A Centennial biographical history of the city of Columbus and Franklin County, Ohio, Part 12

Author: Lewis Publishing Company
Publication date: 1901
Publisher: Chicago : Lewis Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 1156

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Brace Woodruff was reared on the home place in Fairfield county, and after attaining to man's estate was united in marriage with Miss Eliza Cooper, who was born in Virginia August 25, 1807, and was a daughter of James and Elizabeth Cooper. Her father died in the Old Dominion, but his widow afterward came with her children to Ohio. Mr. and Mrs. Woodruff began their domestic life upon the farm which had been given him by his father, and he erected there a log cabin, in which two of their children were born. In December, 1836, however, he sold that farm and came to Franklin county, purchasing two hundred and fifty acres of land, at two dollars and a half per acre. Here he erected a cabin near the present home of his son Hiram, and on the farm which he cleared and improved he continued to reside until his death. He was an active supporter of the Whig party in early life and on its dissolution joined the ranks of the Republican party. Reared in the faith of the Presbyterian church, his sympathies were with that denomina- tion, but he never became a member. He was, however, one of the sturdy

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pioneer characters and his word was as good as his bond, so that he enjoyed the unqualified confidence and respect of all who knew him. He passed away in 1881, and his wife, surviving him several years, died January 12, 1889. They were the parents of nine children, four of whom are yet living: Nor- man; Polina, the wife of Wirt Whitehead, of Columbus; Hiram, of Jeffer- son township; and Minerva, the wife of Joseph Krumm, an agriculturist of Truro township.

Norman Woodruff, whose name begins this record, spent his childhood days under the parental roof and experienced the hardships and trials which form a part of the lot of frontier settlers. He acquired a limited education in a primitive school held in a log building, and was early trained to the work of the farm, becoming familiar with the arduous task of developing the wild land and transforming it into richly cultivated fields. After his marriage, August 24, 1856, he engaged in operating a part of the home farm upon the shares for two years. Long prior to this time, however, he had had a desire to learn the tanner's trade, and in September, 1858, he purchased a small tan yard in Reynoldsburg, and hired a competent tanner to work for him by the day; he thus mastered the business both in principle and detail. He followed that pursuit during the war, doing a good business; he was also looked upon as one of the leading and influential men of Reynoldsburg. He was chosen to solicit substitutes to prevent the draft which was to be made in Truro township, and performed this task although he had to sacrifice his business interests to do it. In 1871 he removed to Iowa, but not finding con- ditions there as he had anticipated after a few months he returned to Ohio and purchased seventy-five acres of land, upon which he has since resided. Through the past twenty-eight years he has devoted his energies to agricult- ural pursuits, but he recently retired from active business life, and in the spring of 1901 removed to Columbus, there enjoying a quiet retirement, the fruits of his toil.

On the 24th of August, 1856, Mr. Woodruff was united in marriage to Miss Eveline Doran, a native of Baker's Run, Hardie county, Virginia, and a daughter of John and Rhoda ( Baker) Doran, who came to Ohio about 1836, locating in Truro township, on Big Walnut creek. The marriage of Mr. and Mrs. Woodruff has been blessed with five children, only two of the number now living. William M., the eldest, is a grocer of Columbus, and Charles W., the youngest, is a traveling salesman. The others are Rosa B., Eldora and Elmer W. The last named was a well known physician of the capital city, more extended mention of whom will be made later. Mr. and Mrs. Woodruff hold membership in the Methodist Episcopal church and are consistent and faithful Christian people. He is a member of Truro Lodge, No. 411, I. O. O. F., of Reynoldsburg, and Reynoldsburg Lodge, No. 340, F. & A. M. In politics he is a Republican, and for two terms served as trustee of his township, while for many years he was school director. All who know Norman Woodruff respect him for his sterling worth and his many

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excellent qualities. His word is as good as his bond. His life has been in harmony with every manly principle and his kindly spirit has won him the warm friendship of a large circle of acquaintances.

ELMER WIARD WOODRUFF, M. D.

