1700 - HISTORY OF THE WESTERN RESERVE

Though he has never been a seeker of political preferment of any order, he accords a stanch allegiance to the Republican party. He is identified with various fraternal and social organizations of representative character, and both he and his wife are zealous members of the First Presbyterian church of Youngstown, contributing liberally to the support of the various departments of its work, as well as to its collateral benevolences. Mr. Wick is essentially democratic and genial in his bearing and has stanch friends among all classes and conditions of men.

In March, 1875, Mr. Wick was united in marriage to Miss Susan T. Winchell, the daughter of George D. and Susan Winchell, of Cincinnati, Ohio. Mrs. Wick was summoned to eternal rest at Daytona, Florida, on the 7th of January, 1880, and is survived by one child, Laura, who was graduated at Cambridge School, in Cambridge, Massachusetts. On the 30th of November, 1882, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Wick to Miss Elizabeth G. Bonnell, who was born and reared in Youngstown and who is a daughter of William Bonnell, concerning whom specific mention is made on other pages of this volume. Of the second marriage five children were born,—Helen, Philip, Paul, Myron C. Jr. and Caroline Bonnell. Helen was born on the 11th of April, 1884, and died on the 24th of October, 1888. Her loss was the cause of deepest bereavement, and in her memory Mr. Wick erected a most effective and appropriate monument, having built a fine Sunday school building for the First Presbyterian church, the same being located at the corner of Wood and Champion streets. In 1901, being interested that the working men of Youngstown should have better hospital conditions he entered into an arrangement with some of the city's doctors, and agreed to build the administration building, power house and three wards towards a new hospital building, which was later carried out and which stands today as a testimonial of his interest in the people of Youngstown.

JOHN JAY ANDERSON.—Johnny Cake Ridge, on which John Jay Anderson was born and bred, extends southwest through Concord township, Lake county, from Painesville to Little Mountain. An old man, the first settler of that locality, had a house on the "ridge," and he was continually stating that he proposed to open a tavern, and with the money that he should make would pay his debts. A number of women, tired of hearing the story, assembled and made a johnny cake four feet long and half as wide, and the men carried it up the ridge and hung it on a pole in front of the old man's house, to be used as a sign, and from that incident the place received its name. Noah Anderson, the grandfather of John Jay Anderson, was born and educated in Delaware. About 1800, in company with two of his brothers, he journeyed westward to Marietta, Ohio, where his brothers left him, proceeding on down the river. Noah began working in the salt works along the river, but finally joined the party surveying the Western Reserve, carrying the chain for General Perkins as far as Warren. There he met his fate in the person of Emma Jordan, a servant in the family of the General, and subsequently married her. He continued with the party until the surveying of the Reserve was completed and then located in Painesville township, on the Stickney place as it is now known, situated on Mentor avenue, and later buying i6o acres on Johnny Cake Ridge, two miles southwest of Painesville, and there began the improvement of the homestead now owned and occupied by his gram:Eon, John Jay, the subject of this sketch. When, on September 10, 1813, occurred the brilliant battle of Lake Erie, some of Perry's men landed at North Chagrin, now Willoughby, and word was sent around that the British and Indians were coming to attack the Americans, Mrs. Noah Anderson fled with her children to the home of General Perkins, a camp in which stood a block house, but the alarm was a false one, and she returned to her home. Noah Anderson made the final payments on his property in 1819, and in 1836 erected the present dwelling house. He was quite successful in his agricultural pursuits, continuing as a tiller of the soil until his death, in the fall of 1852, at the age of seventy-two years, when he was buried on the farm, at a spot which he had previously selected. His wife survived him ten years, passing away in 1863, at the age of seventy-two years. Six children were born of their union, namely : Clark, who died about 1850; George, a life-long resident of the Ridge, died at the home of his daughter, aged seventy-four years ; Seth died in 1881, aged three score years ; Absalom, father of John Jay ; Leonard, a machinist and inventor, born in 1824, died in 1903 ; and Marline, married first Seth Darling and married secondly

HISTORY OF THE WESTERN RESERVE - 1701

Elisha Taylor, and with him moved to Mount Morris, Illinois, where she spent her last years. Noah Anderson was of Scotch descent, and his wife of Dutch and Irish lineage. The Jordan family came from Johnstown, Pennsylvania, and. settled eventually on Big Creek in East Concord township where Thomas Jordan, father of Mrs. Anderson, built and operated if not the first, at least one of the first, grist mills on the Reserve.

Absalom Anderson, born November 19, 1822, on the site of the present house now occupied by his son John Jay, inherited thirty-five acres of the old home farm. When but fourteen years old he was severely injured by falling from the house, which was then in process of construction, receiving injuries to his spine from which he never fully recovered. He continued in agricultural pursuits until his death, December 28, 1898, at a ripe old age. He married Eliza Collister, who was born in Liverpool, England, and came to this country with her parents, Humphry and Marcia (Clague) Collister, from the Isle of Man, in 1840. Both Mr. and Mrs. Collister died at the home of their daughter, Mrs. Anderson, his death occurring at the age of ninety-seven years, in 1880, and Mrs. Anderson died on November 29, 1904. Two children blessed the union of Mr. and Mrs. Anderson, namely : Mary Jane, wife of Lyman J. Parsons, of Saybrook, Connecticut ; and John Jay

Born December 14, 1854, John Jay Anderson has spent his entire life on the Anderson homestead, and as a general farmer has met with good success. He. married, October 5, 1880, Winnie V. Wimple, who was born in 1860, and having been left an orphan in childhood, was brought up in the family of her uncle, Mr.. Warner. She died April 11, 1892, leaving two children, namely : Lee Moore, born April 3, 1883 ; and Mark, who was born May 29, 1888, and died November 18, 1895.

HENRY KOLBE.-The name of Henry Kolbe represents large financial interests in Lorain county, and he is prominently and widely known as a successful agriculturist, banker, public official and as a citizen. He was born in Hesse-Cassel, Germany, September 17, 1852, and his parents, Henry W. and Elizabeth (Heussner) Kolbe, were also from tnat country. Coming to the United States, the family in 1855 became residents of Black River township, Lorain county, Ohio, where Mr. Kolbe, the father, worked as a laborer for a time and then engaged in the buying of cordwood and shipping it to Cleveland, while for eight years he worked at teaming. Trading the propert) which he first purchased for what is now Oak Point, he continued the cultivation of the latter estate until about the year of 1890, when he retired and he died three years later, in 1893. Mrs. Kolbe survived her husband until April 3, 1905. Their family numbered nine children, three sons and six daughters.

Henry Kolbe, the fifth born in the above family, left the parental home at the age of twenty-one and bought 112 acres adjoining his father's farm. He also became quite prominently identified with fishing interests, employing from four to fifteen men in this work, and he shipped fish to all parts of the United States. The Nickle Plate Railroad ran through his land, and building a switch three quarters of a mile in length he opened a sand pit and shipped large quantities of sand, averaging from 20o to 700 carloads each year, but in January of 1905 he sold his interests there for $45,000 and in March, 1905, bought the John Riley farm of ninety-seven acres, on Middle Ridge, Amherst township. He has since remodeled all of the buildings on his place, has sunk gas wells, planted orchards and otherwise added greatly to the value of his homestead. Mr. Kolbe was at one time a stockholder in the One Hundred Dollar Savings Bank of Lorain, and at the present time holds stock in the Lorain Banking Company. He was one of the organizers of the Amherst German Bank Company and is its vice president, and was one of the organizers and a present director of the Amherst Supply Compan). He owns valuable real estate in Amherst.

His first marriage occurred in 1876 to Paulina Hageman, of Black River township, by whom he had five sons, two of whom, Frank and Harry, are deceased, the others being August C. and George W., both Huntington township farmers ; and Henry P., with his .father. This wife died in 1888, and in October of 1889 he wedded Louisa Noderer, from Cleveland, and three children were born of that union, Alva R. and John, both at home with their father, and Elizabeth Louisa, who died at the age of three months. The mother of these children died on February 15, 1898, and on August 13, 1903, Mr. Kolbe married for his third wife Katherine Elizabeth Ruth, of Brownhelm township, a daughter of Peter John and Anna Katherine (Springer) Ruth, from Hesse Cassel, Germany. The two sons

1702HISTORY OE THE WESTERN RESERVE

of this third union are Oliver Peter and Carl William. Mr. Kolbe is allied with the Republican party, and he was six years a school director in Black River township. Both he and his wife are members of the German Evangelical church.

HON. JACOB ATLEE BEIDLER, of Willoughby, Lake county, is one of the leading business men and Republicans of Ohio. He is a native of Pennsylvania, born near Valley Forge, Chester county, November 2, 1852, son of Israel Beidler, a farmer of that locality. The son was educated in the district schools of his home neighborhood and at Locke's Academy, Norristown, Pennsylvania, and came to the Western Reserve in his youth. Since he was twenty-one years of age, or 1873, he has confined his business energies and abilities to operations in coal, and of late years has been one of the most prominent men in the Ohio field.

In 1900 Mr. Beidler was elected to congress from the twentieth district, having been an active Republican for many years who had advanced to this prominence through his wide business influence and able service in minor offices. He served his congressional constituents with energy, discretion, faithfulness and efficiency until 1906, when he resumed his wide business relations with his home community. Mr. Beidler's wife, to whom he was married September 14, 1876, was known by the maiden name of Miss Hannah M. Rhoades.

LOUIS WAKEMAN PENFIELD, of Willoughby, vice-president and resident manager of The American Clay Machinery Company, was born in Willoughby township July 31, 1857. He attended the public schools in Painesville and in Cleveland, and completed his education at Willoughby College. He taught school for five years prior to entering business with his uncle, J. W. Penfield, who established the business with which our subject is now connected. On January 3, 1883, he was united in marriage with Clara Emma Johnson, of Toledo. They have one son, J. Arthur, who is associated in business with his father.

Mr. Penfield has been prominent in the municipal and fraternal affairs of his own city. For eighteen years he served as president of the Board of Education, was elected mayor in 1892, has been president of The Willoughby Chamber of Commerce and at this time is president of The Willoughby Telephone Company. As a Mason he is a member of the Blue Lodge in Willoughby, the Chapter and Commandery in Painesville, of the Shrine and Lake Erie Consistory of Cleveland. He has held many of the offices in these bodies. In politics he is a Republican, but rises above all party considerations when it comes to forwarding the best interests of Willoughby.

Mr. Penfield's grandfather, Wakeman, and his father, Nathan Emory Penfield, were natives of Bridgeport, Connecticut, but moved to Willoughby early in the 40's. Mr. Penfield is a member of the Ohio Society of Sons of the American Revolution, the New England Society and the Union Club of Cleveland.

DAVID WILLIAM PRICE.—For more than three-quarters of a century the Price family has constituted a steady and progressive factor in the agricultural development and the worthy citizenship of southeastern Portage county, the country around Palmyra Center being especially identified with its sturdy and good name. David W. Price, who has conducted the old home place since his parents' death, has added eighty acres to the original tract and has made many of the best improvements. The result is a fine homestead of two hundred and sixty acres, one hundred and fifty of which is under thorough cultivation and the remainder good pasture and timber land. Mr. Price's specialty in live stock is the breeding of sheep, Durham cattle and Percheron horses. Independent in politics, as in all else, he has served as township clerk, but has devoted little of his time to partisan matters. In his religious faith, he is an earnest Universalist. Mr. Price is not only a thorough farmer, but is quite a talented mechanic and is particularly interested in the attempts now being made by all the great nations to master the navigation of the air. He has studied the problem for many years and has an airship under construction which he expects soon to place in the lists with other world competitors.

David W. Price was born on the old farm in Palmyra township, November 28, 1859, son of Salbra and Ann (Williams) Price, both natives of South Wales, the father born in Nayntyglo and the mother in Llanon. In 1833 the paternal grandparents, Edward and Mary Price, sailed from their native country and after an Atlantic voyage of six weeks landed at New York, and thence by canal and lake to Cleveland. The husband first bought land and erected a residence at Palmyra Cen-

HISTORY OF THE WESTERN RESERVE - 1703

ter, donated a tract for the cemetery, and became highly respected in a very short time. Later, however, he purchased four hundred and eleven acres in timber land, a mile and a half north of the Center, built a log cabin and proceeded to clear and improve this noble body of land. His son Salbra inherited two hundred and eighty acres of the estate, which, as stated, also descended to the grandson, David W. The maternal grandfather, David D. Williams, sailed for the United States in 1840 and settled with his children in Paris township (his wife had died in Wales). Besides David W., who was the fourth child, the Price family consisted of Edward and Julia Ann (now deceased) ; Keziah, who lives with Mr. Price of this sketch ; Daniel, who died at the age of twenty-one ; and

Mary, who did not survive her infancy.

THOMAS F. FOLEY.—An important industrial enterprise in the village of Madison, Lake county, is that conducted by the Madison Wheel Company, of which the subject of this review is treasurer and general manager. He is recognized as one of the progressive business men of the Western Reserve, and is known also as an able executive official.

The Madison Wheel Company was organized in 188o by Madison men, and was duly incorporated under the laws of the state. After the plant had been in operation about eight years it was found expedient to abandon the work for a time, and the factory therafter lay idle and unproductive until 1897, when a reorganization took place, new capital being secured and also new principals in executive control. The company is incorporated with a capital stock of fifty thousand dollars, and its officers at the present time are as here noted : L. K. Ritscher, president ; John Austin, vice-president ; F. H. Davet, secretary ; and Thomas F. Foley, treasurer and general manager. The company manufactures all kinds of vehicle and automobile wheels, and the plant has a capacity for the output of two hundred complete sets a day. The average annual output is about sixty thousand sets. The concern gives employment to an average of about seventy-five men, and its monthly pay-roll represents an average outlay of about twenty-five hundred dollars. This is the leading industry of Madison, and has had much influence in promoting the material and civic prosperity of this attractive little city.

Vol. III-28

DR. HENRY NELSON AMIDON, coroner of Lake county, was born at Painesville, October 3, 186o, and is the son of Henry N. and Maryetta (Barker) Amidon. Henry N. Amidon, the father, was born in Perry, Lake county, November 21, 1821, and died December 15, 1908 ; he was the son of Captain William and Rebecca (Sweet) Amidon, both from Vermont, settling at Perry about 1812-14. Captain William Amidon was captain of a company during the war of 1812, and his father was a captain in the Revolution. Henry N., second in the family, was for several years a teacher and later carried on a farm at Perry. He removed to Geneva, Ashtabula county, where he remained until his six children (three boys and three girls) grew up, and then removed to Hiram, Ohio, to secure them educational advantages ; at this time James A. Garfield was a teacher in Hiram College. After the older children had completed their education at Hiram he returned to Geneva, where he resided on a farm close to the village. He removed to Painesville fifteen years before his death, and there lived a retired life. He was an earnest member of the Ohio Disciples Church and was of a quiet, studious nature. He was a deep thinker and a wide reader, broad minded and liberal in his opinions.

The six children of Henry N. and Mary (Barker) Amidon were : Andrew A., Alice A., Rebecca S., Henry N., Nellie M. and Samuel B. Andrew A. Amidon became an attorney and built up a fine practice at Painesville, where he died at the age of fifty-four. Alice A. married Rev. James Cannon, a minister of the Disciples Church, and resides at Cleveland, Ohio. Rebecca S. has been a teacher for thirty-five years, and has been teaching twenty years in the public schools at Cleveland. She is assistant principal in a high school. Nellie M. has taught for over twenty years in the schools of Cleveland, and is now at the Central High School. Samuel B. graduated from the Cleveland Law School, and has since practiced at Wichita, Kansas, where he is ex-district attorney and corporation attorney.

Henry Nelson Amidon took a course in the Normal School at Geneva, Ohio, and Oberlin College, and graduated with the class of 1884 from the medical department of the Western Reserve University. In 1885 Dr. Amidon began practice in Painesville, and has continued there for twenty-four years, in general practise. He has met with pleasing success, and is

HISTORY OF THE WESTERN RESERVE - 1704

generally admired and respected. Dr. Amidon is now serving his second term in the city council, and lends his efforts and influence to the betterment of local conditions. He has several times served as delegate to Republican conventions. He is a member of the prominent local fraternal orders. He has been a member of Lake County Medical Association since its organization.

Dr. Amidon married, in September, 1884, Sylvania J. Smith, of Geneva, Ohio, who died in 1901, and they were the parents of two children, Henry S. and Mary Priscilla. Henry S. Amidon graduated from the Western Reserve University in the class of 1909. Mary Priscilla Amidon spent two years in the Woman's College of the Western Reserve University, and is a teacher in Lake county. Dr. Amidon married (second) in 1902, Mrs. Gertrude Taylor, daughter of Edwin Ingersoll, a farmer of Mentor, Ohio, where she was born. They had had no children, but she has a child by her former marriage, Marie Taylor.

JAMES JONES.-A man who has ever been useful in his community and an able assistant in promoting its agricultural and industrial prosperity, James Jones has for thirty or more years been an esteemed resident of Palmyra township, and has served acceptably in several offices of trust and responsibility. Coming on both sides of the house of Welsh ancestry, he was born January 7, 1833, in Nova Scotia, a son of Thomas Jones. Thomas Jones was born in Cardiganshire, Wales, where the earlier part of his life was spent. Emigrating to America, he spent a short time in Nova Scotia, from there coming to Ohio, stopping first in Cleveland. Subsequently locating in Portage county, he bought land in Paris township, and was there engaged in tilling the soil until his death. He was twice married. His first wife, a life-long resident of Wales, bore him six children, none of whom are now living. He married secondly, in Wales, Hannah Phillips, who was born in Pembrokeshire, Wales. She moved to Palmyra soon after his death, and there spent her remaining days, dying about four years after his death. She bore him three sons and two daughters.

Brought up and educated in Paris township, James Jones remained at home until assuming the duties and responsibilities of a married man. He subsequently lived a few months in Newport, Paris township, and then moved to Youngstown, where for twelve years he was employed in the coal mines. His father-in-law then dying in Palmyra township, Mr. Jones came with his family to this place, and soon after bought the Breeze farm. He later traded it for farming property in Edinburg township, and in 1880 sold that estate and bought a hotel in Palmyra Center. In 1885 Mr. Jones was elected sheriff of Portage county, and during the four years that he served in that capacity he rented his hotel. Mr. Jones is a stanch Republican in politics, and has served two terms as township trustee. Religiously he is associated by membership with the Congregational church.

On July 4, 1855, Mr. Jones married Mary S. Breeze, who was born in Palmyra township and died December 24, 1903. Her father, John Breeze, a native of Wales, emigrated to Ohio when young and married Polly H. Edwards, who was a life-long resident of Palmyra township. Four children were born of the union of Mr. and Mrs. Jones, namely : Hattie, who married M. A. King and died in early womanhood ; Flora, widow of Alton Williams, resides in Akron, Ohio ; Benjamin, of Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio, is employed on the A. B. & C. railroad ; and Mrs. Jennie Swatzenburg, who died December 25, 1907.

WILLIAM L. WiLcox.—The prosperous and progressive citizens of Deerfield township have an excellent representative in the person of William L. Wilcox, who holds a position of note among the keen, energetic, business-like farmers who are skillfully managing the extensive agricultural interests of this part of Portage county. A son of Alexander H. Wilcox, he was born in this township May 20, 1845, coming from pioneer ancestry, his grandfather, William Wilcox, having been among the early settlers of this place.

Alexander H. Wilcox, born in Massachusetts November 27, 1812, came with his parents to Deerfield township when a boy, the long and wearisome journey being made with ox teams. Developing into manhood on the farm which his father wrested from the wilderness, he subsequently invested his surplus money in land, becoming the owner of extensive tracts, which he improved and placed under cultivation, continuing his agricultural labors until his death, March 31, 1898. He was twice married. He married first Betsey E. Diver, who was born in Deerfield township, a daugh-

HISTORY OF THE WESTERN RESERVE - 1705

ter of John Diver. She was born on May 12, 1815, and died on August 6, 1850. He married for his second wife Adeline Barrick, who was born February 4, 1817, and died April 6, 1900. By his first marriage there were seven children, and of his second union three children were born.

The fifth child in succession of birth of the children of his father's first marriage, William L. Wilcox remained beneath the parental roof until becoming of age. He subsequently worked out or rented farms for a number of years, and when he had accumulated sufficient money to warrant him in so doing he bought 107 acres adjoining the home place, buying it while he was yet a single man. He erected a substantial set of buildings, set, out trees, and at the present time has in his sugar bush 40o trees, from which he reaps a good annual income. From time to time Mr. Wilcox has bought more land, having now in his home farm 228 acres, all of which with the exception of twenty-eight acres of valuable timber is under tillage. Here he is carrying on general farming, including the raising of sheep, hogs, cattle and horses, with satisfactory results, being financially repaid for his labors. He is affiliated with the Democratic party, and at one time was elected township trustee, but did not serve.

On March 4, 1879, Mr. Wilcox married Adelia Haines, who was born in Deerfield township, a daughter of Stacey and Rebecca (Armstrong) Haines, the former a native of New Jersey and the latter of Goshen, Ohio. Her grandfather, Robert Armstrong, born in Ireland, emigrated when young to the United States. Mr. and Mrs. Wilcox have three children, namely : Earl, of Alliance, Ohio ; Edna, at home ; and Stacey, at home.

JOHN D. JONES.—No family in Portage county and few in the Western Reserve can lay claim to more practical and effective work in the improvement of the live stock industries of northern Ohio than the Joneses of Palmyra township. They are of the industrious and persevering Welsh yeomanry which has proved so rich a personal element in the agricultural populace of the Buckeye state, and the maternal grandparents of John D. (also Jones) established the family in the northeastern part of the township in 1832. At that time their land was thickly covered with timber.

Mr. Jones of this sketch, who was born in Palmyra township April 10, 1860, is a son of

Daniel E. and Elizabeth ( Jones) Jones, the father being a native of north Wales and the mother, of the southern part of the country. The elder Mr. Jones was born in 1821 and at the age of nineteen emigrated to the United States, first locating at Hudson, Ohio. He worked on a farm there for some time, and made his home in Palmyra township. In 1844 he sent for his parents to come to this section of the Reserve and they also purchased a farm in Palmyra township. Four years afterward he married Miss Elizabeth Jones and settled on a tract of land which he had purchased some time before. In 185o he became the owner of 112 acres in the southeastern portion of Palmyra township, to which he continually added until he was the proprietor of 700 acres. Daniel E. Jones died in November, 1898, and his wife, in February, 1887, and they had become the parents of three children :—Margaret, who died at the age of two years ; Evan E., Who was killed while hunting in 1879 ; and John D., of this sketch.

Mr. Jones resided with his parents until his first marriage in 188o, when he moved to the farm which he had received from his father, in the southwestern part of Palmyra township. This consisted of sixty-eight acres, his entire share of the paternal estate amounting to 355 acres. Mr. Jones has since added more than 200 acres himself, so that he is now the owner of a fine estate of 618 acres, all in Palmyra township and thoroughly improved. His father and his paternal grandfather were pioneer and extensive breeders of Short Horn, Poll Angus and Herford cattle in this section of the Reserve, Mr. Jones himself having the credit of being the introducer of the last named breed. He is also a leading raiser of sheep and horses, and is one of the most widely known live stock men in northern Ohio. As he has become partially disabled of late years, he has been obliged to confine his activities to the superintendence of his farm. In politics a Republican, he has served two terms as township trustee and otherwise evinced his ability and faithfulness as a public servant. He is also a Mason belonging to Charity Lodge, No. 530 of Palmyra, and both he and his wife are charter members of the Eastern Star.

On September 7, 1880, Mr. Jones married Miss Mary A. Davis, a native of Milton township, born to James and Susan ( Jones) Davis, both of Wales. They had one child, Floyd D., now a resident of Palmyra township. Mrs. Mary Jones died September 3o, 1881, and Mr.

1706 - HISTORY OF THE WESTERN RESERVE

Jones' second marriage, December 22, 1883, was to Miss Sarah L. Huston, of Palmyra township, daughter of R. C. and Jane (Hoskins) Huston. Her father was born in Salem, Columbiana county, Ohio, and her mother is a Pennsylvania lady, while her paternal grandparents, Abraham and Polly (Thatcher) Huston, were both natives of England. James and Charlotte (Sims) Hoskins, the maternal grandparents, were also of the mother country. Five children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. John D. Jones, as follows :-Daniel C., born March 3, 1886, who lives at home ; Aarel S., who was born August 30, 1887, and died June I I, 1902 ; Benjamin D., born November 28, 1890, who also lives with his parents ; Evan Arthur, who was born May 22, 1895, died on the 18th of the following September ; and Ethel E., born November 24, 1896, died March 23, 1904. They have adopted a daughter, Delilah, who was born July 14, 1899.

