USA > Ohio > Lorain County > A Standard History of Lorain County, Ohio: An Authentic Narrative of the. > Part 52
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Reared on a farm, educated in district schools, L. D. Gibson after some years of steadily continued effort, bought the old homestead and managed it for eight years. After selling he bought in March, 1906, the store at South Amherst, and has since developed a large business around that trading center.
In 1884 he married Elizabeth Ludwig. Her father, John Ludwig, a native of Germany, settled at Amherst in 1890, and was a quarryman. Mr. and Mrs. Gibson have five children, four of whom are still living:
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Bertha married Jacob Muth, a quarryman at Amherst, and they have one child, Zelma, nine years old; Ferdinand is now deceased; Carl, who is connected with a manufacturing plant at Elyria, married Emma Harr, and has two children named Verna Margaret and Carl Elsworth, Jr .; Elmer is in the regular United States army, with the Fourth Cav- alry, now located at Honolulu; Myrtle is the wife of Henry J. Kolb, a partner with Mr. Gibson in the store. Mrs. Gibson is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church.
Fraternally he is affiliated with the American Union and politically is a democrat.
THOMAS W. MORGAN. A resident of the City of Lorain since 1895, Mr. Morgan has entered fully and worthily into the community life and has been identified with industrial activities, public affairs of a local order and official service in positions of distinctive trust. He is now engaged in the general insurance business, is the incumbent of the office of justice of the peace and is serving also as deputy sealer of weights and measures for Lorain County.
Thomas William Morgan was born in the City of Braddock, Alle- gheny County, Pennsylvania, on the 23d of December, 1884, and is a son of Isaac and Mary Jane (Gould) Morgan, his father having been a locomotive engineer by vocation and having died when the subject of this review was but ten months old. In his native state Mr. Morgan was reared in the home of his maternal grandmother, Mrs. John Gould, soon after the death of his father. He was afforded the advantages of the public schools and as a youth instituted his active services as one of the world's productive workers. Mr. Morgan was a lad of about eleven years when he came to Lorain, Ohio, in October, 1895, and here as a youth he found employment at office work. Later he was for a time in the employ of the National Tube Company, and finally he became an em- ploye in one of the steel mills of Lorain, where he won advancement to the position of heater.
In November, 1911, Mr. Morgan was elected to the office of constable, his name having been given place on the republican ticket. In 1913 he was elected a member of the city council, but after serving several weeks he decided that his duties as constable placed such demands upon him that he was not justified in retaining the municipal office, with the result that he resigned his position as councilman. For a time Mr. Morgan also held membership on the municipal board having supervision of the poor, and on the 25th day of May, 1914, he received, at the hands of Governor James M. Cox, his commission as justice of the peace, an office in which he is giving a most effective and acceptable administration. He is affiliated with the Masonic fraternity, is past grand of a local lodge of the Inde- pendent Order of Odd Fellows and holds membership also in the Modern Woodmen of America. He and his wife are zealous members of the Congregational Church, in which he held the office of superintendent of the Sunday school.
On the 12th of September, 1906, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Morgan to Miss Florence Williams, of Lorain, and of their three children the second, Mildred Margaret, died in infancy. The two surviving chil- dren are: Raymond Edward, who was born June 14, 1907, and Elva Margaret, who was born January 4, 1910.
FRED B. MCQUEEN. For many years Fred B. McQueen has been a factor in agricultural activities in Brownhelm township. The fine farm which he still occupies and which he devotes to general farming and fruit growing, is the place where he was born and reared.
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He was born there May 30, 1852, a son of Joel H. and Abbie (Betts) McQueen. His father was born in March, 1812, and died in 1891. His mother was born in Brownhelm Township in September, 1818, and died in 1886. Her father Alfred Betts was one of the first settlers in Brown- helm Township, and was the first physician and the first minister in the town. Joel McQueen spent many years of his life as a sailor on the Great Lakes, also was captain of a vessel, but finally retired from the water and bought 112 acres of land and was engaged in its cultivation until his death. He was a republican in politics and held all the town- ship offices and was a man highly esteemed in all his relations with the community. He and his wife were active members of the Congregational Church. They were married in Brownhelm Township in 1844, and to their union were born ten children, nine sons and one daughter. Those still living are: Fred B .; L. H., in the livery business at Vermillion, Ohio; Eber, connected with an employment agency at Minneapolis; A. H., in the lumber business at Cleveland; George, on a farm in Brownhelm Township; J. H., a farmer in Preble County; D. W., a physician in Preble County.
