1650 - HISTORY OF THE WESTERN RESERVE Army, at present stationed in Manila ; Otto F., a student in Concordia Seminary, St. Louis, Missouri, preparing for the Lutheran ministry ; Anna, at home with her parents ; and one daughter, Emma, deceased. HERBERT HERB.—Endowed by nature with those habits of industry and enterprise that we willingly concede to those of German birth and breeding, Herbert Herb, who settled in Erie county in pioneer days, contributed his full share towards clearing the forests to make room for agriculture and civilization. He was born in 1800 in Baden, Germany, and died in Perkins township, Erie county. In 1842, with his wife and six children, he emigrated to this country, settling in Erie county, Ohio. Selecting Perkins township as the most desirable place of residence, its advantages being considered, he bought a tract of land covered with timber and immediately began its improvement, for the first four years, not owning horses, putting in his crops with a hoe, a slow and arduous task. He erected a log house in the wilderness when deer, wolves, bears and the other beasts of the forest were plentiful, often terrorizing the few inhabitants of the little settlements. By dint of persevering labor he cleared a farm and lived to see the country round him settled up and well improved. He subsequently replaced the original log cabin with a comfortable frame house and during his active life was engaged in general farming and fruit growing, having a finely bearing apple orchard. Although he was a Democrat in his political affiliations Mr. Herb always voted for the best man regardless of party prejudice. Religiously he was true to the faith of his ancestors, belonging to the German Catholic church. Mr. Herb married in Germany, Celia Anselm, who bore him seven children, all of whom with the exception of his son Herbert were born in the Fatherland. Of these children but two are living, Mrs. Amelia Kancler, a widow living in Sandusky, Ohio, and Herbert. Herbert Herb, Jr., the youngest child of his parents, was born July 7, 1847, on the parental homestead, in Perkins township, and after completing the course of study in the district schools attended the Sandusky high school a year. At the death of his father he became owner of the home farm, and has since been actively employed in cultivating the soil, as a general farmer being quite successful. He married, in August, 1869, Catherine Krupp, who was born in Sandusky, Ohio, in 1849, and died, in 1906, in Perkins township. Of the twelve children born of their marriage nine are now living. JEREMIAH LOEHR, a well-to-do farmer living in Medina county, is a native of Pennsylvania, born in Northampton county on August 28, 1849, a son of Jacob and Catherine (Beck) Loehr, both natives of the same state and county. Jacob Loehr and his wife moved to Medina county, Ohio, in 1851, locating in Guilford township, near River Styx, where he rented a farm. Later he moved to Wayne county, Ohio, and remained four years. Re-turning to Medina county he located permanently in Guilford township, where he purchased 140 acres of land. He carried on general farming, raising stock and grain. As his means permitted he erected a fine large barn and numerous outbuildings, and equipped his farm with up-to-date farm machinery, becoming one of the prosperous farmers of the neighborhood. He became an extensive breeder and dealer in sheep for the eastern market, and continued to take care of his farm until his death, in 1897. He was a man of undoubted honesty and integrity, a public-spirited and useful citizen. His widow survived him and died in April, 1901. They were the parents of children as follows : Louis, Jeremiah, William (deceased in 1906), Frank, Benjamin and Jacob. Mr. Loehr was a Republican in politics, for several years a member of the school board, and he belonged to the Lutheran church. Jeremiah Loehr was reared in Medina county and received his education in the public schools. He was well educated, and remained on the farm with his father until he reached his majority, and then began farming on his own account. He bought the old homestead from his father. He is one of the most successful farmers in Guilford township, and has put his land under a high state of cultivation. He has made all modern improvements, has his farm stocked with cattle, horses and sheep, and is well equipped with modern, high-grade machinery. He is one of the best known citizens of the county and highly respected. Mr. Loehr and his wife are members of the Mennonite church. They became the parents of two children, Nellie M., wife of E. R. Kreider, a prosperous farmer of the community, and Fred, who died at the age of four years. HISTORY OF THE WESTERN RESERVE - 1651 ABRAM H. ROHRER, one of the leading dairy farmers of Guilford township, Medina county, comes of a family which has had a large share in the development of the agricultural and live stock industries of the Western Reserve for nearly eighty years. Mr. Rohrer was born on the old Rohrer homestead, near River Styx, Guilford township, on January 4, 1865, and is a son of David and Mary (Hoover) Rohrer. The father was born in Maryland, but moved to Medina county when quite young, while the mother moved from her native Pennsylvania to Wayne county, Ohio, and in early childhood settled with her parents in that part of the state. The paternal grandparents were Abraham and Margaret (Bard) Rohrer, the former being a native of Lancaster county, Pennsylvania. In the fall of 1830 the grandfather mentioned moved with his family to Guilford township, choosing for his homestead 120 acres of heavily timbered land one mile and a half south of River Styx. The tract was first and second bottom, and when cleared proved to be the richest land in the township. In 1846 Mr. Rohrer built his bank barn ( forty-four by eighty-five feet, with basement), one of the first of the kind and among the largest in the township. Clearing his land, he engaged both in mixed farming and stock raising, besides devoting much of his time as a circuit preacher of the old Mennonite church. As his means accumulated he added to his land until he owned 152 acres of good land, with a comfortable residence and convenient farm buildings, improved machinery and sleek live stock. Grandfather Rohrer, the founder of the family in Guilford township, was a man of great piety, as well as practical force, and lived to the advanced age of ninety years. His wife died in 1889. Their eleven children all reached maturity except one, and include the following : Jacob, Abram, Margaret, wife of David Lehman, of Columbiana county, Ohio ; Amelia, single ; and Susan, who married Alfred Lehman, of Mahoning county, Ohio. David Rohrer, the father, was but five years of age when he came to Ohio with his parents, and remained on the home farm until he was of age, dividing his time between his schooling and agricultural labors. After his marriage to Mary Hoover he settled on the old Rohrer homestead, where he engaged in general farming and stock raising, making a specialty of high-grade cattle. The father made a successful farmer, a methodical business man and was ever positive and conscientious in his convictions. Both parents are deceased, the mother dying in 1886 and the father in 1901. Two children were born to Mr. and Mrs. David Rohrer—Henry H. and Abram H., of whom the latter was the younger. He obtained a good common school education, and assisted upon the farm until his father's death, when he took entire charge of the place. At his marriage in 1891 he continued on the old homestead and, with his brother, engaged in dairying. His herd now consists of twenty fine Guernseys, which are so noted for the quantity and quality of their milk. The head of the herd is Abbott Bell Vernon, who is a fine animal and has a noted pedigree. The farm is also well stocked with horses, and is altogether one of the best dairy and stock farms in Guilford township. It is 272 acres in area and is equipped with improved farm machinery and every other accessory of an up-to-date country place. In politics Mr. Rohrer is a Republican and was for several years trustee of the township. Both he and his wife are faithful members of the Trinity Reformed church at Wadsworth. On May 20, 1891, he married Miss Barbara Rickert, of Montville township, daughter of Abram and Mary Ann (Fretz) Rickert, both early settlers of Medina county. The children of this union are Percy D., Gladys Ione, David Lester and Harry Vernon Rohrer. ELI S. KULP, prominent among the agriculturists of Guilford township, was born in Sharon township of Medina county October 7, 1847, and is a representative of two of the pioneer families of the county. His parents were Jacob N. and Fanny (Kreider) Kulp, and on the paternal side his grandparents were Samuel and Lydia (Naronswonger) Kulp, who came to Medina county in 1830 and established their home in Guilford township. His maternal grandparents were Daniel and (Myers) Kreider, also among the early residents of this county. Jacob N. and Fanny (Kreider) Kulp were both born in Bucks county, Pennsylvania, and coming with their respective parents to Medina county in their early lives their marriage was celebrated here and they afterward became prominent among its residents. Following his marriage Jacob N. Kulp located on a farm in Guilford township three and a half miles north of Seville, his original purchase being seventy-five acres, which he afterward increased to 197 acres, and he cleared his land, which was originally 1652 - HISTORY OF THE WESTERN RESERVE heavily timbered, erected a good dwelling, barn and outbuildings and engaged actively in general farming. His farm was looked upon as one of the model ones of Guilford township, and the took considerable interest in the raising of high-grade stock, and also bought and fed horses and cattle for the market. He continued to reside on this valuable estate until his death in 1888, when he had passed the seventy-eighth milestone on the journey of life, and his wife still survives him and has reached the age of eighty-seven years. She became the mother of nine children, all of whom lived to years of maturity, and they are : Alfred B., now deceased ; Eli S., Daniel, Mary and Lydia Ann, all three deceased ; Lizzie, who married J. E. Manson and resides in Michigan ; Jonas C., in Denver, Colorado ; Fanny, who married R. 0. Kindig, also of Denver ; and Jacob, a resident of Oberlin, Kansas. Eli S. Kulp received his educational training in the district schools of Guilford township, and remaining on his father's homestead until he had attained his twenty-first. year he then worked at farm labor for others at twenty-one dollars a month. He married in his twenty-second year and settled on the old Kulp homestead in Guilford township, purchasing the interest of the other heirs therein and thus became the sole owner of 197 acres of as valuable and highly improved land as lies in Medina county. He has served as a member of the school board for six years, as a trustee of the township for a number of years, and in 1886 was elected a county commissioner. Mrs. Kulp was before marriage Miss Lorinda Rodenberger, from Montville township, Medina county, a daughter of Solomon and Lydia (Bechtell) Rodenberger, prominent early residents of Wadsworth township in this county. Both Mr. and Mrs. Kulp are members of the First Lutheran church at Acme. JUDSON N. STONE.—Prominent and popular among the representative citizens of Oberlin, Ohio, is Judson N. Stone, who, as postmaster of this city, is performing the duties devolving upon him in this capacity with rare fidelity and efficiency. A son of Frank Stone, he was born April 18, 1862, in Pittsfield township, Lorain county, of old New England ancestry. His grandfather, Reuben Stone, a native of Vermont, came to the Western Reserve in pioneer days, locating in Pittsfield township, Lorain county, where he cleared a homestead from the forest. He was proprietor of a saw mill, and was a leading farmer and miller of his community. He spent his last years in Oberlin, an honored and respected citizen, and a member of the Pilgrim Society at Springfield, Massachusetts. Frank Stone was born on the home farm in Pittsfield township soon after his parents' arrival in Lorain county. He lived there until 1866, when he removed to Iowa, where he remained three years. Coming back to Lorain county in 1869, he located in Oberlin, and for a number of years was agent for the United States Express Company, and also owned and operated a carriage and transfer line. In the spring of 1881 he was elected marshal of Oberlin, and while in the discharge of his official duties was shot, receiving wounds which caused his death a month later. His wife, whose maiden name was Huldah Norton, died in 1893, aged fifty-three years. Her father, Urial Norton, a pioneer of Pittsfield township, Lorain county, was born January 26, 1815, in Norfolk, Connecticut, and is now living on the homestead at that place which has been his home since early life. Judson N. Stone was educated in the public schools of Oberlin, and upon the death of his father succeeded him as agent for the United States Express Company at Oberlin. Resigning the position in July, 1889, he removed to Saint Joseph, Missouri, where he resided until the spring of 1891. Returning then to Ohio, he settled in Cleveland and entered the employ of the National Vapor Stone Company, and for it went to Lorain to look after the erection of a new plant in that locality. The company subsequently failed, and Mr. Stone, after its assignment, was appointed one of the appraisers of its property. In 1893 Mr. Stone returned to Oberlin, and after serving for a short time as agent of the United States Express Company at Piqua, Ohio, was transferred to the company's office in Oberlin, and retained the position of agent here until his appointment. in June, 1905, as postmaster, the office which he is now so ably and successfully filling. For many years Mr. Stone has been very . active and prominent in Republican politics, both in Oberlin and throughout Lorain county, promoting the interests of the party and of city, town and county as far as possible. He is connected with various organizations, being a trustee and the clerk of the Oberlin Cemetery Association ; the secretary of the Oberlin Board of Commerce and a member of its ex- HISTORY OF THE WESTERN RESERVE - 1653 ecutive committee, and a director of the State Savings Bank of Oberlin. Fraternally he is an influential member of the Royal Arcanum, and for the past fifteen years has been an officer of the local council, while at the present time he is grand guide of the Council of Ohio. Mr. Stone married Ida Probert, who was born in Pittsfield township, Lorain county, a daughter of John Probert, and to them six children were born, namely : Ida Floreda, who was graduated from Oberlin College and the teachers' course in physical training, with the class of 1908, is now a teacher in the public schools of Oberlin. Frank Probert, who succeeded his father as agent of the United States Express Company, and was also at one time agent for the American Express Company, was at the time of his death, October 3o, 1909, a junior in Oberlin College. Earl Judson and Ethel Huldah died at the ages of three and one years respectively. Charles W. and Robert J. are now attending the public schools. WILLIAM REICH, one of the best known residents and agriculturists of Guilford township, was born in Northampton county, Pennsylvania, September 3o, 1842, a son of Abraham and Catherine (Miller) Reich. In 1847 the family came from Pennsylvania to Medina county, Ohio, the son William being then about four years old, and stopping in Guilford township of Medina county the senior Mr. Reich rented land for seven years. He then bought a farm of 106 acres two and a half miles northeast of Seville, which he cleared and erected thereon a good dwelling, a bank barn and outbuildings and engaged in general farming. He also dealt in stock, and he became widely known throughout this community and was highly honored for his splendid integrity of character. He continued to reside on his valuable estate in Guilford township until his death in 1889, his wife having passed away there in 1874, and their family numbered four children, three daughters, Margaret, deceased ; Hannah, who married William Derhemmer ; and Sabina, who married A. P. Rodgers, of Montville township. William Reich, the only son in the above family, attended first the district schools of his home township, and he remained on his father's farm until he had attained the age of twenty-one. After the death of his father he took charge of the farm, and purchasing his sisters' interests therein became sole owner of 106 acres, which is now under a high state of cultivation, well stocked with horses, cattle and hogs and all necessary machinery to operate the land successfully. Mr. Reich married in 1877 Miss Mary Wolf, a daughter of Fred and Sally (Koppes) Wolf, who were among the early settlers of Medina county. To this marriage union the following named children have been born : Fred C., a resident of Seville ; Martin A., deceased ; John F., deceased ; George E., a prosperous farmer in Medina county ; Mamie E., at home with her parents ; and William L., at home. Mr. Reich served during a number of years as a member of the school board and as a supervisor of Guilford township. Both he and his family are acceptable members of the Acme Lutheran church. U. GRANT HIGH, a prosperous farmer and a good citizen of Westfield township, Medina county, was born on the old family homestead which his grandfather established more than half a century ago on January 14, 1864. He is a son of Reuben and Elizabeth (Shaw) High, the father a native of Pennsylvania and `mother of Jefferson county, Ohio—the father born in 1827 and the mother in the following year. When nine years of age Reuben was brought by his parents ( Jacob and Elizabeth) to Guilford township, Medina county ; but after a time the family moved to Westfield township, where the father purchased a farm, cleared it, erected good buildings and remained on this homestead until his death. In 1847 Reuben High married Miss Shaw and soon afterward the young couple settled in Westfield township, where the husband engaged in general farming and stock raising. He owned 203 acres of choice land, erected convenient buildings for his crops and animals, and conducted his farm and managed his homestead with good judgment and thoughtfulness until his death in February, 1906. His wife Elizabeth, who shared in all the honors of home-building, died September 9, 1909, in her eighty-first year, mother of these ten children : Catherine, Rose, Malinda (deceased), Alvoretta, Belle (deceased), Rebecca, Lydia, George T., Reuben C. and U. Grant. The last named and the second son of the family received his education at the winter sessions of district school, spending his summers on the farm until he was twenty-one years of age. After his marriage in 1892 he rented a portion of the old homestead and engaged in mixed farming and the raising of horses, cattle, hogs and sheep. In these ventures he has met 1654 - HISTORY OF THE WESTERN RESERVE with the success which is an outgrowth of industry, practical knowledge and sound business judgment. As an intelligent and conscientious citizen he has also applied himself to the advancement of township education. Mr. High's wife before marriage was Miss Margaret Murray, daughter of John and Nancy (Chambers) Murray, old residents of Guilford township. She has borne him a daughter, Florence, who is a student in the Leroy high school. Both Mr. and Mrs. High are active members of the First Methodist Episcopal church of Seville. GEORGE KUDER, who is living in retirement on his fine farm of 170 acres near Chippewa Lake, Medina county, has been a resident of the county named for nearly seventy-four years or since his fourteenth year. During the bulk of that long period he has been a hard worker, an active manager, and always economical, thoughtful and able ; so that the comfort and rest of his years as a veteran agriculturist and citizen are pronounced by all the just fruits of a faithful husbandry. Mr. Kuder is a native of Columbiana county, Pennsylvania, born April 21, 1822, and he is of an old and respectable German family, whose original American immigrant need be traced no further back than to the paternal grandfather, George Kuder. When he came to Pennsylvania in his youth that section of the country was mostly a wilderness ; but there he settled, flourished, married and multiplied, becoming the father of sixteen children. One of his sons, Adam Kuder, married Miss Esther Pealer, and to him, in turn, were born twelve children, of whom are mentioned the following : Susanna, who became Mrs. George Traver, and is deceased ; Sylvester, who died in Iowa ; Eli, who lived in St. Joseph county, Michigan, but is now deceased ; Barbara, Mrs. Theodore Buchner, of Cleveland, Ohio, deceased ; Adam, deceased ; Sarah, Mrs. Frank Mack, of Cleveland ; and George, of this sketch. In the early part of 1835 George Kuder accompanied his parents to the Western Reserve and commenced his new life on the family farm of ioo acres situated in Sharon township. The purchase price for the property was eight hundred dollars, which seemed a large price at the time. It was here that young Kuder received his first hard training in farming matters and was fitted to continue his calling toward independence. The first three years of his career as an independent farmer comprised a series of continuous struggles to keep himself afloat ; then he commenced to make headway against the strong current, rented land and finally purchased about ninety acres in the northeastern part of Westfield township. By diligent and wise management and persistent labor, assisted by his affectionate and thrifty wife, the thirty years of his residence in the township brought him a competency and an honorable standing. In size his present homestead is nearly double that of the original, and in appearance is attractive and modern. Mr. Kuder has been twice married, but his first wife (nee Matilda Woolford), who was a native of Wayne county, Ohio, died only eleven months after marriage, without issue. On March 22, 1849, he was wedded to Miss Sarah J. Frank. She was born in Canaan township, Wayne county, January 7, 1828, and was of a family of seven brothers and two sisters, of whom eight reached maturity. She was the eldest of the family, the survivors being Daniel, a resident of Wayne, Ohio ; Mary E., who became Mrs. Daniel Collier and lives in Summit county ; Isaiah, of Wadsworth ; Henry A., also of Summit ; and Hughs, living in Sharon township. Mrs. Kuder's parents were Peter and Nancy (Ball) Frank, her father having been born in Washington county, Pennsylvania, June 23, 1789, and her mother, who was a native of the state of Maryland, came to that state when quite young. The father journeyed from Pennsylvania afoot, located in Wayne county, entered land from the government and cleared up a farm in the woods. The family spent the hard but healthful life of the real pioneer times, the oldest child, Sarah, being provided with a cradle when the sap-trough was not being put to its legitimate uses. The mother died March 23, 1864, and the father February 8, 1872. Of the four children born to Mr. and Mrs. George Kuder, but two are living—Ada L. and Marcia May, and Mrs. Kuder died about twenty-two years ago. Mr. Kuder is among the oldest and most honored members of the local Presbyterian church.   MASON B. TILDEN.—This name represents one of the earliest families to settle in the Western Reserve, Mason B. Tilden, who was born October 20, 1819, in Hiram, Portage county, being of the fourth generation of Tildens to live in that place. He is, without doubt, the oldest native-born citizen of this part of the state, and is familiar with its early history and with everything relating to the primitive, HISTORY OF THE WESTERN RESERVE - 1655 toilsome and sometimes stirring and perilous life of the pioneers. The Tildens are of English origin, and the family was first represented on American soil by two brothers of that name who came over here, it is said, on the Mayflower. Daniel Tilden, the great-grandfather of Mason B., served as a colonel in the Revolutionary war. He subsequently came to Portage county, and spent his closing years of life in Hiram. About 1826 his son, Mason Tilden, the next in line of descent, bought land in Hiram, and was here employed in tilling the soil until his death. John M. Tilden, father of Mason B., was born, reared and married in the state of New York. In the early part of 1819 he came with his family to the Western Reserve, took up a tract of wild land in Hiram, and by dint of strenuous labor redeemed a farm from the dense wilderness. In 1831 he removed to Garrettsville, Portage county, and was there a resident until his death, at the age of four score years. He was four times married. He married first Polly Pannell, who was born in New York, a daughter of Abram Pannell, who spent his last years .in that state. She died at the age of forty years. He married second Mrs. Laura Burrows, a widow, and after her death married Mrs. Sarah Ann Petrie, also a widow. He married for his fourth wife an other widow, a Mrs. Nicholson. By his first marriage he had six children, four of whom are now living, namely : Abram P. of Chardon, Geauga county ; Mason B., the special subject of this sketch ; Mary Ann, widow of William A. Stow, resides in Adrian, Michigan ; and Elizabeth Jane, widow of Edwin Hull, is a resident of Garrettsville, Portage county. By his second marriage he had one child, Marcelus C. Coming with his parents to Garrettsville when nine years old, Mason B. Tilden obtained his early education in the typical log school house of pioneer days. When twenty years of age he went to Kinsman, Trumbull county, where he learned the trade of a blacksmith, and subsequently followed it for two years. Returning then to Garrettsville, he opened a smithy, which he conducted successfully until 1862. He then turned his attention to agricultural pursuits, and during the Civil war dealt extensively in horses, buying those suitable for use in the, army and selling them to the government. At the close of the war Mr. Tilden bought a farm in Hiram, and for thirty-five years was actively engaged in tilling the soil, an occupation in which he was prosperous. Having by wise management and thrift acquired a fair share of this world's goods he took up his residence in Garrettsville, where he is now living in retirement, enjoying a well-earned leisure. On March 17, 1841, Mr. Tilden married Cordelia Allen. She was born in Massachusetts, and came with her parents, Phineas and Sarah M. (Porter) Allen, in 1827, to Portage county, when she was four years old. Three children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Tilden, namely : Frank, living in Chicago, Illinois ; Ralph, deceased ; and Louisa, widow of the late Horace F. Hatch. Since the organization of the Republican party Mr. Tilden has been one of the most earnest supporters of its principles. He cast his first presidential vote in 1840 for the Democratic candidate, Martin Van Buren, and has voted at every presidential election since that time, having the distinction of casting eighteen votes for presidential candidates. He has never sought public office, but has served as a justice of the peace.   ANDREW JOHNSON.