GEORGE W. RICE, a well known citizen of Amherst, is a son of Abraham and Margaret (Stacker) Rice, and was born February 19, 1846, in Amherst. Abraham Rice was born April 1, 1801, and his wife, in 1806, the former in Westmoreland county and the latter in Fayette county, Pennsylvania. They were married in 1822 and came to Ohio with a team of horses. They first purchased a farm in Black River township, where they remained a few years, and then located in Amherst township, where they bought 200 acres of undeveloped land. For some time he owned and operated a threshing machine in that section of the country, and owned the first in the region with modern improvements. Beginning in August, he would thresh through the fall and winter. He died May 20, 1876, and his widow died in March, 1891. Of their fourteen children four now survive, namely : Ann E. Mrs. James Wyatt, of Amherst township ; E., widow of William Pearl, of North Amherst ; Wesley C., of Oberlin ; and George W.

George W. Rice lived at home until he was twenty-two years of age, and then began farm work away from home. In 1876 he again took up his residence with his parents, whom he cared for until their death. He owns ninety acres of the old homestead, and has carried it on with good profit ; in 1894 he built a fine frame residence. Besides attending the local school Mr. Rice spent some time at Baldwin University at Berea, and he has kept himself well informed on the topics of the day. In

politics he is a Republican, and he has served one term as justice of the peace ; he was appointed United States ct,nsus enumerator in 1900 and again in 1910. From 1902 until 1909. he held the office of personal property assessor. In January, 1908, he took the office of president of the Board of Education of Amherst township. Mr. Rice is a public-spirited and useful citizen, and takes an active interest in local public affairs. Fraternally he is a member of Amherst Lodge, No. 74, Knights of Pythias, and of Amherst Lodge, No. 262, Knights and Ladies of Security.

Mr. Rice married, April 10, 1894, Sophia E. Martin, born October 7, 1867, in Brownhelm township, daughter of John and Frederika (Stabble) Martin, both natives of Germany. They have one daughter, Margaret Florence, born April 20, 1897.

WILLIAM R. EVANS.-A fine representative of the agricultural community of Paris township, William R. Evans has met with excellent success in his independent calling, being one of the foremost farmers and stock-raisers of this part of the Western Reserve. A native-born citizen, his birth occurred in this township July 24, 1855, of Welsh ancestry, his grandparents, John and Jane Evans, having spent their entire lives in Wales.

Stephen Evans, father of William R., emigrated from Wales in 1836, settling in Paris township. Taking up a tract of wild land, he erected a log cabin in the midst of the dense forest, and in the grand transformation that took place within the next few years played an important part. He cleared the farm on which his son William now lives, and there resided until his death, March 8, 1903, aged eighty-five years. He married Mary Thomas, a daughter of William and Martha J. Thomas, who came here from Wales during the first part of the nineteenth century. She died on the home farm August 4, 1903, aged seventy-three years. Six children were born to them, namely : William R., the subject of this sketch; John, deceased ; Emelyn, of Paris township ; Mattie, wife of David J. Davis, of Palmyra township ; Sadie, wife of John L. Thomas, of Paris township ; and Elmer, of Paris township.

Obtaining a practical education in the district schools, William R. Evans assisted in the management of the home farm as long as his parents lived, and at their death bought the interest of the remaining heirs in the home-

HISTORY OF THE WESTERN RESERVE - 1707

stead property. Here he has 109 acres of choice land, well adapted for general farming, and he is so skilfully conducting his operations as a farmer and stock-raiser that he invariably secures the best possible returns for the time and money he expends. He is especially interested in raising Durham cattle and draft horses, and is quite successful in that line. The buildings, which are practical and substantial, were built by his father, with the exception of a bank barn, fifty-eight feet by thirty feet, with a concrete foundation, which he erected. Mr. Evans is a Republican in politics, and a member of the Congregational church, of which he has been a trustee since 1903.

On October 7, 1903, Mr. Evans married Margaret Rees, who Was born in Winnebago county, Wisconsin, a daughter of John and Elizabeth (Lewis) Rees, who emigrated from Carmarthenshire, Wales, to the United States in 1841, settling first in Reading, Pennsylvania. Eight years later they removed to Wisconsin, and there spent their remaining years, the mother dying April 27, 1893, and the father. October 24, 1895.

GEORGE ELEAZER MATHER was born in Cleveland, Ohio, December 17, 1865, and he descends from a family prominent in the annals of the early history of the United States. The founder of the family in this country was the Rev .Richard Mather, who was born in Low-ton, England, in 1596. He came to America in 1635, and settled in Dorchester, Massachusetts, which continued as his home during the remainder of his life, his death occurring there in 1669. He was a Puritan clergyman, and he performed a conspicuous part in framing the Cambridge platform, and he also helped to compile the Bay Psalm Book, said to be the first book printed in New England. One of the sons of the Rev. Richard Mather was Dr. Increase Mather, president of Harvard College.

Continuing the genealogical research of the Mather family through a number of generations we come to the name of Eleazer Mather, M. D., the founder of the family in Ohio. He was born in Lyme, Connecticut, June 22, 1753, and sought a home in this state during an early period in its history, establishing his home at Boston in Summit county, and there he died in the year of 1837. Among his children was the son, William Dudley Mather, who married Sarah Cozad, of Cleveland, and settled at Northfield in Summit county. At his death he left three children, one of whom was George Mather, born in 1819, and he settled in Cleveland in 1849. He was a well known architect and builder in that city between the years of 1849 and 1871, and many of the substantial old residences there, still occupied, bear evidence of his splendid ability in his chosen calling. He moved to Mentor, Ohio, in 1871, and resided there until his death in 1898.

William Dudley Mather, only son of George Mather, was born at Akron, Ohio, in 1843. Moving with his parents to Cleveland in 1849 he was educated in the public schools of that city and in Shaw. Academy. At the opening of the war between the north and the south he enlisted in Company E, Eighty-fourth Ohio Regiment, in 1862, at Cleveland, and after the close of his military career he went to Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, and spent some time in a telegraph office there. Returning then to Cleveland he was for the following seven years engaged in the coal business, while in 1871 he came to Mentor township and settled on the farm which his father had purchased and was then operating, and he has since resided on the homestead there. He has filled various township and county offices, serving as treasurer of Lake county from 1889 to 1891, and in 1892 he was appointed the county recorder to fill a vacancy caused by death. William D. Mather married in 1864 Miss Henrietta B. Speer, a daughter of James B. Speer, a prominent plow manufacturer of Pittsburg.

George Eleazer Mather is a son of William D. and Henrietta Mather, and was born in the city of Cleveland on the 17th of December, 1865. Coming with his parents to Mentor in 1871 he received his education in the public schools of this place and in those of Oswego, New York. In 1887 he entered the office of the Erie Express Company at Binghampton, New York, as secretary to the general superintendent, and after the absorption of that company by the Wells-Fargo interests he moved to Cleveland and was engaged in the practice of court and general reporting until coming in 1891 to Painesville to become the official reporter of the courts of Lake county, an office which he still holds. During this time he has reported many important cases and investigations in Lake and other counties in the Western Reserve.

Mr. Mather married in 1890 Miss Lilah A. Megley, a daughter of William H. Megley of Mentor. Her mother was a daughter of

1708 - HISTORY OF THE WESTERN RESERVE

Horace Rice, who was born near Boston, Massachusetts, and was one of the early settlers of Lake county. A son, Harry Dudley Mather, was born to George E. Mather and his wife on the 15th of August, 1894.

JOHN MELANCYHON PAGE, Of a family known in the Western Reserve from almost its earliest days of settlement, was born in Collamer, Ohio, November 25, 1833, and died June 12, 1900. He was a son of Isaac M. and Philomela (Stillman) Page, the latter a descendant of the first president of Yale College. Both were natives of Northford, Connecticut, where the Page family originally located in America. Isaac Page and his wife were married in 1813, and in 1828 started west, going up the Hudson river, thence to Buffalo, and thence to Cleveland. At that time there was no wharf at Cleveland, and the goods were taken ashore in a small boat. They settled first at Euclid, now East Cleveland, and the old house they built is still standing on Page avenue. Isaac Page was 'a farmer, also a mechanic, and operated a saw mill and followed the trade of carpenter ; he was the second man who operated a mill on Ninemile Creek, near Wemples. Isaac Page was born May 27, 1790, and died February 4, 1865 ; his wife, who was born March 29, 1792, died February 4, 1868. He was active in church matters, and was among the oldest members of the Abolitionist, though he never took an active part in public affairs.

Isaac Page and his wife were the parents of six children, as follows : Benjamin St. John, a Congregational minister ; Eliza Celestia, who married Wickham Aldrich ; Mary Foote, who died unmarried, aged seventy-two ; Isaac Morris, who lived in East Cleveland and was deacon in the church and died at the age of sixty-seven years ; Sarah Stillman married Dr. 0. C. Kendrick, ex-superintendent of State Insane Asylum at Newburg, Ohio, and died at East Cleveland at the age of seventy-two. Benjamin St. J. Page was at first pastor of a church in Chester, and then in Euclid, Ohio ; preached for twenty years in Connecticut and died aged fifty-three while at Warren, pastor of the Presbyterian church there. He was an able minister.

John M. Page lived in Euclid, and attended Hudson Academy. He removed to Summit county, Ohio, where he remained ten years with his brother Isaac, lumbering. Later he became engaged in lumbering in Lorain county, and also operated saw mills. He engaged in farming and continued in active business until 1882, when he retired.

On February 8, 1871, Mr. Page married Florence Augusta Leonard, daughter of Elbridge and Phebe Augusta (Kellogg) Leonard, born in Ashtabula county, Ohio. When twelve years of age she went with the family to Meadville, Pennsylvania, and in 1869 settled in Willoughby, where Mrs. Page now lives, on Euclid avenue, one mile west of Willoughby. Village. She graduated from Lake Erie Seminary in the class of 1865, in the same class as Miss Bentley, now dean of the college. Miss Leonard became a teacher in the graded schools in East Cleveland, and also taught music. She has been influential in the education of all her children. Mr. Page and his wife became parents of the following children : Frances, who graduated from Oberlin College in the class of 1894 ; Grace, of the class of 1899 ; and Florence of the class of 1905. Florence is a member of the Phi Beta Kappa Society. Grace spent one summer abroad in a European tour. Mrs. Page is a member of the Library Board of Willoughby, a member of the Library Building Board and a trustee.

ELBRIDGE O. WARNER.—Standing prominent among the pioneer residents of Unionville, Lake county, was Elbridge O. Warner, who was an important factor in advancing the industrial interests of this part of the Western Reserve, and took a lively interest in local affairs, and as a business man met with noteworthy success. A son of Nathan Warner, Jr., he was born, September 15, 1811, in Berkshire county, Massachusetts. His grandfather, Nathan Warner, Sr., belonged to a colonial family of New England, where he was brought up and educated. He subsequently removed to Lexington, Kentucky, where his death occurred February 17, 1829, aged seventy-three years. He married first Mrs. Amy Cook, a widow with children. She died August 26, 1824, in the sixty-third year of her age. He subsequently married a second wife, who bore him three children, namely : Alfred, a clock-maker by trade, settled first in Lexington, Kentucky, but spent his last years in Missouri ; Otis, for many years a leading citizen of Leroy township ; and Oliver, who spent his early years at Warners Corners, but died in Geneva, at the age of eighty years.

Nathan Warner, Jr., born in Massachusetts, came to Ohio with his family in 1812, locating

HISTORY OF THE WESTERN RESERVE - 1709

in the Western Reserve in pioneer days. He married Sally Cook, a daughter of his stepmother, and they became the parents of four children, namely : Stephen, Elbridge 0., Emeline and Sally. Stephen married, and at his death left one son, Randolph Warner. Emeline became the wife of Amri Axtell, of Painesville. Sally married Reuben Nellis, of Ashtabula.

Elbridge O. Warner was born in Hinsdale, Massachusetts, and was but an infant when brought by his parents to Ohio, where he was reared. At the age of eighteen years he went to Lexington, Kentucky, to the home of his uncle, Alfred Warner, and after attending school in that city for a time embarked in mercantile pursuits, opening a store of general merchandise, becoming head of the firm of E. 0. Warner & Co. and subsequently becoming collector for his uncle, traveled through Kentucky, becoming familiar with all parts of the state. Returning to Ohio in 1841, Mr. Warner purchased the farm at Unionville now owned by his son Eugene, taking possession of it in 1847. It was located on the old stage route, and here he conducted a tavern until the completion of the Lake Shore railroad, when the stage was abandoned, the present commodious residence replacing the original tavern. He was very successful in his agricultural labors, and for many years was extensively engaged in buying and shipping cattle. In 1874 he resigned his agricultural interests, engaging only in private affairs until his death, March 11, 1884.

Mr. Warner was for a number of years sheriff of Ashtabula county, serving when the underground railway was in existence and slaves were constantly trying to escape to Canada. Although he was a loyal Democrat, and while in Kentucky had owned slaves, his sympathies were often with the poor negro, and on one occasion while in pursuit of a slave he deliberately drove into another county, giving the negro an opportunity to make his escape. True to the faith in which he was reared, he belonged to St. Michael's Episcopal church, of which his father was also a prominent member, and was very active in its affairs.

On January 5, 1842, Elbridge O. Warner married Nancy Nellis, who was born in Ashtabula, Ohio, February 22, 1814, and died March 13, 1865. Five children were born of that union, namely : Cassius, who died in childhood ; Josephine married Wilbur Cleveland, and died February 26, 187o, leaving one child, Alfred W. Cleveland, of Minneapolis, Minnesota; Isadore died in childhood ; Eugene, living on the old home farm ; and Arthur Elbridge, of Unionville. Mr. Warner married for his second wife Mrs. Minerva (Bugby) Shears, widow of Spencer Shears, for several years landlord of the Webster Tavern in Unionville. She lived but about a year after their marriage, dying December 15, 1870. Mr. Warner married third, March 18, 1874, Mrs. Marion E. (Knowlton) Scheverell. Her father, Charles Knowlton, was born in Brookfield, Massachusetts, a son of Jonathan Knowlton, and a descendant of Captain William Knowlton, who sailed in his own ship from England, but died before he reached the New World. His family settled in Ipswich, Massachusetts, in 1635. Jonathan Knowlton while living in Canada was pressed into the British service under General McKenzie, but made his escape and served in the colonial army during the Revolutionary war.

Charles Knowlton came to Ohio when a young man, and here married Harriet Evans, who was born in Geneva, Ashtabula county, a daughter of Ora and Sally Snediker Evans, who came from Schoharie county, New York, to the Western Reserve in 1812. Sally Snediker was a direct descendant of John Snediker, the original patron of an estate in Brooklyn, New York. Ora Evans served in the war of 1812, being at the engagement at Sacketts Harbor and in many others. He settled north of Unionville, on the county line, and the house which he erected there seventy years ago is still in an excellent state of preservation. He later removed to Harpersfield township, where he resided until his death. His father, Ora Evans, Sr., and his grandfather, Moses Evans, were both soldiers in the Revolutionary war, Moses Evans' wife being very active during the war, carrying dispatches to and from many points, on one occasion shooting the horse of a pursuer. At the close of the war she and her husband settled on the old battlefield of Harlem Heights, where she died at the remarkable age of io8 years. Some time after his marriage Charles Knowlton returned to his early home in North Brookfield, Massachusetts, and died there about 1840, leaving three children, namely : Ora E., who served in the Civil war and died at the age of forty-five years ; Captain Emery E., an attorney in Canfield, Ohio, served in the Civil war and died at the age of thirty-seven years ; and Marion E., who became the third wife of Mr.

1710 - HISTORY OF THE WESTERN RESERVE

Warner. Of her union with Mr. Warner one child was born : Marjorie Warner, finely educated in instrumental music and voice culture, is the wife of Belah W. Rote, of Geneva. Since the death of her husband Mrs. Warner has resided at the old home. She is a member of St. Michael's Episcopal church, and takes an active interest in the work of the Young Women's Christian Association, and is likewise interested in genealogical and historical matters. She has written much for the press, including stories and poems which have been highly praised for their literary merit. Eugene Nellis Warner, oldest son of Mr. Warner by his first marriage, married Kate Hutchins, of Harpersfield, and their children are all prominent men and women. Dorr is an attorney in Cleveland, Ohio Otto is a physician in Conneaut, Ohio. Mrs. Lyons before her marriage was a school teacher. Nettie and Mary are both noted for their musical ability. George is a successful business man in the west. Elbridge is still at home and in school. Mr. Warner is a man of broad views concerning agriculture in every sense, his grain and fruit productions showing him to be deserving of the influence he has gained in his widely extended business relations.

Arthur Elbridge Warner, youngest son of Mr. Warner by his first marriage, was born on the old homestead, December 22, 1851, and was there reared. About 1882 he went to New York to assist in the building of the West Shore railroad, spending two years there. He returned home in the winter of 1883, and the following year, at the death of his father, he came into possession of the old Wheeler homestead in Unionville, which was built between 1830 and 1835, and he has since resided there. The fine old house is still in good repair. On April 18, 1885, Arthur E. Warner married Mary E. Rastetter, and they have one child, Isadore, who was graduated from the Geneva high school and from the Moravian College in Cleveland, and is now living at home. In his earlier years Mr. Warner was identified with the Democratic party, but he has been a Republican since the election of President Harrison.

MANLEY W. AXTELL.—The late Manley Washington Axtell was born on his parents' farm in Russia township, Lorain county, Ohio, March 31, 1831, and he died on his farm at Amherst on December 28, 1893, after a life of usefulness and honor. He was a son of Daniel and Jane (Wellman) Axtell, the father born in Berkshire county, Massachusetts, and the mother in the state of Maine. They were married in Massachusetts, and coming to Lorain county, Ohio, in 1824, they located on a farm in Russia township and spent the remainder of their lives there. Manley W. Axtell was the twelfth born of their fifteen children, ten sons and five daughters, and before reaching his majority purchased his time of his father and worked at the carpenter's trade during the summer months. In time he resumed his studies at Oberlin College, and later was under General McClelland on the Illinois Central Railroad. Entering the medical department of the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor he graduated and practiced medicine for a period in Missouri. While in the west he was also quite extensively engaged in railroad construction, and enlisting for the Civil war with the Chicago Light Artillery, he was assigned to the department of the Mississippi and later was an assistant surgeon at Camp Dennison, Ohio, serving until the close of the conflict. Going to Northern Michigan Mr. Axtell was engaged in the wood and coal business for one year, and selling out there it was at this time that he received the contract for the construction of a part of the Northern Missouri Railroad. This work consumed about a year, and he was then engaged in railroad building for many years in Kansas. Returning to Lorain county, Ohio, in 1872, he purchased twenty-two acres of land in Amherst and later bought twenty-two acres more, although not adjoining, and farmed his land until his death.

Mr. Axtell was married on October 22, 1865, to Catherine A. Whiton, who was born in Amherst township December 24, 1839, a daughter of Judge Joseph L. and Lavina (Wright) Whiton, he from Berkshire county, Massachusetts, and she from Springfield, that state. Since her husband's death Mrs. Axtell has resided in Amherst, and much of her time is spent in travel. She has one daughter, Agnes May, the wife of H. J. Moule, connected with the Cleveland Trust Company and a resident of Lakewood, this state. They have two children, Manley Axtell and Richard Harding. Mr. Axtell affiliated with the Democratic party, and was a member of the Masonic order in Chicago and of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. Mrs. Axtell is a member of the Unitarian church.

HISTORY OF THE WESTERN RESERVE - 1711

RALPH E. HUNTINGTON, the well known contractor and builder of Painesville, Lake county, comes of ancestry possessed both of superior mechanical talents and sturdy patriotism. His father, Marvin Huntington, was also a builder, and both were natives of Painesville ; so that there is probably no one family which is more closely identified with the literal up-building of the town than that represented by Ralph E. Huntington. The grandfather, Marvin H. Huntington, was a native of Walpole, New Hampshire, who migrated westward in 1813 and settled in Bloomfield, Trumbull county, Ohio, not long afterward moving to Painesville. He was a millwright and a fine general mechanic, and assisted in erecting the first flour mill in Painesville, at the foot of Main street. He died in 1858, father of eleven children, of whom Gurdon H., now eighty-one years of age and long a practical demonstrator of the family gifts in mechanics, is the. eldest.

Thus, as stated, Ralph E. Huntington comes naturally and strongly by his strong qualities as a builder, and his experience and training have given him the business abilities to be a successful contractor. Of his patriotic New England ancestors he is not the least proud of his great-grandfather, Marvin H., Sr., who was a skilled armorer in the Revolutionary war. Like his brother compatriots he received his pay in continental script, but he was not so patient as some in waiting for its redemption in gold. Finally he announced a dinner to his friends and one of the features of the occasion was a jolly bonfire of $80,000 in government bills. But Uncle Sam, with his rugged financial credit, was yet to be born ; colonial credit was quite another thing, and Great-Grandfather Huntington doubtless received a roar of applause from his guests while his bonfire was in progress.

ROBERT MANCHESTER.—Among the leading citizens of Lake county it is safe to say that not one has a deeper regard for the city of his adoption than Robert Manchester, who has a beautiful home in East Painesville, it being one of the most attractive residences in the county, conveniently arranged, elegantly furnished and equipped, and brilliantly illuminated with 109 natural gas lights. A native of New York state, he was born July 2, 1853, in Gloversville.

David Mills Manchester, father of Robert, died of smallpox during the Civil war, and his widow, Esther Jane Manchester, subsequently moved with her family to Cleveland, Ohio. There she married Spencer King, a bridge builder on the Lake Shore & Michigan Southern Railway. Previous to that event, however, she opened a glove store in Painesville, and after her marriage she continued her residence here. Both Mr. and Mrs. King died in Painesville, and were buried in Evergreen cemetery.

Gifted by nature with rare musical talent, Robert Manchester began as early as 1864 to appear before the public as a singer of new songs, gaining much praise for his efforts. When about nineteen years of age he came to Painesville, where his mother resides, and in 1874 began traveling on the-road with his own company, giving entertainments in different parts of the country, in his ventures being quite successful. In 1901 Mr. Manchester was one of the incorporators of the Columbus Amusement Company, whose twenty stockholders were all old and experienced managers. This company has been exceedingly fortunate in its operations, and now leases or owns thirty-six theaters in the largest cities in the country, and also has thirty-six traveling shows. Mr. Manchester is one of the principal stockholders in the company, and owns and manages three of these shows, the "Masqueraders," "Vanity Fair" and "The Cracker Jacks," keeping a special Manager for each show. He, himself, attends to all the details of the organization of each company, spending the greater part of his time at his head office in New York.

Mr. Manchester married at the age of twenty-one years, Emma Foss, a daughter of Jonas and Mary (Benedict) Foss, and granddaughter of R. F. Benedict, a pioneer settler of Painesville. Fraternally Mr. Manchester is a thirty-second degree Mason and a member of the Ancient Arabic Order of the Nobles of the Mystic Shrine, being a life member of each of the lodges of this order with the exception of the shrine ; and is also a life member of Painesville Lodge No. 549, B. P. O. E. Mr. Manchester takes an active interest in everything pertaining to the welfare of his adopted city, and contributes liberally towards the support of the Painesville hospital and to other organizations of a beneficial nature. He also donated to the Painesville Lodge of Elks a beautiful monument, which has been placed in a conspicuous part of the cemetery.

WARREN WINCHELL.—The Winchell family has been well known in Ohio since Simeon

1712 - HISTORY OF THE WESTERN RESERVE .

Winchell came to that state in 1815 from Connecticut with an ox team, bringing with him his fourteen-year-old son, Harvey. Warren Winchell, now deceased, was born May 30, 1830, in Concord, Ohio, and died March 26, 1909. He was the oldest son of Harvey and Polly (Edminster) Winchell. His father was born April 15, 1801, in Connecticut, and died August 11, 1887 ; his widow, who was born January 25, 1809, survived him a few years and died January 30, 1891. They were married July 24, 1827.. She was born in New York and was brought to Ohio by her mother when a child. Harvey Winchell and his wife had children as follows : Orpha, Warren, Margaret, Luman H., Sidney S., George H., Albert E. and Clinton R. Orpha M. was born August 6, 1828, and died March 8, 1903 ; she was the wife of Alvah Brown, of Concord, who died January 14, 1897. Margaret was born August 29, 1832, and died August 9, 1900 ; she married Elijah Brown, who died October 8, 1894. Luman H., born May 29, 1835, belonged to the Twenty-fifth Ohio Battery and died in a hospital, October 27, 1864, in the Civil war. Sidney S. was born July 8, 1837. George H., born January 25, 1839, served through the war. Albert E., born November 16, 1845, resides at Hampden, Geauga county. Clinton R. was born April 7, 1827, and remained at home with his parents, for whom he cared.