After his rearing on the home farm and education in the district schools, Fred B. McQueen spent a number of years as chief engineer in the local quarries. After his father's death he bought the old homestead from the heirs, and has since made it the object of his intelligent manage- ment and productive enterprise as one of Lorain County's agriculturists.
In 1875 Mr. McQueen married Anna Savage, a daughter of William Savage, who was a native of England and a farmer by occupation. Three of Mr. and Mrs. McQueen's four children are still living : Milo W., now thirty-nine years of age, owns a small farm and also assists his father in the management of the homestead, and is now filling his second term as trustee of Brownhelm Township, having first been elected three years ago. Arthur F. is a successful physician at Amherst. Abbie is the wife of Sam Hollingsworth and they live on her father's farm. The family attend the Congregational Church and Mr. McQueen is a republican.
Besides his work as a farmer he was called upon to fill the office of assessor for six or eight years.
DR. E. B. ROGERS for many years has had the chief practice as a dentist at Amherst. He is a man well qualified for his profession, and while his time is thoroughly taken up by his professional duties he does not neglect his civic interests, and has been a factor in local affairs.
He was born in Pennsylvania May 21, 1861, one of the eight children of John W. and Susan (Ide) Rogers. His grandfather, Jonah Rogers, was born and reared in Columbia County, Pennsylvania, and spent his life there as a farmer. His maternal grandfather, Ezra Ide, was also a Pennsylvania farmer. Both of Doctor Rogers' parents were born in Lucerne County, Pennsylvania. His father was born August 13, 1825, and died May 30, 1896, and his mother was born December 31, 1825, and died November 10, 1878. Their five living children are: Louisa, wife of Levi Whitesell, a farmer in Lucerne County, Pennsylvania; Winfield Scott Rogers, who spent the first seventeen years of his life on a farm, taught school ten or twelve years, for twelve years was connected with the Lehigh Valley Coal Company, then after a course in shorthand under Andrew Graham, taught school in New York, was connected with a business college in Cleveland for six or seven years, conducted a business college at Sandusky with a partner until 1902, then had a business college in Fall River, Massachusetts, until the fall of 1915, and now lives and has an orchard in Cuba; Melville E. is a street car con- ductor at Providence, Rhode Island; Doctor Rogers is the youngest of
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the living children. His brother, Franklin Jackson, died in November, 1913. John W. Rogers, father of Doctor Rogers, spent his career as a farmer. He was well educated and well read, was a republican in politics and a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. Dur- ing the Civil war he served three years in the One Hundred and Forty- ninth Pennsylvania Regiment, and was in active service though poor health kept him from duty a considerable part of the time.
Doctor Rogers had to make his own way from an early age. His father lost most of his property through security debts, and that acted as a spur to his early efforts and ambition on his own account. He was reared on a farm, had a common school education, and in his early life worked as a farmer and for ten years as a carpenter. It was through his earnings in these vocations that he accumulated the means necessary to educate himself for a profession, and in 1898 graduated from the Western Reserve Dental College. In 1900 he located at Amherst, and almost from the first had a paying practice.
Doctor Rogers married for his first wife Maria Whitsell. The one daughter of that union, Verna, is the wife of George Frederick, now in a hardware store at Amherst. Doctor Rogers married for his second wife Dosia Wendell, who was born in Lucerne County, Pennsylvania. They have a daughter, Ruth, who is the wife of William Schaffer, a young dentist who has recently located at Amherst. Mrs. Schaffer was educated in the high school at Amherst and took a normal course at Ath- ens, Ohio, and was a teacher for two years before her marriage. Mrs. Doctor Rogers died March 18, 1916. She was a member of the Congrega- tional Church, and Doctor Rogers has been a deacon in that church for the past twelve years. He has passed the chairs in the Masonic Lodge at Amherst, and is also affiliated with the Royal Arch Masons, the Royal and Select Masters and is popular in all those bodies. For two terms he has held the office of treasurer of Amherst. Politically he is a republican.
