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424 - TRUMBULL AND MAHONING COUNTIES, OHIO. CHAPTER VIII. BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. JOHN YOUNG. In August, 1875, in response to a request from John M. Edwards, corresponding secretary of the Mahoning Valley Historical society, Charles C. Young, of Brooklyn, New York, fourth son of John Young, the founder of Youngstown, and to which he gave his name, furnished a biographical sketch of his father, which is published in the Collections of the society, and from which we have prepared the following : The family is of Scotch origin, and settled in the north of Ireland, near Londonderry, in the sixteenth or seventeenth century. "Here, in 1623, the first of the family whose record is known to us was born. In 1718, in his ninety- sixth year, with his son and grandson, their brothers and sisters, and sisters' husbands, in all fourteen, formed a part of a Scotch-Irish colony, which sailed away from Ireland and landed in Boston, Massachusetts, the same year." One of the descendants settled in Petersborough, Hillsborough county, New Hampshire, and there " John Young was born in 1763, emigrated to Whitestown, New York, about 1780, and in June, 1792, was married to his life-long wife, Mary Stone White, the youngest daughter of Hugh White, the first settler and original proprietor of a large tract of wild land." Mr. White was of English descent ; had moved, in 1785, with his family, from Middletown, Connecticut, to this land, founded a town, to which he gave his name, became, in time, a judge of the court, and died in 1812." " John Young lived in Whitestown until 1796, when his own land interest was removed to Ohio, and in 1797 he began the settlement of Youngstown. In 1799 he removed with his family, wife and two children, John and George, to, Youngstown, where two more were born to him, William, in November, 1799, and Mary, in February, 1802. In 1803 Mrs. Young, finding the trials of her country life there, with the latch-string always out, and a table free to all, too great with her young family, for her power of endurance, Mr. Young, in deference to her earnest entreaties, closed up his business as best he could, and returned with his family to Whitestown, and to the home and farm which her father had provided and kept for them." "Our father's nominal occupation after his return was that of a farmer, but not much given to manual labor. He soon became interested in the Great Western turnpike, from Utica to Canandaigua, and for many years was engaged in its construction and superintendency ; and still later on other public works, such as the Erie canal, which canal ran for miles in sight f our house, and upon which one of my brothers was then employed as civil engineer. "He was a Mason of high order, and brought back with him from Ohio the prefix of 'judge,' by which he was ever known and addressed. In some Incidental way it came to him, and remained a fixture for life." It came in this way: He was one of the justices of the peace and quorum, and, as such, sat upon the bench at the first Territorial court held at Warren in 1800. His name stands on the record first in the list of justices holding the court, and he probably was the president. Hence, the title of judge. "With great strength 0f will and force of character, he was full of intelligence, courtesy, and kindness, a genial soul, who made many friends and but few enemies that we ever heard of. "He died quietly at his home, after a long but a severe illness, in April, 1825, aged sixty-two years, twenty-two years afuer his return from Youngstown. Our mother survived him fourteen years, and died at last full of joyful hope, in September, 1839, in the old home of her father, in the village of Whitestown, New York, aged sixty-seven years." JAMES HILLMAN. No man, in the early days of the Reserve, was more widely known than Colonel Hillman, and the name of no one connected with its settlement and the tradations of the pioneer days has been transmitted to these latter days more honored. We shall only attempt a brief biographical sketch, imperfect, especially as to his youth, and only an outline. He was born in Northumberland county, Pennsylvania. He was a soldier in the Revolutionary war, and after the war, with his father, he moved West, and made his home for a time in a cabin on the TRUMBULL AND MAHONING COUNTIES, OHIO - 425 banks of the Ohio river, about three miles below Pittsburg. The first authentic account of his early history and the business in which he was engaged, is contained in a letter from him to Judge Barr, of Cleveland, dated November 23, 1843, found on page 363 of Colonel Whittlesey's Early History of Cleveland, from which we make extracts: In the spring of 1786 Messrs. Duncan & Wilson entered inro a contract with Messrs. Caldwell & Elliott, of Detroit, to deliver a quantity of flour and bacon at the mouth of the Cuyahoga river to a man named James Hawder, an Englishman, who had a tent at the mouth of the river for the purpose of receiving it. In May, 1786, I engaged with Duncan & Wilson, at Pittsburg, as a packhorseman, and started immediately. We took the Indian trail for Sandusky, until we arrived at the " Standing Stone," on the Cuyahoga, a little below the mouth of Breakneck creek, where the village of Franklin is now. There we left the Sankusky trail and took one direct to the mouth of Tinker's creek, where was a little town built by Heckewelder and Zeisberger, with a number of Moravian Indians. They were Moravian preachers. Here we crossed the Cuyahoga, and went down the west side to the mouth. In going down we passed a small log trading-house, where one Meginnis traded with the Indiansr He had left the house in the spring before we were there. . . We made six trips uha1 summer. On the second trip, one Hugh Blair, a packhorseman, in crossing Breakneck creek fell backwards from his horse and broke his neck. His horse got his foot fast in some beech roots. We called it Breakneck creek, a name, I believe, it has always retained. . . Caldwell & Clark had a small sail-boat to carry the flour and bacon to Detroit. We used to cross the river by means of the Mackinaw, that being the name of the sail boat. . . There was a spring near where Main street comes to the river. We made collars of our blankets for some of the horses, and took our tent ropes, made of raw elk skin, for tugs, drew small logs and built a hut at the spring, which, I believe, was the first house built on the Cleveland side. At that time there were no traders about the mouth of the river, only Hawder's tent, who was there to receive the flour and bacon. After this, as perhaps he had done prior, he made a voyage up the Mahoning river trading with the Indians, and it was upon one of these voyages, in 1796 or 1797, that he met John Young, near Spring common, in Youngstown, who had just arrived with his company to survey the townships he had purchased of the Connecticut Land company, into lots. He then made such arrangements with Mr. Young that shortly after he removed, with his wife and a few house-hold goods, from his old home on the Ohio river to his new, future, and lifelong home in Youngstown. He at first built a log house on the east siderof the river. Afterwards he moved on a farm of about sixty acres which he purchased of Mr. Young, on the west side of the river, on 54which, tradition says, he built a frame house and that it was the first frame house in the township. In 1804 he sold about an acre of this farm, extending on the east to the middle of the river, to Caleb Plum, who built thereon a grist- and saw-mill, the first in the village, and it is said that then or afterwards Hillman had some interest in the mill. He removed back to the village about 1808, and kept a tavern in a log house, still standing on Federal street next west of ;he town hall, 'but, now covered with boards.. He went out as wagonmaster in Colonel Rayen's regiment in the War of 1812. On his return he sold out his tavern, purchased a farm east of Crab creek, on which he erected a large frame house, still standing on the north side of East Federal street extension, and in which he kept a tavern. In 1818 he sold this farm to Homer Hine, and removed to a house on the northeast corner of Federal and Walnut streets, where he kept a tavern until about 1824, when he purchased a farm on the west side ofr the river, to which he removed and where he resided until his death. On the occurrence, July 0, 1800, of the memorable tragedy at the salt springs, about nine miles northwest of Youngstown, the shooting of Captain George and Spotted John, two Indians, by Joseph McMahon and Richard Storer, consternation spread throughout the sparse settlement, and fear of revenge by the Indians was felt in every cabin. James Hillman came to the rescue. He followed the Indians, who had gone west, pacified them, averted the threatened disaster, and has ever been regarded as the preserver of the infant Reserve. At the first Territorial court held in Trumbull county, August 25, 1800, he was appointed constable of Youngstown. At the first township election, in April, 1802, he was elected appraiser of houses and was re-elected several times. He was frequently elected township trustee. In 1806 hewas elected sheriff of Trumbull county. On February 16, 1808, he was commissioned by the Governor as lieutenant-colonel, commandant of the Second regiment, First brigade, Fourth ldivision Ohio militia, and took the official oath March 19, 1808, before George Tod, judge of the supreme c0urt. On his commission is an indorsement dated November 4, 1809, signed by Samuel Huntington, Governor and Commander- 426 - TRUMBULL AND MAHONING COUNTIES, OHIO. in-chief of the State of Ohio, "That upon the representation of Mr. Hillman that he is about removing out of the State of Ohio, and is 0f an age that excuses him from military duty in time of peace, and tendered his resignation of his said office, I have thought fit, in consideration of the reason above mentioned, to accept his resignation and he is accordingly discharged from any further service in the office above said." He did not remove from the State as he then contemplated. In 1814 he was elected Representative in the State Legislature, Wilson Elliott being his co-Representative and Turhand Kirtland Senator. In 1825 he was elected justice of the peace and held the office several years. He was married before he came to Youngstown, and this is the romantic story of his wedding: After his return from his service as a soldier in the Revolutionary war he attended a busking frolic somewhere in western Pennsylvania, and there he met Miss Catharine (we are unable to learn her maiden name). After the husking there was dancing. James was pleased with Catharine, danced with her several times, proposed marriage, she assented, and a 'squire being one of the company, a halt was made in the dancing, the 'squire assumed the magisterial look and office, the magic words were said, the nuptial knot was tied and Catharine became Mrs. Hillman. She was his partner through his life, and was the first white woman who ever visited Youngstown, the pioneer female settler of the Reserve, and was everywhere known and praised for her hospitality, benevolence, and many estimable traits of character. There were no children of this marriage. She survived her husband about seven years, and, as her tombstone records the date, she died August 7, 1855, at the venerable age of eighty-three years. Colonel Hillman was always known as a strictly moral man. He joined the Methodist Episcopal church in 1820. He was shrewd, active, industrious, brave, kind-hearted, a good neighbor and a good citizen. He had some education, could write a fair hand, and was a good business man. In person he was about five feet eight inches in height, stout and muscular. He was reared; a hardy frontiersman and was just the man to be one of the pioneers in the new settlement. A sandstone slab in Oak Hill cemetery records the date of his birth and death: In Memory of Colonel James Hillman, born October 27, 1762, died November 12, 1848, aged 86 years, 1 month, and 15 days. CALEB BALDWIN. Caleb Baldwin was born in October, 1753, in Mendham, New Jersey. We have but little information of his early history. We learn, however, that he enlisted in the army in the Revolutionary war, that he was a gunsmith, and during the war he was sent home to make guns. He removed to Washington county, Pennsylvania, soon after the war, and removed from there to Youngstown, Ohio, in 1799 or in 1800. He was one of the first justices of the peace of Youngstown and was appointed under the Territorial government as early as August, 1880, as appear:. from the records of the first Territorial court then held at Warren, and was continued in the office for several years. Soon after his arrival in Youngstown he erected a large double log-house on a lot in the town plat which he had purchased (the lot on which E. M. McGillin & Co.'s store now stands), in which he kept tavern for a few years. He was licensed to keep a tavern by the court at its May term, 1801, and was probably the first tavern-keeper in the village. He bought other land in the township and engaged in farming. In those early days he was one of the most prominent and influential men, and was always held in high esteem by his fellow citizens. He was married while residing in New Jersey to Miss Elizabeth Pitney, who was born in Morristown, New Jersey, July 23, 136o. They were the parents of twelve children, a part of whom removed with them to Youngstown, and one or more were born there. Their names were Eunice, married to Eliab Axtell, of Middletown, Mercer county, Pennsylvania, they removed to Youngstown in 1802 and resided there during their lives; Phoebe, married to Thomas Kirkpatrick, of Youngstown; Polly; Amanda; Andrew; Betsey, married to John Kimmel, of Youngstown; Stephen, married at Youngstown, November 3, 1800, to Rebecca Rush, the first marriage in the township, and the first recorded marriage on the Reserve; Elizabeth, married to Andrew Kirkpatrick, and settled in Coitsville, Ohio; Caleb; Byram; Nehemiah, and Benjamin Pitney, born March 24, 1802, now residing on his farm in Milton, Mahoning county, and