Warren Winchell was reared on his father's farm and received his education in the local schools. He was married September i t, 1853, in Leroy township, by J. P. Harvey, to Amelia M., daughter of Charles and Abbie (Crandall) Waterman, who lived with her parents at Concord. She was born June 4, 1836, in Madison, Geauga county, on the Dock Road, this same Madison now being in Lake county. Charles Waterman was born April 18, 1809, at Paris, Oneida county, New York, and was a son of Arthur and Phebe (Chapman) Waterman, both of Oneida county. He came at an early day to Madison township, and Arthur and Phebe Waterman spent the remainder of their lives here ; a son, Benjamin, had long preceded them and built a log house, only one other house being then between that place and Lake Erie. Arthur Waterman died at the age of sixty, and his widow, at eighty-two, after the marriage of her daughter Amelia. Charles Waterman married Abigail Crandall about 1832, she being then a girl of seventeen, bOrn January 20, 1815, in Rhode Island; her mother died when she was small and from fourteen years of age she depended on her own self for earning her livelihood until her marriage. Amelia spent two years in Concord before her marriage-. Her father lived at Painesville, where he worked at his trade, and he spent his last five years with Mrs. Winchell and died in his eighty-sixth year ; his wife died at Painesville at seventy-seven. After his marriage Warren Winchell settled on his present farm. His father had urged him to marry the "little girl," telling him, "I love her, if you don't." He spent all his life on this farm, which he conducted with success. The present house has been built about thirty-five years, but he lived on the farm fifty-six years. Some years he would make trips away to do grafting, at which he was very expert, sometimes visiting neighboring states on this business. This, with his supervision of the farm, kept him occupied. Though a Democrat, he served as trustee of the county. Until the close of his life he kept the direction of affairs on his farm in his own hands. He was for thirty years affiliated with the Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, was Past Master of his lodge, and his funeral was conducted under the auspices of that order.

Warren Winchell and his wife were blessed with a daughter, Altha, who is the wife of Horace Adams, who now operates the farm. They have two sons and one daughter, Clayton Warren, aged twenty-five years, and Clifton Roy, at home, aged seventeen. Ida May died at the age of three months.

IRA BATES, of Leroy township, was born in Leroy Center, March 1, 1830, and is a son of Ezra and Mary (Hunger ford) Bates. Ezra Bates was a son of Benjamin and Olive (Warner) Bates, from New England originally, who moved from Chesterfield, Massachusetts, September 16, 1809, making the journey to Ohio with an ox team and one horse. They reached Ohio after a six weeks' journey, and decided to settle in Leroy. His farm of 1,200 acres was in the northern part of the township, on the old "girdled road," which runs past the present home of Ira Bates. A log house was built as soon as possible. His neighbors along this road were his father, Deacon Benjamin Bates ; Clark Clapp, whose son Amasa was the first white child born in Leroy ; and Spencer Phelps. Mr. Phelps was the first man married in the town, and was induced by Benjamin Bates to settle next to him by the gift of a deed for ioo acres. Of an orchard set out by

HISTORY OF THE WESTERN RESERVE - 1713

Mr. Bates over ioo years ago four trees still bear fruit. The old Breakman meeting house stands on this farm. The Clapps came in 1802. David French was also a neighbor. Caleb Bates, brother to Benjamin Bates, settled a little off the South girdled road. In 182o the Hovey family came to the hill east of the Bates Mills, and five years later Otis Warner settled near them. Dan Warner was here also, and in 1829 John Valentine. In 1825 the Hungerford family came and a Mr. Wells came about the same time as Luther Cole in 1826. John House, it is thought, came about 1807 and lived in Thompson. The Bebee cemetery was on land of Ezra Bebee, and Thomas Tear, who recorded the above facts, came with his father in 1826.

The farm of Benjamin Bates was one of the original purchases of Leroy township in company with nine others, made before he came west, as early as 1802. They had it surveyed and divided, and the share of Mr. Bates was about 1,200 acres. He also had 600 acres in Portage county, on another purchase. The price he paid for his land was not more than one dollar and a half an acre. Indians often came to his cabin. He built the first saw mill in the township, on Bates creek, and later built two other saw mills and a grist mill. Benjamin Bates was a leader in township matters, serving as a justice of the peace and trustee. His father, Deacon Benjamin Bates, died in 1815, aged eighty-two, and he died at the age of seventy-six years. Of his ten children, the last survivor was Rumina Valentine, who died in Painesville at the age of eighty-one.

Ezra Bates was born in Chesterfield, Massachusetts, in 1802 ; he worked at clearing the farm, and lived and died in the first house built by him. He married Mary Hungerford, of Connecticut, who came to Ohio in 1826. He served as trustee and as township treasurer for twenty years. He died in 1885 at the age of eighty-three years, and his wife died in 1877. Besides Ira they had children as follows : Addison, who died at the age of seventy-five ; Olney, who has been a farmer most of his life, and lives in Cleveland.

Ira Bates taught school three years and then learned carpentering. He lived at home until thirty-five years old, and then settled on the farm at Leroy Center which was part of the original purchase of his grandfather ; here he carried on the farm and also did work at his trade. Mr. Bates is an enterprising and patriotic citizen, who takes great interest in the public welfare, and is also well informed on the early history of the locality. He feels an especial interest in the preservation of the history of the settlement and early times of the pioneers of Lake county for the benefit of future generations. He is a Democrat in his political views, and has served as township clerk and justice of the peace. Mr. Bates now resides with his son. He married, in 1865, Hannah Nichols, born near Niagara Falls, in Ontario, who came to Lake county with her parents ; she was a teacher for fourteen years, They have two children : Mary Bell, the wife of T. A. Crellin, has three children ; Carl E., who married Miss Bernice Quine ; Leo B., at home ; and Florence E. Fred A. married Esther Jane Crellin.

JAMES CALVIN CAMPBELL, Of Mentor township, was born October 3, 1844, in Willoughby township, on the lake shore, in a log house near the West Plain school house. He is a son of Jeremiah and Sarah Ann (Reeve) Campbell. Sarah Ann Reeve was the eldest sister of Joel Reeve, lately deceased. Jeremiah was a son of John Campbell, a Revolutionary soldier, who died in Willoughby and is buried in Maple Grove cemetery. Jeremiah Campbell and his wife spent their lives on the farm, clearing it out of the big chestnut timber. He served twelve years as justice of the peace in Willoughby township. They moved to Mentor township, three-quarters of a mile east of their old home, and the next year Mrs. Campbell died. His second wife was Mrs. Dunbar, a widow, formerly Miss Lucina McEwen, who still lives, her residence being Anoka, Minnesota. Jeremiah Campbell is deceased.

J. C. Campbell is the sixth of ten children, four of whom survive, two sisters and one brother besides himself. He lived at home until his marriage, at the age of twenty-two years, to Marah Downing, sister of Sanford Downing, one and one-half years his senior. She died about twenty-five years ago, after they had spent eighteen years together. He lived a short time on his father's farm, which Mrs. Weed now owns, working it on shares for ten or twelve years, and then bought his present home, the L. D. Talbot farm. Mr. Talbot settled in the woods, building a log house and log barn ; he moved to Michigan and died there. Mr. Campbell has 133 acres ; the present house was built by Mr. Talbot in 1857, being a concrete house of octagonal shape. A journal called the Rural New Yorker advocated

1714 - HISTORY OF THE WESTERN RESERVE

that kind of a house, and Mr. Talbot supposed it would be cheaper, but found it cost about twice as much as if made of lumber. It is, however, very, roomy and substantial. The farm has a half mile of beach along the lake.

Until ten years ago Mr. Campbell devoted his entire time to the cultivation and improvement of his farms, in which he met with good success. He also bought and sold farms. He was employed by the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad Company to buy land for them, and closed a contract for some 700 acres extending three miles along the lake shore ; it took about four years to close the contracts for this entire tract, and he was able to do so because it was not generally known who backed the enterprise. He has also been employed in a similar capacity by other roads, the Wabash and the Wheeling & Lake Erie buying rights-of-way. For the past three years he has given his attention to the purchase of several hundred acres of land for the Mahoning & Trumbull Water Company, on the east branch of the Mahoning river, between Newton Falls and Alliance, in a circle of villages and cities within thirty miles, contemplating a reservoir for supplying city water and for power development.

Though not seeking public office or political honors, Mr. Campbell takes a keen interest in whatever concerns the public welfare, and has served well in such positions as he has. filled. He served six years as township trustee of Mentor, was elected county commissioner in 1896 and was appointed to fill a short term, making seven years of service. The bridge funds were overdrawn at this time, but soon the county levy was reduced. A fund was started to build a court house, and when he left the board the amount of the fund had reached nearly $100,000, and Mr. Campbell felt as much honored on account of having started the fund as though his name was chiseled on the front of the court house. He has sometimes served as delegate to the convention.

Mr. Campbell has four children, namely : James Jeremiah, a farmer of Mentor ; Bryant Downing, unmarried and operating the home farm ; Ethel C. wife of John W. Flickinger, editor and publisher of the Clyde Enterprise, of Clyde, Ohio ; and Everett Goodman, a farmer of Mentor.

EDWARD J. DICKEY, since 1905 mayor of Willoughby, was born November 14, 1850, at Mentor, Ohio, on what is now the Garfield farm. His early life was spent on a farm, and after receiving a common school education he attended Humiston's Collegiate Institute at Cleveland. For two or three years after leaving college he managed the farm, and then engaged in the line of general merchandise at Willoughby, for twenty-two years being a member of the firm of Dickey & Collister. Mr. Dickey became cashier of the Wade Park Bank of Willoughby, in which position he remained thirteen years or until in 1904 the bank was sold to the Cleveland Investment Company Bank. Mr. Dickey sold his mercantile interests in 1899.

Mr. Dickey has always taken great interest in the progress of Willoughby, of which town he has been a loyal and public-spirited citizen. He erected the present bank block and has other property interests in the village. He is a man of education, culture and enterprise, and is a valuable resident.

In 1877 Mr. Dickey married Sarah C., daughter of J. H. Angier, of Mentor, born in Littleton, New Hampshire, and they became the parents of one child, Edith Lila, living at home with her parents.

ELIJAH WARD.—The subject of this brief memorial held prestige as one of the most progressive and successful farmers of Willoughby township, Lake county, and on his fine homestead his death occurred on September 11, 1908. He was a member of one of the honored pioneer families of this section of the Western Reserve, and here the major portion of his long and useful life was passed. He was a boy at the time of the family's removal from New York state to Ohio, and he continued his residence in Lake county during the remainder of his life, which came to a close when he was nearly eighty-eight years of age.

Elijah Ward was born in Pittstown, Rensselaer county, New York, on October 14, 1820. His father, Elliott Ward, Jr., was a native of Pittsfield, Connecticut, and his mother, whose maiden name was Sally Sherman, was born in the state of Rhode Island. The parents were married in New York State, where they continued to reside until 1835, when they came to the Western Reserve and took up their residence in Willoughby, in which village Elliott Ward established himself in the work of his trade—that of tailor. He soon purchased land south of the village, and there developed in time a good farm and where he continued to

HISTORY OF THE WESTERN RESERVE - 1715

reside until well advanced in years. Both he and his wife were residents of Shelby, Richland county, Ohio, at the time of their death, and both lived to be octogenarians. Rev. Elliott Ward, paternal grandfather of the subject of this memoir, attained distinction as one of the pioneer ministers of the Methodist Episcopal church in the Western Reserve. Concerning the family history further details are given in a sketch of the career of Jonathan Ward, brother of Elijah, which appears on other pages of this publication.

Elijah Ward gained his early education in the schools of his native state, and was a lad of fifteen years at the time of the family's removal to Ohio. Here he assisted in the reclamation and development of the home farm, and after his marriage the property was divided between him and his brother Jonathan, the two having purchased the interests of the other heirs. His homestead was made one of the best farms in Pleasant Valley, Willoughby township. The place is equipped with substantial buildings, and is maintained under effective cultivation. It is now owned by George C. Biermann, who was long employed by Mr. Ward and who accorded to him the utmost filial care and solicitude during his declining years, marked by great physical infirmity.

On March 19, 1867, Rev. Josiah Phillips, pastor of the Baptist church at Euclid, Cuyahoga county, solemnized the marriage of Mr. Ward and Miss Mary Ball, who died on June 16, 1888, leaving no children. Mr. Ward was practically a foster-father to Mr. Biermann, and in recognition of the latter's faithful care he deeded to him the farm. Mr. Biermann feels a debt of gratitude to his benefactor, whose memory he cherishes and whose kindness he made every possible effort to repay in fullest possible measure and with no thought of self interest.

George C. Biermann was born at Noble Station, Nottingham township, Cuyahoga county, Ohio, on September io, 1871, and to the public schools he is indebted for his early educational training. At the age of fifteen he found a home with Elijah Ward. The young wayfarer had stopped at the Ward farm for the purpose of asking for a place to pass the night. Mr. Ward informed him that he did not keep tramps, but instructed that he be provided with food. That the lad made a favorable impression is evident from the fact that he remained an inmate of the home. He began work on the Ward farm for seven dollars a month, and nine years before his marriage he received an advance of twenty-two dollars a month. He and his employer never had a word of dissention, and their relations were those of mutual but not ostentatious affection. If Mr. Ward became vexed with his employe he would walk away, and after a few moments of self restraint would return with some story to tell in place of making reprimand. Mr. Biermann had become practically indispensable to Mr. Ward, especially after the death of the latter's wife, but their relations became strained when Mr. Biermann married the girl of his choice rather than, the one selected by Mr. Ward. On May 14, 1895, he married Miss Eliza Beach, of Geauga county, and owing to the attitude of Mr. Ward the young couple secured another farm, where they made excellent progress toward a position of independence. After a separation of four years Mr. .Ward drove up to the Biermann home, and in the course of conversation said that his old home was much changed from what it had been when he and Mr. Biermann had been together, and soon afterward he wrote the latter and asked him if he could not return and assume charge of affairs, as the farm was running down from need of a younger man at the helm. He consented to return, and thereafter he had full control of the farm, in which connection he put forth his best efforts, which were fully appreciated by Mr. Ward. During the last four years of his life Mr. Ward was practically helpless, requiring assistance in reaching his place at the table and also in retiring and arising from his bed. When he went away from the home Mr. Biermann would lift him bodily into the carriage. The last year of Mr. Ward's life he demanded constant attention, and he received this, with all of patience and devotion on the part of Mr. and Mrs. Biermann. A stroke of paralysis rendered him speechless, and his entire right side was useless. Mr. Ward ever had implicit confidence in Mr. Biermann, whom he considered his right-hand man even when he was himself in perfect health, and it was but a fitting recognition of faithful service and tender care that the farm was deeded to Mr. Biermann, who is known as one of the enterprising and successful farmers and stock growers of Lake county. He has made repairs on the farm buildings, and the entire place bespeaks

1716 - HISTORY OF THE WESTERN RESERVE

thrift and prosperity. He has never been active in public affairs. He and his wife have three children,—Harry, Eva and Nellie.

MILES S. HAWLEY.—A skilful and scientific agriculturist, reaping bountiful harvests each season from his well-tilled lands, Miles S. Hawley holds a place of prominence among the thriving farmers of Paris township, where the greater part of his life has been spent, his birth having occurred on the homestead which he now owns and occupies March 29, 1852. Here, also, his father, Elijah Hawley, was born, being the first white child born in this part of Portage county. His paternal grandparents, Chaney and Mercy (Selby) Hawley, natives of Connecticut, were among the very first white settlers of Paris township, coming across the country from their New England home to Ohio with ox teams in 1815. Taking up a timbered tract of land they cheerfully endured all the hardships and privations of life in an unbroken country, in the course of time hewing a farm from the wilderness.

In 1842 Elijah Hawley married Jane Stewart, who was born in Palmyra township, Portage county, where her parents settled on coming to Ohio from Pennsylvania, her father having immigrated to that state prior to his marriage from Ireland. They became the parents .of six children, four of whom are living, as follows : Miles S., the subject of this sketch ; Charles, of Kent, Ohio ; William, of Youngstown ; and George, of Parish township. Elijah Hawley was a man of much force of character, an earnest worker, and by wise management accumulated a large property, becoming owner of 600 acres of valuable land. He died on the home farm September 18, 1898, being .survived by his wife, who was born March 4, 1822, and died February 17, 1909.

After leaving school Miles S. Hawley assisted his father on the farm until twenty-two years old, when he went to Newton Falls, Trumbull county, where he was employed in mercantile pursuits from 1873 until 1876. He then purchased the Reed House, which he conducted for a while, selling out in 1877. Returning then to the old homestead, he has since resided here, a prosperous and contented farmer. After the death of his parents, Mr. Hawley became heir to the original homestead of fifty acres and to another fifty-acre tract in Paris township, each of the sons of the parental household receiving 100 acres of the estate. He subsequently bought seventy-five more acres of the estate, and has now a large and valuable farm, with up-to-date improvements of all kinds, which compares favorably with the best in the neighborhood, showing conclusively that he has an excellent knowledge of his vocation and that he exercises good judgment in the management of his affairs.

Mr. Hawley married, December 22, 1875, Mary Reed, who was born in Newton Falls, Ohio, a daughter of William and Eliza (Mc Ewen) Reed, natives respectively of Dover, Ohio, and Pittsburg, Pennsylvania. Mr. and Mrs. Hawley are the parents of three children, namely : Elmo R., a contractor and builder in Youngstown ; William J., of Paris township ; and Emma T., living at home. Politically Mr. Hawley is a Democrat, and for three terms served as trustee of Paris township. Religiously he belongs to the Congregational church. Fraternally he belongs to several of the Newton Falls organizations, including Lodge No. 255, I. O. O. F. ; Lodge No. 462, F. & A. M., in which he has filled all of the offices except that of master ; the O. E. S. ; and the Grange.

EDWARD HASTINGS NICHOLL is an Amherst citizen of enterprise and public prominence, president of the Amherst German Bank Company and long engaged as one of the leading druggists of Lorain county. His father, a worthy and sturdy Scotchman who moved from Canada into the county in 186o, was a prominent quarryman for nearly forty years, and widely known throughout the Reserve. Mr. Nicholl is a native of Brownhelm township, Lorain county, and is a son of James and Jane K. (Lawson) Nicholl. James Nicholl, not long after his marriage, emigrated from his native town of Kirkcaldy, Scotland, and for two years thereafter was employed at his trade as a stone-cutter in the state of New York. Later he moved to Drummondsville, Ontario, Canada, where he continued to work at his trade until he crossed the line into the States in 186o. He first located in Brownhelm township, where, during the Civil war, he was a superintendent under John Worthington, engaged in supplying stone for the Canadian government. In 1871 he became a citizen of Amherst, buying the East quarry and conducting it until it was consolidated with the Cleveland Stone Company, when he was appointed to the general superintendency of that company's quarrying operations. Afterward he was advanced to the presidency, and was a

HISTORY OF THE WESTERN RESERVE - 1717

worthy incumbent of the office at the time of his death July 7, 1899. Mr. Nicholl not only accumulated a large property and attained a fine standing as a practical quarryman and a successful business man, but left a record for unvarying integrity and a fine sense of honor which was even a more precious heritage than the substantial results of his manly and well-directed endeavors.

On December 31, 1850, James Nicholl was married in Edinburgh, Scotland, to Miss Jane K. Lawson, born in 1832 in Kirkcaldy, who survived her husband until 1907. The wife, mother and widow was an earnest Christian woman, beloved by all and a lasting credit to the land of her birth and the religion to which she clung faithfully to the last. The children of James and Jane K. (Lawson) Nicholl are : James, born at Dundee, Scotland, November 20, 1851, died in Glasgow, in March, 1852 ; William, born in New York City August 11, 1853, married Kate Huddleston and died at Chicago, Illinois, March 12, 1907 ; James, born September 15, 1855, has a sketch elsewhere in this work ; Elizabeh, born October 1o, 1857, at Hamilton, Ontario, died unmarried at Amherst on May 7, 1884 ; John L., born at Hamilton, Ontario, September 3, 1859, also has a sketch elsewhere in this work ; George L., born at Brownhelm, Ohio, October i 1, 1861, married Lillian Lacy and is a resident of Elyria ; Edward H., of this sketch, was born October 1o, 1866, at Brownhelm ; Andrew L., born at

Brownhelm, May 3, 1869, married Frances Bergner and resides in Cleveland ; Alfred G., born at Amherst, May 4, 1872, married Lottie Schmuck and died at Phoenix, Arizona, in March, 1909.

Mr. Nicholl of this sketch was born October 1o, 1866, and was five years of age when the family moved from Bownhelm township to Amherst. His mental training was obtained in the district and private schools, and he early showed an inclination toward medical subjects. In 18.84 he entered the drug store of John F. Uthe to study pharmacy,. and at the death of his employer two years later, he assumed the management of the business. When he opened his own establishment, in 1886, his previous training, with his natural abilities, made success assured. Mr. Nicholl erected a substantial block in 1894, on the groud floor of which he opened one of the most complete and tasteful drug stores in northern Ohio. Since that year he has continuously increased both his business and his professional prestige, and is one of the active and well known members of the Ohio Pharmaceutical Association. In January, 1908, his stanch business and personal character also earned him the honor of the presidency of the Amherst German Bank Company. He had already become well known for the efficiency of his public service, having been elected a member of the city council in 1892, in which office he served for three terms, as well as in the capacity of township treasurer. Until 1896 he was a Democrat in politics, but his love for McKinley induced him to join the ranks of Republicanism that year and, in view of its liberal and democratic tendencies, he still affiliates with the party.

On November 25, 1891, Mr. Nicholl was united in marriage with Miss Anna Miller, a native of Amherst and a daughter of Adam and Maria (Hoffman) Miller, who were born in Germany. One son, Allison E., was born August 6, 1892, and he is a student at University School, Cleveland. It may be added that Mr. Nicholl is a member of the Knights of Pythias and the Masonic fraternity, affiliating in the latter order with Elyria Commandery No. 6o, K. T., and Al Koran Temple, Mystic Shrine of Cleveland. In his religious faith he is a Congregationalist, as is also Mrs. Nicholl, and he is recognized as a citizen who throws the strong influence of his personality upon the side of charity and good fellowship.

ROBERT M. THOMAS.-An industrious, energetic and practical farmer of Paris township, Portage county, Robert M. Thomas has been successfully employed in agricultural pursuits in this locality for the past twelve years, exercising skill and judgment in his operations. A son of the late John Michael Thomas, he was born in this township June 30, 1858, of Welsh ancestry, his paternal grandparents, Michael and Ann Thomas, having been life-long residents of Wales. John Michael Thomas was born June 15, 1829, in Glamorganshire, Wales, and was there brought up and educated, as a young man learning the carpenter's trade. Emigrating to the United States in 185o, he worked at his trade in Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, four years, and then located in Paris township, Portage county, Ohio, where he carried on farming on rented lands for several years. In 1869, having accumulated some money, he wisely invested it in land, buying forty-five acres in this township. He cleared and improved a good farm, at the same time working at his trade, continu-

1718 - HISTORY OF THE WESTERN RESERVE

ing thus employed until his death, having been accidentally killed by falling from a barn which he was building.

On December 14, 1853, he married in Paris township Sarah Williams, who was born March 12, 1828, in Wales, a daughter to Robert and Sarah (Evans) Williams, who emigrated to this country in 1831, being eight weeks and four days crossing the ocean. Her parents came directly to Palmyra township, Ohio, and after living there a few years bought a farm in Paris township, and there spent their remaining days, her father dying November 7, 1869, and her mother, who was totally blind during the last seven years of her life, passing away February 12, 1875. Since the death of her husband, Mrs. John Michael Thomas has continued her residence on the home farm. She had three children, namely : Robert M., the special subject of this sketch ; Elizabeth A., wife of Walter Jones, of Mas-. sillon, Ohio ; and Elsie J., who married David Phillips. Mrs. Phillips died, leaving one daughter, Elsie L. Phillips, who has always lived with her grandmother, Mrs. Thomas, her mother having died when she was very young.

Living beneath the parental roof-tree until after his marriage, Robert M. Thomas worked with his father at both farming and carpentering, becoming skilled in both lines of industry. At the time of his marriage he purchased a house lot in Wayland, and erected upon it one of the finest modernly built residences in Paris township, and for a number of years followed his trade in this .vicinity. He subsequently bought a farm lying southeast of Wayland, and since 1896 has been actively and prosperously employed in tilling the soil, in connection with his farming labors having operated a threshing machine since 1897. He is much interested in breeding fine horses, in 1904 having purchased a registered Percheron stud-horse, and in 1906 a magnificent English Hackney stallion. Politically Mr. Thomas is a Republican, and for four years served as constable. True to the faith in which he was reared, he is a member of the Congregational church, to which his mother belongs, and fraternally he belongs to the Newton Falls Lodge, K. of P. He is naturally a strong, robust man, but since his stay of four weeks at the Ravenna Hospital, where he underwent a successful operation for appendicitis, he cannot endure extremely hard labor.

