Chapter No. 47. Royal Arch Masons; Elyria Conneil No. 86, Royal and Select Masters; a member and treasurer of Elyria Commandery No. 6, Knights Templar ; and also belongs to Al Koran Temple of the Nobles of the Mystic Shrine. He is a member of the First Congregational Church of Elyria. Socially Mr. Plocher is a genial and companionable neighbor and friend, and takes an active part in all social functions which he attends. He is a growing man in the community in which he lives, and has a host of admiring friends who hold him in the highest esteem. JOHN T. JELLEY. Since 1894 Mr. Jelley has maintained his residence in the City of Lorain and has been a valued executive in connection with the extensive operations of one of the important industrial plants of the city. that of the National Tube Company, originally the Johnson Company, which is engaged in the manufacturing of steel products. He has held since 1897 the position of superintendent of the company's brick-construction department. is a skilled artisan as a brick mason. is a straightforward, energetic and reliable business man and is a progressive and loyal citizen who has won unqualified esteem in the city which has represented his home for nearly a score of years. A scion of a sterling old family of the Keystone State, John Thomas Jelley was born at Danville, the judicial center of Montour County, Pennsylvania. and the date of his nativity was June 14. 1856. He is a HISTORY OF LORAIN COUNTY - 703 son of Richard and Mary (Conebear) Jelley, who continued their residence in that state until their death, the father having been a shoemaker by trade and vocation. The public schools of Pennsylvania afforded to John T. Jelley his early educational advantages, and as a youth he served a thorough apprenticeship to the trade of brick mason. As a. journeyman workman he was thereafter in the employ of the great Cambria Iron Company of Pennsylvania, and in 1881, as a young man of about twenty-five years, he went to Pueblo, Colorado, where he continued until 1887, in charge of the company's brick department. He severed this association in May, 1887, and then returned to Pennsylvania and entered the employ of the Carnegie Steel Company, at Braddock. He thus continued his activities in his native state until 1894, when he came to Lorain, Ohio, and assisted in the erection of the original plant of the Johnson Company, with which important industrial corporation he has since been identified and with which he has held since 1897 the superintendency of the brick-construction department, as previously noted. As a loyal and broad-minded citizen Mr. Jelley has not denied his service in connection with general community affairs, as shown by the fact that for eight years he was a member of the board of education of Lorain, of which body he was president for two years of this period. He is a republican in political allegiance, and is affiliated with the Free and Accepted Masons, and the chapter of Royal Arch Masons, both of Pueblo, Colorado. On the 5th of January, 1882, Mr. Jelley wedded Miss Clara Bennett, of Johnstown, Pennsylvania, in which state she was reared and educated. Concerning the children of this union the following brief data are given in conclusion of this article : Mabel is the wife of Frank A. Eyman, of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, her husband there holding the position of physical director in the Carnegie Institute of Technology : Eleanor Bennett Jelley is a teacher of domestic science in the public schools of the City of Cleveland ; Dr. Herbert Charles Jelley is a dentist by profession and is established in successful practice at Lakewood; Cuyahoga County, Ohio ; and Miss Sarah Langman Jelley remains at the parental home and is a successful and popular teacher in the public schools of Lorain. E. CAMERON, M. D. The late Doctor Cameron, whose death occurred at Elyria. October 8, 1914, while serving as county coroner, possessed and exercised many qualities of mind and manhood which his community could ill afford to lose. He stood for the best things of life, was not only a successful physician, but also a deep and thorough student of medicine, and was a gentleman of the highest type and a social leader in the best sense of the term. He was identified with Lorain County for twenty years, and his work in that time deserves the recognition of a permanent memorial. Of Canadian birth and ancestry, he was born at Albani, Prince Edward's Island, August 1, 1847. He was a graduate from the medical department of Bowdoin College in the State of Maine, took postgraduate work at Harvard University, at Bellevue Hospital in New York City, and all his life was devoted to study and research so that he never considered his education ended. For a number of years he practiced medicine in Canada, and in 1894 located in the City of Lorain, which was the center of his growing practice for a number of years. In November, 1912, he was elected on the republican ticket as coroner of Lorain County, and in order to perform the duties of that office he removed to Elyria in January, 1913. As a coroner he discharged his duties faithfully, was a most capable official, was deeply interested in 704 - HISTORY OF LORAIN COUNTY public affairs, and in all his relations maintained his high ideals, an unblemished character, and was a man of thorough public spirit. Doctor Cameron was one of the founders of The Lorain County Medical Society. He also belonged to The Ohio State Medical Society and The American Medical Association, and from May, 1899, had been affiliated with Easton Lodge No. 7, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons at Eastport, Maine. He attended the First Congregational Church of Elyria and was a member of the Men's Club of that church. For a number of terms he filled the offices of president and vice president of The Lorain County Medical Society. Doctor Cameron's first wife died at Grand Malian, Canada, in February, 1892. Three of their children died there in infancy. Doctor Cameron's only son is Dr. R. L. Cameron, who is now head surgeon at The Republican Rubber Company in Youngstown, Ohio. He also has two daughters : Mrs. R. G. Chapman, whose husband is a barrister at Winnipeg, Canada ; and Mrs. R. R. J. Brown, whose husband is also a member of the bar at Winnipeg. Mr. Brown is also a major in a. Canadian regiment, and is now expected to be called to the front almost any day. Doctor Cameron is also survived by seven grandchildren. On September 16, 1908, at Elyria, Doctor Cameron married Mrs. Bena Woodruff. She is a daughter of F. F. and Marie (Martin) Kuhlow. Her parents were born and married in Germany, and in 1881 'came to Lorain County and bought a homestead of fifty acres situated within the city limits of Elyria. Mrs. Cameron now owns that old homestead, and is still occupying it as her home, and it was also their home during the life of Doctor Cameron. WILLIAM SEHER. During the past score of years Mr. Seher has been a prominent and representative figure in connection with the industrial and civic activities of the City of Lorain, and his has been a dominating force in the furtherance of enterprises that have contributed much to the commercial precedence of the city, the while he has shown the loyalty and progressive spirit that ever indicate the best ideals of citizenship. He is manager of the Lorain Brewing Company, which was organized in 1903 and which is a branch of the Cleveland & Sandusky Brewing Company, as agent of which he came to Lorain in 1895. The local company has a modern plant of the best equipment and facilities and with an output capacity of 50,000 barrels per annum. In connection with the operation of the plant about thirty persons are employed, and the excellence of the product has gained to the establishment a large and prosperous trade throughout Lorain and county and other counties in this section of the state. Mr. Seher continued as agent for the Cleveland & Sandusky Brewing Company at Lorain until the organization of the Lorain Company, as a branch of the former, since which time he has held his present position, that of general manager. He is president of the Lorain Crystal Ice Company, of which admirable Lorain institution further mention is made on other pages, in the sketch of the career of its general manager. Albert A. Plato. Mr. Seher is a member of the directorate of the National Bank of Commerce of Lorain, Ohio. one of the strongest financial institutions in Lorain County. and is one of the most active and influential members of the Lorain Board of Commerce. of which he is second vice president. William Seher was born in the City of Sandusky, Erie County. Ohio. on the 24th of .January, 1868. and is a son of Frederick W. and Carolena Maria (Breeher) Seher, his father being a representative real estate broker and pension agent in the City of Sandusky. Frederick W. Seher was born and reared in Germany and came to America about HISTORY OF LORAIN COUNTY - 705 the year 1860. He soon afterward found opportunity to signalize his intrinsic loyalty to the land of his adoption, for he tendered his service in defense of the Union and was a gallant and faithful soldier in the Civil war, in which he served two years, as a member of Company C, Sixty-fourth Ohio Volunteer Infantry. The excellent public schools of Sandusky afforded to William Seher his early educational advantages, which were supplemented by a course in a business college in that city. He then assumed a clerical position with a Sandusky ice company, and upon the establishing of the electric street railway system in his native city he was the fifth man to be engaged as motorman for the new company, in the service of which he continued six years. One the 1st of October, 1895, Mr. Seher same to Lorain as agent for the Cleveland & Sandusky Brewing Company, and concerning his business activities since that time adequate mention has already been made in this article. Mr. Seher is a popular factor in both• business and social circles in Lorain and is known for his buoyant, whole-souled nature and cheery optimism. He is a charter member of the Lorain Lodge, No. 1301, Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, and also of the local aerie of the Fraternal Order of Eagles, besides which he is affiliated with the Loyal Order of Moose and is a representative member of the Lorain Liedertafel. On the 25th of September, 1889, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Seher to Miss Emma Motry of Sandusky, and they have two children—Norma and William Frank, both of whom remain at the parental home and the latter of whom is bookkeeper for the Lorain Brewing Company. EPHRAIM KEYES CARPENTER. On other pages is published an interesting record concerning the prominent early settlers of Avon Township, as reproduced from an article written and read at the centennial anniversary of the first settlement of Avon, this celebration having been held in 1914. In this article, written by Horace J. Cahoon of Elyria, a descendant of one of the old-time families of that township, mention was made of E. K. Carpenter and wife as a pioneer couple who made their influence definitely count in this new country. Keyes Carpenter, as he was always known, was-in fact a man whose industry, wholesome character, and private and public activities would comprise a valuable influence in any locality. It is only a matter of just due that some permanent record should be made of his life, especially as it affects Lorain County. Born in Lee Township, Berkshire County, Massachusetts, December 29, 1799, Ephraim Keyes Carpenter was a son of Levi and Hannah (Keyes) Carpenter. The sources of his early training anad education are not a matter of record, but the facts of his later life show ample evidence of a wholesome development of character and a considerable knowledge of books and the world. About the time he attained his majority he set out with a boy companion, Hosea Harris, for the new country of Northern Ohio. These two young men walked practically all the way to Lorain County. The only exception was one day when they were supposed to ride on a stage, but as a matter of fact they carried stakes most of the day and helped pry the coach out of the mud. The destination of Keyes Carpenter was his uncle's home in Lorain County. It was in honor of his uncle that Mr. Carpenter was named. Arriving in Avon, he worked for his uncle and gradually paid for the fifty acres of new land which he secured as the nucleus of the old Carpenter homestead in Avon Township. It was in 1819 that Keyes Carpenter came to Ohio. He was then not quite twenty-one, and had bought his time from his father on leaving home, and his entire capital on reaching Ohio was $20. For the fifty 706 - HISTORY OF LORAIN COUNTY acres above mentioned the purchase price was $5 per acre, and it took considerable time to pay for this land. He possessed great industry, was very enterprising and successful as a farmer and he gradually increased his holdings in Avon from 50 acres to 150 acres. In 1832 he built the old frame house on the farm in Avon, and that house, now one of the oldest and most interesting landmarks of the early days. is still standing and in good repair, and is the home of John B. Dechant. who now owns a part of what was the old Carpenter farm. After a residence in Lorain County of more than forty years E. K. Carpenter sold his farm in Avon Township to Bartel Thome. Record of the sale and deed was dated April 23, 1863. The old farm is located on Stony Ridge Road in Avon, not far from French Creek. After disposing of his property in Lorain County, Mr. Carpenter moved with his family to East Gilead in Branch County, Michigan. He bought 120 acres of good land in that picturesque and attractive section of one of Southern Michigan's finest counties. The old house on the Michigan farm had been built a number of years before, and still stands today in good condition. Mr. Carpenter once served as township trustee in Avon Township, and for a long time was road supervisor. For a number of years he steadily supported the Whig candidates in politics, and became a republican upon the organization of that party. Outside of his work as a farmer and home maker, he was probably best known for his activities as a churchman. He was a charter member of the Avon Methodist Episcopal Church, was a class leader from its beginning for fully forty years, and was also a licensed exhorter and local preacher. He was one of the men who helped to build up churches and extend religious influences in the old Western Reserve of Ohio. In the absence of regular preachers or missionaries he frequently held meetings in his neighborhood, and the Carpenter home was often the scene of gatherings for prayer and Bible reading. After moving to Michigan he became a member and active worker in the Evangelical Church at East Gilead. He was a good man through and through, highly respected in any community where he resided, and members of the present generation who enjoy an unexampled prosperity which the sacrifices of such pioneers made possible may well pay a tribute of gratitude to such early settlers as Keyes Carpenter. E. K. Carpenter died at East Gilead, Branch County. Michigan, February 9, 1869. In Avon Township, Lorain County, Ohio, he met and married Miss Lavina Carly Cooper, a daughter of David and Polly Cooper, all of whom were born in New York State. David Cooper. her father, died at Troy, Ashland County, Ohio, and is buried there. His wife, Polly Cooper, died in Steuben County, Indiana, and is buried at Lake Gage, Indiana. Mrs. E. K. Carpenter died September 29. 1863, shortly after the family arrived in Michigan. Both she and her husband now rest in the cemetery at East Gilead. Their children were named Orin Gilmore, Julia Etta, Sarepta Cordelia, Tressa Melissa. Theodore Jasper, Luke Johnson, Charles Norton, all of whom grew to maturity. These children were all born in the old house which is still standing on the farm in Avon Township. The four who are still living are: Tressa Melissa Warriner, of Steuben County, Indiana ; Theodore Jasper Carpenter. of East Gilead. Branch County, Michigan ; Luke Johnson Carpenter, of East Gilead, Branch County, Michigan ; and Charles Norton Carpenter, of Jonesville, Michigan, DAVID THOMAS. One of the few citizens of this immediate section of the Buckeye State who can claim as his place of nativity the rugged and picturesque district of the northwestern part of Wales, is David Thomas, HISTORY OF LORAIN COUNTY - 707 who is a skilled mechanic and who has made an admirable record in his chosen sphere of constructive industry. He is now living virtually retired in the City of Lorain, where for twenty-three years he was in the employ of the corporation at present known as the National Tube Company. He has also served as justice of the peace and is a sterling citizen to whom is accorded the fullest measure of popular confidence and good will in the community that has represented his home for the past score of years. David Thomas was born in Carnarvonshire, Wales, on the 9th of October, 1839, • and is a scion of one of the old and honored families of that section of Great Britain. In his native land Mr. Thomas gained his early education and there also he served a most thorough apprenticeship to the trade of machinist, in which he became a skilled artisan. In Wales Mr. Thomas continued in the work of his trade until. 1887, when he came with his family to the United States and established his home at Johnstown, Pennsylvania, where he found profitable employment as a machinist and where he remained six years. In 1895 he removed with his family to Ohio, where he has since continued his residence in the City of Lorain, and where for nearly a quarter of a century he was retained as one of the expert and valued machinists and minor executives in the manufactory now controlled by the great corporation designated as the National Tube Company. As a naturalized citizen of the United States Mr. Thomas is found aligned as a staunch supporter of the principles and policies of the republican party, and his mature judgment and sterling integrity made him especially eligible for the office of justice of the peace to which he was elected in 1912, and of which he was the efficient incumbent until January 1, 1916—an office which his administration has made to justify its name, in the conserving of justice and the preservation of peace and good will. Mr. Thomas is zealously affiliated with the time-honored Masonic fraternity, in which he has received the chivalric degrees and holds membership in Lorain Commandery, Knights Templars, besides which he is affiliated also with the Knights of the Golden Eagle. Reared in the faith of the established Church of England, Mr. Thomas and his wife are communicants of its American counterpart, the Protestant Episcopal Church. On the 3d of August, 1863, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Thomas to Miss Emily Hill, who likewise was born and reared in Wales and who has proved a devoted companion and helpmeet to him during the long intervening period of more than half a century. Of their children four are living—William James and David John, both of whom reside in Lorain ; Arthur, who maintains his home at Elyria, the county seat ; and Gwillymn Ernest, who resides at Lorain, so that the venerable parents have the satisfaction of having all of their children within close proximity, all of the sons being well established in life and all paying to their father and mother the deepest of filial solicitude. HORACE J. CAHOON. Civilized man, with his institutions of home, school and church, with his implements of husbandry and industry, and with his forward looking efforts for continued improvement and betterment, has been established in Avon Township now for a little more than a century. Without trespassing any further the domain of this history, which has been so well told on other pages, the following paragraphs will be devoted primarily to some account of the Cahoon family, which was distinguished for making the first permanent settlement in Avon and which among other worthy and excellent citizens includes the membership of Horace J. Cahoon, who is himself one of the oldest living native 708 - HISTORY OF LORAIN COUNTY sons of Avon and has been a prominent figure in the public life of Lorain County and has done much to cherish among the present generation a proper regard for the interesting associations of the past. Horace J. Cahoon was born in Avon Township May 11, 1837, and is a son of Ora B. and Jane T. (Jameson) Cahoon and a grandson of Wilbur and Priscilla (Sweet) Cahoon. The family was established in Avon by Wilbur Cahoon, who was born in Hancock Township, Berkshire County, Massachusetts, December 27, 1772, but for a number of years he and his wife, Priscilla, lived in Saulsbury Township of Herkimer County, New York, in which locality all their children but one were born. It was in the year 1814 that these worthy people, participating in that great westward movement which began about the close of the second war with Great Britain, left New York State for the far West. Wilbur Cahoon traded his 100 acres of land in Herkimer County for a tract of 800 acres, all covered with heavy forests in what is now Avon Township of Lorain County. Arriving here with his family after the numberless difficulties of travel in such times and circumstances, he established such rude accommodations as conditions permitted for his first home. A few years later in 1825 he erected the first frame house that was built in Avon. The tract of land which thus early came into the possession of the Cahoon family was in 1814 so isolated that in order to reach it Wilbur had to cut a trail for eight miles through the woods. Not until some time afterwards was a single settlement planted between the Cahoon habitation and the little hamlet at Cleveland, Ohio. What is now a great city at that time had only thirty houses. Wilbur Cahoon's distinction in the early history of Avon does not rest entirely upon his being the advance guard of the first settlers. His character and activities ;would have made him influential in any country. He was one of the early members of the whig party and was the first justice of the peace elected for the jurisdiction now divided among the townships of Avon, Sheffield and Dover, all of which country was at that time one township, Dover being now in the county to the east of Lorain. There were only two justices of the peace, and