ARCHIE CLARK PAYTON. The importance in business of concentrating one's forces upon a given line of activity, of correctly gauging its value among the needs of the world, and keeping pace with the ever-changing conditions surrounding it, is confirmed anew in the success of Archie Clark Payton, general superintendent for the American Shipbuilding Com- pany, of Lorain. Mr. Payton has been studying the shipbuilding ques- tion ever since the beginning of his wage-earning career, more than thirty years ago, and his acquisition of his present position has not come about through any fortunate circumstance, but by reason of his close application and constant devotion to the calling which he chose as his life work when his career began.
Mr. Payton is a native of Scotland, born at Dumbarton, County Dumbarton, April 9, 1866, a son of John and Ellison (White) Payton. His parents never came to the United States, passing their entire lives 'at Dumbarton, where the father was a thrifty Scotch baker. In his native land Archie Clark Payton received a common school education, and when still a youth was apprenticed to the trade of shipbuilder. He devoted himself assiduously to learning its various branches and became a skilled and finished workman, but saw no future for himself in his native land and accordingly decided to try his fortunes in America. Accordingly. at the age of twenty-two years, he gathered together his small savings and emigrated to this country, and in 1888 took up his residence at Wyandotte, Michigan, on the St. Clair River, across from Ontario. There for eighteen months he was employed as a shipfitter, but at the end of that time accepted an opportunity to better his condition, going
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to Cleveland, Ohio, where he became a shipfitter for the Cleveland Ship- building Company. With that company he remained for more than eight years, securing promotion through faithful and capable performance of duty, and in 1898 resigned to come to Lorain as assistant superin- tendent for the American Shipbuilding Company. In 1913 he was ad- vanced to general superintendent of the shipyards here, and has continued to fill this position to the present time, to the entire satisfaction of his employers. Mr. Payton may truly be said to be a self-made man, having climbed from the bottom rung of the ladder without other aids than ambition, determination, inherent ability and constant industry. As an employer of labor he is considerate and appreciative, and has the faculty of securing from his men the best work of which they are capable. In fraternal circles he is prominent in Masonry, having advanced to the degrees of Knight Templar and Shriner, and also belongs to the Benevo- lent and Protective Order of Elks. As a citizen he is public spirited and progressive, and always has advocated those worthy undertakings which have been calculated to advance the community in which he lives and the interests of its people.
In 1893 Mr. Payton was married to Miss Agnes O'Malley, of Cleve- land, Ohio, a native of England.
GEORGE M. SUTLIFF. Though the span of his life was only forty-five years, George M: Sutliff left a record of accomplishment in material things and of honorable upright living which should always be asso- ciated with his memory. In fact he was one of Lorain County's most progressive men.
A native of Lorain County, the only son and child of Miles W. and Susan (Gott) Sutliff, he was born in this county December 30, 1864, and died September 9, 1909. His parents settled many years ago in Penfield Township and his father besides operating a small farm bought and sold live stock.
With an education acquired in the district schools George M. Sutliff began his individual career at the age of fourteen, and thenceforward relied upon his own industry and enterprise to earn a place in the world. At that age he began buying and selling stock, of course on a small scale and with a very meager capital. He possessed the natural talents of the trader and business man and was successful from the start. From that time forward until his death, a period of about thirty years, he did more than most men accomplish in twice that time. At the time of his death his estate comprised 400 acres of fine land in Penfield, Huntington and Wellington townships and it had all been earned by his hard work and business judgment. For a number of years he was the principal breeder of thoroughbred Holstein cattle in Lorain County, and by the introduction of that stock he did much to elevate the standard of local eattle raising. He was thoroughly and essentially a business man, and while a supporter of every movement which concerned the welfare of the community, he had not sufficient interest in politics ever to become a candidate for office.
