USA > Ohio > Lorain County > A Standard History of Lorain County, Ohio: An Authentic Narrative of the. > Part 16
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In 1897, following his election to county office, Judge Washburn moved to Elyria, and has since had his home in that city. . He was re- elected to the office of clerk in 1899, and did not return actively to the practice of law until the fall of 1903. In 1904 Governor Myron T. Her- rick appointed him judge of the Common Pleas Court for the second sub-division of the Fourth Judicial District, to serve until his successor was elected. At a special election he was chosen his own successor in November, 1905, and by re-election in 1906 continued on the bench until 1913. In 1912, while still in office as Common Pleas judge, he was nominated by the republicans for judge of the Court of Appeals in the Eighth Judicial District, which included the City of Cleveland. Owing to the split in the republican party of that year Judge Washburn failed to receive an election which otherwise would have been largely a matter of course. In February, 1913, he resumed the practice of law at Elyria.
When Judge and Mrs. Washburn were married they were both poor, and they have used their abilities and opportunities to secure the most cherished of their ambitions, a good home and family of fine children, and means to live comfortably. Their children are : Charlotte Edwards, aged seventeen ; Anna Paine, aged sixteen; Warner Marsh, aged twelve; and Elizabeth, aged seven. Mrs. Washburn has proved a model mother, and in her success as a home-maker and in her capable judgment in business affairs she shares the honors of accomplishment associated with the name of her husband. Both are active members of the First Congre- gational Church of Elyria. For about ten weeks every summer the fam- ily live at the Summer Assembly Grounds maintained by the Congrega- tional Church at Crystal Lake near Frankfort, Michigan, and Judge
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Washburn manages to spend about two weeks of the year at the same place.
Judge Washburn is affiliated with the Masonic Order and the Knights of Pythias and in politics has always been a republican. He is a di- rector in the Savings Deposit Bank & Trust Company of Elyria, is a member of the Elyria Chamber of Commerce, a life member of the Library Board, a member of the Board of Trustees of the Young Men's Christian Association, a life member of the Elyria Memorial Hospital, was former president and is now a trustee of the Social Settlement at Elyria, has served as president of the Elyria Country Club, and has been president of the Men's Club of the Congregational Church, an organization that has been in existence for the past eight years. Through these and other channels he finds opportunities to do a great deal of public-spirited work in behalf of his home city and county. Judge Washburn is a member of the Lorain County Bar Association and is trustee of the Lorain County Law Library Association. His chief recrea- tion is golf.
BYRON GERALD NICHOLS. For more than thirty years Byron Gerald Nichols has been identified with the business interests of Lorain, first as a successful merchant and more recently as an operator in real estate and insurance. His connections are so numerous and important, how- ever, that it would be difficult to find a field to which his activities have not led him, and each of his various ventures has been brought to a success through the exercise of his fine abilities. His business talents have always been used to further the interests of the city, and as a mem- ber of the Lorain City Council for five years he contributed materially to civic improvement and advancement.
Mr. Nichols is a native son of Lorain, and was born October 12, 1864, his parents being John and Deborah (Lowe) Nichols. The parents came to Lorain County in 1857, settling in the vicinity of Lorain, on a farm, and here the father continued to be engaged in agricultural pur- suits during the remaining years of his life, and passed away November 1, 1878. He was one of the substantial, practical farmers of his locality, was a man of the highest honor and integrity, and won and held the entire confidence of the people of his community. Mrs. Nichols survived him for a long period, and passed away at the old home, May 15, 1899.