the other was Isaac Burrell. Wilbur Cahoon and wife were charter members of the first Baptist Church established in Avon, and until a proper church edifice could be built meetings were frequently held at their home. Though he thus played a large and influential part in the early life of Avon, Wilbur Cahoon had lived there only twelve years until his death on September 27, 1826. His wife, Priscilla (Sweet) Cahoon, was born in Rhode Island, and died in Avon May 2, 1855, both having been laid to rest side by side in the old township. They were the parents of eight children, and all but one lived beyond middle age. Susan, the oldest, who died in Florence Township, Huron County, December 16, 1880, married Harley Mason. Jesse S. died in Avon February 28, 1836. Wilbur, Jr., died in California September 9, 1852. Ora B., father of Horace J. above mentioned, died on the old homestead in Avon March 17, 1881. Orra, who died in Avon April 18, 1875, was the wife of Henry Titus. Hulda died at the age of sixteen on July 16, 1826, the same year of her father's death. Nancy M., who was the wife of John Steel, died August 27, 1851, in Amhurst Township. All these children were born back in Herkimer County, and it was the distinction of the youngest of the family, Leonard, to be the first white child born in Avon Township. Leonard died in Avon May 3, 1890. Ora B. Cahoon, through whom this sketch of the family relationship is continued, was horn in Herkimer County, New York, May 25, 1804, and was almost seventy-seven years of age at the time of his death. As a boy of ten years he retained many recollections of the interesting jour- HISTORY OF LORAIN COUNTY - 709 ney which brought himself and other members of the family from New York State to Lorain County. A trip around the world in modern times is fraught with not half the difficulties which attended a migration from one of the eastern to one of the states of the Ohio Valley a century ago. It required the Cahoon family a month of tedious travel. The first objective point in their migration was Dover in Cuyahoga County, where Wilbur Cahoon had a brother, Joseph, who in the local history of Dover is likewise distinguished as the first settler, having located there in 1810. After a visit at Joseph's home the family came on to their chosen spot in the Northern Ohio wilderness in Avon. Ora B. Cahoon had attended school in Herkimer County and also had the limited advantages afforded by some of the first district schools in Avon. His life was spent as a farmer, and his home was a portion of his father's old estate in Avon. For a number of years his fellow citizens in that township honored him with the office of trustee. In politics until the advocation of the slavery question became acute he was a regular democrat, but his views changed about war time and as a republican he gave his support to the grand old party until his death. He and his wife were members of the Baptist Church in Avon. On December 10, 1834, Ora B. Cahoon married Miss Jane T. Jameson in Avon. She died August 29, 1890, having survived her husband several years. She was a daughter of Joseph B. and Thankful (Smith) Jameson, who came to Avon from Monroe County, New York, in 1820. In the family of Ora B. Cahoon and wife were seven children, six sons and one daughter, all of whom reached maturity. The oldest of these is Horace J. Melissa A., who died at her home in Avon March 30, 1884, was the wife of James M. Lent. Joseph B. still occupies a portion of the old Cahoon homestead in Avon. Wilbur D. died in California in March, 1912. Ora B., Jr., also died in California February 11, 1890. Burritt E. lives in Monterey County, California, and in the same county lives his brother Charles S. The early life of Horace J. Cahoon was spent in that environment and times which represented the middle period between the conditions of the true pioneer epoch and the great progressive age of modern years. He attended the public schools of his native township, -grew up on a farm, and his practical career was that of a farmer until his fellow citizens of the county required his services elsewhere. At the fall election of 1891 he was elected county recorder and assumed the duties of that position January 1, 1892. He was twice re-elected as his own successor in office and thus served three regular terms. Owing to a change in the law making some new provisions as to the length of terms in county offices, he was appointed at the conclusion of his third term for eight months of service until 'the beginning of the new term under revised conditions. Thus for nine years eight months he was continuously county recorder of Lorain County. From 1907 to 1913 inclusive Mr. Cahoon was clerk of the Board of Review at Elyria. Before removing to Elyria, the county seat, he served one term as justice of the peace in Avon and for fifteen years was personal property assessor of that township and also held the offices of school director and clerk of the board. A public record of Mr. Cahoon would not be complete without reference to his experiences as a soldier in the Civil war. In August, 1862, he enlisted in Company E of the Forty-second Ohio Volunteer Infantry, a regiment which was distinguished by having as first colonel James A. Garfield, later President of the United States. This regiment was attached to the southwestern army, and during most of its service operated along the Mississippi River. Mr. Cahoon had a part in the strenuous campaign leading up to the siege and capture of Vicksburg, and was present at the Battle of Chickasaw Bayou when the army of Sherman was repulsed in 1863. He was also at Arkansas Post when that point 710 - HISTORY OF LORAIN COUNTY was wrested from the control of the Confederates, and was soon afterward taken ill and sent to hospital at Jefferson barracks in St. Louis. He was discharged from hospital March 25, 1863, and sent home after nearly eight months of life as a soldier. He then resumed the labors of peace on the old farm. Mr. Cahoon has had his residence in Elyria since 1892. He is a member of the Richard Allen Post No. 65, Grand Army of the Republic, and was its quartermaster two years. He attends and is a supporter of the First Methodist Episcopal Church at Elyria, of which his wife is a member. On February 10, 1861. in Avon, Mr. Cahoon married Miss Elizabeth Lucas, daughter of Jonathan and Ann (Ire) Lucas. Mrs. Cahoon was born in Avon, and her parents were born and reared in England, having come to Avon in 1831. To the marriage of Mr. and Mrs. Cahoon were born five children. Carrie L., who was born and received part of her education in Avon, also took a course in the Normal at Milton, was a popular teacher for several years in Avon. Ridgeville and Sheffield. and for nearly nineteen years was a. clerk in the county recorder's office up to 1912, and is now living at home. Ella S.. the widow of Don •ohnson, lives on her farm with her family in Elyria Township. The son Fred W. also lives at home. Maud, who lives at home, has for the past twenty-three years been a clerk in the county recorder's office.. having entered that office under her father. Anna B., who died December 12, 1903, was the wife of Claud Poyer. All the children were natives of Avon Township and received at least part of their education there. On September 10, 1914, the descendants of the original settlers of Avon Township celebrated the hundredth anniversary of the first settlement and Mr. Cahoon was chosen historian of the occasion and prepared and read a historical account of Avon which appears elsewhere in this history. WILLIAm E. CAHOON. Bearing a name that has many intimate relations with the early settlement of Lorain and Cuyahoga counties. Wil- liam, E. Cahoon was for many years actively identified with merchandising and with public affairs in Elyria, was a veteran of the Civil war, and the memory which he left behind him was that of a thoroughly capable citizen, honest and true and steadfast in any position to which duty called him, and the type of man who makes any community the better for his presence. He was born in Elyria May 15, 1846. His parents were William O. and Melissa (Eldred) Cahoon. His maternal grandfather. Judge Eldred, settled at Ridgeville in Lorain County as early as 1812. The paternal grandfather, Joseph Cahoon, settled in Dover Township of Cuyahoga County, Ohio, in 1810, and was the first actual permanent settler in that township, where he lived and died on a farm. William O. Cahoon was born in the State of New York and was only two years of age when his parents settled in Dover Township at Cuyahoga County in 1810. He lived there until he was about seventeen years of age, then went to the southern part of the state for a year or so, and on returning to the North located at Elyria in 1835. and made his home in that city until his death. He passed away in Elyria in 1878. In polities he was a republican and a free soiler, and in religion a Methodist. His wife died at Elyria in 1888. There were six children who lived to grow up. five sons and one daughter. The only one now living is Charles A. Cahoon, deputy sheriff of. Lorain County and a resident of Elyria. The oldest son, E. A. Cahoon. vas a member of Battery E, First Ohio Artillery, and served two and a half years with that command until his honorable discharge. HISTORY OF LORAIN COUNTY - 711 The late W. E. Cahoon acquired his early education in the graded schools in Elyria, and the first business in which he regularly engaged was the stove and tinware business at Elyria. He followed that for eight years. being located on West Broad Street where the Elyria Block now stands. In the meantime he had made a record as a soldier. At the age of seventeen he enlisted in Company K of the One Hundred and Thirty-fifth Ohio Volunteer Infantry for the 100 days' service. His regiment was sent East and saw some campaigning in Virginia and Maryland, being stationed at Harper 's Ferry, "Martinsburg and Maryland Heights, and participating in the fight at John Brown's Schoolhouse. On his return home from the army Mr. Cahoon learned the trade of tinner, and followed this altogether for about twelve years. On Decoration Day, 1874,- while assisting in firing off a cannon he accidentally lost his right arm, and this interfered so much with his active work that he closed up his business in 1878. In 1875 Mr. Cahoon was elected assessor of Elyria Township, and filled that office four consecutive years. In 1882 he was elected county recorder of Lorain County, and filled that position until January 1, 1892. After that he was engaged in business as an abstractor of titles until his death. He filled the office of county recorder three successive terms. This gave him an unusual knowledge of local titles, and he did a great deal of work in looking up abstracts for others. He was an active member of the Grand Army of the Republic and of the Royal Arcanum. On July :30, 1874, Mr. Cahoon married Mrs. Maria P. (Bush) Tyler of Cleveland, a daughter of Rev. E. H. Bush, who was a Methodist minister at Cleveland, but is now deceased. Mrs. Cahoon, who is still living in Elyria. was born in Fremont, Ohio, a daughter of Rev. Eurotus H. and Mary ( Goodsell) Bush, both of whom were born in Rochester, New York. In polities the late Mr. Cahoon was a stanch republican and did much to promote the interests of his party in Lorain County and was a citizen whose support could always be depended upon to forward those interests most closely in harmony with real and substantial welfare. STANLEY ADDISON AULT. Among the business men of Lorain, none stands higher either in business reputation or in social character than Stanley Addison Ault, vice president and general manager of the Hoffman Heater Company. While still in the prime of life, he has by his energy and steadfastness of purpose obtained a name in the commercial world well worthy of his labors and of which he has the strongest reasons to be proud. Mr. Ault is a product of the farm, having been born on his father's homestead at Chillicothe, Ross County, Ohio, March 2, 1870, a son of Reason and Catherine (Comer) Ault. He was educated in the public schools of his native vicinity and brought up in the atmosphere of the farm, and was engaged in agricultural pursuits until reaching the age of twenty-four years, when he decided upon a business career. At that time he became a solicitor for life insurance, and after working in his native place for four years came to Lorain, in 1898, where he believed he would find a better field. Mr. Ault continued to work as a life insurance salesman, representing various concerns until he entered the service of the Equitable Life Insurance Company, in which he rapidly rose to he district manager for Ohio. He left that position in 1907 to become manager of the Lorain and Elyria Ice and Coal Company, a capacity in which he acted for one year, and in 1908 joined the Hoffman Heater Company as traveling salesman. Mr. Ault was successful in this line, and when the company was incorporated, in 1911, he was made vice president and general manager, positions which he has since retained. 712 - HISTORY OF LORAIN COUNTY The Hoffman Heater Company, whose slogan "We Start the Fire With Water," is now known all over the country, was incorporated in 1905, with a capital of $25,000, and at that time was housed in a building consisting of 4,000 square feet of floor space, employing a force of five men. Some idea. of the great growth and development of the industry, during the ten years of its existence, may be gained from the facts that it is now a $100,000 corporation, with a floor space of 40.000 square feet, all on the ground floor, and employs on an average of more than ninety people. The plant is modern in structure and equipment, and includes its own brass foundry in which all the brass used in the manufacture of the product is made, and its own japanning plant for the japanning of castings; the company also owns its own land. All kinds of gas-fired .water heaters are manufactured and the product of the company has gained a wide and substantial reputation. In 1915 the concern secured the contract for furnishing all heaters for the Panama-Pacific International Exposition Company at San Francisco, where, June 11. 1915, the company was awarded the medal of honor on its entire line exhibited at the fair. The present officers of the company are : A. H. Babcock, president ; S. A. Ault, vice president and general manager.: and J. M. Jones, secretary and treasurer. In addition to discharging the duties of his positions with this company, Mr. Ault is also concerned in a like manner with the Troike Muffler and Manufacturing Company, of Lorain. as vice president and general manager. He is well known in fraternal circles, being a member of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, and in Masonry is a Knight Templar and Shriner. Mr. Ault was married March 2, 1892, to Miss Ella AI. Wheeler, of Chillicothe, Ohio, and they are the parents of five children. namely : Clarence W., Harold G., Merle S., Marguerite G. and Janice Jeanette. WILLIAM WHITNEY. There is no little significance in the motto which Mr. Whitney used during his campaign as republican nominee for sheriff of Lorain County in 1914. "Bill Whitney always knows you" suggests one of the qualifications most needed in political life, and in this case the reverse of the motto was also true, since practically every responsible citizen of Lorain County knows Bill Whitney. The citizens of Elyria knew him on account of his fourteen years of capable and efficient service on the police force, and the people of the county at large are now becoming well acquainted with his admirable management of the office of sheriff. Sheriff Whitney is by no means a passive factor in the civic life of his home county. His name everywhere suggests the character of an upright citizen, and he has been a vigorous force in behalf of clean politics, and like his father is strongly opposed to the domination of the saloon element. William Whitney was born in Camden, Lorain County, Ohio, within seven miles of the University Town of Oberlin, May 13, 1874. His parents are Thomas and Philena (Johnson) Whitney. His father was born at Kipton in Lorain County and the mother was horn at Painesville in Ashtabula County, Ohio. Grandfather William Whitney came to Ohio from England, and was one of the early day settlers of Lorain County. The maternal grandfather, Solomon Johnson. was for two terms sheriff of Fulton County, Ohio. Thomas Whitney and wife are now living on a small farm which they bought for their declining years south of the Village of Kipton. At one time Thomas owned 800 acres of land in Lorain County, including the site of the present Village of Kipton. During the Civil war he served from the beginning to the end of hostilities, as a private in the Forty-third Ohio Regiment. He is a man of exemplary personal habits, never drinks and never has. and HISTORY OF LORAIN COUNTY - 713 has proved a decided influence in his community in behalf of permanent restrictions upon the liquor traffic. He attends the Disciples Church of which he is a regular member. In the family were six children, two of whom died in infancy, and there are two daughters and two sons still living : Anna, Mrs. Claud Jenkins of Berlin Heights, Ohio; William ; Hattie, wife of B. A. Perkins of Elyria ; and George, who is a farmer and has eighty acres adjoining his father's place near the Village of Kipton. All the children were born in Lorain County, and attended the public schools of Camden. Sheriff Whitney's vigorous personality and, ability are reflections from his rugged and thorough experience and training as a young man. He lived at home on the farm, worked in the fields and attended school until the age of twenty, and after his marriage moved to Oberlin, where for a little more than a year he was foreman in the lumber yards of George Persons. He then came to Elyria and found work under the superintendent of streets. At the same time he put in an application for a place on the Elyria police force. It was the custom then for the members of the city council to vote upon such applications, and a majority was required for the employment of any applicant. When Mr. Whitney was taken on to the force he received a unanimous verdict from the councilmen and thereafter continued a member of the police force of Elyria fourteen years, and throughout that time, at each recurring spring election, when the council formally voted upon the police force, he received an endorsement from every member of the council. That is a record of confidence which is well deserved and of which Sheriff Whitney is properly proud. For three years he was a patrolman, and three years a police detective, and was then made captain and chief. He continued chief of police until 1911, when a change in administration occurred, the democratic mayor removing most of the republicans from the municipal offices and substituting democrats in their stead. In the meantime Mr. Whitney had already determined to become a candidate for the office of county sheriff, and as his plans were already well under way he left the position of chief of police without regret. During the primaries Mr. Whitney was one of thirteen candidates for the nomination for sheriff, and gained the nomination by about 1,300 votes more than his nearest opponent. In the election he was chosen by over 3,800 votes in majority of those received by the democrat-progressive candidate. He was regularly installed in the office of sheriff on January 4, 1915, for a term of two years. While Mr. Whitney is new in the office of sheriff he has already shown a vigor of administration which has proved gratifying to his many supporters and is an earnest of a strong and sufficient force for law and order in Lorain County. He had been in office about four months when he discovered nine automobiles that had been stolen by a clique of Cleveland automobile thieves operating in Lorain and other counties. At the present writing an automobile case is being tried before the local courts of the circuit and is attracting wide attention not only in Ohio but in other states. Several convictions have been pronounced upon the members of the gang and they were sentenced to prison. This is an organization which has worked with a great deal of cleverness in stealing and disposing of automobiles. They have made a practice of stealing cars in first class condition, hurrying them to a plant in Cleveland, where the cars are made over and so completely changed in all ordinary identification marks that the original owners from whom they were stolen could by no possibility establish proofs fitting their original machines. The remade cars are sold and the profits divided among those interested in the steal. 714 - HISTORY OF LORAIN COUNTY Sheriff Whitney is a man thoroughly honest and competent in his official duties, and is moreover a gentleman and has hosts of friends. He is affiliated with Harlan P. Chapman Post of the Sons of Veterans at Elyria., with the Modern Woodmen of America, the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, the Loyal Order of Moose and the Fraternal Order of Eagles. He also belongs to the Elyria Chamber of Commerce and in politics is a republican. Last but not least there should be mentioned another important factor in the career of Sheriff Whitney. This was his marriage to Miss Mary Dunkle of Wellington, Lorain County. They were married at Elyria. Her father, Frank Dunkle, was a soldier in the Civil war on the Union side, and lived for many years at Wellington, where he died in 1913. Mrs. Whitney was only seven years of age when she lost her mother. Mrs. Whitney was born in Pennsylvania, was educated at Lattisburg, Wayne county, Ohio, where her parents lived during her girlhood, and since her marriage has proved herself an excellent homemaker and a devoted mother to their only daughter, Reva Mae Whitney, who was born in Elyria, received her education in that city, was married July 22, 1915, to Hugh McCray, of Oberlin, Ohio. PHILIP BRUNK. The career of Philip Brunk well illustrates what may be accomplished by the following out of an honorable purpose with firm determination and self-reliance. His only resource when he began active life was natural ability, but he possessed also will-power and was able to make the most of his opportunities. He learned early the value of self-help and the virtues of industry, frugality and fidelity, set himself a high ideal, and in a practical common-sense way has directed his every effort toward its attainment, with the result that now, still in the strength and vigor of manhood, he has achieved a most gratifying success. Philip Brunk secretary and treasurer of the Brunk Machine and Forging Company, Incorporated, of Lorain, Ohio, was born in Germany. December 22. 