USA > Ohio > Lorain County > A Standard History of Lorain County, Ohio: An Authentic Narrative of the. > Part 55
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He then acquired the property, built a substantial structure in which his bank was opened for business on August 18, 1898. A part of the building is rented for business purposes, and the second story has the Masonic Lodge rooms.
Mr. Starr owns the 120 acre farm in Penfield Township where he was born, and he has developed it as a first class dairy farm, and it is operated with profit and efficiency.
He has also been active in public affairs, served eleven years on the school board, is now a member of the council and for one term was mayor of LaGrange. As a republican he cast his first presidential vote for President Harrison. Both he and his wife were reared in the faith of the Methodist Episcopal Church. In Masonry he is active, being affiliated with the lodge at LaGrange and the chapter and council at Elyria. He is a charter member of the Knights of Pythias Lodge at Wellington, in which he filled the various chairs and is a past chancellor, but his mem- bership is now in LaGrange Lodge No. 500.
Mr. and Mrs. Starr have one daughter, Frances B., who was born in Penfield September 30, 1893. She graduated from the LaGrange public schools and is a member of the class of 1916 in Oberlin College.
R. H. KINNISON. After a long and useful career as a schoolman R. H. Kinnison retired in 1915, having spent fully half a century in the profession and for more than thirty years had been connected with the Wellington schools as superintendent. He is now taking life somewhat at ease and enjoys the comforts of a fine home at Wellington.
Mr. Kinnison's ancestors were English who settled in New England in the Colonial times and it is interesting to recall that his great-great- granduncle, David Kinnison, who lived to be one hundred fourteen years of age, served through both the Revolution and the War of 1812 and was the last surviving member of the famous Boston tea party. Professor Kinnison's grandfather, Charles Kinnison, a native of Vir- ginia, was an early settler in Jackson County, Ohio.
R. H. Kinnison was born at Middleton, Jackson County, Ohio, February 8, 1846, a son of Charles S. and Hulda (Smith) Kinnison. His maternal grandfather, Francis Smith, served in the Civil war, and was killed in the battle of Pittsburg Landing when sixty-three years of age. He had enlisted first in the three months service and then re- enlisted for three years. Charles S. Kinnison was born in Jackson County, Ohio, December 16, 1815, and died December 18, 1892. He was also a teacher, was educated in academic grades and continued active in the schoolroom for fifteen years, after which he followed farming. He was a republican and a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church. Charles S. Kinnison married for his first wife on September 6, 1841, at Middleton, Ohio, Miss Hulda Smith, who was born in Muskingum County, Ohio, April 22, 1821, and died in 1850. Of his three children Professor Kinnison is the only one now living. The father married for his second wife Margaret Jane Carrick, who was born April 7, 1821. By this union there were four children, and the two now living are: James E. Kinnison, who is a graduate of Ohio University of which he is now a trustee and for thirty-four years has been superintendent of the public schools of Jackson, Ohio; and Lola, wife of William V. Wells, a coal dealer at Columbus, Ohio.
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Professor Kinnison began teaching when little more than a boy. He first attended the Jackson County public schools, spending one year in the high school at Jackson and two terms in the Ewington Academy in Gallia County. He paid his way through college by teaching. and in 1873 was graduated from the Ohio University at Athens in the classical
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course, received his Master's degree in 1876, and he was recently honored by his university with the degree Doctor of Pedagogy. At his gradua- tion he represented his class in oratory.
After leaving college Professor Kinnison was superintendent of the schools at Willoughby, Ohio, for two years, and filled several other places with credit and ability. In 1879 he came to Wellington to take charge of the schools as superintendent and almost the entire history of the local school system might be written as a pertinent part of his individual history. He finally retired from his active duties in 1915 as superintendent emeritus, an honor conferred by the board of education.
On December 30, 1874, Professor Kinnison married Lida C. Wood- worth, a daughter of Lysander and Emily (Cumings) Woodworth. Mrs. Kinnison was born in Lake County, Ohio, in 1851, and her father was a farmer and spent most of his life in Madison, Ohio. Professor and Mrs. Kinnison have three children. Charles W., who was born at Norwalk, Ohio, is now office manager and secretary of the Samuel Austin Con- struction Company of Cleveland, Ohio. Paul F., the second son, is assistant manager of the varnish department for the Sherwin Wil- liams Company at Cleveland. The daughter, Ruth, is the wife of Roy F. Cope, a successful commission merchant at Topeka, Kansas. These children were educated at the college at Delaware, Ohio.
