USA > Ohio > Lorain County > A Standard History of Lorain County, Ohio: An Authentic Narrative of the. > Part 26
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On December 22, 1897, he married Mary Elizabeth White, daughter of Samuel White, a farmer and cheese maker. Mrs. Allison was born in Lorain County. She was a successful teacher for four years. They have six children. Forest Alexander, born February 22, 1900; Ruth Marion, born May 17, 1901; Grace .Eliza, born November 11, 1903; Howard Raymond, born March 9, 1905; Truman Bennett, born July 4, 1908; and Dorothy Elizabeth, born December 18, 1912. Mrs. Allison is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church.
Fraternally Mr. Allison is a Maccabee, and has been very active in the Patrons of Husbandry, having served as state deputy master four
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THOMAS B. ALLISON AND FAMILY
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Royal and Select Masters; Elyria Lodge No. 465, of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks; Elyria Lodge No. 431, Fraternal Order of Eagles; and Elyria Lodge No. 778, Loyal Order of Moose.
Mr. Bivin was married December 1, 1902, to Miss Edna M. Hinish, of Maumee, Ohio, who was born, reared and educated there, a daughter of Thomas and Ella M. (Reed) Hinish. Her father, who died in 1900, was a well known citizen of Maumee and for more than twenty-five years proprietor of the Maumee Paper Mills, and her mother still resides at that place. Two children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Bivin: Thomas Hinish, born at Lorain, Ohio, April 9, 1905, and now attending the graded schools; and Harry Jerome, born at the county jail at Elyria, while his father was serving as sheriff, October 12, 1912, who is con- sidered by his parents "An 100% Boy."
THOMAS B. ALLISON. By hard and successful work as a farmer, by good citizenship, by an influence steadily directed toward the better- ment of his own family and the community in which he lives, Thomas B. Allison has played a worthy part in Lorain County, where he has con- ducted a large farm for many years.
A native of Ohio, he was born in Ashland County, November 5, 1864, a son of Alexander and Elizabeth (Provines) Allison. The Allisons were among the early settlers of Ashland County. Alexander Allison was born in Washington County, Pennsylvania, in 1806 and died in 1889. He went to Ashland County when young, and was twice married, Thomas B. Allison being the child of his second wife. There were twelve chil- dren altogether, six by each marriage. Besides Thomas B. there are two daughters living, one by the first and one by the second union; Rachel, who lives at West Salem, Ohio, is by the first union, and Anna, who lives with her brother Thomas, is by the second union.
Alexander Allison was a man of more than ordinary influence and prominence. He was active in the Presbyterian Church, and held some office in that denomination for many years. Politically he was a repub- lican, and filled various township offices. A man of good education and of the strictest integrity, he was frequently honored with trusts, par- ticularly in administering estates. In Ashland County he had cleared up a large tract of land, and made a success of farming.
Thomas B. Allison spent his boyhood days in Ashland County, at- tending the public schools there, and he also had other courses in higher schools at Cleveland. His first regular vocation was school teaching, and from that he went to a farm. His father was incapacitated for regular work at the age of fifty-four, and it was Thomas who took charge of affairs and kept the estate together in his declining years. Later he bought the old homestead, buying the interests of the other heirs, and managed it for several years. He then took a business course and spent nine months in Toledo as a bookkeeper and six months at Akron. On first coming to Lorain County Mr. Allison was on the road for two years selling goods, and then was in the office of the railway at Wellington for some months.
On December 22, 1897, he married Mary Elizabeth White, daughter of Samuel White, a farmer and cheese maker. Mrs. Allison was born in Lorain County. She was a successful teacher for four years. They have six children. Forest Alexander, born February 22, 1900; Ruth Marion. born May 17, 1901; Grace .Eliza, born November 11, 1903; Howard Raymond, born March 9, 1905; Truman Bennett, born July 4, 1908 ; and Dorothy Elizabeth, born December 18, 1912. Mrs. Allison is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church.
Fraternally Mr. Allison is a Maccabee, and has been very active in the Patrons of Husbandry, having served as state deputy master four
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years, and was secretary for eight years. Politically he is a republican. For eleven years he filled the office of township trustee and every public duty has been thoroughly discharged by him.