In the death of Dr. Elmer Wiard Woodruff the medical profession lost one of its prominent and valued representatives, the community one of its valued citizens and his parents a loving and devoted son. He was the second son and fourth child of Norman and Eveline ( Doran) Woodruff, and was born in Reynoldsburg, Franklin county, Ohio, June 23, 1863, his death occurring in Columbus on the 24th of May, 1900. The following history is taken from a biography prepared by Samuel Carroll Derby, A. M., pro- fessor of Latin in the Ohio State University :

Elmer Woodruff's early years were spent upon his father's farm and given to the varied duties and tiresome employments of a farm life. He was a good boy, quiet and industrious, and as he had opportunity studied, but was not precocious or especially quick, but was fond of reading. His rather limited general education was gained at the public schools of Reynolds- burg, and after attending one or more terms of normal school he engaged in teaching, in the autumn and winter of 1885-6, in Plain township, and through the following winter in Jefferson township. He spent a portion of the time from 1885 to 1887 in the employment of his uncle, R. J. Rhoads, who con- ducted a grocery and provision business in North Columbus. His evenings were employed in study at one of the commercial colleges of the city. At this time apparently he took the first steps toward preparing himself for the medical profession. The year 1887-8 was spent by him under the instruction and for the most part in the office of Jacob T. Mills, M. D., of Jersey, Ohio. His attention was devoted to anatomy, physiology and materia medica and other branches of medical training. Dr. Mills describes him as a careful student, slow and cautious rather than quick in grasping new ideas, but one whose painstaking methods gave a tenacious hold upon the facts which hard study alone made him master.

In 1888 Elmer Woodruff entered the Starling Medical College and was graduated in 1891. He then returned to Jersey and was associated in the practice of medicine there with his early friend and preceptor. Dr. Mills, who found him no less agreeable as a fellow worker than he had formerly been as a pupil. After four years spent in the irksome country practice and still dissatisfied with his previous attainments, and with that growing appre- ciation of the value of a more thorough training which appears to have been one of his characteristic traits, he took a post-graduate course in the New York Post-Graduate School. He then came to Columbus, in September, 1895, opened an office and began systematically to cultivate those connections and acquaintanceships which conduce to professional success. His associates

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in the profession characterized him as a cool and cautious but yet unselfish and sympathetic physician. Recognition of his worth came in due time. In 1898 his alma mater appointed him instructor in minor surgery, and in that position he was a successful teacher, in favor alike with students and his associates in the college. At the Denver meeting of the American Medical Association in 1898 Dr. Woodruff was elected assistant secretary for the following year and was untiring in his exertion to promote the success of the meeting of that association held in Columbus in 1899. His efforts were highly appreciated and were a distinct help in making that gathering of five thousand physicians creditable in its arrangements and satisfactory to the members. He belonged to the Columbus Academy of Medicine; the Ohio State Medical Association, the Mississippi Valley Association and the Amer- ican Medical Association. Many of these bodies, by carefully drawn resolu- tions, took official note of his death. The Columbus Academy of Medicine, on May 26, 1900, in substance, passed the following :

"Resolved, that all recognize in Dr. Woodruff an honorable, conscien- tious co-worker, devoted to the highest interests of his profession as a prac- titioner and as a teacher in the Starling Medical College.

"Resolved, that in his death the academy has sustained the loss of an active and useful member, whose high professional honor and exemplary life are worthy of remembrance."

Dr. Woodruff was a member of many social and charitable societies and orders, including the Odd Fellows, Free Masons, the Red Cross and the Old Northwest Genealogical Society. Of the last named he became a mem- ber in October, 1897, manifesting a lively interest in its success and gen- erously opened his office for its meetings, and for a time furnished room for its library. During the Mills meetings held in the city Dr. Woodruff's atten- tion was newly brought to the need of a religious life and he very soon united with the King Avenue Methodist Episcopal church, of which he remained a consistent and beloved member during the remainder of his life. In poli- tics he was a Republican. He was unmarried and made his home with his brother, William M. Woodruff, at No. 1300 Neil avenue.