Mr. Kinnison and wife have for many years been leading members of the Methodist Church at Wellington, and both have taught in the Sunday school for thirty-six years and he is a member of the official board of the church. He is a Master Mason, and a republican in poli- tics. In 1883 he built his beautiful home at Wellington, and having given most of his life to public service in the capacity of teacher is now prepared to spend his declining years in comfort and well-earned ease.
FRANK B. GREGG, M. D. In the practice of medicine at Wellington for over twenty years, Dr. Frank B. Gregg is now one of the oldest established physicians in that part of Lorain County ... He has an ex- cellent general practice, has won a worthy place in professional affairs, and while not a specialist he has become well known through increas- ing years for his ability in handling diseases of the eye and ear. Wel- lington counts him as one of its most capable and useful citizens.
Born at Springboro, Ohio, September 27, 1865, Doctor Gregg is a son of Jonah R. and Ella S. (Gregg) Gregg. His grandfather, William Gregg, was born near Deerfield, Ohio, and spent all his active career on a farm in that locality. He was active in church affairs, being first a Quaker and later a Univeralist. Several of his sons were soldiers in the Civil war, and one of them, Harrison Gregg, was killed during the Atlanta campaign, while George, another soldier, died at Fayetteville, West Virginia. Dr. Gregg's maternal grandfather was Aaron Gregg, who was born in Loudon County, Virginia, moved to Kentucky and from there to Ohio. He served in the State Senate of Kentucky, and was prominent in republican politics at a time when that party was very unpopular, and it was largely on account of political persecution that he left Kentucky and moved to Ohio.
Jonah R. Gregg was born in Springboro, Ohio, in 1836 and died in 1893. His wife was born in Kentucky in 1844 and died in February, 1915. They were married at Springboro and Jonah Gregg followed farming for many years in Warren County, Ohio. He was a member of the Universalist Church and in politics a republican. Of the four children the two now living are Dr. Frank B. Gregg and Earl L., who is Eastern representative in New York City for the Clark Teachers Agency of Chicago.
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Doctor Gregg as a boy attended the district school, was reared on a farm, afterwards continued his literary education in Buchtel College at Akron, and in 1889 graduated from the Ohio State University at Columbus, Ohio, and in 1892 completed his course in the Miami Medi- cal College at Cincinnati.
For three years Doctor Gregg had exceptional opportunities by his service as assistant surgeon in the Dayton Soldiers Home. With this mature experience and thorough equipment he moved to Wellington in 1895, and in a few years was comfortably established in a large practice. He is surgeon for the Wheeling and Lake Erie Railway Company, and is a member of both the County and State Medical societies.
In April, 1895, he married Miss Carrie Danforth, who was born near Maineville in Warren County, Ohio. Her father was Horace Danforth, and her mother's maiden name was Emma Butterworth, of a prominent old Ohio family and a cousin of Benjamin Butterworth. Doctor and Mrs. Gregg have one child, Robert, who is now in the first year of the high school. Mrs. Gregg is a member of the Friends Church. Frater- nally Doctor Gregg is a Maccabee and in politics a republican.
RAY D. JOHNSON. To no one class does Lorain County owe more of its wealth and strength and prosperity than to the agriculturist. While the county as a whole has a well diversified development, many industries and productive resources, it is the farms taken in the aggregate which fur- nish the great bulk of material for the well being of its inhabitants. One of the present generation of progressive farmers is Ray D. Johnson whose home is about a mile and a half east of LaGrange postoffice in LaGrange Township.
The energy and enterprise which he has furnished as a propelling force in his own career and by which he has rendered his best service to the community are well indicated by the fact that when he was about sixteen years of age he and his brother contracted for the purchase of eighty acres of land. He worked steadily, denied himself all luxuries, and he did not finish paying out his share on that land until he was twenty-nine years of age. He kept his interest in this farm for a num- ber of years.