—Prominent among the enterprising and progressive men who were more actively identified with promoting the agricultural prosperity of Lorain county was Andrew Johnson, late of Elyria township, where he spent his entire life. He was born January 23, 1843, in Elyria township, and died on the farm where his birth occurred May 31, 1882. His father, Leonard Johnson, was born March 17, 1798, and came as a pioneer to Ohio, locating in Elyria township, where he reclaimed a farm from its primeval wildness, and was diligently engaged in its management until his death, April 10, 1873. He married Chloe Cutler, who was born June 13, 1809, and died September 1, 1853. Ten children were born to them, not one of whom is now living, as follows: Edwin, born November 24, 1826 ; Clarissa, born March 18, 1828 ; Stephen, born November 14, 1829 ; Julia, born April 22, 1831 ; Martin, born April 18, 1833, and who died in infancy ; Martin (2), born February 22, 1835 ; Mary, born December 23, 1836 ; Henry, born December 29, 1838 ; Alonzo, born February 26, 1841; Andrew, the special subject of this sketch ; and John, born April 17, 1845. Succeeding to the ownership of the parental homestead, Andrew Johnson was engaged in the occupation to which he was reared during   Vol. III-25 1656 - HISTORY OF THE WESTERN RESERVE his entire life, carrying on general farming with marked success, his skill, ability and judgment bringing exceptionally good results. He was a loyal and patriotic citizen, and in 1864 offered his services to his country, enlisting for '00 days in Company B, Thirty-seventh Ohio Volunteer Infantry, and while in the army contracted an illness from which he never recovered. Especially interested in education, he rendered excellent service as school director. He belonged to the Grand Army of the Republic, taking the oath of membership on his death bed. Mrs. Johnson conducted the farm for more than fifteen years after the death of her husband, erecting the present house the year following Mr. Johnson's demise. On May 11, 1865, Mr. Johnson was united in marriage with Eliza P. Root, who was born November 13, 1841, in Dover, Cuyahoga county, Ohio, a daughter of William and Vesta (Bassett) Root. Four children blessed the union of Mr. and Mrs. Johnson, namely : Alonzo L., born November 21, 1866, died March 26, 1868 ; Vesta Mary, born April 15, 1869, married Harvey L. Hecock, a farmer of Sheffield township, Lorain county, and they have two children, Richard and Ralph ; Stella, born April 24, 1871, married Harry L. Howard, and they live with Mrs. Johnson on the home farm, and they have two children, H. Linley and W. Vincent ; and Andrew, born July 13, 1874, is engaged in business in Pittsfield, Massachusetts. He married Carrie Beal, of Elyria township, and they have had five children—Naomi, a son, who died in infancy ; Vera, another son, who died in infancy ; and Carolyn E. GEORGE BURR, who has been engaged in agriculture, dairying and horticulture in Medina county since his boyhood, is now engaged in farming, fruit growing and gardening on his forty-seven-acre place, a part of the old homestead which was founded about 1811 by his father. He makes a specialty of growing peaches and apples, his product of the former fruit being as fine as any raised in that section of Ohio. Mr. Burr is an active and a leading member of the Medina Agricultural Society and has always been a strong factor in the progress of the agricultural and horticultural interests of the county. He has also enjoyed public honors, especially in connection with educational matters, having been a member of the school board for some time and also president of that body. In politics he is an independent Republican. To add to his assured standing in the community, he has served as trustee and treasurer of the First Congregational church of Lodi and has long been a leader in the religious work and the charities of the place. Mr. Burr was born in Harrisville township, Medina county, on January 5, 1850, and is a son of George and Celinda (Fitts) Burr, the father being a native of Litchfield, Connecticut, born in 1788, and the mother, the second wife of George Burr, was born a number of years later in Harrisville township, this county. The later was the daughter of Jonathan Fitts, a pioneer of the Western Reserve. The paternal grandfather, Russell Burr, was also a native of Connecticut. George Burr, the father, became a resident of Medina county in 1811, having received some hundreds of acres of land from the state of Connecticut through Russell Burr, his father, who obtained the land as part payment for public road work for the state of Connecticut. His land was mostly covered with timber, and after he had cleared a space for a log house and built a crude residence he returned to Connecticut and brought his first wife, Mahetable Hannah Burr, to their new home. As he gradually cleared away the forest and uprooted the stubborn stumps, he prepared the virgin soil for crops or turned his increasing live stock upon the land. As game was plentiful and to be obtained for the shooting, and flour decidedly scarce and dear, the Burr family and its pioneer neighbors depended much on the forest for their meat. The head of the family also engaged in the dairy business for many years and in the manufacture of cheese, as in all else which he undertook, he earned a high local reputation. George Burr assisted in the organization of civil government in the township of Harrisville in the spring of 1817. On the 5th of October following he and his wife with ten others formed the Congregational church of Lodi, which was the first Christian church organized in Medina county. He served the church as one of its deacons for a number of years prior to his death in 1872 at the advanced age of eighty-four years. George Burr was also connected with his brother, Timothy Burr, in the running and management of the underground railway in anti-bellum days. Mahetable Burr, his wife, was born in Litchfield county, Connecticut, May 27, 1790, and died September 2, 1843, leaving four daugh- HISTORY OF THE WESTERN RESERVE - 1657 ters, Emiline, Louisa, Almira and Adeline. George Burr's second wife, Celinda, a most esimable woman, died on April 19, 1883, mother of three children—George Burr, of this sketch; Bertha, who married Winthrop Nettleton, as her first husband and Rev. L. J. Donaldson, of Medina, as her second ; and Chester H. Burr, a prosperous farmer of Chatham township. Mr. Burr of this sketch received his early education in the district school of Harrisville township not far from the family homestead and in the high school at Lodi. He then pursued a course of two years in Oberlin College, returned to the farm and in 1872 married Miss Mary I. Fitts, of Oxford, New York, daughter of Hiram and Almedia (Beardsly) Fitts. Mrs. Burr was a teacher previous to her marriage. Afterward the young couple commenced housekeeping on a tract of eighty-two acres comprised in the original site of the old homestead. There Mr. Burr engaged in farming and dairying until the Baltimore & Ohio road. proposed its right-of-way through his place, when he sold a part of his property to the railway company and in 1906 built all new buildings across the road, which he now occupies. He has made other improvements in keeping with his present enterprise of fruit growing and truck farming. His place shows every evidence of prosperity and is one of the most comfortable country homes in the vicinity. His family consists of his wife and two children, his son, George Harold, and Myrtle C., the elder. She is the wife of James M. Racer, of Cleveland, Ohio. CHESLEY G. CHAPMAN.—This well known and highly esteemed citizen and successful farmer of Medina county is a scion of one of the sterling pioneer families of this section of the Western Reserve, being a representative of the fourth generation of the family in Medina county, with whose history the name has been indissolubly and worthily linked for more than ninety years. The various generations have ably assisted in the civic and material development and upbuilding of the county, and it is most consonant that in this publication be entered and perpetuated a record concerning those who have thus wrought so well in the past, as well as those who are at the present time ably upholding the prestige of an honored name. Reuben Chapman, third son of Jonathan .Chapman, of Connecticut, was born in that state on March 20, 1761, the family having been founded in New England in the early colonial epoch. He was reared to manhood in Connecticut, and there, on November 21, 1782, was solemnized his marriage to Miss Rhoda Peck, who likewise was a native of Connecticut, where she was born on January 27, 1760. Reuben Chapman moved from his native state to Vermont and resided for several years at Cavendish, Windsor county, that state. From that point, on June 20, 1818, in company with his devoted wife and his sons Cyrus, Sceva, Leonard and Clyne, he set forth for the wilds of the Western Reserve, his equipment for the long and weary journey comprising a team of horses, two yokes of oxen and two wagons. One of the wagons was drawn by the horses and the double ox-team furnished the motive power for the other wagon. In the preceding ,year the three other sons of Reuben Chapman had come to the Reserve and made their way through to the future home of the family in Medina county. The horse team mentioned arrived in Harrisville township, this county, some time in August, 1818. The entire family party made the trip in company as far as Buffalo, New York, where the sons Cyrus and Sceva embarked on a sloop for Cleveland, taking on board with them the ox wagon and the yokes of the two ox teams. Two weeks were consumed by this sloop in making the voyage from Buffalo to Cleveland, as the little vessel, after reaching a point near Cleveland, was driven back by a heavy gale to Erie. The first steamboat on Lake Erie was nearing completion at Black Rock, and the two brothers, Cyrus and Sceva, went on board the craft to view its splendors. Today the vessel would be considered one of the most primitive and insignificant order. In the meanwhile the other members of the family had proceeded overland, driving the ox teams, and had arrived in Cleveland, then a small village, before the sloop reached its destination at that point. Leonard Chapman was left in charge of the oxen, awaiting the arrival of the sloop, and when the same reached Cleveland the three brothers took the old Ridge road, by way of Grafton, for Harrisville township, Medina county. They passed the night with a worthy settler at Grafton, from which point no road had been constructed, so that it was necessary to cut through two miles of roadway to reach the new home in the midst of the forests of Harrisville township. Sceva Chapman was 1658 - HISTORY OF THE WESTERN RESERVE assigned to the duty of driving the ox team, while his two brothers, with the aid of the previously mentioned Grafton man, cut the underbrush and cleared the way. Sceva Chapman thus had the distinction of being the first man to drive a team from Grafton to Harrisville. At the time of the arrival of the Chapman family there was only one family settled in Chatham township—that of Moses Parsons, great-grandfather of the wife of him whose name initiates this article. Reuben Chapman and his family settled on a tract of heavily timbered land near the present village of Lodi, and here the father and his sturdy sons grappled earnestly with the wilderness, causing the same to yield tribute to their energy and indefatigable industry, so that in course of time the giant trees of the forest gave place to productive fields. Reuben Chapman and his wife passed the residue of their lives on this old homestead in Harrisville township, and their names merit an enduring place on the roll of the honored pioneers of the Western Reserve. They were numbered among the original members of the Baptist church at Westfield, in which he was a deacon, holding this position until the close of his long and useful life. He died on October 9, 1845, his devoted wife having been summoned to the life eternal on June 7, 1843. Sceva Chapman, grandfather of Chesley G. Chapman, was born in Cavendish, Windsor county, Vermont, on February 1o, 1793, and thus he was about twenty-five years of age at the time of the family removal to Medina county, Ohio. Before leaving the old Green Mountain state it had been his to render valiant service as a soldier in the war of 1812, in which he was a member of a company commanded by Captain Asa Aikens, in the Thirty-first Regiment, United States Infantry. On February 17, 1825, he was united in marriage to Miss Azuba Marsh, of Ashland county, Ohio. His wife, who was the daughter of Abijah and Bersha (Snow) Marsh, who moved from Massachusetts to Vermont in 1794, was born at Wardsbury, Windham county, Vermont, on October 7, 1802, and was a member of the third family to make permanent settlement in Medina township, Medina county, Ohio, where they made their advent on November 7, 1816. Sceva Chapman became a man of prominence and influence in the pioneer community and was called upon to serve in various offices of public trust and responsibility, including those of township treasurer, township trustee and school director. His wife was a devout member of the Methodist Episcopal church, having united with the same about the time the first class was formed in Lodi, this county. Sceva Chapman died January 21, 1881, and Azuba Chapman died November 24, 1885, at Lodi, Medina county, Ohio. Sceva and Azuba (Marsh) Chapman became the parents of six children, namely : Willard J., Harrison S., Ozias E., Arminda E., Marinda E. and Rozella M. Of this number two are now living. Ozias E., who lives at Ottawa, Illinois, and Mrs. Rozella M. Topping, of Sedgwick City, Kansas. Harrison S. Chapman, father of him whose name introduces this article, was born on the old homestead farm in Harrisville township, Medina county, Ohio, on the 26th of July, 1830, and he was reared to manhood under the conditions and influences of the pioneer epoch, so that his educational advantages were limited to the common schools of the locality and period. On the loth of August, 1860, was solemnized his marriage to Miss Jane Gilley, daughter of Andrew and Catherine Gilley, who came to Harrisville township, this county, from Pennsylvania, in 1833, and who were prominently identified with the building of the first Congregational church in the village of Lodi. Harrison S. Chapman devoted his attention to farming and stock-growing throughout his entire active career, and was one of the progressive agriculturists and highly honored citizens of the county. He passed his entire life, with the exception of one year, on the fine old homestead farm which had been secured by his grandfather so many years before and which was at the time of his death one of the model farmsteads of the county, having been reclaimed from the forest and brought to its present fine state of productivity by representatives of this well known pioneer family. The old Chapman homestead was bought in 1905 by the Baltimore and Ohio Improvement Company, from which the gravel and timber were taken to make the large fill on the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad double track through the incorporated town of Lodi. Harrison S. Chapman was a man of impregnable integrity in all the relations of life and he well merited the unqualified esteem and confidence reposed in him by the people of his native county. He was a Republican in his political proclivities, served for a number of years as school director and also gave effective service in the office of HISTORY OF THE WESTERN RESERVE - 1659 township trustee. He and his wife were zealous and consistent members of the Congregational church of Lodi, and he was recognized as one of its veritable pillars, having held the offices of clerk and deacon for about forty years and having been an earnest and well fortified teacher in its Sunday-school from the time he was seventeen years old until the close of his long and worthy life, except for the brief interval of one year. He was summoned to the life eternal on the 8th of May, 1895, and she, who had ever been his devoted wife and helpmeet and the gracious mother of his children, passed away on the 16th of October, 1901, secure in the reverent affections of all who had come within the sphere of her gentle influence. Of the two children Angie L. is the elder, having been born on the 24th of March, 1862, and become on March 14, 1889, the wife of Charles W. Daniels, of Harrisville township, who was born March 1o, 1864, at Apple Creek, Wayne county, Ohio. To them have been born three children, Crystal Belle Daniels, born July 9, 1890 ; Joseph Harrison Daniels, born March 18, 1892 ; and Charles Elmo Daniels, born December 7, 1893. The younger child is the subject of this re- view and brief data concerning his career appear in the following paragraphs. Chesley G. Chapman was born on the old Chapman homestead farm in Harrisville town-. ship on the loth of July, 1867, and he is now owner of the valuable property in Chatham township, Medina county, known as the old Moses Parsons' homestead which has excellent improvements of a permanent nature, including a substantial residence. He is now recogn;zed as one of the successful and essentially representative farmers and stock-growers of his native county and has a fine landed estate of one hundred and twenty-two acres. Mr. Chapman, as may be supposed, was reared to the sturdy discipline of the farm, and to the district schools of the locality he is indebted for his early educational training. He continued to be associated in the work and management of the home farm until his marriage, at the age of twenty-two years, and he and his wife passed the ensuing year in the village of Lodi, since which he has followed farming and stock-growing. Though never a seeker of public office, Mr. Chapman has shown a constant and lively interest in all that has tended to conserve the general welfare of his community and he is aligned as a stanch supporter of the cause of the Republican party. He is appreciative of the lives and labors of his forebears who have been so prominently identified with the development of this favored section of the Western Reserve, and has reason to be proud of the name which he so worthily bears. He retains in his possession as a valuable heirloom a well preserved deed to one hundred acres of land in Ashford, county of Windham, and colony of Connecticut, transferred by John and Martha Stevens to his great-grandfather, Jonathan Chapman, under date of the 18th day of February in the eight year of his majesty's reign Anno Domini 1768. On the 6th of February, 189o, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Chapman to Miss Nettie C. Packard, who was born in Chatham township, this county, on the 13th of October, 1869, and who is a daughter of William. and Elizabeth (Parsons) Packard. William Packard was born in Plainfield township, in Hampshire county, Massachusetts, on the 18th of September, 1826, and died at his home in Chatham township, Medina county, Ohio, on the 16th of March, 1905, one of the successful farmers and honored citizens of the county. His wife was born on the old Moses Parsons homestead in Chatham township, Medina county, on the 26th of March, 1834, and still maintains her home in Medina county. Caleb Packard, the paternal grandfather of Mrs. Chapman, was a native of Massachusetts, as was also his wife, whose maiden name was Sallie Stowell. The maternal great-grandfather, Moses Parsons, was a member of an old and honored family of New England and was one of the sterling pioneers of Medina county, Ohio, as has already been noted in a preceding paragraph. Darwin Parsons, grandfather of Mrs. Chapman, was a native of New York, as was also his wife, whose maiden name was Hope Crush. Mr. and Mrs. Chapman have nine children, whose names, with respective dates of birth, are here given : Harrison W., September 22, 1890; Chesley C., May 2, 1892 ; Lutie Belle, April 22, 1894 ; Hobert McKinley, March 17, 1896 ; Mabel R., August 22, 1898 ; Thelma M., November 3, 1900; Fenton C., March 1o, 1903 ; Mertrude L., July 9, 1905 ; and Keith E., February 19, 1909. WILLIAM J. HORNER, who has resided on the old Homer homestead one mile east of the village of Lodi for some thirty-two years, has long been the owner of this fine country place of one hundred and twenty-seven acres. He has improved the homestead by erecting upon • 1660 - HISTORY OF THE WESTERN RESERVE it a comfortable residence ; has continuously added to his out-buildings and constantly maintained his farming machinery to the highest standard. As a scientific cultivator of the soil he is also widely known, and his own farm is an object lesson and proof of his knowledge in all the modern lines of practical agriculture. That knowledge he has been able to utilize in the business field, to the mutual advantage of himself and the community, as for several years he served as general agent for the International Harvester Company of Cleveland, and for four years was salesman for the Northwestern Fertilizing Company. Mr. Horner is a native of the village of Lodi, born December 19, 1859, and is the eldest son of John and Margaret (Blaine) Horner, the former of whom was a native of Wayne county, Ohio, and died in 1902. The paternal grandfather, John Horner, was a native of Vermont and came from the Green Mountain state to Ohio about 182o. The father was a pioneer shoemaker of Lodi, but during the later years of his life varied the work of the bench with that of his farm, situated a mile east of the village. William J., the son, received his education in a district school and in the public school of Lodi, and since completing his education has made farming the main and successful occupation, of his life. In December, 1877, he married Miss Ella Culp, of Medina county, daughter of Jacob and Anna (Delph) Culp, and he and his wife afterward settled on the old Horner homestead, where he has since engaged in general farming and stock raising. The eight children born to Mr. and Mrs. William J. Horner are as follows : Frank, who resides in California ; Harvey C., connected with the railway service ; Emma, now the wife of Clyde Horst, who is a resident of Indiana ; Claude ; Bertha N., who married C. H. Kintner ; Clara E. ; Clement Ross ; and Ivan L., who is at home. WILLIAM J. DODGE.—The estimate placed upon Mr. Dodge by the residents of his native county is clearly shown forth in the fact that he is incumbent of the responsible office of county auditor, in which he has given an administration which has met with unqualified official and popular approval. He is a scion of sterling pioneer families of the Western Reserve, in which he is a representative of the third generation in both the paternal and maternal lines. As one of the representative citizens and popular officials of Portage county, he is well entitled to recognition in this publication touching the fine old Western Reserve and its people. William J. Dodge was born in Brimfield, Portage county, Ohio, February 27, 1868, and is a son of George W. and Minerva (Hoskin) Dodge. George W. Dodge was born in Nelson, New Hampshire, and is a representative of a family founded in New England in the colonial era of our national history. When he was a lad of seven years his parents, William J. and Anna Dodge, came to Ohio and numbered themselves among the pioneers of Portage county, where the father became a prominent and influential citizen. He first located at Akron, and he became a successful farmer and business man, through which line of enterprise he became well known throughout the Western Reserve. He was a man of much business ability and was successful in his various enterprises after coming to Ohio. While a resident of New Hampshire he was representative of his district in the state legislature, and was a power in political affairs in his section of the old Granite state. Both he and his wife continued to reside in Portage county until their death, and their names merit a place on the roster of the sterling pioneers of this favored section of Ohio. George W. Dodge was reared to manhood in Portage county, where he was afforded such advantages as were offered by the common schools of the locality and period. He was reared to the sturdy discipline of the home farm, in whose work he early began to lend his assistance, and during the major portion of his active career he continued to follow as his vocation the great basic industry of agriculture, in connection with which he developed one of the valuable farm properties of Randolph township, where he continued to reside until about 1898, when he removed to the city of Ravenna, where he has since lived virtually retired. He has attained to the venerable age of seventy-eight years (19o9) and commands the unequivocal confidence and regard of the people of that county in which virtually his entire life has been passed. His political support is given to the Republican party, and he still continues to take a vital interest in the questions and issues of the hour. He holds membership in the Church of Christ, as did also his cherished and devoted wife, who was summoned to the life eternal in the year 19oo. Minerva (Hoskin) Dodge were born in Shalersville, Portage county, Ohio, and was a HISTORY OF THE WESTERN RESERVE - 1661 daughter of Milo and Polly Hoskin, who were numbered among the honored pioneers of Portage county, where Mr. Hoskin became a successful farmer and a citizen of influence in civic and public affairs. Mrs. Dodge was long known as one of the successful and popular teachers in the public schools of Portage county, where she taught in a number of the leading district schools. Many of her former pupils are now representative citizens of Ravenna and other sections of the county, and hold her name in reverent memory. George W. and Minerva (Hoskin) Dodge became the parents of six children, one of whom died in childhood, and the others are still living, namely : Addie, William J., George A., Mabel and Harry. William J. Dodge, the immediate subject of this review, was reared to manhood in Portage county, which has represented his home from the time of his birth. His boyhood days were passed on the home farm, and his early educational training was received in the public schools, after which he was matriculated in famous old Hiram College, of which the late and honored General James A. Garfield, former president of the United States, was at one time president, and in this institution Mr. Dodge was graduated as a member of the class of 1890, with the degree of Bachelor of Philosophy, and in 1893 he received the degree of Master of Philosophy from this college. He become a devotee of the pedagogic profession, in which it was his to attain to distinctive success and prestige. Immediately upon his graduation from college he accepted the position of principal of the public schools of Watertown, South Dakota, an incumbency which he retained until 1893, when he returned to his native county and assumed the office of principal of the Ravenna High School. Here he rendered most effective service and gained a strong hold upon the affection and esteem of the students of the high school, where he continued his labors for twelve years, at the expiration of which, in 1905, he resigned his position to assume the duties of the office of county auditor, to which he was elected in the autumn of 1904 by a flattering majority. Mr. Dodge is a stalwart in the local camp of the Republican party, in whose cause he has rendered yeoman service, though he has never been a candidate for public office except that of which he is now incumbent. He and his wife are members of the Church of Christ and take an active interest in the various departments of its work. He is a member of various social and civic organizations, and is known as a man of fine intellectuality, marked executive ability and gracious personality. He has well upheld the prestige of the honored name which he bears, and is one of the popular officials of his native county. In the year 1892 was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Dodge to Miss Mary Hank, daughter of Daniel and Hannah Hank, of Hiram, Ohio, honored pioneer citizens of the Western Reserve. Mr. and Mrs. Dodge have one son,—William J., Jr.   ALBERT THOMAS GRILLS; M. D.—Although one of the younger members of the medical fraternity of Lorain county, Albert T. Grills, M. D., of Lorain, has profited by his .valuable experience both in hospital and private practice, and now holds a noteworthy position among the most active and successful physicians and surgeons of this part of the state. He was born at Ashawa, Canada, June 9, 1877, a son of Samuel and Elizabeth (Grant) Grills, natives of England, who emigrated from Canada to Ohio in 1882, locating in Carlisle township, Lorain county, on the farm where they now reside. Living on the home farm until seventeen years of age, Albert T. Grills attended first the district schools, then the Elyria graded schools, being graduated from the Elyria high school with the class of 1900. In 1904 he was graduated from the Western Reserve Medical College in Cleveland, with the degree of M. D., and during the ensuing two years was resident physician and surgeon at the Charity Hospital in that city. Coming then to Lorain, Dr. Grills held a similar position in Saint Joseph's Hospital for a year and a half. Since that time he has been actively engaged in the practice of his profession in this city, and by his acknowledged skill in the application of the more modern methods employed in medicine and surgery has already built up an extensive and valuable patronage. The doctor is a member of the staff of Saint Joseph's Hospital, and is medical director of the American Carlsbad Sanitarium of Lorain. He is a member of the Lorain County Medical Society, of the Ohio State Medical Society, and of the American Medical Association, in each organization taking an active interest. He belongs to the Lorain Chamber of Commerce, and is a member of the Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, the Knights of Pythias 1662 - HISTORY OF THEWESTERN RESERVE and the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. In the first named he affiliates with Lorain Lodge, No. 552, F. & A. M., with Mystic Chapter, No. 170, R. A. M., and with Lorain Council, R. & S. M. Dr. Grills married Olive A. Mahany, who was born in Cleveland, Ohio, a daughter of John Mahany. ANDREW J. STEELE, who was a successful agriculturist conducting a place of eighty acres on what was formerly a part of the well known Gardner farm near Lodi, is a native of Wyandot county, Ohio, born in the year 1857. He is a , son of Ely and Margarite Jane (Carnahan) Steele, both born in Milton township, that county—the father, January 12, 1824, and the mother, October 24th of the same year. Their marriage occurred May 24, 1845, and for many years aferward Mr. Steele engaged in farming in Milton township. He then moved to Wyandot county and bought a farm of one hundred acres, living there ten years, and then moved to Westfield township. His place of one hundred and sixty-five acres became known as a model farm, as it was cultivated and improved thoroughly and scientifically. Its proprietor also served as trustee for many years and always took a deep interest in township affairs. Late in life he retired from his farm to Burbank and later to Creston, where he died. Andrew J., of this sketch, received a good common school education ; was reared on the farm in Wyandot county, and in his twenty-first year married Miss Nellie Horner, of Harrisville township, daughter of John and Margarite J. (Blaine) Horner, sketches of whom are elsewhere published. Mr. Steele afterward settled in Milton and Harrisville townships, Medina county. In Harrisville township he bought a farm of eighty acres, a part of the Gardner homestead, and which he has improved with a good set of buildings and supplied with the latest agricultural machinery and implements. At one time Mr. Steele was also interested in the Homer homestead near Lodi and resided upon it for several years. He is an active member of the Ben Hur lodge and identified with the Congregational church at Lodi. Three children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Andrew J. Steele, as follows : Asiea, now the wife of Floyd Umstead, a resident of Cleveland, Ohio ; Isie E. a book- keeper of the Leader ; and Gerald E., Steele. The family attend the Congregational church. JAMES B. HOLM.