It was in 1900 that they bought their present farm of 257 acres, now known as "Riverby," and in the past fifteen years have been constantly working for its improvement and development. Among other things he has tiled a large part of the land, and has erected several substantial buildings. His enterprise is largely general farming and he also keeps a herd of nine thoroughbred Holstein cattle and graded Holstein stock.
WILLIAM RAYMOND COMINGS. Not every well-meaning man, although leading in a community's citizenship perhaps, is able to realize the present need of a wider and deeper service that the public schools should give. Radical changing conditions in economic and social life, call for new and better methods and it is encouraging to learn of the remark- able and gratifying results that have been obtained in some sections by the arousing of intelligent public opinion by progressive educa- tionalists. To illustrate, the public schools of Elyria, Ohio, with their enrollment of 2,934 pupils, very largely through the earnest, faithful, wise and farseeing efforts of Supt. William Raymond Comings, have been given unusual advantages. There are an adequate number of buildings with complete equipment for the most approved modern methods of instruction and for health and comfort, fire-proof and amply safe guarded. There are play grounds and play rooms; there is a corps of teachers with professional training; there is a high school that fits students for college, and there is vocational work in both high and grade schools. The bringing about of such changes within the short space of fourteen years, makes an interesting chapter in the educational history of Lorain County and centers attention upon the educator mainly responsible.
William Raymond Comings was born February 16, 1851, at East Berkshire, Franklin County, Vermont, and is a son of Andrew and Amanda Comings. His father was a farmer in Franklin County, all his immediate ancestors being tillers of the soil. On the paternal side the family is of English extraction and may be traced as far back as the reign of Henry VIII. Like many other ancient families the orthography of the name has changed, but the Comines, the Comyns, the Cummings and the Comings all came from the same sturdy stock.
Of studious bent and inquiring mind, young Comings soon absorbed the instruction offered in the country schools in his boyhood, and, as agricultural effort did not appeal to him, he prepared for higher educa- tional opportunity and entered Oberlin College, from which institution he subsequently received the honorary degree of A. M. He further pursued his studies in other institutions, studying at the normal school at Kirksville, Missouri, and at Chicago, and while a resident of Chicago he served as mercantile collector for one year.
After completing his proposed courses of study, Mr. Comings ac- cepted the position of superintendent of schools at Medina, Ohio, where he remained for eight years, going then in the same capacity to Norwalk, Ohio, for nine years, and from there to Ironton, where he remained two years, in each city leaving a marked impress on the public school system. Mr. Comings then displayed his versatility by successfully engaging in newspaper work at Springfield, Missouri, for five years, and for two years at Lorain, Ohio. On retiring from the journalistic field he accepted the superintendency of the Elyria public schools and to their upbuild- ing and welfare he has devoted fifteen years of fruitful endeavor.
During this period the school enrollment at Elyria has increased from 1,400 to nearly 3,000. To care for the increase during this time there have been erected twelve entire or parts of school buildings, including
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the new manual training building on Sixth Street. Under Mr. Comings' supervision many new departments have been installed, these including the kindergarten, physical training in all grades, with physical examina- tion of all pupils, manual training and domestic science and arts in the sixth, seventh and eighth grades and high school, special schools for ungraded children and a vocational school for boys who are not eligible for regular high school work. All these departments are in fine run- ning order and that this progressiveness appeals to many young people outside the city is attested by the fact that each year many paying pupils enter the Elyria High School from the different townships in the county eager to enjoy the advantages here afforded.
In accepting a re-election in 1915, Mr. Comings issued a letter in which he said, in part, as follows: "If I see aright there are still larger and perhaps more vital problems coming in the next ten years than those of the past ten, and they will call for the efforts of expert and far- seeing supervision. The old-time educational shell has been broken, but what the new life is to be will depend upon the wisdom and sagacity of a new generation of men who are rapidly coming to the front, men trained in the great schools of investigation that have been fathered by some of the large universities with their corps of pedagogical experts. It is time for old men and for men who hark back to the old conditions to retire."
