Youngstown and the Mahoning Valley
HENRY MANNING GARLICK is chairman of the Board of Directors of the First National Bank and the Dollar Savings and Trust Company, and president of the Standard Textile Products Company. He has been a prominent figure in Youngstown industrial and commercial life for upwards of half a century.
He was born at Youngstown, December 28, 1848, a son of Richard G. Garlick and a grandson of Alonzo Garlick. Alonzo was born in Vermont, came to Ohio in early days and was a farmer and merchant. Richard G. Garlick married Caroline L. Manning, a daughter of Henry Manning, well remembered as former president of the Mahoning County Bank, of which the present First National Bank is the successor.
Henry Manning Garlick was reared and educated in Youngstown. His business career began at the age of seventeen, when he was bookkeeper for the Eagle Furnace Company. Before reaching his majority he was operating a coal mine at Brazil, Indiana, now the center of a great coal and manufacturing industrial district. On returning to Youngstown he helped organize the Second National Bank and subsequently became its cashier. In May, 1904, when the Second National was merged with the First National, Mr. Garlick became president of the new consolidation.
His wide and diversified connection with Youngstown records and developments may best be indicated by noting some of his more prominent connections. He was president of the Youngstown Malleable Iron Company; was a partner in the hardware firm of J. H. Morris Company, which later became the Morris HardWare Company, of which he served as president until 1905; a stockholder in the Lloyd-Booth Company, which later was merged in the United Engineering & Foundry Company; and helped organize the Dollar Savings & Trust Company and the Standard Oilcloth Company.
April 5, 1870, he married Sarah Stambaugh Ford. Their two children are Richard and Julia G. Bonnell.
HARVEY R. EWING, a respected farmer of Austin-town Township, Mahoning County, Ohio, was born in the house in which he still lives, and in which he has lived for practically the whole of his life of sixty-six years. His property is situated about nine miles to the south-westward of Youngstown, and his life has been quite worthy of the enviable Ewing family record in Mahoning County. The family is one of the oldest in the county, having first come into the territory in 1802. The family is of Irish origin, and Alexander Ewing, great-grandfather of Harvey R., lived and died in Ireland. His widow, Ann, with commendable courage, immigrated with her four children to America in 5792, landing at Wilmington, Delaware, in September of that year. Later they are of record in Pennsylvania, but in 1802 came into the Mahoning Valley, and settled near where Harvey R. now lives. His great-grandmother lived in Mahoning County until 1824, her long life then ending in her eighty-sixth year. Alexander and Ann Ewing had seven children: Alexander, Thomas, John, Archibald, William, John II, and Anna. Descendants of John Ewing, brother of Archibald, are Judge Calvin Ewing and ex-Sheriff Sam 0. Ewing.
Archibald, elder son of Alexander and Ann Ewing, was born in Ireland in 1767, and died in Ohio on January 2, 1842. He was the first of the family to come into Ohio, coming, as the record states, "to make an investigation." He selected and received title to 16o acres of wild land in Austintown Township, Mahoning County, in 1802. His first night was spent in the open, under a walnut tree, but he soon erected a dwelling in which the family might have shelter, and eventually built a residence near a spring in the center of his farm. He was a Protestant by religious faith, and was one of the founders of the Covenanters' Church in Jackson Township, about a mile distant from his home. He was buried in the cemetery of that church. The church does not now stand, but the cemetery is still in use, and is well cared for by the trustees of the township. Archibald Ewing married, in 1797, Sarah Pauley, who was born in 5775 and died in 1858. Their children were: Alexander, who was born in 5798, lived in Canfield Township, where he died in 1871; John, who was born in 1800, died in childhood; Archibald, father of Harvey R.; Anna, born in 1808, died a spinster in 1861; Sarah, born in 1811, died in infancy; William, born in 1813, died in 1894 in Pennsylvania, where he had lived the greater part of his life; and John, born January 30, 1816, in Austintown Township, in which he died eighty-five years later. He married Elizabeth Russell. and lived his whole life in his native township.
Archibald, son of Archibald and Sarah (Pauley) Ewing, was born on an adjoining farm to that which is now in the possession of his son Harvey R. about four years after his parents came into the territory. The exact month was November of 1806. His early life was similar to that of the children of most pioneer settlers. He probably had little schooling, and probably early in life assisted his father in the
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development work on the parental farm. When he married he took an adjoining tract of wild land for himself, and resolutely applied himself to the work of clearing it. The result is evident in the property now in the possession of his sons Harvey R. and Albert, for that was the tract to which Archibald Ewing took his wife after marriage, and upon which they lived for the remainder of their lives. In course of time his log cabin gave place to a fine residence, which his son still occupies, and gradually he cleared until he owned sixty acres of good farming property in Austintown Township and a further seventy-five acres in Jackson Township, about four miles distant. He, however, always lived on- his Austintown property, and died there on May 6, 1875. His widow, Jane Russell, survived him for seventeen years, her demise occurring in September, 1892, at the age of eighty-one years. She was born in Austintown Township in 1811, elder sister of Elizabeth Russell, who married John Ewing, younger brother of Archibald. Both were born in the old Russell homestead in Austintown Township, and were buried in the Covenanters' Church Cemetery. Archibald and Jane (Russell) Ewing were members of the Christian Church, and Mrs. Ewing was a charter member of the Four Mile Run Church.. Archibald Ewing was a republican in politics, but never actively participated in political affairs, and he never sought public office. They were the parents of eight children : Sarah, who lived in the old home all her life, and died unmarried when more than sixty years old; Austin, who remained in the parental home until his death, at seventy-three years of age, and he also never married; Robert, who died in childhood; Rachel, who married Elias Harding, a neighboring farmer and died at the age of sixty-nine years ; William, a bachelor, died in 1916, aged seventy-six years, having spent all his years in his home township; Albert, who lives with Harvey in the old home; Emma, who lived with her brothers on the home farm, and died unmarried in about her fiftieth year ; and Harvey.
Harvey, youngest child of Archibald and Jane (Russell) Ewing, was born in the parental home in Austintown Township, Mahoning County, Ohio, on February 16, 1854, and has lived in the old home throughout his life, which has been an even, happy one of industrious labor and brotherly companionship. The record of his generation of the Ewing family has been notable in its evidence of filial devotion and brotherly and sisterly harmony. All the children of Archibald and Jane (Russell) Ewing had an interest in the farm, and all apparently have wished to continue the interest, loving the old homestead in which all were born. They, brothers and sisters, conducted the farm in joint partnership, and through life they have loyally held to each other, all of the sons remaining bachelors and only one of the daughters marrying. As a family they are well respected in the township, and have been hospitable and helpful neighbors.
GEORGE YAGER, one of the leading farmers of Austintown Township, Mahoning County, and generally respected in that portion of the county, has lived his whole life in the neighborhood and comes of a family which for three generations has been of honorable record in Ohio. His present home is distant about 21/2 miles southward from Austintown, on the Canfield-Austintown Road, and many of his relatives own and operate land in Canfield and Austin-town townships.
George Yager was born on the old Yager homestead in Canfield Township, about one mile distant from his present home, on February 17, 1846.. His parents were Christian and Martha (Miller) Yager, the former born in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. His grandfather, whom he can just recall having seen when a boy, was Jonathan Yager, who died in old age about 185o. Jonathan Yager owned a large acreage of timber land in Canfield Township, and apparently was not able to clear many acres, for at his death his children, daughters as well as sons, each received 65 acres of timber land of the parental holding. The sons were : Christian, of whom further note follows ; John, who lived on the part of the Yager property which bordered the state road in Canfield Township; Henry, who lived his whole life in Canfield Township, and whose farm is still in the possession of his sons; Daniel, also of Canfield Township; and Samuel, who removed to Berlin Township, where he farmed until old age, then returning to Canfield Township, where he died. Each son brought into good cultivation a substantial acreage of wild land. They all lived and died in Canfield Township, and all were earnest members and good supporters of the old Reformed Church in Canfield Township. They had two sisters, Elizabeth, who married Philip Stitle, and with her husband lived on her portion of the Yager farm, her land adjoining that of her brother Christian, and Martha, who married Jacob Stitle.
Christian Yager, father of George, was born in about 1819, in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. He was early in Ohio, however, with his father, and when he married Martha Miller, about 1835, he made his home upon the tract of undeveloped timber land in Canfield Township, to which he was then given title by his father, or which later came into his possession. At all events, he was wholly responsible for its development, and he lived on the land for the greater part of his life, eventually also acquiring the farm owned by his sister, Mrs. Philip Stitle, that farm being part of the inheritance of George Yager, son of Christian. Philip Stitle built the house now occupied by George Yager, and the residence occupied by Nathan, brother of George, until the former's death in 1956, was that built by their father, Christian, in 185o. At the time of its erection it was one of the best residences in the township, and many years later was remodeled by Nathan, but to all intents and purposes it was as it now is; and as it is today it is a comfortable, commodious dwelling house. Christian Yager also built the barn still in use, and generally he was responsible for bringing the tract of wild land into a satisfactory state of fertility. He lived to nonogenarian age, being eighty-two years old when he died, in about 1901. He had, however, been a widower for forty-five years, his wife, Martha Miller, dying in about 1856. They were the parents of William, Nathan and George Yager, who became responsible citizens and success-
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ful farmers in the district. William lived in Canfield Township about twenty years, after which he went into Ellsworth Township and acquired a good agricultural property there; and in that township he has since lived, a period of about sixty-four years, he being now eighty-four years old. Nathan took over, the original portion of his father's farm in Canfield Township after the latter's death, and there he lived until his death in March, 1916, when he was seventy-four years old.
George, youngest son of Christian and Martha (Miller) Yager, received from his father the sixtyfive-acre farm originally owned by his grandfather, Jonathan Yager, and inherited by his aunt Elizabeth, wife of Philip Stitle. Altogether he received ninety acres from his father, and acquired the adjoining Yager homestead from the widow of his Uncle Nathan, after the latter's death. He also purchased the Everett farm of eighty acres on the State Road in Austintown. That property, where he makes his home, was the birthplace of his wife. He was thirty-five years old when he married Lucy Everett, daughter of Stephen and Mary (Nyar) Everett, and for the greater part of their married life Mr. and Mrs. George Yager lived on the Stitle farm, but after the death of Mrs. Yager's parents, George Yager bought from the co-heirs with his wife the Everett farm, which is one of the best on the State Road, and he and his wife removed to it. He built a fine house on the estate, and there his wife died on March 8, 1918, aged seventy-five years.
Mr. George Yager has been one of the respected and reliable agriculturists of the district for more than half a century. He has been enterprising and consistently industrious in his farming, and has been consistently successful. For many years he operated a sugar bush, getting a substantial yield of sugar and syrup each year. And throughout his life he has been a supporter of church work, having held membership in the Reformed Church for forty-six years. To him and his wife, Lucy Everett, were born two children, Thomas Everett, of whom more is written below, and Martha E., who married Elmer Karnes, a farmer at Ohl's Corners, Austintown Township.
Thomas Everett Yager, only son of George and Lucy (Everett) Yager, has taken over the operation of the Everett farm in Austintown Township, and lives with his father. He married Bertha Schissler, of Austintown, and they have six living children, by name and in order of birth: Frances, Velbar, Lucy, Lee, Robert and Wade.
The Yager family in its three generations of Ohio residence has been of worthy repute because of its steady and successful industry and good Christian life.
GEORGE EDWARD DUDLEY Youngstown is the type of American city that draws into its industrial and commercial affairs not only the best native products, but many ambitious and able young men from other communities. An example of the latter is George Edward Dudley, who came to Youngstown a few years ago, has had an active part in its industrial and financial life and until January 1, 1920, was president of the Dudley-Forcier-Taylor Company, a prominent organization dealing in stocks and bonds. Since January 1st he has been devoting his time to looking after his private interests.
Mr. Dudley was born August 28, 1877, in West Boylston, Massachusetts, son of George, Jr. and Dorcas (Smith) Dudley. His parents spent most of their lives in Connecticut. George E. Dudley was educated in public and private schools in the East, and graduated from Harvard University with the class of 1899. He then spent several years in business in the East, and in 1905 came from Winsted, Connecticut, to Youngstown. His first noteworthy participation in local affairs was in helping to organize the Reliance Edge Tool Company. In 1910 this business was sold and Mr. Dudley then became connected with the investment department of the Realty Trust Company. In January, 1914, he organized the firm of Dudley & Company, and since July, 1917, the title has been the Dudley-Forcier-Taylor Company. This is a high-class house handling investments and securities, stocks and bonds.
Mr. Dudley throughout his residence at Youngstown has maintained the attitude of a thoroughly public-spirited citizen, though he has never been in politics. He was a member of the executive committee of the Mahoning County War Chest and vice president of the Community Corporation. He is a director in the Mahoning National Bank and the Standard Slag Company. He is also a trustee of the Trinity Methodist Episcopal Church and of the Young Men's Christian Association, and trustee of the City Hospital. During the World war Mr. Dudley was active in Red Cross work and was and now is chairman of the civilian relief committee of the Mahoning Chapter of the American Red Cross, and is also on the executive board of that chapter.
In January, 1901, Mr. Dudley married Miss Lyda M. Brown, a daughter of Edmond L. and Laura (McLain) Brown, of the prominent Brown family of Youngstown. They have one son George Edward, Jr.
ROY J. NEFF of Canfield is in the fifth generation of the Neff family of Mahoning County. He was sixteen years of age when the Neffs celebrated the centennial anniversary of their settlement in Canfield. He is a son of John E. Neff, whose story with that of other members of the family is told on other pages of this publication.
No generation of the family has presented a man of greater enterprise and broader public spirit than Roy J. Neff. He was born a mile and a quarter east of Canfield, April 8, 1886,, and though all his life has been spent in the one township, he is by no means a man of provincial tastes or experiences. He was educated in the Union School and on leaving school became manager of a general store, for six years. Impaired hearing caused him to sell out his interests and abandon the profession of merchandising. Since then he has maintained an office at Canfield handling insurance and surety bonds, though that is only one of numerous interests. Doubtless his chief construc-
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tive labor was through the ownership and operation of what is known as the Village Farm, a tract of seventy-three acres entirely within the village limits. Mr. Neff either remodeled or built entirely anew all the notable group of buildings on the farm, including a good home, a large bank barn, silo and garage. A lighting system is carried to all the buildings. Mr. Neff sold his farm holdings in July, 1920, and is devoting his time principally to the handling of insurance and surety bonds.
Mr. Neff is also a notary public, and for the past six years has served as township treasurer, having the responsibility of handling about $10,000 of public funds annually. He is a democrat and he and his wife are members of the Methodist Church. In Odd Fellowship he has passed all the chairs in the local lodge and served as noble grand twice. During the war he was leader in all Canfield activities for the raising of funds and the prosecution of other war movements.
July 29, 1907, Mr. Neff married Laura M. Noll, of Pittsburgh. Their three children are Charles John, Edward Leroy and Robert Hudson.
JOHN H. MAGUIRE. Agriculture today continues as essential to peace as it was to war and consequently now more than ever must the farmer receive due credit. One of the dependable and successful agriculturalists of Mahoning County is John H. Maguire, of Thorn Hill Township. He was born at Cambridge, Scotland, on February 5, 1870, and that same year his parents, Charles and Ellen (Henderson) Maguire, came to Canada. Charles Maguire was of Irish-Scotch descent, and located at North Hastings, Canada, where he engaged in farming and where he and his excellent wife still reside.
It was at North Hastings that the boyhood and youth of John H. Maguire were spent, but when he was twenty-one years old he left home and came .co the United States, in company with a cousin, William Henderson, of about the same age, whose family had already come to Canada, and his father, also William Henderson, was puddler boss in the Brown-Bonnell mill. After a short stay at Youngstown Mr.. Maguire went back home, but a year later returned to Youngstown with his brother, Andrew G., and began working in the Brown-Bonnell mill, where he was employed in different capacities for twenty years, when he left and went into the employ of the Republic Iron & Steel Company, and while there spent the greater part of his time in the same mill. He then went to the mill at East Youngstown and was engaged as a puddler, leaving the mill in 191o. When he began working he received from $1.6o to $2 a day, and as he was promoted he received more wages, but when he left his wage was only $5.06 a day.
In 1910 Mr. Maguire came to his present farm in Thorn Hill Township, and was almost at once elected constable and later truant officer and held the latter office for five years, when he was placed on the special police force of his neighborhood. In January, 1919, he was made deputy sheriff under Sheriff Morriss, and is giving excellent satisfaction.
On March 11, 1892, he was married to Nora Rush, a member of an old and prominent family of Mahoning County, a sketch of her family being given elsewhere in this work. The farm of Mr. and Mrs. Maguire comprised 115 acres, ion acres of which originally belonged to the Rush homestead. Mr. Maguire has fifteen acres of this old homestead and the dwelling, which is 115 years old. Mr. and Mrs. Maguire have two daughters, Barbara H. and Amy Rush, school girls.