1858, and is a son of Philip and Dorothy Brunk. He was educated in the public schools of'his native land and as a youth learned the blacksmith's and still later. the machinist's trades. He found his opportunities limited in the Fatherland, and as a young man came to the decision that America offered a more advantageous field for the display of his abilities. Accordingly, in 1884, he emigrated to this country, settling at Lorain. where he secured employment in the shops of the C. L. & W. Railroad, which is now a part of the Baltimore & Ohio System. After seven years with this road. during which he gained promotion through industry and faithful performance of duty, and carefully saved his earnings, he established himself in business as the proprietor of a machine shop. From small beginnings, this venture was developed into an industry of pretentious size, and in 1903 was incorporated under the style of the Brunk Machine and Forging Company, with a capital of $35,000. its present officials being : W. M. Dabney, president ; C. Krentz. vice president and Philip Brunk, secretary and treasurer. The company employs twenty skilled mechanics, and its products meet with a ready sale in the large markets of the state, shipping to all points. The plant consists of two buildings. both two stories in height and of modern construction and equipment. a machine shop 50 by 100 feet, and a garage, 132 by 30 feet. the latter erected in 1915. The life of this firm has been typical of the life of the city itself, for its foundation and resources were principally the sound judgment and accurate foresight of its founders, and as the city stands prominent for its rapid development, so of the firm. for its founders builded better than they knew, and from a small beginning the amount of business transacted has grown to large proportions. HISTORY OF LORAIN COUNTY - 715 Mr. Brunk was married in 1884, shortly after coming to Lorain, to Miss Emma Heyer, and to this union there have been born three children, namely : Lena, who is the wife of Arthur Eppley, a foreman in the plant of the National Tube Company, of Lorain; Eda, who is now Mrs. Edward Merthe, wife of a machinist of this city; and Laura, who is the wife of Gilbert Irish, connected with the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad at Lorain. Mr. Brunk is a popular member of the local lodges of the Knights of Pythias, the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks and the Knights of the Maccabees. He is a member of the Immanuel Evangelical Church. In politics his work for his party's interests is as a citizen and a voter rather than in active participation in political affairs. In Mr. Brunk's life are found all the habits, methods and qualifications which have rapidly brought the American nation to the forefront, as compared with the older countries, in all that pertains to the growth, prosperity and development of the national spirit and life. JOHN F. HASERODT. A life which strongly impressed its influence on the commercial and civic affairs of Elyria for many years was that of John Haserodt, who died in his home in Elyria in the fullness of years on April 26, 1910. He had spent practically his life in this part of Northern Ohio, and had lived in Elyria for thirty years. He was an excellent business man, always industrious and a master of his own circumstances and as he went through the world he did much good for others. His birth occurred on the old homestead farm in Liverpool Township, Medina County, Ohio, July 8, 1836. His parents, Henry C. and Margaret (Berdz) Haserodt, were both born in Prussia, the former in 1799 and the latter in 1807. They were long lived people, and were splendid home makers in the New World. In 1834, after their marriage, they came to the United States and soon afterwards settled in the Western Reserve of Ohio. Their location was a farm in Medina County and during their many years residence there they gained_ success and independence. The last years of their worthy lives were spent in Elyria, where Henry C. Haserodt died in 1887 at the age of eighty-eight, and his wife in 1891, also past fourscore. Both were devout members of the Evangelical Lutheran "Church. The common schools such as were found in the middle pioneer epoch in this part of the Union supplied John F. Haserodt with the rudiments of his education. At the age of seventeen he came to the City of Cleveland and served a thorough apprenticeship at the trade of harness-making. In a few years he was known for his skillful workmanship in this craft, and in 1857 moved to Memphis, Tennessee, and followed a trade there until 1861. His sympathies being with the Union he then returned to the North at the outbreak of the war and resumed his residence in the City of Cleveland. There he became foreman in a large harnessmaking establishment, and continued that relation until 1867. Returning to the old home farm in Medina County, he was identified with its work and management until 1880, in which year he gave up agriculture for his old business as a. harness maker. This time his location was in Elyria and his shop soon gained a reputation for its superior product of light harness. In this line and in general harnessmaking he had a large and profitable trade not only in Lorain but in adjoining counties and actively prosecuted the business until 1904. He then sold his establishment and lived retired until his death. His interest was always keen in movements for the upbuilding and advancement of his home city. At one time he was quite prominent in local affairs, serving three full terms in the city council as representative Vol. II—11 716 - HISTORY OF LORAIN COUNTY from the Fourth Ward, and made himself valuable to the city while in that office. He was a stanch republican, and both he and his wife active members of Grace Evangelical Church in which he was an elder. In 1861 Mr. Haserodt was married in Cleveland to Miss Johanna M. Meyer. She was born in Germany, and is now living at Elyria at the age of seventy-one. The marriage ties which united herself and husband were unbroken for almost half a century. The honest work of their own lives is continued and amplified through their large family of children. George F., the oldest, is a salesman in the Heldmyer Hardware Company of Elyria.; Rev. Henry H. is a minister of the Evangelical Lutheran Church at Sacramento, California ; Lillie C. is a professional nurse and lives with her mother in Elyria; Edmund B., now a resident of Cleveland, is serving as county clerk of Cuyahoga County ; William L. is a mail carrier -living at Lakewood; Otto E. was a prominent and widely known member of the family in Elyria, where he died October 2. 1912, and separate mention of him is found on other pages; Oscar P., also mentioned elsewhere, is president and treasurer of the Haserodt Brothers Company, jewelers and opticians, at Elyria ; Paul M. is connected with The Widlar Company of Cleveland ; Violet L. is now the wife of Wilbur Smith of Lima, Ohio; Emanuel is now with the Enamel Pipe Works of Elyria; Elmer, who pursued his studies in the Concordia Theological Seminary at St. Louis, is now pastor of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Chicago. OTTO E. HASERODT. Lorain County never had a more popular citizen whose public services and private character commended themselves more highly to the esteem of a host of friends and more deserving of memory than the late Otto E. Haserodt, who for many years capably filled the post of county auditor and died while still in office October 9, 1912. At the time of his death he was not yet forty years of age, yet in the sum of human service and accomplishment he lived intensively, and cultivated with extraordinary energy the abundant opportunities that were presented to him. He was born at Liverpool in Medina County, Ohio, December 24, 1873. His grandparents were Henry C. and Margaret (Berdz) Haserodt, who were born in Prussia, the former in 1799 and the latter in 1807. They came to the United States in 1834, locating on a farm in Medina County, and after acquiring a fair share of the world's goods they spent their last years in Elyria, where Henry C. Haserodt died in 1887 and his wife in 1891. The late Otto E. Haserodt was a son of John F. and Johanna M. (Meyer) Haserodt. His mother is still living in Elyria while his father, who died there April 26. 1910, is individually mentioned on other pages of this publication. Otto E. Haserodt when seven years of age came with his parents to Elyria, and attended the public schools of that city up to the age of fourteen. At that early date he became identified with self-supporting activities and laid the foundation of a business career by work as clerk in a grocery store and in other capacities. At the age of twenty-two he became bookkeeper for the Elyria Lumber Company. In September, 1898, he was made deputy auditor of Lorain County, and in October, 1905, the county commissioners appointed him county auditor to fill the vacancy caused by the death of Henry J. Barrows, who died before taking up his' duties as auditor after election to that office. In 1906 Mr. Haserodt was elected without opposition as county auditor, and in 1908 was again chosen, and in that election received the largest vote given to any candidate in Lorain County, either on the county or state ticket. After that, so capably did he continue to administer his duty and make the most of the functions of the office, that his incumbency was a matter of his own choice, practically without opposition so far HISTORY OF LORAIN COUNTY - 717 as local politics was concerned. It has been frequently remarked since his death that the affairs of the county auditor's office were never in better hands than while administered by Mr. Haserodt. It is important to make some record of his career both as an official and as a private citizen. As a man he was loved by all, and there were many expressions of this sincere esteem when he was compelled to give up his life in the midst of a useful career. He was implicitly trusted by the people, who felt honored in having him in one of the most important offices in the county. Thus proof of his efficiency as an official is found in the fact that he retained that office for eight consecutive years, and administered its affairs with a degree of intelligence and ability that brought him into prominence not only in his home locality but throughout the state. While county auditor he was called upon to pass upon many important questions. He was absolutely familiar with all legal questions that came to his attention. He was assiduous in placing upon the tax duplicates at their true value both corporations and individuals who endeavored to hide their assets. In the Nichols case alone he compelled the heirs to pay into the county treasury nearly $100,000 that would not otherwise have been collected. The efficiency of his office was also highly complimented after examination by the state bureau of accounting. He was a man who had a methodical mind, was a master of detail, and kept every account with a scrupulous nicety that was only a reflection of the workings of his individual mind. Mr. Haserodt had first entered the auditor's office as a clerk under the city administration of George H. Lewis, and in that capacity proved a degree of trustworthiness which made his appointment at the death of Auditor-elect H. J. Barrows both logical and wise. For three successive terms he was regularly elected and practically died at his post. The late Mr. Haserodt was a republican in politics, belonged to the Elyria Chamber of Commerce, was a stockholder and directer in the Lorain County Banking Company and had various business interests. He never affiliated with secret societies, but was an active. member of the Grace Evangelical Church. On October 8, 1901, Mr. Haserodt married Miss Anna G. Baldinger. Her father was John Baldinger, a former resident of Massillon, Stark County. Mr. Haserodt is survived by his widow and two daughters, Catherine and Virginia. OSCAR PAUL HASERODT. Among the children of the late John F. Haserodt, whose career has been sketched on other pages of this Lorain County History, Oscar Paul has distinguished himself as one of the leading business builders at Elyria, and is now sole proprietor of the largest jewelry establishment in that city, operating not only a general jewelry store but also a plant and business as manufacturing opticians. Mr. Haserodt served as president of The Haserodt Brothers Company from its incorporation in 1911 until he recently acquired the entire stock of the business. This is a business that is readily recognized as a landmark in the Elyria shopping district, having been established as early as 1859. Born in the home of his parents at Liverpool, Medina County, Ohio, February 15, 1876, Oscar Paul Haserodt came to Elyria with his father and mother when about four years of age, and in 1890 graduated from the German Lutheran School. His energetic disposition found employment first as delivery boy for the dry goods firm of Biggs, Bowen & Company, the predecessors of the present house of D. Lewis & Company, and after six months with that concern his next position really pointed out his permanent destiny as a business man. He secured work with E. H. Fisher, the jeweler who had established many years before a concern which is now The Haserodt Brothers Company, otherwise known as 718 - HISTORY OF LORAIN COUNTY “The Quality Store," and it is conducted now at the same site where Mr. Fisher had his little shop more than half a century ago. Under Mr. Fisher the boy quickly learned the jeweler's trade, and remained with that old time jeweler for about eight years. He worked at the bench in repairing watches, did engraving, and specialized particularly in the optical branch of the business. Thus in time he acquired a thorough knowledge of all branches of the business, and for three years fitted glasses before passing the regular examination as an optician in 1897, after the death of Mr. E. H. Fisher. He attended the Spencer Optical Institute in New York City, and after receiving his diploma as a graduate continued working in the institute for a short time. He returned to Elyria and assumed the chief responsibilities of the business for Mrs. Fisher for about. three years, endeavoring to give special attention to the optical department. though he also worked as an engraver and waited on the trade. Subsequently Mrs. Fisher married Mr. E. E. Critz, and Mr. Haserodt went on working for them for eight years, and then went into partnership with Mr. Critz. This partnership relation was formed in 1907, and the store which had long been known simply as Fisher's jewelry store then went under a new title as The Critz-Haserodt Company. Four years later Mr. Critz retired, and the Haserodt Brothers Company was then organized and incorporated, with Oscar P. Haserodt as president and Emanuel H. Haserodt, his brother, as secretary. In March, 1915, his brother gave up his relations with the business, leaving Oscar as sole proprietor. As already stated, this is the largest jewelry store at Elyria. It carries a splendid stock of jewelry, and is particularly headquarters for optical goods. Besides the supplies usually found in a first class optical store, Mr. Haserodt has introduced all the apparatus and the equipment necessary for manufacturing, and grinds all the lenses for his trade. Since its organization in 1909 Mr. Haserodt has also had a business interest in the Strong, Kennard & Nutt Company, wholesale opticians in the Schofield Building at Cleveland. This company has enjoyed much prosperity and has a large trade among optical dealers throughout Northern Ohio. Mr. Haserodt is a member of the National Retail Jewelers Association, the National Optical Association, is a republican in polities, a member of the Elyria Chamber of Commerce, and worships in the English Lutheran Church at Elyria. On October 1, 1901, at Rochester. New York, he married Miss Julia Bell, who was born at Webster, a suburb of Rochester, New York, but was educated in the Elyria public schools. She came to Elyria when a small girl and was adopted into the family of the late John Hert. Mr. and Mrs. Haserodt have two children : Edward John and Josephine Estelle. both born in Elyria. Mr. Haserodt is essentially a business man, though thoroughly public spirited in his citizenship, and such time as he is able to take from business affairs he devotes to such wholesome recreation as automobiling, fishing and other outdoor sports. ARTHUR PIERRE LAGRON. Of the professional men of Lorain County who have turned their attention to other pursuits, with benefit to themselves and to the advancement of the community welfare, one of the best known is Arthur Pierre Lagron, of Lorain. His early training was along the line of civil engineering, a vocation in which he spent many profitable years and in which he gained a substantial reputation, but in recent years he has devoted his abilities to business affairs, and at the present time is president of the Lagron Coal and Supply Company, one of the leading industries of the city. Mr. Lagron was born at Rhineland, Montgomery County, Eastern HISTORY OF LORAIN COUNTY - 719 Missouri, February 11, 1871, and is a son of Arthur and Mary (Breton) Lagron. Arthur Lagron, the father of Arthur P. Lagron, is a son of Pierre Lagron, who was a native of France and came to America at an early date. He descended from the family of that name who settled in Missouri on the original Louisiana Purchase. Arthur Lagron came to the United States from France about the close of the Civil war and settled in Montgomery County at Rhineland, Missouri. He had followed civil engineering in his native land and was a captain of a civil engineering corps in France, having graduated from a French polytechnic institute. He remained in Missouri until about 1896, when he located in Peoria, Illinois, where he has since remained. He followed railroad construction work for many years. To him and his wife were born seven children as follows : Margaret, who married a Mr. Bussman and resides on the old homestead in Missouri ; Naomi, single ; Gustavus A., of Elyria, Ohio; Gabrielle, in Missouri, single ; Bertha, who died single ; Edward, who lives at Peoria, Illinois ; and Arthur P., of this review. The early education of Arthur Pierre Lagron was secured in the public schools, following which he became a student of civil engineering, and at the age of twenty years entered upon the practice of his chosen calling. Coming to Lorain County in 1892 he secured employment, with the Lake Shore & Michigan Southern Railroad, and subsequently was with the New York, Chicago & St. Louis Railroad. When he left the latter company he engaged in private practice and built up a substantial business, becoming known as one of the skilled and reliable civil engineers of this part of Ohio and engaging in much important work. For a time he acted in the capacity of city engineer of Lorain, but resigned from that position. Mr. Lagron gave up his practice in 1905, when he founded the Lagron Coal and Supply Company, Incorporated, to the development of which he has since devoted his activities. From a modest beginning it has grown to large proportions and is now accounted one of the firmly established commercial adjuncts of Lorain. Mr. Lagron is a member of the Masons and the Knights of Pythias and is popular in fraternal circles. He is a public-spirited and stirring citizen and gives his support to all movements which make for civic betterment and advancement. In February, 1899, Mr. Lagron was married to Miss Josephine Amelia Billings, of Elyria, Ohio, daughter of Henry M. Billings, a merchant of that city. They have one daughter, Mary Margaret. CLAUDE B. BIVIN. The City of Elyria—" The 100% City "—can boast of no more enthusiastic and helpful promoter and supporter of its varied industries and interests than Claude B. Bivin, secretary of the Elyria Park Amusement Company. Now in a substantial position among the business men of his adopted community, Mr. Bivin's career is typical of those of many of Ohio's foremost citizens. He entered upon life's struggles without advantages, worked his own way and learned as he worked, pushed himself forward by sheer energy and indomitable grit, and all the time kept his eyes upon a higher goal. Still a young man, his accomplishments have been many and his life story is an interesting and instructive one. Mr. Bivin was born on a farm in Owen County, Indiana, near the Village of Spencer, September 18, 1877, and is a son of William B. and Verlinda (Dickerson) Bivin, natives of Kentucky, the former horn in Bourbon County and the latter in Clark County. They were married at Mount Sterling, Montgomery County, Kentucky, and after their marriage left the old home in the Blue Grass State and migrated to Owen County, Indiana, where William B. Bivin, who had been horn on a farm and had been a farmer all his life, purchased a tract of 196 acres, 720 - HISTORY OF LORAIN COUNTY near Spencer. On this he continued operations until 1883, although the farm was not sold until 1907. The parents are now living at Lexington, Kentucky, where William B. Bivin is engaged in the express business, owning his own equipment. There were six sons and two daughters in the family, three of the children being deceased : Thomas Owen, named after Owen County, Indiana, now a resident of Lexington, Kentucky ; Frank W., also of Lexington ; Hattie, who is the wife of J. S. Daugherty of that city ; Claude B.; James T., who died in 1903, aged twenty-eight years, at Lexington ; Walker, who died in infancy ; Lullie, who is now Mrs. Moses Baker, of Oakley, a suburb of Cincinnati, Ohio; and John, who died in infancy. All were born in Owen County, Indiana, except the last-named, whose birth occurred in Kentucky, and Claude B. and Mrs. Baker are the only residents of Ohio. The education of Claude B. Bivin came from the public schools of Kentucky, and when he was still a small lad he displayed his industry and ambition by carrying newspapers on the streets of Lexington, being engaged as a newsboy for some fourteen years. He then entered a livery business as