—The fine old Western Reserve has within its borders many well conducted and ably edited newspapers, and among the most noteworthy of these effective indices of local prosperity and progress is the Portage County Democrat, published in the city of Ravenna. Of this paper James B. Holm is the able and popular editor and manager, and it has been in a large measure due to his efforts that the journal has gained so distinctive prestige, with concomitant expansion of circulation, and wields so definite an influence in its field. Mr. Holm finds much satisfaction in reverting to the old Buckeye state as the place of his nativity, and he has ever continued appreciative of its attractions and high status as one of the sovereign commonwealths of the Union. He was born in Stark county, Ohio, on the 8th of November, 1879, and is a son of Asbury and Emma (Wilhelm) Holm, both of whom were likewise natives of that county, where the respective families were founded in the pioneer epoch and where the respective names have ever stood for the best type of citizenship. Asbury Holm was reared and educated in Stark county, and there he devoted his attention to agricultural pursuits until about 1880, when he removed thence to Troy township, Geauga county, this state, where he continued to be identified with the great basic art of agriculture until his death, at the age of forty-five years. His wife survived him only a brief interval and was forty-six years of age at the time when she was summoned to the life eternal. They became the parents of four children, namely : Blanche, who is now the wife of Newton Hoopes, of Chagrin Falls, Ohio ; James B. who is the immediate subject of this sketch ; B., who resides at Chagrin Falls ; and Robert E., who is a resident of Portland, Oregon. James B. Holm was about one year old at the time of his parents' removal from Stark county to Geauga county, and in the latter he was reared to maturity. He was afforded the advantages of the public schools and in 1898 was graduated in the high schools at Welsh-field. Thereafter he put his scholastic acquirements to practical test and utilization by becoming a teacher in the district schools of Geauga county, where he was thus engaged about one year, at the expiration of which he entered historic old Hiram College, where he continued his higher academic studies for some time. He later became a student in HISTORY OF THE WESTERN RESERVE - 1663 Mount Union College, at Alliance, Stark county, and in this well ordered institution he was graduated as a member of the class of 1903, with the degree of Bachelor of Arts. Journalism had already made a definite appeal to him, and after his graduation he identified himself with the newspaper business in the city of Akron, where he did reportorial work for some time and effectually gained his spurs. Thereafter he was similarly engaged in the cities of Pittsburg and Cleveland, and his success was such that he had no desire to withdraw his allegiance from the interesting vocation which he had. adopted and which ever has its attractions to all who have in any way been concerned with the "art preservative of all arts." In February, 1906, Mr. Holm took up his residence in Ravenna, where he assumed charge of the Portage county Democrat, of which he has since been editor and manager and whose interests he has greatly advanced through his discriminating administrative policy and effective editorial utterances. He is a versatile writer, and his opinions in regard to matters of local import and also those of general public polity are well fortified. The Democrat is issued weekly, and is attractive in letter-press and general makeup. It receives a representative advertising patronage, and its circulation is constantly expanding, as is the work of its thoroughly modern and well equipped job department. The Democrat, as the name implies, is an exponent of the principles and policies of the Democratic party, and Mr. Holm has made it an effective vehicle for the furthering of the party cause, of which he is a staunch advocate. He is recognized as an able young business man and is not denied the fullest measure of personal popularity in the city with whose interests he has closely allied himself. His wife is a member of the Congregational church and he is identified with the Sigma Nu college fraternity. On the 17th of June, 1908, Mr. Holm was united in marriage to Miss May Catlin, daughter of Nelson Catlin, a representative business man of Ravenna, and they are prominent in connection with the social activities of their home city. FRANK REESE, who is engaged in farming and stock-raising near Chippewa Lake, Medina county, represents one of the pioneer families of the locality, his father moving from Summit county, Ohio, to Sharon township, this county, in the spring of 1837. He was born August 5, 1860, a son of Jacob N. and Jane S. (Phelps) Reese, the father having been born in Montgomery county, New York, January 26, 1814. His grandparents were Nicholas and Anna (Putnam) Reese, who moved from that section of the state of Middlebury, Summit county, Ohio, where they spent their last years. On December 31, 1835, Jacob N. Reese married Miss Jane Phelps and less than two years thereafter the young couple settled in Medina county, the wife's parents having located in Wadsworth township during the preceding year. Mr. and Mrs. Reese therefore spent the chief portion of their married life on their homestead in Guilford township, where the father became prominent in public affairs, serving as justice of the peace, trustee and in other local offices. Their marriage resulted in twelve children, all of whom married and two of the sons were Union soldiers. The enumeration, in order of birth, is as follows : Aurelia A., William I., Elizabeth J., Newton N., Lucia V., John B. (died February 14, 1854), Jacob L., Clara J., John C. Fremont (died April 20, 1875), Frederick S. (died October 28, 1860) and Frank (of this sketch), twins ; and Gertrude J. Frank Reese received his education in the public schools of Wadsworth and in a select institution at the same place and was reared and reached manhood upon the Guilford township farm. He is not only thoroughly versed in agriculture, but is well grounded in all matters of general interest. On March 29, 1883, Mr. Reese married Miss Ada L. Kuder, who was born January 29, 1863, a daughter of George and Sarah (Frank) Kuder, her father being one of the old, honored and prosperous settlers in the Chippewa Lake region. Mr. and Mrs. Reese, with their family, reside on the old Kuder homestead, where the former is engaged both in general farming and stock-raising. The six children who have been born to them were as follows : Edna L., born in Westfield township, June 29, 1885 ; Marcia Beryl, born in Wadsworth, Ohio, April 13, 1888 ; Floyd M., born in Wadsworth, March 7, 1889; Elvin J. and Elno G., twins, born in Sharon township, December 23, 1891 ; and Neil Kuder Reese, born in Westfield township, September, 18, 1893. ENGLAND D. FLICKINGER.—Representative of a substantial German family which has been assisting in the agricultural and civic progress 1664 - HISTORY OF THE WESTERN RESERVW of Medina county for more than half a century, England D. Flickinger is one of the most thoroughly educated and intelligent citizens of Westfield township. For the past eighteen years he has been profitably engaged in general farming and stock-raising, the nucleus of his fine place of one hundred and seventy-two acres being a portion of the old homestead on which he was born, which he purchased from his father. He was born April 5, 1863, to John F. and Hannah J. (Swagler) Flickinger, the family being of German origin and the great-grandfather a native of that country. The two succeeding generations, represented by Daniel Flickinger, the grandfather, and John F., the father of England D., were natives of Pennsylvania. John F. Flickinger was born in Somerset county, that state, on the 7th of August, 1826, and is of a family of nine children of whom four were natives of the county named. He was quite young when his parents migrated to Medina county and his father (Daniel Flickinger) purchased one hundred and sixty-four acres of land for six hundred dollars. This he partially cleared and improved, planted an orchard, constructed a bank barn and other buildings, and had made it into a desirable homestead when he sold the property in 1855. He then moved two miles north into Chippewa township, where he purchased one hundred and five acres, which he also improved, remaining upon this farm until August, 1872, when he moved to Orrville, Wayne county, selling his last homestead two years thereafter. His wife died August 16, 188o, leaving five children, as follows :—Mary Ann, who became the wife of Jacob Copenhaver of Allen county, Indiana ; John F., who is the father of England D., Josiah, now a resident of Kansas ; Noah, of Carroll county, Illinois ; and Catherine, who married Rudolph Dague. Grandfather Flickinger was a faithful member of the German Reformed church, with which he held important official relations. John F. Flickinger assisted his father in his farming enterprises until such time as he commenced to promote his own. Eventually he came into possession of the homestead adjoining Chippewa Lake and increased the original tract to an area of two hundred acres, also serving Westfield township as trustee and in other capacities for a number of years. On February 24, 1851, John F. Flickinger married Miss Hannah Swagler, born in Milton township, Wayne county, Ohio, March 29, 1829, and daughter of Jacob and Hannah (Howe) Swagler, who came west in 1822. Mrs. Swagler died in 1874 and of her six children only two are living—those who have become Mrs. Alvin Kimmel and Mrs. John F. Flickinger, the latter having been a resident of Westfield township since her marriage in 1851. She is the mother of five children, of whom Melvin S., Lakey J., England D. and Mina D. are still alive. John died in infancy. England D. Flickinger was reared a farmer boy, attended the district school and completed his education by a course at the Ada Normal University. Leaving the Normal, he taught one term in the country, residing on the home farm until he was twenty-one years of age. After his marriage in his twenty-ninth year he settled on a part of the old homestead, which, as stated he purchased from his father. He remodeled the residence, erected a fine bank barn and out-buildings for his machinery and the handling of his crops, added various tracts of land to the original farm, and brought everything to the up-to-date standard of convenience and saving of unnecessary labor. In response to his neighbors' requests he also gave much of his time to the public affairs of his township, having served several years as its trustee and for the past five as a member of the school board. In political matters of local import he is of independent action, but in national issues supports the Democracy, believing that its principles and policies more closely bear upon the life of the average American than those embraced in the system of Republicanism. Mr. Flickinger's wife was formerly Miss Jessie V. Stone of Sterling, daughter of John E. and Mary (Sellars) Stone, and the three children of their marriage are : Harold S., Helen H. and Angell V. Both parents are valued members of the Methodist church. the Reserve who has won success and wide ac   Josiah J. JACKSON is a son of the Reseve who won success and wide acquaintance to two professions—teaching and life insurance. He is a member of the firm of F. C. Chapman & Company, general agents for the !Etna Life Insurance Company, with headquarters in Cleveland. Mr. Jackson was born in Nelson, Portage county, Ohio, on the 3d of November, 1858. His parents were Marcus B. Jackson, born in Nelson in 1832, and Abigail Stockwell Jackson, born in Rochester, Vermont, in 1833. His grandfather, Julius Jackson, was of Scotch Irish descent and came to the Western Reserve from Litchfield, Connecticut, about 1800. HISTORY OF THE WESTERN RESERVE - 1665 His maternal grandfather was Josiah Stockwell a native of Rochester, Vermont, and an early settler of Portage county. Mr. Jackson attended the common schools of his native township and continued his higher studies in Hiram and Mount Union Colleges. At the age of sixteen he began teaching in the district schools, and for sixteen years was continuously engaged in pedagogic work. Half of that time he was connected with the public schools of Garrettsville, holding the position of superintendent for the last five years of his labors. He also served several years on the board of county examiners. In 1891, finding the confinements of teaching too severe a strain upon his health, Mr. Johnson resigned his position and became a solicitor for the Ætna Life Insurance Company of Hartford. He worked under the general agency at Cleveland, and in fifteen years had made the extraordinary record of paying for over $3,000,000 of insurance. Speaking of his work, the Ætna Life News made the following statement : "For the year 1906 Mr. Jackson stood third in the list of agents who paid for over $50,000 worth of insurance, Mr. Jackson during the year having paid for over $356,000." In 1907 Mr. Jackson acquired a half interest in the Cleveland general agency, the firm name being F. C. Chapman & Company. Thirteen counties, ten of them in the Western Reserve, are controlled by the Cleveland agency, and Mr. Jackson superintends the work of all the agents outside the headquarters in Cleveland. Evidence of the esteem in which he is held by insurance men was shown by his election for the year 1907 to the presidency of the Cleveland Association of Life Underwriters. So far as politics is concerned Mr. Jackson is generally allied with the Republicans, although in matters of local interest he is always independent of party lines. He is characterized by an earnestness and practical enthusiasm which have enabled him to succeed in whatever work he has undertaken and to derive from it the greatest possible pleasure. In all his business and social relations he has maintained a high standard of integrity and has thereby won the confidence and respect of all with whom he came in contact. On the 23d of August, 1883, Mr. Jackson was married to Miss Carrie Graham, daughter of Dwight and Anna Graham, of Nelson, Ohio. They have two children, Vesta M., who is the wife of V. W. Clisby, of Wellington, Ohio, and Jay J. Jackson, who lives in Toronto,. Canada. NELSON HARRIS, the venerable, but still alert citizen of Lodi, for several generations has been one of the strong factors in the establishment and promotion of some of the largest interests in Medina county, both in the business and financial fields. Some years ago he disposed of his mercantile interests, but retains his connection with several outside corporations ; is possessed of considerable valuable real estate and owns a fine farm adjoining the city, which is well stocked with cattle and supplied with improved agricultural machinery. He is a striking illustration of the sturdy American of the middle class (which has formed the bulwark of every great country) who, although old in years, has never lost his life ambition to prove his own useful manhood and to contribute to the standing and advancement of the community in which he was born and which has been so kind to him. In the case now under consideration, this ambition is also grounded in praiseworthy pride of family, as both his grandfather and his father were among the founders of communities in this section of the Western Reserve and promoters of its pioneer agriculture. Judge Joseph Harris, grandfather of Nelson, was a native of Middletown, Connecticut, who located in Randolph township, Portage county, in 1801, the year before the admission of Ohio into the Union. On December 20, 1807, he married Miss Rachel Sears, who was born in Connecticut, December 22, 1792, and bore him Albert and Elvira. The former was born September 20, 1808, and three years afterward the family moved to the log house which the husband had provided and which stood in the wilderness within the present town site of Lodi. There isolated from white associates the boy was reared, his playmates being often Indian children and his schooling from books virtually an unknown quantity. His father's health failing, at the age of eighteen the care of the home farm devolved upon the youth, and he followed the calling of which he was master as long as he lived, varying general agriculture with stock-trading. His long residence as a farmer citizen was characterized throughout by manly uprightness and the simple dignity which comes from virtuous intentions . and moral acts. Albert Harris was twice. married. His first wife, formerly Miss Adeline DeWitt, was born in Westminster, 1666 - HISTORY OF THE WESTERN RESERVE Vermont, and died February 21, 1873, mother of one child, Nelson. On October 28, 1874, he married Mrs. Lovica Parsons, a Massachusetts lady whose maiden name was Thayer. Nelson Harris, of this sketch, was born on the old Lodi homestead, September 11, 1831, and received his education in 'the district school and in the select or high school taught by the well known educator, Professor Leggett. After spending some time on the farm, in 1866 he established a general store at Lodi, associating E. o. White in the enterprise. This partnership continued eighteen months, the business being conducted thereafter until 1875 under the style of Harris and Mihillis, and from 1875 to 1879 by Mr. Harris alone, at the same location. In the year named he occupied his new store, adding millinery to his large general stock and otherwise expanding his business both in bulk and variety. Mr. Harris disposed of the mercantile establishment some years ago, but is still one of the directors and large stockholders in the Ohio Farmers' Insurance Company, with which he has been thus identified since 1871. He was and, as stated, is still a large land holder. He is a member of Lodi Lodge, No. 137, F. and A. M., and, like his father, steadfast to the principles of Jacksonian Democracy and as firm in his avoidance of political office. In years past he was induced to serve as a member of the school board and the city council, but that is the extent of his public service. On February 22, 1855, Mr. Harris wedded Miss Fannie E. Jenne, born in St. Lawrence county, New York, a daughter of A. S. Jenne, one of the early settlers of Litchfield township, Medina county. Although their golden anniversary is also a matter of the past, both wife and husband are bright, hearty and still always see the silver linings before the clouds of life. They are the honored parents of four children. Joseph W. their first-born, is now a Lodi den- tist ; Rachel married James E. Waite, a leading physician of that city ; Wade is engaged in the general insurance business, and Albert is with his parents. EDWARD H. WOODS.—Portage county is favored in the personnel of its executive officials at the present time, even as it has been for many years, and among the able and popular county officers is numbered Edward H. Woods, who is incumbent of the office of recorder and whose administration of the affairs committed to his charge has been altogether discriminating and commendable. He has been a resident of Portage county since his childhood days, is a native son of the old Buckeye state, and is one of the well known and distinctively popular citizens of Ravenna. Mr. Woods was born at New Baltimore, Stark county, Ohio, on the 31st of March, 1857, and is a son of Hiram F. and Lydia H. (McBride) Woods, both representatives of pioneer families of the famous old Western Reserve. Hiram F. Woods was born in Medina county, Ohio, and his wife at Coitsville, Mahoning county. Both were reared and educated in the Western Reserve, and after their marriage they maintained their home for a number of years in Coitsville., Mahoning county, where the father was engaged in the general merchandise business. About 1855 they removed to Stark county and took up their abode in New Baltimore, where Mr. Woods established himself in the coopering business, in which he there continued until 1868, when he removed with his family to Portage county. He died when about sixty-four years of age, and his widow passed the closing days of her life at LeRoy, Michigan, where she died at the age of sixty-four years. Their lives were ordered upon the highest plane of integrity and honor and to them was ever accorded the unqualified esteem of all whom knew them. In politics Mr. Woods was a staunch adherent of the Republican party after its formation. Hiram F. and Lydia H. (McBride) Woods became the parents of thirteen children, of whom ten attained to years of maturity and nine of whom are still living. The youngest of the number is thirty-eight years of age (1909), and the subject of this review was the ninth in order of birth and the youngest of the sons. Edward H. Woods was reared to maturity in Portage county, and his early experiences were those of the home farm, in whose work he began to lend his aid when a boy, in the meanwhile duly availing himself of the advantages of the public schools of the locality. He thereafter continued his studies in Mount Union College, which was then located in the village of Mount Union, but which is now established in the city of Alliance, Stark county, Ohio. After leaving college Mr. Woods put his scholastic acquirements to the practical test by engaging to teach in the district schools of Portage county, where he met with due success' in his pedagogic labors. In 1879 he went to northern Michigan, in the HISTORY OF THE WESTERN RESERVE - 1667 lumber regions, and there he was for a time engaged in teaching school, in which connection he became superintendent of the public schools of Osceola county, Michigan. Later he was bookkeeper for an extensive lumbering concern in northern Michigan, and he continued his residence in that section about fifteen years, at the expiration of which he returned to Portage county, Ohio, and became identified with agricultural . pursuits in Rootstown. He gained prestige as one of the progressive and successful farmers of the county, and to the work and management of his farm he continued to give his attention until his election to the office of county recorder in the fall of 1907. The support which he received at the polls indicated the confidence and esteem in which he is held in the county, and the popular appreciation of his official services had its most effective voucher when he was chosen as his own successor in the election of 19o8. In politics he is arrayed as a stalwart in the local camp of the Republican party, in whose cause he has been an active worker. He is affiliated with the Masonic fraternity and the Kinghts of the Maccabees. Mr. Woods has been twice married. In 1880 was solemnized his union to Miss Mary I. Tomlinson, of LeRoy, Osceola county, Michigan. She was born at Charlestown, Portage county,. Ohio, and was a daughter of Joseph M. and Mary Louise (Fargo) Tomlinson, who were numbered among the sterling pioneers of the Western Reserve, whence they eventually removed to Michigan. Mrs. Woods died in the city of Grand Rapids, Michigan, April 3, 1893, and is survived by five children, —Bernice B., Rae D., Louise L., Alice H. and Joyce T. In 1895 was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Woods to Miss Amanda Z. Hoyle, a daughter of Isaac and Catherine Hoyle, of Rootstown, Portage county, Ohio, where she was reared and educated. No children have been born of the second marriage. JAMES D. CARPENTER.—In the efficient performance of his duties as postmaster of Lodi, James D. Carpenter evinces the broad intelligence of the educated man, the labor-saving and concentrated methods of the trained business character and the infective confidence of one who has enjoyed a varied connection with public life. He is a son of the Green Mountain state, born at Readsboro April 30, 1845, and there he spent his boyhood and received an elementary education. His parents were James R. and Betsey F. (Bratton) Carpenter, and when the son was seventeen years of age they settled in Harrisville township, Medina county, where the father purchased sixty acres of land and engaged in farming and stock raising. Later he retired from his farm to Lodi, and there bought the "Union House" (now the "Taylor Inn"), which he conducted until his death in 1871. His wife, who long survived him, died in her eighty-seventh year, mother of the following : Emma L., James D. (of this sketch), Ellen D. and George R. Carpenter. After the coming of the family to Harrisville township, James D. attended the village school at Lodi and then enjoyed a course of two years in Oberlin College. His subsequent experience as a teacher covered several winter terms in Medina county and two years as the principal of a graded school at Coloma, Michigan. Returning to Lodi, he became associated with W: R. Griffen in the manufacture of cider vinegar and the evaporation of apples, in which an extensive business was developed. Many years of his residence in Lodi have been spent in important official work. For several years he served as justice of the peace ; was sheriff of Medina county for two years, and since June 7, 1906, has been postmaster, under appointment of President Roosevelt. He is an active Mason, member of Harrisville Lodge No. 137 ; is also identified with the order of Ben Hur, Lodi lodge ; and both he and his wife are charter members of Lodi Chapter No. 137, Order of Eastern Star, and they are active members of the Methodist Episcopal church. Before her marriage his wife was Miss Ellen E. Stirk, of Harrisville township, daughter of Henry and Elizabeth (Bodine) Stirk, and there were four children of this union. Myrta, the oldest, married Rev. Mr. Shook, a Methodist minister ; James Roy is the pastor. of the First Methodist Episcopal church of West Richfield, Summit county, Ohio, and his wife was Miss Lena Stuart ; Josephine E. is assisting her father in the Lodi postoffice ; and Harold D. is also living at home. All of the children were graduated from the Lodi high school, and the entire family is therefore closely identified with the city. GROVER CLEVELAND RICE is one of the rising young attorneys of Lodi and Medina county, and does not belie his namesake in his active Democracy. He has another claim to a place in local history, in that he represents one of 1668 - HISTORY OF THE WESTERN RESERVE the pioneer families of this section of the Western Reserve. Mr. Rice is a native of Chatham township, where he was born November 20, 1884, to Joseph P. and Augusta (Fenster-maker) Rice. His father was born in the same township November 16,. 1858, and his mother in Harrisville township, near Lodi, in 1857. After their marriage they lived for a number of years in Chatham township. At the present time 4114 seph P. Rice is a resident of Lodi and is operating a saw mill. His plant is largely engaged in sawing hardwood timber for building material and in the manufacture of fruit, potato and celery crates, the latter being turned out in wholesale lots of from forty to fifty thousand pieces. It is one of the prosperous establishments of Lodi. Grover C. Rice graduated from the Lodi high school in 1903, after which he entered the Western Reserve College at Cleveland and graduated therefrom in 1907 with high standing. Mr. Rice at once located at Lodi for practice, and is already well established in his profession. In 1908 he married Miss Grace E. Dean, daughter of D. H. Dean, a prosperous and respected citizen of LaFayette township, this County. SOLOMON OSTRANDER, a soldier of the Civil war, was born in Glenn, Montgomery county, New York, February 26, 1828. He was the son of Solomon Ostrander, Sr., and ranked eighth in a family of thirteen children. Mr. Ostrander received his education in the common schools of Glenn, and at an early age began working on a farm, continuing that occupation most of his life. He was married in Charleston, New York, February 27, 1850, to Margaret Williamson. She was born in Glenn, Montgomery county, New York, July 25, 1830, and died in Leroy, Lake county, Ohio, November 24, 1890. To Mr. and Mrs. Ostrander were born seven children : Melissa, born in Glenn, Montgomery county, New York, July 29, 1851, was twelve years a teacher and married Henry Johnson, of Mentor, Ohio. She died in 1888. Charles Henry, born in Glenn, Montgomery county, New York, September 3, 1853, now resides in Thompson, Ohio, and is a farmer and sheep exhibitor. George Lavett was born in Concord, Erie county, New York, June 17, 1856. Lucelia Florette was born in Concord, Erie county, New York, October 10, 1858. She married Mr. Scott and is now a resident of Nebraska. Elmer Ellsworth, born in Leroy May 31, 1861, was married to Caroline Markell. He is a farmer now living in Leroy. William Grant was born in Leroy. May 31, 1866. He married Elva Whipple and is a farmer in Leroy. Margaret Iona was born in Leroy April 17, 1868. She married James Shiland, a railroad conductor, and is a resident of Painesville. In 1854 Mr. Ostrander moved his family to Concord, New York. There he became engaged in farming and worked at the carpenter's trade for about five years. In 1859 he came to Leroy, Ohio. Here he purchased a small farm and lived on it the remainder of his life except the last two years, which he spent with his son William. For a while he carried on a meat business with his farming. When the war of the Rebellion opened Mr. Ostrander left his family and responded to Lincoln's call for troops. He joined the Fourteenth Ohio Battery and stayed with them until, in front of Atlanta, Georgia, he was wounded. While standing with his back to the port hole and his right hand on the wheel of the gun carriage, a ten-pound parrot shell struck the wheel just below his hand, a piece of the shell striking his right leg just below the knee. His right side was paralyzed for over a year, and he was unable to walk for about two years. Mr. Ostrander was taken to Cleveland Hospital, and at the close of the war discharged. Before wounded he saw much active service and fought in many important battles. Most of the time the battery was with the Army of the Tennessee. Mr. Ostrander has been a lifelong church worker. Early in life he joined the Methodist church and remained with the church his whole life. While living in Glenn, New York, he began the work of organizing Sunday schools, and continued to carry on the same work in Leroy. For twenty-five years he was superintendent of the Brakeman church Sunday school. After a short sickness, Solomon Ostrander died on November 24, 1905, at the home of his son William. GEORGE L. OSTRANDER, a resident of Leroy township, Lake county, Ohio, was born June 17, 1856, in the township of Concord, Erie county, New York. He is a son of Solomon and Margaret (Williamson) Ostrander and a grandson of Solomon, Sr. On March 3, 1859, he came with his parents to Leroy. Mr. Ostrander received his education in the common schools and-also attended a few terms HISTORY OF THE WESTERN RESERVE - 1669 of select school. At the early age of twelve he began to make his own way in the world, working that year on a farm in New York. Upon returning to Ohio he worked successively as a farm hand, express agent, and for a time was a fireman on the Lake Shore Railroad. In 1880 Mr. Ostrander began business for himself by purchasing an interest in a threshing outfit, whj he successfully operated for eight years. In the spring he also carried on the business of engrafting fruit trees, making trips into New York, Massachusetts, Indiana and Michigan. On October 15, 1884, George L. Ostrander was married to Gertrude Mary Mason. She was the daughter of Hiram and Caroline (Nichols) Mason, and was born in the house where she now lives, October 29, 1864. Her father was born in Perry township, January 25, 1821, and died December 22, 1892, in his seventy-second year. He was the son of John and Damaris (Bowles) Mason, who came from Connecticut about 181o. Hiram Mason was married March 28, 1850, and two years later moved to Leroy. To Mr. and Mrs. Mason were born four children : Frank Esther, who married Albert L. Searl, of Leroy ;. Frederick, a retired farmer living in Painesville ; Clara, who married John Butler, of Leroy ; and Gertrude Mary, Mrs. Ostrander. Mrs. Mason was born in Coventry, New York, October 8, 1825, and died January 11, 1895. To Mr. and Mrs. Ostrander were born three children : Ralph Mason, born July 6, 1886, is now a student in the law department of the University of Michigan ; Ellen Gertrude, born April 1, 1888, is a teacher in Painesville ; Ethel Mary, born July 24, 1892, is now a senior in Painesville high school. In 1886 Mr. Ostrander purchased a small farm in Leroy and began to grow potatoes and breed live stock. But in a few years he found the farm too small for his growing business, and in 1895 purchased the old Mason homestead from the heirs of Hiram Mason. Since then he has been steadily increasing his business as a potato grower and breeder of live stock. He has made many improvements on the old farm, clearing up many acres of woodland, and in 1907 built a large barn. One of the historic features of the place is the old original house, which is used as a granary.   