At Medina, Ohio, August 1, 1878, Mr. Comings was united in mar- riage with Miss Loretta Kennedy, who is a daughter of William and Elizabeth Kennedy, and a descendant in direct line, from Alexander Hamilton. Mr. and Mrs. Comings have two daughters: Josephine, who is the wife of J. A. Egbert, of Indianapolis, Indiana; and Marian E., who resides with her parents. The family attend the Congregational Church.
Ever concerned in the public welfare, Mr. Comings has long been an aroused student of political history and is affiliated with the re- publican party. Seldom has he found time to serve in public office but for a quarter of a century he performed the duties of county school examiner in Medina, Huron and Lorain counties. Widely known in educational circles, Mr. Comings is a member of various educational bodies and is chairman of the executive committee of the Ohio State Teachers' Association. Genial by nature, sympathetic and tactful, he is welcomed in every social circle and values his membership in several such bodies at Elyria and in other cities. He is a member of the board of trustees of the Young Men's and the Young Women's Christian associations and of the board of managers of the Memorial Hospital, all at Elyria.
Measured by high standards, Mr. Comings as superintendent of the schools has been a pronounced success and whether he remains at Elyria beyond his present term or not, the avenues of usefulness he has opened and the illumination he has thrown through his rare personality and his progressive methods, along many paths, will show the great and lasting service he has performed for this city. All that he has done has been so useful and so admirable that approval cannot be witheld by those who have either education, industrial efficiency or child welfare at heart.
HON. WILLIAM B. THOMPSON. The recent appointment of William B. Thompson as judge of the new Court of Common Pleas in Lorain County has brought a new distinction to the career of one of the oldest and most prominent lawyers and business men in this section of Ohio. Judge Thompson has been identified with the profession of law for more than twenty-six years, though he is perhaps best known through his extensive relations with public and business affairs.
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In the fall of 1914 Judge Thompson was republican candidate for the office of judge of the Court of Common Pleas, his rival for that office being H. G. Redington. The election being contested, the Circuit Court ordered a recount, which showed the vote to have been a tie. The case then went to the Supreme Court, which in the spring of 1915 affirmed the decision of the Circuit Court of Appeal, and declared that Mr. Redington, who had already been seated on the bench by appointment from Governor Cox would continue in office until the next election. A new turn was given to the matter. when the Lorain County Bar Asso- ciation petitioned the Legislature to create another judgeship on the ground that there was too much work for one judge. The Legislature then passed the necessary legislation, and on May 20, 1915, Governor Willis selected Mr. Thompson for the newly created position.
The family to which Judge Thompson belongs is one of the oldest in Lorain County. He is himself a native of Columbia Township of this county, where he was born September 6, 1863, a son of Samuel B. and Emular L. (Osborn) Thompson. His paternal grandfather, John V. Thompson, was a Connecticut man and one of the earliest to settle in Columbia Township. The maternal grandfather, William B. Osborn, was born in Columbia Township, where his father, A. P. Osborn, had located as early as 1810, having also come from Connecticut. Samuel B. Thompson, who is still living in Columbia Township nearly eighty years of age, was born there in 1836, and spent all his active life as a farmer. His wife, who was born in the same township in 1837, died in July, 1899. Judge Thompson's only brother, John B. Thompson, is a stock farmer and dealer in Columbia Township.
When Judge Thompson was eleven years of age his parents left the old farm in order to give their son the better educational advantages found at Berea. William B. Thompson completed the high school course there, and in 1885 was graduated bachelor of philosophy from Baldwin Uni- versity. Following his college career came a year as a farmer and school teacher, but in 1886 he entered the law office of Judge G. M. Barber, at Cleveland, and a year later went into the office of Judge A. R. Webber, of Elyria. When Judge Thompson qualified as the judge of the new Court of Common Pleas he took the oath of office before Judge Webber, who is also a notary public.
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Admitted to the bar in 1888, Judge Thompson has had a long and suc- cessful career as a lawyer. For many years his home has been in the City of Lorain, and he is the first citizen of that city to reach the dignity of judicial office. He still retains his residence there, and goes back and forth to attend court in Elyria.