TRUMBULL AND MAHONING COUNTIES, OHIO - 427 probably the oldest person living born in Youngstown. Esquire Baldwin, the name by which he was most generally known, lived but a few years after removing to Youngstown. An old and partially defaced sandstone slab, in Oak Hill cemetery, removed from the old and first graveyard in the city, informs us of the date of his death and of his worth: In Memory of Caleb Baldwin, Esq., who departed this life February 19, 1810, in the 57th year of his age. He loved the Church, he loved God, He sought no worldly pomp or fame, The way of piety fie trod, And well deserves the Christian’s name. His wife survived him over forty years; she died May 19, 1850, aged nearly ninety years. WILLIAM RAYEN. William Rayen was born October 21, 1776, in Kent county, Maryland. He resided in Maryland until his removal to Ohio, and for a few years was clerk in a country store, and after he attained his majority was engaged in the store-keeping business. In 1802 he removed to Youngstown, Ohio, where he shortly after commenced keeping a public house. The first township meeting, as we learn from the records, was held in April of that year, at the inn of William Rayen, He kept public house until about 1812, but continued in mercantile business, in which he engaged some time after his arrival, until 1837, a considerable part of the time without a partner, but from 1814 for a few years in partnership with James Mackey, as Rayen & Mackey. He was postmaster of Youngstown from 1818 to 1839, and kept the post-office in his store. In 1804 he was elected treasurer of Youngstown township. In 1805 he was elected township clerk, and by annual elections continued in that office until 1809, and was again elected in 180, 1811, 1812, and 1816. In August, 1812, as colonel of the First regiment, Third brigade, Fourth division of Ohio militia, and in command of his regiment, he marched to the western frontier where he spent several months, serving with distinction. On November 22, 1819, he was commissioned a justice of the peace. On August 27, 180, he was commissioned by Ethan Allen Brown, Governor, as an associate judge of the court of com- mon pleas in Trumbull county. In 1840 he was elected by the Legislature a member of the board of public works of the State for five years from April r, 1840, and served in that office during his term. In 1850 the Mahoning County bank, located at Youngstown, was organized. He was one of its founders, and one of the largest stockholders. At the first election of officers he was elected president, and annually re-elected during his life. Soon after his arrival in Youngstown he purchased of John Young, proprietor of the township, a considerable tract of land in and near the village, which he improved, and was thenceforth engaged at times largely in agriculture, and was always active in promoting agricultural improvements. In 1819, with other prominent citizens of Trumbull county, he assisted in f0rming an agricultural society which was the first on the Reserve, and probably in Ohio. He was elected corresponding secretary of the society. He was always in favor of public improvements and enterprises of a public nature, and ready with his purse to aid them. He was one of the corpora- tors named in the act chartering the Pennsylvania & Ohio Canal company, passed by the Legislature of Ohio in 1827, and was subsequently a stockholder and director of the company. In after years he was one of the original stockholders of the Cleveland & Mahoning Railroad company, whose road has been so efficient in promoting the prosperity of his adopted home. Although he was not blest with children of his own, yet he was always strongly interested in the education of youth, and was liberal in the support of schools, This liberality and interest was manifested in his will, leaving a large fund to be appropriated to the education of the youth of the township. With this fund was founded the well-known and admirably managed Rayen school. A clause of his will deserves mention and quotation, viz : "As this school is designed for the benefit of all youth of the township, without regard to religious denominations or differences, and that none may be excluded for such or the like reasons or grounds, I hereby prohibit the teaching therein of the peculiar religious tenets or doctrines of any denomination or sect whatever ; at the same time I enjoin that no others be employed as teachers than those of good moral character and habits." To enable carry- 428 - TRUMBULL AND MAHONING COUNTIES, OHIO. ing out the provisions of, the will an act was passed by the Legislature "to provide for the government of schools and academies specially endowed." By virtue of the provisions of this act, at the June term, A. D. 1857, of the court of common pleas of Mahoning county, Jonathan Warner, Charles Howard, Charles C. Cook, James Mackey, and Robert W. Tayler, respectively for one, two, three, four, and five years, were appointed and incorporated as trustees of the fund, and it was ordered "that the corporate name of said trustees be the trustees of the Rayen school," each to give bond in five thousand dollars, a new trustee in the place of the one retiring to be appointed yearly by the court. On July 7, 1858, the executors delivered to the trustees money, stocks, etc., amounting to the nominal sum of $31,390.90. A lot was purchased by the trustees, and a large and commodious school building erected with the interest of the fund, as it accrued, the will providing that none of the principal should be used for those purposes, and in 1866 the school was opened with forty scholars, by Professor Edwin S. Gregory as principal, and Miss Emma Cutler as assistant. Professor Gregory continued as principal until 1878; Miss Cutler resigned as assistant some years before that time, and was succeeded by Miss Florence Rayen, a niece of Judge Rayen. Professor Middleton S. Campbell is now (1882) principal, with Miss Florence Rayen, Miss Mary D. Campbell, and Professor E. S. Kimball assistants. The number of scholars in attendance is one hundred and fifteen. The fund bearing interest, through the judicious and careful management of the trustees, has increased to $70,000. The present trustees are Robert McCurdy, John Stambaugh, Augustus B. Cornell, Cecil D. Hine, and Henry O. Bonnell. JAMES McCAY. James McCay (or M'Coy as he was more usually called), one of the earliest pioneers, was born on the eastern shore of Maryland, about 1769, on the plantation of his father, who owned about three hundred slaves. Of his early life we know little, but, as he was acquainted with mercantile business when he came, and engaged in it afterwards, it is probable he had been en gaged in it, and, as is supposed, in Philadelphia, He crossed the mountains from Philadelphia to Pittsburg and came to Youngstown on horseback, in company with John S. Edwards, afterwards a lawyer of Warren, Ohio. The time of his arrival was probably in the spring of 1799, as letters of Mr. Edwards, still preserved, show that he then made this journey. We can only infer what business Mr. McCay engaged in after his arrival, but the records and such information as we have indicate that he was a man of note. In August, 1801, with two others, he was appointed, by the Territorial court, to view and lay out a public road from Youngstown, west of the river, through Boardman to Poland. In 1801, when it was contemplated to establish a post-office at Youngstown, he was recommended for postmaster by General Wadsworth, who was corresponding with the department in regard to. the matter. But Calvin Pease was appointed January 1, 1812, and the reason why Mr. McCay did not receive the appointment is said, by his daughter, Mrs. Reno, to have been that he declined the appointment, as he was then preparing to remove from the place, which he soon did. At a court held at Warren in February, 1802, it was ordered that a town meeting be held on first Monday of April ensuing, in Youngs. town, at the house of James McCay. The township records show that the meeting was held at the house of William Rayen, inn-keeper. It was probably held at the house owned or occupied by Mr. McCay when the order was made, but that Mr. Rayen, who arrived in Youngstown early in 1802, had bought him out before the time came for holding the meeting, and it is also probable that Mr. McCay had kept an inn o1 place of public entertainment. Another incident is related by Mrs. Reno as having occurred in 1801. She says that when Judge Tod removed his family from Connecticut to Youngs. town in the spring of that year, he came with his wife and two children in a wagon; that he was stopped by a swamp in Poland, and sent to Youngstown for help. John Young and Mr, McCay went to his assistance, each with a pair of oxen, and pulled him through. From this we may infer that Mr. McCay was in some business in which oxen were used. He Jett Youngstown in 1802 or 1803 and went to New Orleans. He remained there about six TRUMBULL AND MAHONING COUNTIES, OHIO - 429 months and returned to Philadelphia. There, in 1805, he was married to Miss Sarah Randall, a Quakeress. She 1s said to have been a very handsome woman, tall and graceful, of a highly cultivated mind, and with pleasing manners and kindly disp0sition. She always, during life, dressed in the Quaker costume. She survived her husband about ten years and died in 1849. He kept a store in Philadelphia from 1805 to 1814, when he removed to Pittsburg, remained there until 1829, engaged in mercantile business, when he returned to Youngstown. He erected a frame building on the northwest corner of the Diamond and Federal street, in which he kept store for about a year and then sold out his goods, converted the building into a uavern, which he kept until his death in July, 1839. As a tavern-keeper he was very popular. Travelers would often continue their j0urney to a late hour in the evening to stop at McCay's tavern, and the h0use was frequently so full of people that many slept on the floor. It was, whule he kept it, the chief hotel in the place. When he came to Youngstown the second time he brought out a Franklin stove to burn bituminous coal. It cost $25 in Pittsburg. Mr. Rayen wanted the stove and Mr. McCay let him have it, and sent to Pittsburg and had a wrought iron grate made, set it in the tavern and burnt coal in it for years. Thus was the first use of coal in a stove or grate in Youngstown. The coal was obtained from the bank of Mary Caldwell, on the west side of Crab creek, the first coal bank opened in the township. Coal had previously been taken from that bank for blacksmith's use. He was a tall man, over six feet high, well proportioned, fair complexion, sandy hair, well educated, and was a prominent and a leading man in the township, and in this section. As has been mentioned, his father was a slaveholder. When his father's estate was divided among his children, on his decease, McCay gave their freedom on the spot to those slaves who fell to his share. Mr. and Mrs. McCay were the parents of four children, all born in Philadelphia, two sons, who died young, and two daughters, Rachel and Sarah, now living in Youngstown. Rachel was married, in 1837, to Francis Reno, of Beaver, Pennsylvania, a civil engineer, who was employed on the Pennsylvania, & Ohio canal, and was a son of Rev. Francis Reno, a pioneer Episcopal clergyman and also a large farmer in Beaver, Pennsylvania. He died September 3, 1863, aged fifty-eight years. Mr. andr Mrs. Reno were the parents of six children, viz: James M., Henry, Sallie, Grace, Henrietta (married to John McCurdy, of Danville, New York), and David. ROBERT MONTGOMERY. Robert Montgomery was born Apirl 5, 1773, in Danville, Chester county, Pennsylvania. He was of Scotch-Irish descent. He was son of General Wulliam Montgomery, who was a colonel in the Revolutionary army, and a member of Congress when it sat in Philadelphia. Of his early history we know but little. His father was a surveyor, and he was also a surveyor, and while a young man was employed as assistant to the surveyor general of Pennsylvania. While performing the duties of his office in Western Pennsylvania, prior to the settlement of the Reserve, he made a journey of exploration up the Ma- honing river, and visited the site of Youngstown. He related to his children that from the mouth of Dry run in the southeast part of Youngstown, east to the township line, or beyond, the land bordering on the Mahoning on the northeast, and back to the rising land, was an Indian cornfield. This cornfield was part of the farm which he afterwards, between 1812 and 1816, purchased, and on which he spent the remainder of his days. It is now part of the manufacturing village of Hazelton, a suburb of Youngstown. He also, during his younger days, acquired a knowledge of the furnace business, both as regards construction and method of working. He came to Ohio again as early as 1805, perhaps earlier, selected a suitable site, which he had probably discovered on his first visit, for a furnace, on Yellow creek, in Poland township. This site was on the farm of John Struthers, and iron ore, limestone, and wood for charcoal were abundant in that vicinity, and a good water power was obtained by constructing a dam across the creek. In partnership with Mr. Struthers he erected the furnace, and it was put in blast in 1806 or 1807, and was the first furnace successfully run in Ohio. Dan Eaton had built a furnace on the same stream a year or two before, 430 - TRUMBULL AND MAHONING COUNTIES, OHIO. but it had not worked successfully, and in 1807 Mr. Montgomery and his partners bought the furnace and all the ore and other rights of Mr. Eaton, and it was not run afterwards. James Mackey, Robert Alexander, and David Clendenin became interested as partners in the Montgomery furnace, and it was run successfully, until the War of 1812 interrupted the business, and it was not resumed. After closing up the furnace business, Mr. Montgomery purchased and removed on to his farm in Youngstown. He was elected a justice of the peace in after years and held that office for some time. He was also at some period, either in Pennsylvania or Ohio, major in the militia, and was usually called Major Montgomery. He was