USA > Ohio > Lorain County > A Standard History of Lorain County, Ohio: An Authentic Narrative of the. > Part 51
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Still another improvement came in 1905 when he built a bank barn on a foundation 36x66 feet with 20-foot posts. This barn has a cement floor and facilities for stabling eighteen cows and eight head of horses. This is only to mention the most prominent features about the Mennell . farm, but it is sufficient to indicate that it is one of the best equipped and best managed in Grafton Township. Mr. and Mrs. Mennell have two children. Harland was born in the home afforded by the recon- struction of the dental office on August 14, 1890. He graduated from the Elyria High School and he married Ruth Harrison of Grafton. For a time he was a conductor on the Interurban Railway at Burton, then moved to Grafton and was in similar service on the Green Line Inter- urban but is now a practical farmer in LaGrange Township. He and his wife have two children: Millicent, born at Chardon, Ohio, Septem- ber 6, 1912; and Gwendolyn, who was born at LaGrange, February 6, 1915.
The daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Mennell is Fawn G., who was born in the new home of her parents February 28, 1901, and is now a freshman in the Elyria High School.
Politically Mr. Mennell has chosen an independent attitude, though usually a republican, and has served three years as township treasurer. However, he is not a seeker for official honors. He and his wife and daughter are members of the Grange. He is a member of the Maccabees.
LAWRENCE ANTHONY BURGETT. The vocation of contracting and building, of housing the people and the enterprises which make up a community, is one of the oldest and most honorable known to man. In every part of the civilized globe the builder is found as an absolute necessity, and as the opportunities of the calling include few cross-cuts to quick prosperity and position, its followers almost invariably are found to be men of temperate habits and steady industry, calm judg- ment and patient enterprise. The journeyman who possesses ambition, determination and genuine ability in his line is afforded the opportunity of working his way to the highest emoluments of his vocation, in which case the rewards place him on a plane with the majority of men in professional and business life. In this capable and resourceful class of Lorain County is found Lawrence Anthony Burgett. of Lorain, who has contributed much to the past of this city, and who, because of his superior equipment, may be counted upon to share in its future develop- ment.
Mr. Burgett was born in Lucas County. Ohio, April 2, 1869, and is a son of Peter and Eva (Laux) Burgett. His father, a brick mason by trade, came to Lorain County, Ohio, in 1846, and here divided his time between following his avocation and carrying on agricultural pursuits. He died in 1903, the mother having passed away in 1892. Lawrence A. Burgett is not only a self-educated man. but a self-made one as well. After attending the public schools, he desired a further training, and accordingly enrolled as a student at a night school, where he improved his
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mental training, while his daytimes were being devoted to learning the trade of bricklayer, under the preceptorship of his father. His trade mastered, he began following it, and in this connection came to Lorain, in August, 1892. Finally, after securing several small contracts and carrying them through to a successful issue, he gave up the trade as an operator and became a contractor and builder, a line in which he has steadily risen to a foremost place. While all kinds of structures have been erected by him, he is probably best known in connection with building schools, these having included ordinary schoolhouses of eight rooms, more pretentious structures, and the present stately and hand- some edifice of the Lorain High School, a cut of which appears in this work. This fire-proof structure, of brick and stone, is three stories in height and 147x290 feet in dimensions. It was erected in 1915, and in addition to the school rooms, includes a spacious auditorium, well- equipped lavatories, and departments of manual training and domestic science. Its machinery cost $17,000, and its equipment, $30,000, the total cost of the building, machinery and equipment being $275,000. Another handsome structure built by Mr. Burgett is the Elyria Building, a three- story brick building, 230x145 feet, modern in every respect, and costing $150,000. He has erected also three graded schools at Lorain, with two additions, the Lorain Opera House, Saint Mary's Catholic Church, the National Bank of Commerce, the Central Bank, on Penfield Avenue, Lorain, and many public libraries, office buildings, banks and churches, as well as private residences. Mr. Burgett has the kind of enthusiasm for his work that enables him to master it thoroughly, but impels him to seek its broadest and most interesting manifestations. He possesses a keen eye for the practical, as well as the artistic, and there can be no doubt that his labor will stand the approbation of years. As a citizen he has displayed a keen interest in affairs affecting his community, and has served capably as a member of the Lorain City Council for one term and as president of that body for one year.
