USA > Ohio > Lorain County > A Standard History of Lorain County, Ohio: An Authentic Narrative of the. > Part 49
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Mrs. Charles F. Cushing, his wife, died at the old home on West Fifth Street in Elyria December 5, 1910. Her maiden name was Mary L. Hayward, and she was born at Elyria September 16, 1848. Her parents were Mr. and Mrs. Gardner Hayward, who, when she was a child, moved to Attleboro, Massachusetts, and subsequently to Brooklyn, New York. Miss Hayward and Dr. Charles F. Cushing were married at Brooklyn May 15, 1866, and the young couple soon afterwards re- turned to Elyria. To their marriage were born three children: Fannie and Helen, both of whom died in early childhood, and Charles H., a leading physician and surgeon of Elyria, whose career is the subject of another article in this work.
Like her husband, Mrs. Cushing was of fine old New England stock. Mention has already been made of Francis Cushing's connections as the builder of the old ship Constitution. When the time came for the breaking up of that boat after its service in the national navy, Mrs. Cushing's grandfather, Lyman Knowles, secured some of the timbers and from them made a carriage which he presented to President Jackson at Washington, District of Columbia. Mrs. Cushing took a prominent part in social affairs at Elyria and is particularly well remembered for
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her kindly nature. She was never known to speak disparagingly of anyone, and to the last had a faith in the essential goodness of human nature. Since her death Dr. Charles F. Cushing and his son, Dr. Charles H., and family have all lived under one roof and have one of the attractive homes of the city.
CHARLES HAYWARD CUSHING, M. D. No name has been more promi- nently identified with the profession of medicine in Elyria than that of Cushing. In the twenty years since he began practice Dr. Charles H. Cushing has not only utilized the opportunities that come to an able and conscientious physician in his profession, but at the same time has become one of Elyria's leaders in business and civic and social life. His father is Dr. Charles F. Cushing, now one of the oldest members of the medical profession at Elyria, and he is now bringing his active career to a conclusion, gradually retiring from practice. A sketch of the life of Dr. Charles F. Cushing is found on other pages. The mother of Dr. C. H. Cushing was Mary Hayward Cushing, now deceased.
Those who have had an opportunity to follow closely the career of Doctor Cushing say that, though physically of medium size, he is endowed with wonderful physical endurance and that no man in the medical profession of Northern Ohio has put in more time devoted to the strenu- ous work of his calling. Besides the ability to work hard he has had training and is a man of great natural ability. Charles Hayward Cush- ing was born at Elyria, December 20, 1869, attended as a boy the public schools in Elyria, Oberlin College, and has won two degrees as doctor of medicine, one from the regular school and one from the School of Homeopathy. He was graduated from the Western Reserve University and from the Cleveland College of Physicians and Surgeons, has taken post-graduate courses in the New York Polyclinic and the New York Post-Graduate, in the Chicago Policlinic, in the Massachusetts General Hospital, and has also attended clinics abroad. His first regular posi- tion was as house surgeon in the Huron Road Hospital at Cleveland, and while there he gave evidence of that splendid ability that has char- acterized his subsequent career. On April 3, 1895, he successfully re- moved, and the operation is recorded in medical literature, a thirty-eight pound dermoid tumor. This major operation he performed before tak- ing up regular practice as a physician and surgeon. Doctor Cushing has served as staff surgeon at the Elyria Memorial Hospital since its establishment, and on the Doctors' Advisory Board. He is surgeon for the New York Central Railway Company and the Lake Shore Electric Railway Company, surgeon for several of Elyria's largest industrial plants and examiner for about twenty old-line life insurance companies. He has been president of the staff of the Elyria Memorial Hospital, has been president of the Lorain County Medical Society, and is a member of the Ohio State Medical Society, the American Medical Association, the American Association of Railway Surgeons and the American Asso- ciation of Orificial Surgeons.
His record in business and social life is one that deserves mention. He is vice president of the Eastern Heights Land Company, is a director in the Elyria Savings and Banking Company, in the Savings Deposit Bank and Trust Company, in the Hygienic Ice Company, and also in the Elyria Chamber of Commerce. He is a director and consulting physical director of the Young Men's Christian Association and chairman of the physical department of that association. Doctor Cushing has served as president of the Men's Club of the First Congregational Church, as president of the Elyria Country Club, and for four years was chairman of the Good Roads Committee of the Elyria Chamber of Commerce. He
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is a member of the Elyria Country Club and the Union Club of Cleveland.
