USA > Ohio > Lorain County > A Standard History of Lorain County, Ohio: An Authentic Narrative of the. > Part 23
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Charles E. Tucker grew up in Elyria, attended the common schools, but his practical career of self-support began in 1873, when he was only thirteen years old. In 1882 he became an employe of the late John W. Hart in the lumber and planing mill industry. In 1892 Mr. Tucker and L. J. Hart, a son of John W. Hart, bought the entire plant from the latter's father, and these two men developed the business and made it one of the principal supply centers for lumber and building material in Lorain County. L. J. Hart is now a resident of New York City. Mr. Tucker was engaged in the lumber business until 1901. In 1904 he or- ganized The Lorain County Abstract Company, and is still its secretary- treasurer. This business has its offices at 212 Middle Avenue in Elyria.
Nearly twenty years after his father had retired from the office of county recorder, Charles E. Tucker was elected to the same office, and served three terms, from 1902 to 1909. Fraternally he is affiliated with King Solomon Lodge No. 56, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, and with Elyria Lodge No. 465 of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks.
On September 20, 1882, Mr. Tucker married Miss Hatty E. Hart, daughter of the late John W. and Caroline O. Hart.
ALVIN J. PLOCHER. Few of the younger generation of business men in Lorain County have made their abilities count more quickly in the
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business world than Alvin J. Plocher, now assistant secretary of the Lorain County Banking Company at Elyria.
He was born in Elyria August 10, 1885, a son of Christian W. and Olive E. Plocher. He attended the public schools of his native city, and was graduated from high school in June, 1902, at the age of seventeen. During his school years he assisted in paying his way by employment at any task which a boy of his years could perform and in such capacities as were offered by a small town. He was always faithful and reliable in even these small duties, and his sturdy independence won him many friends among his schoolmates.
On graduating from high school he applied for and received the position of bookkeeper in the Savings Deposit Bank & Trust Company of Elyria, a position he filled to the entire satisfaction of the officers for one year. At the end of that time, in 1903, he was offered a similar place at the Lorain County Banking Company. He went with this com- pany and has continued in its employ up to the present time, a period of twelve years. On account of his fidelity and untiring service in behalf of the bank, he has from time to time been promoted and has held the positions of teller, assistant cashier and secretary, his connec- tion with that institution at the present time being in the latter capacity. Mr. Plocher has a pleasant and genial way of meeting the customers of the bank and all other persons with whom he comes in contact, and this trait makes him a valuable man for any business position. From his known ability as a banker and accountant and from his popularity among the citizens of Elyria, he was elected in 1913, treasurer of the city. Of the five city candidates, he was paid the deserved compliment of an uncontested nomination. For the other four offices lively contests took place, especially for those of auditor and of solicitor. Mr. Plocher is known to practically every citizen and taxpayer of Elyria. His pub- lic work is as creditable as that which he has long performed in the bank, and has increased the honors with which his name is associated. He is now treasurer of the Elyria Chamber of Commerce.
Mr. Plocher early became interested in Masonry, and is a member and past master of King Solomon Lodge No. 56, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons; a member of Marshall Chapter No. 47, Royal Arch Masons; Elyria Council No. 86, Royal and Select Masters; a member and treas- urer of Elyria Commandery No. 6, Knights Templar; and also belongs to Al Koran Temple of the Nobles of the Mystic Shrine. He is a mem- ber of the First Congregational Church of Elyria.
Socially Mr. Plocher is a genial and companionable neighbor and friend, and takes an active part in all social functions which he attends. He is a growing man in the community in which he lives, and has a host of admiring friends who hold him in the highest esteem.
JOHN T. JELLEY. Since 1894 Mr. Jelley has maintained his resi- dence in the City of Lorain and has been a valued executive in connection with the extensive operations of one of the important industrial plants of the city, that of the National Tube Company, originally the Johnson Company, which is engaged in the manufacturing of steel products. He has held since 1897 the position of superintendent of the company's brick-construction department, is a skilled artisan as a brick mason, is a straightforward, energetic and reliable business man and is a progressive and loyal citizen who has won unqualified esteem in the city which has represented his home for nearly a score of years.