Mr. Burgett was married to Miss Josephine B. Miller, of New Wash- ington, Ohio, who died leaving three children: Blondena Ursula, who is the wife of Thomas Hume, associated with the L. A. Burgett Company ; LeRoy Peter, also with this company ; and Virgil Charles, a graduate of the Lorain High School, class of 1915. In August, 1904, Mr. Burgett was again married, being united with Cecelia Mary Messmer, who was born at Lorain, Ohio, daughter of Andrew Messmer, who was a well known railroad man of this city for many years. Mr. and Mrs. Burgett and their children are members of Saint Mary's Catholic Church.
HOMER BURT BELDEN, who is a successful and progressive young farmer of Grafton Township, represents the fifth generation of the Belden family which has been continuously identified with Lorain County for practically a century. Few Lorain County families have had so many successive generations to live within the limits of the county, and there is another matter of interest in connection with the Belden residence that their home has been practically in one location, and one farm home has served as a dwelling place for these sturdy people from life's beginning to end. In the older generations the Beldens came in maturity of manhood and womanhood, but not only Homer Burt but also his father were native sons and were born on the same farm.
Mr. Belden's homestead is located three-quarters of a mile south of Belden Station. which was named in honor of the family, on the Balti- more & Ohio Railway. In the house that he now occupies with his family he was born February 20, 1878. His parents were Homer Kings-
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ley and Rose (Burt) Belden. Homer K. Belden was born on the Belden farm, November 9, 1838. His parents were Daniel Rowley and Sarah (Kingsley) Belden. Daniel R. Belden, the grandfather, was seven years of age when he came to Lorain County from Pittsfield, Massachusetts. His parents were Capt. Bildad and Polly Belden, who brought their family out to the wilderness of Lorain County in the early years of the last century. Capt. Bildad was also accompanied by his father, Daniel Belden and wife Sarah Belden. Their enterprise as pioneers was first directed to the land now included in the Belden farm occupied by Homer Burt Belden. Here they did their share of productive toil, here they experienced the sorrows and pleasures of existence, many of the family married at the old homestead or brought their wives there, and there many of them passed from the scene of this mortal existence. Each generation added something to the landed estates until fully 700 acres in that section are now under the Belden family ownership.
Homer Kingsley Belden was reared and had a common school educa- tion in Grafton Township and he also attended Oberlin College. On September 24, 1861, he married Miss Rose Burt of Grafton Township, who was born in Harpersfield in Geauga County, Ohio, a daughter of Ebenezer and Emily (Mallison) Burt. Her father was a manufacturer of woolen goods and kept his home wherever his services were most in demand. Mrs. Rose Belden acquired a good education and was a teacher for some years in Lorain County before her marriage. Homer K. Belden died March 15, 1902. He was a democrat, always interested in local affairs but was never an office seeker.
Homer Burt Belden is the only child of his parents. Besides a good education in the home schools he attended business college at Oberlin, and has devoted his active years to farming and farm management, and has enjoyed a success in proportion to his inherited ability and industry.
On October 3, 1899, he married Miss Corinne Bernice Lehman, daughter of John C. and Amelia E. (Lyndes) Lehman of Grafton Town- ship. They are the parents of two children: Daniel Lehman was born November 30, 1900, and is now a junior in the Elyria High School. Horace Theodore Belden was born June 18, 1907. Mr. Belden is a democrat and is an earnest and public spirited citizen.
W. SCOTT ALDRICH has enjoyed to the full that satisfaction which goes with successful efforts as an agriculturist and is inherent in the wholesome atmosphere of a prosperous rural community. He has a front place among Grafton Township farmers, and is something of a specialist in the breeding of Percheron horses and in the manage- ment of a dairy. His homestead is located three miles southeast of Grafton on rural route No. 3. Altogether he owns two hundred acres, divided into three farms.