Since taking up farming Mr. Maguire has developed a taste for agricultural life and is making good at his work, just as he is in his official capacity. He belongs to the McDonald Clan No. 39 ; is a member of the Presbyterian Church, and is active in its good work. A sound and reliable man, Mr. Maguire has always stood for law and order, and, while rendering strict justice, will not tolerate an infringement of what he knows to be right. Few men stand any higher in public esteem than he, and certainly none is deserving of more credit.
GRANT S. JONES, who is a descendant of one of the earliest pioneers in the Western Reserve, has borne a conspicuous part in the industrial affairs of Youngstown in recent years. He is one of the organizers of the Mahoning Foundry Company, which was first established by Mr. Jones in 193 under the name Youngstown Bronze & Iron Foundry Company. Since about 1912 the corporation has been under its present title. The first secretary and treasurer of the company was William McMillan, who was succeeded by F. C. Noll about 1907.
This industry is one of the largest in the Youngstown district outside of those operated by the Steel Trust. The company makes all kinds of heavy mill castings and a superior line of hot air furnaces. from 200 to 250 men are regularly employed, and recently the business was enlarged by the building of another plant in Youngstown.
Grant S. Jones was born at Austintown, Ohio, September 4, 1869. His grandfather was the Edward Jones who figures conspicuously in the pioneer history of Trumbull County. Edward Jones was a member of the second party to settle at Warren, about 1799. He and his wife had fourteen children. One of them was Seymour A. Jones, who spent his life as a farmer and stock raiser. He married Mary Powers, whose father was the first postmaster at Ohlton, Ohio. She died in February, 1917, at the age of eighty-six.
Grant S. Jones was one of six children. He grew up on his father's farm and acquired his primary education in the public schools of Mineral Ridge and the schools of Youngstown. When about eighteen he became clerk in a music store owned by his half-brother, W. R. Scott. In time he acquired a partnership, in the business conducted under the firm name the Scott & Jones Company. On account of failing health he sold his interests and for some time lived in New York. On returning to Youngstown he organized the industry now known as the Mahoning Foundry Company.
Mr. Jones is a republican and is affiliated with the Elks at Youngstown. He married Miss Mary Kennedy, daughter of A. W. Kennedy, president of the First National Bank of Girard, Ohio. They have one daughter, Eunice Kennedy, who is the wife of H. S. Van Nest.
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FREDERICK L. GORMAN, auditor of the. Ohio Corrugating Company, Warren, was born in Jardeau, Western Pennsylvania, on the 11th of August, 1894, and is a son of James J. and Sarah E. (Crowd!) Gorman, the former of whom was born at Vandalia, New York, and the latter at Cuba, that state, within the borders of which their parents settled upon immigrating to this country from Ireland in the '50s and '60s, a period marked by an exceptionally heavy tide of immigration from the Emerald Isle to America. James J. Gorman has given virtually his entire active career to the saw milling and lumbering business, in which his operations have been principally in the states of New York, Pennsylvania and Virginia. In 1910 he established his residence at Niles, Trumbull County, Ohio, where he has since maintained his home, his wife having died in Pennsylvania in 1906.
Frederick L. Gorman acquired his preliminary education principally in the public schools of Warren, Pennsylvania, and after coming with his father to Trumbull County, Ohio, when he was sixteen years of age, he continued his studies in the high school at Niles. Later he entered the high school at Warren, but he withdrew from school in his junior year, in 1912, to assume the position of bookkeeper in the office of the Niles Trust Company. About eighteen months later he accepted a position in the auditing department of the Trumbull Steel Company and in 1915 he became auditor of the Ohio Corrugating Company, marking a splendid record of advancement won through sheer ability and effective service. He was the incumbent of this responsible position when the nation became involved in the great World war, and he promptly subordinated his personal interests to respond to the call of patriotism.
On the 17th of May, 1917, Mr. Gorman volunteered for and entered the service of the Medical Corps of the Youngstown Red Cross Society, with which he was assigned to duty with the base hospital organization at Youngstown. The unit was offered to the United States Government when the nation became actively associated with the Allies in the prosecution of war, and upon being accepted the organization established its base hospital at Allentown, Pennsylvania, whence it was later transferred to Camp Miller on Long Island, New York. On the 14th of December, 1917, the members of the organization left the port of the national metropolis and departed for France. The base hospital was there established at Contrexeville, in the Vosges Mountains of Lorraine, and Mr. Gorman continued in active and faithful service in furthering the noble work of the organization until the historic armistice brought a cessation of hostilities and it was ordered home. Its members sailed from the port of St. Nazaire, France, April 19, 1919, and after returning to Ohio and receiving his discharge from the service Mr. Gorman resumed the duties of his office as auditor of the Ohio Corrugating Company, to the affairs of which he has since given his close attention.
Mr. Gorman is a member of the Catholic Church, is secretary of the Niles Lodge of the Knights of Columbus, and is a Benevolent and Protective Order ,of Elks' member of Warren Lodge No.
295.
JOHN URE ANDERSON. treasurer of the Trumbull Steel Company of Warren, was born at Youngstown on December 12, 1891, of Scotch parents. His father, Hugh Anderson, was born at Edinburg, Scotland, on January 24, 1861, the son of Thomas and grandson of John Anderson. John, the first, was an engineer by profession, while Thomas was for many years the manager of a colliery in the City of Edinburg. Hugh, father of John U., married in Scotland Jane Ure, who was born at Glasgow on May 24, 1861, the daughter of George Ure, a mechanic of that city. Hugh Anderson came to America and to Youngstown direct in 1881 to take a position under the Youngstown firm of Andrews Brothers Steel Company as master mechanic. He continued with that company for twenty years and then became identified with the Youngstown Sheet and Tube Company.
John U. Anderson graduated from the Rayen High School of Youngstown with the class of 1910 and from Williams College with the class of 1914, degree of Bachelor of Arts.
On. July 1, 1914, he entered the employ of the Trumbull Steel Company of Warren, for the first two weeks finding employment in the mill. The next twelve months he spent in the sales department, and was then appointed assistant treasurer of the company. Two years later he was appointed assistant to the president, which position he held until June, 1919, when he was elected treasurer.
Mr. Anderson is a member of Old Erie Lodge No. 3, Free and Accepted Masons, of Mahoning Chapter No. 66, Royal Arch Masons, of Warren Council No. 58, Royal and Select Masters, Warren Commandery No. 39, Knights Templar, and of Al Koran Temple, Ancient Arabic Order Nobles of the Mystic Shrine, of Cleveland.
On January 4, 1919, Mr. Anderson was married to Gertrude, daughter of Charles and Mary (Stinchcomb) Woodcock, of Niles, Ohio.
GIBSON J. GAULT. In Jackson Township, twelve miles southwest of the Youngstown Court House, is the old Gault farm, the home of a notable family in Mahoning County for more than a century. The homestead for many years past has been owned by Gibson J. Gault, who was born there December 6, 1852. His influence, like that of other members of the family, has steadily radiated beyond the confines of his own land and has affected the neighborhood for better field production, better roads, better schools and the general welfare of the community.
The chief facts in the history of this family are related elsewhere. Mr. Gault's great-grandfather was a Revolutionary soldier, his grandfather, who came to Mahoning County in 1800, was a soldier in the War of 1812, and his father, Robert Gault, who spent a long and useful life devoted to agriculture, married Marjorie Ewing, of the well-known and prominent Ewing family of Jackson Township. Robert and Marjorie Gault were the parents of a large family, eight sons and four daughters. The oldest was John, one of the, oldest surviving natives of Jackson Township, whose life career has been noted elsewhere. The next two sons were Alexander and Andrew, both of whom were soldiers in the
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Civil war. They, were members of the same company, Company F of the Forty-First Ohio Infantry. Alexander served all through the war, spent his active life as a farmer in Boardman Township, and died at Struthers a few years ago. Andrew had taught school for a year and enlisted from his studies in the Academy at Jackson at the age of nineteen. He was with the Forty-First Regiment at Shiloh, Stone River, Chickamauga, Missionary Ridge, and at Dallas, Georgia, while a sergeant, was shot through the arm, blood poisoning resulting, and from the hospital at Nashville was brought home by his father and died a few days later at the age of twenty-two. Incidentally it should be noted that the Forty-First Ohio stood fifth among the 300 Ohio regiments in losses in battle. Gideon, the next of the sons, has spent his active life as a farmer and is living retired at Warren. Samuel is a farmer in Ellsworth Township, William is living on his farm in Jackson Township, the next in age is Gibson J., and Robert E., the youngest, has a portion 'of the old homestead, where his entire life has been spent. Of the daughters, Caroline died in infancy. Margaret, who in early life was a teacher in Jackson Township, is the widow of Thomas Ballard and lives at Wayne, Ohio. Mary A, is the widow of J. Arrel Smith and lives at Struthers. Martha J., who died in 1893, was the wife of D. A. Wilson.
Gibson J. Gault, like other members of the family, was liberally educated, attending the Rayen High School in Youngstown, for a short time the Niles High School, and completed his education in the Canfield Academy. Beginning at nineteen, he taught for four years. After his marriage in 1879 Mr. Gault moved out to Kansas, located in the agricultural section at Waverly, Coffey County, and for seven years went through the trials and vicissitudes of a Kansas farmer during a period of drought and low markets. He sent some of his sheep to the Kansas City market and sold them at $2.25 per 100, and at the same time good yellow corn was selling for 16 cents a bushel and hogs at 2 1/4 cents per pound. From that seven years in Kansas Mr. Gault reaped nothing but experience. He then returned to Ohio to take charge of the home place of 140 acres. In 1892, a year later, his father died. He was standing watching his son Gibson and another man cut a tree, and as it fell a limb struck him. He was seventy-seven when he passed away. Besides the homestead of 140 acres he had two other farms, one adjoining and one a mile distant, 300 acres altogether. The father had assisted each child with $2,000 in getting started, giving it at a time when they needed it most. For nearly thirty years Gibson Gault has remained on the homestead and has carried forward the work of improvement, including the rebuilding of the barn and the remodeling of the old house. He is a progressive general farmer and is allied with the activities of the farm bureau and grange, and on his own land has done much tiling and other work to increase the productiveness of the soil.
Like most of the family, he is a republican„ served as township trustee six years, and for eleven years was a member of the Board of Education. He was on the board when the centralized plan was adopted and the present schoolhouse erected, being president of the board, and signing all the orders for nine years. He had most of the responsibility of looking after the building program, and also used his influence in behalf of a high school course. The township high school is now a second class school and has a three-year course. Mr. Gault has been affiliated with the Knights of Pythias for thirty years, has passed all the chairs of the local lodge, and for an equal time has been identified with the local Presbyterian Church.
In 1879 Mr. Gault married Harriet Duncan, of Berlin Township, but a native of Beaver County, Pennsylvania. Her parents, Joseph and Mary (Osborne) Duncan, brought her to Mahoning County as a young girl. The good wife of his youth and his mature years Mr. Gault lost by death on April 1, 1911. She was the mother of two children, Paul and Mary Marjorie.. The daughter was a graduate of the Rayen High School, and was a student in the scientific course of Ohio University at Athens when she died at the age of eighteen in 1908. The son, Paul, attended high school at Canfield, took the electrical engineering course at the Ohio State University, and graduating in June, he entered upon his professional work with the. Pennsylvania Railway Company on the first of the following July, and has never lost a day and his record has been one of constant advancement. For eight years he was with the Pennsylvania Company at Pittsburgh and since then has been with the Illinois Central at Chicago and is an electrical engineer in the signal department. Paul Gault married Orpha White, of Delaware, Ohio, and they have one daughter, Mary Marjorie, born in 1915.
DAVID ANDERSON, of West Austintown, Mahoning County, Ohio, a Civil war veteran of worthy record, and for more than forty years a justice of the peace at West Austintown, is one of the most respected residents of that section of the county.
He was born on the parental farm in West Austintown, the exact location being about eight miles' to the westward of Youngstown Court House, and at the spot formerly known as Weaver's Corners, so designated in honor of John Weaver, the original settler, who was the grandfather in the maternal line of David Anderson. David Anderson was born on May 6, 1846, the son of David and Rebecca (Weaver) Anderson, his father a native of Ireland and his mother of West Austintown. She was the daughter of the above mentioned John Weaver, who was in Ohio more than 100 years ago, and settled in Austintown Township at the spot known by his name in about 1832. His farm was 153 acres in extent, and there he lived for the greater part of his life, which terminated soon after the close of the Civil war. He was eighty-six years old in the year of his death, but his wife, Gertrude Ziegler, survived him for several years, living until she was about ninety years old. She was born in Pennsylvania, but the family was originally from Germany. Some of her relatives had conspicuous part in several phases of early life in the republic. Her uncle, Colonel Ziegler, was a soldier of the Revolution, and is stated to have been the first mayor of
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Cincinnati. John Weaver had four sons : Charles, who lived his long life of eighty-two years mostly in Austintown Township, where he died; Jonathan, who remained in the parental home, and died a bachelor, aged, eighty-two years; John, who left home and lived the latter part of his life in Peoria, Illinois; and Samuel, who died in Middlefield, Geauga County, Ohio.
David Anderson was the only child of David and Rebecca (Weaver) Anderson. He lost his father early in life, and was reared by his mother and grandparents, living on the Weaver farm. His mother eventually remarried, and died when she was fifty-two years old. David attended the local district school in his boyhood, and was only fifteen years old when the Civil war began. On May 26, 1862, he being then sixteen years old, he enlisted in Company D of the Eightieth Infantry, the enlistment being for four months' service. At the expiration of that term, however, he re-enlisted for three years in the Twelfth Cavalry, under Colonel Robert Ratliffe, of Warren, and with that unit took part in some of the most famous and most sanguinary fighting of the war. General Stoneman was in command of the Ohio Cavalry, which was on the left wing of Sherman's army in the famous march through Georgia to the sea, and later was part of Sherman's forces in the Richmond campaign, and in the movements in North Carolina which culminated in the surrender of Generals Lee and Johnston. Many exciting incidents were, of course, part of the war experience of David Anderson. He was captured by Morgan's men, a squad of thirty-two men detailed to bring in fresh horses. At the end of forty-eight hours he was paroled, and at once returned to his company. During the whole of the strenuous three years Mr. Anderson was constantly in active service, in almost continual contact with the enemy, most of his work being of scouting character. He was once slightly wounded. Eventually, in June of 1865, he received honorable discharge from the army and returned soon afterward to his native place, which for the remainder of his life was to be the center of his activities. Early in his civilian life he worked as a plasterer in Youngstown, being at such work in that city in 1866, and for twenty-five years thereafter he followed the trade of plasterer in Girard, Youngstown, Niles and other places not far distant from his home. In about 1887, however, having bought the Weaver farm in West Austintown from his uncle, Jonathan Weaver, he gave his whole time to farming the property, and for twenty-six years has not worked at his trade. After he had bought the farm from his uncle, the latter continued to live with him on the farm; in fact David Anderson cared for his uncle for eighteen years, for the greater part of which time he, Jonathan Weaver, was almost helpless. He had lived an active life on the home farm, had learned the trade of a cooper, and at one time gave almost all his time to the making of barrels on the farm, the Baldwin flour mills at Youngstown taking the whole of his product.
Mr. Anderson has an enviable record as a justice of peace. The respect in which he is held in his home township may be appreciated by the fact that for forty years he has been elected and re-elected a justice without even one break. As a justice he has shown both a judicial and a broad mind; he has a wide understanding of human nature, and an appreciative understanding of the perplexities of life which are the basis of most of the disturbances, brought to the bench for adjudication; and he has ever sought in his decisions to bring about a better feeling between the contending parties. He has sought, primarily, to avoid trials, and in bringing parties to amicable settlement of differences without the authoritative assistance of law and the constitution he has been markedly successful. In such efforts he has shown a fundamental interest in his neighbors and in their troubles, and it is hardly too much to say that his efforts as justice have worked much good to the community in general. Politically Mr. Anderson is an independent republican, but he has never sought political office of legislative class. He has been content with his public service as justice, and perhaps the happiest phase of that work has been in the marrying of young people of the township, children of his friends. In earlier years as a justice he married many.
He, himself, was married in 1880 to Fannie Jones, of Taylor's Corners, about a mile to the northward of West Austintown. She comes of a well-regarded family, and is a member of the Evangelical Church, which is opposite their home. Mr. and Mrs. David Anderson have one child, their daughter Gertrude, who married Walter S. May of Youngstown. They have two children, Ethel Gertrude and Catherine, and Mr. May has a good milk business in that city.