On December 4, 1895, at Elyria, Doctor Cushing married Josephine Folger, a daughter of the late Mayor Thomas Folger, a prominent Elyria citizen whose career is traced on other pages of this publication. Mrs. Cushing, who is a graduate of Oberlin College, is active socially and was the first physical director in connection with that important department of one of Cleveland's prominent churches. Their children, all born in Elyria, are named : Thomas Folger Cushing, now a senior in the preparatory school of Oberlin, Ohio; Carl Folger Cushing, who has won distinction as an athlete at Culver Military Academy in Indiana; and John Turner Cushing, who is attending the graded schools.
JOHN AND CHARLES SCHAIBLE. One of the handsome and well- cultivated properties of Elyria Township is that belonging to the Schaible brothers, John and Charles, which is located on the old Telegraph Road, just outside the corporation limits of Elyria. They have passed their entire lives in this locality, where both have established reputations for industry and integrity, and have contributed in no small measure to the upbuilding and advancement of this part of Lorain County.
John Schaible was born August 15, 1855, and Charles June 5, 1852, in Elyria Township, being sons of Jacob and Catherine Barbara (Ramsayer) Schaible. The parents were natives of Bolanden, Oberamt Stuttgart, Germany, where they were married November 22, 1833, and came to the United States May 1, 1848, arriving in Elyria Township, Lorain County, Ohio, August 1 of that year. They were accompanied by five children, and four more were afterwards born to them in Ohio. Settling on the farm now owned by their sons, Charles and John, they continued to be industriously engaged in farming operations during the remaining years of their lives, and through their sterling traits of character impressed themselves upon their community and won and retained the esteem and regard of those with whom they came into contact. The father, who was born March 27, 1807, died February 9, 1874, while the mother, born February 9, 1817, died December 11, 1873. Of their eleven children, two died in infancy, while the others were as follows: Agnes Barbara, who is the widow of Frederick Theiss of Berea Township, and has five children; Mary Margaret, who is the wife of Martin Limb of Wooster, Ohio; Frederick, who died February, 1875, a farmer on Telegraph Road, inside the corporation limits of Elyria, married Marie Julia Rodsezzinsky, also deceased, and had an only daughter who survives them and is the owner of the farm; Henrietta Catherine, who is the wife of George Krieger, of Wooster, Ohio, and had five children, of whom two sons survive ; Jacob E., a farmer of West Ridge, Elyria Township, who mar- ried Caroline Eppley. of Zanesville, Ohio, and has two children : Charles Henry and Carrie, the latter being the wife of George Horn, a farmer of Russia Township; Caroline, who died April 29, 1910; Charles and John, of this review; and Sophia.
The Schaible brothers were reared on the home farm and secured their educations in the public schools. When ready to enter upon their careers they adopted farming as a vocation in which to work out their success, and from the outset have been associated in every dealing. This partnership has been mutually beneficial and congenial and the brothers form a team that is hard to beat in matters agricultural. The home farm is a tract of sixty-four acres, in addition to which they own also two other farming tracts in Elyria Township, one being a farm of sixty acres on the old Telegraph Road, formerly known as the old West farm, and one on the West Ridge, consisting of 127 acres. Their land is all in a good
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state of cultivation, with substantial buildings and up-to-date improve- ments and modern machinery, and a general air of prosperity gives evidence of the presence of good management and well-directed effort. While the land is given over principally to general farming, the brothers are also engaged in raising some good cattle, which, while not thorough- bred, is constantly being improved, the Messrs. Schaible working towards a better class of cattle. For several years they were also engaged in breeding race horses, and while a number of years have passed since they abandoned this business, as well as that of racing the animals, the records still bear witness to the speed of their animals, notable among which was the famous "Fleetwood."
Both brothers are good citizens, ever ready to help in all public- spirited movements, and find their greatest pleasure in the cultivation of their fields, the raising of fat, contented live stock, and the tending of a promising and productive orchard.