It was on one of these farms in Grafton Township that he first saw the light of day July 25, 1859. The Aldrich family belongs to the older stock in Lorain County and has been represented here for fully three-quarters of a century. His parents were James L. and Harriet (Clark) Aldrich. James L. Aldrich was born in New York State and was eighteen years of age when he came to Ohio with his parents Aaron and Cynthia (Bishop) Aldrich. The Aldrich family arrived in Lorain County in 1840 and located on one of the farms now owned by W. Scott Aldrich in Grafton Township. The place was then in the dense woods, and for a number of years the grown men of the family tested their enterprise and industry in clearing up and developing the land.
James L. Aldrich was one of the sturdy farmers of Grafton Township for many years. At one time he bought a farm north of Belden, and his
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pany, which then assumed the property and business of the engineering company, but the two companies were conducted as individual organi- zations. The Lumber & Coal Company, of which H. B. Hecock is presi- dent, has a large plant for the handling of lumber, coal and cement products, at the corner of Chestnut and Elm streets in Elyria.
Special interest attaches to his activities outside of his private busi- ness. He is a charter member of the Elyria Chamber of Commerce, is one of its directors, and has served on several of its important commit- tees. In politics he is a republican.
In 1913 Mr. Crehore was appointed a member of the Elyria School Board, filling the vacancy caused by the resignation of Doctor Maynard. In the fall of 1914 he was elected to succeed himself and became president of the board in January, 1916. For a number of years he has actively shared the responsibilities of the Social Settlement Associations, Asso- ciated Charities, Elyria Memorial Hospital Association, and both the city and county Young Men's Christian Association. He and his family are members of the First Congregational Church.
In 1894 he married Miss Harriet Hancock, who was born and reared in Avon Township, a daughter of Henry and Betsey Hancock. To their marriage was born three children: Robert Henry, aged nineteen, who graduated from the Elyria High School in 1914, attended Oberlin Col- lege one year, and is now a student at the Ohio State University, pursuing a course in agriculture; Lester Charles, who died August 15, 1909; and Marian Louise.
A. F. McQUEEN, M. D. An Amherst physician whose experience and abilities have brought him to a recognized position of prominence is A. F. McQueen, who enjoys a large private practice in that locality and took up his professional work there a few years ago backed by a liberal education and a long and thorough training in medical school and hospital.
He represents an old family of Northern Ohio. His grandfather Joel H. McQueen came along to Lorain County when a young man and for fifteen years sailed the Great Lakes, rising to the post of captain of a vessel. He finally tired of the water, and then settled on the farm where he died in Brownhelm Township. He married Abbie Betts. Her father Alfred H. Betts was a graduate of Delbert College in Cleveland, and was an early minister of the Congregational Church, erecting the first church of that denomination in Brownhelm Township. That edifice is still standing and is used as a place of worship today.
Doctor McQueen was born in Brownhelm Township of Lorain County January 7. 1884, a son of Fred B. and Anna (Savage) McQueen. His mother was born in Pennsylvania in 1857 and his father in Brownhelm Township of Lorain County in 1854. They were married in Brownhelm and are still living. His father has been one of the practical farmers of Brownhelm Township for many years, and still owns a hundred acres, largely in fruit, and at one time he had an orchard of twenty acres in peaches. While always active in republican politics, he has seldom sought office, and served only as township trustee and assessor. The family are members of the Congregational Church. Fred B. McQueen and wife are the parents of four children, three of whom are still living: Milo W. is on a farm: Ed was a mechanic and was killed in 1915; Doctor McQueen is the third in age; Abbie is still at home with her parents.
Besides the education he received in the district schools while living as a boy on the home farm Doctor McQueen graduated from Hiram Col- lege in 1908. His professional training for three years was pursued in the Cleveland College of Physicians and Surgeons, and in 1911 he grad-
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uated M. D. from the Western Reserve Medical College. He afterwards spent a year as an interne in St. Joseph's Hospital at Lorain, and in 1913 located at Amherst and took up general practice as a physician and surgeon. A large share of his practice comes from the local quarries. He is also medical examiner for a number of fraternal organizations. He is a member of the Lodge, Chapter and Council of Masonry, and both he and his wife belong to the Eastern Star, and he is also affiliated with the Eagles, the Knights and Ladies of Security, the Modern Woodmen of America, the Brotherhood of American Yeomen, and the Tribe of Ben Hur. Politically he is a republican.