A scion of a sterling old family of the Keystone State, John Thomas Jelley was born at Danville, the judicial center of Montour County, Pennsylvania, and the date of his nativity was June 14, 1856. He is a
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son of Richard and Mary (Conebear) Jelley, who continued their resi- dence in that state until their death, the father having been a shoemaker by trade and vocation. The public schools of Pennsylvania afforded to John T. Jelley his early educational advantages, and as a youth he served a thorough apprenticeship to the trade of brick mason. As a journeyman workman he was thereafter in the employ of the great Cambria Iron Company of Pennsylvania, and in 1881, as a young man of about twenty- five years, he went to Pueblo, Colorado, where he continued until 1887, in charge of the company's brick department. He severed this association in May, 1887, and then returned to Pennsylvania and entered the employ of the Carnegie Steel Company, at Braddock. He thus continued his activities in his native state until 1894, when he came to Lorain, Ohio, and assisted in the erection of the original plant of the Johnson Com- pany, with which important industrial corporation he has since been identified and with which he has held since 1897 the superintendency of the brick-construction department, as previously noted.
As a loyal and broad-minded citizen Mr. Jelley has not denied his service in connection with general community affairs, as shown by the fact that for eight years he was a member of the board of education of Lorain, of which body he was president for two years of this period. He is a republican in political allegiance, and is affiliated with the Free and Accepted Masons, and the chapter of Royal Arch Masons, both of Pueblo, Colorado.
On the 5th of January, 1882, Mr. Jelley wedded Miss Clara Bennett, of Johnstown, Pennsylvania, in which state she was reared and educated. Concerning the children of this union the following brief data are given in conclusion of this article: Mabel is the wife of Frank A. Eyman, of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, her husband there holding the position of physical director in the Carnegie Institute of Technology; Eleanor Bennett Jelley is a teacher of domestic science in the public schools of the City of Cleveland; Dr. Herbert Charles Jelley is a dentist by pro- fession and is established in successful practice at Lakewood, Cuyahoga County, Ohio; and Miss Sarah Langman Jelley remains at the parental home and is a successful and popular teacher in the public schools of Lorain.
E. CAMERON, M. D. The late Doctor Cameron, whose death occurred at Elyria, October 8, 1914, while serving as county coroner, possessed and exercised many qualities of mind and manhood which his community could ill afford to lose. He stood for the best things of life, was not only a successful physician, but also a deep and thorough student of medicine, and was a gentleman of the highest type and a social leader in the best sense of the term. He was identified with Lorain County for twenty years, and his work in that time deserves the recognition of a permanent memorial.
Of Canadian birth and ancestry, he was born at Albani, Prince Edward's Island, August 1, 1847. He was a graduate from the med- ical department of Bowdoin College in the State of Maine, took post- graduate work at Harvard University, at Bellevue Hospital in New York City, and all his life was devoted to study and research so that he never considered his education ended. For a number of years he practiced medicine in Canada, and in 1894 located in the City of Lorain, which was the center of his growing practice for a number of years. In November, 1912, he was elected on the republican ticket as coroner of Lorain County, and in order to perform the duties of that office he re- moved to Elyria in January, 1913. As a coroner he discharged his duties faithfully, was a most capable official, was deeply interested in
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public affairs, and in all his relations maintained his high ideals, an unblemished character, and was a man of thorough public spirit.
Doctor Cameron was one of the founders of The Lorain County Medical Society. He also belonged to The Ohio State Medical Society and The American Medical Association, and from May, 1899, had been affiliated with Easton Lodge No. 7, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons at Eastport, Maine. He attended the First Congregational Church of Elyria and was a member of the Men's Club of that church. For a number of terms he filled the offices of president and vice president of The Lorain County Medical Society.
Doctor Cameron's first wife died at Grand Manan, Canada, in Feb- ruary, 1892. Three of their children died there in infancy. Doctor Cameron's only son is Dr. R. L. Cameron, who is now head surgeon at The Republican Rubber Company in Youngstown, Ohio. He also has two daughters: Mrs. R. G. Chapman, whose husband is a barrister at Winnipeg, Canada; and Mrs. R. R. J. Brown, whose husband is also a member of the bar at Winnipeg. Mr. Brown is also a major in a Cana- dian regiment, and is now expected to be called to the front almost any day. Doctor Cameron is also survived by seven grandchildren.
On September 16, 1908, at Elyria, Doctor Cameron married Mrs. Bena Woodruff. She is a daughter of F. F. and Marie (Martin) Kuhlow. Her parents were born and married in Germany, and in 1881 came to Lorain County and bought a homestead of fifty acres situated within the city limits of Elyria. Mrs. Cameron now owns that old homestead, and is still occupying it as her home, and it was also their home during the life of Doctor Cameron.