ANSON O. WEST has made his success as a practical farmer and dairyman and is one of the live and progressive citizens of Pittsfield Township. At different times in his career he has been honored with several township offices, and his dependability has been a prominent characteristic in all his relations. Besides general farming he also con- ducts a dairy of about fifteen cows.
Practically all his life has been spent on the farm, and he now owns the place in Pittsfield Township on which he was born August 7, 1856. His parents were Oliver and Phoebe F. (Messenger) West. His paternal grandfather was Joshua West, a native of Massachusetts, who subse- quently moved out to Ohio and spent the rest of his days as a farmer in this state. The Wests are of English ancestry. The maternal grand- father was Anson Messenger, who was an early settler in Portage County, Ohio. Oliver West, who was born at Lee, Massachusetts, in 1907, died in 1883. He came out to Ohio in 1832 and bought a farm at Wellington, where he lived for. some eight or nine years, and then moved to Portage County, but in 1842 returned to Lorain County and acquired a tract of wild land consisting of about a hundred acres. He applied himself industriously to the clearing up of this place, constructed substantial farm buildings, and lived there until his death. He and his wife were members of the Congregational Church and in politics he was a re- publican. His wife, Miss Messenger, was born in Portage County, Ohio, in 1820, and died in 1896. They reared three children, and the only one now living is Anson O.
Anson O. West while growing up on the home farm in Pittsfield 'Township attended the district school there and was also a student in Oberlin College for several terms. Having been reared to farm work he adopted it as his permanent vocation, and all his efforts have been confined to his native farm. In 1896 he bought the interests of the other heirs, and now has a well equipped farmstead of one hundred eighteen acres. While the farm has been under his ownership he has constructed and remodeled some of the buildings, and now has every- thing he requires for successful agriculture in this section of Ohio.
In 1880 Mr. West married Miss Grace Rogers. Mrs. West is a native of England. and her father John Rogers came to Lorain County in 1869 and spent the rest of his days here. Mr. and Mrs. West have three children : Nettie V., at home; John Oliver, who conducts the farm for his father ; and Fannie Ann, who is attending Ohio University at Athens. Mrs. West is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church while he remains true to the faith in which he was reared, the Congregational. Vol. 11-21
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He is also affiliated with the Maccabees Order and in politics is a re- publican.
BURDETTE S. SMITH. Nearly every one in Lorain is now acquainted with the substantial position occupied by Burdette S. Smith, as head of an electrical contracting and garage and automobile plant, but com- paratively few know of the struggles by which he has won his way to success.
Very early in life, on account of the death of his mother, he had to turn his time to account in making his own way in the world. He had been born at Ludington, Michigan, June 6, 1876. His father, Samuel Smith, was a foreman in the lumber camps of Northern Michigan during the high tide of the lumber industry. The mother was Loretta Smith. On account of the breaking up of the home through the death of the mother, Burdette S. Smith, who in the meantime had acquired only a limited amount of education in the public schools, went east to New York City, and for a time sold papers on the streets. The position which had a great deal to do with his subsequent destiny was employment with the telephone company, and he soon became an operator, and from that got into the more technical part of the business as a switchboard and cable man, and eventually was made foreman of a gang of men performing this class of work. In that way he acquired a thorough practical knowl- edge of electrical construction and operation, and his main business career has been identified chiefly with things electrical.
In 1900 Mr. Smith came to Lorain to take charge of the telephone department of the National Tube Company. Later he organized the Lorain Electrical Construction Company, of which he became manager, secretary and treasurer, and in September, 1914, he bought the con- trolling interests and then changed the name to the Lorain Electric & Auto Company. This is now a substantial industry at Lorain, and Mr. Smith built the structure which his plant occupies, a two-story brick building, 33 by 143 feet deep, all of which is occupied by his shops and garage. He also has a two-story warehouse, 25 by 50 feet. Besides his general repair and electrical contracting business he handles the agency for the Ford and Buick automobiles.
Fraternally he is a Knight Templar Mason, and is a life member of Al-Koran Temple, Ancient Arabic Order Nobles of the Mystic Shrine, of Cleveland, Ohio. He is one of the most popular business men of Lorain. On June 1, 1902, he married Miss Lulu White of Vermilion, Ohio. Their three children are named Chester Burdette, Blanche Dee and Paul White.