In 1913 Doctor McQueen married Wastelle Inks. She was born in Holmes County, Ohio, and at the time of her marriage was a trained nurse in the St. Joseph IIospital at Lorain. Mrs. McQueen is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church. In line with his profession Doctor McQueen is a member of the County and State Medical Societies and the American Medical Association.
EDWARD T. KILLIP. One of the most successful farmers and dairy- men of Grafton Township is Edward T. Killip, who has an excellently improved place of ninety acres two miles east of Belden on Rural Route No. 3 out of Grafton. He has been a resident of Lorain County more than forty-five years, and is one of the sturdy and self-reliant men who have brought about their own prosperity and in so doing have added to the civic and material welfare of their communities.
Mr. Killip is a Manxman, that is he was born on the Isle of Man, a British subject, November 15, 1845. His parents were John and Mar- garet (Corlett) Killip. He was reared on his native isle, received a fair common school education in private schools, and as a youth he worked at day's wages of a shilling a day in English money. His father in early life had learned the shoemaking trade, but subsequently became a dealer in meat, slaughtering livestock on a somewhat extensive scale and selling at wholesale. The first member of the family to come to America was a cousin of his mother. This cousin located in Cleveland when it was a small village. Then Edward Killip's sister crossed the ocean and was followed by another brother, John. Then Edward himself made up his mind to follow, and when he announced that determination his mother declared that if he went the entire family would go. Thus it came about that the Killips in 1869 embarked on a steamship at Liverpool in the month of June and after eleven days on the ocean landed at New York City, going West from there to Cleveland.
Soon after reaching Ohio, Edward T. Killip secured work on a farm at $1.50 a day, and felt that he was getting rich very rapidly at such wages. In the meantime his father looked around and bargained for a farm of 105 acres, agreeing to pay between $40 and $45 per acre, for the land, its improvements, consisting of a few inferior buildings and all the livestock. On this farm the father spent the rest of his years and died in 1901. at the age of ninety. His wife had passed away in 1878. The father was a man of fair education, was a first-class penman, and an industrious upright citizen. He never became an American citizen, but his sons all naturalized and began voting a few years after their arrival in this country. Another of the family who came to America with the parents was Catherine, then a girl of fifteen, and she is now the wife of John W. Coveney and lives in Cleveland. Another son whose home is in Lorain County is Robert Henry Killip.
On March 22, 1893, in Grafton Township, Edward T. Killip married Mrs. Mary (Goodman) Reisinger. She was born in Grafton Township, a daughter of Jacob and Mary (Euga) Goodman. Her father was born Vol. II-22
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in either New York or Pennsylvania of German parentage, while her mother was a native of Germany and came to Ohio when she was five years of age. Mrs. Killip's parents were married in Medina County. By her first marriage to Mr. Reisinger Mrs. Killip had two children: Mrs. Burt Nesbitt, who lives in Grafton Township and is the mother of two children, Ruth E. and Robert H .; and Dwight, who married Miss Cora Widener and has three children, May Belle, Marjorie Fay and Edward Widener. Dwight Reisinger and wife reside on the farm of Edward Killip. When Mr. Killip married his wife's children were aged re- spectively ten and seven years.
Mr. Killip began voting the republican ticket after taking out his naturalization papers and he has been honored by local offices, serving several terms as township trustee. He and his wife are active in the Congregational Church at Belden, which he has served as trustee and for many years was treasurer, and also served as clerk and treasurer of the Sunday school.
FRANK SAMUEL RATHWELL. From his position as a mechanic in one of the industries at Lorain Frank S. Rathwell graduated a number of years ago into an independent business, and now has one of the best equipped and best managed garages and general repair industries in that city.
Born on a farm in Camden Township of Lorain County November 23, 1873, Frank Samuel Rathwell is a son of Thomas and Eliza (MeRob- erts) Rathwell. His father was one of the substantial farmers of Lorain County. As a boy he attended the country schools, but at the age of nine- teen, in 1892, took his place as a finisher in the Brass Works at Lorain. From that he went into the bicycle shop for five years, and since 1898 has been in business for himself. In 1904 he established a garage and automobile agency in connection with the bicycle business, and in 1912 completed at 213 Seventh Street a handsome building of concrete and steel, 50x110 feet, now used as a garage and general machine shop. Mr. Rathwell handles the agency for the Reo and Jeffrey cars, and is at the head of a very prosperous enterprise.