Dr. Woodruff was of splendid build, about five feet, nine inches tall, with very dark hair, hazel eyes and a dark complexion. His movements were quick, but his mode of speaking deliberate and studied. During the spring of 1900 he was unusually busy with his professional work. The needs of his patients were so urgent and their calls so numerous that his strength was overtaxed in meeting them and his system exhausted by lack of sleep. On the 16th of May he was taken suddenly ill with acute pneumonia and died on the 24th of the same month. The funeral services were conducted by the Rev. Joseph Clark and the interment was in Greenlawn cemetery. Dr. F. F. Lawrence, of Columbus, an appreciative associate who knew him well, has thus sketched his character : "As a man he was above reproach, a physi- cian of rare quality ; one whose sense of honor and high ideal in the medical

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profession is worthy of emulation: a man whom to know meant to trust, to respect and to love. The loss to the community is great, the loss to the medi- cal fraternity one that will be keenly felt. His was a life not well to be spared."

PROFESSOR JACOB A. SHAWAN.

The superintendent of the Columbus public schools, J. A. Shawan, is a Buckeye by birth and education. He was born at Wapakoneta, Ohio, but soon removed to Champaign county, where he attended the common schools, going from there to the high school in Urbana, where, after attending some time, he quit, to teach before graduation. He was a successful teacher in the schools of Champaign county for four years. After this period he went to Oberlin, Ohio, and graduated at college there in 1880, with the degree of A. B., and three years later the same institution granted him the degree of A. M. In 1893 Professor Shawan received the honorary degree of Ph. D. from Muskingum College.

The career of Superintendent Shawan as an educator has been a success- ful and interesting one. During the years 1880-83 he was superintendent of the schools at St. Mary's, Ohio, going later to Mount Vernon, where he re- mained until elected to the superintendency of the schools of the city of Colum- bus, in 1889. Since that time he has been the honored head of the great school system of this city, each year growing more and more popular, gaining the affection of the pupils while he retains the confidence of their parents. The schools under his charge have made marked progress and to-day he is strongly intrenched in the regard and affection of the public.

Professor Shawan was married to Miss Jennie Koch, in December, 1881, at Degraff, Ohio, and the family now consists of his estimable wife and three bright boys,-Harold, aged seventeen; Robert, aged fifteen; and Jacob, aged ten years.

WILLIAM MERION.

William Merion was born at Dorchester, Massachusetts, May 6, 1787, and on the paternal side is of French lineage. His grandfather, Nathaniel Merion, emigrated from France in early life and became a resident of Dor- chester. In 1749 he married Thankful Withington, an English lady of that place. Seven children were born to them, two sons and five daughters. Will- iam, the second son, joined Washington's army, was taken prisoner and died in the hospital in New York city. Nathaniel, the eldest son, married Lydia Gay, a daughter of David Gay. and a granddaughter of George Talbot, an English Puritan. They had eight children,-Millie, Elijah, Lydia, Mary, William. Nathaniel, Hannah and David.

William Merion. the first child and the subject of this review, received

JACOB A. SHAWAN.

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such educational privileges as the village schools of that time afforded. When he was yet very young his father removed to a farm near Stoughton, Massa- chusetts, where he died when the son was ten years of age, leaving a widow and eight children. They had a small New England farm, one-half of which was covered with rocks, while the other half was swampy, but the mother managed to keep her family together for four years, when she married Deacon Abner Crane, of Canton, Massachusetts. He was a Christian gentleman, kind-hearted, and he would not allow even his cows to be whipped. William Merion persisted in doing this and the trouble thus occasioned led him to leave home. He entered the employ of the village storekeeper, who also kept a dairy and slaughtered pigs, sheep and calves for the Boston market. He was to receive his board and clothing and five dollars per month and work in the store and also deliver meat and milk. As he had no expenses for board and clothing he was enabled to save his cash salary, and after three years, when seventeen years of age, he began learning a trade. He served a three- years apprenticeship to a carpenter and builder and then started for Ohio with a snug little sum of money which he had saved from his earnings and which was supplemented by his sale of his share of the farm. Through an agent in Boston he and his brother Nathaniel and his sister Millie purchased eighteen hundred acres of refugee land in Franklin county, Ohio, paying two thou- sand dollars,-but a little more than a dollar per acre.