Mr. Ostrander is member of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks and also of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. He has always been a public-spirited citizen. In politics he is a Republican. He has served a number of terms as trustee of the town and filled many positions of honor in his party organization. Mr. Ostrander was the first man that ever circulated a petition in Lake county for a state macadam road and has been a stanch supporter of the movement for better roads.   JOHN E. SHAW, a well-to-do farmer of energetic middle age, whose homestead is near Leroy, Medina county ; an intelligent citizen who takes a lively interest and a useful part in local and county affairs, John E. Shaw is a progressive member of an American community of the most advanced agricultural type. He is a native of the county to-whose progress he has decidedly contributed, born in Westfield township January 22, 1858, son of Benjamin and Eleanor (Lyons) Shaw. The father was a native of New York, born December 1, 1815, and the mother was a native of Jefferson county) Ohio, born December 23, 1820. The Shaw family moved from Jefferson county, Ohio, to LaFayette township, Medina county, where the homestead was established for some years. Benjamin Shaw then sold his farm and bought 120 acres in Westfield township, to which he afterward added until he possessed an estate of 285 acres, which he devoted to general farming and stock raising. On this farm and fine homestead the intelligent, affectionate and Christian father died December 27, 1872. His widow survived him more than thirty-five years, joining him in the mysteries of the beyond May 6, 1908, in her eighty-seventh year. She was the mother of seven children, of whom six are living, namely : Emeretta ; Millard F., who resides in Oregon ; Ora E., Benjamin F., Mary E. and John E., of this sketch. Elvina E. died January 1o, 1909. Mr. Shaw's first education was of the district-school variety, this being supplemented by attendance at the Leroy public school. He finally reached such a grade of scholarship that he commenced teaching in winter, spending his summers in farm work. His first independent agricultural operations were conducted on a tract of land which he rented from his mother in the southwestern part of Westfield township. In 1893 he moved to his present eighty-acre farm near Leroy, whose substantial buildings, modern machinery and general up-to-date appearance are primarily attributable to Mr. Shaw's industry and good business management. He is an honored member of the Medina Agricultural Society and 1670 - HISTORY OF THE WESTERN RESERVE is a leading Republican and citizen of his locality. In the Masonic order he is specially identified with Harrisville Lodge, No. 137, A. F. & A. M. • Medina Chapter, R. A. M., and is also a member of the council. Mr. Shaw is not only thoroughly informed in the matters which concern his immediate interests and locality, but is welloyersed on subjects of general scope, and is a 'man whose moral stamina is as high as his intellectual. In 1882 he married Miss Ella F. King, daughter of Charles and Katherine (Allen) King, who has borne him three children : Claude E., who now resides in Spokane, Washington ; Ina L., who is a graduate of Dauldin University ; and Cyril D., at home. WILLIAM H. BEEBE.—There is no one factor which so well determines and designates the status and stability of a community as the extent and character of its banking institutions, and in this regard the financial stability of the city of Ravenna has been maintained by banks of ample capital, reinforced by conservative management and by the enlistment of the capitalistic and executive support of citizens of the highest and most representative character. The Second National Bank of Ravenna holds prestige as one of the substantial and popular financial institutions of the Western Reserve. and of the same the able cashier is he whose name initiates this paragraph and who is recognized as one of the representative figures in the banking circles of this favored section of the Buckeye commonwealth. William Horace Beebe is a native of the city in which he now maintains his home, as he was born in Ravenna on October 19, 1841. and he is not only a scion of one of the honored pioneer families of the Western Reserve, Put also of one which was founded in New England, that cradle of much of our national history, in the colonial epoch. He is a son of Horace Y. and Augusta (Coolman) Beebe. Horace Young Beebe was born in New London, Connecticut, and was a son of Alvin Beebe, who likewise was a native of Connecticut and who passed the closing years of his life in East Haddam, that state. Horace Y. Beebe was reared and educated in his native state, whence, as a young man, he came to the Western Reserve, and he became one of the pioneers of Portage county. He finally took up his residence in Ravenna, which was then a small village, and he had much to do with the material and civic development of this prosperous and attractive little city, in whose welfare he maintained an abiding interest. He was the second man to hold the position of passenger conductor on the Cleveland & Pittsburg Railroad, and rendered efficient service in public offices. He was appointed deputy county clerk under George Kirkham and later was elected to the office of county clerk, in which he served for many years and with marked efficiency. He served as assessor of internal revenue for the Nineteenth district under Mr. Lincoln. He was well known throughout the county, was influential in public affairs and ever commanded unequivocal confidence and esteem in the community which so long represented his home. In politics he originally gave his support to the Democratic party, but he transferred his allegiance to the Republican party at the time of its inception and exercised his franchise in support of its first presidential candidate, General John C. Fremont. He was a delegate to the national convention held in Chicago in 1861, and was one of five delegates from Ohio who were responsible for the nomination of Lincoln. He also attended the inauguration of Lincoln. The train bearing Lincoln passed through Ravenna and Mr. Beebe was invited by him to accompany the party to Washington. Mr. Beebe was affiliated with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and both he and his wife were zealous members of the Universalist church. He continued to reside in Ravenna until his death, at the age of seventy years, and his name has an enduring place on the roster of the honored pioneers of the historic old Western Reserve. Mrs. Augusta (Coolman) Beebe, mother of him whose name introduces this article, was born in Shalersville, Portage county, and was a daughter of William and Polly (Burroughs) Coolman, who were numbered among the early settlers of Portage county, having come hither from New York, and the former of whom was a son of William Coolman, who came to the Western Reserve with General Shaler prior to the opening of the nineteenth century and before the admission of Ohio to the Union. Mrs. Augusta Beebe was fifty-eight years of age at the time of her demise, and she is held in reverent memory by all who came within the sphere of her gracious and gentle influence. Of the two children the subject of this review is the elder, and Mary E. is the wife of D. M. Clewell, of Ravenna. William Horace Beebe gained his preliminary education in the public schools of Ra- HISTORY OF THE WESTERN RESERVE - 1671 venna and later continued his studies in historic old Hiram College, of which the late lamented General James A. Garfield later became president. At the time of Mr. Beebe's attendance in this institution it was known as the Eclectic Institute. At the age of nineteen years he initiated his connection with the line of enterprise along which it has been his to attain to distinctive success and prestige. At the age noted he became teller in the banking house of Robinson, King & Co., of Ravenna, and he entered upon this incumbency on May 1, 1860. During the long intervening years he has been constantly identified with banking interests in his native city, and none in the county has more distinctive prestige and popularity in this important field of enterprise. In 1864 he was the prime factor in bringing about the organization of the Second National Bank of Ravenna, which was incorporated with a capital stock of $52,000 and of which he has served as cashier from the inception—a period of nearly half a century. It is also interesting to record that during this long period of forty-five years the bank has conducted its business in the same offices which it secured at the time of initiating its operations. The capital stock of the institution is now $150,000, and the bank has maintained an impregnable hold upon the confidence and support of the people of Portage county, where its business is fixed upon the most substantial basis and is of wide scope and representative order. Mr. Beebe has given of his splendid executive ability and intimate experience to the upbuilding of this fine old institution, and to him is largely due its pronounced success and precedence. He is one of the principal stockholders in the bank, and the other executive officers are : Charles G. Bentley, president, and A. C. Williams, vice president. The personnel of the directorate includes besides the officers mentioned other representative citizens and substantial capitalists of Portage county. Mr. Beebe has ever shown a loyal interest in all that has concerned the welfare and progress of his native city, and as a citizen has been animated by distinctive public spirit: He has lent his influence and co-operation irl the promotion of measures and enterprises tending to advance the material and civic interests of Ravenna, and though he has never held public office save that of member of the city council, of which he was incumbent for several years, he is a stanch advocate of the principles and policies for which the Republican party Vol. III-26 stands sponsor. He is affiliated with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, the Knights of Pythias, the Improved Order of Red Men and the Royal Arcanum. Of the latter he has been treasurer of the Grand Council for twenty-three years, and he served in the supreme council seven years. In the year 1864 was recorded the marriage of Mr. Beebe to Miss Ella Reeves, who was born in Franklin, Pennsylvania, and who is a daughter of John and Harriet Reeves, who came to Trumbull county, Ohio, when Mrs. Beebe was a child and who there passed the residue of their lives. WILBERT W. ROGERS, who was engaged in farming and the milk business for many years previous to becoming identified with the rural mail service out of Lodi, Medina county, is a native of Harrisville township, born on the old Rogers homestead October 16, 1857. The history of the family in the state goes back to 181o, when the grandfather of Wilbert W., Isaac Rogers, brought his wife (nee Ann Brainard) from his native Connecticut and, with their family, located in Ohio. The exact date of coming to Harrisville township is not known, although it is certain that it antedated the war of 1812. The Western Reserve at that time was largely a forest swarming with wild beasts and hostile Indians—that is, their friendship was not proof against the seductions of domestic meat animals and desirable provisions. Between the thieving savages, the thieving beasts and the general scarcity of domestic comforts, the pioneers of those years suffered the times which try the souls of both men and women. The Rogers were made of the right stuff, however. A space for the log cabin was cleared, the house thrown together, the family installed, and, with the expansion of the clearing from year to year, the farm increased in productiveness and the homestead was stably fixed in Harrisville township. Sherman B. Rogers, the son, was born in this forest cabin on September 4, 1829, and his wife (nee Parmelia Dean) was also a native of Medina county, born in 1837, being a daughter of David and Sophronia Dean, early settlers of Lafayette township. They were married August 26, 1851, and after residing in the latter township for six years moved to Harrisville township, where Sherman B. Rogers purchased eighty of the 400 acres then comprising the old homestead. On this tract he farmed and raised livestock until a short time before 1672 - HISTORY OF THE WESTERN RESERVE his death, which occurred at Lodi June 30, 1903. The deceased served two terms as commissioner of Medina county and was a charter member of the Methodist Episcopal church. W. W. Rogers spent his boyhood on this farm, as an only child, being sent to the district school in winter and given the usual training of a farmer's son in the working months of summer. Later he obtained more systematic schooling, completed the high school course at Lodi, and remained on the home place until he was twenty-one years of age. On December 18, 1877, Mr. Rogers married Miss Jane M. Gilbert, daughter of Alfred and Mary (Gilley) Gilbert, remaining on the farm until 1896, when he moved to Lodi and engaged in the sale of milk, in the meantime renting his place. He had erected a slate-roofed barn, eighty-two by twenty-eight feet, with a large wing, and had made other improvements which made the farm a most desirable place. In October, 1903, he was appointed a carrier on Rural Route No. 1, which he still holds, having retired from farming entirely. Mr. and Mrs. Wilbert W. Rogers are the parents of the following : Lillian B., who is the wife of Ray C. Howe, an engineer of the Anaconda (Montana) copper mines, and. Alfred B. Rogers, who is superintendent of a smelting gang connected with the same. ALVIN R. CLAPP, who is one of the most prosperous farmers and leading citizens of Chatham township, Medina county, was born on the old family homestead in that section of the Western Reserve March 12, 1843. He is a son of Levi L. and Lucinda (House) Clapp, both born at Chesterfield, Massachusetts, the father June 15, 1810, and the mother November 16, 1812. The American ancestors of the family emigrated from England on the ship "Mary and John" in the early part of the seventeenth century, and first established themselves in the Old Bay Colony. The paternal grandparents, Ira and Judith (Wild) Clapp, were natives of Massachusetts, and their son, Levi L., moved from Chesterfield, that state, to Chatham township, Medina county, arriving there April 15, 1833. The head of the family purchased 18o acres of land in the forests of that locality, at five dollars an acre, made a sufficient clearing for a small log house and, with its completion, moved his family into it. While the husband was actively extending this clearing, grubbing stumps and cultivating his land, the wife was teaching school and performing the many and ceaseless duties which devolved upon the pioneer mother and her increasing family. With his farming Levi L. Clapp also engaged in stock raising, the ranges in those days being as free as in the early days of the great west. As his means accumulated he raised the area of his farm to 40o acres, which he thoroughly cultivated and stocked with high grades of cattle, hogs, sheep and horses. He continued to reside on his farm until his death, December 5, 1884, his wife surviving him for more than two decades and finally dying June I, 1905, at the advanced age of ninety-three. Mrs. Levi Clapp was a woman of high and strong character, being a lineal descendant of Colonel Thomas Knowlton, who served throughout the greater portion of the Revolutionary war as a commissioned colonel under Washington and who was commander of the famous Knowlton Rangers of history. She became the mother of three sons and a daughter, as follows : Amasa L., who after serving in the Civil war, became a very successful grain dealer ; Julia M., who is the wife of Alvin Dyer, a captain of the Civil war ; George T., who was a merchant for many years and also served in the Civil war ; and Alvin R., of this sketch. Alvin R. Clapp was educated in the district school of Chatham township and remained upon the old farm until the death of his father in 1884. On November 25, 1868, he married Miss Martha Talbott, of Chatham township, daughter of Edward and Cynthia (Reynolds) Talbott, early settlers of Medina county. After his marriage he settled on a portion of the old Clapp homestead, and after the death of his father in 1884 he purchased the interests of the other heirs. His present farm consists of 313 acres, which is well cultivated and stocked. with high grade cattle, horses, hogs and sheep —the last named consisting largely of the Delaine breed so noted both for its wool and mutton qualities. Mr. Clapp is not only recognized as a highly successful farmer and stockman but as an able factor in business and a leader in public affairs. He is a stockholder and director in the Exchange National Bank at Lodi, Ohio ; is also treasurer of Chatham township and has served as trustee for the last fourteen years. In politics he has been an unvarying Republican, and as a citizen and a man is universally respected for his ability and sterling traits of character. To add to his other strong points Mr. Clapp is the father of four fine sons : Edward L., a HISTORY OF THE WESTERN RESERVE - 1673 locomotive engineer on the Denver & Rio Grande Railroad ; Charles B., a druggist of Akron, Ohio ; Dr. Clyde A., a leading physician of Baltimore, Maryland, and Ernest T., who assists his father on the home farm. WILLIAM HASKELL.—A veteran agriculturist of Lake county, William Haskell has met with much success in his farming operations and holds high rank among the respected and valued citizens of Concord. A native of this county, he was born November 28, 1830, in Mentor, a son of Foster Haskell, coming from pioneer stock. Jesse Haskell, grandfather of William, lived for a time at Sacketts Harbor, New York, while there building a boat in which he and his family sailed across Lake Ontario, from there hiring a team to take the boat, household goods and family to Lake Erie. He intended to locate at the mouth of Raisin river, but the savages proved very hostile, one Indian saying, "Three moons we kill all white folks," so he continued his journey down the lake to Grand river, landing at Fairport in 1812. A sound of heavy thunder was heard and a black cloud apparently overhung them, but the noise, ho^vever, and the cloud proved to be the sound and smoke of that famous battle in which the gallant Commodore Perry won his great victory, the scene of the conflict being sixty miles away. Subsequently locating in Lake county, Jesse Haskell, who had a land warrant, settled at Kirtland, but soon found that he had :taken possession of the wrong tract of land. He then settled at Skinner's Landing on Grand river, on the property now occupied by U. S. Breed, it being a mile north of Painesville. He cleared a farm from the forest, and lived there until his death at a good old age. Foster Haskell was born on December 5, 1799, in Connecticut, and was about fourteen years old when he came with his parents to Lake county. After assisting in the pioneer labor of clearing a homestead he worked at the carpenter's trade for a few years, after which he bought land in Mentor, just south of -the present site of the Disciples church. Hopeful, courageous and persevering, he succeeded. in improving a homestead, and until his death, at the age of seventy-three years, was engaged in farming and carpentering. Prior to locating in Mentor he lived for a while in Concord, and during the Mormon excitement was working for Grandison Newell, who ran an iron foundry. Foster Haskell married, about 1825. Polly Huntoon, who was born in New Hampshire in 1808, a daughter of Scribner Huntoon, who settled in Concord, Lake county,. Ohio, in 1817. She died at the age of sixty-eight years. Six children were born of their union, namely : Riley, an expert gunsmith and a fine shot, of Painesville, Ohio, died at the age of fifty years ; Cornelia, widow of Alva Daniel, lives in California ; William, the subject of this sketch ; George, who died when twenty-one years of age ; Emily, who lives on the old homestead, which she and William own ; and Albert, who lives with her. Remaining on the home farm until twenty years old, William Haskell received an excellent training in the various branches of agriculture. Beginning then to cultivate his mechanical talents he spent three years at the carpenter's trade, working with Daniel Storms, after which he was engaged at carpentering at Bellevue for two years. Returning then to Lake county, he followed his trade for twenty years, being employed in different places. In 1861 he moved to his present farm, the old Mitchell homestead, where he has since been prosperously engaged in agricultural pursuits. Mr. Haskell married, March 13, 1861, Maria Mitchell, the only child of Lyman and Patty Mitchell, the marriage ceremony being performed by Rev. Tribbe in Painesville, Ohio. She was born in the house in which her entire life has been spent, February 26, 1834. Lyman Mitchell was born in Madison county, New York, December 31, 1802, and came to Lake county with his parents, Lemuel and Patience Mitchell, in 1821 or 1822. The mother died at the home of one of her sons a few years later. On October 18, 1826, Lyman Mitchell married Martha (commonly called Patty) Winchell, who was born March 22, 1804, and his brother George married Alma Winchell, they being daughters of Simeon Winchell. Lyman Mitchell and his bride began housekeeping in a log cabin, and ere long the ringing strokes of his axe could be heard as he cleared the land. He labored industriously, improving a good farm, and about 1842 built the house in which Mr. and Mrs. Haskell now live, and in which he and his good wife spent their last years, his death occurring July 29, 1867, at the age of sixty-five years, and hers on March 27, 1895, aged ninety-one years. After coming to the Mitchell homestead to live Mr. Haskell worked at the carpenter's trade With his father-in-law until his death, which occurred very suddenly. 1674 - HISTORY OF THE WESTERN RESERVE Mr. and Mrs. Haskell had but one child, a daughter named Martha. She married F. H. Murray and died very soon after the birth of her only child, John Haskell Murray, who was born in the old Mitchell house., October 31, 1895. He is now a bright, sturdy lad of fourteen years, the pride and joy of his grandparents, with whom he has always lived. Mr. Haskell is a straightforward Republican in politics, and cast his first presidential vote for Van Buren. He has filled various offices of trust, having served as assessor, trustee and treasurer of the township. E. H. PLANK.—To no single family are the infant flouring industries of northern Ohio more indebted than to that represented by E. H. Plank, proprietor of the Lodi Mill, one of the best conducted plants in Medina county. He is a native of the city of Wooster, Wayne county, Ohio, born in 1884 and is a son of Hiram Plank, born near Plank Mills, same county, October 4, 1837. Father and son have long been associated in business, and from the earliest annals the Planks have always been millers. The grandfather, Abraham Plank, was not only owner of the mills in Wayne county, but at different times was interested in the business in Ashland and Richland counties. In 1854 the Plank Mills near Wooster were burned, and as the grandfather and father had established the mills in Ashland county they turned their attention to them and operated them for some years. Hiram Plank, the father, bought the Snow Flake Mill at Wooster with his brother Abraham, which they operated for six years. Disposing of this he moved to Galion, Ohio, purchased the plant at that point and became associated in the flouring business under the name of Plank, Gray & Co. This connection continued for a dozen years. In 1896 he located at Lodi and purchased what were then known as the Naggle Flouring Mills, in which he installed a complete roller system and other improved machinery, bringing the daily output to seventy-five barrels of superior flour. Of late years he has retired from the most active part of the work, in favor of the energetic and thoroughly competent representative of the family industry, E. H. Plank. Mrs. Hiram Plank, who was Emma Horn, a native of Wooster, Ohio, was the mother of but one child, E. H. Plank. Mr. Plank, the special subject of this sketch, was educated in the city schools of Galion and at the Lodi high school. After completing his education he thoroughly mastered the _ancestral trade and business in the Lodi Flouring Mill, then operated by his father, and as the latter advanced in years and declined in health the details of the enterprise have devolved more and more upon the younger man. Mr. Plank has now full charge of the buying and selling—in fact, of the entire business, his father's long and practical experience making him invaluable, however, as an advisory partner. E. H. is an active Mason connected with Harrisville Lodge No. 137, F. & A. M., and Lodi Chapter No. 465, and he is also a member of Lorain Lodge of Benevolent Protective Order of Elks. He is sociable, enterprising, public-spirited and both a substantial and rising young man. In 1908 he married Miss Helen Glass, of Lodi, Ohio, who is an intelligent and attractive young lady and a welcome addition to the social circles of the place. W. J. SHULENBERGER, who monopolizes the livery business in Lodi, has also a large feed and sale stable, and is, moreover, a sociable, straight-forward and enterprising citizen. He is a native of Wayne county, Ohio, and was born near Smithville on July 23, 1864, to John and Elizabeth (Gilbert) Shulenberger. The father was a native of Pennsylvania and the mother of Ohio, the parents of the latter being early settlers of Wayne county. The maternal grandfather, Enoch Gilbert, was a pioneer farmer of that county: John Shulenberger, the father, resided in the vicinity of Smithville from his early manhood until his death, and the children of his family were : Samuel A. ; Henry A., who is now a Smithville physician ; William Jay, of this sketch ; and Laverne E., now Mrs. James Merrill and a resident of West Salem, Ohio. Mr. Shulenberger received a district school education and remained on the farm until he was twenty-one years of age. He married Miss Ella M. Gearhart, of Burbank, Ohio, daughter of Jacob and Mary E. (Elcock) Gearhart, who bore him four children—Mary E., Catherine M., Jay Gearhart and Gladys, the last named meeting her death by drowning. After his marriage Mr. Shulenberger settled at Doylestown, Ohio, and resided there two years, then moving to Lodi, where he engaged in the implement business in connection with Seiberling & Miller, manufacturers of binders and mowers. He was thus employed for six years. While engaged HISTORY OF THE WESTERN RESERVE - 1675 in that line he perceived the good local field for a first-class livery and sale stable and, in connection with an agricultural implement business, purchased what proved the basis of a fine establishment. Lodi is now well supplied with buggies, horses, appropriate funeral outfits and everything else pertaining to modern livery. Its genial and business-like proprietor has a pleasant residence on a commanding site, and is one of the prosperous and leading citizens of Lodi. CALVIN M. FETZER.