On November 1, 1886, Mr. Thomas married Sinia Jones, who was born in Paris township, a daughter of John B. and Ann (Phillips) Jones, of Wales, and sister of Sarah Jones, who married John B. Williams, of this township.

JOHN B. WILLIAMS.—Promineptly identified with the industrial interests of Paris township, Portage county, John B. Williams, of Wayland, is carrying on extensive business as a blacksmith, and at the same time is actively engaged in agricultural pursuits, being proprietor of a homestead which in regard to its appointments and improvements compares favorably with any in the community. A son of John D. Williams, he was born April 28, 1848, in Paris township, where he was brought up and educated, attending the district schools. A native of South Wales, John D. Williams came to this country when a young man, locating in 1832 in Buffalo, New York. There he followed his trade of a blacksmith two years, after which he was similarly employed in Hudson, Ohio, for four years. He subsequently bought land in Paris township, one mile from the center, erected a smithy on the place, and there, in connection with farming, followed his trade until his death in 1884. He married, on the Fair Grounds at Akron, Ohio, Elizabeth Griffith, who was born in Wales and died in Paris township in 1881. Seven children were born to them, namely: Catherine, wife of James P. Davis, of Paris township : Sarah, wife of William N. Evans, of whom a brief sketch may be found elsewhere in this volume ; Ann, wife of Hugh Morgan, of Palmyra township ; John B., the subject of this sketch; David, deceased ; Evan, of Windham township ; and Thomas, of Paris township.

When ready to take upon himself 'the responsibilities of a married man John B. Williams rented a house and lot one mile west of the parental homestead, and there conducted a blacksmith's shop for three years. He afterwards resided on the old home farm until 1885, when he purchased from Thomas George his present estate of fifty acres, on which stood a dilapidated barn, the only building visible. Mr. Williams at once began the improvement of the property by erecting a complete set of modern buildings, including a house, barn and smithy, and is here profitably engaged in gen-

HISTORY OF THE WESTERN RESERVE - 1719

eral farming and blacksmithing, in both lines of industry being successful.

Mr. Williams married, February 26, 1874, Sarah Jones, who was born in Paris township, where her parents, John B. and Ann (Phillips) Tones, settled when coming to Ohio from Wales. Mr. and Mrs. Williams have two children, namely : Lyda, wife of Ralph C. Burr, proprietor of a basket factory in Wayland ; and Grace, wife of William Lister, of Wayland.

Mr. Williams is one of the leading men of his township, taking an active part in political and fraternal affairs, and is one of the in. fluential members of the Baptist church, which he has served as deacon since 1887. A stanch Republican, he was township treasurer seven years and township trustee three years. He is a member of the Newton Falls Lodge, K. of P. ; of Wayland Tent, K. 0. T. M. ; and of the Wayland Grange.

WILLIAM N. EVANS.—Numbered among the prosperous agriculturists of Portage county is William N. Evans, who has succeeded to the ownership of the farm in Paris township which he assisted his father in clearing from the wilderness. During the many years that he has resided here, Mr. Evans has greatly improved the property, putting up new buildings when necessary and placing the land in good yielding condition, his homestead now ranking among the best in the neighborhood. A son of the late David N. Evans, he was born, May 15, 1833, in Pembrokeshire, Wales, where he lived until seven years old.

In 1840, accompanied by his wife and eight children, David N. Evans sailed from Liverpool, England, for the United States, after a voyage of six weeks landing in New York city. Proceeding westward by canal to Buffalo, from there by steamer to Cleveland, thence by wagon to Palmyra, Portage county, Ohio, he stopped there a few days, and after looking about for a favorable location bought sixty-two acres of heavily-timbered land in Paris township, where he at once began the improvement of a homestead. With the assistance of his sons he cleared about one-half of the land, and was there engaged in agricultural pursuits for many years. When ready to retire from active work he purchased a house and lot in Wayland, and there resided until his death, April 18, 1875, being then ninety-eight years of age, his birth having occurred in 1777. He married Frances Evans, a daugh-

Vol. III-29

ter of John Evans. She was born in 18oi, in. Wales, and died in May, 1885. Of her eight children, two sons and two daughters are now living.

Educated in the district schools of Paris township, William N. Evans began as soon as old enough to assist in the pioneer labor of redeeming a farm from the forest, remaining at home until thirty years of age. He was subsequently engaged in teaming for three years, first in Summit county and later in Trumbull county. Resuming then the congenial occupation to which he was reared, Mr. Evans rented the old home farm until the death of his mother, when he bought out the remaining heirs. Here he has since carried on general farming with excellent results, year by year adding to his wealth. In addition to raising the crops common to this region he has a valuable sugar bush of 200 trees, from this deriving a good annual income.

On May 7, 1869, Mr. Evans married Sarah Williams, who was born in Hudson, Summit county, Ohio, February I, 1842, a daughter of John D. and Elizabeth (Griffith) Williams, both natives of Wales. Four children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Evans, namely : Nettie, who died February 25, 1882, aged thirteen years ; Thomas, died September 10, 1888, aged fifteen years ; Mary, wife of Joseph Sullivan, resides with her parents ; and. Everett, engaged in farming in Palmyra township, married Grace Fisher, and they have one son, Wilbur, born in October, 1905. Religiously Mr. Evans is a member of the Congregational church, of which he was for many years a trustee.

ELMORE MARTIN PARKER.—The old Parker homestead of 220 acres was one of the most varied pieces of agricultural property in Freedom township, Portage county, and the portion (120 acres) now occupied by Elmore M. Parker comprises some of its most picturesque and valuable features. He was the second child born to John Pike and Almira (Martin) Parker, March 2, 1854, his birthplace being the homestead which he has never deserted as a home residence. When his parents commenced housekeeping in 1839 the original homestead, much smaller than it is now, was mostly covered with timber, but at the death of the father in 1885 much of the land, with additions, had been cleared and well cultivated, and two good houses and barns had been erected on the place. The 120 acres

1720 - HISTORY OF THE WESTERN RESERVE

which Mr. Parker inherited from his father have also been much improved under the present proprietor. Forty acres have been brought under thorough cultivation, the remainder being pasture and timber land. A valuable feature of the latter division is a maple sugar grove of 1,300 trees.

Elmore M. Parker married, January 26, 1892, Miss Inez M. Holcomb, who was born in Shalersville township, Portage county, and is a daughter of Marens and Urelia (Dickenson) Holcomb. The two children of their union are as follows : John Pike, born June 26, 1894, and Lucy Urelia Parker, born January 24, 1897. The parents are members of the Methodist church of Shalersville, and moral and substantial residents of Freedom township.

ADOLPHUS BAKER.—One of the most progressive residents of the little city of Amherst is found in Adolphus Baker, a business man and a public official of the highest ability. He is a native son of the fatherland of Germany, born at Mechlenberg on May 22, 1857, to the marriage union of Fred and Frederika (Peters) Baker, both deceased. In the year of 1868 the parents with their children crossed the Atlantic to the United States, and making their way to Elyria in Lorain county, Ohio, the husband and father found a position there as assistant sexton of the cemetery, and he died in that city in 1878, his wife surviving him until the year of 1903. They were the parents of two sons, and the younger, William, is in the grocery business in Amherst.

Adolphus Baker attended the Lutheran parochial school in Elyria and he afterward served a four years' apprenticeship at the tailor's trade there with Moebius & Wimmers. Following this period he spent three years at work at his trade in Cleveland, then traveled through the west for a year, and returning to Elyria opened the merchant's tailoring establishment there which he conducted for six years. Coming then to Amherst he bought the clothing and gentlemen's furnishing business from Mr. Moebius, and has ever since carried on this business in connection with his general tailoring. Throughout the period of his residence in Amherst he has been prominent in its public life, and has held many of its highest offices, all of which he filled with credit to himself as well as the people, including four years as township treasurer and as a member of the board of education for six years, with two years as its president. In 1903 he was elected mayor of the city, serving until April, 1905, during which time he will be remembered as cleaning up the town, prohibiting the keeping of hogs within the city limits, and for general enforcement of law and order. He resigned to accept the appointment of postmaster of North Amherst, as that was then the name of the city, there being another village by the name of South Amherst in the township of Amherst, which was served by rural delivery from his office, and this conflicting with good mail service, he at once took steps to change the name of the city to Amherst, which was granted by the courts of state and county in January, 1906. The name of the postoffice, however, was not changed until the summer of 1909 with Mr. Baker's reappointment. Mr. Baker issues a pamphlet once a year with general postal information and instructions, and speaks on the subject in all of the schools within the service of his office, and great improvements and general knowledge in postal affairs is the result of his constant efforts. He was one of the organizers of the Carnegie Library in 1904, and has served as its president since 1908.

Mr. Baker married, May 24, 1883, Hattie Rosenwald, of Cleveland, who was born in Prussia, Germany, but was brought by her parents to Cleveland, Ohio, when she was a child. The children of this union are : Mabel, a teacher in the public schools ; Cora, an assistant to her father in the postoffice ; Alpha, a teacher in the public schools ; Lillian, a clerk in the postoffice ; and Esther, Clarence, Violet, Russell and Helene. Mr. Baker affiliates with the Republican party, takes an active part in all its affairs and has served it in many capacities. He is a member of the Lutheran church. He is vice president of the Amherst Water Works and is a stockholder in Amherst's banks, in the United States Automatic Company, in the Amherst Supply & Lumber Company and an extensive owner of real estate.

REV. MINER L. BATES.—An active figure in the educational circles of Ohio and a representative minister of the Christian church, Professor Miner Lee Bates is the popular President of Hiram College, one of the historic institutions of the Western Reserve. It will he remembered that ex-President James A. Garfield, who was a native of the Reserve, served at the head of this institution from

HISTORY OF THE WESTERN RESERVE - 1721

1857 to 1863. [He was principal of the Eclectic Institute]. Professor Bates assumed the presidency in 1908, and both as an executive and as a practical educator has fully justified the wisdom of those through whose agency he received this preferment. Though himself a native of Michigan, he represents a most stalwart pioneer element in the founding of the Western Reserve as one of the most intelligent and prosperous sections of the United States.

Professor Bates was born in Fairfield township, Lenawee county, Michigan, on the 9th of October, 1869, and he is a son of Talcott A. and Alvira H. ( Sparhawk) Bates. His father was born in Norton township, Summit county, Ohio, a district that was then included in Medina county, and his natal year was 1826. He was a son of Colonel Talcott Bates, who was a native of Connecticut and a scion of the well known New England family of the name, which originated at a still earlier date in old England. The Colonel, who was born about 1796, came to the Western Reserve in the second decade of the nineteenth century and located in that section of Medina county now included in Summit county, where he died of malignant fever at the age of thirty-two. His widow moved to Buchanan Michigan, where she died in 1873. Talcott A. Bates was reared to manhood in his native township, where he enjoyed the advantages of the pioneer schools and where he early began teaching. He was married in Summit county, where he continued to teach during the winter months, being employed as a wagon maker during the remainder of the year. He was thus employed until 1855, when he located on his farm in Michigan, where he was engaged in farming and stock-raising until 1882, excepting the period from 1859 to 1868, which he spent in California. In 1882 Mr. Bates removed to a farm near the village of Fayette, Fulton county, Ohio, not far from his homestead in the adjacent Michigan county of Lenawee. "Talcott A. Bates died in 1900, at the age of seventy-four years, highly regarded for his useful and moral life. In politics he was a Republican and was frequently honored by -election to some local office. Both he and his wife were zealous members of the Christian church. As a young man he had married Miss Alvira Hudson Sparhawk, who was likewise a native of Norton township, Medina (Summit) county, Ohio, where she was born in 1827. She was a daughter of Samuel Sparhawk, a native of Massachusetts and one of the early settlers of the Western Reserve. While Alvira was still a child her father moved to Maryland, where he died, as the result of an accident, at the age of thirty-seven. The original orthography of the name was Sparrowhawk, the American ancestors coming from England and settling in Massachusetts Bay colony in 1630. Mrs. Alvira Bates died in Fayette, Fulton county, Ohio, in 1893, at the age of sixty-six years, and of her four children Miner L. was the youngest. Mary, the first-born, died in childhood ; Clara E. is the wife of Edwin L. Baker, of Adrian, Lenawee county, Michigan ; and Talcott Arthur, Jr., is now a representative farmer and citizen of Saskatchewan, Canada.

On the homestead farm in Michigan, Miner Lee Bates passed his childhood and early youth, agricultural work and district schooling occupying his time until he was twelve years of age, when he entered the Fayette (Ohio) Normal School, of which he remained a pupil for five years, graduating from the philosophical course in 1887. In this institution he effectively equipped himself for practical educational work, and for four years he was a successful and popular teacher in village and district schools of northwestern Ohio. For a time thereafter he was a student in the Tri-State Normal College at Angola, Indiana, and for a year attended. the Kentucky University at Lexington. In 1891 he assumed the pastorate of the Christian church at Grayville, Illinois, continuing thus for sixteen months with marked success, until failing health compelled his return to the home farm. In 1893 he entered the Junior class at Hiram College, graduating in 1895 with the degree of Bachelor of Arts, and with sufficient advance credit to entitle him to the Master degree, which was conferred upon him in the following year.

In the year of his graduation Professor Bates was ordained a clergyman of the Christian church, and in the autumn (1895) accepted a charge at Newark, Ohio, of which he held the pastorate for six years. He was then pastor of the church at Warren, Ohio, for two and a half years, when he accepted a call to East Orange, New Jersey, a beautiful suburb of New York city where many of the leading business men of the metropolis maintain their homes. After two and a half years of effective labor in this parish he assumed.the important charge' of the First Church of the Disciples, New York city, retaining that pastorate until he became president of Hiram College

1722 - HISTORY OF THE WESTERN RESERVE

in March, 1908. While serving the church in East Orange (1904-7) the Professor pursued advanced courses, as a graduate student, both at Columbia University and Union Theological Seminary.

President Bates is not only a man of fine scholarship, a forceful, convincing and eloquent public speaker and an able instructor, but has marked executive and administrative ability, so that he is well fortified for the varied duties which devolve upon him as president of the fine old college in which he has had so many able and honored predecessors. He has the entire respect and confidence of the student body, and enlists the appreciative cooperation of the faculty and management. In National politics ,he is Republican. In 1896 he married Miss Georgia Kinney, daughter of Charles and Caroline (Gaylord) Kinney, of Angola, Indiana, and the four children of the union are Miner Searle, Mary, Gordon Kinney (deceased) and Gaylord Sparhawk Bates.

WALTER E. AGLER.—As cashier of the First National Bank of Garrettsville, Portage county, Walter E. Agler is associated with one of the well known financial institutions of the Western Reserve, his position, which he is so ably and faithfully filling, being one of importance and responsibility. A son of the late Jeremiah Agler, he was born, December io, 1857, in Wilmot, Stark county, Ohio. Jeremiah Agler was born in Pennsylvania, and when a very young child was left motherless. In 183o, when but an infant, he was brought by his father to Stark county, Ohio, where he was reared and educated. He subsequently located in Wilmot, that county, where he carried on general farming until his death, at the age of fifty-nine years. He married Mary Bell, who was born in Hagerstown, Maryland, a daughter of William Bell. When she was about twelve years old her father moved with his family to Harrison county, Ohio, but afterwards settled in Wilmot, Stark county. She survived her husband, passing away at the age of sixty-seven years.

The second child and the eldest son of the parental household, Walter E. Agler was brought up and educated in Stark county, living there until eighteen years old. Coming then to Portage county he attended Hiram College for about five years, after which he taught school for a while. In 18.82, retiring from the teacher's profession, he became assistant cashier in the First National Bank of

Garrettsville, and after nearly twenty years of experience in that capacity was promoted, in 1901, to his present position of cashier.

Mr. Agler married, in 1888, Callie Leach, daughter of Benjamin Leach. Mr. Leach was one of the pioneers of the Western Reserve, settling in Niles, where he spent the remainder of his long and useful life, passing away in the ninetieth year of his age. His wife, whose maiden name was Mary Rayen, survived him, and is now living in Niles, Ohio, making her home with a daughter, Mrs. F. L. Stewart. She belonged to that branch of the Rayen family that established the Rayen School in Youngstown, Ohio. Mrs. Agler was born and educated in Trumbull county. To her and her husband one child has been born, Benjamin L. Agler, who is employed in the First National Bank of Garrettsville, and is also carrying on a successful insurance business. An active member of the Republican party, Mr. Agler takes great interest in local affairs, and as a member of the Board of Village Trustees had charge of the installing of the Garrettsville water works. He has served as clerk of the village, and for two terms was a member of the Board of Education. He is very prominent and influential in Masonic circles, and for more than twenty years was treasurer of his lodge and likewise of the chapter of the R. A. M. to which he belongs.

REV. EDMUND B. WAKEFIELD.—It has been given Professor Wakefield to do a most notable work both in the field of education and as a clergyman of the Christian church; and he is now incumbent of the chair of political science in his alma mater, Hiram College, at Hiram, Portage county. He is a native of the Western Reserve and a member of a family that was here founded in the early pioneer days, so that the name has long been identified with the annals of this favored section of the old Buckeye commonwealth.

Professor Wakefield was born in Greene township, Trumbull county, Ohio, on the 27th of August, 1846, and is a son of Rev. Edwin and Mary Payne (Churchill) Wakefield. His father was the first white boy born in Greene township, Trumbull county, and was a son of John Wakefield, who was a native of Vermont and who came to the Western Reserve in 1817, settling in Greene township, Trumbull county, where he purchased 320 acres of land and reclaimed a farm from the primeval forest. He was influential in connection with public affairs

HISTORY OF THE WESTERN RESERVE - 1723

in the pioneer community and was a man whose life was guided and governed by the highest principles of integrity and honor. Rev. Edwin Wakefield was reared to maturity on the old homestead farm which was the place of his birth, and he received such educational advantages as were afforded in the schools of the locality and period. Through wide reading and other means of self discipline he became a man of broad information and fine intellectuality, and for many years he rendered faithful service as a clergyman of the Christian church, in which his labors were largely in Trumbull county. He also owned a portion of the land purchased by his father nearly a century ago, and gave his attention to the work of his farm, upon which he continued to reside until his death, at the age of seventy-seven years. His work in the ministry of the Christian church covered a period of about forty-five years, and the angle of his influence was one of ever widening beneficence. His wife, who was about sixty years of age at the time of her demise, was likewise a native of Greene township, Trumbull county, and was a daughter of Major Churchill, who was a native of Connecticut, and who came to Ohio and located in Trumbull county about 1820. He there reclaimed a farm, upon which the residue of his life was passed. Rev. Edwin and Mary P. (Churchill) Wakefield became the parents of one son and one daughter, of whom Professor Wakefield is the elder. His sister, Dora, is the widow of Robert P. Crane and resides in the city of Cleveland.

Professor Wakefield was reared to maturity on the old homestead farm in Trumbull county, where his rudimentary education was secured in the district schools, after completing the curriculum of which he continued his studies in the old Green Academy in his native townphip. In August, 1864, when nearly eighteen years of age, he tendered his services in defense of the Union. He enlisted as a private in Company G, One Hundred and Seventy-seventh Ohio Volunteer Infantry, and with this command he continued in active service until the close of the great internecine conflict, when he duly received his honorable discharge. His regiment was attached to the Second Brigade, Third Division of the Twenty-third Army Corps, and with the same he participated fully in the Nashville campaign, which resulted in the destruction of Hood's army ; and at once, transported to North Carolina, and shared actively in the campaign which, beginning with the capture of Forts Fisher and Wilmington, ended with the surrender of Johnson's army. His continued interest in his old comrades in arms, whose ranks are being so rapidly thinned by the one invincible foe of mankind, death, he manifests by retaining membership in the Grand Army of the Republic. After the close of the war Professor Wakefield returned to the parental home and in 1866 he was matriculated in Hiram College, in which he was graduated as a member of the class of 1870 and from which he received the degree of Bachelor of Arts. For three years after his graduation he was professor of natural sciences in his alma mater, and in the meanwhile he was ordained a minister of the Christian church. In 1873 he resigned his academic chair and assumed the pastorate of the Christian churches at North Bloomfield and North Bristol, Trumbull county, where he labored with all zeal and devotion for the ensuing decade, at the expiration of which he became pastor of the church of his denomination at Warren, the county-seat of Trumbull county. Here also his labors were attended with splendid results in furthering the spiritual and temporal affairs of his parish, and he continued in his pastoral work in Warren until 1890, when he resigned his position to accept his present chair in Hiram College, of whose faculty he has since been a valued and honored member. He finds much of satisfaction in his work, realizing how potent may be his influence for good in his field of labor among young folk, and his popularity with the students of the institution has been of the most unequivocal order.

In 1872 Professor Wakefield was a member of the United States geographical surveying corps assigned to the work of exploring the Yellowstone National Park, which even at that date remained essentially a terra incognita, and with the other members of the party he passed one full season in that interesting section of our great national domain. Professor Wakefield has devoted seventeen years to the work of the ministry and nearly a quarter of a century to that of the pedagogic profession, and in both of these all important spheres of endeavor his labors have been signally fruitful and subjectively grateful. In politics Professor Wakefield is a staunch advocate and supporter of the principles and policies for which the Republican party stands sponsor, and he has rendered effective service in the party ranks. He has served as a member of the state central committee of his party in Ohio

1724 - HISTORY OF THE WESTERN RESERVE

and also as a member of the congressional district committee, besides which he has been a frequent delegate to its state, congressional and county conventions.

On the 23rd of August, 1870, was solemnized the marriage of Professor Wakefield to Miss Martha A. Sheldon, who was born in Aurora township, Portage county, this state, and who is a daughter of Albert R. and Cornelia (Dow) Sheldon. Her father likewise was born in Aurora township and was a son of Gershom Sheldon, who was one of the first settlers in what is now Aurora township, where he took up his abode in the year 1800, as did also his father, Captain Ebenezer Sheldon, who was a native of Connecticut and who served as captain of his company in the war of the Revolution. The Sheldon family has been prominently identified with the development and progress of Portage county, in whose annals the name is one of distinction and honor. Professor and Mrs. Wakefield have four children : Dr. Edwin F., a successful physician and surgeon, is engaged in the practice of his profession at Chagrin Falls, Cuyahoga county ; Albert S. resides upon and has charge of the old homestead farm of the Wakefield family in Greene township, Trumbull county ; Dr. Arthur Paul is a representative physician and surgeon of Springfield, Illinois; and Cornelia is the wife of Walter Robinson, of Princeton, Missouri.

ORVILLE T. MANLEY, M. D.—One of the successful and popular physicians and surgeons of Portage county is Dr. Manley, who Is engaged in the practice of his profession in his native town of Garrettsville, where he retains a clientele of representative order. Dr. Manley was born in GarrettsVille November 20, 1874, and is a son of Morton and Emma (Hopkins) Manley. The Doctor is a scion of one of the oldest and most honored pioneer families of Portage county, with whose annals the name has been identified since the opening decade of the nineteenth century, and even the data of this necessarily brief sketch will afford an idea of the prominent position the family has held in connection with the civic, professional and industrial affairs of the county. Morton Manley was born at Garrettsville, and passed his entire life in Portage county, where he was a representative farmer and a citizen honored in all the relations of life. He died October 13, 1907. He was a son of Dr. Orville Manley, who was also born and reared at Garrettsville, and who became one of the leading physicians and surgeons of this part of Portage county, where he was engaged in the practice of his profession for a period of about twenty years. He retained his residence in his native town until his death. His father, Roswell Manley, was of the second generation of the family in Portage county, and was born at Garrettsville ; he was here reared and educated, and in the course of time he became one of the representative farmers and influential citizens of Franklin township, which continued to be his home until his death. He was a son of Martin Manley, who was a native of Connecticut, and who was one of the sterling pioneers of the Western Reserve, as he took up his residence in Portage county in 1810, settling on the site of the present village of Garrettsville and securing a large tract of land which he reclaimed into a productive farm. He was a prominent figure in the early annals of this county, and did much to shape its early governmental politics and to further its development along civic and industrial lines.

From the foregoing data it will be seen that Dr. Orville T. Manley is of the fifth generation of the family in Portage county, and that he is engaged in the same profession as was his grandfather, whose patronymic he bears. As a citizen and a member of the medical profession he is honoring the name he bears. His mother, Emma (Hopkins) Manley, was born at Parkman, Geauga county, Ohio, and is a daughter of Titus B. Hopkins, who was born in Nelson township, Portage county, Ohio, and who became a successful merchant in the Western Reserve, having been engaged in business at various points, principally in Portage and Geauga counties. He was a tailor by trade, and in his earlier life followed that vocation. His father was a native of Connecticut, and was one of the early settlers in ,Portage county.