ALEXANDER NEIL FLORA, vice president of the Trumbull Steel Company of Warren, was born at New Philadelphia, Ohio, on January 28, 1878, the son of Samuel B. and Marie B. (Kail) Flora. Many generations of the Flora family have lived in America. Originally the family settled in Pennsylvania, where Joseph Flora, grandfather of Alexander N., was born. Joseph became a pioneer of Carroll County, Ohio, where he took up undeveloped land and reared his family. Three of his sons served in the Civil war. Samuel B. Flora, son of Joseph, was born on the Flora homestead in Carroll County, Ohio, in 1843. He was a soldier of the Union during the Civil war, and married Marie B. Kail, who was born in the same county in 1844, daughter of Gabriel Kail, a pioneer. Samuel Flora and his wife removed to New Philadelphia, Ohio, where he was extensively engaged in timber enterprises as a contractor. He died in 1899, his wife dying in 1917.
Alexander N. Flora began his business life in 1895 as an employe of the New Philadelphia Iron and Steel Company with which company he continued for five years. During that time he passed through most of the departments of the plant and gained a comprehensive understanding of the business. In 1900 he went to New York City and became an employe of the American Sheet Steel Company, then just formed, and for about twelve months was attached to the cost department of that corporation. He then returned to Ohio, and for the next four
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years was connected with the mills in the Canal Dover district. In 1905 he became secretary of the Columbus Iron and Steel Company, later returning to the American Sheet and Tin Plate Company, with which corporation he remained identified for several years. Later he was identified with the construction of the American Sheet and Tin Plate Plant at Gary, Indiana. He came to Warren in 1913 to take the position of general superintendent of the plant of the Trumbull Steel Company. After a period as general superintendent he was appointed general manager of sales, and in May, 1917, was elected vice president. He is on the directorate of the Union Savings and Trust Company of Warren, Ohio, the Messabi Cliffs Mining Company, and the Pitt Gas Coal Company of Cleveland, being vice president of the last-named corporation and of the Trumbull Cliffs Furnace Company. He is a member of the Trumbull Country and Youngstown clubs.
He married Eliza Underhill, who was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, daughter of Joshua W. and Eliza (McPherson) Underhill, the former a well-known physician of that city. They have two children: Samuel Bennett and Jane McPherson.
FRANK A. WILLIAMS. Worthy of especial mention in a work of this character is Frank A. Williams, vice president and sales manager of the Youngstown Foundry and Machine Company, who has been the artificer of his own fortunes. He is a successful business man, but his prosperity, instead of being accidental, is owing to years of persevering industry, native good sense and sound judgment. A son of Thomas Williams, he was born, September 14, 1869, in Youngstown, on the maternal side being of Welsh descent.
Born and reared in Palmyra, the late Thomas Williams came to Youngstown in search of employment; agriculture, in which he had been previously engaged, having no charms for him. Securing employment with the old Eagle Furnace Company, he served as foreman of the carpenter department until his death, in 1883, when in manhood's prime. He married, in Youngstown, Sarah Thomas, who was born in Wales, and as a child came with her parents to Ohio, settling in Youngstown, where her death occurred in 1912.
Being forced at his father's death to give up his studies, Frank A. Williams sold papers through sheer necessity, later working for Strouss & Hirshberg as errand boy, and continuing his education at the night schools. In 1885 he entered the employ of George Wick, being first a stenographer, and later assistant bookkeeper. Subsequently becoming a member of the Wallis Foundry Company, Mr. Williams assumed the entire management of the office, and was afterward secretary and treasurer of the Girard Stove & Foundry Company. Upon the re-organization of the Youngstown Foundry & Machine Company, he was made vice president and sales manager, positions for which he is amply qualified. This firm, which gives employment to 225 people, has two plants, the Reserve Street works, and the roll department on Boardman Street, both of which are kept busy filling orders from various parts of the country. In 1915
Mr. Williams organized the Youngstown Garment Manufacturing Company, of Columbiana, and has since served as president of the concern.
Mr. Williams married, in 1890, Emily Nicholas, daughter of Rev. D. J. Nicholas, of Youngstown, and their only child, Mrs. Katherine Swanson, of Youngstown, has two children, Myra Emily and Florence Elizabeth. Fraternally Mr. Williams is a thirty-second- degree Mason, belonging to Youngstown Lodge, Chapter and Commandery, and to Cleveland Consistory, also Ancient Arabic Order Nobles of the Mystic Shrine; is a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and a member and past supreme chief of the Knights of the Golden Eagle.
MARION D. LEA. One of the younger members of the Trumbull County bar, who by his legal ability and personal character has won gratifying success in the law, is Marion D. Lea of Warren.
His father was Rev. Isaac Proctor Lea, who was born in Crawford County, Ohio, November 8, 1849, son of Thomas P. Lea, a native of Lycoming County, Pennsylvania, and a grandson of Zaccheus P. Lea, who when a young man came from England and settled near the town of Jersey Shore, Pennsylvania, and subsequently removed to Lycoming County. Rev. Isaac P. Lea completed his education at Heidelberg University in Tiffin, Ohio, was a teacher for about ten years, and for thirty-nine years was an earnest and diligent worker in the ministry of the United Brethren Church in Ohio. After retiring he located at Warren, where he is an honored resident today. Reverend Mr. Lea married Mary R. Mathers. She was born in Morrow County, Ohio, November Jo, 1852, and died at Warren, Ohio, March 3o, 1920. Her father, William Kilgore Mathers, was born in Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, in 1824, and moved to Ohio in young manhood and for many years was an itinerant minister of the United Brethren Church, traveling all over the northwestern counties and preaching in schoolhouses and private homes in the absence of churches. He married Rebecca R. Randolph, whose lineage is identified with pioneer American stock. She was a direct descendant of Fritz Randolph, who was associated with the Pilgrim Fathers before they left England, and was on board one of the three ships which comprised a fleet, the only one of which to reach this country was the Mayflower. His own vessel became unseaworthy, and it was ten years later before he succeeded in reaching America. Another ancestor of Rebecca Randolph, her grandfather on the maternal side, was Major-General Congalton, an officer in the Continental Army during the Revolution.
Marion D. Lea was born at Columbus Grove, Ohio, August 28, 1884, was graduated from the Bowling Green High School in 1903, and first came to Warren in 1906. During the following twelve years he was in the employ of the Trumbull Mazda Division of the General Electric Company. In the meantime he diligently pursued the study of law in the Young Men's Christian Association Law School at Youngstown, was admitted to the bar in June, 1918, and at that time resigned his business connection and took over the office and practice of his
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brother, Attorney Arden O. Lea, when the latter was called to the service of his country. Upon the return of Arden O. the partnership of Lea & Lea was formed and continued until April I, 1920, at which time it was dissolved, Arden O. associating himself with the legal firm of Fillius & Fillius, and Marion D. continuing in practice alone. Mr. Lea is a member of the Odd Fellows and Elks. He married Lucy E. Hoyt, daughter of James Hoyt, of Warren. They have one son, James D., born November 29, 1911.
ARDEN O. LEA, an attorney of Warren, was born at Attica, Ohio, March 17, 1887, son of Rev. Isaac Proctor Lea, who is now a resident of Warren. Arden O. Lea graduated from the high school at Carey, Ohio, in 1906, taught school one year in a country district near Carey, and following that for five years was principal of the city schools at Tiffin, Ohio. While there he took the summer courses in Heidelberg and Miami universities, and completed his classical education in the Ohio State University, receiving his A. B. degree in 1915. He was awarded membership in the Phi Beta Kappa honorary scholastic fraternity. He remained another year in the law department of the Ohio State University, taking his bar examinations at the close of his junior year. October I, 1916, Mr. Lea began the practice of law at Warren and in a short time had made his abilities appreciated.
Mr. Lea served for a period of twelve months overseas during the World war, and a brief account of his interesting military record is as follows :
May 26, 1918, was sent to Camp Gordon, Georgia, training in the infantry ; six weeks later, July 15th, sent to Camp Merritt, New Jersey, sailed overseas July 22d, landing at Liverpool, August 3d, and in France, August loth, and by September 6th was with his command at the St. Mihiel salient. He had previously been with a replacement division, but he went to St. Mihiel with Headquarters Company of the Fifty-Ninth Infantry, Fourth Division; was at the opening of the drive in the Argonne, remaining there until October 17th. November loth he started for Germany with the Army of Occupation, and was with the army in and around Coblenz for the next seven months, during which time he was out on different occasions with groups of the Fourth Division Entertainers as a singer. He was in Germany when that country signed the peace compact. He left Germany July 11, 1919, for Brest, France, and landed in New York, August 1, 1919, being mustered out at Camp Sherman, August 8th.
On returning to Warren Mr. Lea resumed his professional work in partnership with his brother, Marion D., under the firm name of Lea & Lea. On April 1, 1920, this partnership was dissolved and Arden 0. Lea became a member of the notable law firm of Fillius & Fillius of Warren. Mr. Lea is a member of Old Erie Lodge No. 3, Free and Accepted Masons, Warren Board of Trade, and is president of the Giddings Republican Club.
February 23, 1918, he married Ruth Griffith, of Columbus, Ohio, daughter of Barton Griffith, a well known Columbus attorney.
JOSEPH WALLACE, While his present responsibilities as chief of the Youngstown Fire Department are an appropriate reward for his efficiency and resourcefulness in handling the personnel and equipment of the department, Joseph Wallace is also qualified for the office by, a veteran's service. He has been with the local fire force of Youngstown for twenty-two years.
Mr. Wallace was born in Youngstown, March 18, 1868, son of William and Susan' (Knox) Wallace. His parents were born and married in County Monaghan, Ireland, and came to the United States in 1865, soon afterward locating in Youngstown. William Wallace was a worker in the iron industry, but after coming to Youngstown was employed in the Tom Johnson Nursery and later became a contractor for the removal of cinders and other material. For nine years the family lived in Detroit. William Wallace was a republican and a member of the Tabernacle Presbyterian Church. He died in 1911, at the age of seventy-two, while his wife passed away in 1894. They were the parents of ten children, eight of whom are still living.
Joseph Wallace, the oldest child, acquired his early education in the Front Street School and the South Side School on what is now Wayne Avenue, but in the meantime, at the age of twelve, had begun earning his own living as a boy worker in the BrownBonnell mill. He completed his education by night study in Hall's Business College. At the age of eighteen he was a full fledged iron worker in the Brown-Bonnell iron mills. He first joined the fire department at Engine House No. 4, on Falls Avenue. That was his post of duty for twelve years. He was then assigned to Engine House No. 1 as captain, and was captain at No. 8 when he was called to the management of the entire fire fighting force. Mr. Wallace knows the City of Youngstown like a book, has the absolute confidence of his fellow fire fighters, and his discipline has been perfect.
May 26, 1891, he married Sarah Pritchard, daughter of Benjamin Pritchard. She was ten years of age when her parents came from England. Mr. and Mrs. Wallace have four children, Ralph, Dorothy, Sarah and Jean. The son Ralph was in the postal service at a base hospital in France during the war. Mr. and Mrs. Wallace are members of the Tabernacle Presbyterian Church, and he is a Knight Templar and thirty-second degree Scottish Rite Mason and Shriner, also an Odd Fellow and a member of the Chamber of Commerce.
MICHAEL F. HYLAND. Not only in politics and public affairs but in business and local industries Michael F. Hyland has a wide acquaintance, experience and a most successful record. His public services have been chiefly appreciated in the office of city clerk, of which he has been the incumbent for six successive terms, beginning in 1908.
Mr. Hyland was born in the Jehue Row in Youngstown, April 14, 1867, son of Patrick and Catherine (Hyland) Hyland. His parents though of the same family name were not related. Both were born in County Galway, Ireland. Patrick Hyland came to the. United States about 1862, and was first employed near Pottsville, Pennsylvania. His wife followed
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him a few months later and in 186,5 the family moved to Youngstown. Patrick Hyland worked in the Peter Cline mine for twenty-two years, until that mine was worked out. Later he was in the blast furnaces and mills, and he and his good wife still reside at 348 Worthington Street, at the respective ages of eighty-two and eighty. Patrick Hyland has been a republican ever since acquiring American citizenship. He and his wife are faithful members of St. Anne's Catholic Church, and became members of that parish at the time of its organization. ,They were the parents of three children: Mary, who died in childhood; Patrick, a plumber and gas fitter at Decatur, Indiana; and Michael.
Michael F. Hyland acquired his early education in St. Anne's Parochial School. When only twelve years of age he was working in the Cartwright & McCurdy mills under Charles Cartwright and Pat Hogan. He has always keenly appreciated the attitude and the viewpoint of the laboring man. At the age of eighteen he was running a store at Brier Hill in front of Jefferson Street. The Mahoning Gas Fuel Company next had his services in the capacity of plumber, and in s888 he went to Cleveland and worked two years with the Brown Hoisting and Conveying Machine Company. He next learned the cutter's trade, and began in a small way a tailoring business at to East Federal Street, the present site of the Stambaugh Building. From 1898 to 1904. Mr. Hyland was specializing in the real estate business, and from 1004 until elected city clerk in 1908 conducted a merchant tailor's establishment on Holmes Street.
Mr. Hyland is a member of the Knights of Columbus and Hibernian Society, and he and his wife are members of St. Anne's parish. In 1892 he married Alta A. Hatch. Her people have lived at Hatch Hill, six miles from Meadville, Pennsylvania, since the days of the American Revolution. Mr. and Mrs. Hyland had two children, William B. and Mary Teresa. William B. was one of the young American soldiers who gave up their lives as sacrifices in the World war. He was with Company M in the Three Hundred and Thirty-Second Infantry in the Eighty-Third Division as a gas expert and non-commissioned officer. He was with the Expeditionary Forces in France and one of the few Americans assigned to duty in Italy. He contracted influenza in Italy and died November 27, 1918. The daughter, Mary Teresa, is the wife of Dr. Thomas A. Minnahan, now engaged in the practice of medicine at Hubbard. Doctor Minnahan was a first lieutenant in the Medical Reserve Corps and was on duty at Fort Oglethorpe, Georgia.
ANDREW M. HENDERSON. As a busy lawyer, county prosecutor, also court stenographer, Andrew M. Henderson has a widespread recognition and reputation that makes unnecessary any introduction to the present generation of people in Mahoning County.
He was born at Youngstown July 21, 1881. His parents, William and Justina (McKenzie) Henderson, were born and married in Scotland and on coming to the United States in 1867 lived for a time in St. Louis, Missouri, and then came to Youngstown. William Henderson was an iron
worker, and at Youngstown was a puddler and later foreman for the old Brown-Bonnell iron plant, continuing with the original organization and its successor the Republic Iron and Steel Company practically throughout his working days. He died March 6, 1914, survived by his widow and seven children.
After getting a grammar and high school education at Youngstown, Andrew M. Henderson applied himself to the study of stenography. He showed more than the average talent and proficiency in the art, and for about six years employed most of his time in the exacting work of the court stenographer. His law studies were pursued in the offices of Gen. T. W. Sanderson and Emil J. Anderson, and upon his admission to the bar in December, 1904, began practice with his preceptor Mr. Anderson under the name Anderson and Henderson. About a year later, in February, 1906, he again assumed the role of stenographer, this time as official court stenographer, an office he held four years. For about two years Mr. Henderson practiced as a member of the firm Lyon, Henderson & Lyon, and in 1912 was elected county prosecutor, at the end of two years being re-elected his own successor. After two terms of vigilant and effective work in that office he formed his present law association on January I, 1917. He is now senior in the law firm of Henderson, Wickham & Maiden, with offices in the Dollar Bank Building.
Mr. Henderson is also president of the Henderson Construction Company, which was organized in the summer of 1916. This company comprises an organization of expert men and facilities for concrete construction work. Among various contracts handled by them was the construction of the present city filtering works.
Mr. Henderson is a member of the Rotary Club, is on the legislative committee of the Chamber of Commerce, is a Knight Templar and thirty-second degree Scottish Rite Mason and Shriner, and is also affiliated with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and Knights of Pythias. He and his family are members of the First Presbyterian Church. July 26, 1905, he married Miss Mary Packard of Youngstown. Their only son is Charles Packard Henderson.
AUSTIN P. AND WILLIAM W. GILLEN. The life histories of the gentlemen whose names head this sketch are closely identified with the business history of Youngstown. Their lives have been characterized by untiring activity and have been crowned with a degree of success attained by those only who devote themselves indefatigably to the work before them. They are of a high type of business men and none more than they deserve fitting recognition among the men whose efforts and abilities have achieved results that are most enviable and commendable.