—Senior member of the firm of Fetzer Brothers, Lodi, and one of the leading dealers in hardware and agricultural implements in Medina county, Calvin M. Fetzer is a native of the county named, born in Westfield township February 6, 1874. He is a son. of Henry and Julia Ann (Shook) Fetzer, the father having been born in Milton township, Wayne county, Ohio, on Christmas of 1837. The family is of German origin, Martin Fetzer, the grandfather, emigrating from his fatherland when quite young and marrying a Miss Yonker. In 1825 he settled at Canaan, Wayne county, and there spent his last years as a resident of Ohio. The father, Henry, was reared on the Wayne county farm, received a district school education, and at the age of twenty-one commenced to make his independent pathway in agriculture by going to Westfield township, Medina county, and buying a farm of 125 acres near Friendsville. There he engaged in general farming, always maintaining a good flock of sheep ; erected a comfortable residence and good outbuildings ; bought the best of implements and machinery and took care of them, and left no stone unturned to give a worthy account of himself and his labors as a farmer and a worthy citizen. Late in life he realized such a safe competency that he moved from his farm to the village of Lodi, where he is now living in a pleasant home with his wife. The oldest of his three children, Elmer, is deceased ; Neuman and Calvin M. are business partners. Calvin M. Fetzer received his education in the Lodi public schools and at the Leroy high school, beginning his business career in 1885 as an associate with his brother Elmer. Becoming sole proprietor of the establishment. he then formed a partnership with his brother. Neuman Fetzer, in the operation of a general store at Friendsville, Medina county, which they continued until 1900. After disposing of that business they established themselves at Lodi in the hardware trade under the style of C. M. Fetzer & Brother, which remained unchanged until 19o8, when the firm became Fetzer Brothers. The business embraces large dealings in shelf hardware, stoves, tinware and agricultural implements, and is firmly established and solidly growing. The senior member has been the mainstay of the house for many years, with his brother a close second. Calvin M. has also obtained standing as a leading Democrat of his locality and an influential member of the Lodi city council, in which he has served for two terms. As an active sup-- porter of fraternalism, he is identified with Mound Lodge No. 845, I. 0. 0. F. In 1896 he married Miss Olivia Burry, of Friendsville, a native of Medina county and daughter of Frank and Ellen (Unangst) Burry, well known pioneers of Westfield township. The two children of this union are Harold and Donald. Neuman Fetzer married on September 15, 1906, Miss Emma L. Brown, a daughter of H. G. Brown, of Pleasant Home, Wayne county, Ohio. EDWIN W. MARVIN.—It is a matter of satisfaction to accord representation in this publication to a large contingent of native sons of the Western Reserve who have here attained to success along various avenues of normal business activity, and of this number is Mr. Marvin, who is engagedin the insurance business in his native city of Ravenna, and who is also incumbent of the offices of township and city clerk,—preferments that well indicate the confidence in which he is held in the community and likewise bespeak his personal popularity. Mr. Marvin was born in Ravenna, Portage county, Ohio, on November 13, 1875, and is now known as one of the representative business men of the younger generation in his native city. He is a son of John S. and Sarah (Woodruff) Marvin, the former of whom was born in the state of Connecticut, a scion of an old and honored New England family, and the latter of whom was likewise born in the stanch little Nutmeg state. John S. Marvin came to Portage county about the year 1855, when a young man, and he eventually became one of the leading merchants of Ravenna, where he was engaged in the shoe business for a number of years. and where he later built up a large and successful enterprise as a retail dealer in lumber and building supplies. He was a citizen 1676 - HISTORY OF THE WESTERN RESERVE of marked public spirit and of progressive ideas, and he ever commanded the uniform confidence and esteem of the community which represented his for nearly half a century. His political support was given to the Republican party, he was affiliated with the Masonic fraternity, and both he and his wife held membership in the Universalist church, in whose work they were actively concerned for many years. Mrs. Marvin was a child at the time of her parents' immigration from Connecticut to Ohio, and the family located in Rootstown township, Portage county, where her father became a prosperous farmer and where she was reared and educated. She was summoned to the life eternal in January, 1896, and her husband did not long survive her, as his death occurred in January, 1898. They became the parents of five sons and two daughters who attained to maturity, and of the number three sons and two daughters are now living, the subject of this review having been the fifth in order of birth. Edwin W. Marvin gained his early educational training in the public schools of Ravenna, and fully availed himself of the excellent advantages thus afforded. After leavihg school he assisted his father in his business affairs for a number of years, after which he engaged in the bakery business, in which he continued about two years. In 1904 he established a general insurance agency in Ravenna, and in this field of enterprise he has since continued. He is local representative for a number of the best known and most popular fire and life insurance companies, and as an underwriter has built up a large and substantial business. Mr. Marvin has been a most enthusiastic worker in the local ranks of the Republican party, and in 1907 he was elected clerk of Ravenna township, of which office he has since continued incumbent. He has also served as city clerk since 1905, and in both of these positions he has proved himself a capable and discriminating executive, having the details of his work well in hand at all times and having gained the hearty commendation of his official associates as well as the general publics He is affiliated with the Masonic fraternity and the Knights of Pythias, and both he and his wife hold membership in the Universalist church in their home city. In the year 1897 was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Marvin to Miss Elizabeth Hartlerode, daughter of Lawrence Hartlerode, a representative citizen of Ravenna. They have no children. HENRY LAWTON MORRISON .—Among the earliest settlers of the Western Reserve was James Morrison, who in 1806 came from Harpersfield, New York, with his wife, nee Hannah Lunn, and family of five sons and four daughters. He purchased four or five hundred acres of land situated on the South Ridge, in the township of Geneva. The Morrisons were of Scotch descent and natives of Massachusetts. The oldest son, James, Jr., was accompanied to Ohio by his wife, Susanna McNutt, and his little son Alexander. The wife,. Susanna, died in 1811, and Mr. Morrison married her sister, Sarah McNutt. To them was born on August 12, 1820, a son, Henry Lawton Morrison, the subject of this sketch. Life and death stood side by side in the humble home, and the day which witnessed the son's life saw also the death of the mother. The little babe was given to the father's sister Sarah, wife of Abisha Lawton, and in their home he was reared with wise and tender care. Mr. Morrison has written of them : "To their kindness and love I am indebted for all that I have been, am or hope to be. I owe them a debt that can never be estimated or repaid." His boyhood was like that of other boys of the day ; work was abundant and pleasures few. At the age of six he began attending school at the "Line School House," which stood one-half in Geneva and one-half in Saybrook, about a mile from his home. In his "Recollections," which he wrote at the solicitation of his children, Mr. Morrison says : "The first sentence I ever read was in 'Webster's Spelling Book,' No man can put off the law of God.' I was very enthusiastic over learning to read, and my remembrance is that in less than three weeks I was in the first class, reading in the 'English Reader.' * * * I learned the multiplication tables, and to add, subtract and divide, and went as far in `Daboll's Arithmetic' as reduction, before I was eight years of age. I had also read the Bible through, and all the books in the house, the list of which was short, namely : `The Methodist Discipline' ; 'Truth Vindicated,' written by a Quaker ; The Foundling,' by Fielding ; 'The Memoirs of John Lucking-ton, a London Bookseller' ; a few stray leaves of 'The Arabian Nights' and of a book called `The Prompter.' " In the summer of 1830 Mr. Lawton sold the HISTORY OF THE WESTERN RESERVE - 1677 farm on the Ridge and bought another on the North Ridge, about three and one-half miles farther west. On this farm stood a new house, the first brick house erected in Geneva. This house, still standing, is now quite in the heart of the town. In 1836 the Lawtons moved to Ashtabula, and here Mr. Morrison began the mercantile career which, with the exception of a year or two spent in study, he followed for the remainder of his life. A list of those first firms for whom he clerked would recall men prominent in the history of Ashtabula. On June 12, 1843, the new firm of Root & Barnes, with Mr. Morrison as clerk, began business in the building, still standing on the same ground, now known as 181 Main street. Here Mr. Morrison remained as clerk, partner and proprietor until 1892, when, with his sons, he built the block at 218-220-222 Main street. On October 7, 1846, Mr. Morrison was married to Miss Nancy Pamela Castle, daughter of Daniel and Mary Watrous Castle, a union which lasted for over fifty-seven years and was a most happy one. Mr. Morrison firmly believed that every citizen owed a duty to the town in which he lived, and a service, to the public. Though not an office seeker he accepted those that came to him and gave to the discharge of such duties all the diligence and judgment that he gave to his own affairs. After holding several minor offices, he was elected mayor in 1857, an office which he again held several times at later dates. He Was a member of the board of education from the inception of the public school system in 1856, until 1866. He served as a county commissioner from 1875 until 1879. The last public office which he held was that of councilman, in the years 18961897-1898, being president of the council in 1897 and 1898, at the age of seventy-eight. Probably Mr. Morrison did no greater service to Ashtabula than in promoting and pushing to completion the Pittsburg, Youngstown and Ashtabula Railroad. Four men were as-: sociated in this work : Henry Hubbard, Joseph D. Hulbert, Amos C. Fisk and Henry L. Morrison. The first two mentioned were already advanced in years, and the active work fell upon Mr. Fisk and Mr. Morrison. Mr. Morrison was a director in the Niles and New Lisbon Railroad, projected in 1852, but never built. The directorate body had maintained its organization and held the right of way, hoping that the future might bring favorable development ; but, by reason of the Civil war and other vicissitudes, it was not until 1869 that the project was revived. The aid of Pittsburg men was secured, and in 1870 the board of directors of the Pittsburg, Youngstown and Ashtabula Railroad was elected, of which Mr. Morrison was one, an office which he held until his death. From resolutions adopted by the board at that time we quote the following : "H. L. Morrison was a director in this company and its predecessor companies during the entire period of thirty-three years of their corporate existence, beginning in 1870 and continuing to the day of his death. Throughout this long service he has been faithful in attending the meetings of the board, always displaying keen interest in the affairs of the company and zeal in promoting its welfare, his unfailing kind heart and genial manner endeared him to his associates on the board, who will miss him for his personal characteristics no less than for the wisdom of his counsel ; and they offer to his family a sincere expression of sympathy in their bereavement. S. B. LIGGETT, Secretary." Mr. Morrison was a member of the First Baptist church, and the church held a foremost place in his affections. To it he gave liberally of his time and substance. Regarding his personal characteristics it can be said he was, first of all, a Christian, possessing in a rare degree intense honesty of purpose, integrity and uprightness ; in addition he had the well balanced mind and sound judgment that made him a wise counsellor. To the end of his long life he retained his wonderful memory, and articles on the early history of Ashtabula written by him in 1901, at the solicitation of the press, were not only much enjoyed but are cherished in many scrap books as invaluable records. The Ashtabula Beacon Record, which published these articles, said of them : "Beginning tomorrow, January 3. 1901, the Beacon Record will from day to day publish a series of articles on the early history of Ashtabula and her pioneers from the pen of Henry L. Morrison. Mr. Morrison has been a resident of Ashtabula for sixty-five years, has always taken an active interest in all public affairs and has a more extensive and definite knowledge of the history of Ashtabula than any other person living. With the vast fund of data at hand, and the clear mind and ready 1678 - HISTORY OF THE WESTERN RESERVE pen of the author, these articles will not only be interesting reading, but will be very valuable from a historical point of view, and they will be greatly enjoyed and appreciated by the readers of the Beacon Record." Mr. Morrison's death occurred on December 11, 1903. In noting this event the same paper said : "Today a sadness pervades not only a home bereaved, but the entire city, whose residents share in an inestimable loss in the passing of its oldest business head and general benefactor, Henry L. Morrison. Well might the departed be regarded as one of Ashtabula's fathers, to whose determined efforts in its early history the city owes much of its present condition of thrift, prosperity and promise. He was one of the very foundation stones in the up-building of this municipality, and future generations will refer with pride to that chapter in the history of the great city on the lake which tells of this one of its pioneers." CHARLES B. NEWTON.—To have engaged in the practice of law in the Western Reserve for thirty years and to have maintained high professional prestige is the record of Charles Bostwick Newton now a representative member of the bar in his native county. He resides at Ravenna, where his professional headquarters are located, that city being the judicial center of Portage county. Besides being an able attorney and a loyal citizen Mr. Newton is a scion of one of the prominent pioneer families, being one of the third generation of the family to reside in the Western Reserve. Charles B. Newton was born in Franklin township, Portage county, Ohio, April 11, 1855, and is a son of Justin B. and Eugenia A. (Babcock) Newton. Justin B. Newton was a native of Connecticut, where the family had been established in colonial days, and was a son of Rufus P. Newton, also a native of that state, who came with his family to the Western Reserve about 18o9, not many years after the admission of Ohio to the Union. He settled in Portage county, locating in Franklin township, where he secured a tract of wild land, much of which he reclaimed and cultivated. He became one of the most enterprising and successful farmers of the county, and built up a good business dealing in cattle, which he bought in the early days and drove through to Philadelphia, there being then no railroads or shipping facilities for their transportation otherwise. Justin B. Newton was reared to manhood in Franklin township, on his father's farm, and accumulated a valuable estate in the community, where he became an influential citizen and largely identified with the material and civic advancement of the county. He was a man of great integrity and singleness of purpose, active in public affairs, and enjoyed the unqualified confidence and esteem of all who knew him. His political proclivities were indicated by the stalwart support which he gave to the Democratic party. Both he and his wife attended the Episcopal church. He was sixty-three years of age at the time of his death, and his venerable widow passed away November 16, 1908, at the age of eighty-five years. She was born in Franklin township, Portage county, Ohio, and was a daughter of Sylvester Babcock, a native of Massachusetts, whence he removed to Ohio as one of the pioneers of the Western Reserve ; he settled in Franklin township, near the Newton family, and there improved a fine farm, becoming successful as a dealer in horses. Justin B. Newton and his wife became the parents of seven children, of whom five survive, and Charles B. is the oldest. Those living are all residents of the Western Reserve. Charles B. Newton was reared on the old homestead, which was his birthplace and around which linger the dear memories of his childhood and early youth. It was to him an occasion of rare import when he first made his way to the little district school house, where he gained his rudimentary education, and after availing himself of the advantages there afforded he continued his studies in the high school in the village of Kent, where he graduated. Later he pursued higher branches under the private instruction of E. T. Suloit, and meanwhile, with characteristic ambition and prescience, he formulated definite plans for his future career and determined to prepare himself for the profession of the law. With this end in view he began reading law, teaching school in the fall and winter to pay his way while reading law under the preceptor ship of Hon. S. P. Wolcott, of Kent, in whose office he pursued his technical studies in the years 1872-73, after which he entered the office of W. B. Thomas, a representative practitioner in Ravenna. Mr. Newton was admitted to the bar in Warren, Trumbull county, Ohio, in 1876, and entered into the practice of his profession at Newton Falls, Trumbull county, where he remained ten years and built up a good clientele. He has been equally successful in the village of Kent, Portage county, where he was HISTORY OF THE WESTERN RESERVE - 1679 likewise engaged in general practice a decade. In 1898 he removed to the city of RaNienna, where he has since resided, and where he has proven his established reputation for effective work in all branches of the profession. He has a thorough and well fortified knowledge of jurisprudence and well proved ability as a trial lawyer and a duly conservative counsel. Politically Mr. Newton has rendered valuable service as a stanch and effective supporter of the principles and policies of the Democratic party. While a resident of Newton Falls he served the village as a member of the board of education, and for three terms he held a like office in Kent, of which thriving town he served two terms as mayor. He also served as a member of the Board of Investigation to visit the various public institutions of Portage county. He is affiliated with the Ravenna lodges of Knights of Pythias and Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks. In 1876 Mr. Newton married Emma L., daughter of Alva and Alvira (Lickens) Hartle, of Ravenna. Mr. Newton and his wife have no children of their own. WANZER HOLCOMB.—Among those who have dignified and honored the Western Reserve through their worthy lives and services was the late Wanzer Holcomb, of Ravenna, who was a native son of Portage county, where he passed his entire life, and who was a member of one of the well known and sterling pioneer families of this county. There were no spectacular phases in his career, but he made his influence felt and gained distinctive success in the domain of productive business activities, and as a citizen stood for all that was loyal and honorable, so that he was not denied the tribute of uniform confidence and esteem as emanating from those with whom he came in contact in the various relations of life. His character and his material accomplishments were such as to eminently entitle him to a place of honor in this historical compilation. Wanzer Holcomb was born in Portage county, Ohio, on September 9, 1827, and was a son of William Abbott and Lydia (Olmstead) Holcomb, both natives of Westfield, Massachusetts, and members of families founded in the old Bay state in the period when New England was still a colonial possession of England. Their marriage was solemnized in Massachusetts and in 1824 they came thence to the Western Reserve and numbered themselves among the early settlers of Portage county. William Abbott Holcomb was a stonemason and plasterer by trade, and as a skilled workman he found ready and constant demand for his services after coming to Ohio. He also became the owner of a farm and was one of the honored citizens in his community, where he wielded no little influence in public affairs. He lived to attain to the partriarchal age of 102 years and was unmistakably the most venerable of the pioneers of the Western Reserve when he was finally summoned to his reward. His wife was about sixty-eight years of age at the time of her demise. They became the parents of ten children, of whom two died in infancy. The other eight children attained to years of maturity, and of the number one is now living, Mrs. Lydia Freeman, of Ravenna. The subject of this memoir was the eldest of the ten children. Wanzer Holcomb passed his childhood and youth in .Rootstown, Portage county, where he was afforded the advantages of the common schools of the pioneer epoch, including a course of study in what was known as the Salem school, in which he received instruction in higher academy branches. As a youth he learned the trade of stonemason under the able direction of his honored father, and eventually he became one of the leading contractors and builders of his native county. He was associated with others in contract mason work in connection with the construction of the Erie railroad, and he also erected many buildings and held many important contracts in the line of his chosen vocation, to which he devoted his attention during the major portion of his long and useful career as a successful and enterprising business man. He took up his residence in Ravenna in 185o, and here passed the remainder of his life. He became the owner of valuable realty in his home county and city, was interested in various business enterprises, including a window glass factory, in the ownership and operation of which he was associated with the late Dewitt C. Cool-man, and he served for many years as vice president of the Second National Bank of Ravenna. of which executive office he was incumbent at the time of his death. Mr. Holcomb ever retained the inviolable confidence and esteem of the people of his native county, where his circle of friends was circumscribed only by that of his acquaintances, and he was called upon to serve in various local offices of trust, including that of county commissioner, of which he was incumbent for 1680 - HISTORY OF THE WESTERN RESERVE several years. He gave an uncompromising allegiance to the Republican party and took a deep and intellingent interest in the questions and issue of the hour. As a citizen he was essentially progressive and public-spirited, and all worthy enterprises and measures projected for the benefit of the community received his ready co-operation. He attained to advanced degrees in the Masonic fraternity, and was also actively affiliated with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and the Royal Arcanum. His life was guided and governed by the loftiest principles of integrity and honor. Mr. Holcomb was summoned to the life eternal on May 1o, 1903, and his name shall have an enduring place on the roll of those who contributed to the development and upbuilding of the fine old Western Reserve. On September 25, 1851, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Holcomb to Miss Saphronia C. Stough, who was born in Ravenna, the county seat of Portage county, on September 29, 1829, a date which clearly indicates that she is a representative of one of the pioneer families of this section of the Western Reserve. She is a daughter of Jacob and Margaret (Ettinger) Stough. Jacob Stough was born in the vicinity of Harrisburg, the capital of Pennsylvania, and was there reared to maturity. He continued his residence in his native state until about 1828, when lie came to the Western Reserve and took up his residence in Ravenna, which was then a small village. Here was solemnized his marriage to Miss Margaret Ettinger, who was born in Ravenna, a daughter of Jacob Ettinger, who had served as a loyal soldier in the war of the Revolution and who later became one of the prominent and honored pioneers of Portage county, Ohio, where he developed a valuable farm and where he continued to maintain his home until his death. Jacob Stough was eighty-one years of age at the time of his demise, and his wife passed away at the age of sixty-five years. They became the parents of twelve children, all of whom attained to years of maturity, but of whom Mrs. Holcomb is now the only survivor. Mrs. Holcomb, who maintains her home in Ravenna, a place endeared to her by the hallowed associations of the past, has here passed her entire life with the exception of a period of four years, during which she and her husband resided in Mount Pleasant, Iowa, and she is held in reverent affection as one of the venerable pioneer women of the Western Reserve. Mr. and Mrs. Holcomb became the parents of three children. Margaret is the wife of Charles Alerts, a sketch of whose career appears on other pages of this publication ; William W. is bookkeeper in the coal and produce establishment of Charles Bennett, of Ravenna ; and Harry S. is now a resident of the state of Colorado. FRED H. WHITE is well established in business in Lodi, and is well known in trade circles as the proprietor of a bakery and grocery store. He was born in Westfield township of Medina county April 1o, 1862, and is a son of prominent early residents of that township, Earls 0. and Mary A. (Malory) White, the father from Vermont and the mother from New York. Earls 0. White passed his youth and school days in Vermont, and in his eighteenth year came to Medina county, where he purchased a farm of fifty acres and continued actively engaged in general farming until late in life he moved to Lodi. He identified himself with the business life of that city and was appointed its postmaster, which office he held for several years and in which he was succeeded by his son, F. H., for three and a half years. He died in 1886, and his wife passed away in the year following. She was a daughter of Eber Malory, of Westfield township. The following children were born to Earls o. and Mary White : Charles E., of Dowagiac, Michigan ; Virginia, who became the wife of W. Elmer ; Ella, wife of Jacob Wagoner, of Leroy ; Ida C., the wife of Rev. John Richardson, a Universalist minister who died in 1893 Frank E., of Minn. ; and Fred H. Earls 0. White served fifteen years as a justice of the peace. He was allied with the Democratic party, and took an active interest in local and county politics. Fred H. White received his elementary education in district schools, from which he passed to the Lodi High School and thence to Lodi Academy. After leaving the school room he became a clerk in a general store, and in 1892 engaged in the grocery business on his own account as a member of the firm of Seely, Burch and Company. After one year with that firm, Mr. White became associated with Philo Miller, the firm name being White and Miller, and later Mr. Stoffer became a member of the association. This relationship existed until 1906, and Mr. White then purchased the interests of his partners and became the sole owner of the business. In connection with HISTORY OF THE WESTERN RESERVE - 1681 his grocery store he now maintains a bakery. He has been very successful as a merchant, and is now at the head of one of the largest mercantile establishments of its kind in Lodi. In October of 1887 was celebrated his marriage to Nellie A. Dyer, from Chatham township, a daughter of Captain and Julia A. (Clapp) Dyer, and a son, Clayton E., now a student in the Case School of Applied Science, Cleveland, has been born to them. Mr. White is a member of Harrisville Lodge, No. 137, F. & A. M., and also of the Eastern Star, Ben Hur and Maccabees. Mrs. White is the present matron in the. Eastern Star order, and she takes a very active interest in that order. She was educated in the schools of St. Louis, Missouri. EDWIN J. GILBERT.