The public schools of Lorain furnished Byron Gerald Nichols with his early education, following which he enrolled as a student at Baldwin University, at Berea, Ohio, from which institution he was duly graduated in 1883. Thus equipped, Mr. Nichols entered business life at Lorain, establishing himself as the proprietor of a general merchandise estah- lishment, of which he continued to be the head for a period of twelve years. In the meantime he had at various times invested in realty hold- ings, and his interests in this direction grew so extensively that he decided to give more of his attention to the real estate business. He accordingly disposed of his holdings in the store, which he had built up to large proportions. and opened an office as a dealer in real estate, loans, insurance, etc., in which field of endeavor he has steadily advanced to a foremost position among the business men of Lorain. Mr. Nichols has been connected with various transactions of large magnitude. and his great capacity and thorough knowledge of values, coupled with many years of business association with capitalists and men of affairs, render him a valued medium for the carrying through of real estate deals. Mr. Nichols' abilities have been recognized and appreciated by his associates at Lorain, and his connection with enterprises of an important character are many, including directorships in the Lorain Banking
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Company, the Black River Telephone Company, the Lorain Glove Company and the Lorain Casting Company. He is a member and steward of the First Methodist Episcopal Church of Lorain. Mr. Nichols' first political office was that of township clerk, in which capacity he served very acceptably for two years. He was then sent to the Lorain City Council, where he served five years, and while a member of that body served on the finance and other important committees.
Mr. Nichols was married November 20, 1884, at New London, Ohio, to Miss Elizabeth Brightman, daughter of P. B. Brightman, who is engaged in agricultural pursuits in Huron County, and a member of a family that has been well known and prominent in Ohio for many years. Three children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Nichols: Howard Kent, who graduated in June, 1914, from Western Reserve University, and is now associated with his father in the real estate business. He was married September 10, 1915, to Miss Gladys White, a daughter of John P. and Mae (Reed) White, of Cleveland, Ohio. Enid Lucretia and Millicent Deborah reside with their parents. Personally, Mr. Nichols' manner and bearing are those of the brainy, successful business man, and he thus possesses peculiar advantages for his chosen vocation. His friends are as numerous as his acquaintances, and his career in the real estate history of Lorain County is no doubt destined to continue as a brilliant one.
ARTEMAS BEEBE, who had the distinction of being the last survivor of the first pioneers of Elyria, was born at Russell, Hampden County, Massa- chusetts, October 7, 1793, and died at Elyria, Ohio, March 29, 1880, aged eighty-six years, five months, twenty-two days. Educational advantages during his youth were not such as they are today in Massachusetts, but such opportunities as were afforded by the common schools were eagerly grasped by the lad during the intervals between his labor, and he grew up alert in mind and active in body, with an education which allowed him to take his proper place and hold his own among men.
When still a youth, Mr. Beebe became a clerk in his father's store, there acquiring a rudimentary knowledge of business that laid the founda- tion upon which was later built a structure of business success, but his ambition at that time was to do more for himself than the opportunities promised in his native place, and when in his twenty-third year he engaged to accompany Heman Ely to his new possessions in the Far West, as Ohio was then regarded, in the capacity of carpenter and joiner. This com- pany consisted of Heman Ely, Ebenezer Lane, Luther Lane, Artemas Beebe, Ann Snow, the housekeeper, and Ned, Mr. Ely's colored servant, and left Springfield, Massachusetts, February 20, 1817, for the wilderness of the Western Reserve, where since has been built the community of Elyria. After a long and toilsome journey, the little party arrived at their destination on the evening of March 18, 1817, and found lodgings in the hut of logs that had been erected in the previous months, the only house in the settlement, which stood on what now is the south side of Broad Street, near where the "Old Tavern" still stands as a landmark of early days. It is not necessary to follow Mr. Beebe through his years of activity in preparing homes for those who were to share in the hard- ships of the pioneers; suffice it to say that his resolute purpose to realize the ambitions of his youth never forsook him, and that from early morn until late at night he labored with the tools of his trade, or with the axe and hand-spike drove back the solid forest and added to the comforts of his home and the area of his farm. In February of the year following his arrival, he purchased a horse and returned to his home in New England, where he remained only a short time, and when he came back had a horse
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and wagon. Again, in February, 1820, he went to Massachusetts, cover- ing the greater part of the journey on foot, and on the 4th of the follow- ing October was married in that state to Miss Pamelia Morgan. With his bride and a wagon containing the most important implements of house- keeping he started for the new country again, arriving November 17. She continued to be his true and faithful helpmate during his long and useful career, and her death, which occurred June 26, 1878, had a very depress- ing effect on Mr. Beebe and no doubt hastened his own demise.