Austin P. and William W. Gillen are sons of Peter and Theresa (Woods) Gillen. Peter Gillen was a native of Ireland and died in Youngstown in 1907, when four score years of age. When he was six years of age the family came to the United States, locating first in New Castle, Pennsylvania, which was their home until 1851, when they came to Youngstown
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where Peter spent the remainder of his days. He was prominently identified with the iron industry for many years, during a part of which time he was a stockholder in and manager of the Valley Mills. He was prosperous in his business affairs, but the historic panic of 1873 used him roughly. However, his spirit was not daunted by temporary reverses and his sagacity and keen business sense enabled him to retrieve his fortune. In 1884 he bought an undertaking business that had been established a few years prior to that time on East Federal Street, near Walnut. From there the business was moved to No. 17 West Commerce Street, where it was carried on for thirty-two years, when they occupied the magnificent building which had been erected for the accommodation of the Gillen-McVean Furniture Company and the GillenMcVean Undertaking Company.. The arrangements under which the business is now carried on are well nigh perfect, the equipment including a morgue and chapel.
Peter Gillen married Theresa Woods, who was born in Mahoning Valley, Ohio, and who died in 1885, at the age of forty-one years. She was the daughter of William Woods and their home was on the spot now occupied by St. Columba's Church, of which society they were among the early members. Peter and Theresa Gillen became the parents of six children, of whom three are now living, John F., Austin P. and William W. Those deceased are, Ignatius, who died in 1905, at thirty-six years of age, and who was connected with his father in the undertaking business, as was also Clement, who died in 1904, at the age of thirty-two years; Grace, the only daughter, died at the age of thirteen years.
Austin P. Gillen, who was born on February 18, 1871, received his elementary education at St. Columba's School, later attending the Rayen High School, where he graduated in 1891. He then entered the State University, where he graduated in 1895. Until 1906 he was associated with his father in business, but in that year he and his brother William W. took over the business under the firm name of Peter Gillen's Sons. The business grew rapidly, as did other interests with which they were identified, and in 1907 a reorganization took place, under which the following companies were created: The Giller-McVean Undertaking Company, the Gillen-McVean Furniture Company and the Gillen-McVean Realty Company. Of these companies Austin P. Gillen is president and manager ; William W. Gillen, vice president; and D. A. McVean, secretary and treasurer.
In 1889 Austin P. Gillen was married to Theresa Langdon, the daughter of John and Katharine Lang-don, and to them have been born two sons, Austin P., Jr., and John Langdon, who are now attending the Loyola High School in Cleveland.
The family are members of the St. Columba Catholic Church, while socially Mr. Gillen belongs to the Knights of Columbus, the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, the Country Club and the Chamber of Commerce.
William Woods Gillen was born on. June 10, 1876, in the old family home which stood where St. Columba's Church now stands, and received his elementary education in the St. Columba School. He then went to school in Worcester, Massachusetts, and Washington, D. C., and subsequently entered the dental department of Western Reserve College. After his graduation there he practiced his profession two years in Cleveland, and then became associated with his father and brother in the undertaking business, with which he has remained identified to the present time. As before stated, he is vice president of each of the corporations representing the Gillen interests and is taking an active part in the work of the different companies. In August, 1918, prior to the signing of the armistice that marked the end of the great World war, Mr. Gillen entered the Red Cross field service and sailed at once for Europe, being stationed at Edinborough, Scotland, where he rendered effective service.
In 1900 Mr. Gillen married Anna F. Sullivan, the daughter of Michael Sullivan. They also are members of St. Columba's Catholic Church, while socially Mr. Gillen is an active member of the Rotary Club.
The foregoing brief outline, while formal in its recital of the salient facts in the lives of the Gillen brothers, is, nevertheless, sufficient to indicate the active character of the lives led by them and of the success which has crowned their efforts. They have ever given ardent support to every local measure for public improvement and are rightfully numbered among the progressive business men of Youngstown.
E. THEODORE SPROULL, general manager of sales of the Trumbull Steel Company of Warren, was born at Parker's Landing, Pennsylvania, on November 16, 1885, the son of William A. and Marie Antoinette (Noble) Sproull, in both paternal and maternal lineage descending from Pennsylvania families of colonial record. The Sproull family is of Scottish origin, and was early in the Pennsylvania colony. William A. Sproull, father of E. Theodore, was horn near Shearsburg, Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, in 1829, the son of Alexander Sproull, who was also born near Shearsburg, Pennsylvania. Marie Antoinette (Noble) Sproull, mother of E. Theodore, was born at Sharpsburg, Pennsylvania, just beyond the boundaries of the City of Pittsburgh, in 1843, the daughter of William Noble, who was born near Brownville, Pennsylvania, in 1806, and died in 1896. The Noble family came from the north of Ireland. William A. Sproull, father of E. Theodore, was for many years a well-known oil refiner and prospector in the Pennsylvania oil fields and operated a refinery at Parker's Landing. He died in 1887.
E. Theodore Sproull passed his early years at Parker's Landing, and attended the schools of that place, graduating from grammar school in 1900.
When he was fifteen years old he went to Pittsburgh, working in various capacities until 1903, when he found work with the American Sheet and Tin Plate Company of that city. He continued in their employ, in various capacities for seven years, until 191o, in which year he became connected with the Jones and McLaughlin Steel Company of Pittsburgh, as assistant to the sales manager of the tin plate department. That connection he held until October I,. 1914, when he came to Warren to take position with the Trumbull Steel Company as assistant general
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manager of sales. On May 1, 1917, he became general manager of sales, in which capacity he has continued.
Mr. Sproull is a member of the Trumbull Country Club, Warren, Ohio, of the Youngstown Club, Youngstown Country Club, and the Duquesne Club of Pittsburgh. He is a member of St. Mary's Catholic Church. He married Florence M., daughter of Frank C. Leslie, a well-known Warren business man.
CHARLES L. WOOD, president and guiding genius of the Western Reserve Lumber Company of Warren, has been a conspicuous figure in the business and public life of this city for over twenty years, and during that time he has won a place among the prominent and progressive men of the community, and his career both as a successful business man and worthy citizen reflects credit alike upon himself and Warren.
Mr. Wood is a native of Pennsylvania, born at Youngsville, that state, on December 20, 1867, the son of George and Rebecca (Culbertson) Wood. Soon after his school days were ended he began his business career as a clerk in a general store in Pennsylvania. He was at that time in his seventeenth year. In 1886 he came to Warren to enter ,he employ of the Warren Packard Lumber Company. From 1895 to 1897 he was a traveling salesnan for the Saginaw Bay Company of Cleveland, and n the latter year he and Charles B. Loveless, organ-zed the firm of Wood & Loveless, lumber merchants. Two years later (1899) the Western Reserve Lumber Company was organized to take over he business of the firm of Wood & Loveless and he Packard Lumber Company. Until the year 9o1 the Western Reserve Company was under the oint management of Mr. Wood. and Mr. Loveless. In that year Mr. Loveless retired from the con-;ern and from that time the company has been Hider the direct management of Mr. Wood, and it s due to his ability and efforts that the Western Reserve Lumber Company has grown into the argest concern in its line in Warren and into one of the leading ones in the Mahoning Valley.
Mr. Wood's well-known business ability and his narked personality have led others to seek his coperation in the management of important concerns nd he has become financially interested in a mem-ler of local enterprises, all of which have been benefited by his association. He has been a member of the board of directors of the Western Reerve National Bank since 1904; he is vice president f the Western Reserve National Bank, also vice resident of the Sunlight Electrical Manufacturing Company of Warren, Ohio, and is associated with H. Prior in the allotment and sale of Warren city real estate.
Mr. Wood, though deeply engrossed in business tatters, has never let business cause him to neglect his duties as a citizen, and he has faithfully erved the city whenever called upon to show the ull responsibilities of good citizenship. He was member of the city council for ten years (1902) and during two of those years was president f the council and he rendered invaluable service to the city at a critical period—a period when the city was emerging from a small and inconspicuous municipality and was preparing and providing for the remarkable growth it enjoyed in the following years—a growth in population of three-fold.
And during the World war Mr. Wood, in a great measure, subordinated his private interests that he might be free to render all possible aid to the Gov- ernment in the country's crisis. As a member of the manufacturers' committee of Trumbull County he took active part in all the campaigns for the sale of Liberty bonds and the raising of Red Cross funds.
Mr. Wood is a member of the board of directors of the Warren Board of Trade and active in its work; he is a member of the Masonic, Automobile and Rotary clubs, is a member of the board of trustees of the First Presbyterian Church and belongs to Old Erie Lodge, Free and Accepted Masons, and to Mahoning Lodge, Independent Order of Odd Fellows.
Mr. Wood was united in marriage in 1905 with Bertha A. Madole of Kent, Ohio.
FRANK RUSSELL EWING, who has lived his whole life on the Ewing farm in Austintown Township, Mahoning County, Ohio, has a worthy record of industrious, constructive citizenship, and is placed among the representative and responsible agriculturists of that section of the county.
He was born on July 23, 1864, the son of Clark and Mary (McNeilly) Ewing, and a descendant of the pioneer in Ohio of that patronymic. The family is of Irish origin. His great-great-grandfather, Alexander Ewing, died in Ireland, and his widow with their four children immigrated to America in 1792. They landed in Wilmington, Delaware, in September, 1792, and the record shows that they spent the next ten years in Pennsylvania. Archibald Ewing, son of Alexander, was in the Mahoning Valley in 1802 or 1803, since which time the family in its many branches has had appreciable part in the development of the valley in its various activities, but especially in agriculture. The descent from Alexander to Frank Russell Ewing is through Alexander's son Archibald, pioneer in Ohio, his son John, and his son Clark, father of Frank R. Archibald was probably the first of the family to come into the valley, for the record states that he came in the first years of the nineteenth century "to make an investigation, and selected the location," so that perhaps his mother and brother and sister did not accompany him on his first surveying trip. However, they were soon afterward in the territory, and the mother lived in the valley until her death in 1824, she being then eighty-five years old. The children of Alexander and Ann Ewing were Archibald, John,. Catherine and Eleanor. All with the exception of Eleanor came into Ohio. She had married in Pennsylvania, and lived in that state until her death. Catherine married Robert Kirkpatrick, another Ma-honing Valley pioneer and ancestor of the many Kirk-Kirkpatrick families of Mahoning County of today. Descendants of John Ewing, brother of Archibald, are Judge Calvin Ewing and ex-Sheriff Sam 0. Ewing.
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Archibald, elder son of Alexander and Ann Ewing, is born in Ireland in 1767, and died in Ohio on January 2, 1842. Archibald received title to 160 acres of wild land in Austintown Township, Mahoning County, and eventually built a residence, near a spring, in the center of his farm, but it is stated that he slept in the open, under a walnut tree, the first night. He was a man of strong religious fervor, was a Protestant, and helped to found the Covenanters' Church in Jackson Township, about a mile distant from his home. He was buried in the cemetery of that church. The church has been razed, at but the cemetery is still in use, and maintained properly by the township trustees. Archibald Ewing married, in 1797, Sarah Pauley, who was born in 1775, and died in 1858. Their children were: Alexander, who was born in 1798, lived for many years in Canfield Township, where he died in 1871; John, who was born in 1800, died in childhood; Archibald, born in 1806, passed his life on an adjoining farm, dying in 1875; Anna, born in 1808, died unmarried in 1861; Sarah, born in 1811, died in infancy; William, born in 1813, died in 1894, after a life passed mostly in Pennsylvania; and John, grandfather of Frank R.
John Ewing, youngest child of Archibald and Sarah (Pauley) Ewing, was born in Austintown Township, Mahoning County, on January 30, 1816, and died in the same township on March 15, 1901, aged eighty-five years. He lived his whole life on the one farm, and in his active farming days was and extensive sheep grower. He built the house still in occupation, erecting it in about 1863. He was a man of steady characteristics, an excellent neighbor and a responsible citizen. He, however, took no part in public life, preferring to give his time wholly to matters of production and to his own family. When he was twenty-two years old, in 1838, he married Elizabeth Russell, who was born in the neighborhood in 1813, and died in Austintown Township in 1878. They had only two children : Clark, of whom more follows, and Mary Ella, who was born on November 4, 1844, and died on January 26, 1885. She spent her last years in Jackson Township, Mahoning County, and was survived by her husband, James G. Gault, who died in November, 1919.
Clark Ewing, father of Frank R., and son of John and Elizabeth (Russell) Ewing, was born on the wing farm in Austintown Township, on August 29, 1840, and died on February 28, 1905. He was well educated, attending Canfield Academy. After leaving school he was a school teacher for several terms, but eventually devoted himself wholly to farming, and became an extensive land owner. In 1863 he married Mary McNielly, who was born in Ellsworth Township, Mahoning County, on June 3, 1841, daughter of Jonas and Elizabeth (Trimble) McNielly, of that township. Her parents were both of Irish birth, and Jonas McNielly had settled in Ellsworth Township in the late '30s. Their daughter Mary prior to her marriage to Clark Ewing was a school teacher. After marriage Clark Ewing settled resolutely to farming on the property now owned by his son Frank R. He also bought 151 acres that adjoined the old Ewing farm, and subsequently also 100 acres in Ellsworth Township, five or six miles distant. He was an extensive cattle and sheep raiser, and could make use of extensive pasturage. He was one of the leading citizens of that section of the county, and was considered a representative farmer of the district. He was closely identified with many important public movements connected with agriculture, was a member of 'the board of the Mahoning County. Agricultural Society, and was one of the organizers of the local grange. He was an intelligent capable man, a good speaker, and prominent on local platforms. Politically he was a republican, although he never sought political or legislative office. In educational matters, however, he took active part, serving on the school board for many years. Religiously he was a Presbyterian, a member of the Canfield Church of that denomination. His widow only survived him for eleven months, the death of Mrs. Mary (McNielly) Ewing occurring on January 24, 1906. They were the parents of three children: Minnie Ellen, who was born on October 29, 1867, now lives in Canfield Township. She was twice married, her first husband being Mason Chidester, who died in 1891. Their child, Ruby, is now Mrs. Harry May. Her second marriage was to Munson Chidester, twin brother of Mason, her former husband. They have one child, a daughter, Myrtle. Maggie, who was born on June 25, 1875, married Edward H. Beardsley, now of Mesa, Arizona. They have seven children, Harry Curtis, Oda Mae, J. Ewing, Cora A., Ruth E., Clark Ewing and Glenn F.
Frank Russell Ewing, eldest child of Clark and Mary (McNielly) Ewing, has lived practically his whole life of fifty-six years in the house he still occupies on the Ewing farm. He now has 100 acres, and his wife has seventy-five acres, and at one time he used, in all, 333 acres, being a large stock raiser. As a dairy and sheep farmer Mr. Ewing has been very successful, and throughout his life has been a responsible, public-spirited citizen. Politically he gives allegiance to the republican party, and he has been a member of the Farm Bureau since its inception. During the great World war he demonstrated his practical and helpful patriotism in more than one way, and his wife was a prominent worker for the Red Cross in the home sector.
Frank Russell Ewing married on May 29, 189o, Ettie Misner, daughter of John and Lystra (Beeman) Misner. The old Misner home is about two miles distant, in Canfield Township, and the family is well-regarded there. John Misner was born in Berlin Township and spent the greater part of his life in Mahoning County, Ohio. He was born in 1836, and died in 1906. His wife, Lystra (Beeman) Misner, was born in 1836, and died in 1897. Their daughter Ettie, who married Frank R. Ewing, was born on January 21, 1864, in Canfield Township and attended the local schools and the Northeastern Ohio Normal School at Canfield. She began to teach when only sixteen years old, and for eleven years thereafter taught in the schools of Mahoning County. She is an ardent church woman and Sunday School worker and is much respected by those who know her well, and both Mr. and Mrs. Ewing are generally well-regarded in the township. The following named children were born to them: Waldo Clark was born on July 27, 1895, and has remained at home, assist-
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ing his father in the operation of the home farm. He is a well-qualified farmer, having taken a three-year course in agriculture at the Ohio State College after graduating from high school. He duly registered for national service during the war, and was classified, but never called into active service. Mabel Lystra, who was born on February 22, 1900, died on October 29, 1912. Claude Russell; who was born on June It), 1907, is still in school. In addition to their own children Mr. and Mrs. Ewing have also reared two other girls, Eva Fletcher, who lived with them from the age of twelve years until she was eighteen years old, and she is now Mrs. Charles Griffin, of Cleveland, and Jeannette Blucher, from her thirteenth year. She is now a high school student, and is showing musical inclination. The Ewing family of preceding generations seems to have been of generous heart, for foster children were also received in the home of Frank R. Ewing's father, and also into his grandfather's family. Robert McGill was reared in the home of Grandfather Ewing, and Clark Ewing, father of Frank R., reared the orphaned children of John and Ann Collins. Generally, the Ewing family have been noted for their hospitality and good-neighborliness.