—The business representatives. of the city include the name of Edwin J. Gilbert, the proprietor of a general blacksmithing and repair shop and a skilled workman. He is also a native son of this city, born here on the 22nd of August, 1851, to the marriage union of Alpheus W. Gilbert and Miss Mary Gilley. The father was born in the state of New York, and was Married after coming to Ohio. He was by trade a carriage maker, manufacturing light and heavy vehicles of all kinds, and in connection with this trade he also conducted blacksmith and paint shops, so that he was able to turn out the finished product, either carriage, wagon or truck, and at the same time he did a general repair business. He died on the 19th of July, 1899, and he is still survived by his wife. Edwin J. Gilbert received a public school education at Lodi, and later attended a select school, but the greater part of his education has been obtained by reading, for he is a loyer of books. He learned the trade of blacksmithing from his father, and while thus engaged also acquired a good knowledge of the carriage and wagon making business, and after the death of his father he continued the general blacksmithing and repairing business. Attending strictly to business and being a skillful workman, he has built up a splendid business, and at the same time has served the public as an active and valued citizen. At the time of his election to the office of sheriff of Medina county in 1896 he received the largest vote of any man on the ticket. He has served the city as a member of its council, and he is an active worker in the local councils of his chosen political party, the Republican. In 1883 Mr. Gilbert married Miss Sarah Rice, from Chatham township, Medina county, a daughter of John and Hannah (Stine) Rice, and two daughters, Flossy and Hazel, have been born to them. Mr. Gilbert is a member of Harrisville Lodge, No. 137, F. & A. M., and of West Salem Chapter R. A. M. He is widely known and highly respected as a citizen, and with his family he resides in one of the comfortable homes of Lodi. ALBERT MUNSON.—A native son of Medina county, who has well upheld the prestige of a name honored in the annals of this section of the Western Reserve from the early pioneer epoch, and who has marked by distinctive personal accomplishment a place of his own in connection with the public, civic and business affairs of his native county, is this venerable and honored resident of the city of Medina, where he is still identified with business interests, though an octogenarian. He served as a member of the state legislature fully forty years ago, and was for several years the able and popular incumbent of the office of probate judge of Medina county, where he is today held in affectionate veneration as one of the oldest of the pioneer citizens of this favored section of the old Buckeye state. In fact so wise and just was his rule that during his whole administration of the above mentioned office, he never had a decision reversed by the higher courts. His reminiscenses of the early clays are interesting and graphic, and to the later generation they must needs read like tales from a volume of charming romance. He has contributed his quota to the social and material development of the section in which his life has been passed, and he stands today as a worthy type of the courteous, affable and dignified gentleman of the "old school," which finds all too few representatives in this vital and aggressive twentieth century. Judge Munson was born in the section commonly designated as River Styx. Guilford township, Medina county, Ohio, on August 8, 1829, and is the only survivor of the nine children born to Lyman and Nancy (Porter) Munson. Lyman Munson was born in Wallingford, Connecticut, in 1781, and was a scion of a family founded in New England in the early colonial days. The lineage is traced back to stanch English origin, on both the paternal and maternal sides. The father passed his boynood days in his native place, where he acquired his early educational training, and in 1682 - HISTORY OF THE WESTERN RESERVE 1817, in company with his brother Jacob, emigrated to the wilds of Medina county, Ohio. 1-...e drove an ox team from Connecticut to the far distant pioneer home and compassed the major portion of the distance on foot. He secured a tract of land in Guilford township, where, in the midst of the untrammeled forest, he made a clearing in which to erect his primitive log cabin. In his native state he had learned the carpenters trade, and in the pioneer community he found much requisition for his skilled services. Thus while devoting his attention to the clearing and cultivation of his farm he did much work at his trade. He was skilled in the use of the ax and broad-ax, and thus was enabled to compass the arduous work which in the East was done with more im proved implements and machinery. He built many of the early houses and barns in his section of the county, and most of the timber for the same was hewed out by hand instead of being sawed, even to the "shakes" which were used in lieu of shingles. During the early years he passed the major portion of the winter seasons in chopping timber, and he thus aided in the clearing of about 1,500 acres, including his own farm, which comprised eighty acres. Like others of the pioneers he found recreation in hunting and fishing, and through this means largely provided the supplies for the family larder. Wild game of all kinds was plentiful, including the stately deer, bear, squirrels, turkeys, pigeons, etc., and the neighboring streams gave liberally of their wealth of fish. The lot of the pioneer was in many respects a hard one, bilit there were also many elements of compensation, community of interests, stanch friendships, joyous, if infrequent, social gatherings and ample sports afield and afloat. Lyman Munson remained on his old homestead until his death, in 1863, at the age of eighty-two years. He was a man of an innate modest, though fine mental caliber, and though he never sought public office his neighbors were appreciative of his eligibility and called upon him to serve in several of the township offices. He was influential in his township and was a man whose sterling integrity of character gained and retained to him the confidence and high regard of all who knew him. Mrs. Munson, who died in 1850, when about sixty-five years of age, was a woman possessed of many graces of mind and heart, much loved and respected by all who knew her. Her personality was so strong that all who came in contact with it felt its power, and always for their good. She possessed a voice of rare beauty, and her singing was much enjoyed in the church and neighborhood. She was born in Westfield, Massachusetts, and was a daughter of Elijah Porter, who served for the seven years of the war of the Revolution in the office of drum major. Major Porter likewise became one of the pioneers of Medina county, where he met his death by being thrown from a horse; Judge Albert Munson, the immediate subject of this sketch, well recalls the scenes and incidents of the early pioneer epoch, and especially the old log school house in which he secured his rudimentary education. This primitive structure was, like others of the locality and period, equipped with puncheon floor, slab benches, windows of oiled paper and yawning fireplace in one end. After completing the curriculum of this stately institution of learning, he was enabled to attend the well conducted academy in the village of Sharon. He continued to be associated in the work of the home farm until he had attained to his legal majority, when he became clerk in a general store at Sharon, Ohio. He was employed in this capacity, at minimum wages, for five years, at the expiration of which he returned to the old homestead farm, where he devoted his attention to diversified agriculture and stock-growing. In 1860, soon after the beginning of the Civil war, he was commissioned by Governor David Todd colonel of a regiment of militia, and from that time on until the close of the war (being physically ineligible for service in the field) was actively engaged in the recruiting service and was instrumental in raising $136,000 in Guilford township, and throughout the whole period of the war every quota of every call was promptly filled by said township. In 1878 he removed to Medina to assume the office of judge of the probate court, to which position he had been elected in that year. He retained this incumbency for six consecutive years, by re-election, and his record remains that of careful and able handling of the business of this important branch of the county government. Judge Munson has been allied with the Republican party from the time of its organization and has been an effective worker in the various county and state campaigns. He is a man of broad information and well forti fied opinions, and in the first national campaign of the "Grand Old Party" in 1856, he HISTORY OF THE WESTERN RESERVE - 1683 had the distinction and satisfaction of making more than Ioo "stump" speeches in favor of the first presidential candidate of the party, General John C. Fremont. In 1869 he was elected to represent his native county in the lower house of the state legislature, in which he served four years. He was a member of several important house committees, and within his term of service the laws of the state were codified. He was cnairman of the codification committee and did a large amount of valuable work in this connection. A number of the laws enacted by the legislature during his membership therein were later copied by several other states, notably New York and Wisconsin. Upon retiring from the probate bench, Judge Munson bought the hardware business of Samuel H. Bradley and since 1885 has been associated with his only son in the same business, under the firm title of A. Munson & Son. Judge Munson has been a man of affairs and has attained to well merited success in connection with his business and general financial operations. He was one of the principal promoters of the Pittsburg, Akron and Western Railroad Company, and was a member of its directorate for several years. This road, now known as the Northern Ohio Railroad, is connected with other roads and by its means the distance between New York and Chicago, via the Lake Erie and Western system, is shortened by fifty-four miles. Judge Munson has ever been known as a citizen of deep public spirit and progressive ideas, and lie has done much to further the upbuilding of his home city. He has ever held the implicit confidence and trust of the people of his community. He is affiliated with Morning Star Lodge, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and with Council No. 372, Royal Arcanum, of which he was one of the founders. In 1854 was solemnized the marriage of Judge Munson to Miss Harriet Easton, who was born in Manlius, New York, and is a daughter of Julius and Artimesia Easton, honored pioneers of Medina county. Julius Easton was born in Westfield, Massachusetts, and came of sturdy old English stock ; from Westfield he removed to the state of New York, where he was married to Miss Artimesia Manchester, of Dover, Dutchess county, who traced her lineage back to the Knickerbockers. From New York they emigrated to Medina county, Ohio, where the remaining years of their lives were spent. Judge and Mrs. Munson have two children—Cora Eugenie, who lives with her parents in Medina, and Lyman, who is associated with his father in the hardware business and is one of the representative business men of Medina. WILFORD W. WHITE, M. D. —It has been given Dr. Wilford W. White, of Ravenna, Ohio, one of the most prominent physicians of the city and proprietor of the White Hospital, to gain a large measure of distinction and success in the profession whose responsibilities and exactions are greater than any other calling, as in it are involved the issues of life and death. Dr. White is a native of Cleveland, Ohio, where he was born February 20, 1859, a son of John Elbert and Fannie White. John E. White tendered his services to the cause of the Union at the outbreak of the Civil war, and enlisting as private in one of the early volunteer regiments recruited in Ohio, and he sacrificed his life for this cause, being killed in active service when his only son, Wilford, was but a child. His widow afterward became Mrs. Britton, and now resides in Cleveland. After the death of his father Wilford W. White was taken into the home of his uncle, Rev. O. W. White, of Strongville, Cuyahoga county, Ohio, and there passed his boyhood days and secured his early education. He remained with his uncle until he was fifteen years of age, when he removed to Oberlin, Ohio, and continued his studies in the preparatory department of Oberlin College. He began early to depend upon his own resources, and through his own exertions provided for much of his early education and worked to earn his way through a medical education. When eighteen years of age he began studying medicine under the direction of Dr. Thayer, with whom he was thus associated four years, after which he continued his studies in the medical department of the Western Reserve University in Cleveland, from which institution he graduated and received his well-earned degree of M. D. He engaged in practice in Cleveland, where he remained one year, and during this time held the position of demonstrator of anatomy in the medical department of his alma mater. In 1882 he removed to Ravenna, where he has now been engaged in the successful practice of his profession for more than a quarter of a century, during which time he has fully won the confidence and esteem of the community and established a reputation for skill and ability of a high order. 1684 - HISTORY OF THE WESTERN RESERVE Dr. White keeps himself well informed of all the advances made in all departments of his profession, and stands high in his profession, being recognized as one of the leading and representative physicians and surgeons of the Western Reserve. He is an appreciative reader of the best literature pertaining to his profession, and has himself made valuable contributions to medical periodicals. Realizing the need for a well equipped and properly managed private hospital in Ravenna, Dr White established such an institution there in 1901, and received such favorable reception and appreciation of this enterprise that he found it expedient to erect a modern building for the special purpose of enlarging and furthering this good work, which resulted in the erection of a handsome brick and stone building, forty-five by seventy feet. This building, pleasantly located, was completed in 1904, and affords accommodations for twenty-five patients. In the matter of sanitary provisions the arrangement of the hospital is of the best, and its equipment is the most modern, including many of the best facilities known to modern medical and surgical science. Dr. White is a valued and appreciative member of the Ohio State Medical Society, the Portage County Medical Society and the American Medical Association. Although he accords his stanch support to the cause of the Republican party, he has never cared to enter practical politics or receive the honors or emoluments of public office and preferment. He devotes his entire time and energies to his noble and humane profession to the exclusion of most other activities, applying himself to his work with singleness of purpose and unabated zeal. In the order of Ancient Free and Accepted Masons he has attained to the thirty-second degree, the Scottish Rite, being also identified with the Ancient Arabic Order of the Nobles of the Mystic Shrine, holding membership in Al Koran Temple in the city of Cleveland, where his consistory affiliations are also maintained. He is a member of Ravenna Lodge, No. 1076, Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks. In 1881 Dr. White married Mary, daughter of the late Dr. Henry Warner, a representative physician and surgeon of Medina, Ohio. Dr. and Mrs. White have four daughters, namely : Orpha E., Larus O., Perlina L. and Mary A., who are popular in the social circles of their home city. SIDNEY J. POST.—In the executive control and direction of its representative and substantial financial institutions the Western Reserve is signally favored in having enlisted the able services of men of the highest integrity and of splendid equipment for the duties devolving upon them. Among the prominent members of the financial circles of this favored section is Sidney J. Post, who is incumbent of the office of secretary of the Portage Savings & Loan Company of Ravenna, one of the solid and popular institutions of Portage county, with excellent facilities and ample capitalistic reinforcement. Mr. Post was born in Twinsburg, Summit county, Ohio, on the 26th of May, 1845, and is a son of Giles and Anna (Royce) Post. His father was a native of the state of Connecticut and a member of one of the sterling old New England families. He was reared and educated in his native state, where he learned the trade of shoemaking, and as a young man he came to the Western Reserve. He settled in the village of Twinsburg, Summit county, where he followed the work of his trade until his death, at the age of forty-five years. His wife was born in Troy, Geauga county, Ohio, where she was reared and educated and where her father was a pioneer settler. She died at the age of sixty-eight years, and of her three sons, two of whom are living, the subject of this review was the second in order of birth. Giles Post was a man of sterling character and ever commanded the confidence and esteem of his fellow men. He took an intelligent interest in the questions of the day and gave his support to the cause of the Republican party. Both he and his wife held membership in the Methodist church. Sidney J. Post gained his early education in the common schools of his native village, after which he continued his studies in the schools of Ravenna. He was a lad of sixteen years at the inception of the Civil war, but his youthful patriotism was aroused to responsive protest when rebel guns thundered against the ramparts of historic old Fort Sumter. Not until 1864, however, was he permitted to tender his services in defense of the Union. In February of that year he enlisted as a private in the First Ohio Light Artillery, with which gallant command he continued in active service until the close of the war, and with which he participated in a number of important engagements, besides numerous skirmishes. He was HISTORY OF THE WESTERN RESERVE - 1685 mustered out on the 31st Of July, 1865, and duly received his honorable discharge. After the close of the war Mr. Post re-.turned to Ravenna, and here he held the position of clerk in a hotel for some time. In 1868 be accepted a clerkship in the office of Isaiah Linton, of Ravenna, an able civil engineer and as such long in the employ of the Cleveland & Pittsburg Railroad Company. Mr. Pc& gained a thorough technical knowledge and finally became assistant engineer of the railroad mentioned. He continued to be associated with Mr. Linton until January 1, 1886, when he assumed the duties of the office of county recorder of Portage county, a position to which he had been elected in November of the preceding year. Through successive re-elections he continued incumbent of this office until 1895, and his long tenure of the same offers the most significant evidence of his able administration and of the popular estimate placed upon his services. He resigned the position of recorder at the time of the organization of the Portage Savings & Loan Company, of which he was chosen secretary at the time of incorporation. This office he has since retained, and he has handled the executive duties devolving upon him with utmost discrimination and ability, so that the interests of the solid institution have been furthered through his interposition as well as through the confidence and esteem ever reposed in him by the citizens of the county which he so long served in official capacity. Mr. Post has been identified with the Republican party from the time of attaining to his legal majority and concomitant right of franchise, and he has been a most ardent advocate of the principles and policies for which it stands sponsor. In addition to the office of county recorder he has served as clerk of Ravenna township and clerk of the board of education of Ravenna. He is a valued and appreciative member of David McIntosh Post, No. 327, Grand Army of the Republic, and is also identified with the Ravenna Lodge of the Benevolent & Protective Order of Elks. In 1875 was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Post to Miss Lora J. Butler, who was born in Rootstown, Portage county, Ohio, and who is a daughter of the late William M. Butler, who was a resident of Ravenna at the time of his death. Mr. and Mrs. Post have one son, William G., who is his father's assistant in the offices of the Portage Savings & Loan Company. MARION G. MCBRIDE, M. D.—As a physician and surgeon Dr. McBride, who is engaged in practice in the city of Ravenna, Ohio, has gained precedence as one of the leading representatives of his profession in his native county, and his success stands as the most effective exponent of his ability in his exacting vocation, as well as a voucher for his personal popularity. Dr. McBride was born in Freedom township, Portage county, Ohio, May 3, 1858, and is a son of Rev. Sterling and Mary A (Gage) McBride. Rev. Sterling McBride was likewise a native of the Buckeye state, and was a scion of one of its honored pioneer families. He received excellent educational advantages and was a man of marked erudition and fine attainments. He became one of the prominent clergymen of the Christian, or Disciples church in the Western Reserve, and was connected with Hiram College. He accomplished a noble work in the functions of his high office, but was summoned to a higher world in the flower of his manhood, being but thirty-four years of age at the time of his death. His father was one of the sterling pioneers of Portage county, where he developed a valuable farm and continued to reside on it until his death. Rev. Sterling McBride married a daughter of Albert and Mary Gage, who came from Vermont to the Western Reserve in the early pioneer days, making the long overland journey with an ox team, by which the necessarily limited equipment of household goods was transported. Mr. Gage secured a tract of wild land in Freedom township, where Mrs. McBride was born, and here he erected a log house and set himself to the task of reclaiming his farm from the virgin forest. With the passing years he became one of the successful agriculturists of Portage county, and was a man of prominence and influence in his community. He continued to reside in Freedom township until his death, at the age of eighty-four years ; his wife attained to the venerable age of ninety-two years. Mrs. Mary A. (Gage) McBride is still living in Portage county, which has been her home from the time of her nativity, and she is one of the most highly respected and most loved residents of the village of Garrettsville. Rev. McBride and his wife became the parents of two sons and one daughter, of whom the Doctor is the eldest. Charles is now a resident of the city of Brooklyn, and Minnie is the wife of Martin Norton, of Nelson, Portage county. 1686 - HISTORY OF THE WESTERN RESERVE Dr. McBride gained all his preliminary educational discipline in the public schools of Ravenna, and thereafter pursued the higher academic branches of study at Hiram College, in which institution he was a student for some time. In fortifying himself for the work of his chosen profession he was matriculated in the Hoeys College of Cleveland, Ohio, in which institution he completed the prescribed technical course and was graduated as a member of the class of 1883, with the degree of M. D. Shortly after his graduation he located at Niles, Trumbull county, Ohio, where he did his first years work as a medical practitioner, and in 1884 he removed to the city of Ravenna, where he has been engaged in active professional work during the long intervening period of a quarter of a century, within which time he has built up a large and representative practice, and established a high reputation as a physician and surgeon. He continues to be a close and appreciative student of both medical and surgical science, and through the best standard and periodical literature of his profession he maintains familiarity with the rapid advances made and utilized and the most approved methods in all departments of his professional work. He is now one of the oldest practitioners in point of continuous service to be found in Portage county, and his professional prestige is on a parity with his personal popularity. He is a valued and appreciative member of the Ohio State Medical Society, the Eastern Ohio Medical Society and the -Portage County Medical Society. He has served as a member of the Board of Health of Portage county for twenty-five years. Both he and his wife are devoted members of the Christian church, of which his father was a distinguished clergyman, as has been before mentioned. Dr. McBride married Emily, daughter of Fayette and Myra (Finch) Doty, of Ravenna ; she was born in Windham, Ohio, and came to Ravenna with her parents as a child. Mrs. McBride traces her ancestry back in a direct line to one of the sturdy Pilgrims who came from England on the first voyage of the historic Mayflower. She gained her early education in the public schools of Ravenna, and prior to her marriage was a successful and popular teacher in the schools of Portage county. She is a woman of fine literary attainments, and has made many valuable contributions to historical and periodical literature touching the Western Reserve. She Was a member of the editorial staff that compiled the interesting volume entitled "The Women of the Western Reserve," and is well-known as a writer. She is a member of the Cleveland branch of the Ohio Woman's Press Association, and is prominent in the social and religious activities of her home city, where she enjoys the most unequivocal popularity. Dr. and Mrs. McBride have no children. GEORGE E. HINDS.—Within the pages of this work will be found specific mention of many of the representative business men who are aiding in maintaining the financial, industrial and commercial prestige of the fine old Western Reserve, and to such recognition Mr. Hinds, who is cashier of the Kent National Bank at Kent, Portage county, is eminently entitled. He is a native of this county and his career has been such as to prove creditable alike to him and to the county in which the major portion of his life has been passed and in which he has gained success and precedence of no equivocal order. Mr. Hinds was born in Kent, Portage county, Ohio, a village which at that time bore the name of Franklin Mills, on the 13th of July, 1850, and is a son of Erastus C. and Emily (Rouse) Hinds, of whose two children he is the elder and the only survivor as his sister, Carrie B., died at the age of twenty-two years. Erastus C. Hinds was born in Worcester, Massachusetts, in which state the family was founded in the colonial epoch, and where he continued to reside until about 1828, when he came to Portage county, Ohio, and numbered himself among the pioneers of the little village of Franklin Mills, now the city of Kent. Here he established a cooperage, and for many years he was actively engaged in the work of his trade in this village, where he ever commanded the utmost confidence and esteem and where he wielded no little influence in local affairs. He attained to the age of seventy years, and at the time of his death was in the employ of the Erie Railroad Company. He was a Democrat in politics. In the village of Kent was solemnized the marriage of Erastus C. Hinds to Miss Emily Rouse,.who was born in the state of New York and who was a child at the time of her parents' removal to Kent, Portage county, Ohio, where she was reared and educated and where she continues to reside with her son. She is a woman of gentle and gracious personality and is highly respected by all who come within the sphere of her influence. HISTORY OF THE WESTERN RESERVE - 1687 George E. Hinds, whose name initiates this article, was reared to manhood in his native town, which has represented his home during the entire course of his life thus far,—a life marked by close application to business, by integrity of purpose and by definite accomplishment along normal lines of productive activity. He continued to attend the public schools of Kent until he had attained to the age of sixteen years, when he secured a position as messenger boy in the railroad shops of the Atlantic & Great Western Railroad Company. From this lowly position he was advanced through various grades of promotion, and he won his advancement by faithful and able service. Thus he became in turn storekeeper and chief clerk at the shops mentioned, and in 1876, when twenty-six years of age, he was appointed agent at Kent for the New York, Pennsylvania & Ohio Railroad Company, as well as local agent for the United States Express Company. He thus continued in the employ of these two companies for the long period of thirty-seven years, at the expiration of which, in 1904, he resigned both incumbencies to accept the office of cashier of the Kent National Bank, a preferment that came as a definite recognition of his ability and of the sterling characteristics which had designated his long and faithful service as representative of the companies previously mentioned. As cashier of this old and substantial banking institution he has proved a careful and discriminating executive, and has further gained precedence as a business man of marked ability and of unwavering integrity of purpose: While identified with the railroad business Mr. Hinds was elected secretary and treasurer of the Atlantic & Great Western Life Insurance Company, whose membership is confined to employes of the railroad company. He remained incumbent of this dual office for a period of twenty years, and thereafter he served in turn as vice-president and president of the company. When he identified himself with the organization it had about three hundred members or policy holders, and when he retired from the presidency the list of members comprised twenty-four hundred names. He was primarily instrumental in placing the company on a solid financial basis and in formulating the excellent system upon which the organization has been built up and perpetuated. He was also secretary of the railroad library for several years. In politics Mr. Hinds gives an un- Vol. III-27 swerving allegiance to the Republican party, and he is essentially progressive and public-spirited in his attitude as a citizen. He has taken deep interest and pride in the upbuilding and civic and industrial advancement of his native town, and has contributed in every. possible way to the furtherance of its welfare. He served one term as a member of the board of education and was a member of the board through whose labors was effected the organization of the present public library of Kent. He has been most zealous in promoting the interests of the library and has been president of its board for many years. He is a member of Rocton Lodge, No. 316, Free and Accepted Masons, of Kent, of which he has served as secretary for thirty years, and at Akron, Summit county, he holds membership in Akron Commandery, Knights Templar, besides which he is identified with the auxilliary organization, the Order of the Eastern Star, of which Mrs. Hinds• also is a member. The banking institution of which Mr. Hinds is cashier was organized in 1851, under the title of the Franklin Bank of Portage county, and its history has been one of consecutive success. It was reorganized as a national bank in 1865, is one of the oldest and most solid banking houses in the Western Reserve, and its operations are based on a capital stock of sixty thousand dollars. The officers of the institution at the present time are as follows : William S. Kent, president ; Isaac D. Tuttle. vice-president ; George E. Hinds, cashier ; and George J. Stauffer, assistant cashier. All of these executive officers except the last mentioned are members of the directorate, which also includes P. W. Engner and M. B. Spellman. In 1875 Mr. Hinds was united in marriage to Miss Ann S. Jerome, who was born and reared in Portage county, and who is a daughter of William and Selina (Botsford) Jerome. Mr. and Mrs. Hinds became the parents of five children, of 'whom all are living except Albert J., who died at the age of nineteen years ; Jessie Mary is the wife of M. B. Spellman, of Kent ; William J. is president of the Booth-Hinds Manufacturing Company at Kings-land, New Jersey ; George W. is one of the representative farmers of Franklin township in his home county and makes a specialty of the raising of celery and onions ; and Carrie E., who was graduated in the Kent high school, remains at the parental home. 1688 - HISTORY OF THE WESTERN RESERVE EUGENE EDGAR ADAMS.