In June, 1808, William Merion bade adieu to family and friends in the east and with only a pocket compass to point the way came on horseback to Ohio. There were no roads or bridges. He first located in Worthington, where there was a small settlement of New England people, and afterward went to Franklinton, now West Columbus, where he secured board in the family of Isaiah Voris. On one occasion Miss Sarah Wait, a daughter of Jenks Wait, stopped at the door of the Voris home. She would not consent to enter, knowing that the boarders were at supper, but while talking to Mrs. Voris Mr. Merion came out upon the steps and was introduced. Soon after she had resumed her homeward way he overtook her, a bridle in his hand, saying that his horse had strayed away and that he thought it was at the Salt Lick, which place was a short distance beyond her father's house. They conversed pleasantly until they reached her father's home, when he passed on, swinging his bridle. His horse all this time had been in the Voris stable, and he had merely formulated the excuse to get to accompany the young lady. The friendship thus formed terminated in their marriage, February 14, 1809, the ceremony being performed by the Rev. James Hoge, then a missionary to the Northwest Territory.

The young couple began their domestic life in Franklinton, Mr. Merion working at his trade. He had located his land on the east side of the Scioto river, lying in and near the present city of Columbus. Along the east bank there was a dense forest of heavy timber, and there was not a clearing or cabin between the river and Alum creek. In the fall of 1810 they located on his

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land, at what is now South High and Moler streets, Columbus. Mr. Merion cleared some ground, built a log house, covered the building with clapboards, nailed down, and constructed a brick chimney. The house was large in size for that time and had a movable partition of upright boards that could be taken out, throwing the two rooms into one for a party or dance. Their lives, of course, were of the pioneer style. The sugar-maple trees furnished them all the saccharine material, while game of all kinds was plentiful. On one occasion a dog chased a wild turkey through the open door into the house, and when it was captured it was found that it weighed twenty pounds. The early settlers also had the luxury of good wild grapes, plums and paw- paws. Wolves were very numerous. Money was very scarce at that time, and as there were no railroads or other shipping facilities it was very difficult to send produce to market. Mr. Merion found his knowledge of carpenter- ing of great advantage. In return for a day's work on a house a man would plow two days for him. On a rainy day he would take four walnut rails and make them into bedsteads, which he would exchange with a girl for four weeks' work at sewing, spinning, nursing or house work.

Columbus was laid out in 1812. The same year the second war with England was inaugurated, and Mr. Merion belonged to the Franklin Dra- goons, a cavalry company, which was among the first to be called out. Not wishing to leave his young family he hired a substitute,-George Wait, his brother-in-law,-whom he furnished with a horse, saddle, bridle and uniform and deeded him fifty acres of land for his services. Later there was a gen- eral draft and Mr. Merion was after all forced to go to the front, but the war soon afterward ended.

He continued his farming and also became much interested in raising fruit of all kinds. He sent for a barrel of apples, but after they had been hauled over the rough roads and corduroy bridges they were mashed into a pulp. However, he washed out the seeds, planted them, raised the stocks and grafted them and had the first grafted apples in the county. The work of clearing the land, grubbing out stumps, burning the brush and fencing the fields continued, and thus acre after acre was prepared for the plow. In 1817 he had a large frame barn built upon his place. In 1818 plans were made for building a brick house, and the bricks were made that year. The cellar was walled with bowlders taken from the bottom of the Scioto river, and the following year the brick work was put up and the building was roofed. It was one of the first brick dwellings in the county and is still standing, on South High street. The window-glass was thought particularly large, being ten by twelve inches. The parlor was very fine, the wood work being a pale blue, while the mantel, of the same color, was as high as a medium-sized person could reach. The bricks in the hearth and fireplace were painted red and the baseboard was partly plain and partly figured, about three feet being put in plain, after which the same length was striped with white, while another length was clouded and still another was adorned with large white roses on

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the pale blue ground. The first piece of furniture purchased for the new house was the old clock that for more than eighty years has registered the passing moments.

There were times of financial depression and times when fortune was more favorable. Mr. Merion and his family suffered and prospered with the rest. From 1822 until 1826 prices were very low and there was much sick- ness among the settlers. In 1825 Mr. Merion became ill and resolved to go east for the benefit of his health. He was so feeble that he could not mount his horse alone, but in April, 1826, he started upon the journey, of nine hundred miles. At first he could ride only ten miles a day, but gradually his strength and health returned to him, and after visiting at his old home he sold his horse and took passage on a vessel for New York city, thence pro- ceeded up the Hudson river to Albany, to Buffalo by the New York canal and by vessel to Sandusky, where he visited with his brother David for a few days, proceeding thence to Columbus by stage. He returned with improved health and found that his family had raised and sold a good crop and laid by some money.