Six years after he commenced housekeeping in the "Beebe Tavern," Mr. Beebe became the contractor for carrying the mails between Elyria and Cleveland, and this enterprise, beginning in a small way, eventually grew into a line of stage coaches which ran between Cleveland and Lower Sandusky, which was afterwards called Tremont. The handling of this business required the possession of considerable executive ability and energy to insure its success, but Mr. Beebe was not found lacking in either, and the result was that after fifteen years of labor in this venture he sold
ARTEMAS BEEBE TAVERN, 1820
his entire line, in 1842, to Neil, Moore & Company, and began to devote his then ample means to enterprises more directly beneficial to his imme- diate community.
The Beebe House, which Mr. Beebe erected in 1846, was at that time the largest and best appointed hostelry in any country town in the West. He was one of the stockholders of the Lorain Bank at Elyria at the time of its organization, this now being known as the National Bank of Elyria, and was a member of its board of directors from its inception, in 1847, through its nationalization, up to the time of his death, and at all times had the regard and confidence of his associates, who looked to him for advice and leadership in important ventures. During all these years his early habits of industry never forsook him, and he was constantly em- ployed in personally superintending the operation of his large estate, often performing work that could have been done by other hands, merely from the habit of keeping energetically at work. But the stoutest muscle can- not always endure and the strongest will must sometimes yield to the inexorable laws of nature. On November 18, 1876, while walking in his yard, he suffered a severe attack of paralysis, which for a time rendered his limbs on one side powerless to perform their functions, and it was feared for a time that he could not recover. His strong constitution and indomitable will, however, gradually overcame the dreaded disease, and he
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was able to use his arms, although he never recovered the use of his lower limbs and from the day of his attack never left the house unless carried to his carriage for a short drive amid the scenes of former labors.
Mr. Beebe contributed liberally to the church and Sunday school, as well as to benevolent and charitable movements. His mind continued alert to the last, and with the strict probity and integrity that had governed all his actions, he arranged his business affairs in an orderly manner, preparing thus calmly and resignedly for his final departure. He survived all the others of the party who came as pioneers to Elyria. Heman Ely died February 2, 1852; Ebenezer Lane, who became a chief justice of the Supreme Court of Ohio, June 12, 1866; Luther Lane, No- vember 23, 1868; and the colored boy, Ned, at West Springfield, Massa- chusetts, in 1830, while Ann Snow died some time before Mr. Beebe, although the exact date is not known.
Mrs. Beebe, who died June 26, 1878, was born at West Springfield, Massachusetts, November 9, 1799. On October 4, 1820, she was mar- ried to Mr. Beebe at West Springfield, by the old blind pastor, Rev. Joseph Lathrop, assisted by his colleague, Rev. William B. Sprague. Prior to her marriage, Mrs. Beebe had been a member of the First Con- gregational Church of West Springfield, but when in 1824 the First Presbyterian Church of Elyria was formed, she became one of the ten original members, and at the time of her death only one other of the first ten survived. At the time of their deaths, Mr. and Mrs. Beebe belonged to the First Congregational Church of Elyria.
There were three daughters and two sons in the family of Artemas and Pamelia (Morgan) Beebe: Mary, who died September 11, 1903, as the wife of Edwin Hall, leaving two children, of whom one is living, -Mrs. R. S. Sloan, of Sandusky, Ohio; Henry, who died February 15, 1905, at Toledo, Ohio, leaving one son, George, who died at Cincinnati soon after his father's death; Artemas, a sketch of whose career will be found on another page of this work; Sarah, who died October 11, 1904, as the wife of Frank Turner, and left one daughter,-Winnifred L., who makes her home with her aunt; and Pamelia Beebe, the youngest of the family and the only one now living, who makes her home at the old Beebe residence, 264 Broad Street. Pamelia Beebe was the only one of the children to be born in this home, the others all being born in the old Beebe Tavern here, an old landmark of Elyria, a cut of which is shown herewith. She was educated here and in girlhood joined the First Congregational Church, of which she has continued to be a member since the time of her father's joining, her mother having been a charter member when the church was organized. Pamelia Beebe is president of the Lorain County Historical Society, an office which she has held since the death of her sister, Mary, whom she succeeded. She is well known in church and social circles, and is held in high esteem, not only for her many personal attainments, but as the representative of a family than which none has done more to make Elyria's history. From her father's interesting reminiscences of early days, the late Mrs. Mary Hall compiled a 58-page book, containing many early-day cuts of building and scenery, "Reminiscences of Elyria, Ohio," which was published in 1900 and dedicated to the Lorain County Historical Society, of which she was then president. This interesting work met with a large sale, the proceeds from which were turned over to the society to further its work.