well educated and a man of good general information. He was not an aspirant for office, but kept well posted on political matters, was decided in his political opinions and, at all proper times, free to express them. He died in 1857. He was married in Pennsylvania. His wife died young, leaving one child, Mary, now Mrs. Corry, born about 1801. He was again married in 1814, to Mrs. Louisa M. Edwards, widow of John S. Edwards. There were three children born of this marriage, two of whom, Robert Morris and Caroline Sarah (married to Dr. Moses Hazeltine, now deceased), are residents of Youngstown. Ellen Louise, the youngest, married to Samuel Hine, died in June 1854, leaving one son, Cecil Dwight Hine, now a lawyer of Youngstown, Ohio. ROBERT M. MONTGOMERY. Robert Morris Montgomery was born in Youngstown, Ohio, October 20, 1815. He was son of Robert and Louisa M. (Morris) Montgomery. He attended the schools in Youngstown and the seminary at Farmington, Ohio, and acquired a good English education. He also worked on his father's farm, became a good, practical farmer, and after attaining his majority took charge, in a measure, of the farm, in company with his father. They made sheep-growing a specialty and were among the most successful in that business in this section of country. The son was at one period president of the Wool Growers' association and of its general convention. He is regarded as an authority in all matters relating to wool growing. In 1862-63 he represented Mahoning county in the State Legislature. He has been elected assessor of real estate and has held other township offices. He is president of the Mahoning Valley Historical society. He has resided all his life on the large paternal farm, of which he inherited a portion, in the southeast part of the township, and is passing the evening of his days quietly in the practice of his favorite avocation of a farmer. He was married at Farmington, Ohio, September 13, 1837, to Miss Nancy H., daughter of Lewis and Mary (Higgins) Wolcott, of that place. They have two children, Lewis W., born November 5, 1838, married June, 1872, to Miss Belle Cushman; and Mary Corry, born November , 1843, married December 9, 1868, to Theron McKinley. JAMES MACKEY. Among the early settlers of the Western Reserve who became prominent and influential citizens, was James Mackey. He was born in Chester county, Pennsylvania, in 1776. We have but limited information of his history prior to his arrival on the Reserve. It was at that time evident, however, that his early years had been industriously passed, and that his education had been well cared for. He was then a well trained practical surveyor, an excellent accountant, and a good mathematician. He came from Pennsylvania to Poland, Ohio, about 1805, assisted Robert Montgomery in building a furnace on Yellow creek, became an owner in the furnace, and from his first connection with it until it ceased operations about 1812, was book-keeper of the company. An explanation of the cause of his joining Mr. Montgomery at Poland may be found, probably, in the fact that the latter was a Pennsylvanian and a surveyor, who had been a State surveyor, or one of the assistants of the surveyor-general of Pennsylvania, and while engaged in the duties of that office had become acquainted with Mr. Mackey and his business capacity, and, requiring the aid of a man of that character, had invited Mr. Mackey to join him in his furnace enterprise. On the declaration of war with Great Britain in 1812 he entered the army, and was promoted TRUMBULL AND MAHONING COUNTIES, OHIO - 431 to the office of adjutant in the Fourth division of Ohio militia, commanded by Major-general Wadsworth. During the war he was also assistant paymaster of the division, and his accurate rolls, and their careful preservation, was of great aid to the soldiers in after years in enabling them to furnish evidence of their military service, and thereby obtain bounty land warrants and pensions. His early training and business capacity well qualified him for these positions, and his kind and generous treatment of the soldiers won him their gratitude, affection, and respect. His military employments gave him the rank and title of major. About 1816 he entered into mercantile business, in partnership with Colonel William Rayen, under the firm of Rayen & Mackey, in a log store building on the northeast corner of Federal and Holmes streets, in Youngstown, Ohio. This partnership continued several years and during it he purchased a farm of two hundred and seventy-five acres, northeast of the present city 0f Youngstown. He was married September 10, 1823, to Miss Margaret Earley, of Coitsville, Ohio, and about that time moved onto his farm, which was thenceforth his home. In addition to the usual business of farming, he devoted great attention to stock raising and its improvement. Colonel Rayen owned a farm in the neighborhood in the adjoining township of Coitsville, and as both were fine grazing farms, there was a lively but friendly rivalry between these farmers in the business of raising fine cattle and swine. Major Mackey's "big yoke of oxen" was well known in the streets of Youngstown, and in the surrounding country, and was the subject of much commendation and admiration. They were the best in this region. In connection with his other business his well known ability as a land surveyor gave him much employment in that line. He was frequently elected by his fellow-citizens of the township and county to public offices. In 1814 he was elected township clerk, in 1822 and 1823, township trustee, and in subsequent years trustee, supervisor of highways, fence viewer, overseer of the poor, and justice of the peace. In 1819 he was elected county commissioner for a term of three years. In 18622 he was elected Representative from Trumbull county in the General Assembly. Cyrus Bosworth was his associate. There were nine candidates. Major Mackey received eight hundred and seven votes, Mr. -Bosworth eight hundred and twelve votes. The highest vote received by any other candidate was five hundred and sixty-nine by Isaac Heaton. Tracy Bronson received four hundred and eight votes, Turhand Kirtland three hundred and sixty-seven votes, Calvin Cone one hundred and sixty-eight votes, the others less than one hundred votes each. The candidates, judging from the Western Reserve Chronicle, from which this vote is taken, do not appear to have run on any regular political or party a ticket, but rather on their popularity and merits as men. The Legislature convened in Columbus, December 1, 1822, and Major Mackey traveled from his home in Youngstown to Columbus on horseback, riding his superior, favorite, and well known roan horse, "Bob," which he kept there during the winter, and rode him back in the spring. In 1830 he was elected treasurer of Trumbull county for two years, and in collecting the taxes he each year visited all the thirty-five townships of "Old Trumbull," performing his journeys on horseback on his old favorite, "Bob." Matters of difference between his neighbors and others, which otherwise might have occasioned long and expensive litigation, were often referred to him for settlement, and his decision, rendered only on full investigation of the facts, was always accepted by them as final. This is but an outline biographical sketch of a good man. Many interesting anecdotes and incidents of his life are related. He was a man of good general information, always active and industrious, public spirited, of strict integrity, possessing great firmness and decision of character, of good judgment, and standing high in the confidence, respect, and esteem of his fellow- citizens. He died August 15, 1844, aged sixty-eight years. His wife died May 14, 1870, aged seventy- two years. They were the parents of eight children, of whom three died young. The others, David. Nancy (intermarried with ihe late Dr. William Breaden), James, Robert, Letitia (intermarried with Andrew Kirk), are among our most valued and respected citizens. The three brothers have been extensively engaged in partnership, for the last ten years in the real estate business in Youngstown, and to 432 - TRUMBULL AND MAHONING COUNTIES, OHIO.. their energy and enterprise the city of Youngstown is indebted for its first street railroad, built on Federal street in the spring of 1875. Robert, whose general business is farming, was a representative from Mahoning county, in 1878-9, in the Ohio Legislature, having been elected to that position by a large majority over a very popular competitor. James, by profession a civil engineer and surveyor, had, for a period of twenty years prior to 1874, when he quit mine surveying, perhaps the most extensive practice in the business of surveying coal mines of any one in the State of Ohio. Recently he was one of the Ohio commissioners, appointed by the Governor of the State to resurvey and establish the boundary line between Ohio and Pennsylvania. He still continues in the practice of his profession, in which he ranks among the most eminent. DAN EATON. Dan Eaton was one of two or three brothers who came from Pennsylvania to Ohio soon after the settlement of the Reserve, as early as 1803, and probably earlier. We first find him in Poland township, upon Yellow creek, about one and one-fourth miles south of its junction with the Mahoning river, where he is preparing to construct a furnace, and this, the first authentic information in regard to him, is derived from a contract made June 23, 1807, between him and Robert Alexander and David Clendenin, in which he contracts to sell them the "Hopewell" furnace, as he has named it, and one hundred and two acres of land, on which it stands, which he holds by contract with Turhand Kirtland, and also "his interest in and to the whole of the iron ore on the plantation of Lodwick Ripple, as held by said Dan, under a certain agreement between him and said Lodwick, dated 31st day of August, 1803," also certain other rights to wood, etc. On that day, August 31, 1803, as appears by this document, he made a contract for iron ore preliminary to building a furnace. On October 17, 1804, as further appears by this document, he made contracts with others for wood for charcoal to run the furnace, which probably then was nearly ready to start. But at what time he "blew 1n" we only learn from tradition, which places it from 1804 to 1806. He was undoubt edly here before making that contract for ore in 1803. Tradition says he came about 1800. As it may be interesting at this day to learn the purchase price of the furnace, etc., we quote from the contract. The purchasers agree to pay said Dan "$200 then in hand and $300 in sixty days from the date of said articles of agreement, and forty thousand pounds of good castings on the 1st- day of July, 1808; forty thousand pounds on the same day of July, 1809; forty thousand pounds on the same day of July, 1810, at the furnace aforesaid, or $85 per two thousand pounds, and to pay Turhand Kirtland the original purchase money of said lot of land not to exceed $350," etc. This makes the price of the furnace, ore rights, etc, $5,600, and of the land not quite $3.50 per acre. We next learn of him at Niles: Trumbull county, where he and his brother James built a forge and used the pig iron made at the Yellow creek furnaces and paid on the contract as above recited. In 1812 or 1813, with his brother James, and perhaps others of the family, he built a furnace at Niles, which was in operation as late as 1856. About 1825 with his brother James, Reese and Isaac Heaten, sons of James, and Eli Phillips, he built a furnace on Mill creek, in Youngstown, the first in the township, a short distance below the Mahoning falls. About this time and for many years after he resided on a small farm on the west side of Mill creek, near its junction with the Mahoning, part of the tract originally purchased, on which to locate the furnace. His name was originally Daniel Heaton, but he had it contracted by act of Legislature to Dan Eaton, for the reason, as he alleged, that the letters cut off were superfluous. He had not received the benefit of much education in his early life, but he had a good mind, was fond of reading and possessed a fair stock of general information. He published a bo0k called The Christian's Manual, setting forth his religious belief and advocating universal brotherhood. In his younger days he was an ardent Methodist; afterwards he held deistical views, and in his latter years he adopted many of the notions of the Spiritualists. During the fifteen or twenty last years of his life he devoted much of his time to talking and writing on finance. His favorite idea, on which he elaborated at length when he could find a listener, was that banks should not me TRUMBULL AND MAHONING COUNTIES, OHIO - 433 issue currency, but that all paper money should be notes issued by the United States Treasury, and made a legal tender; that offices should be established in the several States for loaning these notes, and that the Government should reap the benefit of the interest on the notes loaned and used as currency instead of the banks, etc. In 1847 he prepared a bill containing fourteen sectinns, defining his project, which he forwarded to Congress, accompanied by a petition requesting its passage, signed by many of his friends and neighbors. But Congress did not pass the bill. In 1811, at Niles, he organized the first temperance society known in this region. The constitution contained a pledge of total abstinence from intoxicating drinks, which he and the members 0f his family with many others signed. He adhered to his pledge, and was a strong advocate of temperance during his life. As evidencing his standing among his fellow-citizens, the public records show that in 1813 he was Senator from Trumbull county, and in 1820 Representative from the county in the State Legislature, Hon. Elisha Whittlesey being his co-representative. A friend who was long acquainted with him thus characterizes him : He was a man of strong prejudices and fiery passions, which, when aroused, made him fearful to contemplate. He would then consign to the lowest depths of infamy the man who would advocate injustice or tyrannyr He was a genuine philanthropist, a