Morton Manley died at the age of fifty-seven years, and his widow is still living, maintaining her home in Garrettsville. She is a devout church member, as was also her husband. Of their three children, Dr. Orville was the oldest, and besides him the only one surviving is Dr. R. M., practising in Cleveland, Ohio.

Dr. Orville T. Manley received his early education in the public schools of Garrettsville, where he graduated from the high school, after which he matriculated in Hiram College,

HISTORY OF THE WESTERN RESERVE - 1725

graduating with the class of 1898. He then entered the College of Physicians and Surgeons in the city of Cleveland, where he completed the prescribed technical course and graduated in 190o, with the degree of M. D. After graduation he passed one year as interne in St. Alexis Hospital, in Cleveland, where he gained valuable clinical experience. In 1901 he opened an office in his native town of Garrettsville, where he has amply demonstrated his professional ability and built up a large and representative practice. He is a member of the Ohio State Medical Society and the Portage County Medical Society. He is affiliated with the Masonic fraternity.

In 1898 Dr. Manley was united in marriage with Flora Woodruff, of Mesopotomia, and they have two children, Roger H. and Orville T., Jr. Dr. and Mrs. Manley are actively identified with the representative social affairs and life of Garrettsville, where they are held in the highest esteem.

CHARLES L. KILBOURN was born in Freedom township, Portage county, August 22, 1862, and is a son. of John and Amy (Loomis) Kilbourn, the former born in Weathersfield, Connecticut, the' latter in Hiram, Portage county, Ohio. He is grandson of Hiram and Mary (Crocker) Kilbourn, natives of Weathersfield, Connecticut, and of English descent, and of Charles and Araminta (Harmon) Loomis, of Vermont and Massachusetts, respectively. Hiram Kilbourn and his wife came to Ohio by way of Buffalo, where cold weather overtook them, and when spring came they resumed their journey, arriving in Portage county in the spring of 1829, and there settled in the northern part of the township, on wild timber land, where they had to clear sufficient space for their log cabin. He died September 3, 1896, and his wife, November 13, 1879. They had four children, namely : Hannah, deceased ; John ; Francis, of Allerton, Iowa ; and Mariette, deceased.

John Kilbourn lived with his parents until their death, and then purchased the farm from the other heirs. In 1867 he purchased fifty acres of land in the central part of the township, and subsequently removed there. He died December 7, 1901, and his wife died April 17, 1880. They were the parents of three children, namely : Irene, Mrs. William Shrotberg, of Hiram township ; Myrta, Mrs. Osborn Cobb, of Allerton, Iowa ; and Charles L.

Charles L. Kilbourn attended the district school of his native town, and afterward assisted in the work on his father's farm, remaining with his parents during their lifetime, and later purchasing from the other heirs their share of the estate. He does general farming, combined with stock raising, and has a fine dairy. He is very successful in his undertakings, and has made many modern improvements in his home. In political, views he is a Republican, and he is a member of the Freedom Grange.

Mr. Kilbourn married, September 2, 1886, Cora Ann Davis, born in Freedom township June 2, 1863, and daughter of Martin V. B. and Sarah Ann (Udall) Davis, the former born in Freedom township, a son of Isaac C. and Permelia A. (Heath) Davis, natives of Massachusetts, and the latter, born in Hiram township, the daughter of John and Sarah Ann (McGarry) Udall, of Massachusetts. John Udall his wife were early settlers of Hiram township. Martin V. B. Davis and his wife married and settled down in Freedom township ; he died January 3, 1874, and his widow died December 31, 1896. Mr. and Mrs. Kilbourn were parents to two children, as follows : Carl E., born May 3, 1888, died July 3 of the same year, and Don Martin, born March 18, 1890, resides at home with his parents.

ELMAN L. CALDWELL, the popular and business like superintendent of the Bell Vernon Cheese Company (whose plant is in the township of Freedom), is a native of the township named, where he was born January 16, 1868. His fatter, Edward T. Caldwell, was born at Braceville, Trumbull county, Ohio, son of Robert L. and Eliza (Ovitt) Caldwell, natives of Massachusetts, while his mother, Sophina (Loveland) Caldwell, was a native of Hiram township, this county, a daughter of Colby and Laura (Larcomb) Loveland, both born at Mecca, Berkshire county, Massachusetts. Colby Loveland was the son of Isaac and Lydia (Holden) Loveland, who migrated west to Ohio about the year of 1827, making the journey by ox team and settling first on a tract of land in Hiram township. Later they leased a farm in the township of Freedom for a period of two years, and subsequently purchased a place of their own, which was the first tract of land to be occupied in Freedom. Its first settler was Charles H. Payne, the son of General and Eliza (Hiram) Payne, of Painesville, Ohio, who came in the year 1818,

1726 - HISTORY OF THE WESTERN RESERVE

and upon this land was born the first white child in the township—Amanda, daughter of Charles H. Payne ; also upon this farm occurred the first death of a white person in Freedom, Emeline, a daughter of Mr. Payne mentioned, who died in 1820, an infant of two years, from the results of scalding.

Edward T. Caldwell, the father, was an early settler in the township of Braceville, Trumbull county, Ohio. He located in Freedom township soon after his marriage to Sophina Loveland, and later moved to Garrettsville, where he pursued the carpenter's trade for several years. Subsequently this worthy couple returned to Freedom, first settling upon two acres of land, and, as years passed, adding to their homestead until it consisted of fifty-five acres of land. Edward T. Caldwell died September 16, 1906, aged seventy-six years, and the widow now resides at the home of Elman L., her son, who is the only one of her five children to survive infancy.

Elman L. Caldwell worked on the home farm and attended district school until he reached the age of twelve years, when, in the employ of Frederick Freeman, he commenced to manufacture cheese. This .connection was continued for seven years, when Mr. Caldwell followed the same line at Parkman, Ohio, for about one year. He then entered the employ of Stranahan Brothers of Cleveland, Ohio, which firm erected a cheese factory on his farm in 1904. In 1906, after having been in the employ of the company for fifteen years, he purchased its plant, which he successfully conducted for one year, and in 1907 sold to the Bell Vernon Company of Cleveland. At that time he was appointed superintendent of the concern, a position which he still occupies to the satisfaction of all. About 8,000 pounds are daily manufactured under his able supervision, and he also conducts his farm. Fraternally he is a high Mason, being a member of the Blue Lodge at Garrettsville, the Silver Creek chapter, Warren Commandery (No. 39) and the Lake Erie Consistory of Cleveland. On April 28, 1889, Mr. Caldwell was united in marriage to Gertrude F. Sweet, a native of Andover, Ashtabula county, Ohio, a daughter of Darius and Jennie (Marvin) Sweet, natives of the state of Massachusetts. But one child has blessed this union—Ruth G., horn June 6, 1903. Religiously the family is affiliated with the Christian church at Garrettsville, in which Mr. Caldwell has been an elder since 1906. He is a member of the board of education.

MILO CORNELIUS KENDEIGH, the proprietor of the Kendeigh Stock. Farm, one of the finest landed estates in Amherst township, bears a name of German origin, and in Pennsylvania it was spelled Kentisch and Kintigh. John and Nancy Kendeigh, the paternal grandparents of Milo C., came to North Amherst in the spring of 1824, and of their children Samuel Kendeigh, born in Westmoreland county, Pennsylvania, July 17, 1823, spent his early life as a mechanic and carpenter. Soon after his marriage he purchased a farm in Henrietta township, Lorain county, and after seven years there, clearing and improving his land, he exchanged his farm for mill property in North Amherst and continued his milling interests for eighteen months,- trading his property at the close of that period for a farm in Elyria township, on what is now Lake avenue. After another year and a half had passed he sold that land and moved to North Amherst and then to the old Peter Rice farm, which is now the property of the Cleveland Stone Company. Mr. Kendeigh subsequently came to the property now the home of his son, Milo C., where he owned 120 acres of finely improved land, and also 113 acres in Russia township. He had tarried in his early life Jane Strickler, who was born in Fayette county, Pennsylvania, and they became the parents of six children : Esther A., who married Bruce Gibson and died at South Amherst ; Charles D., of Henrietta township, Lorain county ; Milo C., mentioned below ; Jennie L., the wife of Rev. Marston S. Freeman, a Congregational minister at Madison, Ohio ; Lottie, the wife of H. G. Wilford, of Black River township ; and Lula, a twin of Lottie and a resident of Oberlin. Mrs. Kendeig., the mother of these children, died on the 24th of December, 1900, and the husband and father passed away on the 15th of February, 1905. Samuel Kendeigh was a member of the Odd Fellows fraternity, affiliating with Plato Lodge at Amherst.

Milo Cornelius Kendeigh, born at Henrietta, Ohio, October 1, 1859, attended first the common schools and then pursued a preparatory course at Oberlin College and a course in the Spencerian Business College at Cleveland, Ohio. He has spent his entire life on the home farm with the exception of the summer of 1883, when he was at Fort Collins, Colorado,

HISTORY OF THE WESTERN RESERVE - 1727

working on a grain ranch, returning home at the close of that period at the request of his parents. Inheriting sixty-two acres of land of his mother, and buying the interests of the other heirs in the home estate after the death of his parents, he has come into the possession of one of the finest farming estates in Amherst township, a beautiful farm of tot acres., and he also owns forty-five acres in Russia township. In the fall of 1883, following his return from the west, he bought a stallion and two mares of Percheron breed, and has since been prominently identified with stock raising interests. He has in the meantime purchased imported registered horses, and has sold his stock in many different parts of this country. At the present time he owns six stallions, four Percherons and one imported German coach, also a Shetland pony stud, and in addition to his large stock raising interests he is also engaged in general farming, his place being well known as the Kendeigh Stock Farm.

Mr. Kendeigh married on the 25th of September, 1901, Clara G. Gillman, born at Mineral Ridge, in Portage county, Ohio, a daughter of Charles and Mary (King) Gillman. The father died at Mineral Ridge, Ohio, and the mother at the home of Mr. and Mrs. Kendeigh. The two children of this union are Samuel Charles and Vivian Esther, the son born December 18, 1904, and the daughter on the 31st of December, 1906. Mr. Kendeigh has served his township. one term as a justice of the peace, twelve years as a member of the school board and two terms as a trustee. He is a

member of the Democratic party, and of Stonington Lodge, F. & A. M., Plato Lodge, No. 203, I. O. O. F., and of Hickory Tree Grange of Amherst.

HOWARD D. COOK.—The active and well-to-do citizens of Shalersville township, Portage county, have no better representative than Howard Daniel Cook, who holds a high position among the substantial and businesslike farmers of the Western Reserve. A son of Stacy West Cook, he was born April 14, 1856, on the farm where he now resides and on which his entire life has been spent. He comes of pioneer stock, his grandfather, Daniel Cook (a son of Stacy and Jane (Deacon) Cook, of Mount Holly, New Jersey), having come to Green township (now Mahoning county), Ohio, with his wife (nee Martha West), in June, 1812. Stacy Cook was burned to death in a cedar swamp.

The Cook family is of English Quaker stock, religious persecution driving various members of it to Holland, whence the American forefathers emigrated to this country at a very early period of colonial history. Three brothers of the Cook family came from Holland to New Jersey in 1856, but one soon returned to Holland, another never married, and from the third descends this branch of the family. The Deacon family is of English stock, while the ancestors of the West family were Scotch-Irish ; so that in the later generations of the Cook family flows blood from ' three of the main races of Great Britain. Daniel Cook, the lineal descendant of the Holland, or American branch of the family, was born and bred in New Jersey. In 1812 he started with his family from Mount Holly, that state, and drove with horse teams across the wilderness to his future home in Ohio, arriving in Green township, as stated, in June of that year. There he bought a tract of heavily timbered land, and, clearing a space in it, he built a small log cabin. Cultivating and improving a part of his land, he lived there for several seasons. In 1830 he erected a foundry at Albany, Mahoning county, and operated it for fifteen years, subsequently locating- in Goshep township, that county, where he resided until his death March it, 1853, at the age of sixty-seven years. His wife, whose maiden name was Martha West, long survived, not dying until October 16, 1875, aged eighty-four years. She was bound out in her early life, but was fortunate in finding a good home. She was possessed of all the best characteristics of the pioneer women of her times, and bravely assisted her husband in his efforts to establish a home for himself and family in this new country.

Stacy West Cook was the eldest in the family of twelve children and was the only one to settle in the Western Reserve. A young man of great enterprise and ability, he started westward in search of a favorable location, walking to Crawford county with the fifty dollars in his pocket, which he proposed to invest in land. He sold the original tract and purchased land near Sandusky, in what is now Erie county. This comprised 120 acres of wilderness, abounding in bears, deer, wild turkeys and Indians. Eighty acres of that tract he afterward traded for the first fifty acres to which he obtained title in Shalersville town-

1728 - HISTORY OF THE WESTERN RESERVE

ship, and for many years retained possession of the remaining forty. In April, 1848, seven years after he had made this exchange, Stacy West Cook moved to that township with his family, and began the improvement of the land which had been only partially cleared. Prosperity attended his every effort and, from time to time, he bought additional land to add to his homestead. The family estate now consists of 217 acres of fertile and productive land, with substantial buildings and all modern accessories of implements and machinery, the homestead being a credit to the wise management and business judgment of Stacy W. Cook and his descendants. There he carried on farming and stock raising until his death, November 29, 1888. Forty acres of the land which he owned for several years was in Wood county, in the western part of the state.

On February 11, 1846, Stacy West Cook was married at Salem, Columbiana county, Ohio, to Miss Elizabeth Applegate, daughter of Daniel Applegate, who settled at that place in 1811, and died in Shalersville on April 16, 1868. He was born in Salem, New Jersey, June 7, 1785, and was a son of Samuel and Naomi (Barnes) Applegate. He, too, was, bound out in early life, but was so ill-used he ran away and was a sailor lad on a fruit vessel .that plied between Philadelphia and the West Indies. When he was married he could neither read nor write, and his wife taught him these essential qualifications. The Applegate family is of English ancestry. Daniel Applegate married Amelia Ayres, who was born of Scotch, English and Welsh ancestry June 7, 1791, and was a daughter of Nathan and Ann (Davis) Ayres (the former born at Shiloh, New Jersey) and granddaughter of William and Bridget Davis, natives of Wales. The Ayres family came to America from England, having originally migrated from Scotland. Mrs. Daniel Applegate died on October 12, 1867.

To the union of Stacy West and Elizabeth (Applegate) Cook were born the following six : Delorma, April 14, 1847, who died April 20, 1881 ; Martha A., born May 13, 1849 Lewis, born June 12, 1851, who resides in Shalersville township ; Howard Daniel, the special subject of this sketch ; Emma, born March 15, 1858 ; and Victoria, who was born on August 5, 1860, and married Irvin Brown, of Mantua, Ohio. The mother died on the home farm January 22, 1898, having survived her husband nine years and nearly two months.

Since the death of his .parents Howard D. Cook has resided, with his sisters, Martha A. and Emma, on the parental homestead, which is now their property and on which he is conducting- mixed husbandry with satisfactory results, in addition to his agricultural operations raising each year about 150 sheep as a profitable branch industry. In his political affiliations, Mr. Cook is a stanch Republican.

Miss Martha A. Cook, the sister mentioned who lives on the old homestead, has prepared the following interesting paper giving a short history of the place, with its different proprietors : "The farm on which Howard D. Cook was born and has always lived was bought by Stacy West Cook from Isaac Mead in March, 1852. Mr. Mead purchased the land over ninety years ago from Nathaniel Shaler, who owned Shalersville township. Isaac Mead was a carpenter and worked for Mr. Shaler in Warren, taking the land in payment for his services. It was heavily timbered with very large trees, and at the time of its purchase there were only wagon roads, or 'trails' in that part of the township. Mr. Mead built a double log house, in which he lived for many years, and more than seventy years ago he erected the frame house in which Howard Cook was born. He cleared most of the land and, in addition to general farming, manufactured cheese for many years. The old cheese house, with its well-worn press, still stands. The orchard which he set out also stands and bears good fruit. Mr. Mead reared a family of nine children, three sons and daughters, all members of the Disciples church at Shalersville Center, whose edifice Mr. Mead assisted to build. They moved from Shalersville township to Freedom township, and, after several years, to Eaton, Lorain county, where they spent their last years.

"The fifty acres which Stacy W. Cook first bought in Shalersville township was purchased from Nathaniel Shaler by Ahira W. Hanks over eighty years ago, and was at that time an unbroken forest. Mr. Hanks and wife lived with Mr. Mead until he made a clearing large enough to put up a log house sixteen by twenty feet, outside measurement. The trees were so near the house that when he felled them he had Mrs. Hanks leave the house for fear that the dwelling would be crushed. Before her marriage Mrs. Hanks was Joan Dye, a sister of Mary (Dye) Mead. Mr. and Mrs. Hanks lived on that farm several years ; then

HISTORY OF THE WESTERN RESERVE - 1729

moved to a place to the southeast ; and still later resided for many years on a farm opposite the original place, where they both died. Mrs. Hanks was one of the first members of the Shalersville Disciples church, to which the entire family belonged, one son and two daughters reaching maturity. Sarah (Hanks) Nelson, the younger daughter, who furnished the data relating to her family, is now seventy-two years of age and lives in Auburndale, Florida.

"Such pioneers endured many hardships and privations, paving the way for those who came after them, and it seemed to me no more than right that they should receive honorable mention in 'The History of the Western Reserve.'"

GLENN HYDE RAYMOND, a well known farmer of Hiram township, Portage county, was born at Hiram, Ohio, on August 13, 1877, and is a son of Nelson F. and Mary (Hyde) Raymond. The Raymond family is of such ancient French origin that its genealogy may be traced back to 790. Linguists find the origin of the name both in the French word "rai," or beam, and the Latin word of the same meaning, "raimundus." Paul Raymond, the great-greatgrandfather of Glenn H., and son of Paul and Tabitha Raymond, of Salem, Massachusetts, was born in that town May 12, 1732, and married Abigail Jones, a native of Weston, that state, who was born April 6, 1734. Their union occurred in November, 1755, and they became the parents of nine children. Their son Silas was twice married—first, in November, 1796, to Ruth Stone, who died December 25, 1806, the mother of six children ; and secondly to Clarissa Fitch, daughter of Elijah and Mary Mason, of Hartford, Vermont. This marriage occurred October 6, 1807.. The son Silas by the first union was also one of six children and was born at Marlboro, Vermont, on February 26, 1799. In May, 1826, he married Rebecca Pitkin, of Hiram, Ohio, by whom he had eleven children.

Silas Raymond (11) came to the Western Reserve from Connecticut in 1816, starting with an ox team on October 16 and arriving at Buffalo on the 16th of the following month. He first made his home with Elijah Mason and family, working out and assisting in the clearing of the road between Hiram and Freedom. He was an honest, hard-working, economical and thrifty man, and cleared and placed under thorough cultivation two farms—the Raymond farm, upon which he settled after his marriage in 1826, and the homestead upon which he died, between Garrettsville and Hiram. Although he made a trip to Hartford, Connecticut,. on foot in 1825, it was for purposes of business and pleasure, rather than because he had any idea of abandoning the west as a home. He had given his brother, Charles Raymond, the choice of the two farms which he had cleared, and after his marriage he settled with his young wife on what is still known as the Raymond farm. At first they lived in a log cabin, but in 1836 the husband and father erected a larger and more convenient residence, as well as a commodious barn. Silas Raymond was not only a successful farmer, but was a leader in all the local events which agitated the community. He was especially positive regarding the harmful workings of the Mormon doctrines, and always spoke with pride of his participation in the tarring and feathering of Joe Smith and his right-hand prophet, Rigdon, which occurred on the old Stevens farm, Mr. Raymond being one of those who furnished the tar pot. This useful and hardy pioneer died at Hiram November 11, 1881, and his wife had preceded him March 9, 1878.

Silas Raymond's third child, Sophronia Stone, never married, and died deeply lamented by all who knew her, passing away in 19o8. Her life was an inspiring example of helpful ness, patience and love, and her constant cheerfulness, always unruffled by the trials which came to her, was an uplifting influence to all her relatives and friends. Her mortal remains are buried in the Raymond family lot at Park cemetery, Garrettsville, and it is a natural sequence of her life that her memory should be cherished and revered by all who came within the sphere of her strong and loving womanhood.

Nelson F. Raymond was the tenth of the eleven children born to Silas and Rebecca (Pitkin) Raymond, his birthplace being the old Raymond homestead and the day, September 3o, 1841. He received his education in his native town, spent his boyhood on his father's farm, and when a young man assisted a brother in Grand Rapids, Michigan, where they engaged in the manufacture of carriages. Two years later he returned to Hiram in very ill health, and in 1869 purchased the farm upon which he spent the remainder of his life. After patiently enduring almost constant pain for two years, he passed away on February 13,

1730 - HISTORY OF THE WESTERN RESERVE

1907. The deceased was universally honored, and had earned the firmest confidence and the deepest esteem of his near associates. He is buried in the Raymond lot, Park cemetery, Garrettsville. His wife, whom he married December 28, 1871, was Miss Mary Hyde, daughter of Daniel and Rebecca Hyde, of Farmington, Trumbull county, Ohio, and was born on November 23, 1844. She is a faithful member of the Disciples' church at Hiram, as was her beloved husband for thirty-five years before his death.

Glenn Hyde Raymond, only child of this worthy couple, received his education at the Hiram district school and college, leaving his studies in 1897 to assist his father in the work of the home farm. At the death of the latter he assumed the management of the estate, "The Maples," and has continued his successful labors as an up-to-date agriculturist and an enterprising, worthy citizen. On December 10, 1903, at Windham, Ohio, Mr. Raymond married Miss Florence Eleanor Thomas, and they have become the parents of two children : Thomas Myron, born at Akron, Ohio, September 26, 1904, and Wells Nelson, born at his present home, July 5, 1906. Mrs. Raymond is a daughter of David John Thomas, and was born at Paris, Portage county, Ohio, April 16, 1884. Her father is a native of Youngstown, Ohio, born- March 28, 1859, and his wife (nee Mary A. Evans) whom he married at Paris, May 25, 1882, was born at Milwaukee, Wisconsin, May 13, 1863. She is a daughter of Samuel D. and Eleanor Thomas Evans, both of whom were born in Wales in 1828 and 1837, respectively. Mrs. Raymond was their only child. Her grandfather, Samuel S. Thomas, was a native of Wales, where he was born in 1832, coming to Paris when only thirteen years of age. On November 30, 1853, he wedded Miss Catherine Bowen, also a native of Wales, the ceremony occurring at the old Wick home, on Wick avenue, Youngstown. There were eight sons of this union. Mrs. Raymond's great-grandfather, John W. Thomas, was one of the first settlers of Paris, Ohio, previously living in Tallmadge, Ohio, for two years after coming to America from Wales and is known to have owned the first mowing machine in Paris township. Thomas Bowen, the great-grandfather on the maternal side, fought with the British army at the battle of Waterloo, and there, as on other historic battlefields, the Welsh soldiers acquitted themselves to the high honor of their country and rugged ancestry.

EDWARD P. BROWN.—It is most compatible that in this historical compilation be given a review of the genealogical history of Edward P. Brown, who is a native son of the Western Reserve and a member of one of its sterling pioneer families—a family whose name has been most prominently identified with the material and civic development of that section of Lake county which was originally included in Geauga county. In the context where reference is made to Lake county in the earlier period of its history, it is to be understood that at the time it was still a part of Geauga county. It is deemed expedient to make the record concerning the family one of chronological order, designating the representatives of each generation in the line of direct descent to him whose name initiates this article.