WILLIAM E. AVERY. Several generations of the Avery family have lived in Lorain County and have performed their part as citizens with spirit and credit to themselves. The name is one of the most honored in the rural district of the county and one of the older living representatives is William E. Avery whose fine farm home is situated in the vicinity of Wellington.
He was born in Pittsfield Township June 26, 1848, a son of Carlos and Martha (McKnaught) Avery. His paternal grandparents both died in Massachusetts, while his maternal grandfather John McKnaught was a native of Ireland, a shoemaker by trade, and died at Waterloo, Iowa. Carlos Avery was born in Massachusetts in January, 1808, and died in December, 1892. He was married at Pittsfield, Massachusetts, to Miss McKnaught, who was born at New Lebanon, New York, in 1822. and died in 1904. In a very early day his parents came west and located in Lorain County and established their home on a farm in Pittsfield Town-
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ship. Carlos Avery was one of the sturdy pioneers who helped to develop the communities of Lorain County, and his first purchase of land was ninety-six acres, while later he bought ninety-eight more. After clearing up his land and living in a style of utmost simplicity for some years he had prospered so as to build for his family a substantial brick house, and he spent the rest of his days in comfort. While his wife was a member of the Congregational Church, he was a regular attendant of the Methodist, and he not only went to church on Sundays and other meeting days, but he carried his Christianity into his everyday life, and he also made his children attend church and encouraged them to similar piety. In the early days he took his family to church in an ox cart. He was an unusually fine type of the early settler, and was well read and educated beyond the standard of the men of his time. In politics he was a democrat, but his chief interest was in promoting the good of his home locality, particularly the schools. He served as a school director for a number of years, and led the movement for the erection of one of the first schoolhouses in Pittsfield Township. Carlos Avery and wife had five children, and the four now living are: Mary Elizabeth, widow of William Worthing and living at Colorado Springs; William E .; Charles, a retired citizen of Oberlin; and Harriet, wife of Frank Gifford, who is living retired at Wellington.
William E. Avery had the advantage of the schools in Pittsfield Township during the decades of the '50s and early '60s, and has always appreciated the fine training which he received at home under the direc- tion of his father. He also attended the Wellington Academy and com- pleted his education by a business course at Oberlin.
On December 13, 1871, Mr. Avery married Sarah Rawson, daughter of Zera and Martha ( Ames) Rawson. Her father was born in 1822 and died February 11, 1898, and was for many years a successful farmer in Pittsfield Township. On September 23, 1840, he married Miss Ames, who was born in Jefferson County, New York, July 13, 1823, and died at the advanced age of ninety-two on December 31, 1915. After their marriage they located in Pittsfield Township, where they assisted in converting a portion of the wilderness into a good home, and they finally moved to Michigan where both Mr. and Mrs. Rawson died. Of their nine children all are still living, and Mrs. Avery was the sixth in order of birth. She has one brother who lives in Norwalk, Ohio, while the others reside in Michigan.
Mr. and Mrs. Avery have three children : Lula is the wife of Mark A. Whitney of Oberlin. Edith married George Hines of Pittsfield Township and they have one child, Luella May. Winfield some years ago had both feet cut off in a railroad wreck, but is showing his capacity for work in spite of this handicap and is now a bookkeeper with the railway company at Cleveland. He married Amanda Sehlobohm and has two children, Karl William and Scott Earl. Mr. and Mrs. Avery are both members of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and he is affiliated with the Knights and Ladies of Security. In politics a republican, he has been quite active in local affairs, has served as a member of the election board and as school director and for a number of years was president of the school board. Some years ago Mr. Avery acquired the interests of the other heirs in the old homestead in Pittsfield Township, and now has a fine farm of nearly ninety-five acres, and gives his entire time and attention to the business of general farming.
FLOYD G. AVERY. Among the younger men who in recent years have assumed the major responsibilities in the conduct of Lorain County's agricultural interests is Floyd G. Avery, who is still in his '30s and yet
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has established himself securely in the farming community around Ober- lin, and is making a success partly on his own land and partly on land that he rents.