On April 5, 1899, Mr. Sutliff married Miss Blanche Dorchester. Mrs. Sutliff, who survives him, and occupies a fine home in Wellington, actively co-operated with him and shared in his success while Mr. Sutliff was alive, and has since devoted herself not only to her family and the train- ing of her two beautiful young daughters, but also to the interests of the community. She is kindly and charitable, helpful to the poor and unfortunate, and is one of the social leaders in her town. She was born in Wellington Township in 1874, graduated from the Wellington High School in 1892, and has both the culture and training of the true gentle-
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woman. For eight years before her marriage she was a successful teacher. While not a member she is a regular attendant of the Methodist Episco- pal Church. Her parents were Augustus B. and Mary (Eno) Dor- chester. Her father was born in New York State in 1837 and died in 1897, while her mother was born in Sheffield, Lorain County, Decem- ber 4, 1841, and died at the home of her daughter, Mrs. Sutliff, February 9, 1914. Mrs. Sutliff's mother was a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church and her father was a stanch republican. Augustus Dorchester came to Lorain County in 1850 when a poor man and for several years worked out by the day, but eventually accumulated sufficient to pro- vide for all the reasonable wants of his family. Mr. Sutliff was one of three children. Her sister, Edith, died at the age of nine years and her sister, Agnes, is the wife of Joseph Beal and they live on Mrs. Sutliff's farm.
Of the three children born to Mr. and Mrs. Sutliff the two now liv- ing are: Marion, born July 3, 1901; and Maxine, born May 28, 1907. Both are attending the public schools.
JOHN E. DAVIDSON. For more than twenty years John E. Davidson has been the principal livestock dealer and commission man at Kipton. By trade he is a butcher and followed that line for a number of years, but now devotes his time exclusively to buying and marketing large quantities of livestock and poultry. His standing as a business man is unquestioned, and by the force of his integrity and his extensive dealings he has become well known in Lorain County.
He is a son of Andrew and Martha (Edgar) Davidson, his father being one of the oldest citizens of Lorain County, now living at the advanced age of ninety-three on his Camden Township farm.
John E. Davidson after getting his education in the public schools started life as a farmer, to which he had already been trained by early discipline, and worked on the home place until he was twenty years of age. For six years he was employed in the heavy labor involved in a stone quarry at Nickel Plate, Ohio. It was in 1893 that he identified himself with the Kipton community and in the following year engaged in the livestock and butcher business. His business has had a progressive growth and he now has extensive facilities in the way of warehouse and other equipment at Kipton for the handling and shipping of livestock, wool and poultry. His poultry shipments are now a large feature of his business and during the last Thanksgiving and Christmas seasons he shipped from the Kipton station poultry to the value of about $8.000.
In 1894 he married Jennie E. Prentice. Her father, Harvey M. Prentice, was born in New York State, came to Camden Township when a boy and was a resident in that community until about three years ago when he went out to California where he died. Mr. and Mrs. Davidson have two children: Chalmer P., who is attending the business college at Oberlin, and Laura Leila, who is in the second year of Oberlin Col- lege. All the family are members of the Disciples Church. Mr. David- son is a democrat, and has served as a member of the board of com- plaints. At the present time (1916) he is a candidate for county com- missioner on the democratic ticket. Fraternally he is affiliated with the Masonic order. Besides his large business at Kipton he also owns a good farm of 100 acres south of that village.
L. E. HowK, D. D. S. In 1915 Doctor Howk finished his ten years of successful practice as a dentist at Wellington. Without doubt he has made a success in that profession such as few men attain. He is a hard
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worker, is skillful, makes use of all the approved devices and appliances of the art and science, and for several years past has found all his time and energies occupied in serving his clientage.