WILLIAM SEHER. During the past score of years Mr. Seher has been a prominent and representative figure in connection with the indus- trial and civic activities of the City of Lorain, and his has been a dominating force in the furtherance of enterprises that have contributed much to the commercial precedence of the city, the while he has shown the loyalty and progressive spirit that ever indicate the best ideals of citizenship. He is manager of the Lorain Brewing Company, which was organized in 1903 and which is a branch of the Cleveland & Sandusky Brewing Company, as agent of which he came to Lorain in 1895. The local company has a modern plant of the best equipment and facilities and with an output capacity of 50,000 barrels per annum. In connec- tion with the operation of the plant about thirty persons are employed, and the excellence of the product has gained to the establishment a large and prosperous trade throughout Lorain and county and other counties in this section of the state. Mr. Seher continued as agent for the Cleve- land & Sandusky Brewing Company at Lorain until the organization of the Lorain Company, as a branch of the former, since which time he has held his present position, that of general manager. He is president of the Lorain. Crystal Ice Company, of which admirable Lorain insti- tution further mention is made on other pages, in the sketch of the career of its general manager, Albert A. Plato. Mr. Seher is a member of the directorate of the National Bank of Commerce of Lorain, Ohio, one of the strongest financial institutions in Lorain County, and is one of the most active and influential members of the Lorain Board of Commerce, of which he is second vice president.
William Seher was born in the City of Sandusky. Erie County, Ohio, on the 24th of January, 1868, and is a son of Frederick W. and Carolena Maria (Brecher) Seher, his father being a representative real estate broker and pension agent in the City of Sandusky. Frederick W. Seher was born and reared in Germany and came to America about
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the year 1860. He soon afterward found opportunity to signalize his intrinsic loyalty to the land of his adoption, for he tendered his service in defense of the Union and was a gallant and faithful soldier in the Civil war, in which he served two years, as a member of Company C, Sixty-fourth Ohio Volunteer Infantry.
The excellent public schools of Sandusky afforded to William Seher his early educational advantages, which were supplemented by a course in a business college in that city. He then assumed a clerical position with a Sandusky ice company, and upon the establishing of the electric street railway system in his native city he was the fifth man to be engaged as motorman for the new company, in the service of which he continued six years. One the 1st of October, 1895, Mr. Seher came to Lorain as agent for the Cleveland & Sandusky Brewing Company, and concerning his business activities since that time adequate mention has already been made in this article.
Mr. Seher is a popular factor in both business and social circles in Lorain and is known for his buoyant, whole-souled nature and cheery optimism. He is a charter member of the Lorain Lodge, No. 1301, Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, and also of the local aerie of the Fraternal Order of Eagles, besides which he is affiliated with the Loyal Order of Moose and is a representative member of the Lorain Liedertafel.
On the 25th of September, 1889, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Seher to Miss Emma Motry of Sandusky, and they have two children- Norma and William Frank, both of whom remain at the parental home and the latter of whom is bookkeeper for the Lorain Brewing Company.
EPHRAIM KEYES CARPENTER. On other pages is published an inter- esting record concerning the prominent early settlers of Avon Town- ship, as reproduced from an article written and read at the centennial anniversary of the first settlement of Avon, this celebration having been held in 1914. In this article, written by Horace J. Cahoon of Elyria, a descendant of one of the old-time families of that township, mention was made of E. K. Carpenter and wife as a pioneer couple who made their influence definitely count in this new country. Keyes Carpenter, as he was always known, was in fact a man whose industry, wholesome char- acter, and private and public activities would comprise a valuable influ- ence in any locality. It is only a matter of just due that some permanent record should be made of his life, especially as it affects Lorain County.
Born in Lee Township, Berkshire County, Massachusetts, December 29, 1799, Ephraim Keyes Carpenter was a son of Levi and Hannah (Keyes) Carpenter. The sources of his early training anad education are not a matter of record, but the facts of his later life show ample evi- dence of a wholesome development of character and a considerable knowl- edge of books and the world. About the time he attained his majority he set out with a boy companion, Hosea Harris, for the new country of Northern Ohio. These two young men walked practically all the way to Lcrain ('cunty. The only exception was one day when they were sup- posed to ride on a stage, but as a matter of fact they carried stakes most of the day and helped pry the coach out of the mud. The destination of Keyes Carpenter was his uncle's home in 'Lorain County. It was in honor of his uncle that Mr. Carpenter was named. Arriving in Avon, he worked for his uncle and gradually paid for the fifty acres of new land which he secured as the nucleus of the old Carpenter homestead in Avon Township.