clerk, remaining two years, and for a year followed the vocation of drayman, but was not satisfied with the outlook and devoted himself to learning the trade of telephone lineman. In that capacity he removed to Toledo, Ohio, and after a short time went to Maumee, where he was put in charge of work of this nature and retained that position nine months. Thus he also received his introduction to the City of Lorain, where for three years he continued work as a lineman and for seven months worked in the shipyards engaged in wiring boats for electric lights, etc. In 1905 he embarked in the grocery business at Lorain, at the corner of First. and Reed streets, but after one year and ten months sold out to become a traveling salesman for the A. R. Champney Company, of Elyria, wholesale liquor dealers, continuing on the road for that concern for six years. In November, 1910, Mr. Bivin was elected sheriff of Lorain County, taking office January 2, 1911, and his term was so satisfactory to the people that in 1913 he was re-elected, by the largest majority of any official in the county. He has always taken a keen interest in democratic politics, and is accounted a leader of his party in Lorain County. On Saint Patrick's Day, 1914, Mr. Bivin bought out the business of the Walk Over Shoe Company, at No. 138 Cheapside, from Fred C. Wolf. This business he purchased merely as a speculation, and while he still owns it has no active participation in its management, as he prefers employment which keeps him out of doors. However, he has placed it tinder the capable management of Mr. M. B. Faulhaber, an old-time citizen and shoe merchant of Elyria, under whose supervision the business is proving an excellent investment. On July 1, 1914, Mr. Bivin founded the Elyria Park Amusement Company, an enterprise located on the Elyria Fair Grounds, of which he has since been secretary, and at the present time is acting manager. Here are conducted various kinds of amusements during the summer months, including automobile races, carnivals and picnic parties, and first-class entertainments of all kinds are offered the public. The grounds are finely situated, everything is conducted in an orderly and strictly respectable manner, and Mr. Bivin is meeting with the splendid success which he deserves. He is also interested as a stock holder and director in the Elyria Cedar Post and Lumber Company. He is a working member of the Chamber of Commerce, and in local parlance is a live wire. a hustler and a good mixer with his fellow men. Fraternally he is widely and popularly known, being a member of the Knights of Pythias; King Solomon Lodge No. 56, Free and Accepted Masons, Marshall Chapter No. 57, Royal Arch Masons and Elyria Council No. 86, HISTORY OF LORAIN COUNTY - 721 Royal and Select Masters; Elyria Lodge No. 465, of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks; Elyria Lodge No. 431, Fraternal Order of Eagles ; and Elyria Lodge No. 778, Loyal Order of Moose. Mr. Bivin was married December 1, 1902, to Miss Edna M. Hinish, of Maumee, Ohio, who was born, reared and educated there, a daughter of Thomas and Ella M. (Reed) Hinish. Her father, who died in 1900, was a well known citizen of Maumee and for more than twenty-five years proprietor of the Maumee Paper Mills, and her mother still resides at that place. Two children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Bivin Thomas Hinish, born at Lorain, Ohio, April 9, 1905, and now attending the graded schools; and Harry Jerome, born at the county jail at Elyria, while his father was serving as sheriff, October 12, 1912, who is considered by his parents "An 100% Boy." THOMAS B. ALLISON. By hard and successful work as a farmer, by good citizenship, by an influence steadily directed toward the betterment of his own family and the community in which he lives, Thomas B. Allison has played a worthy part in Lorain County, where he has conducted a large farm for many years. A native of Ohio, he was born in Ashland County, November 5, 1864, a son of Alexander and Elizabeth (Provines) Allison. The Allisons were among the early settlers of Ashland County. Alexander Allison was born in Washington County, Pennsylvania, in 1806 and died in 1889. He went to Ashland County when young, and was twice married, Thomas B. Allison being the child of his second wife. There were twelve children altogether, six by each marriage. Besides Thomas B. there are two daughters living, one by the first and one by the second union; Rachel, who lives at West Salem, Ohio, is by the first union, and Anna, who lives with her brother Thomas, is by the second union. Alexander Allison was a man of more than ordinary influence and prominence. He was active in the Presbyterian. Church, and held some office in that denomination for many years. Politically he was a republican, and filled various township offices. A man of good education and of the strictest integrity, he was frequently honored with trusts, particularly in administering estates. In Ashland County he had cleared up a large tract of land, and made a success of farming. Thomas B. Allison spent his boyhood days in Ashland County, attending the public schools there, and he also had other courses in higher schools at Cleveland. His first regular vocation was school teaching, and from that he went to a farm. His father was incapacitated for regular work at the age of fifty-four, and it was Thomas who took charge of affairs and kept the estate together in his declining years. Later he bought the old homestead, buying the interests of the other heirs, and managed it for several years. He then took a business course and spent nine months in Toledo as a bookkeeper and six months at Akron. On first coming to Lorain County Mr. Allison was on the road for two years selling goods, and then was in the office of the railway at Wellington for some months. On December 22, 1897, he married Mary Elizabeth White, daughter of Samuel White, a farmer and cheese maker. Mrs. Allison was born in Lorain County. She was a successful teacher for four years. They have six children. Forest Alexander, born February 22, 1900; Ruth Marion, born May 17, 1901; Grace Eliza., born November 11, 1903 ; Howard Raymond, born March 9, 1905 ; Truman Bennett, born July 4, 1908; and Dorothy Elizabeth, born December 18, 1912. Mrs. Allison is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church. Fraternally Mr. Allison is a Maccabee, and has been very active in the Patrons of Husbandry, having served as state deputy master four 722 - HISTORY OF LORAIN COUNTY years, and was secretary for eight years. Politically he is a republican. For eleven years he filled the office of township trustee and every public duty has been thoroughly discharged by him. It was in 1900 that they bought their present farm of 257 acres, now known as "Riverby," and in the past fifteen years have been constantly working for its improvement and development. Among other things he has tiled a large part of the land, and has erected several substantial buildings. His enterprise is largely general farming and he also keeps a herd of nine thoroughbred Holstein cattle and graded Holstein stock. WILLIAM RAYMOND COMINGS. Not every well-meaning man, although leading in a community's citizenship perhaps, is able to realize the present need of a wider and deeper service that the public schools should give. Radical changing conditions in economic and social life, call for new and better methods and it is encouraging to learn of the remarkable and gratifying results that have been obtained in some sections by the arousing of intelligent public opinion by progressive educationalists. To illustrate, the public schools of Elyria, Ohio. with their enrollment of 2,934 pupils, very largely through the earnest. faithful, wise and farseeing efforts of Supt. William Raymond Comings. have been given unusual advantages. There are an adequate number of buildings with complete equipment. for the most approved modern methods of instruction and for health and comfort, fire-proof and amply safe guarded. There are play grounds and play rooms; there is a corps of teachers with professional training; there is a high school that fits students for college, and there is vocational work in both high and grade schools. The bringing about of such changes within the short space of fourteen years, makes an interesting chapter in the educational history of Lorain County and centers attention upon the educator mainly responsible. William Raymond Comings was born February 16, 1S51. at 'East Berkshire, Franklin County, Vermont, and is a son of Andrew and Amanda Comings. His father was a farmer in Franklin County. all his immediate ancestors being tillers of the soil. On time paternal side the family is of English extraction and may be traced as far back as the reign of Henry VIII. Like many other ancient families the orthography of the name has changed, but the Comines, the Comyns, the Cummings and the Comings all came from the same sturdy stock. Of studious bent and inquiring mind, young Comings soon absorbed the instruction offered in the country schools in his boyhood, and, as agricultural effort did not appeal to him, he prepared for higher educational opportunity and entered Oberlin College, from which institution he subsequently received the honorary degree of A. M. He further pursued his studies in other institutions, studying at the normal school at Kirksville, Missouri, and at Chicago, and while a resident of Chicago he served as mercantile collector for one year. After completing his proposed courses of study, Mr. Comings accepted the position of superintendent of schools at Medina, Ohio. where he remained for eight years, going then in the same capacity to Norwalk, Ohio, for nine years, and from there to Ironton, where he remained two years, in each city leaving a marked impress on the public school system. Mr. Comings then displayed his versatility by successfully engaging in newspaper work at Springfield, Missouri, for five years. and for two years at Lorain. Ohio. On retiring from the journalistic field he accepted the superintendency of the Elyria public schools and to their upbuilding and welfare he has devoted fifteen years of fruitful endeavor. During this period the school enrollment at Elyria has increased from 1,400 to nearly 3,000. To care for the increase during this time there have been erected twelve entire or parts of school buildings, including HISTORY OF LORAIN COUNTY - 723 the new manual training building on Sixth Street. Under Mr. Comings' supervision many new departments have been installed, these including the kindergarten, physical training in all, grades, with physical examination of all pupils, manual training and domestic science and arts in the sixth, seventh and eighth grades and high school, special schools for ungraded children and a vocational school for boys who are not eligible for regular high school work. All these departments are in fine running order and that this progressiveness appeals to many young people outside the city is attested by the fact that each year many paying pupils enter the Elyria High School from the different townships in the county eager to enjoy the advantages here afforded. In accepting a re-election in 1915, Mr. Comings issued a letter in which he said, in part, as follows : "If I see aright there are still larger and perhaps more vital problems coming in the next ten years than those of the past ten, and they will call for the efforts of expert. and farseeing supervision. The old-time educational shell has been broken, but what the new life is to be will depend upon the wisdom and sagacity of a new generation of men who are rapidly coining to the front, men trained in the great schools of investigation that have been fathered by some of the large universities with their corps of pedagogical experts. It is time for old men and for men who hark back to the old conditions to retire." At Medina, Ohio, August 1, 1878, Mr. Comings was united in marriage with Miss Loretta Kennedy, who is a daughter of William and Elizabeth Kennedy, and a descendant in direct line, from Alexander Hamilton. Mr. and Mrs. Comings have two daughters : Josephine, who is the wife of J. A. Egbert, of Indianapolis, Indiana ; and Marian E., who resides with her parents. The family attend the Congregational Church. Ever concerned in the public welfare, Mr. Comings has long been an aroused student of political history and is affiliated with the republican party. Seldom has he found time to serve in public office but for a quarter of a century he performed the duties of county school examiner in Medina, Huron and Lorain counties. Widely known in educational circles, Mr. Comings is a member of various educational bodies and is chairman of the executive committee of the Ohio State Teachers' Association. Genial by nature, sympathetic and tactful, he is welcomed in every social circle and values his membership in several such bodies at Elyria and in other cities. He is a member of the board of trustees of the Young Men's and the Young Women's Christian associations and of the board of managers of the Memorial Hospital, all at Elyria. Measured by high standards, Mr. Comings as superintendent of the schools has been a. pronounced success and whether he remains at Elyria beyond his present term or not, the avenues of usefulness he has opened and the illumination he has thrown through his rare personality and his progressive methods, along many paths, will show the great and lasting service he has performed for this city. All that he has done has been so useful and so admirable that approval cannot be witheld by those who have either education, industrial efficiency or child welfare at heart. HON. WILLIAM B. THOMPSON. The recent appointment of William B. Thompson as judge of the new Court of Common Pleas in Lorain County has brought a new distinction to the career of one of the oldest and most prominent lawyers and business men in this section of Ohio. Judge Thompson has been identified with the profession of law for more than twenty-six years, though he is perhaps best known through his extensive relations with public and business affairs. 724 - HISTORY OF LORAIN COUNTY In the fall of 1914 Judge Thompson was republican candidate for the office of judge of the Court of Common Pleas, his rival for that office being H. G. Redington. The election being contested, the Circuit Court ordered a recount, which showed the vote to have been a tie. The case then went to the Supreme Court, which in the spring of 1915 affirmed the decision of the Circuit Court of Appeal, and declared that Mr. Redington, who had already been seated on the bench by appointment from Governor Cox would continue in office until the next election. A new turn was given to the matter when the Lorain County Bar Association petitioned the Legislature to create another judgeship on the ground that there was too much work for one judge. The Legislature then passed the necessary legislation, and on May 20, 1915, Governor Willis selected Mr. Thompson for the newly created position. The family to which Judge Thompson belongs is one of the oldest in Lorain County. He is himself a native of Columbia Township of this county, where he was born September 6, 1863, a son of Samuel B. and Emular L. (Osborn) Thompson. His paternal grandfather, John V. Thompson, was a Connecticut man and one of the earliest to settle in Columbia Township. The maternal grandfather, William B. Osborn, was born in Columbia. Township, where his father, A. P. Osborn, had located as early as 1810, having also come from Connecticut. Samuel B. Thompson, who is still living in Columbia Township nearly eighty years of age, was born there in 1836, and spent all his active life as a farmer. His wife, who was born in the same township in 1837, died in July, 1899. Judge Thompson's only brother, John B. Thompson, is a stock farmer and dealer in Columbia Township. When Judge Thompson was eleven years of age his parents left the old farm in order to give their son the better educational advantages found at Berea. William B. Thompson completed the high school course there, and in 1885 was graduated bachelor of philosophy from Baldwin Uni- versity. Following his college career came a year as a farmer and school teacher, but in 1886 he entered the law office of Judge G. M. Barber, at Cleveland, and a year later went into the office of Judge A. R. Webber, of Elyria. When Judge Thompson qualified as the judge of the new Court of Common Pleas he took the oath of office before Judge Webber, who is also a notary public. Admitted to the bar in 1888, Judge Thompson has had a long and successful career as a lawyer. For many years his home has been in the City of Lorain, and he is the first citizen of that city to reach the dignity of judicial office. He still retains his residence there, and goes back and forth to attend court in Elyria. Few practical business men in Lorain County have had larger and more influential relations with financial and industrial affairs than this well known attorney. He was one of the three organizers of the old Penfield Avenue Savings Bank of Lorain, was its president for twenty years after organization, and when the bank was reorganized under the new name the Central Bank Company he continued as president, an office which he still holds. Judge Thompson is also president of the Home Building Company of Lorain, and was president of the Barrows Milling Company until it was succeeded by the Houff-McNeil Company, in which he is vice president and a director. He is a director of the Cleveland. Columbus & Southwestern Railway Company, a director of the Black River Telephone Company and is vice president of the Amherst Furniture Company of Amherst. He is also president of the Tri-County Realty Company. On taking his seat as judge he gave up, as the law requires, a long standing relation with the Lake Erie and Pittsburg Railway Company. He organized this company, was its vice president and director while it was being constructed, managed its legal HISTORY OF LORAIN COUNTY - 725 affairs, and the main office of the road was in Mr. Thompson's office at Lorain. In his work as a lawyer Judge Thompson has had few partnership relations. In 1899 George L. Glitsch became a member of the firm of Thompson & Glitsch, and later A. W. Cinniger joined them under the title of Thompson, Glitsch & Cinniger. For a number of years Judge Thompson was a trustee of Baldwin University, his alma mater, until the recent consolidation of that institution. He organized and incorporated the Lorain Chamber of Commerce at Lorain, and was its first president. In July, 1913, Judge Thompson completed twenty-six years of service as attorney for the Citizens Home and Savings Association Company of Lorain. The most important political office he held prior to his appointment as judge was as mayor of Lorain, to which he was elected in April, 1890, and again in 1892. Judge Thompson is an active Mason; is affiliated with Lorain Lodge No. 552, Free and Accepted Masons; Mystic Chapter No. 170, Royal Arch Masons; the Council and also the Lorain Commandery of the Knights Templar. He belongs to Black River Lodge No. 682, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, to Lake Shore Encampment No. 242. He and his wife are members of the First Methodist Church at Lorain. On December 17, 1890, Judge Thompson married Lulu Sanford, daughter of the late Rev. James L. Sanford, of Delaware, Ohio, who spent his last days in Lorain. There are two children : Helen Marie, the older, is a graduate of Gunston Hall at Washington, D. C., and also spent a year in the Boston Conservatory of Music at Boston. The son, Robert William, is now attending high school at Lorain. Judge Thompson is a member of the Elyria Country Club. MAJ.