Fraternally he is affiliated with the Woodmen of the World, and the Fraternal Order of Eagles. On January 19, 1898, he married Miss Dora Green of Lorain. They have one daughter, Erma Vivian.
F. I. HUBBARD. Cashier and director of the Park Bank of Amherst, F. I. Hubbard is a progressive young business man of Lorain County who has devoted his entire active career to bank work, and has reached his present position because of constant fidelity to his duties, a sense of responsibility in the performance of his tasks, and an undoubted talent for this line of commercial enterprise.
He represents a family that has been identified with Lorain County since pioneer times. His grandfather, William F. Hubbard, a native of New York State, was a young man when he came to LaGrange Town- ship, his brother having preceded him and having been one of the first settlers there. William F. Hubbard had an unusual record as a soldier. He served all through the Mexican war, and nearly twenty years later enlisted his service in the cause of the Union, going out as captain of a company in an Ohio regiment. He was taken ill while in the army, and never recovered his health, dying in 1865.
F. I. Hubbard was born in LaGrange Township on a farm December 22, 1882, a son of Irwin and Ellen (Mason) Hubbard, both of whom were also natives of LaGrange Township. His father was born in November, 1845, spent his active career as a farmer, but since 1899 has
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lived in Elyria, where he owns a substantial residence property. The mother was born June 27, 1849. They were married in LaGrange Town- ship January 1, 1867. To their union, which has now endured almost half a century, were born thirteen children, five of whom died in in- fancy, one passed away at the age of twenty-four, and the seven now liv- ing are: Edward, who resides at Elyria and is assistant foreman in the furnace at Lorain; Edna, wife of Bert Carter of Elyria; W. F. Hubbard, boiler inspector for the Indemnity Insurance Company, living at Elyria; F. I. Hubbard; Hattie, a teacher in the public schools at Elyria; Lovantia, who is also a teacher in the public schools at Elyria; and C. L., who is in an architect's office in Cleveland. Irwin Hubbard, the father of these children, is a democrat in politics.
In 1900 F. I. Hubbard graduated from the high school at La- Grange. Much of his early youth was spent on the farm, and though he gained a practical knowledge of its duties his ambition was for com- mercial work, and after leaving high school he entered the Elyria Busi- ness College where he completed the course in 1902. About that time he was taken into the Elyria Savings and Banking Company as book- keeper. His promotion has been steady, and he afterwards served as as- sistant cashier. From Elyria he moved to Amherst and organized the Amherst Park Bank, with a capital of $25,000. This is one of the flour- ishing financial institutions of the county.
In September, 1907, Mr. Hubbard married Jessie Paterson of Am- herst. Their two children are Robert Irwin, now five years of age, and Grace L., aged two years. Mr. and Mrs. Hubbard are members of the First Baptist Church of Elyria, and fraternally he is affiliated with the Royal Arcanum, and is a democrat in politics.
L. D. GIBSON. From farming, a vocation to which he had applied the best energies of his younger years, L. D. Gibson turned his atten- tion to merchandising at South Amherst, and is now one of the progres- sive business men and energetic citizens of that community.
While he was born in Russia Township of Lorain County, April 1, 1856, his family for many years had lived in New York State, where both his father and mother and his grandfather were born. His parents were Silas and Diantha (Heath) Gibson. His father was born in 1804 and died in 1894 and his mother was born in 1816 and died in 1864. They were married in New York State where three of their thir- teen children were born. The four still living are: Lindley, a retired resident of Brownhelm Township; Ophelia, who first married John Bender and later E. J. Frederick, and now lives on a farm in Russia Township; Barzilla, a resident of Camden Township; and L. D. Gib- son. Silas Gibson on coming to Lorain County bought 200 acres of land in Russia Township, subsequently selling half of it, and occupying and cultivating the remainder until his death. He did much clearing and development work, built a frame house, which replaced the old log build- ing which had been the first habitation of the family in Lorain County. He was a very successful man, and in politics was a democrat, while his wife was a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church.
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