—Among the native-born citizens of Concord township, Lake county, who spent the greater part of their lives within its precincts, not one was held in greater esteem and respect than the late Eugene Edgar Adams. Stanch and true, he always exerted his influence to promote the highest interests of his community, and was widely known as an enterprising and successful farmer, a truly patriotic citizen, a kind and generous neighbor and as a loving husband and father. He was born, June 1, 1845, in Concord township, Ohio, and his death, which occurred in the same place, October 9, 1908, was a cause of general regret. His grandfather, Martin Adams, was one of the pioneer settlers of Lake county. He lived to a good old age, and his wife, who survived him, attained the remarkable age of 101 years. Mr. Adams' father, Martin Hart Adams, who was born in Concoi d township, lived a short time in Russell, Ohio, and spent four years in Michigan, but was otherwise engaged in farming in Lake county, his death occurring on his home farm in Concord township March 26, 1890. He married Arte Mead Messenger, a native, likewise, of Concord township, and they became the parents of two children, namely : Eugene Edgar, the subject of this sketch, and a daughter that died in infancy. Although a few of his boyhood days were spent in another part of this state and in Michigan, Eugene Edgar Adams returned to his native township when fourteen years old, and here completed his education in tne public. schools. Fond from his youth up of good reading, he subsequently became familiar with the history of our own and other countries, and was especially well informed in regard to current affairs. He took an intelligent interest in everything pertaining to the welfare not only of his township, county and state, but of our country, as a boy and youth, being thoroughly convinced of the right and need of abolishing chattel slavery. When, the tocsin of war rang throughout our land he was anxious to enlist in the army, but on account of delicate health hesitated to do so until 1865, when he offered his services, enlisting as a private. While in the army he contracted typhoid fever, and it is probable that he never fully recovered from its effects. The death of his son, Wade E. Adams, while serving in the Spanish-American war, was a sad affliction to Mr. Adams, but he bore his loss with cheerfulness and patience for a period of ten years, pursuing his usual work and greeting his friends with the cordial welcome to which they had ever been accustomed, never obtruding his personal griefs and sorrows on others. Mr. Adams married, April 21, 1868, Ann V. Goodwill, the ceremony that united them for life being performed by Rev. P. P. Pinney, of the Methodist Episcopal church, and being witnessed by G. N. Tuttle and J. W. Penfield. Three sons blessed their union, one of whom died in infancy. The others were Wade E. and Martin G. Wade E. Adams enlisted in Company M, Fifth Ohio Volunteer Infantry, at the commencement of the Spanish-American war in 1898, and died, at Fort Thomas, Kentucky, in 1898, while on his way home from Florida, where his regiment had been in camp, at the early age of twenty-one years, his birth having occurred June 2, 1877. Martin Goodwill Adams, born October 8, 1876, in Concord township, Lake county, on the farm where he now resides, is numbered among the successful and progressive agriculturists of the state. He and his mother have three good farms in Concord township, aggregating 187 acres, the larger number of which are under a fine state of cultivation. He married; November 20, 1900, Lora Tyler, daughter of Mrs. Inez (Tinker) Tyler, of Chardon, Geauga county, Ohio, and they have three children, Wadena, Raymond and Lysle. FRANK D. E. WICKHAM.—Long and intimately identified with newspaper work in the city of Norwalk, Huron county, as was also his honored father, he whose name initiates this review well upheld the prestige of the family name in connection with practical and well ordered journalism and loyal citizenship, and though he is now financial agent of the American Protective Tariff League, of New York city, he retains his residence in Norwalk, and there is eminent consistency in according to him recognition in this history of the Western Reserve and its people, both by reason of personal accomplishment in an important field of endeavor and prominence in connection with public affairs and on account of the influential position long held in this favored section of the state by his father, who was for many years editor and publisher of the Norwalk Reflector and who served in various offices of distinctive public trust. Apropos of the statement of Macaulay to the effect that "A people that take no pride in the noble achievements of remote ancestors will HISTORY OF THE WESTERN RESERVE - 1689 never achieve anything worthy to be remembered with pride by remote descendants," it may be said that the subject of this review reverts with much of appreciation to a lineage of distinguished order, as he is a descendant of staunch colonial ancestry, in which have been found many representatives whose names are honored in the history of the nation. Frank Dudley Erskine Wickham is a native son of the Western Reserve, as he was born in Norwalk, Huron county, Ohio, on the 29th of April, 186o, and he is a son of Frederick and Lucy Bancroft (Preston) Wickham. The founder of the Wickham family in America was Israel Wickham, who was born and reared in England, and who immigrated to America in 1662, landing at Newport, Rhode Island. He died in 1687 and his remains rest in an ancient cemetery at Hampton, Long Island. His son Samuel was born at Warwick, Kingstown, Rhode Island, on the 16th of June, 1664, and died about 1712. Samuel Wickham was married, June 4, 1691, to Barbara Holden, and they had ten children. He was made commander of a "trained band" on the 27th of May, 1700, and he served as deputy from Warwick to the general assembly for several years, his final incumbency of this office having been in 171o; he also served as clerk of the assembly. Thomas, son of Samuel and Barbara (Holden) Wickham, was born at Newport, Rhode Island, July 30, 1700. He died on the 19th of September, 1777, and both he and his wife were interred in Trinity churchyard in Newport. On the 23rd of March, 1725, he married Hannah Brewer, and they became the parents of thirteen children. Thomas Wickham was one of the original members of the Newport Artillery Company and was one of the corporators of the historic Redwood Library of Newport. He served as deputy in the general assembly in 1748, and through his connection with the militia he gained the title of captain. Thomas Wickham (II), son of Thomas and Hannah (Brewer) Wickham, was born at Newport, Rhode Island, April 5, 1736, and died March 21, 1817. On the 22nd of December, 1762, was solemnized his marriage to Miss Elizabeth Wanton, daughter of Governor Joseph Wanton, of Rhode Island, whose wife, Mary, was a daughter of John Winthrop. The latter was a great-grandson of John Winthrop who was the founder of the city of Boston in 1630, and her mother, Ann (Dudley) Winthrop, was a daughter of Governor Joseph 'Dudley of Massachusetts. Thomas and Elizabeth (Wanton) Wickham became the parents of eight children, and the direct line of descent to the subject of this sketch is traced through their son William, who was born at Newport, Rhode Island, on the 7th of July, 1778, and who died at Sodus Point, Wayne county, New York, in May 1875, having thus attained the age of nearly one hundred years. William Wickham was united in marriage to Catherine Christian, daughter of Frederick and Elizabeth (Hodgkinson) Christian, of Philadelphia, and they had seven children. William Wickham served in the United States navy in the war of 1812. Frederick Wickham, son of William and Elizabeth (Hodgkinson) Wickham and father of him whose name initiates this article, was born in New York City on the 11th of March, 1812, and his death occurred in Norwalk, Ohio, on the 12th of January, 1901. In early life he was a sailor on the Great Lakes, and he was reared to maturity in the state of New York, where he received his early education, which was broadened into one of distinctively liberal order through his self-application and his association with men and affairs in later years. He established his home in Norwalk, Huron county, Ohio, in May, 1833, and for more than half a century he was editor and publisher of the Norwalk Reflector, which he made a power in the political field and a worthy exponent of local interests. His identification with this enterprise began about the year 1840 and terminated only with his death. No man in the county was better known or held a more secure place in popular confidence and esteem. He was progressive and liberal as a citizen, did much to further the social and material development of this favored section of the Western Reserve and his entire course was guided and governed by the highest principles of integrity and honor. In politics he was originally a Whig and he identified himself with the Republican party at the time of its organization, continuing an able and effective exponent of its principles until the close of his life and being influential in its councils in Ohio. He served for some time as associate judge of the court of common pleas of Huron county, was called to the office of mayor of Norwalk, and was a member of the state senate during the Civil war. In each cif these positions he demonstrated his loyalty to duty and his broad and mature judgement in regard to matter of public polity. He was identified with var- HISTORY OF THE. WESTERN RESERVE - 1690. ious civic and fraternal organizations, and was a member of the Universalist church. On the 15th of January, 1835, was solemnized the marriage of Frederick Wickham to Miss Lucy Bancroft Preston, who was born at Nashua, New Hampshire, March 27, 1814, and who came with her parents, Samuel and Esther (Taylor) Preston, to Norwalk, Ohio, in 1819. Frederick and Lucy B. (Preston) Wickham became the parents of thirteen children, of whom five sons and five daughters are now living. Lucy B. ( Preston) Wickham died at Norwalk, June 19, 1897. Frank D. E. Wickham was afforded the advantages of the public schools of his native city of Norwalk and supplemented this discipline by a course in Lafayette College at Easton, Pennsylvania. Mr. Wickham early became associated with the affairs of the newspaper conducted by his father, and he thoroughly familiarized himself with the mysteries and intricacies of the "art preservative of all arts," connection with which has often been said to be tantamount to a liberal education. From September, 1882, until November 13, 1909, he was continuously identified with the editorial and business affairs of the Norwalk Reflector, on which he served in turn as city editor, associate editor and managing and controlling. editor. In November, 1909, Mr. Wickham retired from his active association with the Norwalk Reflector to assume the responsible office of which he is now incumbent,—that of financial agent of the American Protective Tariff League, of New York City. Mr. Wickham has ever been unwavering in his allegiance to the Republican party and he has taken an active part in the promotion of its cause, not from a desire for official preferment or incidental emoluments, but because he has firmly believed in the principles for which it stands sponsor and has wished them to prevail, as to further the general welfare of the nation. He has never held any public office except the very minor one of member of the Norwalk board of health, but for more than twenty successive years he was secretary of the Republican county conventions of Huron county, and from 1881. to 1909 he was a member of the Republican city committee of Norwalk. Mr. Wickham attends the Protestant Episcopal church, of which his wife is a communicant, and in a fraternal way he is affiliated with the Knights of the Maccabees, the Independent Order of Foresters, the Benevolent and Protective order of Elks and the Delta Kappa Epsilon college fraternity. In his native city of Norwalk, on the 14th of October, 1886, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Wickham to Miss Agnes Caroline Benedict, who was born and reared in Norwalk and who is a representative of one of the oldest and most distinguished families of Huron county. She is a daughter of Dr. David DeForest Benedict and Harriott Melvina (Deaver) Benedict. Her father was born in Norwalk on August 1, 1833, being a son of Jonas Benedict, whose father, Platt Benedict, was the first settler of the city of Norwalk and one .of the most influential pioneers of Huron county. Dr. Benedict was long numbered among the representative physicians and surgeons of Huron county, but retired from practice some years before his death, which occurred on January 5, 1901, to look after his large land interests. On January 15, 1862, he tendered his services in defense of the Union as acting assistant surgeon, and on February 5 of the following year he received commission as assistant surgeon of the Seventeenth Ohio Veteran Volunteer Infantry, and on June 8, 1865, he was commissioned surgeon of this regiment. He was captured at the battle of Chickamauga and was held in duress in Libby prison for nearly six months. He was a direct descendant of William Bradford, who came to America in the historic "Mayflower" in 1620 and who became governor of Plymouth colony, Massachusetts. Mrs. Harriott Melvina (Deaver) Benedict, mother of Mrs. Wickham, was born at Watertown, New York, on May 4, 1835, and she died in Norwalk, Ohio, on April 25, 1909. She was a descendant of the DeVeres and Shaons, of Maryland and Virginia, members of which were prominent as soldiers of the Continental line in the war of the Revolution. Concerning the children of Mr. and Mrs. Wickham the following brief record is given : Eleanor Shaon, who was born on October 4, 1887, was graduated in the Norwalk high school and is now (1910) attending a kindergarten training school in the city of Cleveland ; Harriott Benedict, who was born on May 23, 1890, is a graduate of the Norwalk high school and is now a student in Wooster University ; William Preston was born September 13, 1893 Lucy Preston was born July 31, 1897 ; and David Benedict was born June 28, 1904. These children are all natives of the city of Norwalk HISTORY OF THE WESTERN RESERVE - 1691 and they have the unusual distinction of being direct descendants of both William Bradford • and John Winthrop, of colonial fame. TIMOTHY GRAVES PARSONS.—Distinguished as one of the longest established and most respected business men of the Western. Reserve, Timothy G. Parsons has been actively identified with the manufacturing and mercantile interests of Kent, Portage county, for upwards of forty years, being engaged in lumbering and milling. A son of Edward Parsons, he was born September 17, 1832, in Brimfield town-ship, Portage county, where he spent the earlier years of his life. A native of Massachusetts, Edward Parsons was born in Northampton, Hampshire county, coming from honored colonial ancestry. He learned the carpenter's trade when young, and after working at it for a time in his home town he came in 1830 to Ohio, settling first in Cleveland, where for two years he followed his trade, being employed in the building of the old American House, the leading hotel of the city. Subsequently coming to Portage county, he bought land in Brimfield township and improved a good farm, on which he resided many years. He was prominent in local affairs, and was the second postmaster to serve in Brimfield township. He was a man of great physical and mental vigor, and lived to the advanced age of seventy-seven years. He married Clementine Janes, a native of Massachusetts. She died in the ninetieth year of her age. Their six children, three sons and three daughters, all grew to years of maturity, T. G., the subject of this sketch, being the second child in order of birth and the eldest son. After leaving the district school T. G. Parsons attended the academy at Bissells for one term, completing his early education at a select school at Franklin Mills, now Kent. Beginning the battle of life for himself when eighteen years of age, he was for two years a clerk in the store of C. D. Hall & Co. in Akron. Ambitious, however, to see more of the world, he started in January, 1853, for the Pacific coast, going by way of the Isthmus of Panama to San Francisco. For seven years he remained in California, being engaged the greater part of the time in wining. Returning then to Ohio, he again crossed the Isthmus, from there coming home by way of New Orleans and Cincinnati. Locating in Brimfield township, he bought land and carried on farming for one year. His patriotic ardor being aroused by the breaking out of the Civil war, Mr. Parsons offered his services to his country, enlisting September 20, 1861, in Company A, Forty-second Ohio Volunteer Infantry, as a private, and served, mostly in the field, until November 3, 1863, when he was honorably discharged on account of physical disability. He was subsequently with. the chief quartermaster of the Thirteenth Army Corps on detached service for a while. Then, after spending a brief time at home, he was sent to Louisville as clerk in the assistant quartermaster's department, in which capacity he served until July, 1865. After his return home, Mr. Parsons took an extended trip through the western states, visiting the more important places of interest. In the following year, in 1866, he settled in Kent, where he has since been actively engaged in the lumber and milling business, having built up an extensive and profitable industry, in the management of which he has now the assistance of two of his sons. Mr. Parsons married, in 1866, Eleanor M. Sawyer, a daughter of Henry Sawyer, who came to the Western Reserve from Vermont in 1816, locating in Brimfield township, Portage county. Three children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Parsons, namely : Edward S., in business with his father ; John T., of Pittsburg, Pennsylvania ; and Dwight L., also engaged in business with his father. Mr. Parsons cast his first presidential vote while in California, for the Democratic nominee, James Buchanan, but has since been identified with the Republican party. He has served on the local school board, and was at one time a member of the city council, but has never been an aspirant for official honors, preferring to devote his attention to his private interests. Fraternally he is a Master Mason, and a member of the A. H. Day Post No. 316, G. A. R. SYLVESTER M. LUTHER.—The names and deeds of those who have wrought nobly in the past should be held in lasting honor, and thus he whose heritage is that of worthy lives and worthy deeds typifying the record of his ancestry, may well find much of satisfaction and pride in reverting to those who were his forebears. Sylvester M. Luther, who is now living retired in the village of Garrettsville, Portage county, is not only a representative one of the honored pioneer families of the Western Reserve, but is also a scion of distinguished ancestry whose lineage is traced back in American annals to the formative period in Amer- 1692 - HISTORY OF THE WESTERN RESERVE ican history. The name has ever stood exponent of the highest integrity and honor, and in the several generations have been men who have attained to distinction in professional, public and civic life and in connection with practical business activities. He whose name initiates this paragraph was long numbered among the prominent business men of Garrettsville, and now, venerable in years, he is enjoying that dignified retirement and gracious status which should ever stand as the reward for former years of earnest toil and endeavor. Sylvester M. Luther was born in the village which is now his home, and the date of his nativity was July 10, 1838. Its significance is apparent, and he is now one of the oldest of the native born sons residing in the attractive village with whose interests he has been so long and prominently identified and in which he has been influential and honored as a citizen of utmost loyalty and public spirit. His father, Mace Luther, was a native of historic old Swansea, Massachusetts, where he was reared and educated and whence he came to the Western Reserve in 1837. He located in Garrettsville, which was then a diminutive village, and here engaged in the work of his trade, that of a mason. He also became the owner of a farm in Hiram township, and eventually developed the same into a valuable property. He and his wife were numbered among the most zealous and influential members of the Baptist church in Garrettsville, and they were ever held in the highest regard in the community, where they continued to reside until they were summoned from the scene of life's mortal endeavors. He attained to the venerable age of eighty-four years, and his name is inscribed on the roll of the sterling pioneers of Portage county, where he lived and labored to goodly ends. He was a son of Theophilus Luther, who likewise was born in Swansea, Massachusetts, and who was the third of the family to bear the name of Theophilus in America. He was a valiant soldier in the Continental line in the war of the Revolution and continued to reside in the old Bay state until his death. He was a direct descendant, as a son of Theophilus Luther (second), and grandson of Theophilus (first), from the latter's father, Rev. Samuel Luther, who was the first clergyman of the Baptist church in America, whence the original progenitors in the New World came from Dorsetshire, England, in 1630. For thirty years Rev. Samuel Luther presided over the Baptist church of Swansea, Massachusetts, and his name is conspicuously identified with the annals of that section of the old Bay state. Mrs. Eliza (Francis) Luther, mother of him whose name initiates this sketch, was born in Taunton, Massachusetts, and was a daughter of Peleg and Nancy (Allen) Francis, both natives of Massachusetts and of staunch English lineage. Representatives of both families were found enrolled as loyal soldiers in the war of the Revolution, and thus it will be seen that both through direct and collateral lines the subject of this review is identified with families founded in America in the early colonial epoch. His mother lived to attain the age of sixty-eight years, and the remains of both her husband and herself rest in the cemetery at Garrettsville. Of their four children Sylvester M. is the eldest ; Henry A. is likewise a representative citizen of Garrettsville ; Eliza, the first of the name, died in 1836, at the age of two years ; and Ann Eliza, second, is the wife of Ira T. Wilder, of Garrettsville. Sylvester M. Luther gained his early education) training in the common schools of his native village and supplemented this discipline by a course of study in an academy then conducted in the village of Hiram, Portage county. That he made good use of the scholastic advantages afforded him is evident when we revert to the fact that when a young man he engaged in teaching school at Piedmont, Jefferson county, Mississippi, where he was thus engaged for one year, with marked success. Even at this time the relations between the north and south were maintained at a delicate tension, with the eventual outbreak of the Civil war, and Mr. Luther returned to his home in the north in 1860, about a year before the war was precipitated upon a divided nation. Soon after his return to Garrettsville he became a clerk in the drug store of Dr. Eben B. Lee, and here he continued to be identified with the drug business until the spring of 1865, when he engaged in the photographic business in the city of Cleveland as a member of the firm of Norton & Luther. He was thus engaged for a period of three years, at the expiration of which he disposed of his interests in Cleveland and returned to Garrettsville, where, in 1869, he purchased the drug business of H. L. Hyde. He continued the enterprise until 1885 and secured a large and representative patronage, based upon his honorable business methods and personal popularity. In the year mentioned he disposed of the business and since that time has lived virtually retired, having an HISTORY OF THE WESTERN RESERVE - 1693 attractive home in his native town, having gained a competency through his well directed efforts in the past, and resting secure in the esteem and friendship of the community with whose civic and business interests he has so long been concerned. Mr. Luther has been for a quarter of a century a volunteer observer for the United States weather bureau. He has kept careful record and made regular reports during the entire period of the existence of the weather bureau, and prior to that had for four years made similar reports to the Smithsonian Institution, so that his efforts in this line cover a period of fully thirty years. Mr. Luther takes a most lively interest in the history of his native county and state, and has made valuable contributions to the records of the Western Reserve, notably in the compilation arm publication of a history of Garrettsville,—issued in pamphlet form in 1907. As a citizen he has ever shown the utmost loyalty and public spirit and in politics he has been identified with the Republican party from the time of attaining to his legal majority, having cast his first presidential vote in support of Abraham Lincoln in 1861. He is affiliated with Garrettsville Lodge, No. 246, Free and Accepted Masons. Mr. Luther married, March 18, 1863, Miss Ellen M. Ashald, of Brooklyn, New York, a daughter of Abel and Elizabeth (Wright) Ashald. Two children have been born of this union, Francis M., of Cleveland, Ohio, born in Garrettsville February 2, 1864, and Allan W., born April 27, 1875, died May 6, 1875. JOHN M. ALBERT, the honored pioneer farmer of Harrisville township who is now living in retirement at Lodi, Medina county, is of a family which for seventy years or more has been promoting its agricultural and public interests. He is a native of Homer township, that county, born July 16, 1840, and is a son of Christian and Alzina (Munson) Albert. To trace the establishment of the family in the Western Reserve, the historian must revert to the grandfather, Jacob Albert, a native of Maryland, who married Barbara Doane, moved to Stark county, Ohio, and afterward to Homer township, Medina county. Christian Albert, his son, was born in Stark county in 1816, and while a young man came first into possession of forty acres of land in Homer township. By later additions his farm reached 102 acres, and this property he sold and purchased 200 acres in Harrisville township, west of Lodi. As previously, his affairs prospered and the area of his land holdings finally amounted to 700 acres. Although a successful general farmer, perhaps his most profitable operations were in cattle, hogs and sheep, his fame as a livestock dealer extending into many of the counties adjoining Medina. He also showed the interest of an intelligent and good citizen in providing educational privileges for the children of his township, and was mainly instrumental in building one of the first log school houses of his home neighborhood. He continued to reside on the Harrisville farm until his death in 1892. On April 21, 1839, Christian Albert wedded Miss Alzina Munson, daughter of John P. and Sally (Munson) Munson, and his widow is still living, nearly ninety years of age—one of the most remarkable illustrations furnished by the Western Reserve of the preservation of bodily and mental faculties in the vigor and elasticity of normal middle age. Mrs. Christian Albert was born in Congress township, Wayne county, Ohio, November 6, 182o; has already outlived the seventieth anniversary of her marriage, and her army of friends and admirers heartily wish that she will celebrate many other anniversaries which have their inception in the earlier years of the nineteenth century. John M. Albert, of this biography, is an only child, and received his education in the district school of his township and a select establishment in Lodi. He remained with his father until he was twenty-one years of age, when he married and settled' with his wife on a dairy farm in Harrisville township. The product of his thirty-five cows at an early day was sold mostly to the cheese factory operated by the Horr-Warner Company. This place, upon which Mr. and Mrs. Albert continued to reside until 1903, was part of the paternal farm of 700 acres, and was the scene of the birth and rearing of a large family of children. His wife, who was born in Ohio in 1841, was formerly Miss Saphronia E. Loomis, daughter of Edward C. and Elizabeth (Stearns) Loomis, her parents, at an early day, coming from Pennsylvania to Harrisville township. Mr. and Mrs. Albert are the parents of the following : Harvey E., a prominent farmer of the township, whose sketch is elsewhere published ; Emerson S. ; Richard M., a farmer of Westfield township and formerly prominent in the politics of Harrisville township ; Julia E., now the wife of Clinton Scranton, of Lodi ; and Price S., of Westfield township. 