-GEN. QUINCY A. GILLMORE. The nation owes a lasting debt of gratitude to the services of a notable group of men from the Western Reserve of Ohio who as soldiers or statesmen gained individual renown and made themselves invaluable to the Union during the dark period of the Civil war. Every school boy could recall some of these names, notably James A. Garfield and William McKinley, but in' his special field as a military strategist one of the ablest was Quincy A. Gillmore, who was born in the Black River community, now the City of Lorain, February 25, 1825, and during the war earned an international reputation as an organizer of siege operations and a revolutionizer of naval gunnery. A member of the well known Gillmore family of Lorain County and a son of Quartus Gillmore and wife, mentioned elsewhere, Quincy Adams Gillmore as a boy attended the Norwalk Academy and the Elyria. High School. He began to study medicine and wrote for publication. There was a vacancy at West Point and the boys appointed failed to pass. Finally, in attempting to find a suitable person, Gillmore was recommended because of his integrity and scholarship. He was not in the neighborhood at the time and so missed seeing the gentleman who was looking for him. Hearing of it later, he mounted his horse and rode to an adjoining town, where he overtook him just in time to secure the appointment, which was going to another. He acquitted himself with credit as a. cadet, graduating in 1849 at the head of his class and entered the service. General Gillmore's fame as an artillery officer was established during the siege and capture of Fort Pulaski, Georgia, in 1862. At this siege and bombardment he planted his batteries at distances which previous to this time were thought to be suicidal, but in less than two days he reduced the fortress which had been pronounced by eminent engineers as impregnable. It has been well said that General Gillmore's cannonade and capture 726 - HISTORY OF LORAIN COUNTY of Fort Pulaski revolutionized the naval gunnery of the world and extended his fame throughout Europe as well as America. For this service he received the brevet of lieutenant-colonel and was made brigadier-general of volunteers April 28, 1862. His next notable success was with the noted "Swamp Angel," a gun used in the siege of Charleston. The gun was apparently planted in the edge of the sea, but really in the shallow marsh between Morris and James Island. There a firm foundation was laid, a low breastworks put up in a circle around the guns, and 100-pound shells were "dropped— into Charleston. But it was only fired thirty-six times, exploding at the last discharge. Other guns soon after did as effective work, but the "Swamp Angel.' is remembered because it first proved the practicability of the method. Later, with the Tenth Corps, he took part in the final operations of the Army of the James River. he was breveted four times for meritorious conduct, the last time as major-general United States Army "for gallant and meritorious conduct in capturing Forts Wagner and Gregg and for the demolishing of Fort Sumter.” He resigned his volunteer commission as major-general ill December, 1865. After the war General Gillmore was engaged upon important engineering work, and his name is most intimately associated with the improvements of the harbor at Charleston and Savannah and with other like works along the Atlantic Coast, and, as president of the Mississippi River Commission, with the great works which have been projected for the rectification of that important waterway. His treatise on roadmaking and paving is regarded as the highest authority. Not long after the war General Gillmore bought back the old farm on Black River, converted it into a vineyard and occasionally visited it. He died at Brooklyn, New York, April 11, 1888. EDMUND GILLMORE. Few families antedated the Gillmores in settlement in Lorain County, and in the agricultural, commercial and ship building communities around the mouth of Black River at what is now the City of Lorain none were more prominent in the early days. For more than a century the name has been one of the most effective in the entire county. Before taking up briefly the life of the late Edmund Gillmore it will be appropriate to say something of his parents and grandparents. The Gillmores were of English and Scotch ancestry. Edmund and Elizabeth (Stuart) Gillmore, paternal grandparents of the late Edmund Gill-more, were born in Massachusetts, and from that state came out to what was then known as the Connecticut Western Reserve in 1811, settling in what is now Lorain County, where Mr. Gillmore seeured wild land, became a farmer, cleared and improved a large acreage and in its cultivation passed the rest of his days. There is record for the years 1843-44 of his owning land both in Amherst and the Black River Township. Edmund and Elizabeth Gillmore were the parents of ten children, nine sons and one daughter, briefly referred to as follows: Quartus, born July 1, 1790; Aretus, who was. born in Massachusetts, September 7, 1792, and died in Lorain County; Orrin, who was born in Massachusetts, September 27, 1794, and died in Cuyahoga County. Ohio: Simon, born in Massachusetts, August 19, 1796, and died at Detroit, Michigan in 1833, having been a ship carpenter by trade : Truman. born October 25, 1798, and died in Lorain County in 1881: Linos. born January 12, 1801, and died in Lorain County in 1881 : Roxana. born February 9, 1803, was married in Lorain County to Robert Wright. and died in the State of Oregon ; Alanson, born April 12, 1805. and died in Lorain; Edmund, born March 19, 1808, and died Minnesota ; and James Madison, born July 1, 1811, and died at Lorain. HISTORY OF LORAIN COUNTY - 727 Quartus Gillmore, the eldest of the children above mentioned, was born in Massachusetts in 1790, being a native of Chester, Hampden. County. When twenty years of age he. came to Western Reserve in 1810, but lived here only temporarily and was soon back East. He again came to the West in 1812 and at that time located on land about a mile west of Black River, now the City of Lorain. He made the long journey from Massachusetts with wagons and teams. He married Elizabeth Reid, who died in 1876, having survived her husband seven years, his death taking place in April, 1869. Quartus Gillmore was an active Whig in politics, and became a republican when that party was organized. For many years he served as a magistrate and about 1837 was appointed the first trustee of Black River Township in Lorain County. For several years after settling in Lorain County he followed farming, and in the early '30s joined with others in platting a tract of ground around the mouth of Black River and incorporating the Village of Charleston, now the City of Lorain, where he spent the rest of his days. Quartus Gillmore and wife had four sons : Gen. Quincy A., one of Lorain County's eminent soldiers in the Civil war, whose career is sketched elsewhere ; Edmund, Cornelius R. and Quartus, Jr., and four daughters, Elizabeth, Sophia, Alice and Roxana. The late Edmund Gillmore was born in Black River Township of Lorain County, February 10, 1833, and died at the City of Lorain on Thanksgiving Day in 1902. He was educated in the public schools of his native township, and at the age of fifteen became an employe on one of the lake boats, making trips to Oswego, Chicago and all the lake ports. He was a sailor for ten years, and was also employed in the ship yards around Lake Erie, working as a ship caulker. While thus engaged on one occasion he received a severe injury which made him an invalid the rest of his life, and for forty-two years he never walked a step. However, he was able to attend to business and filled various local offices, such as justice of the peace, treasurer of the school board, assessor, township clerk for fifteen years, and for more than twenty years as notary public. He was first elected justice of the peace in 1863, and served in that capacity thirty-nine years. For ten months he was with his brother, General Gillmore, in New York City acting as shipping agent and assistant draughtsman. He was an active republican and a man of the highest character. In 1857 Edmund Gillmore married Miss Adelaide E. Gillmore, a daughter of Alanson and Evelyn (Jones) Gillmore. Her father came out of Massachusetts about the same time as the other members of that family, and was identified with the early shipbuilding interests at the mouth of Black River. He was later a farmer, and in 1880 removed to Lorain, where he died when about ninety years of age. Mrs. Edmund Gillmore was born November 22, 1833, on Washington Street in Lorain. She spent practically the entire eighty-two years of her life in one community, and saw a village of 300 inhabitants grow and develop to a city of more than 30,000 people. She was the devoted companion of her husband for nearly half a century, and many tributes were paid to her as a pioneer woman of Lorain County at the time of her death in July, 1915. She was one of the early members of and for many years an active worker in the First. Congregational Church at the corner of Washington Avenue and Fourth Street. She was also one of the members of the Old Friends Circle, which was organized in 1888, and until her death she never failed to attend each annual meeting of that organization. For forty-four years Mrs. Gillmore occupied the old homestead on Washington Avenue opposite the City Park. Mrs. Gillmore's only surviving sister is Mrs. Fannie Wilford of Lorain. The only son and child 728 - HISTORY OF LORAIN COUNTY of the late Edmund and Adelaide Gillmore is Quincy A., now a prominent attorney at Elyria, and mentioned in following paragraphs. QUINCY A. GILLMORE. Named in honor of his distinguished uncle, the late Maj.-Gen. Quincy A. Gillmore, one of the greatest soldiers and engineers produced by Lorain County, and whose career is briefly sketched on other pages, the subject of this brief article has for more than thirty years enjoyed high standing and esteem as a lawyer and citizen at Elyria. A son of the late Edmund Gillmore, whose career has been presented in these pages, Quincy A. Gillmore was born in the City of Lorain, then called Black River, May 12, 1859. His youth was one of inspiring associations and excellent advantages. He attended the common schools up to 1872, following which he was for four years in the Elyria High School, was a student for one year in Oberlin College and one year in Western Reserve College and in 1881 graduated A. B. from the Ohio Wesleyan University at Delaware. He had already determined upon the law as his profession and after two years in the Cincinnati Law School was graduated LL. B. in 1883. Admitted to the Ohio bar, he began practice at Elyria in the fall of 1884 and is now one of the senior members of the local bar. He has found within the strict limits of his profession a pleasant employment for all his time and energies, has for years enjoyed a large and profitable practice, and so far as his regular business is concerned is first and last a lawyer. His many friends also speak of him as a whole souled gentleman, a charming companion and though his qualities are rather positive than negative he has acquired firm and lasting friendships, and has made his influence count for much in behalf of the movements for local welfare undertaken during the last thirty years in Elyria. His law offices are in the Elyria Block. Only once was Mr. Gillmore drawn into the political arena. In. 1894 he was candidate for prosecuting attorney of Lorain County and lost the election by just one vote. Both before that and since he has been active as a republican, a worker for party success, and in these modern times acknowledging his position as a stand patter. Mr. Gillmore is a member of the Lorain County Bar Association, of the Elyria Country Club, of the Elyria Chamber of Commerce, and has affiliations with the various branches of Masonry and with the Knights of Pythias. He is a member of King Solomon Lodge No. 56, Free and Accepted Masons; of Marshall Chapter No. 47, Royal Arch Masons; of the Scottish Rite Consistory at Cleveland and the Al Koran Temple of the Mystic Shrine at Cleveland. On November 27, 1884, at Delaware. Ohio, Mr. Gillmore married Miss Frankie G. Brown, who was born in Delaware, a daughter of Jacob A. and Nancy A. (Graham) Brown, both now deceased. They have one son, Scott E., who was born in Elyria August 23, 1890. This son was graduated from the University School at Cleveland in 1910. spent one year in the Case School of Applied Science at Cleveland. and then entered Yale University, where he pursued a course of mechanical engineering and was graduated Bachelor of Philosophy in June, 1914. He is now employed by the Warner-Swasey Company of Cleveland. CHARLES F. ADAMS, lawyer and present prosecuting attorney of Lorain County, has had his home in the City of Lorain for the past eighteen years. No attorney in Lorain County stands higher in the estimation of his fellow lawyers than Charles F. Adams, and it is noteworthy that while he has conducted his office with utmost fearlessness and with fidelity to duty, his popularity has suffered nothing in consequence of his official acts. HISTORY OF LORAIN COUNTY - 729 He represents a very old family in Northern Ohio. He was born at Olmsted Falls in Cuyahoga County, September 9, 1872, a son of L. B. and Hulda B. (Carpenter) Adams. His grandfather, Ransom Adams, was a native of Connecticut, where the family had lived for a number of generations. Ransom Adams when a young man left his home in Waterbury, Connecticut, and going west settled at Olmsted Falls in Cuyahoga County, Ohio. He was a useful factor in that early community, and followed his trade of wood turner until advanced years came upon him. He was also a licensed preacher, and in the early days he filled many pulpits as a supply Methodist minister. Ransom Adams married Phoebe 'Underhill, descended from an old New England family. These two people met some years after Ransom had come to Ohio. They had four children : Lorenzo, Cynthia, Wilbur and James. The two youngest sons were drowned while boys in Rocky River. The daughter married Asel Osborn. Lorenzo B. Adams, father of the Lorain lawyer, was born in Olmsted Falls, Ohio, in 1833. During his youth he learned the trade of tinsmith, and he followed that until his death, when still in the prime of life, at the age of fifty-three. Along with his work as a tinsmith he conducted a small hardware store at Olmsted Falls and the management of this store devolved upon his widow after his death. Mr. Adams enlisted in 1861 in Company B, First Ohio Light Artillery. Upon the expiration of his first enlistment he enlisted in the Eighty-eighth Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry, serving until the close of the war. He was a very public spirited man and did much to help any worthy cause. He served eleven years as mayor of Olmsted Falls. Mrs. Adams showed much capacity in conducting the business for about fourteen years, being assisted in the meantime by her son, Lorenzo B., Jr., and also. during vacation terms by her son, Charles. Mrs. L. B. Adams before her marriage was Hulda B. Carpenter, a daughter of Caleb and Susan (Haynes) Carpenter. Lorenzo B. Adams, Jr., who is now engaged in the real estate and brokerage business on Long Island, New York, married Eva Haight. After the death of her first husband Mrs. Hulda Adams married, in 1900, George Avery, who is now deceased. In religious belief the Adams family has always adhered to the doctrines of the Congregational Church. There was just enough of hardship and privation in the early life of Charles F. Adams to keep his energy and ambition at a high tension. As a boy he attended the public schools of Olmsted Falls, and he also continued his literary education at Baldwin University at Berea and in the Ohio Northern University at Ada. He was still a boy when he set his ambition for the law, and he had done much reading along that line before he entered law school. In 1892 Mr. Adams entered the law department of the University of Michigan, where he was graduated LL. B. in 1894. His first field of practice was at Niles, Ohio, where he remained a year and a half. It is interesting to recall the fact that his first office was in the building where the late President William McKinley was born. From Niles he removed to Cleveland, where he continued practice in the office of George Foster, and had some experience that proved very valuable to him during the two years he spent at Cleveland in association with Mr. Foster. In 1898 Mr. Adams established his office and residence at Lorain, and since that time his reputation as an able lawyer and high minded citizen has spread over all the townships of Lorain County. He has handled a number of very important cases tried in the district courts. During 1905-06 he served as city solicitor of Lorain. In November. 1912, Mr. Adams was elected to the office of prosecuting attorney of Lorain County, beginning his official duties January 1, 1913. He was re-elected in 1914, and is a candidate for re-election in 1916. During his administration he has shown great executive ability and it is well 730 - HISTORY OF LORAIN COUNTY understood that never before in the history of the county has the office of prosecuting attorney exhibited a cleaner record than that made by Mr. Adams. He takes much interest in fraternal affairs, and is affiliated with the Patriotic Order Sons of America at Lorain, the Woodland Lodge, Knights of Pythias at Lorain, the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks at Lorain, and other fraternal bodies. In 1895 Air. Adams married Miss Florence Terrell, who was born at North Ridgeville, Ohio, a daughter of Clayton and Cyrene Terrell, both members of old Lorain County families. Mrs. Adams' great-grandmother was a sister of General Halleck of the Revolutionary army. Mr. and Mrs. Adams have two children. Thelma is now a student in the New England Conservatory of Music at Boston. The son, L. Burton, is still in the public schools at Lorain. S. JESSE GEORGE, during the past five years, has been associated with very many of the largest and most important real estate transactions at Elyria. That he has attained unusual prominence and demonstrated marked ability in this direction is seemingly a refutation of the adage that the shoemaker should stick to his last,'' for his inclinations as a youth led him to a widely different channel of usefulness, and his career as an engineering accountant of railroads, covering a period of fifteen years, was no less successful than has been his management of his present business. Mr. George was born at Bairdstown, Pennsylvania, April 21, 1864, and is a son of Mathew and Rachel (Lowry) George. His father, a native of Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, was in his earlier years a merchant and kept the Canal Supply Store, a general store during the prosperous years of the canal, but later turned his attention to land surveying and passed his entire life in Westmoreland County, where he died, at the age of sixty-three years. He was one of his community's prominent and influential men, and was an elder in the Presbyterian Church. Mrs. George, who was born in Indiana County, Pennsylvania, died at Mount Pleasant, Westmoreland County, at the age of ninety-seven years. There were five sons and one daughter in the family, all of whom, grew to maturity, and all of whom are now living except the (laughter: William, of Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania. Daniel Lowry, a resident of Mount Pleasant, Pennsylvania ; Lewis, of Blairsville, that state; Nettie, who died at Irwin, Pennsylvania, as the wife of Tobias Crock; Robert M., of Blairsville; and S. Jesse. S. Jesse George received his education at Blairsville Academy and preparatory schools, and at Curry Institute, of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. After leaving school he followed civil engineering for two years. and then, his earlier instincts influencing him, be entered upon a career RR an engineering accountant of railroads that covered fifteen years. He was with the Lake Shore & Michigan Southern, the Chicago & Northwestern and the Baltimore & Ohio railroads at different times and various places, being located at Norwalk, Painsville and Cleveland while with the first named road; material agent for the Chicago & Northwestern in the construction work of double-tracking the road through Iowa, and stationed at Ames, Iowa, during that time ; and while with the Baltimore & Ohio was chief clerk of engineering of the Cleveland Division, with headquarters at Cleveland. After that for several years he was variously employed, and in 1903 came to Elyria, where he became construction clerk in the employ of the National Tube Company. After Participating in the erection of the numerous mills that were built at Lorain at. that time, Mr. George became secretary to the chief engineer of the National Tube Company, and held that position until 1910. HISTORY OF LORAIN COUNTY - 731 Having in his long and extensive railroading experience witnessed the possibilities of the great Middle West in the way of real estate transactions, he resigned his position at that time and embarked in the realty and insurance business at Elyria. Since that time his services have been in very general demand. His attention is devoted to the buying and selling of real estate, the renting, care and management of property, the paying of taxes for non-residents, acting as notary public, and dealing in life, fire, accident, tornado, plate glass and automobile insurance and surety bonds. His offices are maintained at Nos. 206-8 Masonic Temple. His great capability and thorough knowledge of values, coupled with many years of business association with men of affairs, render him a valued medium for the successful carrying through of deals of importance, and his business slogan, "Let George do it," is widely known not only at Elyria, but all over the surrounding county. Mr. George is an active member of the Chamber of Commerce. On June 4, 1890, Mr. George was married to Miss Mabel C. Beard, of Carnegie, Pennsylvania, and to this union there have been born two daughters : Alice and Alma both graduates of the Elyria High School. Mr. George is a leading republican. Fraternally, he is a member of King Solomon Lodge No. 56, Free and Accepted Masons, past commander of Elyria Commandery, past high priest of Marshall Chapter, and secretary of Marshall Chapter and present recorder of Elyria. Council and Elyria Commandery. Mr. George's manner and bearing are those of the brainy, successful man of business, and he thus possesses peculiar advantages for his chosen vocation. His friends are as numerous as his acquaintances, and his career in the real estate business at Elyria is undoubtedly destined to be a brilliant and successful one. CHARLES H. SAVAGE. It seldom happens that an earnest purpose, a mature experience and full mastery of details, and industry and close application, do not overcome all the traditions which are supposed to, militate against, success. An apt case in point is that of the well known Elyria jeweler and silversmith, Charles H. Savage, whose establishment at 401 Broad Street is the best known shop in the trading district. Mr. Savage is not superstitious, and has effectively refuted some popular notions by starting his independent business career on Friday the 13th of November, 1901. That was the beginning of his career as a jeweler independently, and the continued success and growth of his enterprise is at: least one strong evidence that prosperity is not subject to lucky auspices of beginning. Throughout practically all his life Charles H. Savage has lived in Elyria. where he was born February 8, 1867, a son of John and Harriet (Hobill) Savage. His father was born in England, came to the United States with his parents when a boy, grew up on the old home farm in Avon Township of Lorain County, and subsequently moved to Elyria, where for many years he conducted a meat market on Cheapside where the Wilder Cigar Store is now located. He died in Elyria, March 18, 1895. Politically he was a republican, but after one experience as a city councilman in Elyria for a term had a sufficiency of practical politics, and cared for no other active participation in that line. He was one of the honored business men and left his family the heritage of a good name. His wife, who was born in Massachusetts, came with her parents when a girl to Elyria, and she died in that city in 1908. Their two sons and one daughter are still living, Charles H. being the oldest, George W. being a conductor of the Green line of electric transportation, while the daughter, Annie E., is now Mrs. B. A. Francis, the wife of a grocer in Elyria. All the children were born and educated in Elyria. Vol. II—12 732 - HISTORY OF LORAIN COUNTY The early education of Charles H. Savage was gained in the public schools of his native city and he also attended high school and a business college. Up to the age of eighteen he had some experience in working with his father in the meat market, but then started to learn the