MERYLE CLARK MAYHEW, vice president of the Wadsworth Feed Company of Warren, has been actively associated with the business enterprise of Trumbull County for several years. He is one of the youngest progressive business men of this section, and is a member of one of the oldest families of this part of the Western Reserve.
His particular branch of the Mayhew family was established in Bristol Township of Trumbull County in pioneer days by Holmes Mayhew. Hubbard Mayhew, son of Holmes, was the great-grandfather of Meryle Clark Mayhew. The paternal grandfather was Benjamin Mayhew, likewise a native of Bristol Township. Meryle Clark Mayhew was born on a farm in Bristol Township August 19, 1892, son of Elmer and Lou (Strickland) Mayhew, the former of Bristol and the latter of Farmington Township of the same county. The parents are still living at Bristol. Mrs. Lou Mayhew is a daughter of Clark Strickland, a native of Farmington Township, and her grandfather was one of the pioneers of that locality.
Meryle Clark Mayhew grew up on a farm, had a district school education, and attended the Warren Business College. His business career was begun in the employ of Charles Hulbert, a feed miller at Bristol. Three years later, when the mill was burned, he and Mr. Hulbert became partners in a feed business under the name Hulbert & Mayhew. After another period of three years their place was again destroyed by fire, and in December, 1916, Mr. Mayhew came to Warren and at the reorganization of the Wadsworth Feed Company he became a stockholder, director and vice president, and is also foreman of the company's mills.
December 20, 1912, Mr. Mayhew married Miss Allie Grace Lotridge, who was born at St. Johns in Auglaize County, Ohio, June 13, 1892, daughter of Isaac and Nannie (McComas) Lotridge. Her father was born in Auglaize County and her mother at Allegheny, Pennsylvania, daughter of John McComas, a native of Jamestown, Pennsylvania. Mr. and Mrs. Mayhew have a family of five children: Ray Winfield, born in Bristol, Ohio, February 15, 1914; Wanda Dorothy, born in Bristol April 14, 1915; Boyd Nelson, born in Bristol April 30, 1916; Lyle Wadsworth, born in Warren July 2, 1917; and Duane Meryle, born in Warren October 9, 1919. Mr. and Mrs. Mayhew are members of the Christian Church.
JAMES WATKINS. His many personal friends appreciate his genial disposition and happy smile even more than the authority and responsibility concentrated in his office as chief of police. With them he is always "Jim" Watkins, though as chief of police he enjoys the complete respect of his subordinates, and is a man of absolute fearlessness and more than once has risked his life for the preservation of law and order.
Chief Watkins is practically a life-long resident of Youngstown. He was born at Middleboro, England, in May, 1876, son of David and Jane (Matthew) Watkins. David Watkins, an ironworker, left England and came to Youngstown, where he found employment in the Brown-Bonnell plant as a rougher at the Big Bar mill. His wife and infant child James followed him some months later. David Watkins died in 1889, at the age of thirty-five. His widow is still living, making her home with her son James at the age of sixty-six. James is the oldest of five children. Thomas was a graduate of the dental department of the Western Reserve College at Cleveland and died soon after leaving school in March, 19o3. Lena is assistant manager in the suit department at the McKelvey store; Elizabeth is the wife of William Glassford, of New York Gity ; and Anna is the wife of Frank. Parnell, of New York.
James Watkins acquired his education in the Front Street school and at the age of thirteen was working in the Brown-Bonnell iron mill. When he left that mill in 19o1 he was holding the same position held by his father, that of rougher. Mr. Watkins went on the police force in 1901 as a patrolman and in 1906 was transferred to the detective bureau, and remained in that work for eleven years, eight years of the time as chief of detectives. In October, 1917, on merit, efficiency -and long service, he received his deserved promotion to chief of police. Chief Watkins has been through various strikes in the Youngstown district. In 1902 he was twice shot, and was in the hospital six months. No one expected him to live, but he is here yet, and had recovered sufficiently to do duty during the Carnegie strike of 1903, and again in the big strike of 1919.
Chief Watkins was reared on Front Street, within two blocks of the Square. As a boy he waded in the mud on Federal Street, and at that time did not regard a muddy street as a civic deficiency. At his father's death, being the oldest of the family, it fell to his lot to provide to a large extent for the household. He helped educate the younger children. Chief Watkins has never married. He is a member of the Masonic order, being a Knight
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Templar, a thirty-second degree Scottish Rite, and a member of the Mystic Shrine. He is also affiliated with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, Knights of Pythias, Elks, Eagles, St: Davids Society and the First Baptist Church.
WILLIAM E. ROLLER. The nineteenth century had just begun when the first members of the Roller family came into Mahoning County. It is one of the names most frequently found in the annals of citizenship of Green Township. Of the pioneer generations it has been well said that "they cleared the land, made roads, built schoolhouses and established places for religious worship, giving encouragement to every civilizing influence." The same has been true of later generations. As a rule their efforts have been directed to such vocations as farming and merchandising, though various members have been prominent as ministers, teachers and in other professions.
The old family seat in Ohio is close to the Village of Washingtonville, which is on the county line between Mahoning and Columbiana counties, twenty miles southwest of Youngstown. While there are several branches of the Ohio family, this article will be concerned chiefly with the pioneer Balser Roller and his descendants. During the eighteenth and earlier centuries the family lived in the valley of the Danube River in Eastern Germany. There are copies still extant, one of them in the home of Mr. William E. Roller of Washingtonville, of the family coat of arms, indicating that the Rollers in Europe were people of more than ordinary distinction.
Balser Roller, it is recorded, in 1803 bought a tract of land in Green Township of Mahoning County. That land borders what is now the line between Ma-honing and Columbiana counties. He placed his home on the hill overlooking the valley and Washingtonville. His son Joseph settled on adjoining land, while another son, John B., located on land adjoining on the east. Still another son was Gen. Jacob B. Roller, who became prominent in the lumber industry and sawmilling in that community. One daughter, Nancy, became the wife of Philip Calvin. Balser Roller lived to a great old age and died prior to 1851.
His son Joseph remained on the farm, operated a grist and sawmill, and as a miller performed an extensive service for all the people of that country. He died during the winter of 1859. His wife was Sarah Bates, who survived him some years. During the lifetime of Joseph the mill was abandoned. He also operated a coal bank on his land and built two coke ovens, the product of which was hauled to the Poland furnace.
A brief account is entered here of the children of Joseph, constituting the third generation of the family in Eastern Ohio. Hiram acquired the old homestead, and finally retired to the village where he died when about seventy years of age. The second son was Rev. William B. Roller, long an itinerant minister of the Lutheran Church, who carried the gospel about over the country, traveling in a sulky. He lived at Greenford and died at the age of sixty-eight. The third son, Balser, removed to Silver Lake, Indiana. Sarah Ann became the wife of Jacob Grim and lived in the home community. Jacob and David were busi-
Vol. III-9
ness partners for a number of years, acquired the old farm, and developed a coal business and were manufacturers of coke until they sold their interests to the Cherry Valley Company. David then secured a part of the Gen. Jacob B. Roller farm half a mile distant and lived there until his death at fifty-six. Jacob kept the old farm of Joseph and died there at the age of about seventy-two. His son Edward has since sold that land and is now living in Columbiana County.
Joseph Roller, son of Joseph Roller above mentioned, acquired seventy-five acres of his father's old farm, and improved it with a new set of buildings, located about a quarter of a mile distant from Washingtonville. He was active in the cultivation of his land until his death in September, 1892, at the age of sixty-two. His entire life was spent in the quiet vocation of farming and in one locality. He was a very influential member of the Lutheran Church, frequently was a delegate to church synods, served as township trustee, and was a director of the Union School District. He married Mary Ann Grenawalt, who survived him four years. She was the mother of three children : William E., Joshua Leonard, who for a number of years was in business at Washingtonville as a furniture and shoe merchant and undertaker, later kept a grocery store at Youngstown, and is now living in that city retired, while the third child, Emma, died at the age of fifteen.
William E. Roller, who carries the family connections through the fourth generation, was born August 19, 1851, and on March 18, 1875, married Elizabeth Cole, who was born in Beaver Township, July 1, 1854, daughter of John and Anna (Crumbacker) Cole. Her parents later settled at Washingtonville, and her father for a number of years was in the sawmill industry. W. E. Roller at the time of his marriage bought a part of the Gen. Jacob B. Roller farm, and still owns 136 acres of it. This farm is a mile distant from Washingtonville. In 1902 he bought his brother's business of furniture, shoes and undertaking at Washingtonville, and after having given twenty-two years to the personal supervision of his farm, he was then in business as a merchant for fourteen years. In 1916 he sold out, and in the meantime had operated his farm through hired help. He is now somewhat retired from strenuous action, though he gives much supervision to his farm.
Mr. Roller served three years as assessor, was on the Democratic Central Committee for a number of years, and also a member of the election board. From 1896 to 1900, for four years, he was on the board of directors of Wittenberg College at Springfield, the well known institution of the Lutheran Church. He has long been prominent in the Grange, and for eight years served as a director of the Sandy and Beaver Valley Mutual Fire Insurance Company, and was ,its president one year. This company is a Grange organization. He is a past master of the local Grange, and in Odd Fellowship has filled all the chairs of his local lodge.
Mr. and Mrs. Roller are the parents of three children. The oldest daughter, Ada, graduated from Wittenberg College at Springfield and taught in the city schools of that place and Salem, Ohio, for several
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years. In 1905 she was married to Emmet S. Freed, of Washingtonville, Ohio. They now live in Youngstown, where Mr. Freed is principal of the Parmalee and Elm schools of that city. They have two sons, Virgil Roller, in first year of high school, and William Vance, four years of age.
The second child, a son, Joseph Edward, was married to Lucy Bair, of Canfield, Ohio, in 1902, and now resides at Canton, Ohio. He is employed as production manager for the Standard Parts Company of that city. They have one daughter, Wiletta, who is now in the eighth grade in school.
The youngest child, Etta Mae, assisted her father in his store until her marriage in 1912 to William D. King, of Washingtonville. They now live at Salem, Ohio, where Mr. King is employed as sales manager for the Mullins Body Corporation of that city. They have one son, Clair Roller King, four years of age.
WILLIAM FORD BOWEN in 1919 was elected city treasurer of Warren, taking up the duties of that office January 1, 1920. Mr. Bowen is especially well qualified for this public office by reason of his favorable experience as a Warren banker. He is assistant secretary and treasurer of the Union Savings & Trust Company at Warren.
The Bowen family and their connections have long been identified with Northeastern Ohio, particularly Trumbull County. His great-grandfather Harris Bowen came from New England and was identified with pioneer people and things in Greene Township of Trumbull County. His son Rhuel Bowen was born in New England but grew up in Ohio, and married Malinda Cone. She was a native of Connecticut. Her father, Sylvester Cone, was an early settler in Greene Township of Trumbull County, but in 1861 went to the far Northwest, Minnesota, and died in that state. Sylvester H. Bowen, father of City Treasurer Bowen, was born on a farm in Greene Township February 16, 1857, and is now living retired at Warren. For over forty years he was a blacksmith in Trumbull and Ashtabula counties, and from 1906 operated a shop of his own at Warren until 1915. He has been identified with the Odd Fellows fraternity for thirty-six years. Sylvester H. Bowen married Estella Bingham, who was born at Orwell, Ashtabula County, daughter of Benjamin Bingham, a native of Vermont and an early settler of Ashtabula County. Mrs. Estella Bowen died at Warren August 5, 1918.
William Ford Bowen was born July 9, 1886, while his parents were residents of Colebrook in Ashtabula County. He acquired his early education in, the schools of North Bloomfield Township, graduated from the Warren Business College in 1906, and the following year became bookkeeper for the People's Ice Company in Warren. He has been in the Union Savings & Trust Company since January 27, 191o, beginning as bookkeeper, soon afterward was promoted to the duties of teller, and since July, 1918, has been assistant secretary and treasurer of the institution.
Mr. Bowen is a member of the Warren Board of Trade, of Mahoning Lodge No. 29 of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and of Old Erie Lodge No. 3, Free and Accepted Masons. He married Edna E. Smith, a daughter of Mr. and Mrs. George Smith of Sharpsville, Pennsylvania. They have one son, George William.
GEORGE TOD, JR., was a nephew of Governor David Tod and a grandson of the George Tod who established his home at Youngstown in 18o1. A general outline of the Tod family relationship is given on other pages.
The late George Tod, Jr., who made his home at Youngstown many years, was particularly conspicuous as a railroad builder. He was one of the leading railroad construction engineers in the country.
He was born at Ottawa in Waukesha County, Wisconsin, in 1855. and spent his boyhood days in Wisconsin. He came to Youngstown as a young man, and lived there until his death on December I, 1014, with the exception of eleven years spent in California.
His notable career as a railroad builder can be inferred from the following facts: He built the P. C. & T. Railroad between Youngstown and Akron; had charge of the location and construction of the Western Division of the Union Pacific Railroad through the states of Oregon and Washington; built and located the Los Angeles and Redondo Beach Railroad in California; designed and laid out the towns of Inglewood and Redondo Beach, California; and laid out part of the town of Santa Monica, California. He also built several street railway lines, including the Youngstown and Sharon, Sharon and Newcastle, Sharbn and Middlesex and Sharon and Sharpsville. He was also builder of the Youngstown & Southern Railway.
His business genius was best exemplified in these varied undertakings. Outside of business his chief interest was in his home and church, and he never filled a public office, though a staunch republican in political belief. He was the first president of the board of trustees of the Richard Brown Memorial Chapel at Youngstown, and held that post until he resigned in 1912. He was a member of the Trinity Church and one of its trustees.
October 14, 1880, he married Merilla Stambaugh, of the well-known Ohio family of that name. She was a daughter of Martin and Delilah (Bussey) Stambaugh. To their marriage were born two sons, Martin S., who was born April 25, 1883, a civil engineer, following the line pursued by his honored father. He married Effie Beard, daughter of Cyrus F. and Mary (Kline) Beard, and they have two children, George B. and M. Donald. E. Wayne, born July 9, 1884, entered Annapolis Naval Academy in 1903 and was graduated in 1937, and is now a commander in the United. States Navy. He married Alma Wick, daughter of Frederick and Nellie (Botsford) Wick. They have three children, Alma W., Frederick W., and Robert W.
SYLVESTER H. ARMSTRONG. For more than a century a tract of land in Goshen Township of Mahoning County has been the home and the scene of activities of members of the Armstrong family. One portion of the old tract is highly improved and developed and is widely known as the Walnut Grove Farm, the proprietor of which is Sylvester H. Arm-
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strong, who has spent all his life on this land and is a grandson of the man who acquired it from the Government.
Walnut Grove Farm is twenty-six miles southwest of Youngstown, six miles northwest of Salem and six miles east of Sebring. Robert Armstrong was a native of Ireland, of Scotch stock, and about 18o3 he came to America with three brothers and one sister. His brother William went to Louisiana, another brother to Virginia, and his sister Mary became the grandmother of General Burnside, one of the noted Union leaders in the Civil war. Robert Armstrong remained in Berks County, Pennsylvania, until 1835, when he came to Eastern Ohio and selected a home in the wilderness. The Walnut Grove Farm is part of the land he acquired, the deed to which was signed by Thomas Jefferson. The original farm was the northeast quarter of section 19 of Goshen Township and extended close to the banks of Mill Creek. Robert Armstrong erected a pioneer cabin, and in 1823 built a substantial stone house, which is still standing in a good state of preservation. The stone is largely field sandstone, and the walls were laid with clay mortar, being painted over with lime. While it is a two-story house, the cost of the mason work was only $63. This old stone landmark stands alongside the old Pike Road which was laid out by John Strawn from Wellsville on the Ohio River direct to Cleveland. The portion of the pike through the Armstrong farm was improved by Robert Armstrong. The road passes diagonally through the farm, dividing it almost equally. The pike was constructed prior to 1823, since the house was located purposely at one side of the road. In this old home Robert Armstrong died January 14, 1843. He was born March 3, 1763. He married Ann Potter, who was born June 16, 1779, and died August 27, 1826. Robert Armstrong's children were: William, born July 23, x800, who went to Illinois and died at Virginia in that state at the age of eighty; James, who acquired part of the old homestead and was born November II, 1802; John, born September 27, 1805, in the original cabin home of his father in Ohio, and died in 1859, his son Clark now being a resident of Atwater in Portage County; Joel, whose record is taken up in the following paragraph ; Mary Ann, born November 12, 1811, became the wife of Dr. William Clark of North Benton, where she died in old age; Lydia, born March 17, 1813, died at the age of twelve years; Rebecca, born July 31, 1815, became the wife of Stacey Haynes and died in Portage County when past ninety ; Robert, born December 8, 1817, became a physician, practiced at North Benton, and his son Theodore is now living at Mount Union; Sarah, born July 21, 1820, first married Samuel Duball and after his death became the wife of John Duball, and lived in Wisconsin, where she died in 1858.