About this time the Ohio canal, extending from Cleveland to the Ohio river, was commenced, and the National road was being extended westward. Many workmen were therefore in the country and this created a demand for supplies, so that Mr. Merion sold his crops and stock at a good advantage and he stored his barns and granaries full of grain and meat ready for ship- ment as soon as the canal should be opened for business. It was finished in 1831, and on the 23d of September of that year the first boat, called the Governor Brown, made its appearance. This was an occasion of universal rejoicing through this section of the country. In a month from this time boats were loading grain at the Merion landing and the National road was soon afterward completed to Columbus. The old bridge on Broad street was completed in 1833 and gave a new impetus to business. Mr. Merion engaged extensively in farming, raised stock of all kinds, purchased more land and carried on a very successful business ; but the heavy demand which he made on his time and strength brought on congestion of the brain. He was taken ill on his fiftieth birthday and died a week later, May 13, 1837. His death was a great calamity to his family and to the public, for he was a very prominent and influential citizen.

Mr. Merion was reared in the Calvinistic doctrine, but never joined the church. He had great reverence for the Bible, the Sabbath, the church and the ministry, but did not recognize Christmas. He was always a friend to homeless children, especially boys. There were no public charities at that time. Families would move into a new country, would be stricken with some of the malignant diseases then prevalent and the parents would die, leaving orphan children. Never was one turned away from the Merion farm. They were taken in, furnished with something to eat and given good clothing, and told that they could stay as long as they behaved themselves ; and they usually.

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remained. There were five or six sheltered under the Merion roof at the time of the death of Mr. Merion. This, of course, made extra care and work for Mrs. Merion, but she was always equal to the occasion.

A most noble woman, she was well qualified to be a pioneer's wife. She was always found where duty called, was heroic in endurance of hardships, privations and loneliness, and was untiring in the prosecution of the many household duties that came to the wife and mother. There were no cooking stoves, sewing, knitting or washing machines to lighten the labor. Every garment worn by her family was made from raw material. The flax had to be spun, woven, bleached and made into clothing, and table-linen, toweling. bedding and even the ticking and sewing thread were hand-made. The wool of a hundred sheep was brought in at shearing time and Mrs. Merion had it washed, picked, carded, spun, scoured, dyed, woven and made into flannel, jeans, linsey, blankets and stocking yarn. The milk of from fifteen to twenty cow's was brought in twice a day to be transformed into butter and cheese. She also raised geese and plucked them that her family might lie on beds of down. She presided over the culinary department, roasting turkeys, geese, ducks, chickens, beef and pork over or in front of the old-time wood fire that burned in the fireplace. The housewife "prided" herself on her ability in this line and the table was bountifully spread with many delicious dishes. Fruits were dried for winter consumption, for at that time the process of canning was unknown. Tomatoes were purely for ornament, a few plants being raised in flower beds, and the table delicacy (tomatoes) that we now have being called Jerusalem apples, or love apples. Mrs. Merion was like the woman described by Solomon : "She seeketh wool and flax and worketh willingly with her hands; she layeth her hands to the spindle and her hands holdeth the distaff." In 1814, while she was one day returning on horseback alone from Franklinton, darkness came on as she crossed the river. Soon she discovered that she was followed by wolves, that chased her nearly to her own door. When asked if she was frightened she replied : "I was a good rider. I was on a horse nothing could overtake; what had I to fear?" She was one of the first members of the Presbyterian church at Columbus, uniting with it in Franklinton in 1808. Of that organization she was a consistent member until 1842, when, to please her children, she united by letter with the Second Presbyterian church, of which she was a member up to the time of her death. She was born near Johnstown, New York, June 28, 1789, and died in Columbus January 24, 1856.

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A Centennial biographical history of the city of Columbus and Franklin County, Ohio, Part 12

Author: Lewis Publishing Company Publication date: 1901 Publisher: Chicago : Lewis Pub. Co. Number of Pages: 1156

Author: Lewis Publishing Company
Publication date: 1901
Publisher: Chicago : Lewis Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 1156