technical side of the business in which he is now engaged. He became an apprentice in the establishment of John Murbach, the veteran jeweler and silversmith who is still in business at Elyria and remained with that employer for eighteen years, learning not only the trade but also the details of the business from the selling standpoint. He also attended for some time the technical school conducted by John L. Finn, the old jeweler and watchmaker, who had a small school for instructing boys in the trade. Mr. Finn is still living in Elyria, though now retired from business. After all these years of apprenticeship and experience in the employ of others, Mr. Savage finally started at the time mentioned in a business of his own, and now has a splendid establishment centrally located in the shopping district. Besides his successful business record he has shown himself a public spirited citizen in supporting many movements for the good of the community. Mr. Savage is a director in the Savings Deposit Bank and Trust Company of Elyria, a stockholder in the Elyria Savings & Banking Company, president and a director of the Elyria Chamber of Commerce, and holds stock in several other local enterprises. He is well known socially, being a member of the Elyria Country Club, the Elyria Automobile Association, is identified with the First Congregational Church, and takes much part in Masonic affairs. He is affiliated with King Solomon Lodge No. 56, Free and Accepted Masons: Marshall Chapter No. 47, Royal Arch Masons; Elyria Council No. 86, Royal and Select Masters, of which he is now past thrice illustrious master ; Elyria Commandery No. 60, Knights Templar, also Thirty-second Degree Scottish Rite and Al Koran Temple of the Mystic Shrine at Cleveland. On October 15, 1890, early in his business career, Mr. Savage married Miss Anna E. Ernne, who has been his capable companion and homemaker for twenty-five years. Mrs. Savage was born in Elyria. is a graduate of the high school, and in 1914 was honored with the office of president of the local alumni association. Her parents were Mathias and Elizabeth (Walters) Ernne, both of whom were born in Switzerland. Her father died at Elyria, January 17, 1906, and her mother is still living. J. C. HILL. Few banking institutions in Northern Ohio have a more notable record than the Savings Deposit Bank & Trust Company of Elyria, with which Mr. Hill has been identified since its beginning as a private bank years ago, and of which he is now president. It has been a conservatively managed institution, and emphasis has always been placed upon strength rather than mere size. However, the company now stands in the front rank of banks as to its tangible assets, and at the close of business in 1914 its total resources aggregated more than $2,000,000. A report of the condition of the company at that time showed capital stock of $211,900, surplus of $100,000. undivided profits of over $23,000, and deposits of approximately $1,740,000. Its banking house at one of the principal corners in the business district of Elyria, has been a landmark in the financial life of that city for many years. The names of the principal officers are : J. C. Hill, president ; C. M. Braman, and C. E. Blanchard, vice presidents; James B. Seward. cashier, and F. R. Eckler, assistant cashier. The list of directors includes other men of the highest financial standing in Lorain County. J. C. Hill, who was cashier of the company when it began business in the early '70s, has had a long and noteworthy career. More than HISTORY OF LORAIN COUNTY - 733 fifty years ago he was a practicing lawyer at Elyria and gave up the law for business and has long been a forceful figure not only in local finance but in civic enterprise. A native of Erie County, Ohio, he was the son of E. P. and Sarah Hill, both natives of Connecticut, from which state father and grandfather came as pioneers in the little community of Berlin Heights in Erie County. E. P. Hill served as a member of the Ohio State Senate from Erie County in 1852-53. J. C. Hill finished his public education in the high school at Berlin Heights, and subsequently attended Antioch College at Yellow Springs, Greene County, where he was under the instruction of the great educator, Horace Mann. He graduated A. B. from Antioch in 1860 and studied law at Cleveland, where he was graduated from law school LL. B. in June, 1861. He then came to Elyria with a young lawyer whose acquaintance he had formed in Cleveland, Judge J. C. Hale, who was for a number of years identified with the Lorain County bar and is now living retired in Cleveland, and is mentioned elsewhere in this publication. These two young lawyers came together to Elyria and practiced as partners one year, Mr. Hill then being in practice by himself for the same length of time, after which he resumed partnership with Judge Hale and so continued until 1864. In 1864 Mr. Hill largely gave up the law and formed a co-partner-ship in the live stock business with the late W. A. Braman, whose personal record will be found on other pages. For three years they were together in business, and this was a period of financial profit to both members, and for several years following that Mr. Hill was engaged in the nursery business, and had an extensive trade both wholesale and retail. On November 1, 1872, Mr. Hill with the late T. L. Nelson, organized and opened the doors of a private banking house, with unlimited liability of stockholders. At the end of the second year there were twelve members of the company, and their aggregate resources at the command of the bank amounted to $500,000. It was largely the character of the men behind the institution which insured its early success and gave it the unbounded confidence of the public. As a result the bank was soon able to double its capital from its own earnings, and at the same time paid regular dividends to stockholders. In the early days it was known as the Savings Deposit Bank of Elyria, and without doubt was one of the most flourishing and safest institutions of the kind in the state. The reorganization and incorporation as a regular stock bank under the title The Savings Deposit Bank Company were effected in 1890. Its paid up capital at that time was $200,000, besides a surplus of $12,000. In March, 1893, the bank carried loans to the extent of Over $1,000,000 and had deposit accounts aggregating $950,000. Mr. Hill was the first cashier and manager of the company, and on the death of Mr. T. L. Nelson, the president, in 1890, was elected his successor, and in connection with the chief executive office has since had the practical management of the company. Mr. Charles M. Braman, who is vice president and a director now shares the responsibility of management with Mr. Hill. A sketch of Mr. Braman will be found elsewhere. On January 2, 1861, at the outset of his career as a lawyer, Mr. Hill married Miss Etta M. Wilson, of Elizabeth, New Jersey. They first became acquainted while schoolmates under Horace Mann at Antioch College. Mrs. Hill lacked one year of graduating from Antioch. To their long and happy union were born five children, of whom two are still living. Frank, the oldest, graduated from Oberlin College with the class of 1883 and died in Denver, Colorado. Ralph W., was reared and educated in Elyria where he is still living. Arthur E. also died in Colorado. Edith L., who was born at Elyria, was graduated from the 734 - HISTORY OF LORAIN COUNTY high school and pursued a higher education at the National Park Seminary in Washington, District of Columbia, is now the wife of Ernest Motimer, a manufacturer of ladies corsets at Derby. Connecticut. The youngest child, Harry, was accidentally shot at Elyria by a companion some years ago. In politics Mr. Hill is a republican, but his work has been more notable in the broad fields of citizenship than as a partisan. For many years he was a member of the board of education of Elyria and its president from 1888 to 1908. He is now the oldest living member of King Solomon Lodge No. 56, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons. is a past master of the lodge, and also a Knight Templar Mason. He belongs to the Elyria Chamber of Commerce, and is a stockholder but not now a member of the Elyria Country Club. Mr. Hill is a man of broad views, of extended experience with men and affairs. has a keen quick perception. and at the basis of his unusual success as a financier is the sterling integrity of his character, the quality which has secured him the unlimited confidence of the people with whom he has come in contact. As an executor he has settled several large estates in addition to his duties as a banker, and these duties he has discharged with characteristic fidelity. Mr. Hill is also president of the Citizens Building Company of Elyria president of the home Land Company of Elyria president of the Hill Realty Company : and treasurer of the Lorain Realty Company. FRANKLIN PELTON CROSSE. The present Lorain County surveyor is a civil engineer of more than fifteen years' practical experience in his profession. in which he has made a record of constant advancement. In 1899 Mr. Crosse was a rodman in the employ of the Sheffield Land and Improvement Company of Lorain. In 1901 he became connected with the United States Geological Survey as an assistant. and in 1903 was made engineer with the Ohio Engineering Company. In 1905 Mr. Crosse was appointed assistant and deputy to the county surveyor. In 1914 he was elected county surveyor for the term beginning September 6, 1915, and on February :15, 1916, was appointed surveyor by the county commissioners for the unexpired term of T. L. Gibson, deceased. In politics Mr. Crosse is affiliated with the republican party. Franklin Pelton Crosse represents some old and honored family lines both in Ohio and in New England. He was born at North Amherst, Ohio, February 20, 1880, a son of Dr. Asahael Allen and Ella G. (Pelton) Crosse. The paternal grandfather was Rev. A. A. Crosse of Cincinnatus, New York. At Cincinnatus Dr. A. A. Crosse was born. and leaving home at the age of thirteen took up the struggle of life for himself. Later he paid his way through a medical school at Willoughby. Ohio, an institution now absorbed in the Western Reserve University. He began practicing medicine at the age of eighteen. and after his marriage located at Amherst, where he continued his work as a physician and surgeon until his death. He had a large practice, covering a wide scope of country, and was also a good business man, and at one time owned 640 acres of land in Amherst and Brownhelm Township. He sold some of this land but at his death owned 312 acres. He and his wife were married at Vermillion, Ohio, where Miss Pelton was horn, and after a residence of a number of years at Amherst he moved to his farm and tried to retire from his heavy practice. It was almost impossible, since his patients were insistent upon his tried service, and he was the trusted medical adviser in many a household until his death. He was affiliated with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and held the offices of township clerk and justice of the peace of Amherst HISTORY OF LORAIN COUNTY - 735 Township and was the first mayor of the incorporated Village of North Amherst, and during the term of President Johnson was postmaster of that village. He died on his farm. west of North Amherst, September 13, 1882. His widow is now living in Elyria, and Franklin P. Crosse was the only one of their children to reach maturity. Mr. Crosse comes of a notable maternal ancestry. His maternal grandfather was Franklin Pelton of Vermillion, Ohio, and a descendant of John Pelton. John Pelton was born in England about 1616 and belonged to the Essex branch of Peltons or Poltons. He came to Boston between 1630 and 1633, as is proved by the appearance of his name and a description of his property in the "Book of Possessions" the oldest land record of Boston. In Boston his possessions were described as one house and household lot bounded with Owen Roe west ; the street north ; the cove south ; and the marsh on the east. The land comprised lots 104 to 108 on the south side of the Essex Street from Washington Street eastward. About 1635 he moved to Dorchester, then a few miles up the Boston Peninsula, but now a part of the City of Boston. Dorchester had been settled a few months earlier in that year. Either in 1635 or 1636 he became by grant or purchase a joint owner of the Dorchester Patent, and received his share as did also his heirs in its many divisions. He was one of the forty-seven owners of the " Great Lots!' That he was admitted among the very select company at Dorchester is sufficient proof that his character and religious opinion were considered correct. The only item of information concerning his wife is found in his will, which gives her Christian name as Susanna. They were probably married about 1643. He was a young man when he came to Boston, and some additional light is thrown on his occupation by the words of the will which shows that he was engaged in the fisheries, then as now an important industry. He died in Dorchester, January 23, 1681. He had three sons, John, Samuel and Robert, and a daughter Mary. His widow probably lived until May 7, 1706, and various circumstances indicate that she was the "old Mother Pelton" who was buried May 10, 1706. Mention is made of her burial in Clapp's History of Dorchester (page 281) compiled from the records of the oldest church there, and as it was an unusual record she must have been a very well known person. From John and Susanna Pelton the line of descent runs as follows: Samuel Pelton, second son of John, was born at Dorchester, Massachusetts, about 1647 and died about 1713-14. John Pelton, second son of Samuel, born at Dorchester January 9, 1682, died July 15, 1735. Josiah Pelton, the fifth son of John, probably born in Haddam, Connecticut, in 1714, died February 2, 1792. Josiah Pelton, Jr., fourth son of Josiah, was born at Chatham, now Portland, Connecticut, March 5, 1772, and died July 9, 1834. He had an eventful career. He went to sea as a cabin boy, became a sailor before the mast, and later captain and owner of a vessel. He was engaged in trade with the West Indies and also the Spanish Main, touched at many ports in both North and South America, and did much business in Brazil and Guiana. In 1811, during the Mexican insurrection under Hidalgo, he was captured while in command of a vessel owned by himself and his brother Moses. The vessel and $30,000 in specie were confiscated and he was held as a captive for three years. On being released he found that his vessel had been sold and owing to the destruction of his papers was unable to recover any of the property. After this disaster he abandoned the sea, and in June, 1815, gathered up his family and with a wagon drawn by an ox team started for Ohio. In August he arrived at Euclid, near Cleveland, where in the previous year his cousin Jonathan Pelton, a son of Joseph Pelton, had settled. In 1819 he bought land a portion of 736 - HISTORY OF LORAIN COUNTY which had been cleared, and with it a log house, from John Sherrart, in Vermillion, Huron (now Erie) County, and removed to the new farm. It was in the midst of the wilderness, and his home was close to the haunts of wolves, deer, bear, and wild turkey, and even the Indians still roamed the woods. Though he had applied himself vigorously to the new life of farmer, he could not forget the old vocation, and living close to the Lake Erie shore he built a small vessel, which he named Franklin in honor of his youngest son. He died at Vermillion in 1834. Franklin Pelton, the fifth son of Josiah, Jr., was born at Portland, Connecticut, November 13. 1814, and died February 27, 1897, in Vermillion, Ohio. Among his eleven children Ella Gertrude, who became the wife of Dr. A. A. Crosse, was the eighth. She was born April 2, 1855, and is still living at Elyria. Franklin P. Crosse secured his education in the Elyria public schools and the Ohio Northern University at Ada. From that he entered his practical career as a civil engineer at the age of nineteen, and has been steadily engaged in some department of his profession to the present time. Mr. Crosse has taken both the Scottish and York Rite degrees in Masonry. He belongs to all the Masonic bodies from Blue Lodge to Knight Templar at Elyria, including Elyria Commandery, and the Consistory bodies at Cleveland, including Lake Erie Consistory of the thirty-second degree and also Al Koran Temple of the Mystic. Shrine. He attends the Congregational Church of Elyria. At Wooster, Ohio, December 22, 1906, Mr. Crosse married Miss Gertrude Elizabeth Marnin, daughter of William and Mary (Herwick) Marnin. Her father was a miner and coal mine superintendent through the Ohio fields, and died in 1910 at Doylestown, Ohio, where his widow is now living. Mrs. Crosse was born near Doylestown at Silver Creek, and is a graduate of the Doylestown High School. She received her musical education, both instrumental and vocal, at the Academy of Our Lady of Lourdes, Cleveland, Ohio. She is a member of the Eastern Star. They have one son, Franklin Pelton Crosse II. OSCAR G. DUNN. For a young man who only recently passed his thirtieth birthday, Oscar G. Dunn has proved an exceedingly live member of the Elyria business community, and has identified himself in so many ways with local affairs that he was recently chosen to the important office of county commissioner. He began to be self supporting when only a boy, and consequently his practical career has been longer than his years would indicate. He was born in Bellwood, Pennsylvania, April 29, 1884, and is a son of William Henry and Mattie K. (Godard) Dunn. His parents were married in Mapleton, Pennsylvania, where the mother was born, while the father was a native of Bellwood. William H. Dunn was a contractor in the tinning, plumbing and hardware supply business at Mapleton and later at Johnstown, Pennsylvania. Owing to the disastrous flood at Johnstown in 1889 he moved to Lorain in Lorain County and became assistant superintendent in the tinning department for the Johnson Steel Company. This company it will be recalled was later merged with the National Tube Company. On account of health the father finally returned to Johnstown, where he died in 1899. The mother is still living at South Lorain. The father was a very active member of the Baptist. Church in Johnstown, served as superintendent of the Sunday school, but had formed no active church connections in Lorain. The mother is now equally diligent in her attention to church duties as a member of the Presbyterian Church at South Lorain. In the family were eight children, three sons and five daughters, seven of them reaching maturity. In order of age they are: Mrs. Charles Drusendahl of HISTORY OF LORAIN COUNTY - 737 Elyria ; Mrs. Harry Kirtley of Johnstown, Pennsylvania ; Oscar G.; Mrs. Anna. Barclay who lives along Rural Route No. 2 out of Lorain; Mrs. R. Glasser of Spokane, Washington ; Stewart Dunn, who lives with her mother in South Lorain ; Hershel, who is a wireless operator, and as his whereabouts have been unknown to his family for the past two years it is not known whether he is living or not. All the children were born in Mapleton and Bellwood, Pennsylvania, with the exception of Stewart, who was born in Johnstown and is a twin sister of the one who died at the age of two years. Oscar G. Dunn for his education attended the public schools of Johnstown, and when nine years of age came with an aunt from Johnstown to Lorain, and after that had practically no schooling, since he became a boy worker with the Johnson Steel Company of Lorain. After four years in that industry he was a clerk in the South Lorain Savings Bank, now known as the City Bank of Lorain, remaining in that service four years. There were no prospects of advancement and his salary was low, consequently he resigned, and was soon engaged in learning a trade with the National Tube Company of Lorain in the electrical department. That might have constituted for him a permanent business, since he was connected with the company for seven years, until a serious injury caused him to leave his work, to which he has never returned. His next work was with the Pennsylvania lines in the ticket office at Pittsburgh for two years, but by that time having considerable experience and with confidence in his own ability he left the railroad and engaged in business for himself at Elyria, opening a real estate and insurance office. Mr. Dunn has been a permanent resident of Elyria since 1906 and none of the young business men of the city has a better standing in the community. In November, 1914, he established the Amherst News, a weekly paper that has served its purpose well. Mr. Dunn was its principal owner and manager, but a few weeks after the business was incorporated in 1915, retired from the enterprise in order to have more time for his duties as county commissioner, and while he has sold his real estate and insurance business to enable him to devote his undivided time and attention to the office of county commissioner, he still retains some valuable investments in real estate in Elyria and vicinity. He has the distinction of having been the youngest man ever elected to the Elyria City Council, on which he served two terms or four years. In November, 1914, he was elected one of the county commissioners of Lorain County, for the term of two years beginning in September, 1915. In politics he is a republican and very active, having been a voter and worker in the party interests since he reached his majority. Mr. Dunn is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, is -affiliated with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and the Knights of Pythias, the Modern Woodmen of America and the Knights of the Maccabees. His name is also found among the members of the Elyria Chamber of Commerce, and he belongs to Harlan P. Chapman Camp of the Sons of Veterans at Elyria. His eligibility to that order is based on the fact that his maternal grandfather George Godard was a gallant soldier in the Civil war. Mrs. Dunn before her marriage was Miss Clara. E. Dreitzler, daughter of B. F. and Martha (Schwartz) Dreitzler of Lorain, Ohio. She was born, reared and educated in Lorain and since her happy marriage on January 15, 1908, they have lived in Elyria. Their one son, Ronald Oscar, was born at Elyria, September 15, 1910. 