1694 - HISTORY OF THE WESTERN RESERVE WALTER DALE, a successful and enterprising agriculturist, was born in LaGrange township on August 27, 1840, a son of Abbott and Melinda (Pease) Dale, both born in Vermont, the father on August 3, 1793, and the mother on June 5, 1800. As early as 1833 the parents journeyed to Lorain county, Ohio, and established their home in LaGrange township, journeying by canal from Albany to Buffalo, thence on Lake Erie to Cleveland, and on to their future home in LaGrange township, where Abbott Dale took up fifty acres of timber land on Vermont street, on both sides of the east branch of Black river. The place was at that time partly improved and contained a comfortable log house. Mr. Dale kept adding to his landed possessions until he owned about 178 acres. He used oxen principally in clearing his land and carrying on its work and he was one of the honored, early pioneers of this community and assisted materially in its up-building and improvement. He died here September 8, 1872, and on January 4 of the following year his wife was also called to the home beyond. There were seven sons and three daughters in their family, Walter being the youngest, and all were born in Vermont with the exception of him and two others. The children were as follows : Rhoda, who married Loomis Clark and resided in Pittsfield, Ohio, and there died ; James Harrison, who resided in Vermont and died unmarried ; Orric, who was a farmer and died in LaGrange ; Anson, who was a farmer in Pittsfield and later moved to near Charlotte, Michigan, and there died ; Jason died in infancy in Vermont ; Gilbert, a cabinet maker, and later a stock dealer, died in Charlotte, Michigan ; Arden T. resided for a number of years on the homestead, later removed to Oberlin, and there died ; Ann M. died in infancy ; Jane married Washington White and resides at LaGrange ; and Walter. Walter Dale lived at home with his parents for five years after his marriage, which occurred on December 20, 1866, to Loantha White, who was born in Pittsfield township of Lorain county February 25, 1840, a daughter of John and Samantha (Amy) White, both of whom were born near Saratoga, New York. The only child of this union is a daughter, Addie, born on November 25, 1868, and she is at _home with her father. This wife died on July 28, 1896, and on December 29, 1898, lie married. Mrs. Helen M. Arnold, widow of Frank Arnold, and a native of Pittsfield township, born on December 30, 1844, to Ropha and Elizabeth (Fulton) Rawson, the father born in Pittsfield, Massachusetts, and the mother in Carthage, New York. They came to LaGrange township, Lorain county, Ohio, in 1835, and in about 1843 moved to Pittsfield. township, where Mr. Rawson was killed while widow survived him for twenty-five years. assisting in raising a house, being fifty-two years of age at the time of his death. His Mrs. Dale has two sons by her first' marriage. Erwin and George. Erwin Arnold, a resident of Lorain, married Carrie E. White and has a (laughter Olive, born August 27, 1894. George Arnold is living in Pittsfield township. He married Myrta Sheldon, and they have two children, Gladys, born July 10, 1898, and Keith, born November 17, 1905. Previous to his first marriage Walter Dale had purchased with his brother-in-law, Washington White, a farm a half a mile south of his parents homestead, a little tract of ninety acres. After a time Mr. White left and the farm was divided. In 1871 Mr. Dale moved thereto, the place then containing eighty acres, and he lived there until 1885, engaged in general farming and dairying. He patronized the first milk factory established in the village of LaGrange. He now owns and resides on twenty-eight acres within the corporate limits of LaGrange, and he is engaged in general farming. He is a member and an active worker in the Methodist Episcopal church, and from 1872 until 1908 he served his church as a member of its official board. He is allied with the Republicans in politics, and is a member of the Knights of Pythias fraternity, affiliating with LaGrange Lodge No. 500. Both Mrs. Dale and Miss Dale are members of the Methodist Episcopal church. ARTHUR D. KNAPP.—In the matter of definite accomplishment and high personal integrity Portage county has every reason to be proud of her native sons who are lending their aid and co-operation in forwarding her industrial, commercial and civic advancement. As a member of one of the old and honored families of this county and as one of the representative business men of the thriving little city of Ravenna, the capital of Portage county, Arthur D. Knapp is specially eligible for consideration in a publication of the province assigned to the one at hand. He is secretary of the Buckeye Chair Company, one of the important industrial concerns of the Western Reserve, and is known as one of the progressive HISTORY OF THE WESTERN RESERVE - 1695 business men and loyal citizens of his native county and of the wider domain to whose interests and whose people this publication is dedicated. Arthur D. Knapp was born in Charlestown township, Portage county, Ohio, on September 8, 1858, and is a son of Robert and Elizabeth (Carson) Knapp. The father likewise was a native of Charlestown township, where he was reared to maturity and where he received his early education in the common schools of the period. He was a son of Junia Knapp, who was born in Northampton, Massachusetts, in which fine old commonwealth the family was founded in 1748. The lineage is traced back to worthy English origin, and in America the name has stood exponent of the best type of citizenship, as one generation has followed another on to the stage of life's activities. Junia Knapp came from the old Bay state to the Western Reserve in the year 1815, and became one of the pioneer settlers of Charlestown township, Portage county, where he reclaimed a farm from the primeval forest and became a citizen of prominence and influence. He continued to reside on his old homestead -for many years, but passed the closing days of his long and useful life in Ravenna, after his retirement from the active labors which had long engrossed his attention and through which he accumulated a competency. Robert Knapp was reared to the sturdy discipline of the home farm. In 1864 he moved to Ravenna, where he engaged in the foundry business, with which he continued to be identified during the residue of his active career. He was a man whose life was ordered upon a high plane of integrity and honor, and he thus merited and retained the unqualified confidence and esteem of those with whom he came in contact in the various relations of life. His political allegiance was given to the Democratic party, and both he and his wife were zealous members of the Universalist church. He died at the age of sixty-three years, and it is fitting that record be made of his worthy life and services as one of the sterling citizens and representative business men of his native county. His wife was born in Mahoning county, Ohio, in 1835, and she was summoned to the life eternal in 1895. They became the parents of two children, of whom the younger is the subject of this sketch. The daughter, Clara, is now the wife of. William H. Linton, of Ravenna. Arthur D. Knapp was about six years of age at the time of the family removal to Ravenna, in whose public schools he secured his early educational training, which included a course in the high school. When nineteen years of age he began reading law, under the preceptor-ship of Judge George F. Robinson, of Ravenna, and later he completed the prescribed course in the Cincinnati Law School, in which he was graduated as a member of the class of 1882 and from which he received the degree of Bachelor of Laws. He was duly admitted to the bar of his native county, and while he has never engaged in the active practice of his profession he has found his technical knowledge of great value and service in connection with the business interests with which he has been identified. For a time Mr. Knapp was employed as bookkeeper in the Crown Flint Glass Company under William Grinnell, of Ravenna ; later was secretary and treasurer of the Crown Flint Glass Manufacturing Company, with which he continued to be thus identified until the enterprise was brought to a close by consolidation with other interests in the same field of industry. Thereafter he held the office of secretary of the Diamond Glass Company, of Ravenna, until this corporation closed out its business. In 1892 Mr. Knapp became associated with his uncle, Edward Knapp, in the manufacture of pumps, and with this enterprise he continued to be connected until the plant of the concern in Ravenna was destroyed by fire. In 1899 he was prominently identified with the organizing and incorporating of the Buckeye Chair Company, of which he has since been secretary and treasurer and to the up-building of whose substantial and constantly expanding business he has contributed much through his progressive policy and his well directed efforts as an executive officer. He is prominent and popular in the industrial and commercial circles of his home city and county, and as a citizen gives a loyal support to all measures and enterprises tending to conserve the general welfare. In politics he is aligned as a stanch-supporter of the cause of the Democratic party, though the honors or emoluments of public office have never had aught of allurement for him. He is a stockholder and director of the Ravenna Gas & Electric Light Company, and has other capitalistic investments in his native county. In the Masonic fraternity Mr. Knapp has attained to the thirty-second degree in the Ancient Accepted Scottish Rite, in which his affiliations are with the consistory of the valley 1696 - HISTORY OF THE WESTERN RESERVE of Cleveland. He is also identified with the adjunct organization, the Ancient Arabic Order of the Nobles of the Mystic Shrine, in which he holds membership in Al Koran Temple in the city of Cleveland. He is a most appreciative devotee of this time honored fraternity, and his York Rite affiliations are with the lodge and chapter of Ravenna and with the commandery of Knights Templar in the city of Akron. He also holds membership in Ravenna Lodge, No. 1076, Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks. In 1888 Mr. Knapp was united in marriage to Miss Bertha Coolman, of Ravenna, who died in 1890, leaving no children. On December 25, 1895, Mr. Knapp wedded Miss Edith Linton, daughter of the late Isaiah Linton, of Ravenna. Her father was a civil engineer by profession and was the consulting engineer for the Cleveland & Pittsburgh Railroad Company at the time of his death. In an earlier period he had charge of much of the engineering work incidental to the building of this road. Mr. and Mrs. Knapp have no children. KENTS IN ENGLAND, NEW ENGLAND AND WESTERN RESERVE.—Between the years 1634 and 1643 several men by the name of Kent from England settled along the coast of Massachusetts and Connecticut. Some of these men were brothers, while others appeared to be of no immediate connection yet all have left descendants who are scattered throughout the United States. L. Vernon-Briggs, historian and genealogist of the Kent family in the United States, says : "In England the Kents appear to have been owners of much real estate. In this country we find several as governors ; many became lawyers, politicians, judges, divines, state senators and representatives, and every college in the land has graduates. from this numerous family. During the different wars it would seem that every able-bodied man by the name of Kent was in service, many as officers and several as commanders. The Kents married young and if they were widowers or widows usually married again. All records containing accounts of them, especially during the Revolution, describe them as tall, usually six feet and over, of fine physique, rather tending to dark complexion. Their characteristics were, I should judge, generosity almost to a fault, and keenness of perception, especially as to character in others. In disposition they were sensitive, high tempered, but of good judgment, and strong believers in justice." Thomas Kent, born in England, who is recalled as the first ancestor in America, emigrated with his wife to Gloucester, Massachusetts, prior to 1643. He had a house and land near the burying ground in the West Parish, sometimes known as Chebaco and now as Essex. He may have been connected with Richard Newbury, who received a grant of land also near Chebaco in 1635. He appears among a list of eighty-two settlers, all the known proprietors of land in Gloucester from the time of its settlement to the close of 1650. Gloucester was probably chosen by these early settlers on account of its value as a fishing port. The waters of Massachusetts bay have for their extreme northern barrier the rocky promontory of Cape Ann extending from the main land nine miles, being about five miles in width and butting boldly out into the open sea, once heavily wooded with valuable timber, but with a barren soil and cold climate. One would think that these conditions were little adapted to attract an agriculturist to these shores. Thomas Kent, yeoman, died, according to most records, in 1658, and his widow in 1671. They were survived by three sons, Thomas, Samuel and Josiah. Samuel, son of Thomas, was married by Rev. Samuel Simonds, January 17, 1654, to Frances Woodall, who died August 10, 1683. On the destruction of the town of Brookfield, Samuel moved to Suffield, Connecticut, in 1678. On September 8, 1686, he sold his house, lot and rights in Brookfield to John Scott, Sr., of Suffield, whose sons, Ebenezer and William, in 1703 sold the same to Thomas Barnes, of Brookfield. His will is dated August 17, 1689, and the inventory of his estate was sworn to by his wife soon after his death in 1690. He left four children, Sarah, Mary, Samuel and John. John (third), son of Samuel (second), was born in Gloucester, April 28. 1664, but in 1680 appears in Suffield, Connecticut, where he died April 11, 1721. John (third) was survived by twelve children, born between the years 1687 and 1717. Samuel (fourth), son of John (third), Samuel (second), born December 14, 1698, was married three times, having had children by his first wife only, who was Abiah, daughter of Nathaniel and Mehitable (Partridge) Dwight, of Northampton. He was a Suffield representative to the great and general court HISTORY OF THE WESTERN RESERVE - 1697 or assembly of Massachusetts from 1742 to 1747. He was contemporary in May, 1762, with Lieutenant William King selectman, both representing Suffield in the general assembly. Seven children lived to commemorate the lives of these parents and also during the Revolution, in which they took no small part. Elihu (fifth) son of Samuel (fourth), John (third), was born June 1, 1733. He was a farmer of Suffield, Connecticut, and was married three times, having had children by his first wife, who was Rebecca Kellogg, daughter of Lieutenant Joseph and Rachael Kellogg. He had three children by his second wife, who was Susannah Lyman. and one child by his third wife, who was Sibyl, daughter of Colonel Simeon Dwight of Enfield, Connecticut. He died February 12, 1814, aged eighty. He held various positions under the state and was a major general throughout the Revolution. The Boston alarm of September, 1774, had set over 40,000 soldiers all through New England on the march for the day, as promptly as might have been the case in our days of telegraphy. But even more marvelous was the speed with which the news of the battle of Lexington the next year reached the Connecticut river. The British soldiers left Boston before daybreak on April 19, 1775, and on the loth Captain Elihu Kent, within an hour's notice, was at the head of a Suffield company of fifty-nine men and a provision wagon rushing for Springfield, where they took supper and pressed on at once. Major Elihu (fifth) left seven children to commemorate his name and activities in the Revolution. Colonel Elihu (sixth), son of Major Elihu, married Elizabeth Fitch, of Lebanon, Connecticut. He was also in the Revolutionary army with his father, and was captured by the British on Long Island and confined for a long time as a prisoner of war in the old "Sugar House" in New York, where he suffered greatly. He was a farmer after the Revolution and kept a tavern at Suffield, Connecticut. He was survived by four children. Another of Major Eilhu's sons, Martin, Sr., was born at Suffield, Connecticut, April 1, 1761. He was married twice, having had children by his first wife only, who was Abigail Hale, daughter of Major Samuel and Abigail (Austin) Hale, residents of Suffield. Several years prior to 1807 he had migrated with his family to New Hampshire, near the present site of Hanover, but not being satisfied with his new home in the wilderness of New Hampshire he decided to set out for the wilds of the "Western Reserve." Before leaving New Hampshire he assumed the responsibility of two children, Jonathan and Lucy Foster, whose parents had both died, leaving a family of about twelve. These children not having any great inducement to remain in New Hampshire came with Martin, Sr., to Ohio, Lucy remaining under his protection until her marriage in 1811. In the spring of 1807 Martin, Sr., left New Hampshire with his family for Ohio, his destination town one, range nine (now Suffield) in the county of Portage, at that time Trumbull. In June or July of 1807, after the usual long and toilsome journey, they arrived at Suffield. The family came to Ohio with horse teams, and Lucy Foster has related that in crossing the Conneaut creek the ferry boat was sunk ; the wagon box with its load floating down the stream,, and one of the horses was drowned. The girl was sick and riding in the wagon at the time of the accident ; but, though the household effects were recovered, it was not until she and all the contents of the wagon had been partly submerged. She said the fright and excitement seemed to rally her energies and she received no injuries from her bath. "Grandfather" (Martin Sr.), as his later descendants always speak of him, had bank notes and other valuable papers that were soaked, and Lucy's time was employed in separating and drying them after they again resumed their journey. Along the route which "Grandfather" took from Suffield, Connecticut, to Suffield, Ohio, there were settlements in some of the townships on the Lake Erie shore, such as Kingsville, Harper's Field, Painesville, Mentor, Willoughby, Euclid, Cleveland, NeWburg, Hudson Stow ; in Tallmage were two families, with a few in Springfield and in Suffield, one of whom was an Upson who came from Connecticut in 1805. In Cleveland there were two houses and in Newburg four. Thence on through the towns before mentioned they were informed that Rev. David Bacon was in town two, range 10, but as they passed east of his log house, which was about oNe-half mile north of Gilchrist's mill in Springfield (which marks the site of the Congregational church of Tallmadge) they did not see him. "Grandfather" then pushed on southeast to "Kent's Corners," as the place was ever afterward called, and took up his home on the Western Reserve in Suffield township, Portage county. He soon bought 600 acres from Robert Pease 1698 - HISTORY OF THE WESTERN RESERVE and constructed a log cabin on the south side of the road near the swamp, which is about due south of the large elm tree which commands a very high elevation on the "Western Reserve." "Grandfather's idea in settling on the Reserve was to raise wheat, and he often used to say after coming to Ohio that he had settled two countries ; and from our earliest recollections of this son of a Revolutionary patriot we are quite sure that he must have possessed those qualities of integrity and perseverance which were so necessary to the early pioneer. Especially is this true when we recall that he came on to the western line of civilization just two years after the Indians' title to the land west of the Cuyahoga and the Portage Path had been extinguished." In 1811 "Grandfather" started his frame house, which took three years to build. It seems he wanted to build farther east on higher ground, but took the precaution to dig a well first. They dug sixty feet without getting water. About the time they were talking of giving it up Bradford Waldo came along and he went down to see how it looked. When nearly down, the rope ran off the windlass and let him drop. At this he swore terribly. Major Samuel Hale remonstrated, "Don't you know you are amenable to the law for swearing that way ?" "Law.!' -'shouted Waldo, "there is no law sixty feet under ground !" When Martin Kent, Sr., was sixty years old he set out an orchard. People- would come along and say, "Uncle Martin, what is the use of your planting an orchard ? It will never do you any good." But as he lived to be eighty-four he used to laugh about it and say : "I have drunk many a barrel of cider out of that orchard." In 1822 Martin Kent, Sr.'s, wife died and he returned to Connecticut, where he married Lorinda, widow of Samuel Hathaway, who was the mother of Martin, Jr.'s second wife. To his comfort and that of his family she ministered until his death on November 18, 1846, and she survived him until March 6, 1849, when she died, aged eighty-one years. She was remarkable for her mildness and meekness of spirit and is regarded as having adorned her Christian profession. Six children were born to continue Martin, Sr.'s, pioneer home in the Western Reserve, Martin, James, Josiah, Eliza, Abigail and Almira. Martin Kent; Jr., was born January 22, 1792. His first wife was Saphronia Adams. Of this marriage one son was born, Charles, who until his death was a noted lawyer and a member of the Toledo bar. Martin Jr.'s second wife was Harriet Hathaway, daughter of Lorinda Hathaway, the second wife of Martin, Sr. Of this marriage were born, George, Horace, Emily and Charity Maria. Martin Jr.'s life was not a long one, as he died in 1835, aged forty-three years. Martin Jr.'s widow later married the Rev. J. D. Hughes, who occupied the Presbyterian pulpit at North Springfield, Ohio, for thirty-six consecutive years. Of this marriage one son was born, Morris R., who until 1905 acted as secretary and treasurer of the White Sewing Machine Company at Cleveland, Ohio. He served during the Rebellion, enlisting when fifteen years old as a drummer boy, being too young to carry a gun. Horace Kent, son of Martin, Jr., was born November 3o, 1827, and was married April 17, 1849, to Jemima Ann Peck, who was born April 29, 1828. Horace Kent was regarded as one of the premier farmers of Portage county, and was an extensive raiser of wheat quite a number of years before modern reaping and threshing implements were invented. He was always looked up to for advice by both young and old on account of his sound judgment. He always took a kind interest in the welfare of others and never left a golden opportunity slip by. He departed from this world on April 19, 1907. Two children were born to this family-Emily and Albert Horace. Emily was born September 12, 1850, and died December 27, 1907. Albert, who was born March 17, 1853, was married March 8, 1877, to Edith P. Hill, who was born August 1, 1853. Two children were born to these parents-Harlin Gibbs and Horace Henry. Harlin Gibbs was born August 29, 1878 ; was married to Nettie A. Shanafelt February 14, 1901, who was born September 29, 1878, and to them were born Marjorie S. November 25, 1901, and Lawrence Stanley, April 20, 1907. Horace H. Kent was born March 30, 1886, and was married June 19, 1909, to Pearl Lillian Smith, who was born October 10, 1888. He graduated from the Mogadore high school in 1904, later attended Oberlin College, and is now a teacher in the public schools. MYRON C. WICK.-The business career of Myron C. Wick, one of the prominent and influential citizens of Youngstown, Mahoning county, Ohio, has been signally characterized by courage, confidence, progressiveness and HISTORY OF THE WESTERN RESERVE - 1699 impregnable integrity of purpose, and none has a more secure status as a representative business man and citizen of the Western Reserve. He is a member of one of the honored pioneer families of the Reserve, and those who have borne the name have done much to conserve the civic and industrial development and upbuilding of this favored section of the old Buckeye state. His capitalistic interests are of wide scope and importance and he exemplifies that fine initiative talent which has made our great American republic forge to the forefront among the great commercial nations of the world. Myron C. Wick is a native of the city in which he now maintains his home, having been born in Youngstown on May 9, 1848, and being the son of Paul and Susan A. (Bull) Wick, concerning whom specific mention is made in the memoir dedicated to his father, on other pages of this publication. The preliminary educational training of Mr. Wick was secured in the common schools of Youngstown, and later he completed a course in a preparatory department of the Western Reserve University, at Hudson, Ohio. He found it inexpedient to enter the academic department of the university, and after leaving this institution was employed for several years as a clerk in the establishment of Wick Brothers Company, of Youngstown, in which his father was an interested principal. He then became a member of the banking firm of Wick-Bentley Company, of Niles, Trumbull county, Ohio, and he continued as one of the active administrative officers of this banking house from 1869 to 1871, in which latter year he assumed the position of teller in the Wick Brothers' bank, in Youngstown. Six years later, owing to the impaired health of his wife, he removed to Florida, where he remained one year. He then removed to the state of Kansas, where he was extensively identified with the cattle industry until 1879, when he returned to Youngstown, which city has since represented his home and been the center of his manifold business interests. Upon his return to his native county, he identified himself with the iron manufacturing industry, by the purchase of stock in the Corns Iron Company, of Girard. He later disposed of his interest in this concern and was appointed by the creditors' commission to take charge of the business of the firm of Cartwright, McCurdy & Co., which had become insolvent. Working under extension privileges, he was made president and general manager of the company. A number of the stockholders of the Cartwright & McCurdy Company were indebted to the company and they were allowed to pay their indebtedness in stock at a price that was considered a fair value for it at the time and he was given an option to take over the stock of the concern at that price if he should succeed in straightening out its affairs. He placed the business upon a substantial foundation and a reorganization was effected under the title of the Cartwright & McCurdy Company. Of this corporation he continued president until July, 1892, when its business was consolidated with that of the Youngstown Iron & Steel Company, under the corporate title of the Union Iron & Steel Company, of which he remained president until February 1899, when the whole business was absorbed by the National Steel Company, which was later merged into the U. S. Steel Company, since which time he has not been in any active business. Mr. Wick is vice-president of the First National Bank ; was vice-president of the Wick National Bank, of Youngstown, which consolidated with the Dollar Savings & Trust Company in 19(36; is a director of the Ohio Iron & Steel Company and the Dollar Savings & Trust Company. He is also a stockholder in a large hardware establishment at Wallace, Idaho, and in that section is also interested in the ownership and development of several silver mining properties. He is also executor of the large estate of his honored father, the late Paul Wick. As a business man Myron C. Wick has ever displayed most progressive and energetic methods and his entire career has been marked by integrity of purpose, so that he has retained the unqualified confidence and esteem of all who have been associated with him in any kind of business relations. No citizen has shown a higher degree of civic loyalty and none has been more generous in contributing to all that tends to conserve the material and social progress and wellbeing of the community. He has not hedged himself in with the narrow boundaries of self-aggrandizement, but has been liberal, generous and tolerant in his .relations with his fellow men, and has given his support with much of appreciation to both public and private benevolences and charities. He has maintained a high sense of his stewardship and has appreciated the responsibilities that wealth imposes. This is shown in the generous sympathy and aid extended to those in affliction or distress.