He is a native of Wellington where he was born October 25, 1882, and represents one of the very old and honored families of Lorain County. His grandfather Eli Howk was born in Auburn, New York, and moved to Lorain County as early as 1835, settling on a farm in Wellington Township. He spent his last years in the village of Welling- ton. He was well known, and was always called Squire Howk. Alpheus Howk, father of Doctor Howk, was born in Wellington Township Sep- tember 12, 1841, and died May 1, 1912. He was a farmer by occupation, and afterwards moved from his farm to the village of Wellington in order to give his children the advantages of better schools. He also was in the real estate business. During the war he served as a member of the Second Ohio Cavalry in the Army of the Potomac, and was
wounded in the battle before Petersburg, Virginia. He saw three years of service. He was a loyal member of the Grand Army of the Republic, was affiliated with the Tribe of Ben Hur, the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and the Maccabees and was active in the Methodist Episcopal Church. In politics a republican, he exercised a considerable influence in local matters, though he was not an aspirant for office. He was exceedingly temperate and a man of excellent judgment and high stand- ing in his community. He was married in Huntington Township of Lorain County to Sarah Boone, who was born in Huntington Township December 22, 1846, and is still living. Her father was William Boone, who came to Lorain County at an early day and spent his last years in the county. He was related to the family of Daniel Boone. Alpheus Howk and wife had six children: May, wife of Harry Blackburn, who is a graduate in law from the Western Reserve University, but is now living at Lakewood and is connected with the Winton Automobile Com- pany; George, who is a farmer and manages the old homestead, making his home with his mother; Bertha, wife of E. C. Cushing, a banker of Wellington; Nellie, now deceased; Frank, a farmer in Huntington Township; and Dr. L. E.
Doctor Howk graduated from the Wellington High School in 1901. In 1902 he entered the dental department of Western Reserve University, where he was graduated D. D. S. in 1905. After one year of practice in Cleveland, he returned to his native village of Wellington, and almost from the first he had a profitable practice. At the present time he is so busy looking after the wants of his large clientage that he never goes home for lunch at midday. He has been grand master of the Delta Sigma Delta dental fraternity.
In 1910 Doctor Howk married Lillian A. Murray. She was born at Spencer, Ohio, and died in 1911. In 1913 Doctor Howk married Jessie N. West, a daughter of Charles West, a retired farmer of Lorain County. Doctor Howk is a republican in politics. Some years ago he built a beautiful home near Wellington, and has all the comforts and conveniences of both town and country, having a beautiful suburban estate, and keeps his own cows, chickens and his table is supplied from his own garden.
AARON LYNN BACON. The untimely passing of Aaron Lynn Bacon on September 3, 1912, as the result of an accident, cut short a career of promising usefulness, and one which had already brought him to a station of honor and prosperity in Lorain County. He represented one of the older families of Lorain County, and his death was a grievous
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blow not only to his immediate family but to many friends scattered far and near.
He was born in Wellington Township October 4, 1881, and was not quite thirty-one years of age when he died. His parents were George D. and Ida (Peck) Bacon, both of whom were natives of Wellington Township. George D. Bacon, after the death of his wife moved to Michigan and is now living at Adrian in that state. Aaron L. Bacon grew up in the home of his grandparents after his mother's death. They were Sereno Dwight and Mary (Bailey) Bacon. His grandfather was born in Grafton, Vermont, in 1825, and came to Carlisle Township in Lorain County in 1842. In May, 1851, he bought a farm in Wellington Township, but he and his wife moved to the village of Wellington in 1881.
The late A. L. Bacon acquired an education in the common schools and also pursued a business course at Oberlin. In 1903 he married for his first wife Amanda Friend, who died in 1907. The one child of that union, Helen, now lives with Mrs. Bacon and is a student in school. In 1910 Mr. Bacon married Miss Lida Miller, a daughter of Nathan B. and Elizabeth (Dute) Miller, a well known family of Wellington Township, reference to whom is made on other pages. Mrs. Bacon has one daughter, Elizabeth, now four years of age. She is an active mem- ber of the Baptist Church, and since the death of her husband has made her home in Wellington. Mr. Bacon was a republican in politics and was a member of the Tribe of Ben Hur.
After their marriage Mr. and Mrs. Bacon moved to his farm of 200 acres in Wellington Township, and for a number of years he had been a successful raiser of Holstein cattle. He had just completed a fine modern country home by remodeling the old two-story brick house that had stood on his farm since 1861, and it may be said that he and Mrs. Bacon were just equipped to live happily and prosperously when the accident occurred by which he lost his life. Mr. Bacon's grandfather died in 1901 and his grandmother in 1909.
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