738 - HISTORY OF LORAIN COUNTY HENRY W. INGERSOLL. The family to which this prominent and old established attorney of Elyria belongs is one of the very oldest in Lorain County, where it was founded almost a century ago by his great-grandfather, Maj. William Ingersoll, who came from Berkshire County, Massachusetts, and was the first of the name to penetrate the wilderness which then prevailed over Grafton Township, with whose history and development the subsequent generations of the Ingersoll family have been so closely identified. Mr. Ingersoll still owns part of the ancestral domain in Grafton Township, a place that had been developed and owned for many years by his grandfather, William Ingersoll, and which was the birthplace of his father, George M. Ingersoll, as well as his own place of birth. Of these well known characters of successive periods in the history of Grafton Township, further information is supplied on other pages of this work. Born on the old Ingersoll farm, a son of George M. and .Mary (Preston) Ingersoll, Henry W. Ingersoll had a rural environment for his youth, attended the public schools of Elyria, and received his higher education in the University of Michigan, partly in the literary department and in the full course of the law school, from which latter he was graduated with the degree of Bachelor of Laws in 1885. Mr. Ingersoll has been engaged in practice at Elyria since 1886, his first partner having been Lester McLean, who in 1891 left Elyria and removed to Denver, Colorado. In July, 1903, Mr. Ingersoll formed a partnership with Frank A. Stetson, who is now assistant prosecuting attorney of Lorain County, and their relations were continued until September 1, 1910. In October, 1912, Mr. Ingersoll became associated with R. F. Vandemark, under the firm name of Ingersoll & Vandemark, and this firm continued until October 1, 1915, since which time Mr. Ingersoll has maintained his practice of law alone, with offices in the Masonic Temple. Mr. Ingersoll has taken an active part in Masonry, being affiliated with King Solomon Lodge, Free and Accepted Masons, Marshall Chapter, Royal Arch Masons, Elyria Council, Royal and Select Masters. and Elyria Commandery, Knights Templar. and was the local citizen who procured the site for the Masonic Temple Building and was first president of the Masonic Temple Company. He belongs also to the Elyria Chamber of Commerce, the Elyria Automobile Club, the Cleveland Chamber of Commerce and the Tippecanoe Club, of Cleveland. In the course of his long practice as a lawyer. Mr. Ingersoll has acquired varied and important interests and is first vice president of The Elyria Savings and Banking Company, secretary and director of The Machine Parts Company, chairman of the board of directors of The Elyria Enameled Products Company, a director of The Lorain County Savings and Loan Company, the Fay Stocking Company, The Elyria. Knitting Company, the Home Land Company and the Citizens Building Company, secretary and director of The Parts Realty Company. and president of the Cadillac Veneer Company, of Cadillac, Michigan. and is officially identified with a number of other corporations. For many years he has been treasurer and one of the trustees of the Elyria Library and for more than thirty years has been active in the First Congregational Church, having held several of the church offices and also serving as superintendent of the Sunday School. Mrs. Ingersoll before her marriage was May Belle Hamilton. a native of Berea, Ohio, and a daughter of Leonard G. and Cassandra M. Hamilton. Their children are: Mary Cassandra, who graduated from Elyria High School in 1909. spent one year at Maryland College for Women, Lutherville, Maryland, and graduated from Oberlin Kindergarten Training School in 1912, and now lives with her parents; and Henry Walter. who is now attending the public schools of Elyria. HISTORY OF LORAIN COUNTY - 739 THOMAS LOTHROP NELSON. Few men did more to impress their strength and individuality upon the business and civic life of Elyria than the late Thomas Lothrop Nelson, who was continuously identified with that locality for over forty years preceding his death, which occurred February 21, 1891, and during that time rose to a first rank among the county 's leaders and philanthropists. His was a career in which character was the all dominating factor. Of New England birth and ancestry, he possessed the rugged qualities which have long been familiarly associated with that people. With an indefatigable vigor and extraordinary capacity for taking pains he combined an incorruptible honesty which allowed him to aspire only to that kind of success which is accomplished with truth and righteousness. Mr. Nelson was born at Lyme, Grafton County, New Hampshire, January 11, 1823, a son of Asa and Sarah (Gilbert) Nelson. His mother's father, Maj. Thomas Lothrop Gilbert, in whose honor he was named was long a prominent citizen of Lyme, New Hampshire. The Gilbert family had emigrated to Lyme from Hebron, Connecticut, and at the time of the birth of the late Mr. Nelson his ancestors had lived in that one locality for at least 180 years, and the old Gilbert homestead, in which he was born, is still occupied by one of the family's relatives. Asa Nelson, his father, was a merchant at Lyme, but died when his children were still small, leaving his widow without means. She possessed a strong heart, and made a courageous battle with adverse circumstances in rearing her small children. The conditions of his childhood were such that .Thomas L. Nelson had to face the serious aspects of life at an early age. He spent much of his boyhood in the family of his grandfather Gilbert. Early manifesting a practical and studious nature he made the best use of the few educational advantages which the locality afforded. For a time he attended Thetford Academy, a noted institution in Vermont not far from his old home. All his life Mr. Nelson was a close student and careful reader, and wisely mingled the knowledge gained from books with his observation of men and affairs. On leaving school he spent about two years as clerk in a dry goods store in his native town, and this was his preliminary training for a business career. On attaining his majority, he started for the great West with its golden opportunities. He reached Oberlin, Ohio, where he spent some time in the home of Deacon Porter Turner, who had married an aunt of young Nelson. His ambition at that time was to acquire an education in Oberlin College but conditions were such that he went through a long and successful career without a collegiate degree. On arriving at. Oberlin his possessions consisted of $1 in money and a small bundle which he carried in his hand. Out of his early struggles Mr. Nelson gained a sympathy for aspiring youth which never left him, and which in fact led him to extend a helping hand on many occasions to boys whose lot seemed similar to his own. He soon left Oberlin, walked all the way to Mansfield in Richland County, and after many attempts and failures to find employment secured a position as clerk in a dry goods store. That clerkship he held about six months. A kind Providence directed his steps toward Elyria, where he entered the store of Baldwin, Starr & Company. In their employ he quickly showed the stuff of which he was made. At the end of five years of industry, strict economy and self-denial he was promoted to a partnership, and the business was reorganized under the name Starr & Company. In 1857 the firm of Baldwin, Laundon & Nelson was formed, and Mr. Nelson became known throughout Lorain County as an honest, upright and successful merchant. His house conducted the largest business enjoyed by any mercantile establishment in Lorain County, and there were very few families who did not have more or less regular 740 - HISTORY OF LORAIN COUNTY dealings with the establishment. The firm also conducted a large store at Wellington in this county. In 1872, having retired from merchandising, Mr. Nelson became associated with J. C. Hill in organizing the old Savings Deposit Bank of Elyria, became its chief stockholder, and was the honored president of that institution until the date of his death. His business success constituted only a part of his attainments as a citizen and factor in local prosperity. He was one of the most valuable men of the community and was regarded as a tower of strength in any movement or meeting for the consideration of business, civic or religious or moral problems. Perhaps as a result of his own early struggles to secure an education, he showed particular interest in broadening those facilities which would make schools and their advantages free to all. For thirty-one years he served as a member of the board of education in Elyria, and for eighteen years was president on the board. For nearly twenty years he was a trustee of Oberlin College. The only other public office which he held was as mayor of Elyria for one year, and he steadfastly declined all other political honors urged upon him. As to politics Mr. Nelson cast his first vote for a whig candidate, and afterwards was a member of the liberty and republican parties as they successively came into existence. The Congregational Church of Elyria will always honor his name and memory, since for thirty-seven years he was one of its most constant attendants and one of the most ready to bear the burdens of its maintenance. He was a regular worker in its Sunday school. It is said that when a young man Mr. Nelson laid down certain rules for the governing of his life, among which were emphasized the principles of honor, strict business integrity and Christian charity. The late Mr. Nelson was three times married. July 24, 1851, he married Miss Lucretia Churchill, daughter of Judge Churchill of Lyme, New Hampshire. Her death occurred January 18, 1853, and her. only daughter. Lucretia, became the wife of Rev. E. P. Butler of Sunderland, Massachusetts. August 21, 1856, Mr. Nelson married Miss Mary L. Moody of Chicopee, Massachusetts, who died February 13, 1863. The three daughters of this marriage are : Mary L., now the wife of Mr. A. L. Garford. a prominent manufacturer of Elyria, whose interesting career is found on other pages of this work ; Lizzie Gilbert, who died in childhood ; and Sarah M., the widow of Robert Frey, now living in Pasadena, California. Ten years after the death of his second wife Mr. Nelson married, February 19, 1873, Miss Frances H. Sanford of Elyria. Mrs. Nelson died November 16, 1915. She was the daughter of Frederick Burr and Eveline (Nichols) Sanford. JOHN LERSCH. The work by which John Lersch has most distinguished himself among his fellows has been as .a merchant. His active career, dated from his mercantile apprenticeship, covers more than six decades. during which time he has sold goods to a widening circle of patronage in Lorain County and for many years has been at the head of the John Lersch & Company, operating the largest dry goods store between Cleveland and Toledo. Probably every resident of Lorain County knows this Elyria emporium, which occupies more floor space. has a larger pay roll of employes, and probably sells more goods than any other two stores in Lorain County. A merchant who for so many years is identified with one community necessarily possesses the best qualities of the business man—integrity, a settled policy of square dealing, and the ability to win and keep the confidence of his customers. Many of the patrons of the John Lersch & Company knew that place of business when they were children. The "good will" of such an HISTORY OF LORAIN COUNTY - 741 establishment as that of John Lersch & Company is of greater value than the capital and stock of many less substantial concerns. This veteran merchant of Lorain County was born in Duerkheim in the Bavarian Palatinate, Germany, on July 25, 1841. His parents, Karl and Louise (Schweitzer) Loersch, always spelled their name in that way, but John Lersch subsequently simplified the spelling by dropping the " o." In 1851 the family emigrated to America, embarking on a sailing vessel at Havre, France, July 25th of that year, and landing in New York September 4th, being forty days in crossing the Atlantic. They went directly to Cleveland, thence to Mansfield, from there to North Dover, Cuyahoga County, where the father bought a forty-acre farm about thirteen miles east of Elyria. Later in life the parents moved to Elyria, making their home with their son John. His mother died February 21, 1878, aged seventy-eight years, and his father on March 1, 1887, aged eighty-two years. On April 13, 1854, when our subject was twelve years of age, he entered the store of H. E. Mussey and Company on a thirty-day trial. The month of probation was marked by a strict application to business on his part and constant punctuality so that at the end of the prescribed time indentures were signed for three years. The compensation he received for the first year was $40 and his board ; for the second year $50 ; for the third year $75, and for the fourth year $175 and board, his salary being advanced in proportion to his promotion in the store. In 1858 S. W. Baldwin, T. W. Laundon and T. L. Nelson bought out the firm of H. E. Mussey & Company, and John Lersch remained with them until they retired from business in 1872. They then sold the dry goods department of the business to D. C. Baldwin & Company, of which John Lersch was the junior partner. He was already a master merchant, and by hard training was ready for every fresh responsibility. He soon built up one of the largest retail stores in the state, and in the meantime he had expanded his knowledge as a practical salesman and store manager to an equal expertness in the buying of goods. The D. C. Baldwin & Company was continued until 1880, when the name was changed to Baldwin, Lersch & Company, although at that time Mr. Baldwin had partially retired and Mr. Lersch was carrying the chief responsibilities of active management. About that time Mr. Lersch established the Northern Ohio Syndicate, composed of Baldwin, Lersch & Company, at Elyria, the Fries & Scheuele Company of Cleveland, and the B. C. Taber & Company of Norwalk. The purpose of this syndicate was to purchase goods, chiefly from manufacturers or their agents, thus saving jobber's profit, and bringing the retail houses in the syndicate within close and prompt relations between the manufacturers and the buying public. The syndicate kept an agent constantly in the field, so that prompt advantage was taken of bargains, and the retailers were enabled to sell at considerable advantage and also afforded all the greatest service to their stores. This syndicate was subsequently expanded to include about fifteen large dry goods houses in Ohio and Pennsylvania, with a total purchasing capacity of about $3,000,000 annually. Mr. Lersch was elected president of this larger organization. In addition to building up this splendid business now conducted as John Lersch & Company, he has formed at different times other useful connections with Elyria affairs. For many years he was a director and member of the finance committee of the Elyria Savings Bank, and later one of the founders of the Elyria Savings & Banking Company, of which he is one of the directors and was at one time its vice president. He has always been a stanch member of the republican party and his 742 - HISTORY OF LORAIN COUNTY judgment both in business and on other matters everywhere commands respect and is eagerly sought by younger men, many of whom at critical points of their career found the counsel of John Lersch invaluable. He served on the school board twelve years, and was president of the board for a short time. He cast his first presidential vote for Abraham Lincoln, and has been an ardent protectionist. He was a prominent advocate of the plan for securing a supply of lake water for Elyria and of municipal ownership of all public utilities. He has been a liberal contributor to the Young Men's Christian Association. the Elyria Memorial Hospital, the Young Women's Christian Association. and is a strong advocate of all practical temperance work. Mr. Lersch in 1868 married Miss Pamela Boynton, daughter of the late Joshua Boynton, who was born in Maine but was an early settler in Lorain County, Ohio. Mr. and Mrs. Lersch gave their children good educational privileges, and both sons and daughters are now well established in the world. The children are : Carl T. ; Robert B.: Louise DeLano, wife of John R. Gobey, a prosperous wholesale lumber merchant in Columbus, Ohio; Carlotta, wife of T. C. Cherry. manager of the Annapolis & Baltimore Street Railway ; J. Walter : Arthur E.: and Harwood, a graduate of Dennison University. and for the past eight years one of the Division Engineers in the State Highway Department. As the above brief outline has suggested John Lersch is a splendid example of the self-made man. He is a great reader, has depended a great deal upon the information obtained from encyclopedias, and has one of the largest private libraries in Elyria. Mrs. Lersch is a fine type of the mother and home maker. She has a broad and liberal education. and for a number of years taught in the Elyria public schools. She is well versed on literary subjects, and has frequently shown a masterful logic and a fluent style of literary composition in various articles which have come from her pen. She is particularly able in the discussion of political matters. Mr. Lersch has been back to Europe to visit his old home twice, first in 1882 and again in 1914. He was able to leave Liverpool the day before the beginning of the great European war. sailing from that port July 31, 1914. and receiving the news by wireless when in mid-ocean of the commencement of the war. Mr. Lersch is probably the oldest merchant in point of continuous service in Lorain County. having begun his career as a business man in 1854. He has shown a high sense of responsibility in the use of his general success, has given liberally to all worthy institutions and has striven for everything that would make Elyria a better and greater city. CARL THEODORE LERSCH, the oldest son of John and Pamela ( Boynton) Lersch, is one of the younger business men of Elyria who has contributed his part to the prestige of the name, and is recognized as a successful and loyal citizen. He was born January 6, 1870, at Elyria, gained his education in the public schools, and in the third year of high school gave up his studies in order to enter the store of his father. With that great business, elsewhere described, he has been identified ever since. For the past fifteen years he has been buyer and successful manager of the carpet and curtain department. In political views Mr. Lersch is a stanch republican, though not to the extent of considering party before principle. To a question in regard to his religious views he would doubtless reply—"they are embodied in Leigh Hunt's poem `Abou Ben Adhem.' " On January 16, 1895, he married Miss Lelia B. Boynton at her home HISTORY OF LORAIN COUNTY - 743 in Elyria. Of this union there was one child, Miriam B., who died at the age of fifteen on January 9, 1915. ROBERT B. LERSCH. Junior member of the well known firm of John Lersch & Company, proprietors of the largest dry goods store between Cleveland and Toledo, and vice president and a director of the National Bank of Elyria. Robert B. Lersch is a native of the city in which he is now engaged in business and is a son of John and Pamela (Boynton) Lersch. The career of John Lersch furnishes subject matter for another article, published elsewhere in this work. Robert Boynton Lersch was born at Elyria, November 10, 1871, grew up at Elyria, where he was graduated from the high school in 1889, and following this took a partial course in law at the Western Reserve University, Cleveland. However, he did not pursue the law as 'a vocation, turning his attention to business affairs, although his legal training has been of no little value to him in subsequent years. Leaving college to identify himself actively with the firm of John Lersch & Company, he has been an associate member of the firm since 1893. For a number of years Mr. Lersch has also been a figure in public life in the city and county. He began voting the republican ticket as soon as he reached his majority, and in 1.896 was elected a member of the city council of Elyria, to which body he was re-elected four times, and in which he gave much service of a definite and helpful order in shaping the policies of the city government during that time. In 1903 the Lorain County Republican Convention chose Mr. Lersch on the first ballot as candidate for the State Legislature, and during his term at Columbus he was chairman of the finance committee and secretary of the committee on cities that prepared and presented the Payne bill, providing for the municipal code of Ohio. While a member of the Elyria City Council, Mr. Lersch was also chairman of the water committee, during the great seven-year fight, which enlisted the services of some of the greatest lawyers in the country, and which resulted in securing for Elyria its own water works plant on the shores of Lake Erie, where the water is pumped and filtered and piped to the city from the lake. He is a member of the Elyria "Chamber of Commerce, and is fraternally a Knight Templar Mason, affiliating with Elyria Commandery No. 60, and 'a member of the Order of Elks and the Knights of the Maccabees. Socially, he is a popular member of the Elyria Country Club and the Cleveland Athletic Club, of Cleveland. A trustee of the Young Men's Christian Association, Mr. Lersch has always taken an active interest in that organization. He was captain of one of the teams at the time the money was raised to build the beautiful building of the institution here, and was one of the twenty guests at a dinner given by the late W. N. Gates, at which time the subject of erecting such a structure at Elyria was first broached. On November 10, 1897, Mr. Lersch was married to Miss Helen Seward, who was born and reared in Lorain County, Ohio, a daughter of Thomas and Etta Seward. To this marriage there have been born two daughters: Dorothy and Jane. HARRY MOORE REDINGTON, son of Judge Horace G. Redington, whose sketch appears on other pages, was born in Amherst, Lorain County, February 22, 1886. He attended the public schools at Amherst, also Oberlin Academy, and entering the Western Reserve Law School was 744 - HISTORY OF LORAIN COUNTY graduated LL. B. in June, 1910. He was