warm and ardent advocate of the universal brotherhood of man, a perfect hater of slavery and the slave system, and would do all in his power to overthrow it. In person he was rather tall, stout, and muscular, and possessed a vigorous constitution. He died al Youngstown about 1857, at an advanced age, at the house of his daughter, Mrs. Hannah E. Kendle, with whom he had lived several years. His wife died several years before him. This is but an imperfect sketch of the pioneer of our industries who, fo1 many years of a long life, was one of the most noted and prominent men of the Mahoning valley. JOHN E. WOODBRIDGE. John E. Woodbridge was born in Stockbridge, Massachusetts, June 24, 1777. He was a son of Jahleel Woodbridge, and Lucy (Edwards) Woodbridge, who was a daughter of Rev. Jonathan 55 Edwards. His early years were passed in Stockbridge, where he obtained a good common school education. He then learned the trade of a tanner with William Edwards, a relative, in the northern part of the State bf New York, and with whom he remained until' attaining the age of twenty-one years. In 1798 he went to Philadelphia and worked at his trade, and afterwards worked in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, and Baltimore, Maryland. He was married in Philadelphia, in 1803, to Miss Mary M. Horner, who was born in Wilmington, Delaware, in September, 1783. In the summer of 1807 he removed with his family, then consisting of his wife and two children, to Youngstown, Ohio, from Baltimore, where had been residing. The journey was made in a big wagon, and consumed two weeks in reaching Pittsburg. At Youngstown he purchased a tannery of Joseph Townsend, who was a relative, who had established it, and who was the first tanner of Youngstown, and who then became a farmer. When Mr. Woodbridge purchased the tannery, it was a small affair. He enlarged it, and pursued the business during his life, in his later years in partnership with some of his sons, they taking the principal charge of the business. During the first year, after he came to Youngstown, Mr. Grant, the grandfather of President Grant, worked in the tannery, in the employ of Mr. Woodbridge, according to the tradition in the family. which is probably correct, as Mr. Grant lived in Youngstown several years, and as stated by his son Roswell, in a letter read at the pioneer reunion in 1874, removed from there in 1810. In the War of 1812, on the request of Colonel William Rayen, his neighbor and friend, he accepted the position of paymaster of Colonel Rayen's regiment, went with it into the field, and during the six months for which it was called out served with credit to himself and the satisfaction of his superior officers and of the regiment. On his return he resumed his business, and thenceforth passed his days in the quiet discharge of all the duties of a parent, neighbor, and citizen. He died in Youngstown on December r, 1844. Rev. Charles A. Boardman, in a funeral discourse, thus speaks of him : "His uniform urbanity, intelligence, integrity, refinement, and morality of deportment commanded the respect of 434 - TRUMBULL AND MAHONING COUNTIES, OHIO. all, and the cordial attachment of those who best knew him, which, unshaken by adversity and trial, he has borne with him to the grave. He was a modest man, with qualifications for official station which won the confidence of his fellow- citizens, but he recoiled from its responsibility, and steadfastly resisted all offers of public favor." His estimable wife survived him several years. They were the parents of eleven children, viz : Lucy, married to Jonathan Edwards; John, George, Timothy, Henry, William, Walter, Samuel, Elizabeth, married to George Tayler; Louisa Maria, married to Robert W. Tayler, late first comptroller of the United States Treasury, and Stark Edwards. NATHANIEL G. DABNEY. Nathaniel Gardner Dabney, one of the pioneer settlers of Mahoning county, was born in Boston, Massachusetts, about the year 1770 or 1771. His parents were highly respectable and influential. His father, Nathaniel Dabney, died in early manhood. He was surgeon of a ship owned by himself and brother, which is believed to have been shipwrecked, as it was never afterward heard from. His mother was a Miss Betsey Gardner, of Connecticut, a very superior woman. He was their only child and received a fine education. Being possessed of considerable means and desirous of seeing the western country he came to Pittsburg, and while there he was induced by a friend to join him in buying a tract of land in Youngstown township suitable for town lots, and they were to engage in the mercantile business. Before their plans were perfected his friend died and young Dabney found himself in possession of a tract of land and without the slightest practical knowledge of agriculture. In the year 1797 he married Miss Mary Keifer, of Pennsylvania, a farmer's daughter, and came to Ohio and settled upon his land. Having considerable means he soon had erected comfortable buildings. He reared a family of six children, three daughters and three sons. The oldest daughter was born in Youngstown in 1798. In 1813, just as Mr. Dabney was preparing to take his oldest daughter to Boston and leave her with his mother to be educated, he was taken sick and after a short illness died of consumption. His farm was divided among his children. His second daughter, Mary, married Peter Everett, whose ancestors settled in Pennsylvania. They had a large family if children, four of whom are now living: Her portion of the farm was used by them as a homestead and is still in the possession of her daughter, Kate Everett, who in 1858 married John W. Morrison, of Delaware county, Pennsylvania. They have two children, John W., Jr., and Agnes Everett. John graduated at the Rayen school in the class of 1881, and is now engaged in the retail grocery business in Youngstown. Agnes is attending the Rayen school. Gardner Dabney, the oldest son, who was to inherit the widow's portion, died before coming into possession of the property. His daughter Laura J. (wife of Covington Westlake, of Warren) now owns it. DANIEL SHEHY. The subject of this sketch was born in county Tipperary, Ireland. The exact date is not known. He was liberally educated, and when he arrived at man's estate received his share of his father's inheritance and sought a home in the New World. He came over in the first emigrant ship that sailed after the war of the Revolution. He met Mr. Young in Albany, New York, and was induced by him to go to Ohio and locate. Mr. Shehy had $2,000 in gold which he wished to invest, and agreed to his proposal. He came out to Ohio with Young, when he (Young) first came to explore the country, and in company with Mr. Isaac Powers assisted in the survey of the Western Reserve. The only white man who preceded them was Colonel Hillman, whom they met on the banks of the Mahoning. It was a mutual surprise. Mr. Shehy made his selection of land, consisting of one thousand acres, for which he paid $2,000, four hundred acres of which lie east of the city of Youngstown and six, hundred on the south bank of the river. Having concluded the bargain in good faith he married Miss Jane McLain, of Beaver county, Pennsylvania, and built for himself a little cabin on the bank of the river, between Youngstown and Hazelton. Here they hoped to prosper and TRUMBULL AND MAHONING COUNTIES, OHIO - 435 build for themselves and their children a home. In this they succeeded. It was a hard struggle, such as we in these times of modern conveniences cannot realize. They had to do without the comforts and even most of the necessaries of life. For many years their grain had to he carried to Beaver through a trackless wilder- ness, to be ground, until, as their circumstances improved, they procured a hand-mill which did the grinding for the whole neighborhood. Among the number who often awaited her turn at the mill was that excellent woman, the mother of the late Governor Tod. In every respect the Shehy's did their full share towards building up the country, and suffered cheerfully the many privations of pioneer life. Theirs would have been a comparatively happy life but for one cloud that darkened their horizon. That was the difficulty in getting a title to their land. After Mr. Shehy had paid the price he agreed to, and in other respects fulfilled his part of the contract, Young would not give him the deed, and, there being no law courts, there was no redress. Shortly after the settlement of the township Mr. Robert Gibson wanted the tract of land lying on the south side of the river, and gave Young fifty cents per acre more than Shehy had paid for it. This act on the part of Young caused serious trouble between the two parties. Mr. Shehy's indignation arose so high at one time that it is said he took the law in his own hands and gave Young a severe chastisement. He was arrested for this; had some kind of a rude trial, was fined and imprisoned, but was released the next day on giving bonds to keep the peace. Mr. Shehy determined not to lose his home and started for Connecticut, leaving his brave young wife and tender babes alone in the wilderness, to lay his case before the original land owners, and try to obtain his rights. He made two trips on foot (there being no public conveyance) and succeeded in effecting a compromise. They compelled Young to give Shehy a deed for the remaining four hundred acres. But the severe hardship told on his constitution, though naturally a rugged one, and Shehy became a prematurely old man. He lived, however, to rear a large family and spent a useful life. His wisdom and superior education, together with his knowledge of law, made him a man just suited to the times, his advice being sought for in all emergencies. Although he was blind for some years before his death, his mind was clear and active, and many a knotty problem in mathematics he solved for the young, students of the day. In faith Mr. Shehy was a Roman Catholic. In politics, in which he took an active part, he was a Whig and high tariff man. In disposition he was warm-hearted, generous, and hospitable, and was public spirited,. willing to do what he could for the good of the new settlement. Mr. Shehy was the father of nine children, as follows: Catherine Shehy Campbell, born February 17, 1799; Robert Shehy, born February 17, 1801; Mary Shehy Woods, born August 12, 1803; John Shehy, born September 27, 18o5; Daniel Shehy, born February 12, 1808; Margaret Shehy McAllister, born June 14, 181o; McLain Shehy, born May 17, 1813; James Shehy, born January. 13, 1816; Jane Shehy Lett, born August 1, 1818. Lucius McLain Sheehy, son of Daniel and Jane (McLain) Sheehy, was born in Youngstown, Ohio, May 17, 1813. His father dying when he was about twenty years of age, he and a younger brother took charge of the farm, which then consisted of three hundred and twenty acres. Over twenty acres are now within the city limits of Youngstown and will eventually be sold for city lots. Mr. Sheehy was united in marrage July 5, 1839, to Julia Bedell, horn in Alleghany county, Pennsylvania, in 182o. They have three daughters and one son as follows: Emeline A., wife of George Rigby, of Youngstown ; Elizabeth Ellen, wife of William Kerr of Youngstown, Lucius McLain at home (married and has one son), Mary Jane, wife of T. M. Hewitt. JAMES GIBSON AND DESCENDANTS. James Gibson was born in Ireland in 1747, of Scotch-Irish parentage. At the age of sixteen he came to America with some friends, leaving his parents in Ireland, and settled in Cumberland county, Pennsylvania, in the year 1763. He worked at whatever he could find to do amongst farmers during the farming season, and went to school 1n the winter, chopping wood and grubbing mornings and evenings, 436 - TRUMBULL AND MAHONING COUNTIES, OHIO. and at the close of the term he would work one week extra to pay for his board. At the breaking out of the Revolutionary war he enlisted in the American army and was afterwards made captain of a company of volunteers, in which capacity he served for five years, most of the time on scout duty, fighting Indians. He was married to Anna Belle Dixon in 1777. She had two brothers who were members of Captain Gibson's company, and were both killed in battle with the Indians while under his command. James and his wife had five children born to them, four sons and one daughter. John, the oldest son, was born July 29, 1779. On that same day the whites were attacked by the Indians and a terrible battle took place in the neighborhood where they lived. The mother and infant were carried by their friends to the river, placed in a canoe and floated down stream to a place of safety. Several of Captain Gibson's men were killed in this fight, among them one of Mrs. Gibson's brothers. Their home and its contents were burned. A few days afterwards another brother was killed. Gibson was the owner of a large bloodhound that always went with the company when out on duty, and was always first to discover the presence of an enemy, and many times by stopping and growling he indicated the Indian ambush and saved the volunteers from Indian mercy. Some twenty years after the war was over an old Indian named Jaloway came through Ohio and stayed one day with him. Jaloway had learned to talk English, and told him that had it not been for his big dog he could have had his scalp on two different occasions, when he was lying in ambush and saw him out accompanied only by his dog, but he said he knew that it was not safe unless he could kill both the man and his dog at the same time. They sold their farm in Cumberland county, in the year 1799, and came over the mountains in wagons through Pittsburg, Beaver, and Poland to Youngstown, Ohio. Coming up the Mahoning, south of Youngstown, they passed a large spring of clear water, which flowed out from the hillside. After examining the spring and viewing the land" in that vicinity, they drove on to Youngstown, consisting at that time of three cabin houses. Their destination was Warren, where they arrived the next night: They stayed that night with a man who came from their neighborhood in the early part of the season. His name was Davidson. After looking about Warren for land, the old gentleman thought