He represents pioneer stock in Lorain County, and was born on the Johnson homestead a mile and three-quarters south of LaGrange May 10, 1867, a son of George D. and Adaline (Luce) Johnson. His father was also born on the Johnson homestead in LaGrange Township October 4, 1836. The grandparents were Nathaniel and Rhoda (Crowner) John- son. Nathaniel Johnson was born at Watertown, New York, and came from that locality at a very early day, long before railroads were built into Ohio. With a team of oxen and a wagon he made the journey to Lorain County, being six weeks en route, and located in the midst of the woods a mile and three-quarters south of LaGrange Village. He paid about $3 an acre for 160 acres, and at one time owned 178 acres in that vicinity. At the time of his settlement there were only three or four other families in the entire township. His energy enabled him to clear up much of his land, and he died there when about sixty-four years of age, while his wife lived to be almost eighty-eight.
George D. Johnson, father of Ray D., grew to manhood on the old farm, had a common school education to start with, and lived to enjoy contentment and prosperity in his later years. He was a republican and a member of the Baptist Church. Of six children, five grew up, and the three now living are: Flora, wife of Durell Battles of Wellington; Ray D .; and Lucy, wife of Gideon Leiby of LaGrange.
Ray D. Johnson also spent his boyhood on the old farm south of
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LaGrange, and made his first independent venture in the manner already related. He spent most of his years at home until nineteen, earning considerable money working for others. After becoming established as a result of his hard and persistent labor he was married on October 28, 1896, to Miss Cora Swartz.
Mrs. Johnson was born on the home where she and her husband now reside October 23, 1871, a daughter of Jacob and Hannah (Purdy) Swartz. Her father was a native of Wuertemberg, Germany, coming to America at the age of two years with his parents, Frederick and Cath- erine (Metzgar) Swartz, who settled on a farm near Liverpool in Medina County. Jacob Swartz grew up in Medina County and when about thirty-five years of age married Miss Purdy, who was born at Yonkers, Westchester County, New York, and had come to Medina County at the age of eight years. Mr. and Mrs. Swartz after their marriage moved to their farm near LaGrange, where Mr. Swartz acquired 112 acres of land, and where he spent the rest of his years. There were five children in the Swartz family, and the two now living are Mrs. Johnson and her brother Don A., who also lives in LaGrange Township.
For two years after his marriage Mr. Johnson worked for Mr. Swartz on the farm, and then for one year worked by the day wherever needed. He then bought eighty-five acres of land one mile south of LaGrange, the purchase price being $3,280. He went in debt for it, paid off all his obligations, and at the end of ten years left the farm with a number of improvements including a new barn. Much of his prosperity as a farmer has come from the dairy business. Since 1910 he has lived on his present place east of LaGrange.
Mr. and Mrs. Johnson have nine children: Walter, born March 18, 1898; Lola L., born September 6, 1899, and now in the freshman class of the LaGrange High School; Erwin L., born September 28, 1900; Everett Leland, born December 17, 1901; Harvey W., born February 22, 1903; Harland, born December 11, 1905; Letha, born January 25, 1907; Russell F., born January 28, 1911; and Flora I., born January 5, 1916. In politics Mr. Johnson is an independent.
NORMAN M. POND of Wellington has recently completed fifteen years of successful practice as a member of the bar. He began practice in Cleveland and he still appears frequently in the interests of his clients in Cleveland courts, and from the first has enjoyed a steadily increasing and promising business as a lawyer. His legal home has been in Lorain County for more than thirty-five years.
He was born at New London, Ohio, April 25, 1861, a son of Asahel A. and Mary M. (Crandall) Pond. His ancestry goes back to the early days of New England. His great-great-grandfather, Abel Pond, was born at Lenox, Berkshire County, Massachusetts, and was a soldier on the American side of the Revolutionary war. The maternal grandfather, Merton Crandall, a native of New York State, was descended from Rev. John Crandall, who was a prominent Colonial minister and one of the founders of Newport, Rhode Island. Grandfather Daniel S. Pond was born in Poultney, Vermont, June 29, 1805, and was an early settler in Northeastern Ohio, settling in Portage County in 1826. He walked the entire distance from Vermont to Ohio, became a pioneer farmer, and afterwards from 1865 to 1875 served as a station agent on the Big Four Railroad.
Asahel A. Pond, father of the Wellington lawyer, was born in Knox County, Ohio, May 28, 1829, and gave practically his entire active career to farming. His death occurred October 10, 1913, and he had lived retired for a number of years. In 1867 he moved to Lorain County,
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but his last years were spent at Norwalk. He was active in Grand Army circles and had enlisted in 1864 in Company C One Hundred and Ninety- first Ohio Volunteer Infantry, held the rank of corporal and took part in the Shenandoah Valley campaign in Virginia and in the pursuit of General Mosby's Confederate raiders. He held various township of- fices, was well known in republican circles and at one time was director of the County Infirmary. He was a member of the First Universalist Church at Norwalk. Mary M. Crandall, his wife, was born near Oberlin, Ohio, May 18, 1832, and is still living at the advanced age of eighty- four. Before her marriage she was a school teacher.