admitted to the bar by examination in June of the same year. On July 6, 1910, only a few weeks after setting up in practice at Elyria, he married Miss Mary Lydia Peck of Oberlin, Ohio, daughter of Jonathan F. and Medora E. (Wack) Peck. Her father died many years ago and is buried at his old home in Attleboro, Massachusetts, and the mother is now living with Mr. and Mrs. Redington. Mrs. Redington was graduated from Oberlin Academy, spent several years in the Oberlin Conservatory of Music and about two years in the New York Art School of New York City. Mr. Redington had his first law office in the Redington Block. where he established himself August 4, 1910, and where his father later had his offices. After one year of practice alone he and his father shared the same office until February 1, 1914. The son then moved into the Elyria Block, continued alone until January 7, 1915, and then became junior member of the firm of Pounds & Redington, his associate being Harry A. Pounds, mention of whom is found on other pages. In politics Mr. Redington is a democrat, and was the first president of the democratic club known as the Elyria Democratic Club and was active in its organization on July 17, 1914. He continued as its president until January 1, 1915, and is now a member of its executive committee. Fraternally his affiliations are with King Solomon Lodge No: 56. Free and Accepted Masons, and Elyria. Lodge No. 465, Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks. He also belongs to the Elyria Country Club, the Chamber of Commerce, and to the Men's Club of the Congregational Church. Mrs. Redington was brought up as an Episcopalian and attends that church. They have a daughter, Rosemary, born at Elyria, May 13, 1912, and a son James Peck, born October 30, 1913. THOMAS JOHNSTON. In the history of Lorain County, a name that appears frequently is that of Johnston, the members of this family having borne honored parts in professional, business. military, public and civic life. This family was founded here as early as 1838 by Thomas Johnston, now long since deceased, but whose descendants still represent the family honorably and bear evidence of the possession of the sturdy qualities of this old pioneer. Thomas Johnston was born at Palmerston (Wilton), Saratoga County, New York, August 30, 1777, and was a son of Peter and Susannah (Johnson) Johnston. His father was born at Lockerby. Annandale, Dumfriesshire, Scotland, in 1735, and in 1773 applied for and received a certificate of good character signed by the magistrate of the borough of Lochmaben, in the same year taking his wife and children and starting for America. Embarking at Dumfries, they were carried in safety to the new country, the vessel duly making port at New York, from whence Peter Johnston took his family to Palmerston, Saratoga County, New York, which township afterwards was renamed Wilton. This was a newly-settled community, and the new arrivals were forced to face many hardships and overcome numerous obstacles. The heavy timber with which the tract was covered was cleared, cut into logs and made into rafts, and these were floated down to Troy, Albany and New York City. When the Revolutionary war broke out Peter Johnston first joined a company of Minute Men for the protection of the home community, but afterward enlisted in the Thirteenth Regiment of Albany County militia, known as Col. Cornelius Van Veghten's Regiment, and served as private in Capt. Ephraim Woodworth's Company. When his military service was completed, Peter Johnston returned to his Saratoga County HISTORY OF LORAIN COUNTY - 745 farm and there passed the remaining years of his life in the development of a home, dying at Wilton, New York, September 13. 1798, aged sixty-three years. He was twice married, first in 1763 to Jane Mundle, by whom he had a son and a daughter, Andrew and Elizabeth. She died about 1771 and a year later he married Susannah Johnson, born in Scotland, and died at Wilton, New York, December 29, 1787, daughter of Archibald Johnson. They became the parents of four children : Jane, Thomas, Nancy and Mary. Peter Johnston and his wife Susannah were buried in the cemetery near Emerson's Corners, at Wilton. Thomas Johnston passed his boyhood on the home farm near Mount McGregor, New York, and received his early education in the common schools. It was the desire of his father that he become a minister, and he was sent away to be educated, but the youth did not finish the course nor did he adopt the calling, although to the end of his life he was ever ready to uphold his views in regard to religious topics, and was willing even to neglect his work to expound his theological doctrines to whomsoever should bring the subject up. His father was a devout Presbyterian, but early in life Thomas concluded from his researches that baptism by immersion was the only true form, and accordingly identified himself with the Baptist Church, although he did not become a professed member thereof for many years. In 1800 Thomas Johnston was married to Lucy Benedict, daughter of Elisha and Thankful (Gregory) Benedict, of Northumberland, New York, and settled in that vicinity, where a son was born to them the next year, but both mother and child died within a few days, the former August 4, 1801. Later Mr. Johnston moved to Fairfield, Franklin County, Vermont, where he married Susanna Cleveland, daughter of Stephen and Polly (Goodin) Cleveland. She was born at Bennington, Vermont, October 2, 1781, and was a member of a family the descendants of which have spread all over the country and have become prominent in every walk of life. The founder of this family in America, Moses Cleveland, is supposed to have been born in 1624, and came from Ipswich, Suffolk, England, to Woburn, Massachusetts, in 1635, as an indentured apprentice to a housewright. He became a freeman in 1643 and was married September 16, 1648, to Annie Winn, who bore him eleven children Moses; Hannah ; Aaron, the direct ancestor of President Grover Cleveland ; Samuel ; Miriam ; Joanna ; Edward ; Josiah, the ancestor of Gen. Moses Cleveland, founder of the City of Cleveland, Ohio ; Isaac ; Joanna (2) and Enoch. Susanna (Cleveland) Johnston was in the sixth generation of the family in America. Some time after his second marriage, Thomas Johnston bought a tract of land in Vermont, adjoining Fairfield, and settled there with his bride, but in 1804, being pressed for deferred payments on this property, disposed of it in order to save his improvements and bought a piece of land in Fairfield, Franklin County, Vermont, where he resided until 1811. In that year he moved to Oneida County, New York. and while he was residing in that locality witnessed the outbreak of the War of 1812 and enlisted in Capt. Earl Fillmore's company of Colonel Stone's regiment, New York militia. He served with that organization for 188 days as a private, and after his death his widow drew a pension for this service. In 1822 Mr. Johnston removed to Leyden, Lewis County, New York, and after three years made removal with his family to Shelby, Orleans County, New York, where he purchased a fine property on Maple Ridge, not far from Miliville. In 1832 the Johnston family started for the Western Reserve of Ohio, taking pasage on a canal boat to Buffalo and sailing thence by steamer 746 - HISTORY OF LORAIN COUNTY to Cleveland, Ohio, where they embarked in two wagons, thus traveling to Brunswick, Medina County, Ohio, where they settled on a farm. In November, 1838, they made another removal, this time into the adjoining county of Lorain, where they settled on a farm on the east branch of the Black River, about a mile south of Grafton, which was then known as Rawsonvilie. They were among the pioneers of that locality, where they built a log house and planted an orchard, but after their children were all married the parents sold the farm, and it has since changed hands several times. Thomas Johnston died July 22, 1858, at the home of his son, Paul 'M., at LaGrange, Ohio, whence he had moved at the time of his retirement, while the mother survived him until July 19,, 1873 and passed away near the old homestead. They were buried side by side in the cemetery three miles east of LaGrange, where a substantial monument marks the resting-place of these two sturdy old pioneers. They were the parents of twelve children, namely : Polly M., who married Theodore Perkins: Peter B.; Stephen C.: Lucy B., who married Horace Perkins: William L.: Betsey M.; Drew M.; Betsey M. ( 2). who married Elihu F. Terrell; Sarah J., who married Sanford Thorp ; Lois Ann Miller, who married first David Gregory, and second Virgil H. Worden : Charles W.; and Paul Milton. All of these children are now deceased. PAUL MILTON JOHNSTON. SR. Although thirty-five years have passed since the death of Paul Milton Johnston, a record of his life is worthy of a place in any history of the community of Lorain County. One of the early school teachers of this vicinity, he was also engaged in business and agricultural ventures, and throughout a life of industry and usefulness held the confidence and warm regard of those with whom he was brought into contact in any capacity. Mr. Johnston was born at Shelby, Orleans County. New York, April 12, 1827, and died at Grafton. Lorain County, Ohio. November 28, 1880. He was a son of Thomas and Susanna (Cleveland) Johnston, pioneers of the Western Reserve of Ohio, of whom separate mention is extensively made in another part of this work. In 1832 Mr. Johnston moved with his parents to Ohio, settling at Brunswick, Medina County, on a farm, and in November. 1838, came to Lorain County. the family locating on land on the east branch of the Black River, about one mile south of Grafton. There the father erected a log house and planted an orchard, and there the sons were brought up to agricultural pursuits. Paul M. Johnston worked on the old home farm until attaining his majority, and in the meantime secured such educational training as was afforded by the pioneer schools. He qualified as a teacher and for several years was in charge of schools in his locality, but subsequently engaged as a. drover in company with his brother Charles, with whom he made a tour of the states of Ohio, Indiana. Illinois and Wisconsin. On Christmas eve. 1857. Mr. Johnston was married at LaGrange, Ohio. to Maria Hicks Obitts, who was born at Antwerp, Jefferson County, New York. April 17, 1834, a daughter of Jacob and Betsey (Gillett) Obitts. Not long after his marriage Mr. Johnston engaged in the general merchandise business with George Robbins, Freeman Sheldon and Lionel Sheldon. but about 1860 moved to Liverpool, Medina County, Ohio. and there with George W. Noble became the founder of an iron foundry. Mr. Johnston was a man of phenomenal strength and at various times it was his pleasure to show his prowess in this direction to his friends. While living at Liverpool, on one occasion he made a wager that he could carry a hog for a quarter of a mile, a task which was accom- HISTORY OF LORAIN COUNTY - 747 plished by him, but which soon cost him dearly, as within the next few days he was stricken with apoplexy, from the effects of which he never fully recovered. For several weeks he lay at death's door, but finally recovered sufficiently to do ordinary work. About 1864 he disposed of his interests in the iron foundry and purchased a farm in Grafton Township, Lorain County, near Kingsby's Corners, and in 1869 traded this for another farm, located on the Black River about one-quarter of a mile from the original place on which his father had settled. Here he lived in comparative comfort and happiness for several years, but August 12, 1875, his wife died after only a few weeks of illness, during which the devoted husband nursed her night and day, and really wrecked his own health which had not been any too strong. His constitution was hearty, however, and undoubtedly he would have recovered had he made the effort, but the death of his wife, of whom he was fond beyond the average nature of conjugal love, caused him to lose interest in life, and while he survived her for five years, it was ever his expressed wish that he go to join her. To add to his troubles, in the next winter, at LaGrange, whence he had gone to live for a year after leasing the home farm, he slipped upon the icy streets and fractured the cap of his knee in three places, which rendered him a cripple for life. In the following year he moved back to the farm, but was dependent upon his sons, William and Charles, for all the work in the fields, and upon his daughter Helena, for the care of the house. In 1879 he sold his farm and bought a property at Grafton, and there the remaining year of his life was passed. There were four children in the family, namely: W. B., who is a practicing attorney at Elyria ; Mrs. Helena M. Rawson, who died at LaGrange in September, 1914; Capt. Charles E., of Washington, D. C.; and Paul M. Jr.. of Elyria, of whom special mention is made in following sketch. The children were all educated in the schools of Lorain County, and Capt. Charles E. is a graduate of Elyria High School and the military academy at Annapolis; while Helena was a graduate of the Grafton High School; and Paul M. completed his studies at the LaGrange High School. PAUL MILTON JOHNSTON, JR. One of the beneficent institutions of Lorain County, the founding of which was regarded with general satisfaction by members of the bar, as well as by people interested in the welfare of children, and the importance and value of which has become more and more recognized as the years have passed, is the Lorain County Juvenile Court, which under the administration of its officers has proved a triumphant success, vindicating the faith of its projectors and realizing the hopes of the humane men and women who had called it into being. Since April, 1913, one of the leading contributors to the success of this court has been Paul Milton Johnston, Jr., who bears the title of Chief Probation Officer, and who has labored energetically and disinterestedly in behalf of the welfare of the youthful charges placed in his care. Mr. Johnston was born at Grafton, Lorain County, Ohio, June 9, 1875. and is a son of Paul M. and Maria Hicks (Obitts) Johnston, whose histories furnish subject matter for another sketch to be found elsewhere in this work. Mr. Johnston's mother died when he was about two months old and at that time he was taken into the family of his aunt, Mrs. Julius Beeman Gott. of LaGrange, Ohio. He grew up at that place and attended the public schools, and was graduated in 1890, following which he took a commercial course at Caton's Business College, Cleveland. On his return to LaGrange, he secured employment in a general merchandise Vol. II-13 748 - HISTORY OF LORAIN COUNTY store, where he earned the reputation of being faithful, industrious and energetic. An odd coincidence is found in the fact that this store was located on the identical site of the one in which Mr. Johnston's father had commenced business many years before. In 1908, with associates, Mr. Johnston incorporated the LaGrange Elevator Company, with which he was identified until April, 1913. While at LaGrange he had served in the capacity of councilman, corporation clerk and township clerk, having been first elected to the last named office when he was but twenty-one years of age and continuing to hold it as long as he remained at LaGrange. He came to Elyria in April, 1913, when he received the appointment of chief probation officer from Judge H. C. Wilcox of the Juvenile Court, a position in which he has won the universal regard of the community because of the work he has accomplished for the youth of the county. Mr. Johnston is a member of LaGrange Lodge No. 399. Free and Accepted Masons, as well as the Chapter and Council at Elyria ; and the Modern Woodmen of America, Camp No. 7729, of LaGrange. With his family, he belongs to the Methodist Episcopal Church. Mr. Johnston was married June 15, 1898, to Miss Hattie Electa Underhill, daughter of Hon. A. R. and Sophronia. (Sweet) Underhill. Mrs. Johnston was born at LaGrange, a member of that city's old and honored family of Underhill, her father now being mayor of the city. She received good educational advantages, being a graduate of the LaGrange High School. Mrs. Johnston is not a clubwoman, preferring her home to outside connections, but is a member of the Order of the Eastern Star, and is active in religious work of the First Methodist Episcopal Church, in which she belongs to several societies. Two children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Johnston : Wilma, born at LaGrange : and Paul M. III, born at Elyria. ANGELO DELIA. As Italy has been the source of some of the world's greatest art and literature for centuries, it is a distinction to the City of Elyria that it possesses among its citizens one of the most finished sculptors from the shores of that artistic nation. Angelo Delia had a passion for art as a boy, went against the wishes of his parents and friends, who had planned a. career for him in the church, and passed years of study and hard apprenticeship in learning all the details of sculpture. Mr. Delia is now one of Elyria's successful business men and head of the firm of Delia & Galli, manufacturers and dealers in cemetery memorials of granite, marble and bronze, and contractors in building and carving. The home of the company is at 244 East Broad Street. The birthplace of Angelo Delia was the Town of Besano, Italy. where he first saw the light of day July 15, 1884. His parents are Giovanni and Angela (Galli) Delia, the former also a native of Besano and the latter of Guasso, Italy. His father is a mason by trade and a railroad contractor and still lives at Besano and in the course of his active career has been steadily pursuing his trade and the contracting business and is one of the influential citizens of his community. He saw active service for the required time in the standing army of Italy, but being now past the military age will probably not be called upon for active service in the present war, except in case of extreme need. Angelo is the youngest of a family of two sons and two daughters. The oldest is Mrs. Marta Bottinelli of Besano, Italy ; Lazzaro Delia is married and is residing in Algeria, Northern Africa, where he is a mason contractor in railroad building; Maria Bottinelli who married a cousin to her older sister's husband, died at Wilmington, Delaware, in 1912. A short time before the birth of Angelo Delia a new priest came to the parish including Besano, and his was the first birth under the HISTORY OF LORAIN COUNTY - 749 pastorate of that venerable father, who was greatly beloved in that locality and in many ways befriended the members of the Delia family. As already stated it was the wish of his father that Angelo Delia should enter the priesthood, and the devout priest used all his influence to the same end. The boy might have received the best advantages of the Italian schools and seminaries, but from an early age his desire was all for an artistic career. After attending the schools of Besano until he was ten years of age, he found opportunities to study the art of sculpture at Vigiu. Vigiu is a town noted for its fine opportunities to students of this art, and he remained there working and studying for five years. He received no pay during this apprenticeship, and as Vigiu was five miles from his home he walked back and forth the entire distance both ways night and morning, and through rain or shine. While at Vigiu he was employed two or three hours of each day with the hammer, and then went with the other students to study and practice drawing and designing, and also in clay modeling and figure moulding. Then after the day's study and work was completed he attended what is called the Corporation College during the night classes. This college is conducted for the benefit of young men learning the technical trades, and classes are held for instruction in practically all of the technical and industrial arts. At the end of his five years at Vigiu he won a first premium for his skill in carving. The next step in his profession was to locate at Milan, Italy, where he attended the Brera Milano, one of the largest colleges in Italy for the teaching of drawing, sculpture and architecture. He remained in that college two years. In 1901 Mr. Delia came to the United States, landing at Castle Garden in New York, and first locating at Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, where he was employed for two months in a monument shop. The persistent smoky atmosphere of Pittsburg caused him to leave and go to Cleveland, where for a year and a half he was employed in monument work by Joseph Carabelli, and then in similar employment with the firm of Broggini Brothers for six months at Cleveland. In 1905 Mr. Delia came to Elyria, and was in the employ of S. L. Sands until he and his partner, Mr. Galli, bought out the business in 1912. The firm of Delia & Galli are now the principal center in Lorain County for artistic products in sculptured material. Fraternally Mr. Delia is affiliated with Elyria Aerie No. 431 of the Fraternal Order of Eagles. He married Miss Amelia Malnati in Cleveland. a daughter of Angelo Malnati and wife, both of whom died at Cleveland. CAESAR A. GALLI. Junior member of the firm of Delia & Galli, manufacturers and dealers in cemetery memorials, of granite, marble and bronze, and contractors in building and carving of all kinds, Caesar A. Galli is a competent associate with Mr. Delia in one of the most important concerns of its kind in Northern Ohio. Both proprietors of this firm are experienced stone carvers, sculptors, and have both the practical and artistic side of their profession thoroughly mastered. A native of Italy, Caesar A. Galli was born in Saltrio, July 20, 1886, a son of Fedele and Lucia (Sartorelli) Galli. His parents were born in the same locality, and his father is still living there and for years has carried on the same business as that in which his son is engaged at Elyria. He had a large business as a manufacturer until the European war brought the industry practically to a standstill. Formerly he took many contracts for the construction of buildings out of solid granite, but that durable and expensive process has practically become obsolete since the introduction of tile, cement and other materials in building construction. The father saw active service with the Italian army in the war against