Oliver Brown, son of Zebulon Brown, was born at Stonington, New London county, Connecticut, in January, 1760. It was his to render most valiant service in the Continental line during the war of the Revolution and the records of Connecticut bear lasting evidence of his faithful labors in the cause of national independence. In February, 1776, he enlisted, for a term of one year, under Ensign John Williams, in a company commanded by Captain Ebenezer Winters. This company was made part of the regiment commanded by Colonel Samuel Prentice. In 1777 he re-enlisted for another period of one year. At this time he became a member of the First Connecticut Regiment, commanded by Colonel Oliver Smith, of Groton. John McGregory was captain of this company. At the expiration of his second term he again re-enlisted in the same regiment, commanded by the same officers, and at this time his designated term was for three years or during the pleasure of the Continental congress. He served with his regiment in the vicinity of New York, in New Jersey and eastern Pennsylvania. He was an active participant in the battles of Long Island, Harlem Heights, Fort Mercer, Brandywine, Germantown and others, and he was with Washington's patriotic soldiers in winter camp at Valley Forge, where hardships of the severest order were endured, as the pages of history amply testify. His native place in Connecticut was the scene of much military activity and suffering during the Revolution, in which it was the theatre of hostile operations. Much interesting data centers around the historic old town of New London, Connecticut, and were it possible within the prescribed limi-

HISTORY OF THE WESTERN RESERVE - 1731

tations of this sketch it would be a matter of satisfaction to incorporate a description of the various operations in that section. Such a record, however, is extraneous to the province of a publication of this order. Oliver Brown was wounded in battle but was not long incapacitated. He was one of the guards that supported Major Andre to the scaffold when that celebrated British spy was executed, on the 2d of

October, 1780. He received an honorable discharge at the expiration of his third term and was granted a pension by the war department. A copy of the certificate issued by the war department, under date of September 21, 1818, bearing the United States seal and signed by John C. Calhoun, secretary of war, is here entered : "I certify that, in conformity with the law of the United States, on the 18th of March, 1818, Oliver Brown, late a private in the army of the Revolution, is inscribed on the pension list roll, of the Ohio agency, at the rate of eight dollars per month, to commence on the fifth day of August, 1818." This pension was payable semi-annually, and the first payment of the certificate was made on the 4th of March, 1819, at the United States Bank in Chillicothe, Ohio.

In 1780 was solemnized the marriage of Oliver Brown to Mrs. Gracie (Gregory) Welch and for a time they lived at Norwich, Connecticut. They became the parents of seven children—Oliver Junior, Hosea, Daulphin, Lewis, Hannah (Bliss), Nabby (Searles) and Patience (Holcomb). Oliver Brown finally removed with his family from Connecticut to Riga, Genesee county, New York, where they remained until the spring of 1816, when they came to the Western Reserve. They made the journey through an almost trackless wilderness and utilized ox teams and covered wagons. In 1818 several members of the family located on lands in the southeast part of what is now Concord township, Lake county, which section, as already stated, was then part of Geauga county. The father and sons ably carried through the herculean task of reclaiming their respective farms from the heavy timber and made themselves desirable homes, enduring to the full the hardships and strenuous tension of the pioneer era. Oliver Brown was reared in the faith of the Presbyterian church, and family worship was a daily observance in the home circle. Mrs. Gracie (Gregory) Brown died in 1832 and her husband later married Mrs. Beardsley, who died in 1840. For his third wife he married Mrs. Hannah Perkins, who survived him. He died on the 5th of June, 1845, and was interred with military honors in the pioneer cemetery near Concord Centre, Lake county. The lineage of the family is traced back to stanch English origin.

Mrs. Gracie (Gregory) Brown was born in Connecticut, in 1755. Her first husband, Captain Welch, was in the English service on the high seas and was thus engaged at the time of his death. He was survived by an infant son, Henry Welch, who was reared to manhood and established a home near Watertown, New York. Mrs. Brown was a devoted mother and amiable friend and neighbor. She died on the 14th of December, 1835, and her remains rest by the side of those of her second husband, Oliver Brown.

Hosea Brown, the son of Oliver and Gracie (Gregory) Brown, was born at Stonington, Connecticut, on the 1st of October, 1783. He was educated in the common schools of the locality and period, and as a youth he learned the trade of making leather boots and shoes. On the 4th of February, 181o, was solemnized his marriage to Miss Chloe Bemiss, and they became the parents of twelve children, whose names are here indicated in order of birth : Chloe E., Flavel, Emily, Hannah, Abigail, James, Elijah, Alvah T., Elizabeth, Lucena, Hosea and Henry A. Hosea Brown, senior, accompanied his father and the other members of the family to Genesee county, New York, and later, to the Western Reserve. Early in 1818 he located on a tract of heavily timbered land in Concord township, Lake county, and this he personally reclaimed to cultivation, making a home for himself and his family. It is needless to say that they endured all the hardships and trials incident to life in a pioneer community, isolated and thinly populated. Hosea Brown was a man of strong mentality, insuperable integrity and indefatigable industry, and he did all in his power to promote the cause of education in the pioneer community where his aid and co-operation were also invariably enlisted in the support of other measures and enterprises tending to advance the general welfare. Concerning him the following words have been written : "He made the religion of the Bible his choice and endeavored to practice the pure principles therein taught. He was a worthy and esteemed citizen in the community where he lived, honored and respected by all." A few months before his death, which occurred on Christmas day of the year 1857, he was united in marriage to Mrs.

1732 - HISTORY OF THE WESTERN RESERVE

Spaulding, widow of the late Dr. Spaulding, of Painesville, Ohio.

Chloe (Bemiss) Brown was born in Connecticut on the 4th of May, 1786. She was afforded the advantages of the schools of the day and was taught economy and good housekeeping by her devoted mother, so that she was well fitted to assume the care. of her own home and had the fortitude of character necessary to face the problems and trials of pioneer life. She was a woman of gentle and gracious character and was held in affectionate regard by all who knew her. One of her brothers, Elijah Bemiss, settled near Norwalk, Huron county, Ohio, and another brother was a representative physician in the vicinity of Lexington, Kentucky.

Alvah T. Brown,

son of Hosea and Chloe c(Bemiss) Brown, was born in Concord township, Lake county, Ohio, on the 17th of February, 1822, and that township continued to represent his home throughout the entire course of his long and. useful life. He was indebted to the pioneer schools of the locality for his early educational discipline and later attended a select school at Kirtland, Ohio. That he made good use of his scholastic opportunities is shown by the fact that for a number of years he was a successful and popular teacher in the schools of his native county. He was liberal in his views of education, which he designated as the main corner-stone of civilization, and he was always ready to encourage and support every measure tending to advance the educational status of the community. On the 1st of January, 1849, he was united in marriage to Miss Orpha M. Winchell and the young couple established their home on his farm, which he ultimately developed into one of the valuable places of Lake county. As a farmer and stock-raiser he was very successful, and he became one of the substantial representatives of the great basic industry of agriculture in the Western Reserve. He and his wife became the parents of three children—Edward Payson, Philander Newel and Chloe Alma. The father remained on the old homestead farm until 1881, when he left the same in charge of his two sons and purchased and removed to a farm in the northern part of the same township in order that he might be nearer his church. For a short time he and his wife were communicants of the Concord Methodist Episcopal church, from which they withdrew to join the First Baptist church of Painesville, of which they continued as devoted members until their death. Alvah T. Brown was a recognized pillar.of strength in his church, both in a moral and financial sense, and for a number of years prior to his death he was a deacon in the same. In politics he gave unwavering allegiance to the Republican party, and he was called upon to serve in various township and county offices. At the time of the Civil war he was one of the historic "Squirrel Hunters" who enlisted and went to the defense of Cincinnati in 1862, and he received his honorable discharge after a brief period of service, said discharge being signed by Governor David Tod. He was summoned to the life eternal on the 11th of January, 1897, secure in the confidence and esteem of all who had known him.

Orpha M. (Winchell) Brown, wife of Alvah T., was born in Concord township, Lake county, Ohio, on the 6th of August, 1828, and was the eldest daughter of Harvey and Polly ( Edminister) Winchell. Her younger years were passed on the homestead farm and she duly availed herself of the privileges of the local public school. Concerning her the following has been written : "In her home she early learned the duties of a pioneer and became an expert weaver of the fabrics of the day, as well as a housekeeper of distinctive thrift and ability, having all the qualifications necessary to the making of a good home. The first great sorrow that came to her was the death of her favorite brother, Luman, who died after a service of nearly three years in the Civil war, having enlisted in 1861, as a member of the Second Ohio Volunteer Cavalry. He was born in Concord township, Lake county, Ohio, on the 29th of May, 1835, and died at Little Rock, Arkansas, on the 27th of October, 1864. His remains were brought home and interred in the family lot in Concord township. Another brother, George, was with the Army of the Cumberland and accompanied Sherman's army on the ever-memorable march from Atlanta to the sea. He now resides at Westford, Crawford county, Pennsylvania. Mrs. Brown was a great sufferer during the last year of her life, but bore: her afflictions with Christian fortitude and without a murmur. She was summoned to the life eternal on the 8th of March, 1903."

Among those who were the pioneers of Connecticut's historic Western Reserve, and who here founded the family whose name has long been honored in connection with social and material affairs was Simeon Winchell. He

HISTORY OF THE WESTERN RESERVE - 1733

was born at Winstead, Connecticut, in 1767, and in 1790 he was married to Miss Elizabeth Spring, who was born in 1767. In company with his family he made the long and weary journey from Connecticut with an ox team, following a trail blazed through the wilderness, and arriving in Concord township, Lake county, Ohio, on the 8th of August, 1817. The Winchell family as a whole are home-loving folk and many are located in the vicinity of the home thus early established in Lake county, Ohio. They have commemorated the coming of their honored ancestor, Simeon Winchell, by holding a family reunion at the home of some one of his descendants on the second Wednesday in August of each year, and this custom has continued for the past quarter of a century. Simeon and Elizabeth (Spring) Winchell became the parents of seven children —Simeon, Harvey, Betsy (Baker), Patty (Mitchell) Harriet (Wilson), Alma (Mitchell), and Janette. Simeon Winchell, the founder of the family in the Western Reserve, died on the 29th of October, 1847, and his cherished and devoted wife passed away on the 22d of December, 1855.

Harvey Winchell was born in Winstead, Connecticut, on the 15th of April, 1801, and thus was about sixteen years of age at the time of the family removal to Ohio, where he was reared to manhood and where, on the 24th of July, 1827, he was united in marriage to Miss Polly Edminister, who was born in Connecticut on the 25th of June, 1809. They became the parents of the following named children : Orpha M., Warren W., Margaret (Brown), Luman, Sidney, George, Albert and Clinton R. Harvey Winchell was a man of quiet and unassuming manners and attended strictly to his own affairs. His sterling integrity and unvarying kindliness gained to him the unqualified respect and confidence of his fellow-men. His vocation throughout life was that of farming, and in politics he was a stanch Democrat, and both he and his wife were members of the Methodist Episcopal church. He died on the 11th of August, 1887, and his wife passed away on the 30th of January, 1891.

Edward Payson Brown, who figures as the immediate subject of this review, was born on the old homestead in Concord township, Lake county, Ohio, on the 8th of February, 1850. He was reared to the sturdy discipline of the farm, and in addition to the advantages afforded by the district schools he attended for two terms a select school, conducted under the personal supervision of the late John R. Claque, who later became a teacher in the high school at Painesville. As a youth Mr. Brown was a popular and successful teacher in the district schools of LeRoy, Perry, Concord and Chardon townships, following the pedagogic profession during the winter terms, from 1871 to 1882. During the spring months, from 1871 to 1877, inclusive, he devoted his attention to ingrafting fruit trees, and in this connection he covered various sections of Ohio and adjacent states. During the summer and autumn of 1874 and 1875 he was employed in a grist mill, in which his father owned a one-half interest and which was conducted under the firm name of Brown & Williams, at East Claridon, Geauga county. In 1876 the father sold his interest in the business to his partner. From his boyhood onward Mr. Brown continued .to be actively identified .with farm work, save for the periods devoted to other occupations, as noted above. In the spring of 1881 he and his brother assumed charge of their father's home farm, in the management of which they were thus associated until the spring of 1886, when the brother, Philander N., removed with his family to North Dakota. Thereafter the subject of this sketch individually carried forward the work of the old homestead. In March, 1902, he removed to the farm which his father had purchased in the northern part of the same township, as has been previously stated in this context, the same being located on what is locally known as "Johnnycake Ridge," in order to care for his venerable mother. Here he has since maintained his home and he is known as one of the representative farmers and stock growers of his native county. Mr. Brown is a stockholder in the Painesville National Bank and also in the Nickel Plate Milling Company, of the same city. For twelve years he was local agent for the Jarecki Chemical Company, of Sandusky, Ohio, manufacturers of fertilizers, and for six years he was, and is now, a representative in a similar way for the Armour Packing Company of Chicago, Illinois.

In politics Edward Payson Brown has clung tenaciously to the faith in which he was reared and is numbered among the stalwart advocates of the principles and policies of the Republican party. For fully a decade he was a member of the board of education of Concord township, and in this connection he put forth earnest and successful efforts through which

HISTORY OF THE WESTERN RESERVE - 1734

the school year in his township was lengthened from six to nine months. He has been trustee of Concord township for eleven years and is now entering upon his twelfth year in this office. He is a member of the blind-relief commission of Lake county, and he is essentially loyal and public-spirited in his attitude, giving his influence and co-operation in support of men and measures tending to advance the civic and material welfare of the community. His religious belief is bounded by neither sect nor creed, though he is friendly and tolerant toward all and ever ready to give a helping hand. He has a deep reverence for the basis of spirituality, venturing his belief in the worship of an infinite Supreme Ruler of the universe, who ever manifests his presence to all creatures to-day, as he has in the past, and who always will in the future. He is liberal and generous in the support of worthy charitable and benevolent objects and is kindly and tolerant in his association with his fellow men. He never denies his sympathy and aid to those "in any way afflicted in mind, body or estate," and as an almoner his deeds are ever unostentatious, and so his observance of the goodly rule to let not the right hand know what the left hand doeth. In 1871 he became a member of., Temple Lodge, No. 28, A. F. & A. M., and is still a member of the same.

On the 23d of June, 1875, was solemnized the marriage of Edward Payson Brown to Miss Ellen C. Greene, of LeRoy, Lake county, Ohio. The impressive ceremony was celebrated at Perry, this county, the Rev. Webster O. Moore, officiating. The only child of this union is Alvah Daniel Brown, who was born on the 16th of July, 1881. Concerning the son the following words have been written : "At the age of ten years Alvah D. Brown received a fracture of the spine, and although a physician and surgeon of marked skill had charge of the case and brought into consultation other able physicians, it was found impossible to effect a cure. After several years of treatment a slow paralysis set in, affecting the right side of the young sufferer, as well as both of his lower limbs. At times suffering great physical pain, no murmur or complaint has ever yet passed his lips."

Mrs. Ellen C. (Greene) Brown was born at Lebanon, Wayne county, Pennsylvania, on the 28th of November, 1853, and is the eldest daughter of Daniel and Chloe Greene, with whom she came to Ohio in 1867. Daniel Greene's ancestors—James Greene and four sons—came from England to the colonies in 1635. His grandfather, Abel Greene, and General Nathaniel Greene were cousins. His mother, Freelove (Hopkins) Greene, was a niece of Governor Stephen Hopkins, who was ten years governor of Rhode Island, under the royal charter, during the period from 1755 to 1768, a signer of the Declaration of Independence and a relative of Benedict Arnold, of Rhode Island (not the traitor). The Hopkins family trace their ancestors to Stephen Hopkins, a lay-reader, who with his son and two daughters came over in the Mayflower in 1620. The family of Daniel Greene, on coming to Ohio, first established their residence in Concord township, Lake county, and later removed to LeRoy township. She was educated in the common schools of this county and in the select school taught by the late John R. Claque, of whom mention has already been made. Prior to her marriage she was a successful and popular teacher in the public schools of Lake county. She is a woman of gracious presence and is held in high regard by all who know her. Her father, Daniel Greene, was born at West Greenwich, Rhode Island, on the 6th of February, 1816, and was one of the twelve children of Jeremiah and Freelove (Hopkins) Greene. In 1823 his parents removed to Plainfield, Connecticut, and his father died the following year, thus leaving the care of a large family to the widowed mother, who, with the help of the older children, kept the family together and properly reared and educated all of the children, who became honored citizens. Early thrown upon his own resources, Daniel Greene secured employment in a cotton factory at New Boston, Connecticut, where he was soon raised to the position of overseer of the weaving department. He was a grandson of Abel Greene, who served as a soldier in the war of the Revo- lution, having enlisted in the Rhode Island troops. This sturdy ancestor was noted for his great strength and physical endurance. He was taken prisoner by the British, by whom he was yoked to a cart with a fellow captive in a test of endurance made obligatory. He "killed his mate" because of his extraordinary physical power. At Sturbridge, Massachusetts, on the 18th of June, 1843, Daniel Greene was united in marriage to Miss Chloe C. Brown, and in 1848 they located at the farm in Lebanon township, Wayne county, Pennsylvania, where were born their children, namely : George M., Ellen C., William F.,

HISTORY OF THE WESTERN RESERVE - 1735

Alice A. and Freelove Z. In 1865 the family removed to Felton, Delaware, and thence they came to Ohio in 1868. Daniel Greene secured a residence in Concord township, Lake county, where he remained until .1874, working at the trade of carpenter and builder, when he purchased a farm in LeRoy township, where he continued to reside until his death, on the 21st of October, 189o. He was a stanch Republican in politics and he served ten years as justice of the peace in Wayne county, Pennsylvania, where he and his wife were members of the Presbyterian church. Chloe (Brown) Greene was a native of Charlton, Massachusetts, where she was born on the 7th of September, 1821, being the eldest of the seven children of Rufus and Eunice (Clemence) Brown, the former of whom was a son of Rufus and Lydia (Pratt) Brown. Mrs. Greene was reared on a farm and educated in the common schools and was a typical New England girl of that period. Now, at the age of nearly four score and ten years, she is well preserved in both mental and physical faculties, being in good health and remarkably active. Since the death of her husband she has made her home with her daughter, Mrs. Ellen C. Brown, the wife of the immediate subject of this sketch.

In conclusion of this article is entered a brief record concerning the two younger children of Alvah T. and Orpha M. (Winchell) Brown. Philander Newel Brown was born in Concord township, Lake county, Ohio, on the 1st of July, 1852, and was reared to manhood on the home farm, the while he was afforded the advantages of the common schools of the locality and period. On Christmas day of the year 1875 he was united in marriage to Miss De Etta Harriet Bixby, only daughter of De Witt and Louisa (Dunbar) Bixby. Mr. and Mrs. Brown became the parents of seven sons and fouf daughters, namely : Elsworth C. Maud E. (Palmer) Claude E., Lousea 0. (Hannah), Jules D., (Palmer), D. (born July 24, 1886, died August 16, 1901), Alice M., Alvah B., Howard W., Kenneth L. and Dorothy D. In 1886 the family removed to McLeod, Ransom county, North Dakota, where they still reside. Mrs. Brown was born on the 25th of December, 1855.

Chloe Alma Brown, youngest child of Alvah T. and Orpha M. Brown, was born on the old homestead farm, Concord township, Lake county, Ohio, August 3, 1861, and was edu-

Vol. III-30

cated in the common schools of the locality. On the 4th of July, 1884, she was united in marriage to David H. Cole, who was born near Rochester, New York, on the 4th of April, 1864, and who is the only son of Homer and Margaret (Hartman) Cole. Mr. and Mrs. Cole now reside on their farm in Concord township and they have five children, namely : Ira F., Arba B., Harvey H., Ruth M. and Margaret.

ALFRED J. PAINE.—Identified with lines of enterprise which have important functions in every community, those of real estate and insurance, Mr. Paine is one of the representative business men of Garrettsville, Portage county, where he is a member of the firm of Paine & Nicholson, who are here conducting a successful enterprise in the handling of urban and farm properties and as underwriters of fire and life insurance.

Mr. Paine is a native of the county which is now his home, having been born in Nelson township, Portage county, on January 15, 1855. His father, William B. Paine, was born in the state of Connecticut and was a child at the time when his parents immigrated to the Western Reserve, making the long and weary trip with an ox team and wagon and settling finally in Portage county, where his father, Solomon Paine, secured a tract of heavily timbered land, from which he literally hewed out a farm, living up to the full tension of the pioneer days and aiding in laying the foundations for the opulent prosperity which now obtains in this favored section of the old Buckeye state. In Portage county William B. Paine was reared and educated, duly aiding in the reclamation and other work of the home farm, and in his youth learning the trade of cabinetmaking, under the direction of a capable artisan of this locality. He followed his trade as a vocation for a number of years, but the major portion of his life was devoted to agricultural pursuits, in connection with which he gained a competency. He lived to the venerable age of eighty years and was a man whose inflexible integrity and honor gained and held to him the unqualified esteem of all who knew him. He was a Republican in politics, was active in connection with public affairs in his township and was called upon to serve in various local offices of trust. Both he and his wife were zealous and devout members of the Congregational church, and their Christian faith was well ex-

1736 - HISTORY OF THE WESTERN RESERVE

emplified in their daily lives, marked by kindliness and generous tolerance.

The maiden name of the mother of the subject of this review was Maria Talbott. She was born in the state of Massachusetts, and while she was a child her parents left the historic old Bay state to number themselves among the pioneers of the Western Reserve. They located in Portage county, where she was reared and educated, and she lived to the age of nearly eighty years, the devoted wife and helpmeet of her husband and the tender and loving mother whose gracious personality had all of influence in shaping the lives and characters of her children. William B. and Maria (Talbott) Paine became the parents of five sons and two daughters, all of whom are living except Arthur, who died aged about six years. Alfred J., of this sketch, is the youngest.

Alfred J. Paine was reared to maturity on the old homestead farm, in whose work and management he continued to be associated for several years after his marriage. His educational advantages were those offered by the common schools of his native township, and he has effectually supplemented this training by the valuable lessons ever to be learned in the school of experience. In 1885 he took up his residence in Garrettsville, and here he was engaged in the produce and agricultural implement business for eighteen years, at the expiration of which he sold the business and turned his attention to real estate and insurance, in connection with which line of enterprise his success has been most substantial and gratifying. His firm controls a large and important business in the field of real estate operations, and upon its books are at all times to be found represented most desirable investments, as well as properties eligible for exchange, renting, etc. The firm are agents for a number of the best known fire and life insurance companies and in this department a large business also is 'controlled.

In politics Mr. Paine has given his support to the cause of the Republican party from the time of attaining to his legal majority, and he has rendered efficient service to the party in the local field. While still a resident on the farm he served for many years as trustee of Nelson township, and for eight years he was a member of the village council of Garrettsville, where he is now incumbent of the office of assessor. He is affiliated with the lodge and encampment of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows.

In 1878 was recorded the marriage of Mr. Paine to Miss Ida Graham, who was born and reared in Nelson township, Portage county, and who is a daughter of William D. and Anna Gi-abam. Mr. and Mrs. Paine became the parents of two sons, but both died in infancy.

CORNELIUS DRUGAN is a native Son of Ireland, where he was born in County Fermanagh in March of 1840, but early in his life, in the spring of 1862, he came to the United States and has since been a true American citizen. He is a son of Luke and Sophia (Brown) Drugan, who spent their lives in the land of Erin, the father being a native of County Fermanagh and the mother of County Leitrim. Before leaving his native land the son Cornelius lived on a rented farm, engaged in the raising of horses and in dairying, and landing from the steamship at Portland, Maine, he went from there to Boston, Massachusetts, and was employed for two years by the Revere Copper Company. Going from there to Cleveland, Ohio, he began construction work for the Pennsylvania Railroad Company, while two years later was made a brakeman, and after six years in that position was promoted a conductor and continued thus employed for sixteen years. During the following three years he was a foreman for the Pittsburg & Western Railroad, Company, was then in the same capacity with the Pittsburg & Lake Erie Railroad Company for one year, and then moving to his farm of sixty-three acres in Ravenna township, which he had purchased two years previously, he has since been engaged in general farming and dairying, raising much produce. During fourteen years his home was in Ravenna, and he still owns the place where he resided for so many years.

Mr. Drugan married at Wellsville, Ohio, in 1870, Mary Collins, also from Ireland, a daughter of Patrick Collins. Their children are : William, whose home is in Columbus, Ohio ; Sophia, who married Edward Dunlap and is now deceased ; Cornelius, of Ravenna ; James and Elizabeth, both on the home farm ; and John, whose home is also in Ravenna. Mr. Drugan is an independent political voter, and he is a member of the Catholic church.

JOHN W. ROOT.—The present mayor of Garrettsville, Portage county, has here been engaged in the mercantile business for more than a quarter of a century and he holds a secure place in the confidence and esteem of the com-

HISTORY OF THE WESTERN RESERVE - 1737

munity in which he is recognized as a loyal and public-spirited citizen and reliable and progressive business man. He is a representative of one of the honored pioneer families of the Western Reserve, which has ever been his home and in which it has been his good fortune to win distinctive success in connection with the practical activities of life.