ARTEMAS BEEBE. In the death of the late Artemas Beebe, which occurred at his farm residence on Cleveland Street, August 27, 1891, Elyria lost a citizen who was a native son, who had grown with the
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community, and whose history was a part of the history of the locality. He watched the straggling little hamlet of his boyhood grow and develop into a center of business, agricultural, educational and religious activ- ity, and while bearing his full share of the labors and responsibilities necessary to bring this great development about, won fairly and re- tained unquestionably the warmest regard and fullest confidence of his fellowmen.
Mr. Beebe was born in the old hotel known as Beebe Tavern, at Elyria, Lorain County, Ohio, October 10, 1825, and spent his entire sixty-six years of life here. He was the second son of the late Arte- mas Beebe, who had come to this community with the late Heman Ely, from Massachusetts, in 1817, and assisted in making a home in the wilderness where Elyria now stands, and a sketch of whose career and achievements will be found on another page of this work. Artemas Beebe of this review was educated in the public schools, which he attended until nearly fifteen years of age, and at that time became a clerk in the dry goods store of the late Seymour W. Baldwin, where he remained for several years, then turning his attention to farming. On November 25, 1847, he was married to Miss Nancy L. Fisher, of Grafton, Lorain County, and soon thereafter removed to his farm near the city, where, with the exception of two years, he passed the remainder of his life. At the time of his father's death, in 1880, he became the owner of the Beebe Hotel, which he leased until 1886, in which year he took possession as manager, but after two years of experience in this direction returned to farming and continued to be engaged therein until his death. As an agriculturist he was energetic, progressive and enter- prising, winning a substantial property through straightforward and above-board transactions. He was an active worker in religious affairs in Lorain County, and was a member and regular attendant of the Congregational Sunday School of Elyria for sixty years, for ten years of which time he acted in the capacity of assistant superintendent. In addition, he was for a long period chairman of the executive commit- tee of the Lorain County Sunday School Union. During thirty-three years he was an active and highly honored member of the Congregational Church of Elyria. A highly regarded man among his associates, in his home he was a kind husband and an indulgent father, and, in fact, in every walk of life, followed the dictates of a conscience that never failed to point out the proper course for him to pursue as an honest, God-fearing man.
Mrs. Beebe, who was born at Grafton, Lorain County, Ohio, Janu- ary 12, 1825, died at Elyria, November 15, 1898. They became the parents of four children, as follows: Mary M. (Beebe) Williams, who died suddenly at the family home in the same year as her mother, when apparently in the best of health; William A., born October 14, 1848, at Elyria, for years a telegraph operator with the Lake Shore & Michigan Southern Railroad, a good citizen and a respecter of the Golden Rule, married Fanny Mills and had a son and daughter, the latter of whom died in October, 1900, and himself passed away December 10, 1902, mourned by a wide circle of friends and acquaintances; Frank, who is a resident of Elyria; and Artemas, also of this city.
ARTEMAS BEEBE. During a period of more than seventeen years, Artemas Beebe has been identified with the Cleveland & Southwestern Railway, in the capacity of conductor, and in this time has become one of the best known and most popular officials on the line. He belongs to one of Lorain County's pioneer families, which was founded here by his grandfather, Artemas Beebe, who came to Elyria in 1817. Since
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that time the history of the family has been that of the city and county.