It was in 1819 that Keyes Carpenter came to Ohio. He was then not quite twenty-one, and had bought his time from his father on leaving home, and his entire capital on reaching Ohio was $20. For the fifty
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acres above mentioned the purchase price was $5 per acre, and it took considerable time to pay for this land. He possessed great industry, was very enterprising and successful as a farmer and he gradually in- creased his holdings in Avon from 50 acres to 150 acres. In 1832 he built the old frame house on the farm in Avon, and that house, now one of the oldest and most interesting landmarks of the early days, is still standing and in good repair, and is the home of John B. Dechant, who now owns a part of what was the old Carpenter farm.
After a residence in Lorain County of more than forty years E. K. Carpenter sold his farm in Avon Township to Bartel Thome. Record of the sale and deed was dated April 23, 1863. The old farm is located on Stony Ridge Road in Avon, not far from French Creek. After dispos- ing of his property in Lorain County, Mr. Carpenter moved with his fam- ily to East Gilead in Branch County, Michigan. He bought 120 acres of good land in that picturesque and attractive section of one of Southern Michigan's finest counties. The old house on the Michigan farm had been built a number of years before, and still stands today in good condition.
Mr. Carpenter once served as township trustee in Avon Township, and for a long time was road supervisor. For a number of years he steadily supported the whig candidates in politics, and became a repub- lican upon the organization of that party. Outside of his work as a farmer and home maker, he was probably best known for his activities as a churchman. He was a charter member of the Avon Methodist Epis- copal Church, was a class leader from its beginning for fully forty years, and was also a licensed exhorter and local preacher. He was one of the men who helped to build up churches and extend religious influences in the old Western Reserve of Ohio. In the absence of regular preachers or missionaries he frequently held meetings in his neighborhood, and the Carpenter home was often the scene of gatherings for prayer and Bible reading. After moving to Michigan he became a member and active worker in the Evangelical Church at East Gilead. He was a good man through and through, highly respected in any community where he re- sided, and members of the present generation who enjoy an unexampled prosperity which the sacrifices of such pioneers made possible may well pay a tribute of gratitude to such early settlers as Keyes Carpenter.
E. K. Carpenter died at East Gilead, Branch County, Michigan, February 9, 1869. In Avon Township, Lorain County, Ohio, he met and married Miss Lavina Carly Cooper, a daughter of David and Polly Cooper, all of whom were born in New York State. David Cooper, her father, died at Troy, Ashland County, Ohio, and is buried there. His wife, Polly Cooper, died in Steuben County, Indiana, and is buried at Lake Gage, Indiana. Mrs. E. K. Carpenter died September 29, 1863, shortly after the family arrived in Michigan. Both she and her husband now rest in the cemetery at East Gilead. Their children were named Orin Gilmore, Julia Etta, Sarepta Cordelia, Tressa Melissa, Theodore Jasper, Luke Johnson, Charles Norton, all of whom grew to maturity. These children were all born in the old house which is still standing on the farm in Avon Township. The four who are still living are: Tressa Melissa Warriner, of Steuben County, Indiana; Theodore Jasper Car- penter, of East Gilead, Branch County, Michigan; Luke Johnson Carpen- ter, of East Gilead, Branch County, Michigan; and Charles Norton Carpenter, of Jonesville, Michigan.
DAVID THOMAS. One of the few citizens of this immediate section of the Buckeye State who can claim as his place of nativity the rugged and picturesque district of the northwestern part of Wales, is David Thomas,
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who is a skilled mechanic and who has made an admirable record in his chosen sphere of constructive industry. He is now living virtually retired in the City of Lorain, where for twenty-three years he was in the employ of the corporation at present known as the National Tube Company. He has also served as justice of the peace and is a sterling citizen to whom is accorded the fullest measure of popular confidence and good will in the community that has represented his home for the past score of years.
David Thomas was born in Carnarvonshire, Wales, on the 9th of October, 1839, and is a scion of one of the old and honored families of that section of Great Britain. In his native land Mr. Thomas gained his early education and there also he served a most thorough apprentice- ship to the trade of machinist, in which he became a skilled artisan.
In Wales Mr. Thomas continued in the work of his trade until 1887, when he came with his family to the United States and established his home at Johnstown, Pennsylvania, where he found profitable employment as a machinist and where he remained six years. In 1895 he removed with his family to Ohio, where he has since continued his residence in the City of Lorain, and where for nearly a quarter of a century he was retained as one of the expert and valued machinists and minor executives in the manufactory now controlled by the great corporation designated as the National Tube Company.