Joel Armstrong, father of the proprietor of the Walnut Grove Farm, was born in Mahoning County, August 9, 1808. September 14, 1837, he married Mary Ann Thompson, who was born in Pennsylvania and came as a child to Smith Township with her parents, William and Elizabeth Thompson, who in 1852 went further west to Cedar County, Iowa. Joel Armstrong had the active management of the old farm until 1843. At the death of his father he secured the south half of the farm, that portion south of the old Pike Road above mentioned and in the same year built a home in which his son Sylvester H. Armstrong was born in 1846. In 1862 Joel Armstrong built the house in which Sylvester is now living. The half of the farm containing the old stone house was acquired by James Armstrong. Joel spent his active lifetime in the operation of the farm and also working the stone quarries on his land. He supplied much of the material for the construction of railroad bridges and continued quarrying operations until concrete largely took the place of stone. Joel Armstrong was a whig and afterwards a republican. The Armstrongs were Quakers in religion. About 1823 the Friends Church at Goshen, two miles from the Armstrong home, was established. The first church was built of brick and later was replaced by another brick edifice. Both Robert and his son' Joel were active in the affairs of the church, and the latter was a teacher in the Sunday school. He was also for many years a director in the local schools. Joel Armstrong died in February, 1865. His wife was only fifteen at the time of her marriage, and for sixty-five years she lived on the old Armstrong farm. Besides the land he acquired in 1843 Joel also bought twenty-five acres of the other half of the place.
Eight of the children of Joel Armstrong reached mature years. Ann, the oldest, was first married to Evi Stratton, who was killed in the battle of Perryville, Kentucky, in 1862, and she afterwards became the wife of Joseph Haycock and spent her last years in Iowa. Elizabeth T. is the widow of James Templin, living at Patmos in Goshen Township. William T. was a member of the same battery as his brother-in-law Stratton, and died of wounds received at the battle of Perryville. Martha D. lives in Nebraska, widow of Jacob Templin, a Civil war veteran. The next in age is Sylvester H. Sarah S. became the wife of William Arnold, lived in Michigan and Indiana, but died at Canfield, and her sons Edwin and Sylvester are residents of Canfield. Robert L., who became owner of the old farm with the stone house which 'has since been sold out of the family, was killed at the railroad crossing near Sebring at the age of fifty, and his wife, Judith Ann Stanley, is now the widow of Peter Buford and lives in California.
The seventy-four years since his birth Sylvester H. Armstrong has spent with few intervals on the farm that was his birthplace. He acquired a good .education in the local schools and one term at Mt. Union College, and at the age of nineteen began teaching in the home district. He taught there for eight terms, and also helped his mother carry on the farm at the same time. His school work altogether included twenty-three terms, all but one in Mahoning County. During those years he was a leader in educational affairs, taking part in teachers' meetings, literary societies and other organizations. Besides the operation of the Walnut Grove Farm he has had other business interests. For six years he operated portable sawmills, both on his own farm and at Patmos and in other tracts of timber which he bought. He also operated the sandstone quarry and
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got out the material which he used in the construction of several bridges.
At the age of twenty-one Mr. Armstrong was elected township clerk, serving two terms. For thirty-six years, continuous except for one interval of two years, he was justice of the peace of the locality, and performed his duties, including marriages, with a singular fidelity and efficiency. He finally refused to qualify again for this office. He has done much party work in conventions. Mr. Armstrong is not a birthright Quaker, since his mother became a member of the church after her marriage. For many years Mr. Armstrong has been affiliated with the Methodist Church, is still teaching the young men's class in Sunday school, and has participated in Sunday school conventions. He was formerly a Granger, is a member of the Farm Bureau, and for two years was president of the Goshen Fair, which continued as a display and exhibit organization for over ten years.
One of the pupils in the first school that Mr. Armstrong taught was Adriana Johnson. In 1873 she became his wife. Her parents, Mathew and Susan Johnson, had come from Columbiana County to Goshen in 1863, and Mrs. Armstrong grew up here. To their marriage were born four children. William, who operates a general store and is postmaster at Garfield on the Pennsylvania Railway three miles from the old homestead, is married and his daughter Carrie is the wife of Park Sampson, of Churchill, Ohio. Mary Armstrong became the wife of Ira Stanley, a contractor and builder at Beloit, Ohio, and her children are named Walter, Robert, Charlotte, Gertrude and Leroy. Stella is the wife of Ernest Riley, a Goshen Township farmer, and their family consists of Edna, Mildred, Elnora and Martha. Robert J. Armstrong married Hattie Snyder and has a daughter Margaret, now three years of age. Robert J. Armstrong is now the active manager of the Walnut Grove Farm and is doing a successful work as a livestock man, keeping dairy cattle and breeding Belgian horses and Berkshire swine.
SAMUEL D. CULP, a well-to-do farmer now retired from active farming, has a comfortable home situated about one mile northwest of Columbiana. He is widely known throughout the county, and comes of the well-known pioneer family of that patronymic. He has lived a useful, active and worthwhile life of successful enterprises and helpful public interest. He has been township trustee and a member of the school board, and has always been considered a good public-spirited citizen and a reliable, unselfish neighbor.
He was born in Beaver Township, Mahoning County, Ohio, on October 8, 1860, the son of Joseph and Mary (Bixler) Culp. The Culp family was originally from Holland, but for more than two centuries has been resident in America. The Culp family is among the old colonial families of Virginia, and is of record in Rockingham County of that state from 1675 until 1804, when Michael Culp, son of Philip, who reached the age of 105 years, removed to Fayette County, Pennsylvania, and eleven years later, in 1815, moved to Beaver, Pennsylvania, in the following year coming into Ohio and settling in Beaver Township, to the westward of East Lewistown, Mahoning County. Michael Culp died there in old age, seventy-eight years. His son Henry, who was born in Rockingham County, Virginia and subsequently went with his parents to Fayette County, Pennsylvania, and eventually came into Ohio with them, married Elizabeth Clupper, also of Rockingham County, Virginia. He died in Beaver Township, Mahoning County, Ohio, in 1868, aged eighty-two years, his wife living until she had reached her eighty-eighth year. They were people of strict Christian practice, and belonged to the Mennonite Church at Midway, where Michael Culp had been buried, and where they also were eventually buried. Henry and Elizabeth (Clupper) Culp were the parents of twelve children, by name : Magdeline, who married Henry Bucher and died in Mahoning County ; George, who went to Elkhart, Indiana, where he was a successful farmer, lived a long life and died there, reaching nonagenarian age; Elizabeth, who married Melchoir Mellinger and died in Mahoning County, Ohio; Michael, who reached the extreme age of ninety-six years; Anthony, who also went into Indiana, settling in Elkhart County, where he died in old age; John, whose life was similar to that of his brothers George and Anthony; Fanny, who married Nicholas Bixler, and for the remainder of her life lived in Beaver Township, Mahoning County ; Joseph, father of Samuel D., of whom more follows; Henry, who also moved to Elkhart, Indiana; Barbara, who went to Indiana and married Henry Heatwale; Jacob, who died in Beaver Township; and Samuel. The Culp family is remarkable in one respect; the longevity of its scions has been notable; and of the twelve children of Henry and Elizabeth (Clupper) Culp all excepting Samuel, who died in infancy, lived beyond their seventieth year, some reaching into the nineties.
Joseph, son of Henry and Elizabeth (Clupper) Culp, was born in Beaver Township, Mahoning County, Ohio, in 1818, and spent his whole life of seventy years there. During his active years of farming he was one of the leading agriculturists of the township, and one of its largest land-owners. He also owned land in Indiana, that connection probably coming through his brothers who had moved into that state and acquired land there. He died in 1888, aged seventy years. Forty-four years previously in Fayette. County, Pennsylvania, he had married Mary Bixler Her home was in Fayette County and there she had lived since her birth. Her brother, Joseph Bixler, was a Mennonite minister, and had charge of the Midway Church, which the Culp family attended. That probably explains how Mary Bixler and Joseph Culp became known to each other. The Rev. Joseph Bixler eventually became a bishop of the Mennonite Church. He died at the age of eighty-two years, and was buried at Midway. Mary (Bixler) Culp reached the venerable age of ninety-four years, her death not coming until August 22, 1918. She was born in 1824, and lived a widowhood of twenty-nine years. Joseph Culp was a capable, industrious farmer, and was a good, responsible citizen and consistent churchman for the greater part of his life, but he did not enter actively into public affairs. The ten children of Joseph and Mary (Bixler) Culp were : Henry is
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now living in retirement in Columbiana. Jacob, who also was successful in life, is now retired in Columbiana. Nancy married Samuel Harrold, of Columbiana. Elizabeth married Elias Cole, but did not live beyond middle age. William is a resident of Columbiana. Joseph, who was born in Beaver Township April 13, 1856, became an independent farmer at the age of twenty-one years, specializing in small fruits and vegetables for the Pittsburgh market. He retired to Columbiana in 1913, and latterly has been connected with the Harrold Tool Company. He was twenty-six years old when he married Etta Salathee, of Elkhart County, Indiana, but there has been no issue. Susanne died at the age of fourteen years. Of Samuel D., more is written hereinafter. Isaac is a rural free delivery carrier at Columbiana. John is still actively farming in Columbiana County.
Samuel D. Culp, eighth child of Joseph and Mary (Bixler) Culp, was born in Beaver Township, Mahoning County, Ohio, in October, 186o. His boyhood was passed on the home farm and in attendance at district schools, and in course of time he became the owner of part of the paternal farm. In fact, he did much pioneer work on it. For twenty-five years he owned and operated a sawmill, cleared much standing timber from the home farm, and also his own farm of seventy-five acres ; and although farming was his main occupation, he was a man of much energy and enterprise, and during his active life carried through several timber enterprises successfully, buying tracts of land that had not been developed, clearing the standing timber, which he would saw into lumber, and afterward sell the cut-over farm for agricultural purposes. As a farmer he succeeded well, and he did not retire until the fall of 1919, when a neat bungalow he had erected in a very desirable situation, about a mile distant from Columbiana, on the Cox market route, No. 14, was ready for occupancy, since which time he and his wife have resided there in quiet comfort. The saw mill was continued in operation until about two years ago.
Mr. Culp has during his life followed local affairs somewhat closely. For many years he was a township trustee, and for two terms was a member of the school board. Politically he is a republican, but has never been an office-seeker. In religious matters he has held closely to the faith of his ancestors and has been a member of the Midway Mennonite Church since early manhood. He was twenty-four years old when he married Mary Matilda Feicht, daughter of Gideon Feicht and granddaughter of David and Rachel (Steffey) Feicht, who prior to their marriage were both members of the Economy Community, a strict religious sect which enforced celibacy among its adherents. Therefore, when David Feicht and Rachel Steffey resolved to marry they were excommunicated; and in later life became members of the Lutheran Church. David Feicht was a pioneer settler in Beaver Township, he and his wife settling at Pine Lake in that township, and there they lived until old age, the death of David Feicht being directly the result of physical injuries he sustained on the home farm. Gideon, his son, also remained in the county.
To Samuel D. and Mary Matilda (Feicht) Culp have been born four children: Florence, who mar
ried Dr. John Haberding, of Youngstown; Harrison, who married Josephine Brook, and now operates the home farm ; Walter, who has finished his schooling, including a .course in a business college, and will apparently enter commercial life, in executive capacity; Norman, who died at the age of fourteen months. The son Walter was not one of those fortunate young patriots who were called into national service- under the Selective Draft during the World war. He registered for war service, but was never called.
ALBERT BUELL CRATSLEY. Prominent in the citizenship of Warren, member of an old established family of the third generation in the Mahoning Valley, Albert Buell Cratsley has divided his years and energies advantageously between farming, industrial affairs and public business.
He was born on the old Cratsley homestead in Vienna Township, Trumbull County, on February 26, 1858. His ancestry is Holland-Dutch and the American line runs back to Jacob Cratsley, who came over from Holland in 1748 and settled in New Jersey. His brother Matthias served as a volunteer in the American army with a New Jersey regiment during the Revolutionary war and was killed in battle.
Frederick Cratsley, son of the founder of the American branch of the family, Jacob, was born in Hunterdon County, New Jersey, in f786 and was the pioneer of the family in the Mahoning Valley. From New Jersey he removed to Canandaigua County, New York. His wife was Emma Chamberlin, who was born in New Jersey of English Puritan stock. Accompanied by his wife and five children, Frederick Cratsley came to the Mahoning Valley in 1836, and at that time settled on the old farm in Vienna Township. His oldest son, William, located in Fowler Township, 'Trumbull County, while his second son, Jacob, subsequently returned to New York. Frederick Cratsley died in Vienna, while his wife, Emma, passed away in Howland Township.
John Cratsley, son of Frederick and Emma (Chamberlin) Cratsley, was born in Canandaigua County, New York, May 23, 1829, and was a boy of seven years when the family came to Ohio. He grew up on the old farm in Vienna Township, was married there, and thereafter devoted his vigorous years to farming his own land in Howland Township. In 1881 he removed to Warren, and lived retired until his death on June 3o, 1915. John Cratsley married Mary J. Love, who was born in Hubbard Township, Trumbull County, January 25, 1836, and died in Warren on November 26, 1900. Her parents were Hugh and Jane (Campbell) Love. The Loves were Scotch-Irish people who came over from Ireland about 1700 and settled in Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, where Robert Love, father of Hugh, was born. Robert Love came to the Mahoning Valley at the beginning of the nineteenth century and settled in Hubbard Township. Hugh Love was born February 25, 1805, John and Mary Cratsley had a son and daughter, Albert B. and Emma. The latter is Mrs. Robert J. Smith, of Warren.
Albert B. Cratsley grew to manhood on his father's farm in Howland Township, attended district schools there and in 1883 embarked on an independent career
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as a farmer in the same township. He was identified with the agricultural affairs of that locality until 1900, in which year he removed to Warren. For several years thereafter he was a traveling salesman for a directory company, and subsequently traveled as field superintendent for the Warren City Tank and Boiler Company until 1917. Mr. Cratsley in 1917 was appointed deputy county treasurer, and in the August primaries of 1920 he was nominated for county treasurer. The name Cratsley is familiarly associated with the office of county treasurer of Trumbull County, since his son John C., now of the Union Savings and Trust Company of Warren, twice held that office.
Mr. Cratsley is affiliated with Old Erie Lodge No. 3, Free and Accepted Masons. He is a member and secretary of the board of directors of the Masonic Temple and is a member of the Masonic Club. He is an elder in the First Presbyterian Church.
Mr. Cratsley married Lottie Elizabeth Herst, who was born in Braceville Township, Trumbull County, April 19, 1858, daughter of John and Sarah (Craig) Herst, natives of Ireland. Her parents came to America on their wedding trip in 1840, and settled in Braceville Township, and both are now deceased. Mr. and Mrs. Cratsley have one son and one daughter, John C. and Mary Alice. The son, a well known banker and popular citizen of Warren, was born December 2, 1883. The daughter, who was born June 6, 1885, is the wife of Earl G. Jenkins, formerly of New York state, now a resident of Elyria, Ohio, where he is engaged in the undertaking business.
FRANK FITCH passed his entire life in Mahoning County and was long numbered among the prosperous and enterprising farmers of Ellsworth Township. He was a man of ability and sterling integrity, and was a representative of one of the prominent and honored pioneer families of the Mahoning Valley.
On the old home farm of his parents, one mile north of the Village of Ellsworth, Mr. Fitch was born on the loth of September, 1842, and his death occurred January 4, 1903. He was reared under the conditions that marked the middle-pioneer period in the history of Mahoning County, where his educational advantages were those of the common schools of the day. His entire active career was marked by close and successful association with farm enterprise, and while he was liberal and loyal as a citizen he never had any desire for public office. He enlisted for service as a soldier in an Ohio regiment which went forth in defense of the Union in the Civil war, but while with his command in the South he was attacked with typhoid fever and taken to a hospital at Norfolk, Virginia, his illness having incapacitated him for further active service, so that he was given an honorable discharge. Prior to his illness he had taken part in a number of engagements and had proved his true soldierly qualities. In later years he was actively affiliated with the-Grand Army of the Republic, he was a republican in politics and was a consistent member of the Presbyterian Church, in the faith of which he was reared.