there was nothing that would suit him as well as the farm with the big spring on it near Youngstown. He went back to Youngstown and bought the spring, with three hundred acres of land, from Daniel Shehy. He immediately 1eturned to Warren and moved their goods back to Youngstown to the farm he had just purchased, arriving there on the 1st day of November, 1799. There was a floorless cabin on the farm about fifteen feet square, and there had been about an acre of the timber cut off. They at once went to work and built a large cabin near the old one and split out puncheon for floors for both, and split clapboards for roof and doors. In order to provide shelter for their horses, they built sheds. They sold three of their horses and when they were unable to procure any more food for them, they put bells on the other two and turned them out to look for their own provender in the daytime, shutting them up at night. Once they strayed away and John Gibson, the oldest son, after hunting two weeks, found them near Pittsburg. James Gibson had ten children, four boys and six girls. John Gibson was married to Miss Esther Davidson in 1801, by Rev. William Wick. His father gave him one hundred acres of the south side of lot forty-three in Youngstown town. ship, on which he spent the remainder of his life. He purchased seventy-five acres more from an adjoining farm. They had ten children, four boys and six girls. Three of the girls are yet living. John Gibson died October 28, 1833. His wife died in May, 1848, aged seventy-two years. The other sons of James Gibson, Robert, James, and Samuel, staid with their parents and cleared up the farm. In 1815 they bought two hundred and fifty acres more, lying on the west side of the original purchase. James Gibsonr the elder, died in 1817; his wife died in March, 1836, at the age of eighly-eight years. Robert D. Gibson and. Lydia Marshall were married April 16, 1818. They had nine children, four of whom are now living, viz: Samuel, John, Mrs. A. 0. Hine, and Mrs. James Neilson. Lydia Marshall was the daughrter of James Marshall, who came from Hunting- PICTURE OF CALEB B. WICK TRUMBULL AND MAHONING COUNTIES, OHIO - 437 don county, Pennsylvania, in 1807, and settled in Weathersfield township, Trumbull county, Ohio. In the spring of 1821 Robert D., James, and Samuel Gibson divided their lands. Robert took two hundred acres from the south end, and James and Samuel took three hundred and twenty-five acres on the north, extending to the Ma- honing river. James Gibson was married to Miss Jane Riddle in May, 1833. They had one daughter. He, James Gibson, was drowned in the spring of 1835, while trying to ford the Mahoning on horseback, at what was known as the Gibson fording. Samuel Gibson, the youngest of the four sons of James Gibson, was a deaf mute. He was a very large and strong man, kind hearted and industrious and systematic in all that he did. He was a great lover of horses and always kept his own in good order, and they were considered the best trained horses in the neighborhood. He conversed by motions of the hands and face, and took pleasure in telling of the privations of pioneer life and of the game he used to kill. 4 was very expert in the use of the rifle. He died in his seventieth year, never having been married. Robert D Gibson died at the old homestead, March, 1863, at the age of seventy-eight years. His wife died at the same place in August, 1873, at the age of seventy-seven years. After the death of James Gibson by drowning, the lands of James and Samuel, the mute, were divided. Henry Wick bought some two hundred acres of the river farm, and Robert McCartney twenty acres. Samuel kept the balance, including the big spring and the buildings. Robert's son Samuel afterwards bought the land that his uncle Samuel, the mute, had owned, and in 187o sold a portion of it to Andrew Hitchcock. He resides on the balance near the spring. John Gibson, Robert's youngest son, lives on the old homestead. There remains of the third generation Mrs. Stephen Saxton, of Poland, Ohio, about seventy years of age. Mrs. George Allen, *about sixty-seven years of age, living near New Bedford, Pennsylvania ; and Mrs.- George Dickson, about sixty-two years of age, daughter of John Gibson; and Mrs. Brindley, living near Wheatland, Pennsylvania, ther daughter of James Gibson, aged forty-eight yea.. James Gibson served about one year in the War of 1812. Robert D. Gibson served about three months in the same wat. COLONEL CALEB B. WICK. The name of Wick has been identified with Youngstown from a very early day. One of the first, if not the first, minister of the gospel of any denomination who held religious services in the infant settlement, and was fur many s ears afterwards pastor of the Presbyterian ch arch, and who there solemnized a marriage as early as November, 1800, was Rev. William Wick, an uncle of the subject of this memoir, and elder brother of his father, Henry Wick, who came in 1802 and was one of the earliest merchants. The family is of English origin. An early ancestor in the United States was Job Wick, of Southampton, Long Island, New York. He was married, as appears by a family record, to Anna Cook December 21, 1721. They were he parents of eleven children, of whom Lemuel, corn April 16, 1743, was the ninth. Lemuel was married to Deborah Lupton about 1763. They were the parents of five children, of whom William, the pioneer minister above named, born June 29, 1768, was the third, and Henry, the pioneer merchant, born March 19, 1771, was the fourth. Henry removed, while a young man, from Southampton, Long Island, to Washington county, Pennsylvania, and was there married December 11, 1794, to Miss Hannah Baldwin, daughter of Caleb Baldwin, of that county. They were the parents of eleven children, of whom Caleb Baldwin Wick, born October 1, 1795, was the eldest. Henry Wick was engaged in mercantile business in Washington county, Pennsylvania, after his removal there. He first came to Youngstown in 1802, probably at the instance of his father-in-law, Caleb Baldwin, who removed there about 1799. A deed on record shows that on April 29, 18o2, Henry Wick purchased of John Young the square bounded on Main (now West Federal), Hill (now Wood), Phelps, and Hari streets, and a lot of thirty-seven acres outside of the town plat for $235. He erected buildings for residence and store, commenced mercantile business soon after his purchase of land, and 438 - TRUMBULL AND MAHONING COUNTIES, OHIO. removed his family, then consisting of his wife and four children: Caleb B., Thomas L., Betsey, and Lemonel, in the spring of 1804 to Youngstown. He died November 4, 1845. Mrs. Hannah B. Wick, his widow, died April 10, 1849. Caleb B. Wick was in the ninth year of his age when he came to Youngstown. The settlement at that time, as he related in his after years, consisted of only a few scattered log cabins. On the ground now occupied by the main part of the city the timber had been burnt off by the Indians, and there were only bushes and thick bunches of hazel. Wild deer were frequently to be seen running where are now the most populous and active business streets. He received such an education in the ordinary branches as was attainable in the schools of that day, and at times assisted his father in his store and other business. In the fall of 1815, in partnership with the late Dr. Henry Manning, he commenced a country store, connecting with it a drug store, the first in this part of the Reserve. This store stood on the north side of West Federal street, next west of the (present) large store building of E. M. McGillin & Co., in a frame building now occupied by J. F. Hollingsworth as a stove and hardware store. He continued in partnership with Dr. Manning in this building about ten years. He continued the mercantile business in another building, next east of the present Excelsior block, part of the time without a partner, and at times with different partners until 1848, when having been a merchant for over thirty years he retired from that business, being then the oldest merchant in business in Youngstown. During his active life he was honored, at different times, by election and appointment to positions of public trust and honor. On June 2, 1817, having been elected by the company to the office, he was commissioned by Governor Worthington, lieutenant of the Third company, First battalion, First regiment, Fourth division Ohio militia, and qualified by taking the official oath before Hon. George Tod, judge of the common pleas. On September 3, 1818, he was commissioned captain of the same company. On March 22, 1822, he was commissioned lieutenant-colonel of the First regiment, and in the fall of the same year colonel of the regiment, which office he held for a few years. In 1820 and again in 1824 he was elected township clerk of Youngstown, and subsequently was elected trustee, and held. other township offices. During the exciting Presidential campaign of 1840 Colonel Wick was an active suprporter of General Harrison, and on November 17, 1841, was commissioned postmaster of Youngstown, which office he held until March 10, 1843, when, not being a supporter of President Tyler, he was removed. After retiring from mercantile business, in 1848, he did not enter into any active business, but devoted his attention to the care of his estate, which had become large. He died June 30, 1865, aged nearly seventy years. At that time he was, and since the death of Colonel William Rayen, in April, 1854, he had been, the oldest citizen or resident of Youngstown. He was married, January 1, 1816, to Miss Rachel Kirtland, daughter of Jared Kirtland, of Poland, Ohio. They were the parents of two children, one of whom, Henry K., for some time a merchant of Youngstown, died at about the age of twenty-two years; the other died in infancy. His wife died in 180. He was again married, November 3, 1828, to Miss Maria Adelia Griffith, of Youngstown, formerly of Caledonia, Livingston county, New York. They were the parents of ten children, seven of whom —Rachel K., intermarried with Robert W. Tayler, late first comptroller of the United States Treasury; Hannah B., intermarried with Charles D. Arms, of Youngstown ; Laura E., Caleb B., Henry K., Charles E., and Eliza M,—are now living. His character as a citizen and in his various' relations to the community is sketched in an obituary notice, prepared shortly after his death, by one who knew him well, from which we make extracts : In social life, as a citizen, a neighbor, and a friend Colonel Wick was liberal, kind, and warm-hearted. In his house everyone felt at home, and his hospitality knew no limit. Indulgent to his own family in social joys, and cheerful to the last, he had great delight in the society of the young as well as the old. He united with the First Presbyterian church of Youngs. town, on profession of faith, on April 6, 1835. For more than thirty years he had been known as a Christian man, devising liberal things for the church of his choice. He had been an invalid for several years, but his end came suddenly, and though it came with little warning, yet he was awaiting the summons from on high and peacefully fell asleep. TRUMBULL AND MAHONING COUNTIES, OHIO - 439 WILLIAM JOHNSON EDWARDS. William Johnson Edwards was born in Warren, Ohio, December 26, 1811. He was a son of Colonel John Stark and Louisa Maria (Morris) Edwards. In 1814 he removed to Youngstown with his mother, after her marriage to her second husband, Major Robert Montgomery. He received, during his early years, such education as the schools at home could furnish, and when about sixteen years of age he went to New Haven, Connecticut, attended the lectures of some of the professors of Yale college, and pursued several of the higher branches of English studies. He then returned home, and on his step-father's farm, southeast of the village of Youngstown, made himself a practical farmer. He was married October 2, 1839, at Youngstown, to Miss Mary Manning, born July r, 1817, daughter of Dr. Henry and Lucretia (Kirtland) Manning. After their marriage they removed to a farm he owned and was cultivating in Mesopotamia, Trumbull county, and remained there as farmers about nine years, and then returned to Youngstown, to a farm which he had purchased west of the village, but now in the city. A part of this farm he has sold off for city lots, and part of it he still cultivates. When quite young, by sickness his hearing was affected, and he has since suffered the great disadvantage of being "hard of hearing." It has not, however, prevented him from reading and study, and he is, at this day, one of the best informed men in the place, and is generally so regarded. His life has been quiet and uneventful, attending to his own business and not seeking public honors. And yet, on the recommendation of citizens who knew his eminent qualifications for the position, after the establishment of the Rayen school in 1858, he was appointed by the court one of the trustees, and soon after was elected president of the board. He held this office until about a year since, when he declined a further re-appointment as trustee. Mr. and Mrs. Edwards, on October 2, 1879, celebrated the fortieth anniversary of their marriage. Seven of the guests present, viz : Mrs. Mary Correy, R. M. Montgomery and wife, Mrs. C. M. Garlick, Miss Jane Taylor, Henry Manning, Jr., and John M. Edwards, attended the wedding forty years ago. They have one child, Louisa Maria, a lady of • fine personal appear ance, fine mind, well educated, and very highly esteemed. JOHN R. HOLCOMB. John R. Holcomb was born in Plymouth, Chenango county, New York, September 8, 1805. He served an apprenticeship at the tinner's trade, sheet iron, and copper business in Norwich, New York; came to Poland, now Mahoning county, Ohio, in 1829, where he worked at his trade. July 8th of that year he married Sally Amelia Fitch, daughter of Jedediah Fitch, of Boardman township. 