As a naturalized citizen of the United States Mr. Thomas is found aligned as a staunch supporter of the principles and policies of the repub- lican party, and his mature judgment and sterling integrity made him especially eligible for the office of justice of the peace to which he was elected in 1912, and of which he was the efficient incumbent until January 1, 1916-an office which his administration has made to justify its name, in the conserving of justice and the preservation of peace and good will. Mr. Thomas is zealously affiliated with the time-honored Masonic fraternity, in which he has received the chivalric degrees and holds membership in Lorain Commandery, Knights Templars, besides which he is affiliated also with the Knights of the Golden Eagle. Reared in the faith of the established Church of England, Mr. Thomas and his wife are communicants of its American counterpart, the Protestant Episcopal Church.
On the 3d of August, 1863, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Thomas to Miss Emily Hill, who likewise was born and reared in Wales and who has proved a devoted companion and helpmeet to him during the long intervening period of more than half a century. Of their chil- dren four are living-William James and David John, both of whom reside in Lorain; Arthur, who maintains his home at Elyria, the county seat; and Gwillymn Ernest, who resides at Lorain, so that the venerable parents have the satisfaction of having all of their children within close proximity, all of the sons being well established in life and all paying to their father and mother the deepest of filial solicitude.
HORACE J. CAHOON. Civilized man, with his institutions of home, school and church, with his implements of husbandry and industry, and with his forward looking efforts for continued improvement and better- ment, has been established in Avon Township now for a little more than a century. Without trespassing any further the domain of this history, which has been so well told on other pages, the following paragraphs will be devoted primarily to some account of the Cahoon family, which was distinguished for making the first permanent settlement in Avon and which among other worthy and excellent citizens includes the mem- bership of Horace J. Cahoon, who is himself one of the oldest living native
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sons of Avon and has been a prominent figure in the public life of Lorain County and has done much to cherish among the present genera- tion a proper regard for the interesting associations of the past.
Horace J. Cahoon was born in Avon Township May 11, 1837, and is a son of Ora B. and Jane T. (Jameson) Cahoon and a grandson of Wilbur and Priscilla (Sweet) Cahoon.
The family was established in Avon by Wilbur Cahoon, who was born in Hancock Township, Berkshire County, Massachusetts, December 27, 1772, but for a number of years he and his wife, Priscilla, lived in Saulsbury Township of Herkimer County, New York, in which locality all their children but one were born. It was in the year 1814 that these worthy people, participating in that great westward movement which began about the close of the second war with Great Britain, left New York State for the far West. Wilbur Cahoon traded his 100 acres of land in Herkimer County for a tract of 800 acres, all covered with heavy forests in what is now Avon Township of Lorain County. Arriving here with his family after the numberless difficulties of travel in such times and circumstances, he established such rude accommodations as condi- tions permitted for his first home. A few years later in 1825 he erected the first frame house that was built in Avon. The tract of land which thus early came into the possession of the Cahoon family was in 1814 so isolated that in order to reach it Wilbur had to cut a trail for eight miles through the woods. Not until some time afterwards was a single settlement planted between the Cahoon habitation and the little hamlet at Cleveland, Ohio. What is now a great city at that time had only thirty houses. Wilbur Cahoon's distinction in the early history of Avon does not rest entirely upon his being the advance guard of the first settlers. His character and activities would have made him influential in any country. He was one of the early members of the whig party and was the first justice of the peace elected for the jurisdiction now divided among the townships of Avon, Sheffield and Dover, all of which country was at that time one township, Dover being now in the county to the east of Lorain. There were only two justices of the peace, and the other was Isaac Burrell. Wilbur Cahoon and wife were charter mem- bers of the first Baptist Church established in Avon, and until a proper church edifice could be built meetings were frequently held at their home. Though he thus played a large and influential part in the early life of Avon, Wilbur Cahoon had lived there only twelve years until his death on September 27, 1826. His wife, Priscilla (Sweet) Cahoon, was born in Rhode Island, and died in Avon May 2, 1855, both having been laid to rest side by side in the old township. They were the parents of eight children, and all but one lived beyond middle age. Susan, the oldest, who died in Florence Township, Huron County, December 16, 1880, married Harley Mason. Jesse S. died in Avon February 28, 1836. Wil- bur, Jr., died in California September 9, 1852. Ora B., father of Horace J. above mentioned, died on the old homestead in Avon March 17, 1881. Orra, who died in Avon April 18, 1875, was the wife of Henry Titus. Hulda died at the age of sixteen on July 16, 1826, the same year of her father's death. Nancy M., who was the wife of John Steel, died August 27, 1851, in Amhurst Township. All these children were born back in Herkimer County, and it was the distinction of the youngest of the family, Leonard, to be the first white child born in Avon Township. Leonard died in Avon May 3, 1890.
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