Norman M. Pond was about six years old when the family came to Lorain County, and he grew up on a farm here, attended the public schools of Lorain County, Ohio, and the Ohio Northern University at Ada. It was as a teacher that he became well known in a number of districts in this section of Ohio and by his able work in that profession gained a strong hold on the confidence of many people who have since employed his services to equal advantage as a lawyer. For four years he was superintendent of schools at Ridgeville. While studying law he taught in a business college at Cleveland, and after his admission to the Ohio bar in 1900 he took up practice in that city. He confined his practice to Cleveland for nine years, but since 1910 has had an office and has had his home at Wellington. He is now serving as justice of the peace and city attorney of Wellington, and enjoys a high standing among the members of the Lorain County and Cleveland bars.
On August 3, 1887, Mr. Pond married Lotta H. Howard, a daugh- ter of William H. and Charlotte (Laboree) Howard. Mrs. Pond is an accomplished musician and teacher, is a certified teacher of the Cleve- land School of Music, and conducts a studio and music classes both in Wellington and at Cleveland. She is also choir director in the Welling- ton Methodist Episcopal Church, and both she and her husband are active in that church. Mr. Pond is affiliated with Ellsworth Lodge of Masons at Cleveland, and in politics is a republican.
JOHN JACOB HAAG. The claim of John Jacob Haag upon the good will and consideration of his townsmen in Elyria Township is based upon many years of effective work as an agriculturist, upon his record as a self-made man, and upon his activity in promoting the welfare of his community. A life of industry and thrift has resulted in the accumu- lation of a fine property of ninety acres, located on the South Ridge Road, formerly known as the Telegraph Road, where he carries on gen- eral farming and also raises some stock. Mr. Haag was born August 4, 1853, on a farm located one mile west of his present place, on the Old Township Line Road, between Elyria and Amherst townships, and is a son of Daniel and Catherine (Heger) Haag.
Daniel Haag was born in Germany and came to the United States during the '40s with his parents, being then a young man. The mother's parents, also of Germany, settled at a point in Lorain County known as Whiskyville, probably owing to the fact that a tavern had been located there in early days. Her father was George Heger, who was well known among the pioneers of this locality. The parents of John J. Haag were married in Lorain County and took up their residence on the township line, where Daniel Haag was for many years the operator of a successful sawmill. He died in 1872. His first wife had died when the son. John J., was eight years of age and he had married again, wedding a Mrs. Colb, a widow of Cleveland, who had three children by her former marriage. Daniel and Catherine Haag had eight children, of whom two died in in- fancy, the others being : John Jacob; George D., a druggist of Cleveland,
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Mr. John Jacob Haag Mrs. Anna M. Haag
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Ohio; Daniel C., a farmer residing on the same road as his brother John J., but a little farther to the west; Leonard, a resident of Salt Lake City, Utah, where he went thirty-four years ago to join the Mormons; John, unmarried, a resident of Cleveland, and engaged in carpentry ; Margaret, who married Herman Diner, and resides alternately at Elyria and North Amherst.
John Jacob Haag was reared on the homestead farm and attended the district school, a Lutheran school and the high school for one year. After his father's second marriage he found home conditions not as pleasant as they had been formerly, and accordingly decided to start out for himself. He worked at various occupations for several years, carefully saving his earnings, until he was finally able to buy the sawmill business from his brothers who had come into possession of the property. This mill, which was located on his present property close to his home, he conducted with success for fifteen or twenty years, then turning his attention to farming, in which he has continued to be engaged to the present time. He is one of the progressive and enterprising men of the community, a stanch supporter of good men and beneficial movements, and an agriculturist who believes in the use of the most modern machin- ery and methods in his work. He has erected good buildings on his land and has other improvements which have not only enhanced the value of his farm but has contributed to the upbuilding of the community. He maintains an independent attitude in regard to public affairs, has held no offices nor has cared for any, and is not a lodge man, preferring his home to fraternal orders.