Few practical business men in Lorain County have had larger and more influential relations with financial and industrial affairs than this well known attorney. He was one of the three organizers of the old Penfield Avenue Savings Bank of Lorain, was its president for twenty years after organization, and when the bank was reorganized under the new name the Central Bank Company he continued as president, an office which he still holds. Judge Thompson is also president of the Home Building Company of Lorain, and was president of the Bar- rows Milling Company until it was succeeded by the Houff-McNeil Company, in which he is vice president and a director. He is a director of the Cleveland, Columbus & Southwestern Railway Company, a director of the Black River Telephone Company and is vice president of the Amherst Furniture Company of Amherst. He is also president of the Tri-County Realty Company. On taking his seat as judge he gave up. as the law requires, a long standing relation with the Lake Erie and Pitts- burg Railway Company. He organized this company, was its vice presi- dent and director while it was being constructed, managed its legal
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affairs, and the main office of the road was in Mr. Thompson's office at Lorain. In his work as a lawyer Judge Thompson has had few partner- ship relations. In 1899 George L. Glitsch became a member of the firm of Thompson & Glitsch, and later A. W. Cinniger joined them under the title of Thompson, Glitsch & Cinniger.
For a number of years Judge Thompson was a trustee of Baldwin University, his alma mater, until the recent consolidation of that insti- tution. He organized and incorporated the Lorain Chamber of Com- merce at Lorain, and was its first president. In July, 1913, Judge Thompson completed twenty-six years of service as attorney for the Citizens Home and Savings Association Company of Lorain. The most important political office he held prior to his appointment as judge was as mayor of Lorain, to which he was elected in April, 1890, and again in 1892. Judge Thompson is an active Mason; is affiliated with Lorain Lodge No. 552, Free and Accepted Masons; Mystic Chapter No. 170, Royal Arch Masons; the Council and also the Lorain Commandery of the Knights Templar. He belongs to Black River Lodge No. 682, Inde- pendent Order of Odd Fellows, to Lake Shore Encampment No. 242. He and his wife are members of the First Methodist Church at Lorain.
On December 17, 1890, Judge Thompson married Lulu Sanford, daughter of the late Rev. James L. Sanford, of Delaware, Ohio, who spent his last days in Lorain. There are two children: Helen Marie, the older, is a graduate of. Gunston Hall at Washington, D. C., and also spent a year in the Boston Conservatory of Music at Boston. The son, Robert William, is now attending high school at Lorain. Judge Thompson is a member of the Elyria Country Club.
MAJ .- GEN. QUINCY A. GILLMORE. The nation owes a lasting debt of gratitude to the services of a notable group of men from the Western Reserve of Ohio who as soldiers or statesmen gained individual renown and made themselves invaluable to the Union during the dark period of the Civil war. Every school boy could recall some of these names, notably James A. Garfield and William Mckinley, but in his special field as a military strategist one of the ablest was Quincy A. Gillmore, who was born in the Black River community, now the City of Lorain, February 25, 1825, and during the war earned an international reputa- tion as an organizer of siege operations and a revolutionizer of naval gunnery.
A member of the well known Gillmore family of Lorain County and a son of Quartus Gillmore and wife, mentioned elsewhere, Quincy Adams Gillmore as a boy attended the Norwalk Academy and the Elyria High School. He began to study medicine and wrote for publication. There was a vacancy at West Point and the boys appointed failed to pass. Finally, in attempting to find a suitable person, Gillmore was recom- mended because of his integrity and scholarship. He was not in the neighborhood at the time and so missed seeing the gentleman who was looking for him. Hearing of it later, he mounted his horse and rode to an adjoining town, where he overtook him just in time to secure the appointment, which was going to another. He acquitted himself with credit as a cadet, graduating in 1849 at the head of his class and en- tered the service.
General Gillmore's fame as an artillery officer was established during the siege and capture of Fort Pulaski, Georgia, in 1862. At this siege and bombardment he planted his batteries at distances which previous to this time were thought to be suicidal, but in less than two days he reduced the fortress which had been pronounced by eminent engineers as impregnable.