'Mr. Fitch owned the Wier farm, which he sold in 1834 and moved co Vernon township. The subject of our sketch was in the tinning business for a short time with Asahel Medbury, but in 183o he lived in a two-story hewed log-house that stood on the southeast corner of the " Diamond," Youngstown, the site now being occupied by the Tod house. In 1832 he moved to Farmington, Ohio, but returned to Youngstown the next year. In 1834 he lived at the mouth of Mill creek, and in 1835 at Warren. In the spring of 1836 he returned and in the fall of that year made a trip down the Ohio and Mississippi rivers, with a tin-shop on board. He sold out at Vicksburg. He afterwards took two other such trips, the last time going to New Orleans. He had met with financial reverses in 1837, and in 1842 made this last trip down the river with a tin and gunsmith boat by which means he hoped to pay his debts, amounting to some $2,000. His trip netted him about $900, $700 of which consisted of gold coin, $50 of silver, and the balance of Southern products, such as sugar, coffee, yams, etc. He changed his place of residence in Youngstown several times and in the spring of 1838 moved back to the old place on the " Diamond," where he had a tin-shop in the second story, having his dwelling below. He carried on his business quite extensively, keeping from four to six teams on the road. In the fall of 1839 he bought for $360 the property where the Mahoning National bank and opera house now stands, where he lived until 1848, when he purchased the John L. Johnson property at the foot of Market-street hill. Shortly after moving there his first wife died, leaving him with four children—Henry, born August 28, 440 - TRUMBULL AND MAHONING COUNTIES, OHIO. 1830; Jedediah Fitch, January 8, 1833; Laura Maria, March 5, 1843; Mary Ann, June 26, 1845. Henry was married in 1852 to Emily, daughter of Harvey Sawyer, of Youngstown, and is now living in Painesville; has two daughters. Jedediah F. resides in Laramie City, Wyoming Territory, engaged in the hardware business, and is unmarried. Laura Maria married Abner Reeves, of Warren, Ohio, in the summer of 1876, and is now living in Belmont, Wright county, Iowa, and has one daughter. Mary Ann married William A. Ray, of Warren, in 1865; they now live twor or three miles east of Warren on a farm; they have two boys and one girl. November 11, 1848, Mr. Holcomb was married to Sarah Fowler, in Pittsburg, Pennsylvania. She was born in Bradley, Staffordshire, England, September 22, 1819. Of this marriage four children were born, the youngest dying in infancy. The others are John Fowler Holcomb, born December 12, 1850; Addie Louisa, December 24, 1852; Henrietta, September 3, 1854. John F., after acquiring a fair education in the Youngstown schools, commenced to learn the trade of his father, but on account of the death of his fathe1 August 23, 1868, changed his plans, and in the spring of 1869 he entered the hardware store of Fowler, Stambaugh & Co., the senior of the firm being his uncle. He remained with that firm until the summer of 1876, when he purchased the stock of stoves and tin-ware where he is now located, starting in business on a cash capital of $600. He has since done a gradually increasing, and is now doing a good business. He was married September 29, 1880, to Miss Emma 0., daughter of Dr. D. Beaver, of Liberty, Indiana, who had been living for three years in Youngstown with her uncle, Richard Brown. Addie L. Holcomb was married June 7, 1879, to Joseph N. Evans, of Connellsville, Pennsylvania, and is now residing in Youngstown. Henrietta was married in the fall of 1874 to John E. Reep, of Youngstown, and now lives near Knoxville, Tennessee. Mrs. Holcomb, the widow of the subject of this sketch, is still living in Youngstown, making her home with her son, John F. Mr. Holcomb, the subject of our sketch, was a strong temperance man and an ultra abolitionist, being at one time one of only four of that political faith in Youngstown, and dined Frederick Douglass on the occasion of his visit to that city to deliver a lecture. JOHN BROWNLEE. One of the first miners and shippers of iron ore to Youngstown was John Brownlee, who opened the mines at the mouth of Yellow creek. He was born in Scotland, April 12, 1811. In 1832 he emigrated to America and came direct to Trumbull, now Mahoning county, and settled in Poland township. He became engaged in general farming, and stock raising, to which he gave exclusive attention, until the opening of valuable mineral deposits offered a more profitable field of industry. He married June 14, 1842, Eliza L., daughter of Isaac and Leah (Frazee) Powers, who was born in Youngstown township January 22, 1822. Mr. Brownlee had the Scotch temperament, exact and exacting, conscientious and prompt in all his dealings. It is a credit to his foreign birth that from his first acquaintance with American institutions he had a strong hatred of slavery and his political affiliations were with the anti-slavery sentiment. He was a Free-soiler, Abolitionist and later a Republican. To carry on his business operations more advantageously, he removed to Youngstown in the spring of 1864. His death occurred the following September. Mr. and Mrs. Brownlee were the parents of six children, of whom four are living, viz : A. B., a well known coal dealer in Youngstown ; Isaac P., engaged in the stone trade ; Mary I., wife of Lucius Cochran of Youngstown, and Leah M. wife of George McKelvey, of Hubbard township. Mrs. Brownlee continues to reside in Youngstown, being possessed of a comfortable competence and surrounded by kind children. It was Mr. Brownlee's enterprise that assisted materially in the development of the iron induslry, and consequently he should be held in remembrance as one of the number who laid the foundation for the rapid and substantial growth of this city. TRUMBULL AND MAHONING COUNTIES, OHIO - 441 ALEXANDER B. BROWNLEE, son of John and Lettie Brownlee, was born in Struthers, Mahoning county, Ohio, November 2,1843. He was educated in the common schools of Poland (walking sometimes a distance of five miles), and at the Poland academy. In May, 1863, he enlisted in the Eighty-eughth Ohio vol unteer infantry, and was in Virginia and Kentucky with his regiment, serving until November, 1863, when he was mustered out. Returning to Youngstown he entered the employ of Arms, Powers & Co., remaining until 1868. In the fall of that year, having in the meantime had charge of a store in Missouri for J. H. Brown & Co., he engaged in business for himself in Youngstown under the firm name of Odbert & Brownlee, continuing until 1873, when they closed up. He was afterwards the junior member of the firm of Powers & Brownlee, engaged in shipping coal. With Mr. Odbert he became a member of the firm in 1878, purchased the interest of Powers in 1879. In 1880 James Wick was admitted to the firm, now A. B. Brownlee & Co. This firm do an extensive business in flour, feed, and agricultural implements, and also in coal, lime, and cement, aggregating a business of $150,000 per annum. Mr. Brownlee has been twice married, first in 1872 to Mary D. Fowler, who died in 1876. In the fall of 1877 he married Henrietta, daughter of E. G. Hollingsworth, of Youngstown, by whom he has had two children, who died in infancy. JOHN M. EDWARDS. John M. Edwards was born in New Haven, Connecticut, October 23, 1805. He is a son of Henry W. and Lydia (Miller) Edwards, a grandson of Judge Pierrepont Edwards, one of the original proprietors of the Western Reserve, as a member of the Connecticut Land company, and great-grandson of Jonathan Edwards, the distinguished divine and an early president of Princeton, New Jersey, college. On his father's side he is of Welsh, English, and Norman descent, on his mother's, of English descent, her father, John Miller, being a native of London, England, who came to America prior to the Revolutionary war, and • was a captain in the 56 merchant marine, trading in the China and East India ports. He was graduated at Yale college in 1824, read law with Judge Bristol at New Haven, was there admitted to the bar of Connecticut in 1826, and to the bar of the circuit court of the United States in 1828. He practiced law at New Haven until 1832, when he removed to Ohio. He arrived in Youngstown July 4, 1832, remained there a few months and removed to the north part of Trumbull county, and engaged in other than law business. He was admitted to the bar of Ohio by the supreme court August 30, 1838, at Warren, Ohio, and soon after there commenced practice. In addition tc law practice he was engaged, in 1840 and following years, in editing the Trumbull Democrat, a weekly newspaper. Soon after the passage of the bankrupt law in 1841, he was appointed by the United States district court commissioner of bankrupts for Trumbull county, and held that office until the repeal of the law. In 1842 he was nominated, without solicitation by him, or previous knowledge that it was contemplated, by a Democratic convention, representative in Congress from the old Nineteenth district, t0 fill the vacancy occasioned by the resignation of Hon. Joshua R. Giddings. The Democratic party in the district being largely in the minority he was not elected, but the majority of Mr. Giddings, who was his opponent, was far less than it had been at any former, or was at any future, election. About 1843 he was appointed by the court of common pleas school examiner for Trumbull county, and held the office until he removed from the county. About 1841 he was elected and commissioned captain of the militia under the old military system. In 1846 he removed to Canfield on the organization of Mahoning county, practiced law there until 1864, when he removed his office to Youngstown; removed his residence there in 1868, and now there resides in practice. At the first term of the court of common pleas in Ma- honing county he was, on motion of Hon. Elisha Whittlesey, with Professors Reuben McMillan and Hiram A. Hall, both school superintendents, appointed school examiner for Mahoning county for three years, and again in 1863 he was appointed by the probate court school examiner, was reappointed and held the office until after 442 - TRUMBULL AND MAHONING COUNTIES, OHIO. he removed his residence to Youngstown, when he declined a reappointment which was tendered him. In 1846, shortly after his removal to Canfield, he became editor and one of the publishers of the Mahoning Index, the first newspaper published in Mahoning county, and continued as such a few years. From 1855, and shortly after its establishment, he was weekly correspondent, from Canfield, of the Mahoning Register of Youngstown, over the nom de plume of " Quill Pen." This correspondence was a marked feature 0f the paper, and obtained its author much commendation. It was continued until 1864, when he became associate editor of the Register, and was connected with it editorially for several years. From 1865 to 1879 he was the Youngstown correspondent of the Cleveland Herald, and his communications which he has preserved, filling two large scrap book volumes, furnish a full history of Youngstown and its vicinity during that period. Since 1840 he has been almost constantly connected, as editor, correspondent or occasional contributor, with Warren, Canfield, Youngstown, Cleveland, and other papers, and is, at this time, the oldest editor of Mahoning county, and, with two exceptions (probably), of the Reserve. At the session of the Ohio Legislature of 1864-65 he was one of the clerks of the Senate. In April, 1869, he was elected justice of the peace of Youngstown township, re-elected in 1872 and 1875, and held the office three terms or nine years until 1878. He was one of the founders of the Mahoning Valley Historical society in 1874, and has been one of its corresponding secretaries from its organization. With the late William Powers he was editor of the valuable volume of Historical Collections published by the society in 1876. He has c0ntributed to the press, during many years past, a series of interesting reminiscences of the incidents of the pioneer days, rescuing, and inciting others to assist in rescuing, from impending oblivion, the wonderful history of those eventful times, and preserving the biographies of those heroes and heroines who have made of this Western Reserve, the wilderness of less than one hundred years ago, one of the fairest portions of our beloved Union. He was married July 14, 1842, at Warren, Ohio, to Miss Mary P. Crail, daughter of Joseph Crail, an early settler. She was an artist of great merit as an amateur, and her paintings are highly commended. She died at Youngstown, May 15, 1877. Mr. and Mrs. Edwards were the parents of three children two of whom are living : Henrietta France's, married to Stanley M. Caspar, and residing in Youngstown; and Henry W., a merchant of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, of the firm of Hood, Bonbright & Co. BRAINARD SPENCER HIGLEY. The record of this family is not accurately known at this time. On account of the tedious means of transportation, and slender postal facilrities of the earlier years of the present century, the pioneers who left New England and settled in Ohio in a measure died to the kindred and friends left behind, and lost trace of those records and traditions through which genealogical history is preserved. Beyond doubt B. S. Higley is a lineal descendant of John Higley, who resided in Windsor, Connecticut, and who married Hannah Drake in the year 1671. John Higley seems to have been a man of some prominence in those days. He was justice 0f the peace, judge of the county court, first captain of military company in 1698, and was a member of the Legislature for many sessions subsequent to that time. Of the immediate ancestors of B. S. Higley, his great-grandfather, Joseph Higley, was born in Simsbury, Massachusetts, in the year 1741. He married Azabah Gillet about the year 1773, and during the same year removed to Becket, Berkshire county, Massachusetts, where they both subsequently died, he December 17, 1823, aged eighty-two years, and she February 13, 1825, aged seventy-six years. Joseph Higley, the grandfather of B. S. Higley, was born in Becket, Massachusetts, April 25, 1774, and there married Sybil Coggswell, December 4, 1803. They emigrated to Windham, Portage county, Ohio, in September or October, 1815. He was one of the early surveyors of that township. He died of fev& in Windham, October 4, 1825, aged fifty-one years. His widow died in