When twenty-two years of age Mr. Haag was married to Miss Anna M. Diner, of Barea, Cuyahoga County, Ohio, daughter of Fred and Caro- line Diner, now deceased, who operated a farm of ninety acres, as well as a stone quarry at Berea, where Mr. Diner was born. Mrs. Haag died in 1907, the mother of six children: Theodore, a baker in the employ of the R. B. Biscuit Company, at Elyria, who married Miss Albertina Barbknecht and has three children, Leona, Ruth and Theodore, Jr .; Charlotta, who is the wife of Henry Coath, a policeman of Cleveland; Christiana, who married John Silberhorn, a clothing merchant of Cleve- land, and has three sons, Harold, Howard and Arthur; Louisa, who married Emil Pohl, a teacher in a Lutheran school at Cleveland, and has three children, Margaret, Caroline and Edward; Florence, who mar- rier, in 1914, William Bechstein, a farmer of South Amherst and also the operator of a threshing machine, sawmill, etc .; and Henry, who resides on.the farm with his father and conducts the operations, married Christina Born, and has four children, Henry, Ernest, Walter and Anna. Henry Haag is a member of the English Lutheran Church.
L. V. BANNING. It is said that opportunity soon or late comes to every man. It is the ability to recognize and improve opportunity which is the keynote of success. For a number of years L. V. Banning was in the retail grocery business at Wellington. He also developed the whole- sale feature of the business, and there came a time a few years ago when he recognized the possibilities of concentrating his entire attention along one line, and as a result he has developed a wholesale brokerage business in the handling of sugar and during 1915 he sold $200,000 worth of that commodity, which was distributed through his agency at Wellington to retail firms all over this section of Northern Ohio. He now buys from fifteen to twenty carloads of sugar in a single purchase, and at the age of forty finds himself at the head of a very prosperous and promising business.
Mr. Banning was born at Rochester in Lorain County, Ohio, Jan-
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uary 12, 1876, a son of A. H. and Mary Jane (Anderson) Banning. His grandfather was one of the early settlers of Lorain County and the father was born in this county in 1836 and is still living at the age of eighty. The mother was born in Albion, Ohio, in 1840, and died in June, 1913. The parents were married in Rochester, and the father spent most of his active career in laboring pursuits. He is a republican in politics, and both he and his wife were members of the Congrega- tional Church. Of their two children the daughter, Cora, also lives at Wellington.
L. V. Banning finished his education in the high school at Wellington in 1893, and soon became a clerk in a grocery store. On January 1, 1900, profiting by his experience and by the accumulation of a modest capital, he started in business for himself, was for two years asso- ciated with F. W. Renouard as a partner, and after that was alone until 1912, when he sold the grocery trade and has since concentrated all his time on the wholesale sugar business. He has a plant comprising a 300-barrel warehouse at Wellington, and his accomplishments are the more noteworthy since he started in life on only a clerk's salary.
In October, 1911, he married Miss Victoria Richmond who was born in Penfield Township of Lorain County. Her father, Lester J. Rich- mond, also a native of Lorain County, was a soldier in the Civil war from 1862 until the close of hostilities.
Mr. Banning is a Knight Templar Mason and is also affiliated with the Scottish Rite, is past master of his lodge and past high priest of the chapter, and is also past patron of the Order of Eastern Star. His wife is also a member of the Eastern Star. In politics he is independent, and wields considerable influence in his section of the county. He is now serving as township treasurer and formerly filled the office of vil- lage treasurer.
JOHN B. DUDLEY. A native of Lorain County John B. Dudley is identified with this county by many ties of family, work and civic loyalty. He is perhaps the chief stock breeder, particularly in the department of Holstein cattle, in the county, and has a splendidly equipped farm and fine home in the vicinity of Oberlin.
He was born in Henrietta Township of Lorain County September 17, 1861, a son of Stowell B. and Sarah (Gillman) Dudley. His father was born in Vermont and died in 1904, and the mother was a native of England and is living at the age of eighty. They were married in Lorain County, and Stowell B. Dudley likewise followed farming all his active career. He became prosperous though he was a poor boy when he came to Lorain County. For six years he held the office of county commissioner. He was quite active in republican politics, his father's name was Jonathan Dudley. Mrs. Sarah Dudley was a member of the Episcopal Church. There were five children in the family, and John B. Dudley is the oldest of the three now living. His sister, Mary Duross, is the wife of a Cleveland manufacturer of brass fixtures. The other sister is Mrs. Winifred Darby, whose husband is a physician in Cleveland.
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