Mr. Root was born in Bainbridge township, Geauga county, Ohio, on September 4, 1857, and is a son of Delos and Eliza (Barton) Root, the former a native of Geauga county and the latter of Portage county, Ohio. The Root family is of English origin, and the genealogy of the Barton family is traced back through a long line in the fair old Emerald Isle. Delos Root was born on the fine old homestead farm which he now owns and occupies in Bainbridge township, Geauga county, and he is a son of Robert Root, who was born in Washington county, Massachusetts, whence he came to Ohio in the early part of the nineteenth century and took up his abode in Geauga county, where he became one of the early settlers of Bainbridge township and where he reclaimed a farm from the virgin forest. He became one of the representative agriculturists and stock dealers of that section of the Western Reserve, where he and his wife continued to reside until their death. On the old homestead farm just mentioned Delos Root was reared to maturity, and he received his early educational training in the common schools of the locality and period. He has never wavered in his allegiance to the great basic industry of agriculture, in connection with which he had gained precedence as one of the representative farmers of his native county, where he also carries on a successful business as a buyer and shipper of live stock. His home farm is one of the model places of the locality and as a citizen he wields much influence in local affairs of a public nature, the while commanding the unqualified esteem of the community which has represented his home from the time of his birth. As a young man he was united in marriage to Miss Eliza Barton, who was born and reared in Portage county, Ohio, and who was a daughter of William Barton, an early settler of this county, where he became a prosperous farmer and passed the residue of his life. Mrs. Eliza (Barton) Root was summoned to the life eternal when about sixty-eight years of age, and she is survived by three children, of whom the eldest is he whose name initiates this article ; Frank is employed in the store of his brother ; and Della is the wife of E. S. Johnson, of Cleveland.

John W. Root passed his boyhood and youth on the home farm, to whose work he early began to contribute his quota of assistance, and his preliminary education was secured in the district schools, after completing the curriculum of which he continued his studies in Hiram College and later was a student in Oberlin College for two terms. He put his scholastic attainments to practical test and utilization by engaging as a teacher in the district schools, and he continued to be thus and successfully identified with the pedagogic profession for a period of two years. In. 188o Mr. Root assumed a clerical position in the drygoods store of Williams & Yates, leading merchants of Chagrin Falls, Cuyahoga county, and he continued with this firm until 1883, when he removed to Garrettsville, Portage county, where he engaged in the mercantile business in partnership with E. S. Johnson. This alliance continued for a period of ten years, at the expiration of which Mr. Root purchased his partner's interest, and he has since continued the enterprise individually and under his own name. He has occupied the same building for twenty-six years and may well be designated one of the pioneer merchants of the village, from the comparative standpoint of the day. His business is extensive and of representative order, based upon fair and honorable dealings and effective service during the course of many years. His establishment is equipped with select and sufficiently comprehensive lines of drygoods, shoes, carpets, rugs, draperies, etc., and is one of the leading mercantile houses of this section of Portage county.

As a citizen Mr. Root has at all times manifested a lively and helpful interest in all that has tended to conserve the progress and material and civic prosperity of his home village, and the confidence in which he is held in the community has been signified by the official positions in which he has been called to serve. For many years he was an active and valued member of the village council, and in 1905 he was elected mayor of Garrettsville. He gave an admirable administration of the municipal government and at the expiration of his first term, in 1907, he was chosen as his own successor in ihe office of chief executive. He is a member of the directorate of the First National Bank of Garrettsville, and is also conducting a successful enterprise in the canning of maple syrup, utilizing the local product and

1738 - HISTORY OF THE WESTERN RESERVE

putting up goods of recognized purity and superiority.

For nearly a quarter of a century Mr. Root has been affiliated with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, in which he has attained to no little prominence. He is now serving as one of the trustees of the grand lodge of the order in Ohio, and is vice president of the Odd Fellows' Home at Springfield, Ohio. He has been active in the work of the fraternity for many years and is identified with the encampment and canton departments of the order.

In 1885 was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Root to Miss Cora Adams, daughter of the late 0. L. Adams, of Garrettsville, and they have one son, Don Manning. Mr. and Mrs. Root have also reared in their home Douglas K., son of Mrs. Root's sister, and he was taken by them when an infant of but twelve days, after the death of his mother. He is now attending the public schools of Garrettsville.

JAMES BENJAMIN BARNARD.—Worthy of especial note among the substantial and prominent citizens of Portage county is James Benjamin Barnard, who for many years was one of the leading business men of Garrettsville and an important factor in promoting its advancement and prosperity, but is now retired from active pursuits. A son of Benjamin Barnard, he was born, April 30, 1838, in Gerry, Chautauqua county, New York, coming from a long line of thrifty New England ancestry. Benjamin Barnard was born either in Vermont or New Hampshire, but lived for many years in New York state. Coming with his family to the Western Reserve in 1853, he bought land in Farmington, Trumbull county, and was there employed as a tiller of the soil for many years. His death occurred at the age of seventy-one years in Summit county, where he lived during the last fifteen years of his life. He married Gratia Bucklin, who was born in Gerry, New York, and died in Summit county, Ohio, aged about seventy-one years. Their eleven children all grew to mature life and eight of them are now living, James Benjamin being the sixth child in order of birth.

After coming with the family to the Reserve, James B. Barnard assisted his father in the improvement of the farm, remaining at home until becoming of age. Selecting agriculture, as his work, he carried on mixed husbandry in Farmington until after the breaking out of the Civil war, when he cheerfully responded to his country's call for help, enlisting, in 1861, in Company D, Second Ohio Volunteer Cavalry, in which he served for about two years. He afterwards re-enlisted, joining Company H, One Hundred and Seventy-first Ohio Volunteer Infantry, being mustered in as second lieutenant of his company. He did brave service in camp and on the field, for gallant conduct being promoted to the rank of captain. After receiving his honorable discharge from the army Mr. Barnard returned to Farmington, where he resumed his agricultural labors, making a specialty to some extent of dairying. In 1868 he removed to Mesopotamia, from there coming in 1873 to Garrettsville. The following twenty years he was a traveling salesman, after which he was for ten years profitably engaged in the marble and granite business in this city. Having achieved marked success in his undertakings, Mr. Barnard is now living retired from active business, devoting his attention to the management of his private affairs.

Mr. Barnard married, March 8, 1859, Philinda Lee, who was born July 12, 1841, in Farmington, Ohio, where her parents, Seth and Susan (Ensign) Lee, were early settlers. Her father was a native of Connecticut and her mother of New York. They became the parents of nine children, all of whom grew to years of maturity and four are now living, Mrs. Barnard having been the third child of the household. Mr. and Mrs. Barnard have one son, Jay L., superintendent of the Elyria Iron & Steel Company, of Elyria, Ohio. They have also an adopted daughter, Edith, wife of H. L. Hanna, of Cleveland, Ohio. A strong and influential member of the Republican party, Mr. Barnard has ably and satisfactorily filled many of the highest positions within the gift of his fellow-citizens, for three terms of two years each serving as mayor of Garrettsville, and for many years being a member of the city council. He has been a promoter of beneficial enterprises of all kinds, and was one of the committee appointed to oversee the building of the stone road between Garrettsville and Hiram. Fraternally Mr. Barnard has been a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows for over forty years, and belongs to the Mark Horton Post, G. A. R.

GEORGE H. COLTON.—Professor Colton has the distinction .of being, in point of continuous service, the oldest member of the faculty of his own alma mater, Hiram College, long recognized as one of the noble educational in-

HISTORY OF THE WESTERN RESERVE - 1739

stitutions of the Western Reserve. Here he has held the chair of natural sciences for nearly forty years, during which his labors have been indefatigable and productive, so that he has contributed much to the high prestige enjoyed by the college in which his interests have so long been centered. He is a native son of Portage county, within whose borders Hiram College is located, and in both the paternal and maternal lines stands as a scion of stanch pioneer stock in the Western Reserve, as well as representative of families founded in America in the early colonial epoch of our national history, as the context of this article will duly reveal.

Professor Colton was born in Nelson township, Portage county, Ohio, on October 1o, 1848, and is a son of John B. and Mary L. (Tilden) Colton. John Beldon Colton was born at Cornwall, Litchfield county, Connecticut, on November 27, 1811, and was a son of Theron and Elizabeth (Clark) Colton, the former of whom was born in Hartford county, Connecticut, in 1773, and the latter of whom was likewise a native of Connecticut. In 1815, when John B. Colton was about three years of age, his parents removed from the Nutmeg state to its famous Western Reserve in Ohio and settled in Nelson township, Portage county, where they were numbered among the early families to establish there a permanent abiding place. The father, who was a blacksmith by trade, secured eighty acres of heavily timbered land, to whose reclamation he devoted himself, the while maintaining a blacksmith shop on his pioneer farm and doing a large amount of work for the early settlers, including the manufacture of wagons and various farm implements. He was prominently identified with the early history of Nelson township, where both he and his wife continued to reside until their death. Theron Colton was horn in Granby, Hartford county, Connecticut, in 1778. His father, Ilhimer Colton, was a valiant soldier in the Continental line during the war of the Revolution. The original American progenitor was George Colton, who came from Warwick county, England, and settled in Massachusetts Bay colony in 1635.

John B. Colton, father of him whose name initiates this sketch, was reared to manhood in Portage county, where he assisted in the reclamation and work of the home farm and was afforded such educational advantages as were offered in the primitive pioneer schools, which were largely maintained on the subscription plan. His entire active career was one of close identification with the great basic industry of agriculture, and he became one of the substantial farmers and influential citizens of his county, where he was called upon to serve in various local offices of trust, including those of trustee and treasurer of Nelson township. In politics he originally gave his support to the Whig party, but he transferred his allegiance to the Republican party at the time of its organization and ever afterward continued a stanch advocate of its principles and policies. He continued to reside on his old homestead farm until his death, which occurred when he was eighty-three years of age. He was a man of strong individuality and his life was guided and governed by the highest principles of integrity and honor, so that he ever held as his own the inviolable confidence and esteem of his fellow men.

John B. Colton was united in marriage to Miss Mary L. Tilden, who was born in Hiram township, Portage county, Ohio, on February 17, 1829, and who was a daughter of Mason Tilden, born in Windom county, Connecticut, May 7, 1771. The latter was a son of Colonel Daniel Tilden, who was born in Windom county, Connecticut, November 5, 1740, and who likewise was a patriot soldier in the war of the Revolution. This worthy pioneer came to the Western Reserve in the opening years of the nineteenth century and was one of the first settlers and extensive landholders of Hiram township, Portage county. Mason Tilden was reared and educated in Connecticut, whence he came to Portage county, Ohio, in 1802, making the journey on foot and passing the summer in clearing land owned by his father in Hiram township. In the autumn he returned to Connecticut, and he did not return to Portage county to make permanent location with his family until 1825, when he settled in Hiram township, whence he later removed to Nelson township, where he developed a farm and passed the remainder of his life. He died in 1859, at the venerable age of eighty-eight years, and his name is enrolled on the roster of the honored pioneers who aided in the development of this section of the Western Reserve. He was a man of distinctive influence in his community. The genealogy of the Tilden family is traced back to John Tilden, of Bennington, County of Kent, England, whose last will and testament bore date of the year 1463. The founders of the family in America were Nathaniel Tilden and his wife Lydia, who em-

1740 - HISTORY OF THE WESTERN RESERVE

migrated from England to this county about 1630. Mary L. (Tilden) Colton, mother of Professor Colton, was summoned to the life eternal at the age of sixty-two years. Of the three children the Professor was the first-born. Emily, who was born May 4, 1854, is the wife of George W. Newcomb and they reside on the old Colton homestead in Nelson township, Portage county, as does also the youngest of the children, Sheriden, who was born April 17, 1863, and who is a bachelor.

Professor Colton passed his boyhood and youth on the old homestead which was the place of his nativity. His rudimentary education was secured in the district school, after which he continued his studies in an academy at the center of Nelson. He then devoted one winter to teaching in a district school, and in the autumn of 1867 he was matriculated in Hiram College, in which he was graduated as a member of the class of 1871, with the degree of Bachelor of Arts. Thereafter he was for one year a student in the famous University of Michigan, at Ann Arbor, where he gave his attention specially to the study of civil engineering. After leaving this institution he became division engineer of the Cuyahoga Valley railroad, which is now a part of the Baltimore & Ohio system. He continued incumbent of this position, in charge of the line running between Akron and Peninsula, until the fall of 1873, when he accepted the chair of natural sciences in his alma mater, Hiram College, with whose work he has since been actively and successfully identified in this capacity. His work has been marked by enthusiasm and signal devotion, and he has striven to maintain his department at the highest standard at all times and to keep abreast of the advances made in the great fields of investigation and learning to which he has so long given his attention.

Professor Colton takes a deep interest in the questions and issues of the hour. His political proclivities are indicated by the uncompromising allegiance which he gives to the Republican party, and he has been active in the promotion of its cause. In 1898 he was Portage county's candidate for nomination as congressman, but met with defeat in the convention. He was the first mayor of the village of Hiram and has shown at all times a loyal interest in local affairs, including the upbuilding of the village and the fine old institution to which he has given so many years of able and faithful service. He was treasurer of the college from 1883 until 1906. He is a member

of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and of the State Academy of Science.

On November 14, 1873, Professor Colton was united in marriage to Miss Clara A. Taylor, who was born and reared in Portage county. She is a daughter of the late Edwin E. Taylor, who was one of the representative farmers of Nelson township. Professor and Mrs. Colton have one daughter, Mary, who is the wife of Dr. Leon C. Vincent, of Garrettsville, Portage county.

GEORGE BRANT WICKENS. - Prominent among the substantial and successful business men of Lorain is George B. Wickens, who, succeeding to the funeral and undertaking business of his father, the late George Wickens, is actively identified with one of the foremost industrial organizations of this part of Lorain county, being president of the Wickens Company. A native of this city, his birth occurred June 1o, 1876. He was educated in the public schools of Lorain, and in his father's undertaking establishment, in which he practically grew to manhood, learned the art and science of embalming from the ground up, attaining such proficiency while yet young that he was granted a license by the state board of examiners practically without an examination. Upon the death of his father, March 19, 19o8, he assumed charge of the funeral and undertaking department of the business, and was soon elected to his present position with the company subsequently formed.

Thoroughly informed with all of the details and scientific knowledge connected with his profession, Mr. Wickens is active in the Ohio Funeral Directors' Association, and has made many valuable contributions to the trade journal relating to professional work. He is likewise prominent in the Ohio Retail Furniture Dealers' Association, and is an influential member of its executive committee. He is a member of the Lorain Board of Commerce and in 1910 was appointed chairman of the parks and play grounds committee of that organization. He is a valued member of the Lorain High School Alumni Association, and was the first treasurer to relieve the organization of debt. Fraternally he belongs to the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, to the Modern Woodmen of America, and to the Knights of the Maccabees.

Mr. Wickens married Mary Marett, who

HISTORY OF THE WESTERN RESERVE - 1741

was born on the Isle of Jersey, England, and they have two children, Gladys and George Brant, Jr.

JEDEDIAH COLE.—One of the most venerable and honored of the native sons of Portage county now residing within its borders is Mr. Cole, who is a member of one of the sterling pioneer families of the Western Reserve, who served for two score of years as county surveyor, who rendered valiant service during the Civil war, and who stands today one of the best known and most popular citizens of Portage county, where he is living virtually retired in the village of Garrettsville. He will soon have passed the eightieth mile-stone on the journey of life, but his years rest lightly upon him and he continues to maintain a most lively interest in the vital questions of the hour and in all that concerns the welfare of his home community.

Jedediah Cole was born in Nelson township, Portage county, Ohio, about one-half mile distant from Garrettsville, on the 26th of May, 1830, and is a son of Jedediah and Elizabeth (Noah) Cole. His father was a native of the state of Vermont, where he was reared and educated and whence he came to the Western Reserve about the year 1817, when a young man. He soon after secured a tract of wild land where he instituted the development of a farm and where he continued to reside for a number of years after his marriage. In 1834 he removed to the old homestead farm of his father-in-law, in the same township, and there he continued to be actively engaged in agricultural pursuits during the residue of his life. He was about fifty-two years of age at the time of his death and had wielded much influence in the community, as he was a man of strong intellectual powers, well fortified opinions and inflexible integrity of purpose. His father likewise was a native of the old Green Mountain state and was a soldier in the war of the Revolution, in which he served under Ethan Allen and was present at the capture of historic old Fort Ticonderoga. He passed his entire life in New England, where the family was founded in the early colonial days, being of mixed Scotch, Welsh and English lineage.

Elizabeth (Noah) Cole, mother of him whose name initiates this article, was born at West Chester, Pennsylvania, and was a child at the time of the family removal from the old Keystone state to Portage county, Ohio. Her father, John Noah, purchased a tract of land in Nelson township, where he reclaimed a farm, upon which he and his devoted wife passed the remainder of their lives. The maiden name of his wife was Smith, and she was reared in the home of a Quaker family in the city of Philadelphia. She took great pride in later life in recalling that when a girl of eight years she was permitted to visit on board the vessel which conveyed John Paul Jones, "the first admiral of the American navy," on his voyage to England. John Noah was born in Dresden, Germany, where he was reared and educated and where he learned the trade of tailor. He came to America when a young man and located in Pennsylvania, where he turned his attention to agricultural pursuits, in which he was engaged also after his removal to Ohio, as already noted. He died at the patriarchal age of eighty-nine years and was one of the most honored and influential men of his township. He was distinctively a model farmer, according to the standard of his day, and was progressive and public-spirited as a citizen. He aided materially in the securing and improving of public highways in Portage county and otherwise contributed liberally to its civic and industrial development. The marriage of Jedediah Cole and Elizabeth Noah was solemnized in Portage county, and they became the parents of four children, of whom the subject of this sketch is the youngest of the four children and the only one living. The devoted mother was summoned to the life eternal when she was about thirty-three years of age. She was a zealous member of the Baptist church, as was also her husband. After the death of his first wife Jedediah Cole wedded Miss Parthenia Sanford, who survived him by a number of years. Of the five children of this marriage, one is now living, Mrs. Orrilla Thompson, of Garrettsville.

Jedediah Cole, to whom this brief sketch is dedicated, was reared on the home farm in Nelson township, and his educational advantages were those afforded in the common schools of the locality and period. He made good use of his opportunities, however, and through self-application and varied experiences gained the equivalent of a liberal education. He devoted considerable time to the reading of law and also studied surveying, in connection with which latter profession he became specially well informed along both technical and practical lines, as is evidenced in the prestige and success which he gained in the vo-

1742 - HISTORY OF THE WESTERN RESERVE

cation. For about four years, during the winter terms, he was engaged in teaching in the common schools of Salem, Illinois, the birthplace of Hon. William Jennings Bryan, a .numLer of whose maternal uncles and aunts were numbered among the pupils of Mr. Cole during the time he was there following the pedagogic profession.

In 1856 Mr. Cole removed to northern Iowa and became one of the pioneers of Chickasaw county, where he taught school during two winter terms and where he was one of the founders and editors of the Chickasaw County Republican, the first paper printed in that county. He remained in Iowa about two years and then removed to Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin, where he followed the vocation of carpenter and builder until 1862, showing again the versatility of his talents. On July 26, 1862, Mr. Cole enlisted as a private in Company A, Thirty-first Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry, and soon after his enlistment he was detailed as clerk at post headquarters in Coiumbus, Kentucky. There also he served as private secretary to Colonel George E. Warring, Jr., who devised the system of sanitation at Havana, Cuba, and who died three days, after his return from Cuba to New York. Mr. Cole also acted for some time as clerk of the military court, as his health was much impaired and his services of equal value in clerical work when he was ineligible for field service. On account of increasing physical disability he was finally granted a leave of absence, and he returned to his home in Wisconsin -in August, 1863. He there remained until the following October, when he resumed his work with the military court. He was thus stationed at Murfreesboro, Tennessee, until March, 1864, and for about ten .days he acted as chief gunner of the Mitchell Battery. For a brief interval thereafter he was a clerk in the quartermaster's department, and he was then appointed commissary, in which position he had charge of ten thousand men, though still having only the rank of private soldier. In June, 1864, he became a clerk in the office of the provost marshal at Nashville, but in the following month he was compelled to enter the hospital at Nashville, Tennessee, so prostrated had become his physical energies. He remained in the hospital for eighty days, during forty of which he devoted most of his time to making out reports to various generals,—wark that had not been attended to during the time he was incapacitated. From Nashville he was ordered to Louisville, Kentucky, to report for duty as clerk in the draft headquarters. Soon afterward he received a commission from President Lincoln, as Captain, and at times was in command of the One Hundred and Twenty-third United States C. I. He remained with the command until the close of the war. For a time he had charge of the Post at Jeffersonville, Indiana. After performing the duties thus assigned he was ordered to Bowling Green, Kentucky, in October, 1865, where he remained a few days, and then proceeded to Louisville, that state, where he was mustered out. He received his honorable discharge on the 16th of October, 1865, and then returned to Portage county, Ohio, where he has since maintained his home. During the last two years of his military service his wife was with him at his various posts of duty.

After the close of the war, Mr. Cole engaged in the lumber business, and in 1869 he was elected county surveyor of Portage county, an office of which he remained incumbent for nearly forty years and in which he did a large amount of valuable work for the county. He is still engaged in the work of his profession, and his services are in demand throughout the wide section of the country into which his high professional reputation has penetrated during the long years of his active service. He enjoys unalloyed popularity and has a host of loyal friends in the community which has represented his home during the major portion of his long and useful life. His political allegiance is given to the Republican party, he is prominently identified with the Grand Army of the Republic.

On the 6th of September, 1855, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Cole and Miss Catherine M. Dickens, daughter of Rev. James H. and Lydia (Pitner) Dickens. Her father was a clergyman of the Methodist Episcopal church for fifty years, and the family home was established in Jacksonville, Illinois, at the time of her birth. In that place she was reared and educated, and her parents were residents of Jacksonville at the time of their death. In conclusion is entered brief record concerning the children. of Mr, and Mrs. Cole : Augustus S. is a representative member of the bar of Portage county and is engaged in the practice of his profession in Ravenna, the county seat; Helen died at the age of thirteen years and one month ; James D. is engaged in the wholesale coal and ice business in Kansas City, Missouri ; Catherine E. is an elocutionist ; and Paul H.,

HISTORY OF THE WESTERN RESERVE - 1743

a dental surgeon by profession, is engaged in practice at Garrettsville.

GEORGE HENRY BANCROFT, former proprietor of the Nelson Ledge House, was born in that well known hostelry in Nelson township on the 24th of .August, 1876. He received his education in the district school west of his present home and at the Nelson High School, being about seventeen years of age when he completed his mental training from text books. After farming for some time he purchased the Nelson Ledge House, which he operated for about three years, but sold this property in March 1908.

On May 26, 1903, Mr. Bancroft married, at Ravenna, Ohio, Miss Mabel Nicholson, who is a native of Nelson township, born April 19, 1879, a daughter of L. S. Nicholson, a prominent citizen whose life will be found elsewhere delineated. Mr. and Mrs. George H. Bancroft have become the parents of the following children : Hugh, born February 21, 1904, and Walter, born April 2, 1907. The father of this family is a Democrat in politics and is a young man of substance and promise, but has never sought public preferment, his laudable ambition being to perform with promptness and faithfulness the every-day duties which come to him.

ENOS C. SMITH.—One of the venerable and honored business men and influential citizens of Portage county is Enos C. Smith, who is president of the First National Bank of Garrettsville and who has long been engaged in the hardware business in this village. He is a native of the Western Reserve and a scion of one of its well known pioneer families. He has so ordered his course in life as to maintain the high prestige of the honored name which he bears, and his success has been won by well directed efforts along normal lines of business enterprise. He is eminently entitled to consideration in this compilation by virtue of his status as one of the representative citizens of Portage county, where he has resided from his childhood days.

Mr. Smith was born in Windsor, Ashtabula county, Ohio, on the 19th of October, 1829, and is a son of Norman and Sallie (Hickok) Smith, the former of whom was born in Sher-burn, Vermont, in 1800, and the latter of whom was a native of Crawford county, Pennsylvania. Norman Smith was a son of Seth smith, who was a native of New Hampshire and a member of a family founded in New England in the early colonial days. He removed from his native state to Vermont, and in 1818 he left the old Green Mountain commonwealth to cast in his lot with the pioneers of the Connecticut Western Reserve in the state of Ohio. He located in what is now the village of Parkman, Geauga county, and he followed his trade of millwright, besides which he became the owner of a pioneer farm. He continued his residence in Geaug.a county until his death, as did also his wife. They were folk of sterling character and strong mentality, and played well their part as pioneers of the historic old Western Reserve, on the record of whose loyal upbuilders their names merit an enduring place.