the same TRUMBULL AND MAHONING COUNTIES, OHIO - 443 place, December r, 1864, aged eighty-eight years. Joseph N. Higley, the father of B. S. Higley, was born in Becket, Massachusetts, September 6, 1806, and removed with his parents to Windham, Ohio, in 1815. May 2, 1832, he was married to Susan W. Spencer, of Aurora, Ohio, who was the daughter 0f Brainard Spencer, one of the pioneers of that township. He was horn at Middlefield, Massachusetts, July 2, 1785. On September 9, 1809r, at Aurora Ohio, he married Amy Cannon, who was born at Blanford, Massachusetts, October 10, 1785. He died May 14, 1835, and his widow, October 3, 1864. Joseph N. Higley died at Youngstown, Ohio, in March 1879, aged seventy-three years. His widow is still living. Brainard S. Higley was born in Windham, Portage county, September r, 1837, and was three years 0ld when his parents removed to Aurora, Portage county, and twelve when they removed from there to Twinsburg, Summit county. At the latter place he received instruction at the Twinsburg Literary institute, 'preparatory to entering college. He graduated from Western Reset ve college in 1859 with the third honor of his class. The following year he was complimented with the offer of tutorship, and three years after his graduation received the degree of A. M. Mr. Higley studied law with Hon. Sherlock I. Andrèws, and Hitchcock, Mason & Estep, and als0 attended lectures at the Cleveland Law college. He was admitted to the bar at Wooster, in July, 1860, and came to Youngstown- during the winter of 1861-62. Mr. Higley was soon recognized as a painstaking and reliable counsellor and attorney, qualities which peculiarly fitted him for the settlement of estates and the management of causes growing out of business transactions. There were only five attorneys in Youngstown when Mr. Higley came, here, only two of whom are here at present—William G. Moore and Thomas W. Sanderson. With these two exceptions he is the oldest member of the present bar. His military service was short, but cannot be said to have been strictly easy. After Morgan's raid through Ohio, in 1863, the people, and Legislature as well, awoke to the necessity of greater preparations for the defense of their own tomes. The militia were once more organized and mustered for drill. At the first regimental election B. S. Higley was elected lieutenant-colonel of the regiment, composed of Youngstown and Coitsville townships, and Governor Tod forwarded him a commission as such. The National guard, of which there were three companies in Youngstown, were then organizing, and Mr. Higley, thinking it better for the State for him to become a private in one of these companies than to be an officer in the militia, declined to accept the commission of heutenant-colonel. The National guards were organized, equipped and drilled for home defense, and had no expectation of leaving the State of Ohio. They comprised some of the very best citizens cf Youngstown and vicinity, manufacturers, mechanics, merchants, attorneys, doctors, and farmers. In April, 1864, Governor Brough, thinking the National Government needed these men at that time more than Ohio did, ordered the whole force of Ohio National guards to report on May 10, 1864, for active service for one hundred days, the purpose being to place them upon garrison and guard duty m the rear of the lines and thus release a like number of veterans for service on the field. The Youngstown companies became a part of the One Hundred and Fifty-fifth Ohio volunteer infantry under Colonel H. H. Sage. B. S. Higley was a member of company D, Captain F. S. Whitslar commanding. The regiment was mustered into service at Camp Dennison and immediately afterwards sent to Martinsburg, West Virginia, where it went into camp and was employed in guarding the city and escorting trains up and down the Shenandoah valley. About a month thereafter the regiment was ordered to White House Landing on the Pamunky river, that being then Grant's base of supplies in his advance upon Richmond. It went thither by way of Washington and thence by boat down the Chesapeake bay and up the York and Pamunky rivers. The regiment remained at White House until Grant transferred his base of supplies to City Point, where it was (after having assisted to load the wounded and sick of the army on boats for Washington) transferred by boat down the Pamunky and York rivers, thence to Fortress Monroe and up the James river to Fort Powhattan. Here the river was obstructed by a pontoon bridge over which Grant's army was making a 444 - TRUMBULL AND MAHONING COUNTIES, OHIO. forced march for Petersburg. From this point the regiment marched to City Point and crossed to Bermuda Hundred, being under orders to join General B. F. Butler at Dutch Gap canal. However, much to the satisfaction of all from the colonel down, this order was countermanded and the regiment returned to City Point, went into camp behind the fortifications and relieved a colored regiment who started for the front. At City Point the climate began to tell upon the men and many sickened. Early in July the regiment was transported by boat to Norfolk, Virginia, and there relieved another colored regiment. At this point the regiment remained until ordered back to Camp Dennison to be mustered out, some time in the early part of September, 1864. The only adventure it can be said to have had was a raid through the Dismal swamp to Elizabeth City, North Carolina, said to have been planned to capture cotton, but resulting for the most part in confiscation of watermelons. It was an expedition in which much fun was had and no blood shed. While at Norfolk the whole regiment and particularly the Youngstown part sickened. The men were mostly between thirty and forty-five years of age, and the climate seemed deadly to them. Very few escaped, many died, and large numbers were completely disabled. B. S. Higley was among the latter class and from the time of his arrival at Norfolk, he was only able to render assistance in taking charge of the ambulance and assisting the hospital steward. These duties, however, were such as will never pass from his memory. Without exception he took every one of the sick to the general hospital who went there ; and being the only member of the regiment who visited the hospital daily and therefore who could or did ask for and see the sick ones, it happened that with possibly one exception, his was the last familiar face upon which any of the brave men who died at Norfolk gazed. All the time and strength he had remaining and nerve he gave to his sick comrades. When the Youngstown companies returned home, they deserved and received the commisseration of the entire community. For a long time afterward it was a common occurrence to hear it said of anyone who looked particularly sick and haggard that "he looked as bad as a hundred days !ban." B. S. Higley was unable to resume his practice for several months after his return and his health was permanently impaired by the terrible ordeal. Just before entering the service Mr. Higley had been elected may0r; a hew marshal and council except one member had also been chosen. They all enlisted before assuming the duties of their respective offices, leaving the town to be governed temporarily by the old officers, whose terms had expired. As soon as the regiment returned the offices were vacated and the incumbents-elect took their places. Mr. Higley filled the office of mayor two terms. In 1864 he was elected and accepted the office of justice of the peace for Youngstown township, and brought to that position unusual qualifications. He embarked in a business enterprise at Marietta, Ohio, in 1867, having been chosen secretary and treasurer of a rolling-mill company, in which he was a stockholder. The business proved a failure and the stockholders suffered considerable loss. Mr. Higley returned frcm Marietta to Youngstown in 1875 and has since devoted himself closely to the practice of his profession. He is a lawyer rather than an advocate and is particularly successful in causes requiring careful preparation and close, tedious study. As a citizen and man he is held in high regard. Mr. Higley was married at Twinsburgh, January 1, 1861, to Miss Isabella R. Stevens, daughter of Dr. John G. Stevens, a highly respectable physician. She was born in Nelson, Portage county, Ohio. FREEMAN O. ARMS. Freeman 0. Arms Was born in Sodus, Wayne county, New York, April 14, 1824. His parents were Israel and Sarah (Axtell) Arms. He received a good English education and when approaching manhood was clerk in a store. He came to Youngstown in 1845, entered as a clerk the store of J. Warner & Co. (Jonathan Warner and Myron T. Arms, an elder brother who had removed from Sodus in 1844). Here he remained until 1848, when, with a younger brother, Charles D., he opened a store in Brookfield, Trumbull county, Ohio. For about two years with his brother, and then for ten years alone, he TRUMBULL AND MAHONING COUNTIES, OHIO - 445 conducted this place successfully. He returned to Youngstown about 1860 and entered into partnership with Arms & Murray (Myron T. Arms and George T. Murray), as Arms, Murray & Co. He continued in mercantile business as a member of this and the successive firms of Arms, Powers & Co., and Arms, Wick & Blocksom, in the same building, known as the Arms & Murray block, on the southeast corner of Federal and Phelps streets, until the spring of 1880, when, on account of ill health, he retired from that business. He was also, during this period following 1860, largely interested in coal mining, being a partner in several companies, owning and operating mines in the Mahoning and Shenango valleys. He was a leading partner in the firm of Arms, Bell & Co., carrying on an extensive nut and washer manufactory. He was a director and vice-president of the First National bank, and one of the founders and president of the Youngstown Savings and Loan association, which became the Mahoning National bank. As captain of a company of the National guards, during the war of 1861, he gallantly responded to the call for ninety days' men, left his large business and marched with his company to the field of war. He was often elected township trustee, and upon the establishment of water-works by the city, he was unanimously elected by his fellow citizens one of the trustees, and was elected by the board its president. He was an active member and for many years a vestryman of St. John's Episcopal church, On March 1, 1879, he was struck with paralysis, which affected his right side and disabled him from active business. He was slowly recovering and could in a measure attend to business when he suffered a second attack, attributed to exposure to cold on December 8, 1880, and died in a few hours. We quote from an obituary in one of our city papers this just eulogium: Mr. Arms was a man for whom too much cannot be said of his sterling worth, strict integrity, and high character. Modest and unassuming in all the intercourse of life, of few words, free from every species of deceit, dishonesty or hypocrisy, he always gave strength to any movement in which he was engagedi or any enterprise he undertook. Though never seeking or desiring office he was, in his quiet way, active in politics, throwing the weight of his character and influence on the side of the right as he saw it. A devoted husband and fatheri a faithful friend and citizen, he has passed away, leaving behind the memory of a noble man, and a life well lived as a comfort and an inspiration. He was married at Sodus on September 18, 1849, to Miss Emily S. Proseus, a very estimable lady. After the marriage she came with him to Brookfield, and they there resided until their removal to Youngstown, in 1860, where she died June t0, 1861.. They were the parents of two children, Freeman, who died at the age of four years, and Caroline L., now the wife of Tod Ford, Esq., a rising lawyer of Youngstown. He was married a second time at Youngstown, on November 21, 1865, to Mrs. Emily Wick, widow of John D. Wick. There were no children of this marriage. She survives him. Her maiden name was Emily Lippincott. She was born in Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, June 5, 1826. Her parents were William and Ann (Williamson) Lippincott. She was married to John Dennick Wick, a son of Henry Wick, the pioneer merchant of Youngstown, at Pittsburg on March 30, 1843. Mr. Wick was an extensive wholesale grocer in Pittsburg for many years, and until his death on May 30, 1854. They were parents of six children. Two are deceased. William H., James L., John D., and Fannie, now wife of Warner Arms, are residents of Youngstown. Mrs. Wick, after the decease. of Mr. Wick, continued to reside in Pittsburg until 1862, when she removed with her children to Youngstown, and there, as above stated, on November 21, 1865, she was united in marriage to Mr. Freeman 0. Arms. She is one of our most highly respected ladies, PATRICK O'CONNOR. The subject of this sketch was born in Clonmel, county of Tipperary, Ireland, March 9, 1840. His parents were of the common working class of Irish people. His father mastered the trade of a tanner and finisher of leather, at which were made remunerative wages for those times. He saved sufficient of his earnings to emigrate to America in the spring of 1842. The family, on their arrival on the shores of the new world, consisted of the parents and their two-year-old son. They came to Quebec, thence to Montreal. They finally settled in what was then called Upper Canada, about midway be- 446 - TRUMBULL AND MAHONING COUNTIES, OHIO. tween Toronto and Lake Simcoe, in Newmarket, a small village through which now runs the Northern railroad. Here, together with two brothers and three sisters, the subject of this article received a common school education; and here also, on the second of March, 1854, he entered a printing office, worked for five years as an apprentice in one office, and thus became a compositor. From early youth Mr. O'Connor was a lover of books and read with avidity whatever came within his reach. Among other books several volumes of Washington Irving's works, and the juvenile works published by Harper Brothers, embracing history and biography, were eagerly