March 2, 1867, recorded the marriage of Mr. Fitch to Miss Martha B. McNeilly, who was born in Ellsworth Township, Mahoning County, May r, 1846, record concerning the McNeilly family being entered on other pages of this work. After his marriage Mr. Fitch established his home on a farm a short distance north of the old homestead on which he was born, and he made this one of the model rural estates of the county, as he erected good buildings and made excellent improvements in other ways. On this place he continued to reside until his death. A few years later his widow sold this property and purchased the old Harvey Clingerman home in Ellsworth, and she now resides in this latter place. Mrs. Fitch is a zealous member of the Presbyterian Church, and during the World war she was active in Red Cross work in Mahoning County. Of the children the eldest is Elizabeth, who remains with her widowed mother; Jesse, a farmer in Canfield Township, married Amanda Knauf, and they have two children, Odessa and Frederick; Charles, who was bookkeeper and treasurer in the large feed store of Albert Bierly at Youngstown, died October 4, 1918, at the age of forty-four years, his widow, whose maiden name was Jessie Kirk, with their two children, Josephine and Richard, now residing in the home of her father, R. M. Kirk, of whom specific mention is .made on other pages of this work ; Bertha died when about twenty years of age; John died in childhood.
Richard Fitch, Sr., grandfather of the subject of this memoir, came, in company with his brothers, William and Charles, from Salisbury, Connecticut, in 1806, to become a pioneer settler in the historic old Connecticut Western Reserve in Ohio. .The three brothers, with their families, settled in what is now Mahoning County, but several years later William and Charles removed to Seneca County. William later returned to Mahoning County and engaged in farming two miles north of Ellsworth, but he passed the closing years of his life in Wayne Township, Ashtabula County, where he died at the age of ninety-four years. Charles Fitch became a farmer in St. Joseph County, Michigan, but was a resident of the City of Chicago at the time of his death, when eighty years of age. Richard Fitch, Sr., married Lucinda Buell, of Cornwall, Connecticut, and she accompanied him to the wilds of the Western Reserve. For many years they conducted an old-time inn, or tavern, at Ellsworth Center, and this historic landmark is still standing, its utilizatjon as a hotel having continued until within the last decade. Richard Fitch was one of the contractors who constructed the old turnpike road near Lisbon, and later he was a contractor in connection with the construction of the canal from Cleveland to Akron. Mr. Fitch died in 1864, at the age of eighty-four years, and his wife passed away in 1856, aged seventy-five years, the old homestead being now occupied by one of their granddaughters, this house having been erected in 1837. Richard and Lucinda Fitch were parents of ten children, of whom eight attained to adult years: Henrietta became the wife of Paschal Lloyd and died in 1827, at the age of twenty-five years; Sally Antoinette, born in 1804, became the wife of John Binham and was about ninety-five years of age at the time of her death ; Mary Lucinda, the third child, born in Ellsworth Township June 30,
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1806, became the wife of Robert Huntington, her death having occurred in 1840; Jesse Buell died at the age of thirty-three years ; Lucy Maria became the wife of Martin Allen and she passed away in 1904; Richard, Jr., father of the subject of this memoir, was born August 4, 1815, and died September 18, 1888; Ann Eliza, the wife of William Ripley, died in 1847; and Adeline died at the age of nineteen years.
Richard Fitch, Jr., was born and reared in Ma-honing County, where, on the 8th of March, 1838, he wedded Nancy Webb, daughter of John Webb, a farmer and cooper in Ellsworth Township, whither he came from Connecticut, his death having occurred in Ellsworth Township, after he was somewhat more than ninety years of age. Richard Fitch passed the closing period of his life in the home now occupied by his daughter Addie, his widow having survived him by six years and having passed to eternal rest in January, 1894, both having been earnest members of the Presbyterian Church, in which he served as an elder for a number of years prior to his death. He was a republican and held for several years the office of justice of the peace. Of the children four attained to years of maturity and Frank, subject of this memoir, was the eldest of the number. Jerusha, who died in 1915, aged seventy-one years, was the wife of Porter McNeilly, of whom mention is made on other pages. Addie has been a resident of Ellsworth Township from the time of her birth and is now living in the house erected by her paternal grandfather in 1837, the old homestead having, however, recently been sold, so that by the time this publication is issued from the press she will be residing elsewhere than on the place that had so long been in the possession of the family. She has been active in church and Red Cross work and is a woman of gracious presence, loved by those who have come within the sphere of her influence. She has never married. Colbert, who died in 1892 at the age of thirty-eight years, had maintained charge of the old home farm, his wife, whose maiden name was Ora Beardsley, being likewise deceased, and their two daughters, Ethel and Frances, being now in the care of members of the family.
JOHN E. NEFF. While for nearly thirty years his home has been in the Village of Canfield, John E. Neff still has most of his active interests out in the country on his farm. For upwards of half a century he has been one of the prominent farmers, stock raisers and stock feeders in Mahoning County.
He was born a mile and three-quarters east of Canfield February 24, 1849, son of Martin and Catherine (Wilson) Neff. His father was born March 24, 1826, and when this was written was still alive, one of the oldest men in the county. John E. Neff was the only son of his parents. There were four daughters: Mrs. Caroline Baird, of Beaver Township; Elizabeth, who died at the age of fifteen; Mrs. Mary Blackburn, who died young; and Mrs. Lois Edsell.
John E. Neff grew up on the home farm. In 1870 he married Harriet Seanzebecher. Her father, John Seanzebecher, came to the United States when a lad with his parents. He was a tanner by trade, and after locating at Canfield married Sarah Oswald. He developed a very successful tanning industry at Canfield, and subsequently built a large tannery along the railroad tracks. He not only made leather but converted his product into belting. The business was profitably continued until larger plants under corporation management absorbed it. John Seanzebecher subsequently moved to a farm near the Neff homestead, and it was this propinquity of residence that made John Neff acquainted with his future wife. John Seanzebecher died in the village of Canfield at the age of ninety-one.
For twenty years after his marriage John E. Neff remained at the old homestead, farming, buying and feeding and shipping cattle. He also opened a meat market in the village, and was associated with his son in that enterprise for a number of years, finally turning its management over to the son. With his son Calvin he was also in the general merchandise business for about ten years, and for three years operated a livery stable. Mr. Neff still retains the old farm, comprising 34o acres, and so divided into range that it constitutes three distinct farms with two sets of building improvements. He has been very fortunate in his tenants, and from father to son has had one family for forty years. Mr. Neff still owns the cattle, sheep and other livestock on the farm and uses his land as a profitable feeding ground, frequently buying carloads of stock in Chicago and after keeping it through the winter, sending direct to market.
Mr. Neff moved to the village of Canfield in 1891, primarily for the purpose of educating his children, and subsequently found it to his interest to remain, his farm being in good hands. Mr. Neff has never cared for politics, has voted for the man best qualified, though nominally he is a democrat. His children are five sons and one daughter. The 'daughter, Sarah, lives at home. Ensign is a dealer in hides, living at Canfield and married May Porter, who died in 1918. The other sons are Martin, Cyrus H., Calvin and Roy J.
FREDERICK KREHL. At the venerable age of eighty Frederick Krehl is living in Girard, the city that has been his home sixty-five years, and to its industries and general welfare he has contributed a generous measure equal to that of any other pioneer.
Through the activities of Frederick Krehl Girard at one time ranked as one of the leading centers of leather manufacture in the country. Frederick Krehl was born at Ludwigsburg, Wurtemberg, Germany, February 6, 1840. He acquired an elementary education in his native land, but at the age of thirteen started out in company with several companions bound for America. They did not come direct, their journeyings extending from December 27, 1853, to December 1o, 1854. At the latter date Mr. Krehl landed in New York after a voyage of fifty-four days from Antwerp, Belgium. By railroad he came west through Dunkirk, New York, to Cleveland, thence to Enon Valley, rode a stage to Petersburg, and from there went to Canfield and served four years as a tanner's apprentice. He worked as a journeyman tanner at Lowellville two years, then with his modest savings bought from Elmadorus
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Crandon the tannery at Girard. This business he prosecuted with that tremendous energy characteristic of him, made it one of Girard's principal industries, and for many years one of the largest sources of leather in the country. The business enjoyed special prosperity during the Civil war and the few subsequent years.
In 1868 Louis Hauser of Girard became a partner in the business, and remained for seventeen years before retiring. After that the business was continued as F. Krehl & Sons Leather Company, with Fred Krehl, Jr., and J. Charles Krehl as active associates with their father. The history of the noted Girard tannery conies to a close with a fire in the fall of 1904 that completely destroyed the factory building, entailing a loss of over $250,000. The Krehls made no attempt to reconstruct the plant, and in later years Frederick Krehl has employed his time largely in scientific farming and in matters of public welfare.
A few years ago a correspondent of the Youngstown Telegram writing of him as a Girard old timer obtained some interesting personal reminiscences that recall • early history in Girard. "He vividly recalls his coming to Girard at the age of twenty years and taking up his residence with Mr. Crandon, of whom he had purchased the tannery. The Crandon home was the large square house 'which stands in High Street near the site of the old tannery. At the time that Mr. Krehl went to live there he had for associates, Professor Caldwell, Girard's first superintendent of schools, who later became a distinguished member of the bar in Cuyahoga County; Dr. Barclay, a pioneer physician; Thomas Brierly, now of Warren; and the late Angus McDonald. The late Judge Mason, Mr. Crandon's father-in-law, was also a member of the household.
“At that time Girard had but one church and only two schoolhouses. The old church and one of the schoolhouses still stand side by side in High Street and are at present used for the primary grades of the local schools. The other schoolhouse stood facing Liberty Street, where Market Street now intersects Liberty between Watson's drug store and the Girard Savings and Banking Company."
Mr. Krehl was also, associated with other public-spirited citizens during the early• sixties in erecting a building on Jefferson Square for school purposes and town hall. This structure of two stories stood many years as a schoolhouse and public meeting place, and through the efforts of Mr. Krehl a few years ago the building was remodeled and rededicated as a village municipal quarters.
Mr. Frederick Krehl has taken an active interest in all public affairs. He served as a member of the village's first councilmanic body. He subsequently served two terms on the Council and also as a member of the Board of Education. Some of his public services were also expressed through his active membership on the Board of Trade.
J. Charles Krehl, his son, was born at Girard February 12, 1863. He was born in the old homestead where his father now lives, just across the street from the modern home of Charles Krehl. At the age of eighteen he completed his work in the Girard High School, later took a bookkeeping course in Duff's Business College in Pittsburg, and, as noted above, was actively associated with his father in the tannery plant until that business was closed by the fire of 1904. After that he was a leading dealer in hides, associated with his brother-in-law, Charles G. Force, until March, 1918. Their place of business was at the old tannery site. Mr. Krehl is a vice president of the First National Bank and a director of the Home Savings and Loan Company. He is a member of the Board of Trustees of the Lutheran Church and affiliated with the order of Elks.
In July, 1881, he married Fannie Irene Wilson, who was born July 21, 1861, daughter of Samuel Hayden Wilson, for many years connected with the Girard Stove Works. The Wilson family has long been identified with Girard, coming here from West Middlesex, Pennsylvania. Mrs. Krehl's ancestry was colonial American and some of her forefathers were in the Revolutionary war. Mrs. Krehl, who died June 3o, 1919, was the mother of five children. The oldest is John H. Krehl, a sketch of whom appears elsewhere. Ben F. is a partner in the firm of Vaughan & Krehl at Girard. Sarah C. is the wife of 0. H. Stringer, a druggist on Mahoning Avenue in Youngstown. Grace E. is at home, and Edith J. is the wife of William Haig Ramage, a department superintendent of the. Brier Hill Steel Plant. There were two other children, Ira and Philip, who died in childhood.
CHARLES H. KLINE, whose model homestead farm is eligibly situated in Berlin Township, Mahoning County, has gained prestige as one of the representative exponents of agricultural and livestock industry in his native county and is well upholding the prestige of a family name that has been one of no little prominence in connection with the civic and industrial annals of the county.
Charles Howard Kline was born on the farm now owned by Isaac Bedell, in the southwestern part of Berlin Township, and the .date of his nativity was October 28, 1864. He is a son of Heman and Martha E (Folk) Kline, whose marriage was solemnized December 31, 1863. Heman Kline was born in Canfield Township, Mahoning County, October 6, 1844, and his death occurred March 11, 1903. His wife was born at Southington, Trumbull Comity, November 7, 1841, and she passed to the life eternal on the 29th of January, 1899. Mrs. Kline was a Baughter of John and Mary (Calhoun) Folk, the former of whom was a native of Pennsylvania. John Folk came with his family to Mahoning County and in addition developing a fine landed estate in Berlin Township he also operated a saw mill for a number of years, his death having occurred in 1881 and his widow having passed away in 1888. Of their children Martha E., mother of the subject of this sketch, was the eldest, and she was a girl at the time of the family removal to Mahoning County, where she passed the remainder of her life. Heman Kline was a son of Jonathan and Elizabeth (Arner) Kline, who were residents of Canfield Township at the time of their death, the father having there been a prosperous farmer and substantial citizen, his death having occurred about 1870. At the time of the
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Civil war Jonathan Kline hired substitutes for his four sons, none of whom was thus called into military service. Gabriel, the eldest son, was a resident of Youngstown at the time of his death; Solomon died at Berlin Center; Peter continued to reside in Canfield Township until his death; and Heman was the youngest of the four.
Shortly after his marriage Heman Kline established h. is home in Berlin Township, and there he engaged in the operation of a lime kiln, this line of enterprise having been one of no little economic importance and his activities as a manufacturer of lime having continued nearly forty years, besides which he operated a cider mill during essentially a like period. He became the owner of three farms, with an aggregate area of 350 acres, and all in the vicinity of Christietown. During the last few years of his life Mr. Kline lived retired in the village of -Berlin Center, his farm properties having been sold after his death, and his landed estate having been one of the largest and most valuable in Berlin Township. He was reared in the faith of the democratic party, but transferred his allegiance to the republican party, both he and his wife having been earnest members of the Methodist Episcopal Church at Berlin Center, of which he served as an official, besides having aided liberally in the erection of the church building. Of the three children Charles Howard, of this review, is the eldest; Warren Clarence resides at Youngstown; and Ida May, who died March 5, 1905, at the age of thirty-three years and four months, was the wife of Joseph Cobbs, now a resident of Salem, Columbiana County.
Charles H. Kline gained in his youth a full quota of experience in connection with the activities of his father's farm operations, and in the meanwhile he profited fully by the advantages afforded in the public schools. After his marriage, which occurred in 1892, he and his wife settled on the old homestead farm of the latter's maternal grandfather, the late William Best, this place having been that on which the mother of Mrs. Kline was born and reared. On this farm Mr. Kline continued operations until 1905, when lie removed to his present farm of 123 acres, one mile north of Berlin Center, besides which he and his wife continue to own the old farm of William Best, which comprises 173 acres. On the Best farm Mr. Kline erected new buildings, including a modern barn. The old house on the place was erected by William Best when his daughter, mother of Mrs. Kline, was ten years of age. William Best was born December 7, 1806, and his marriage to Anna Morrison was solemnized October 28, 1834. They were honored pioneer citizens of Mahoning County at the time of their death. The old Best homestead is now operated by a tenant, and Mr. and Mrs. Kline also own 574 acres in Milton Township, near the old-time Village of Frederick, this having been a part of the estate of Mrs. Kline's father, Robert Weasner, of whom individual mention is made on other pages of this work. This farm likewise is rented to a desirable tenant. Mr. Kline has been a progressive and successful exponent of agricultural and livestock industry, is loyal and liberal as a citizen and was serving as township trustee at the time when the good-roads movement had its tangible inception in. Mahoning County. He is a republican, and both he and his wife hold membership in the Lutheran Church.
March 3, 1892, recorded the marriage of Mr. Kline to Miss Lee Etta Alverda Weasner, daughter of Robert Weasner, who is now living retired. at Berlin Center. Mr. and Mrs. Kline have one daughter, Dorothy R., who was a member of the class of 1920 in the high school at Berlin Center.
CHESTER BEDELL was a man whose strong intellectual grasp and independence of thought and action marked him as one whose individuality could never be obscure, and he was always ready to affirm and uphold his honest convictions, without fear or favor. While his attitude in this respect could not but cause antagonism at times, yet the sterling qualities of the man were such that none could fail to accord to him confidence and esteem and to admire his intellectual courage. Mr. Bedell impressed his individuality in no uncertain way, was loyal to his friends, even as he was true to his convictions, and as a citizen his influence was ever cast for what was right and good. He was one of the distinct characters of Mahoning County, where he lived and wrought worthily for many years and where he died September I, 1908, at the venerable age of eighty-one years, eight months and twenty-five days.
From a remarkable autobiographical brochure published by Mr. Bedell in 1897 are mainly assembled the data for the following brief and merited memoir.