A native of Lorain County, he was born in Pittsfield Township May 20, 1879, a son of Charles F. and Martha (Preston) Avery. His grand- parents, Carlos and Martha Avery, were early settlers in Lorain County. Carlos Avery was a native of Connecticut and was well known among the early settlers of this section of Ohio. The maternal grandfather, William Preston, was a native of England and spent many years in Lorain County, finally passing away at Oberlin. Charles F. Avery was born in Pittsfield Township and is living at Oberlin with his wife, who is a native of Sullivan, Ohio. They were married in Lorain County, and Charles Avery followed farming actively until 1900, at which date he retired and moved to Oberlin. There are four children: Lewis, of Oberlin, who is employed at the car barns at Elyria; Leland, who is manager for the Sterns automobile business at Cleveland; Phoebe, wife of C. C. Sheffield, a farmer in Pittsfield Township; and Floyd G. The parents are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and the father is a democrat and for a number of years filled an office on the school board.
Floyd G. Avery acquired his early education in the schools of Pitts- field Township, and grew up on his father's farm. He spent three years as a farmer on part of his father's land, but at the present time he owns thirty-five acres and operates under lease one hundred acres belonging to his father-in-law and is rapidly getting ahead in the world.
At Christmas, 1900, Mr. Avery married Miss Cora Sherburne, daugh- ter of Arthur and Ada (Whitney) Sherburne, a farmer of Pittsfield Township. They have four children: Treva, Kenneth, Knowlton and Charles. The two older children are both in school. Mr. and Mrs. Avery are members of the Grange and belong to the Congregational Church. Fraternally he is affiliated with the Royal Arcanum and in politics is a republican. He has made himself a factor in local affairs, and in 1913 was elected township trustee and reelected in 1915. He has served six years as school director.
WILLIAM LEWIS HUGHES. Among the leading members of the Lorain County bar, William Lewis Hughes, city solicitor of Lorain, has brought to the practice of his calling broad scholarship, comprehensive training and a fine legal mind. Instead of selecting his life calling in the untried enthusiasm of extreme youth, Mr. Hughes made his choice with a mature mind, trained to thoughtfulness by years of experience as an educator and to a full realization of the possibilities and responsibilities which professional practice entails.
William L. Hughes belongs to a family whose members have resided in Ohio since 1825, in which year his grandfather, Hezekiah Hughes, migrated to Belmont County and took up his residence in a wild and uncultivated community where he established his home and after years of endeavor succeeded in clearing and cultivating a farm. From that time this family has had much to do with agricultural interests here, but a number of the name have also engaged with success in business and the professions. The parents of Mr. Hughes, Preston and Mary A. (Fisher) Hughes, were born in Belmont County, Ohio, and there their entire careers have been passed, the father being a well-to-do fruit farmer.
William Lewis Hughes was born on the homestead place in Belmont County, Ohio, July 22, 1860, and there received his education in the district and normal schools. At the age of twenty years he secured a teacher's certificate and began teaching in the public schools, and during
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his fifteen years of connection with the educational profession became one of the best known and most proficient and popular educators in that part of Ohio. Much of his time during the summer months was spent on the farm, and toward the close of his work as an instructor he applied himself to the study of law, being finally admitted to the bar in December, 1894. Selecting the City of Lorain as his field of endeavor, in 1895 he entered general practice here, opened an office and enrolled his name among the practitioners of the city. Unusual ability, great natural re- source and firm belief in the best tenets of his profession soon made him a factor to be reckoned with, and in the course of his professional life many of the most important municipal cases in this part of the state have received his support. In 1897 he was elected city solicitor of Lorain, an office which he still retains. While Mr. Hughes' practice has been broad and general in its nature, embracing all the branches of his calling, he has, perhaps, gained his reputation principally in the field of muni- cipal law, of which he is an acknowledged master. He is a valued member of the Lorain County Bar Association, and has been connected fraternally with the Knights of Pythias since 1889, having been past chancellor in 1890. He belongs to the Methodist Episcopal Church and is vice presi- dent of the Methodist Brotherhood. Mr. Hughes is esteemed for his many excellent qualities of heart and mind, for his thorough knowledge of the theory and practice of law, and for a public spiritedness which has ever prompted a sane and practical interest in those measures which tend to greater happiness, stability and good government.
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