perused. It was while learning the art of type setting, and toward the close of his five-year apprenticeship that a change occurred in the religious faith of Mr. O'Connor. About that time the question of separate schools for children of Roman Catholic parents was agitated. He took grounds against the measure as being antagonistic to the civilization of the day. Soon afterward the Holy Scriptures became an object of study. The Duay Bible, including the Rheimish New Testament, were compared with King James' version. The study of the Scriptures resulted in the rejection of papal infallibility. This occurred the latter part of 1858, and in January, 1859, two months before Mr. O'Connor was nineteen years of age, he united with the Wesleyan Methodist church of Canada. He had been raised in the bosom of the Church of Rome. His parents were Roman Catholics. This change of religious sentiment, followed so quickly by outward profession was sternly rebuked by his associates and by his mother, who had been widowed three years previously. In June of this year he left the maternal roof to roam, a journeyman printer, from place to place. On the 30th of June, 1862, he came to Youngstown and at once entered the employment of Mr. John M. Webb, who was at that time publishing the Mahoning Sentinel, a Democratic weekly county paper strongly opposed to the war policy of President Lincoln's administration. Deeply imbued with anti-slavery opinions Mr. O'Connor's convictions upon the subject became more deeply set from contact with Democrats while employed as compositor upon the Sentinel. He knew little of American politics at this time, but was, nevertheless, forcibly struck with the inconsistency of Irishmen voting with the pro-slavery Democratic party while their fellow-countrymen were suffering the oppression of tyranny on their own green isle. Such opinions made him a Republican. Such opinions, and the record of the Democratic party during the war of the Rebellion, led to a distrust of and dislike to the Democratic party that will probably never be shaken off. In April, 1863, he returned to Canada, but again came to the county in 1864. On the 30th of June, 1,864, he was united in marriage to Miss Lorinda Dorothea Ewing, adopted daughter of the late Cramer Marsteller, and a resident of Youngstown. In April, 1865, in connection with his brother, Richard O'Connor, he commenced the publication of the Mahoning Courier in Youngstown, which was at first independent, but afterward Republican in politics. He was editor of the Courier until the summer of 1872, when the paper was disposed of to other parties. It was while editing the Courier, in the year 1868, that his controversy occurred with Rev. E. M. O'Callaghan, who was at the time pastor of the Catholic church in Youngstown, upon the "Errors of Rome," which attracted considerable attention at the time. It was conducted through the columns of the Courier. A reprint of an English publication, upon the subject of the confessional, and entitled the "C. C. C.," was published by Mr. O'Connor the latter part of this year. Mr. O'Connor and his brother were the first printers to apply steam to a printing press in Youngstown, and the late Mahoning Courier was the first Youngstown paper printed by the application of steam power. This occutred during the winter of 1870-75. Having sold his interest in the newspaper business in June, 1872, he was admitted to itinerant ministry of the Methodist Episcopal church, and given an appointment by the Erie conference, which was held at Akron, Ohio, in September of the same year. Failing health caused a return to the newspaper business. He was one of the editors and proprietors of the Youngstown Commercial during 1875, and in January, 1876, was one of the TRUMBULL AND MAHONING COUNTIES, OHIO - 447 proprietors of the Morning Star. The last named paper was devoted to the Greenback cause, and was the second paper of like political faith started in the United States, the Indianapolis Sun being the first. The Morning Star lived but a short time, and Mr. O'Connor removed with his family to Cleveland in July, 1876. Until August, 1878, he resided in Cleveland, supporting himself and family working as a compositor upon the morning papers and in several of the job printing offices of that city. In March, 1879, he again embarked in the newspaper enterprise, as the editor and publisher of The New Star, which he still controls. During the publication of the Mahoning Courier, Mr. O'Connor left the Republican party, having "bolted" from a Republican county convention held at Canfield in 1869, after failing to secure a committal of the convention or its candidates to principles embracing the prohibi tion of the liquor traffic. It was during the latter part of 1875 that he espoused the Greenback doctrine, and in the fall of 1876 he recorded his vote for the venerable Peter Cooper for President, as a representative of the political doctrines he had embraced the year before. BENJAMIN F. HOFFMAN AND FAMILY. Benjamin F. Hoffman was born January 25, 1812, in East Goshen township, Chester county, Pennsylvania. His parents, Joseph and Catharine Steteler Hoffman, of German descent, were born in America. His grandparents emigrated from Germany to America prior to the Revolutionary war. His ancestors were industrious fanners. During his boyhood and until the age of nineteen, Benjamin Hoffman worked on his father's farm, and during that time received from two and one-half to three months' schooling each winter. His father resolved to remove to Ohio with his family, and during the two years passed in arranging his affairs for that purpose he sent his son to a select boarding school at West Chester, and then at Shadeville, near the same place. In the spring of 1833, at the age of twenty-one, he came to Ohio with his parents, arriving at Youngstown in May. He intended teaching school and practicing surveying, but at the suggestion of his father in September of the same year he entered the law office of David Tod as a student, without, however, designing to engage in the practice. He remained in Mr. Tod's office two years, during which time he carne to like the business, and then attended the law school of the Cincinnati college for six months, at the end of that time receiving the degree of bachelor of laws. He was admitted to the bar in the spring of 1836, at Cincinnati, and returning to Warren entered into partnership with Hon. George Tod, father of David Tod. At the end of six months the partnership was dissolved and he became a partner with David Tod, under the firm name of Tod & Hoffman. In October, 1838, Mr. Tod was elected to the State Senate and resigned the postmastership of Warren, to which Mr. Hoffman was appointed, and where he served until about July, 1841. Hon. Matthew Birchard became a member of the firm of Tod & Hoffman in the spring of 1841, and remained in that connection about eleven months, when he was elected by the Legislature judge of the supreme court. In 1844 Hon. John Hutchins joined the firm, which became Tod, Hoffman & Hutchins. He was elected to the Legislature in 1849, and ceased to be a member of the firm. Mr. Tod removed to Brier Hill in 1844, and in 1846 ceased the practice of the law. Mr. Hoffman conducted the law business by himself until 1853, when Colonel R. W. Ratliff became his partner. In 1853 Mr. Hoffman visited England as attorney for persons in this country who supposed themselves heirs to a large estate there, but examination failed to find such estate. While abroad he visited Paris, spending two weeks there. He also visited several large cities in England—York, Leeds, and Liverpool. In October, 1856, he was elected judge of the common pleas court for the second sub-division of the Ninth judicial district, and served in that capacity five years. On the election of David Tod as Governor, in 1861, Mr. Hoffman accompanied him to Columbus as private secretary, and gave faithful and laborious work to the cause of the Union in that position for two years. In 1865 Mr. Hoffman opened a law office in Youngstown, though residing in Warren, and 448 - TRUMBULL AND MAHONING COUNTIES, OHIO. conducted his law business until April, 1870, when he removed to Youngstown. Benjamin Hoffman was married in December, 1837, to Elizabeth H. Cleveland, daughter of Dr. John Cleveland, formerly of Rutland, Vermont. The children by this marriage were a son, John C. Hoffman, who died of consumption about 1861, and a daughter, Catharine C. Hoffman, who married General Henry L. Burnett, and died in July, 1864, leaving two children, Grace and Kittie. In 1869 Mrs. Hoffman died, at the age of fifty-three, of consumption. In 1870 Mr. Hoffman was a second time married, to Mrs. Alice W. Hezlep. His family now consists of himself, his wife, and a daughter of his wife by a previous marriage, and a daughter by this union, now five years of age. Mr. Hoffman in his early life was a strong adherent of Democracy from 1833 to 1841. About that time he became interested in the agitation of the question of slavery, and making up his mind that the system was radically wrong he became an outspoken Abolitionist, when to be an Abolitionist meant much more than it did twenty years later. From the time he espoused the cause of human freedom until the success of the war for the preservation of the Union unloosed the shackles of bondage from four millions of down-trodden slaves, he gave of his strength to the cause of liberty. And now, that freedom is assured to the down-trodden, he feels that he has a right to rest, at his age, from further political action, and leave to the watchful care of the rising generation the preservation of the same. THE OSBORN FAMILY. Nicholas Osborn, when a young man, emigrated to this country from England, and settled in Virginia. He married in that State Margaret Cunnard, and raised a family of children as follows: Jonathan, Sarah, Abraham, Richard, John, Elizabeth, Anthony, Mary, Joseph, and Aaron. His occupation was farming and milling. In 1804 he sold out and came to Trumbull county, Ohio, now Mahoning county, and purchased a large tract of land, one thousand acres of which were in Youngstown township, and five hundred acres in Canfield, and he had still other tracts. With him came Abraham, Anthony, Joseph, and their families, Aaron, then single, and the family of William Nier. John and his family came a short time before the rest. Joseph Osborn was born in Virginia in May, 1775, and when twenty-two years of age he married Margaret, daughter of John Wolfcale, who was born October 7, 1774. They were the parents of ten children, viz: Sarah, Mary, Mahlon, Jonathan, John W., Alfred, Abner, Thomas P., Elizabeth, and Joseph. On the 25th of December, 1804, Joseph Osborn moved upon a part of the thousand-acre tract, which contained a log house erected by a man by the name of Parkhurst. The floor consisted of a few loose boards and the door and windows were simply openings cut out of the sides of the house. 'There was no ceiling, and the fire-place had no hearth. Upon that place he resided and toiled until his death which occurred February 17, 1846. His wife died July 20, 1854. Jonathan Osborn, a son of Joseph and Margaret Osborn, was born in Loudoun county, Virginia, May 28, 1804. The same year his parents removed to Ohio, and settled on the land which had been purchased in Trumbull county as previously mentioned. Jonathan had hut few early advantages for the acquirement of an education, but he has become by reading and observation a well informed man. He remained upon the farm until after twenty-one. When he started for himself he had only a two-year old colt. For the first five years he worked for Judge Baldwin, commencing at $8.00 per month, and never higher than $12.00. During this time he bought two hundred acres of land, paying $2.30 an acre for it. January 28, 1836, he married Mary Ann Goff, daughter of Humphrey Goff, then of Youngstown. She was born February 15, 1818, near Lewistown, Pennsylvania. This marriage was blessed with six children as follow : George W., Margaret J., Albert M., William N., Mary Alice, and Jonathan W. William and Jonathan died in early childhood. Mr. Osborn resides upon a finely improved farm in the northwestern part of Jackson township. Mr. Osborn, since 1830, has done a large amount of business as executor and administrator. He has held the office of justice of the peace of Jackson township nine years. He has often been township trustee, was township clerk TRUMBULL AND MAHONING COUNTIES, OHIO - 449 six years, was county commissioner of Trumbull county, before Mahoning was set off, for one term of three years. REV. SAMUEL MAXWELL was born in Albany, New York, August 6, 1839. He was the oldest child of Samuel and Mary Newcombe (Tullidge) Maxwell, natives of Scotland and England respectively. He graduated July 21, 1857, from the College of the City of New York, receiying the degree of A. B.; remained at the college one year as a resident graduate, and then received the degree of bachelor of science. At the commencement of the college, in 1860, the degree of master of arts was conferred upon him. He attended the regular course of studies at the Episcopal Theological seminary at Alexandria, Fairfax county, Virginia ; was admitted to the order of deacons by the Rt. Rev. Horatio Potter, bishop of the diocese of New York, in the church of the Epiphany, on May 23, 1861, and immediately entered upon the duties of assistant minister in St. Mark's church, New York city, Rev. A. Ii. Vinton, rector, where he remained until April, 1863, when he accepted a call to St. Paul's church at Akron, Ohio. He resided in Akron until April, 1866, when he removed to Youngstown, Ohio, upon his acceptance of a call to St. John's church, of which he has since then been the rector. At the commencement of his rectorship the number of communicants was fifty-five. It is now two hundred and twenty-five. In 1880 the church edifice was enlarged, improved, and refurnished. It is unincumbered by debt. On August 6, 1867, he was married, at Akron, Ohio, to Miss Mary Helen, only daughter of Hon. W. W. Goodhue, of that city. They are the parents of two children—Mary Goodhue, born April 24, 1870, and Allen Samuel, born July 9, 1875.