Chester Bedell was born in Sandystone Township, Sussex County, New. Jersey, December 6, 1826, and thus he was a lad of about eight years when in 1835 his parents came to what is now Mahoning County and established their home on a pioneer farm in Berlin Township. Here he continued to reside continuously, save for an interval of about two years, until the close of his long and earnest life. He was a son of Isaac and Cornelia (Decker) Bedell, the lineage of the Bedell family tracing back to the early Holland settlement in what is now our national metropolis. Stephen Bedell, grandfather of the: subject of this memoir, was born in Southern New Jersey and as a young man removed to Sussex County, that state, and bought a farm in Sandystone Township, where he died about 1838 -and where he reared his family of five: sons and four daughters. Cornelia (Decker) Bedell was of low-Dutch ancestry, her father having settled on the shore of the Delaware River. Isaac. Bedell and his wife were born in Sandystone Township, Sussex County, New Jersey, in the closing period of the eighteenth century, and in his native county Mr. Bedell provided for his family by applying himself to farm enterprise and various incidental vocations. At the time of the. War of 1812 he was called to assist in keeping the British out of New York, and he finally .received a commission as colonel from the governor of New Jersey. Ambitious to provide a better home for his family, Isaac Bedell came to Ohio in the year 1835, the overland trip having been made with team and wagon, and upon his arrival his available financial resources did not exceed $500. The first winter was passed in Portage County, and finally he purchased a small tract of land in that county, near Standing Rock. He endured countless hardships and afflictions,
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not the least of which was the development of a cancer on his face, while a bone cancer finally necessitated the amputation of one of the legs of his devoted wife. He died in the summer of 185o and his widow passed away in the following year. Both were earnest members of the Methodist Church.
Chester Bedell was reared to manhood under the pioneer conditions in the Mahoning Valley, and while his early educational advantages were limited, his alert mentality demanded and found ways and means to insure development, and he became a man of broad intellectuality. He read extensively and with discrimination during his whole mature life, wrote with classical precision of diction and gave no evidence of the lack of higher academic training. As a young man he was able to indulge himself in a trip through New England, and in 1844 he and his parents passed the winter in New Jersey. He had deep appreciation of the broadening effects of travel, and in this line his experience was limited only by his means. He and his wife attended the Centennial Exposition at Philadelphia, besides visiting other eastern cities. For many years he made annual trips to Chicago to buy cattle. He had previously visited the exposition at Atlanta, Georgia, while Union soldiers were still in camp there, and in 1889 he made a trip through England, Scotland, Ireland and Wales. Mr. Bedell was emphatically of an open and inquiring mind, and thus he grew in intellectual stature in each successive stage of his career, which was not without a full quota of tumultuous incidents. He became the owner of about 1,600 acres of land in Mahoning County, and was a leader in agricultural and livestock industry in the county for many years, his old homestead place in Berlin Township having been admirably improved and the home having always been open to extend cordial welcome to the many friends of the family. In politics Mr. Bedell was a democrat, but as in all other relations in life he refused to permit any restriction of his independence of thought. His attitude brought to him many antagonisms, but he never bent to opposition, and held consistently to the truth as he saw it. As a freethinker he was in advance of his times, and today a person of similar tenets would scarcely attract adverse criticism of the rampant order which he faced so inflexibly. He was a man of utmost sincerity, of abiding human sympathy, and had a high sense of personal stewardship. He was conscientious, loyal and upright—and all these things should be recalled in paying just tribute to the man as he stood among men, "four square to every wind that blows."
January 1, 1851, recorded the marriage of Mr. Bedell to Miss Mary Hartzell, daughter of Henry Hartzell, a representative citizen of Mahoning County at that time, and their companionship continued for more than half a century—until the death of Mr. Bedell, in 19o8, Mrs. Bedell a woman of gentle and gracious personality, having passed away April 1o, 1915, at the age of eighty-six years and seven months. They became the parents of eight children, concerning whom brief record is entered in conclusion of this memoir: Lemuel, who owned and operated a part of the large landed estate left by his father, died December 11, 1913; Elsie is the wife of Lewis Mock, of Berlin Center ; Jennie is the wife of Wilson Middleton, of Deerfield Township, Portage County; Henry was a representative farmer in Goshen Township, Mahoning County, at the time of his death, August 22, 1915; James resides upon the old homestead farm of his father ; Ann is the wife of Elmer Wharton, of Berlin Center; Isaac is individually mentioned in appending paragraphs; and Morris died in early youth.
ISAAC BEDELL, son of the late Chester Bedell, was born on the old home farm in Berlin Township, Mahoning County, June 22, 1868, and here he was reared to manhood, his educational advantages having been those afforded in the public schools. After his marriage, in 1896, he was for fourteen years engaged in farming on a place not far distant from his present home, and at the expiration of this period he became the owner of his present domain of 144 acres in Berlin Township, the same being considered one of the finest stock farms in the county. Mill Creek crosses the farm and adds definitely to its value and water facilities. As an agriculturist and stock grower Mr. Bedell is alert and progressive, and thus his success in this industrial field has been exceptional. He is a democrat in his political allegiance and is loyal and liberal as a citizen.
On the 24th of January, 1894, Mr. Bedell was united in marriage to Miss Rosella Walker, daughter of William H. and Lydia (Kronck) Walker, of Berlin Township, and the one child of this union, Earl Chester, born in April, 1895, is associated with his father in the work and management of the home farm.JOHN
JOHN EWING. Although he is now deceased, the influence of the upright life and honorable dealings of the late John Ewing remains and animates his descendants. He was a nobly gifted man, sincere and unselfish, patriotic and courageous, and attached to him by the firmest and most lasting bonds of friendship those with whom he was associated. John Ewing was born in the southeastern corner of Jackson Township, Mahoning County, Ohio, on January 12, 1825, a son of John and Margaret (Orr) Ewing.
The Ewing family was founded in the United States in 1792 by Mrs. Ann Ewing, widow of Alexander Ewing, who brought her four children, Archibald, John, Catherine and Eleanor, from their old home in the north of Ireland to a new one across the ocean. The little party landed at Wilmington, Delaware, on September 5, 1792, from whence they went to Center County, Pennsylvania, and that continued to be their home for ten years. During that period Eleanor, the youngest, was married to William McElwee, and they established themselves on the old McElwee homestead, near Broughton. Allegheny County, Pennsylvania. Archibald, the eldest, had married Sarah Pauley, but in 1802 joined his mother and the other two children, John and Catherine, in the westward migration to Austintown Township, then a part of Trumbull County, Ohio, and now a part of Mahoning County, the latter becoming the wife of Robert Kirkpatrick. Upon their arrival at their destination in Austintown Township, Trumbull County, they camped on
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the farm now owned by Frank R. Ewing in this township, near Ohl's Crossing. Here the venerable mother, Mrs. Ann Ewing, died on March 12, 1824, aged eighty-five years. This original farm has always remained in the possession of the Ewing family.
John Ewing, the elder, father of the John Ewing whose name heads this review, took up land adjoining the old farm, but in Jackson Township, in 1E0,5. That same year he was married to Margaret Orr, and this was the first marriage of white persons in Jackson Township. He and his wife became the parents of the following children: Mary, who was the first white child born in Jackson Township, married Andrew Gault; Eleanor, who married William Ewing; Margaret, who married Doctor Withers; Alexander, who married Mary Ann Cook; Marjorie, who married Robert Gault; Anna, who married John Guthrie; Sarah, who married Francis R. Johnson ; Gibson, who married Margaret Riddle; Martha, who married William Riddle; Catherine, who died unmarried; John, whose wife was Margaret Sterritt ; and Rebecca, who died unmarried.
John Ewing, the younger, was reared in his native township and attended the district schools, assisting his father in operating the farm. The lessons he then learned were of practical use to him, for he was a farmer and stockraiser practically all of his life. In 1849 he married Margaret Sterritt of Muskingum County, Ohio, and their children were as follows: Samuel Oliver ; Francis G.; Joseph R.; Mary Elizabeth, who married J. B. Kirkpatrick; Sarah Eleanor, who died unmarried in 1913; John Calvin and Margaret A. who were twins, the latter dying unmarried in 1883; and James Gibson, whose biography appears elsewhere in this work. John Ewing, like the rest of his family of his generation, was a Covenanter in religious belief, and died firm in its faith on June 12, 1907, his wife having passed away on June 1, 1890. He was a large man physically, standing 6 feet 3 inches in his stocking feet, proportioned according and weighing 240 pounds. Absolutely honest and generous to a fault, these excellent qualities resulted in his being defrauded out of practically all that he had earned during many years of endeavor. In addition to operating his farm, he carried on an extensive live stock business, supplying Niles, Ohio, then the most important city of that region, with its live stock for meat purposes, and in 1872 and 1873 accepted scrip in payment, which was the medium of circulation in that place and which proved to be worthless. In 1875 he moved to a small farm near Canfield, Ohio, in order to give his children better educational opportunities. He moved to Youngstown in 1892 and here spent the remainder of his life.
John Calvin Ewing, son of John Ewing, was born on February 26, 1863, on the old farm which his grandfather had bought in 1805, and there he lived until he was twelve years of age. At that time his parents took him to Canfield, and he attended the Canfield High School and the Northeastern Ohio Normal College, then conducted in the old courthouse. He was graduated from it in 1885 as a member of its first graduating class. While going to college he helped to defray his expenses by teaching in the district school of Green Township, Mahoning County, for which he was paid 90 cents per day. After completing his collegiate course he was made principal of the Canfield public schools, and after two years in that position was made principal of the schools of Lowellville. In the meanwhile he had become president of the Mahoning County Teachers' Association, and continued as such until he discontinued teaching. While at Lowellville he read law, and in 1891 left the educational field and entered the office of Gen. Ashael W. Jones at Youngstown. He was admitted to the bar by the Supreme Court of Ohio in October, 1892, and on January 1, 1893, entered upon an active practice, which he continued until two, when he was elected to the office of probate judge of Mahoning County, and discharged its onerous duties for six years. As opportunity offered, Judge Ewing invested in farm land to a considerable extent and made a hobby of raising pedigreed stock. In 1915 the county established an experimental farm, and bought one of Judge Ewing's properties for this purpose. At present Judge Ewing is devoting his energies and talents to his profession. He is a strong republican in his political convictions. The Presbyterian Church holds his membership.
On October 3, 1893, Judge Ewing was married to Eva Calvin. of Canfield, Ohio, and they have two children, James A. and Margaret. The daughter is an exceptionally bright young lady, who received her training in the Yale Private School and is now a junior in the Rayen High School. The son is a graduate of Cornell University and enlisted for service in the great war, but the armistice was signed before he was sent overseas. He is now associated with his father in partnership relations in the practice of law under the firm name of Ewing and Ewing, this being recognized as one of the strong combinations of the county, both partners being truly and highly fit representatives of their learned calling, one possessing as he does the varied experience and broad understanding which has come of his years at the bar and on the bench, and the other the enthusiasm of youth and its boundless ambitions.
HOWARD J. WOOLF, who is serving as township trustee of Berlin Township, Mahoning County, and whose finely improved farm lies adjacent to the village of Berlin Center, was born on a farm near North Georgetown, Columbiana County, Ohio, December 2o, 1860, and is a son of Frederick and Anna (Mounts) Woolf. Frederick Woolf was born in Pennsylvania, and was a youth when his parents came to Columbiana County, Ohio, where his father, George Woolf, purchased a section of land for two dollars an acre. Frederick Woolf became one of the substantial farmers and influential citizens of Columbiana County, where he continued to reside until his death in 187o, when in the prime of life. His widow later became the wife of John Whiteleather, and she still resides in Columbiana County, at the venerable age of eighty-one years.
Howard J. Woolf passed the period of his boyhood with his widowed mother on the home farm, and attended the public schools whenever opportunity offered. As the eldest in a family of five children he early assumed responsibilities in connection with providing for his own support. When but fourteen
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years of age he found employment at farm work, and though he received his share of his father's estate, he continued his activities as a farm employe until the time of his marriage in 1885, when he went to Allen County, Indiana, and purchased a farm of 190 acres, five miles west of the City of Fort Wayne. He remained on this place twenty-three years, erected excellent buildings and developed the property into one of the best farms in the county. He finally sold the property at a very substantial profit, and he then, in 1907, returned to Ohio and purchased his present homestead of 117 1/2 acres, adjacent to the village of Berlin Center. His financial resources and progressive policies have enabled him to make this one of the model farms of Mahoning County. He has enlarged and remodeled the Muse, which is •now modern in design and equipment, has erected a large bank barn and has perfected a thorough system of tile draining on the place, so that it is well ordered in every way and renders substantial returns for the labor and capital invested. He has sold for residence purposes lots along that part of the farm which fronts on the main street of the village of Berlin Center, and thus has contributed much to the growth and material attractiveness of the village. He also purchased one of the old farms of his wife's father in Ellsworth Township, but this property he later sold.. The beautiful home of Mr. and Mrs. Woolf is a center of social activity in the community and is known for its generous hospitality and good cheer.
In politics Mr. Woolf is a democrat, and while he has never been ambitious for public office, his civic loyalty led him to serve as road superintendent while he was residing in Allen County, Indiana, even as it caused him to become a candidate for the office of township, trustee of Berlin Township, Mahoning County, to which position he was elected in 191o, for a term of four years, and to which he was again elected in 1919, for a term of two years. Definitely progressive and liberal, he has stood firmly in favor of the good-roads movement and a general policy of wisely directed public improvements, with the result that his official and personal influence has been benignant during his service as township trustee. He is affiliated with the Inights of Pythias and is essentially on of the representative men of Berlin Township,
On the 8th of February, 1885, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Woolf to Miss Martha Diehl, who was born in the homestead adjacent to the old Diehl mill in. Ellsworth Township, Mahoning County, February 25, 1861, and who is a daughter of Eli and Susan (Miner) Diehl, the latter of whom died August 4, 1888, at the age of fifty-eight years. Eli Diehl, who was long one of the leading citizens of Ellsworth Township, subsequently married Caroline Weaver, who survived him, but who likewise is now deceased, his death having occurred January I, 1901, at Ellsworth Center. In conclusion is given brief record concerning the children of Mr. and Mrs. Woolf : Byron is, a prosperous farmer of Berlin Township and is a carpenter by trade. Emerson, who is now a salesman for the Goodrich Tire & Rubber Company of Akron, Ohio, represented Mahoning County as a valiant young soldier, in the late World war. He received thorough preliminary discipline in officers' training camps and was commissioned first lieutenant in a battalion of heavy artillery, with which he saw six months of active service in France. Mary is the wife of Stanley Rakestraw, of Berlin Center. Frederick, who is, in 1920, a student in Mount Union College, likewise entered the nation's service when America became involved in the great war. He was made first lieutenant and was with his command in active service overseas for fourteen months. Both Emerson and Frederick Woolf made admirable records for able and loyal service as soldiers and officers, and this service shall ever reflect honor upon them and upon the family name.
BENJAMIN F. KIRKBRIDE was born at Pottsville, Pennsylvania, February 5, 1831, and before that year had far advanced the family home had been established on a pioneer farm in Berlin Township, Mahoning County, Ohio. Here Benjamin Franklin Kirkbride was reared under the conditions and influences that marked the early period in the history of the county, and it is certain that he profited fully by the advantages afforded in the common schools of the locality and period. Here he passed the remainder of his long and useful life, here he won prosperity through his close association with farm enterprise, and here he exemplified those sterling characteristics that invariably beget objective confidence and esteem, the while his strong mentality and practical ability well equipped him for much of leadership in community affairs. He was one of the honored pioneer citizens of Mahoning County at the time of his death, which occurred June 16, 1899, and to him a memorial tribute is due in this volume.
Mr. Kirkbride was a son of Robert and Sarah (Shaw) Kirkbride, both natives of the old Keystone state and both representatives of families who were members of the Society of Friends, the American founders of which came to Pennsylvania with the colony of William 'Penn. Robert Kirkbride was born in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, in the year 1800, and in that state he continued his residence until 1831, when he came with his family to Mahoning County, Ohio, and settled in Berlin Township. The old home which he here provided for his family is still standing as one of the landmarks of the township, and is now owned by John Hoyles, who there has a blacksmith shop, one mile south of Berlin Station. Robert Kirkbride made the journey from Pennsylvania with team and wagon, some members of the family making the trip principally on horseback, and in the midst of the forest wilds of Berlin Township he began the reclamation of a farm. He and his wife were earnest members of the Society of Friends and in the early days probably held membership in the church of this denomination at Damascus, this county. Robert Kirkbride and his wife passed the remainder of their lives in Berlin Township, and, their names merit enduring place oh the roll of the honored pioneers of Mahoning County. Concerning their children the following data are available : Nancy, who died at North Benton, this county, was the wife of James Morris, who was killed in the battle of Lookout Mountain while serving as a member of an Ohio regiment in the Civil war ; Ferdinand, who likewise was a soldier in the