Norman Smith gained his early educational discipline in the schools of his native state and was a youth of eighteen years at the time of accompanying his parents on their removal to Ohio. In Vermont he had learned the trade of millwright, and in connection with the same he found much requisition for his services after coming to Ohio. He was a skilled artisan, according to the standard of the day, and it is recorded of him that he was accustomed to manufacture wagon tires from the raw material and that his work was so excellent that he gained a wide reputation as a mechanic, with consequent demand for his services. In Geauga county, this state, was solemnized his marriage to Miss Sallie Hickok, a daughter of Ira Hickok, who likewise was an honored pioneer of the Western Reserve, whither he came from Crawford county, Pennsylvania. After his marriage Norman Smith took up his residence in Geauga county, where he engaged in agricultural pursuits, in connection with more or less work at his trade. Later he located in Ashtabula county, and finally he came to Portage county, where he became the owner of a farm and where he passed the residue of his life, which came to an end when he was but forty-eight years of age. His political support was given to the Whig party and he took an intelligent interest in the questions and issues of the day, the while he made his life one of productiveness along practical lines of industry and so ordered his course as to command as his own the inviolable confidence and esteem of his fellow men. He was a member of the Universalist church, as was also his wife, who survived him by many years and who was in her ninety-fourth year when she was summoned to the

1744 - HISTORY OF THE WESTERN RESERVE

life eternal, having been at the time one of the most venerable pioneers of the Western Reserve and one whose reminiscences of the early days were singularly graphic and interesting. This estimable couple became the parents of seven children, all of whom attained to years of maturity, married and reared families, all of whom were born in the Western Reserve, and five of whom are now living. Two of the number only are residents of the section in which they were born and reared,—Enos C., who is the immediate subject of this sketch, and his younger brother, George D., who likewise resides in Garrettsville.

Enos C. Smith, whose name introduces this article, was the eldest of the seven children and was about six weeks old at the time of his parents' removal to Portage county, where he was reared to manhood and where his preliminary educational training was secured in the common schools, after which he continued his studies in Nelson Academy, a well ordered institution of the time, located in Nelson township, Portage county. He was engaged in teaching in the district schools of Portage county for one year, and then the lure begotten of the fabulous tales concerning the newly discovered gold fields in California proved sufficiently potent to cause him to make the venturesome trip to that distant section of tie Union, whither he followed soon after the advent of the historic Argonauts of 1849, as he went to California, by way of the. Panama route, in the winter of 1850-51. He remained in the golden state for a period of five years, within which he met with excellent but not phenomenal success in his placer-mining, as well as in farming under the somewhat primitive methods then in vogue in that section. In 1856 Mr. Smith returned to Portage county, Ohio, making the return trip from California by way of Nicarauga, and he took up his residence in Garrettsville, where he became associated with Allen A. Barber in the hardware business, under the firm title of Barber & Smith. This alliance continued uninterruptedly from 1857 until 1883, when Mr. Barber sold his interest in the enterprise to Corral C. Payne, after which the business was continued under the firm name of Smith & Payne until 1889, when Mr. Smith purchased his partner's interest. Since that time he has continued the business individually, and he has the distinction of being the oldest merchant in Garrettsville, where he has been continuously established in his present line of business for fifty-two years. During this half century of close application he has not only retained the unqualified esteem of the people of the community but has also typified the most generous and loyal citizenship and given of his influence and tangible aid in support of measures and enterprises projected for the general good of the community.

Mr. Smith has been identified with the affairs of the Garrettsville National Bank from the time of its organization in 1871, and was one of its incorporators under the original charter. He has been an officer of this solid and popular banking house from the time of its inception and has served as its president since the early nineties. The bank bases its operations upon a capital stock of eighty thousand dollars. Mr. Smith has other capitalistic interests and is one of the substantial and popular business men of the fine old Western Reserve.

In politics Mr. Smith has ever accorded an uncompromising allegiance to the Republican party, in whose cause he has rendered effective service. In early days he served as mayor of Garrettsville, but he has never been ambitious for official preferment. He was a personal friend of both. Presidents Garfield and McKinley, native sons of the Western Reserve and distinguished exponents of the principles of the Republican party. His first presidential vote was cast in 1852, in Yuba county, California, for John C. Fremont and the occasion was the first election held in that place, where he served as president of the election board. He takes pleasure in reverting to this episode in his career, and has always maintained a deep interest in California, where his experiences as a young man were varied and interesting—at least in the light of retrospection. Mr. Smith is affiliated with the Masonic fraternity, in which he has attained the chivalric degrees, being identified with Warren. Commandery, Knights Templars, at Warren, and he also holds membership in the Independent Order of Odd Fellows.

In August, 1857, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Smith to Miss Marian McClintoc, who was born in Bloomfield, Trumbull county, a daughter of the late William McClintoc, who was a sterling pioneer of the Western Reserve. Mrs. Smith long held a secure place in the affectionate regard of those who came within the sphere of her gracious influence and was active in church work and in connection with the social activities of the community which

HISTORY OF THE WESTERN RESERVE - 1745

represented her home for nearly half a century. Mr. and Mrs. Smith had no children. Mrs. Smith died January 15, 1899.

EDWIN LESTER HALL.-A man of superior talents and scholarly attainments, Professor Edwin L. Hall holds a position of note among the prominent educators of the Western Reserve, being professor of Latin in Hiram College, of which, while it was yet an academy, Garfield was for a time president. A native of Ohio, Professor Hall was born July 21, 1859, in Richfield, Summit county, which was likewise the birthplace of his father, John Manley Hall. His paternal grandfather, Lester Hall, born in Massachusetts in 1800, came when a young man to the Western Reserve with a company from that state. About the same time, in the early part of the nineteenth century, a similar little band of emigrants from Connecticut came to this part of the state in search of new homes, in the party being a demure New England maiden, Celestia Finch, who subsequently became the wife of Lester Hall and bore him five children, three sons and two daughters. They settled in Richfield, and there- resided the remainder of their lives.

John Manley Hall was born in 1830, and grew to manhood on the parental homestead. He subsequently spent the greater part of his active life in Richfield, but died May 15, 1899, in Cleveland. He married, October 7, 1855, Henrietta Southwick, who was born February 13, 1834, and died, in Richfield, Summit county, October 24, 1897. Three children, all sons, were born of their union.

Edwin Lester Hall received his elementary education in the public schools of Richfield, and after completing the high school course entered Hiram College, from which he was graduated with the class of 1886, President Laughlin being the head of that institution. The following year Professor Hall was here employed as a tutor, after which he taught for a year in the city high school at New Castle, Pennsylvania. Returning then to his alma mater, he has since been one of its staff of instructors, winning distinction as professor of Latin.

Professor Hall has been twice married. He married first, August 23, 1887, in Ruggles, Ohio, Catherine Beattie, who was born in Huron county, Ohio, near New London, where her parents settled on coming to this country from Scotland, their native home. She died February 14, 1889, in Hiram, leaving one son, Charles Stuart Hall, who was born January 3, 1889, and is now a student in Hiram College. Professor Hall married for his second wife, December 25, 1891, Mary' Elizabeth Cook, who was born in New York state, and they have one child, Robert Edwin Hall, born July 13, 1895, in Hiram, who has now, in the summer of 1909, completed the high school work in Hiram, and will enter Hiram College in September.

JAY PHELPS DAWLEY, a leading lawyer and prominent citizen of Cleveland, was born at Ravenna, Ohio, on the 7th of March, 1847, and was reared on a farm in his native county. In 1860 he graduated at the Union school of that place, and then attended the Eclectic Institute of Hiram, of which James A. Garfield was then principal. Still later he completed the three years' classical course at the Western Reserve College, Hudson, and in 1871 entered the office of Hon. J. M. Jones, of Cleveland, for the purpose of pursuing his law studies.

In 1872 Mr. Dawley was admitted to the bar, and remained with Mr. Jones until the latter was elected to the bench of the Superior court, in 1873. At that date Mr. Dawley and S. M. Stone formed a partnership in the law and continued to be associated for about four years. Their agreeable and profitable connection was then severed by the removal of Mr. Stone to New York ; in 1878 Mr. Dawley joined Judge J. K. Hord and still later Hon. Martin A. Foran became his partner. For many years past, however, he has practiced alone, and with unqualified success, both as to his earnings and his professional reputation. In civil and criminal practice alike he has earned high standing. For some time he was the attorney for the St. Clair Street Railway Company of Cleveland, appearing for his client in several important cases. Perhaps his most brilliant work in the criminal court was that in connection with the defense of Moran for murder. In public life he has also been progressive, especially as a member of the city board of education and board of library managers. In testing the constitutionality of the state liquor laws he has been among the foremost lawyers of the commonwealth. It should be added that Mr. Dawley had the distinction of serving in the Civil war in his early youth and of being entrusted with perhaps as important a commission as fell to the lot of any other, of his years in the state. He was but seventeen when he enlisted in Company C,

1746 - HISTORY OF THE WESTERN RESERVE

Eleventh Ohio Infantry, and he served until the close of the war as a private and an orderly at the headquarters of General Jefferson C. Davis. As all messages and dispatches were oral, his duties were both important and accompanied with not a little danger. He was also a participant in all the engagements of the special regiment to which he was attached ; made the famous march to the sea and the campaigns through North and South Carolina, and was mustered out of the service only with Lee's surrender. Thus he entered his young manhood with a full realization of the awful cost by which the nation was preserved in its entirety, and like others of his comrades has ever since been a patriotic defender of its great institutions and civilization of peace.

In September, 1873, Mr. Dawley married Miss Iva G. Canfield, daughter of Harrison Canfield, of Pennsylvania, and is the father of William J.; Arthur Addison, Frances Canfield and Ruby Louise Dawley.

MRS. BENJAMIN A WELLS, widow of Lewis Wells, who was born in Berlin, Erie county, Ohio, August 13, 1840, both by blood and marriage is connected with two of the most honored pioneer families of the Western Reserve. Her father was Benjamin Burgess Walker, born in Norwich, Connecticut, November 25, 1800, who, on April 9, 1827, married Miss Mary Crocker, daughter of Jabez Crocker, all of old Connecticut stock. Mrs. Benjamin Walker was born in Cazenovia, New York, in 1806. The father died March 21, 1840, and the mother January 31, 1869, both being buried in Wells Corners, in the Western Reserve of Ohio, about four miles south of Vermillion. That place was established by the Wells family when this family first established itself in the Reserve in 1817. At that time the grandfather, Robert Wells, came to the Western Reserve from Wells Hollow, Connecticut, and, with the parents and family, located on land along the Vermillion river. Much of the land which was then taken up by the grandfather and the father of Lewis Wells remained in possession of the family until 1899, and the migrating party made its first permanent stop at the place where the widow now lives.

Lewis Wells was born at Wells Hollow, Connecticut, February 28, 1814, and he was three years of age when his parents brought him to the Vermillion homestead. His father, Philo Wells, was born in that place September JO, 1786, and on November 25, 1810, married Miss Hannah Lewis, born January 31, 1788. When they moved to the Western Reserve they were in the very prime of life. At that time two of their five children had been born, and when the party came to the Vermillion river, on the further side of which was their chosen land, the mother and little ones forded the stream on the back of one of the oxen. Thus did the Wells family make its entry into the Reserve which its various members were so long to honor. Lewis attended the district school at Wells Corners, was reared to sturdy boyhood, developed into a fine man, became prosperous and universally respected by his associates of a lifetime, and on October 2, 1861, when well advanced in middle age, married Miss Benjamina Burgess Walker, the ceremony occurring at Brighton, Ohio, five miles from Wellington. For many years he was also a county commissioner and an influential Republican.

Five children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Lewis Wells : Mary Eliza, August 29, 1862 ; Flora Lewis, November 24, 1864 ; George Wheeler, October 29, 1865 (died March 3, 1866, and is buried at Wells Corners) ; Ralph Pierce, December 3, 1867 ; and Cornelia Crocker, June i 1, 1876-all natives of Vermillion. Mary Eliza married J. Comstock, a Cleveland attorney, October 26, 1886, and they are the parents of Harriet Moore, born November 12, 1887 ; Lewis Wells, born November 15, 1888; and an infant who died before baptism ; and Thomas Carrington, born September 1, 1897-all in Cleveland. Flora Lewis Wells married William J. Rahill, of Cleveland, June 3o, 1886, and she is the mother of the following four children : Mina ; John Welch, born March 29, 1889 ; Gerald D. Welch, born in 1900 ; and William James. On March 26, 1889, Ralph Fierce Wells married Sarah Esther Frankel, at Oberlin, Ohio, and these children have been born to their union : Daniel Lewis, born in Omaha, Nebraska, June 4, 189o; Earl Walker, also a native of that place, born October 11, 1891 ; Benj amina Bessie, born in Brownhelm, Lorain county, Ohio, December 15, 1893 ; Estella Frankel and Philo. Cornelia Crocker Wells married Martin Ackerman, of Vermillion, and their six children were as follows : Frederick Lewis, born June 25, 1898 ; Edward Walker, born September 6, 1899 ; Benjamina Elizabeth, born October 25, 1902 ; Flora Wells, born April 26, 1904 ; John Safford, deceased, and Charlotte, born May 16, 19o8.

HISTORY OF THE WESTERN RESERVE - 1747

BYRON W. FESSENDEN, deceased, was born in Kent, Ohio, July 20, 1846, a son of Rufus and Levina (Converse) Fessenden, who were born in Vermont. They were married at Ogdensburg, New York, and soon afterward came to where the town of Kent is now located. Rufus Fessenden, a stone cutter, worked in the mills here, but his death occurred only a few years after his arrival in his new home. His widow was afterward twice married, wedding a Mr. Curtis and a Mr. Chase.

Byron W. Fessenden, the youngest child of the first union, enlisted as a soldier in the Civil war when a boy of sixteen, entering, on the 4th of August, 1862, Company F, Forty-fifth Ohio Volunteer Infantry, as a corporal in Captain Miles V. Payne's Company and Colonel Benjamin P. Runkle's regiment. He enlisted for three years, and during his service he participated in the battles of Button's Hill, Monticello, Rocky. Gap, Columbia, Marjaries Raid, Buffington Island, Philadelphia, Rockford, Holston river, in the siege of Knoxville, Bean Station, Resaca, Dallas, Kenesaw Mountain, Sine Mountain, the siege of Atlanta, Savage Station, Franklin and Nashville. On the 30th of June, 1864, he was made the sergeant of his company, and he received his honorable discharge at Camp Harker, Tennessee, on the 12th of June, 1865, and returned to his home in Kent. Shortly afterward, in August of 1865, he accepted the position of fireman on the New York, Pacific and Ohio Railroad, now known as the Erie road, and in the fall of 1868 he was made an engineer. He continued in that capacity until he met death in a head end collision on the 17th of March, 1888.

He married, on the 25th of October, 1870, Angie E. Merrell, who was born in Kent on June 20, 1847, a daughter of Hiram and Sarah (Williard) Merrell, natives respectively of Orangeville, New York, and of Kent. She is a grandaughter on the paternal side of Noah and Clara (Pearson) Merrell, from Connecticut, and on the maternal of Frederick and Margaret (Foster) Williard, the former born in Germany and the latter near Scranton, Pennsylvania. The Williard family were among the first to locate in Rootstown township, Portage county, and they became very prominent in the early and subsequent history of their community. Hiram Merrell became a resident of Kent in the year of 1836, and he was first a farmer and later a real estate dealer. He died at the ripe old age of eighty-three years in 1900, and his wife died in 1898, when eighty-two years of age. Four of their children reached years of maturity, namely : Angie E., who became the wife of Mr. Fessenden ; Wallace and Earle both residents of Franklin township ; and Fred H., a clothier and cement dealer in Kent. The children born to Mr. and Mrs. Fessenden are as follows : Bert C., an engineer on the Erie railroad and his home is in Kent ; Earl M., who is associated with Joseph Luli in a carriage works in Kent ; May G., who died in 1884, at the age of twenty years. Bert C. married Blanche Botsford, of Kent. Earl M. Fessenden married Lulu Upson, from Suffield township, a daughter of Nicholas and Mary (Cramer) Upson, and their two children are : Merrell, born on the 24th of July, 1903, and Richard, born on the 28th of June, 1907.

THOMAS L. PARSONS, who resides in a pleasant home just west of the corporation limits of Ravenna, began his business career in this city at the age of maturity and here he is spending the evening of a long and useful life, enjoying the respect and confidence of men. He was born on his father's farm in Brimfield township, Portage county, August 6, 1832, a son of Thomas and Maria (Ewell) Parsons, both of whom were born in Northampton, Massachusetts, and a grandson on the maternal side of Maliki Ewell, from Ireland. Thomas and Maria Parsons in an early day made the journey by canal boat to Buffalo, thence by lake boat to Cleveland, and from there came to Brimfield township and located on timber land. By hard and persistent labor the husband finally succeeded in placing his little farm under cultivation, but after five years he sold the land and bought a larger place in the same township. There they lived and labored until the year of 1846, when they again sold, and bought a farm in Rootstown township. But in 1862 they sold their farm there to return to Massachusetts, where the husband died two years afterward, in 1864, and the wife then returned to Portage county and spent the remainder of her life here, dying in 1878. Thomas L. was the fifth born of their six children who grew to mature years, but only two of this once large family are left, Thomas and his sister Amelia, who is the wife of A. M. Hartle and a resident of Los Angeles, California.

As a young man of twenty-one Thomas L. Parsons entered upon his business career as an

HISTORY OF THE WESTERN RESERVE - 1748

employe in a restaurant in Ravenna, and after three years there he secured employment as a hack driver to Warren. About two years were spent in that occupation, and from that time until opening a restaurant in 1859, he was variously employed. This restaurant was finally merged into a grocery store, and he continued as its proprietor until 1872. With his wife he then made a tour of the western country, and on his return again embarked in the grocery business and continued as a merchant for several years. He owned two farms, and after selling his grocery store he moved to the one in Rootstown township, but after two years sold that place and bought another just west of Ravenna, which was his home for eighteen years. He then sold the land to the Pennsylvania Railroad Company and bought the place near Ravenna where he lived for two years or until he sold the place and bought the lot just west of the corporation limits of this city, on which he has erected his pleasant home.

On the 29th of November, 1863, Mr. Parsons was united in marriage to Elizabeth Tribon, who was born in Ravenna October 21, 1841, a daughter of William and Persis (Moore) Tribon. The father, born in Vermont in 1813, was a member of a family which came originally from France, and the mother, born in New York in 1816, was a daughter of Fred and Elizabeth Moore, also from the Empire state. The only child of this union, a son, Guy Burton Parsons, died in infancy. Mrs. Parsons is a member of the Episcopal church. Mr. Parsons is in politics a Democrat, and he is a member of the fraternal order of Elks in Ravenna.

JOHN WESLEY McCOMB, of Ravenna, was born in Mahoning county, Ohio, March 26, 1833, a son of John and Nancy (Dawson) McComb, both of whom were born in Connecticut. His grandparents, David McComb and his wife, a Miss Fanata, and William and Margaret (Hampton) Dawson, all located in Lancaster county, Pennsylvania, in an early day, and there his father was a contractor and carpenter many years. During that time he did a great deal of work in Pittsburg, erecting the first large Methodist Episcopal church there, but he finally bought a farm in Palmyra township, Portage county, Ohio, and there he supplemented his agricultural labors with work at his trade. After a time he sold that place and bought a farm in Edinboro township, and he died in the village of Edinboro in 189o, while his wife survived until the year of 1904. There were ten children in their family, but only the following are now living : John W. ; William, whose home is in Long Beach, California ; Margaret, the wife of Hiram Tuttle and a resident of Ravenna ; Naaman, also of Long Beach ; and Wilbur, of Grand Island, Nebraska.

John W. McComb attended in his youth the district schools near his early home, and later was a student in the academy at Atwater. He learned the carpenter's trade under his father's able instructions, and going to Nebraska City, Iowa, in 1852, he made his home in that city for two years, but in the meantime he traveled extensively over the country. He was also a grocery merchant in that city, but returning to his father's home they together operated a saw and planing mill for some years, and then with his father's family they drove across the plains to Nebraska, where they remained for a year and then made the return trip with prairie schooners as far as Rock Island, Illinois, where they sold the entire outfit. Continuing on to Edinboro township, Portage county, John W. McComb purchased the old home farm of 102 and a fraction acres, and there he remained until 1878, but in the meantime he was engaged in the oil business at Oil City, Pennsylvania, for two years. After selling the farm he accepted the appointment as superintendent of the infirmary in Portage county, Ohio, and held the office continually until. 1892. During his connection with that institution he was instrumental in securing many needed improvements, and it was owing to his efforts that the insane and epileptic patients Were removed from the infirmary. In 1892 he became the owner of twenty acres of land just west of Ravenna, but after three years he sold that place and bought three lots at the corner of Main and Madison streets, Ravenna, where he has erected a commodious and attractive residence. He also owns one hundred and sixty acres of land in Kimball county, Nebraska, and one hundred and two acres in Edinboro township, in addition to several lots in Ravenna. During four years he served the township of Edinboro as a trustee, and in 19o8 he was elected to represent precinct A in the city council of Ravenna.

Mr. McComb married on the 8th of March, 186o, Emily L. Crane, who was born in Shalersville township, a daughter of James and Hira (Kneeland) Crane, natives of Con-

HISTORY OF THE WESTERN RESERVE - 1749

necticut. The one child of this union is a son, Ray W. McComb, of Ravenna. The wife and mother died in March, 1865, and in March of 1888 he married Mary Mack, the widow of Joseph Essig, and she was connected with the infirmary in Portage county at the same time as her future husband. One son was born of the second union, Clyde D. a business man in Rootstown township. Mr. D., votes with the Republican party, and he is a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows at Nebraska City, Nebraska, and is a charter member of the Knights of Pythias lodge in Ravenna.

HIRAM BELDEN.—The sturdy attributes that designated the man as he was, made the late Hiram Belden especially well equipped to bear the burdens and responsibilities of pioneer life, and his name merits an enduring place on the roll of those who so ably laid the foundations for the advanced civilization and opulent prosperity now represented within the boundaries of the historic old Western Reserve. Mr. Belden took up his abode in Ohio in the year 1831, and here he continued to reside until his death, having been prominently identified with the civic and industrial development and upbuilding of Lorain county, where his name shall long be held in revered memory.

Hiram Belden claimed the fine old Bay state as the place of his nativity, and was the scion of a family founded in New England in the colonial days. He was born in Sandisfield, Berkshire county, Massachusetts, on the 20th of April, 1806, and he was reared to maturity in his native state, where he received a good education, according to the standard of the times. He was one of a family of five sons and a daughter—Austin, Hiram, Stanton, Martin, Ensign D. and Lucy A. Stanton Belden was a graduate of Yale College, Massachusetts, and chose teaching as his profession. He was a successful instructor and rose high in his profession. He died February I', 1890. General C. R. Brayton, of Providence, Rhode Island, is his son-in-law. The other members of the Belden family lived to a good old age and were successful and respected citizens. The only daughter, Lucy A., was a most lovable woman. She had two daughters, Mrs. S. L. Divar, living in Wood county, and the other, Mrs. E. D. Denslow, in Massachusetts. The parents of these Belden children were Martin and Prudence Belden.

In an excellent academy at Westfield, Massachusetts, Hiram Belden completed his early educational discipline, and in 1831, when about twenty-four years of age, he came to the Western Reserve, first settling in Ashtabula county, where he remained for a short interval 'and where his marriage was solemnized. Soon after this important event in his career he removed to Brownhelm township, Lorain county, where he secured a tract of land in the central part of the township, on the main road east of Brownhelm Center. The house which he erected soon after his arrival is still standing, and is not only in an excellent state of preservation, but is also one of the oldest houses in Brownhelm township, where it is regarded as a veritable landmark. Mr. Belden was a man of superior intellectuality and distinct individuality, so that he was well fitted for leadership in the community. He became well known as a successful and popular teacher in the pioneer schools, and for marry winter terms his services were in requisition in the pedagogic profession. He was also a teacher of music, and he did a large amount of effective work as a surveyor, in which vocation he was known for the accuracy of his work. He made improvements of excellent order on his farm in Brownhelm township, where he continued to reside for many years. He finally purchased and moved to a farm on the shore of Lake Erie, in Sheffield township, but a few years later he disposed of this property and purchased of Festus Cooley several acres of land now included in the city limits of Elyria. Here for the ensuing several years he gave his attention to farming during the summer seasons and in the winters taught in the schools of the locality. He eventually disposed of his land in Elyria and purchased a good residence property in the village of

Amherst, which place continued to represent his home throughout the residue of his life. He died on June 19, 1895, while visiting at the home of his son, Hiram L., in North Olmstead township, Cuyahoga county. His remains were laid to rest in the Cleveland street cemetery in Amherst. He attained the venerable age of eighty-nine years and retained to the last an excellent control of his mental and physical faculties. Besides his own immediate family he left fifteen grandchildren and one great-grandchild to mourn his sad demise.

Hiram Belden was a courtly, dignified gentleman of the "old school," and his graciousness and affability gained him warm friends in all classes. He was a man of broad men-