It has been well said that General Gillmore's cannonade and capture
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of Fort Pulaski revolutionized the naval gunnery of the world and extended his fame throughout Europe as well as America. For this service he received the brevet of lieutenant-colonel and was made briga- dier-general of volunteers April 28, 1862. His next notable success was with the noted "Swamp Angel," a gun used in the siege of Charleston. The gun was apparently planted in the edge of the sea, but really in the shallow marsh between Morris and James Island. There a firm foundation was laid, a low breastworks put up in a circle around the guns, and 100-pound shells were "dropped" into Charleston. But it was only fired thirty-six times, exploding at the last discharge. Other guns soon after did as effective work, but the "Swamp Angel" is re- membered because it first proved the practicability of the method.
Later, with the Tenth Corps, he took part in the final operations of the Army of the James River. He was breveted four times for meri- torious conduct, the last time as major-general United States Army "for gallant and meritorious conduct in capturing Forts Wagner and Gregg and for the demolishing of Fort Sumter." He resigned his volunteer commission as major-general in December, 1865.
After the war General Gillmore was engaged upon important en- gineering work, and his name is most intimately associated with the improvements of the harbor at Charleston and Savannah and with other like works along the Atlantic Coast, and, as president of the Mississippi River Commission, with the great works which have been projected for the rectification of that important waterway. His treatise on roadmak- ing and paving is regarded as the highest authority. . Not long after the war General Gillmore bought back the old farm on Black River, con- verted it into a vineyard and occasionally visited it. He died at Brooklyn, New York, April 11, 1888.
EDMUND GILLMORE. Few families antedated the Gillmores in settle- ment in Lorain County, and in the agricultural, commercial and ship building communities around the mouth of Black River at what is now the City of Lorain none were more prominent in the early days. For more than a century the name has been one of the most effective in the entire county.
Before taking up briefly the life of the late Edmund Gillmore it will be appropriate to say something of his parents and grandparents. The Gillmores were of English and Scotch ancestry. Edmund and Eliza- beth (Stuart) Gillmore, paternal grandparents of the late Edmund Gill- more, were born in Massachusetts, and from that state came out to what was then known as the Connecticut Western Reserve in 1811, settling in what is now Lorain County, where Mr. Gillmore secured wild land, became a farmer, cleared and improved a large acreage and in its cultivation passed the rest of his days. There is record for the years 1843-44 of his owning land both in Amherst and the Black River Town- ship. Edmund and Elizabeth Gillmore were the parents of ten children, nine sons and one daughter, briefly referred to as follows: Quartus, born July 1, 1790; Aretus, who was born in Massachusetts, September 7, 1792, and died in Lorain County; Orrin, who was born in Massa- chusetts, September 27, 1794, and died in Cuyahoga County, Ohio; Simon, born in Massachusetts, August 19, 1796, and died at Detroit, Michigan in 1833, having been a ship carpenter by trade; Truman, born October 25, 1798, and died in Lorain County in 1881; Linas, born January 12, 1801, and died in Lorain County in 1881; Roxana. born February 9, 1803, was married in Lorain County to Robert Wright, and died in the State of Oregon; Alanson, born April 12, 1805, and died in Lorain; Edmund, born March 19, 1808, and died in Minnesota; and James Madison, born July 1, 1811, and died at Lorain.
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Quartus Gillmore, the eldest of the children above mentioned, was born in Massachusetts in 1790, being a native of Chester, Hampden County. When twenty years of age he came to Western Reserve in 1810, but lived here only temporarily and was soon back East. He again came to the West in 1812 and at that time located on land about a mile west of Black River, now the City of Lorain. He made the long journey from Massachusetts with wagons and teams. He married Eliza- beth Reid, who died in 1876, having survived her husband seven years, his death taking place in April, 1869. Quartus Gillmore was an active whig in politics, and became a republican when that party was organ- ized. For many years he served as a magistrate and about 1837 was appointed the first trustee of Black River Township in Lorain County. For several years after settling in Lorain County he followed farming, and in the early '30s joined with others in platting a tract of ground around the mouth of Black River and incorporating the Village of Charleston, now the City of Lorain, where he spent the rest of his days. Quartus Gillmore and wife had four sons: Gen. Quincy A., one of Lorain County's eminent soldiers in the Civil war, whose career is sketched elsewhere; Edmund, Cornelius R. and Quartus, Jr., and four daughters, Elizabeth, Sophia, Alice and Roxana.
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