Mr. Beebe of this review was born at Elyria, May 26, 1869, and is.a son of Artemas and Nancy Louise (Fisher) Beebe. Separate mention is made in this work of his father and grandfather, as well as of his brother, Frank Beebe, of Elyria, who is the only other survivor of the family of four children, of whom Artemas is the youngest. Educated in the public schools of Elyria, Artemas Beebe was graduated from the high school with the class of 1890, and at that time became the proprietor of a book store, located on Broad Street, at the present site of the Haserodt jewelry store, at No. 503. During the four years that Mr. Beebe conducted this establishment, under the firm style of Beebe & Company, Edward Fisher, the jeweler, shared the rooms with him. In 1895, when he sold his business to John C. Bins, Mr. Beebe went to work under his father-in-law, the late George H. Mapes, of whose career further notice will be found elsewhere in this work. He began as yard clerk at the Baltimore & Ohio Junction, and later for five years was identified with the Lake Shore & Michigan Southern Railway, and when he left that concern entered the service of the Cleveland & Elyria Elec- tric Railway, which has since become the Cleveland & Southwestern Railway. Since June 2, 1898, he has acted in the capacity of conductor and his faithful, efficient and courteous performance of his duties has made him one of the company's most trusted and valued employes, as well as placing him high in the regard of the passengers who patron- ize this line.
Mr. Beebe has large interests in the Beebe estate, owning a part of the 200-acre farm which his father had on the east side of the city, and in addition holding a number of valuable pieces of city realty. In business circles he has many warm friends among leading and influential citizens and has built up a reputation for integrity and fidelity which the mem- bers of his family have always enjoyed. Raised a Mason in 1901, Mr. Beebe has taken a keen interest in Masonic work, and when the Masonic Temple was being built probably collected more money for its erection than any other person in Elyria. He is a member of King Solomon Lodge No. 56, Free and Accepted Mason, of which he is past master; was eminent commander of Elyria Commandery No. 60, in 1910; in 1911 and 1912 was thrice illustrious master of Elyria Council No. 86, and belongs to Lake Erie Consistory, being a thirty-second degree Scottish Rite Mason. He also holds membership in the Knights of the Maccabees and the Royal Arcanum. As a member of the Elyria Chamber of Commerce, Mr. Beebe has assisted in forwarding move- ments which have advanced the commercial and industrial welfare of the city, and he also belongs to the Elyria Memorial Hospital Relief Association, and, with his family, to the First Congregational Church of Elyria. When the Young Men's Christian Association Building was being erected at Elyria he took a prominent part in the collection of funds, being a member of Captain Buttenbender's team.
On December 16, 1891, Mr. Beebe was married to Miss Minnie An- geline Mapes, who was born at Bellevue, Ohio, the only child of George and Marietta E. (King) Mapes, by whom she was brought to Elyria when she was one and one-half years of age. Mr. Mapes is now deceased, and his widow owns the home at No. 626 Broad Street, which Mr. Mapes built, and in which Mr. and Mrs. Beebe now reside.
GEORGE MAPES. For thirty-three years the late George Mapes was a well-known and highly respected citizen of Elyria and was one of the most popular railroad men of this community, his connection with the Lake Shore & Michigan Southern 'Railway having commenced in 1873.
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From that time until his retirement he continued in the service of that road and grew to be one of its most trusted employes.
Mr. Mapes was born at Willoughby, Ohio, August 18, 1841, the youngest in a family of seven brothers and sisters and the last of them to die, the preceding death in the family having been that of his sister, Mrs. Katherine Alvord, of Peoria, Illinois, who passed away only a week before her brother's demise. Educated in the public schools of his native community, when his school days were finished he took up teleg- raphy, then a new vocation, which he made his life work. He was still a youth when he entered the service of the Lake Shore & Michigan Southern Railway, and at various times held the position of telegrapher at Wakeman, Clyde and Bellevue, Ohio, and at the latter place was promoted to station agent. In 1873 he was transferred from Bellevue to Elyria, in the capacity of agent, where he continued until his retire- ment in December, 1903, he then being pensioned by the road in the service of which he had spent forty years of energetic, conscientious and capable work. Mr. Mapes was one of the old-time "knights of the key," his experiences having covered the era of the greatest develop- ment of the telegraph. He was known as a rapid operator and his mes- sages could be depended upon absolutely. Among railroad men he was widely known and had many friends among the high officials of the road with which he was connected.
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