USA > Ohio > Lorain County > A Standard History of Lorain County, Ohio: An Authentic Narrative of the. > Part 64
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On December 15, 1885, at Elyria, Mr. Jackson married Miss Lucy E. Ives of Columbia Township, Lorain County, daughter of Ambrose and Mary J. (Lapham) Ives. Mrs. Jackson was reared and given a good common school education.
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For five years after his marriage Mr. Jackson worked by the year in Eaton Township, and then took a farm on the shares, looking after one place for two years, and then following that was on another farm for ten years. In the meantime he had bought 109 acres in Eaton Township, though he never occupied it as his home. In the fall of 1902 Mr. Jackson bought his present place. Here in particular his work as a farm manager has been exemplified. Both the land and the build- ings had been badly neglected, and in the past fifteen years he has remodeled practically every feature of the farm and has introduced improvements so as to make it one of the most valuable and attractive estates in Lorain County. In 1905 he sunk a gas well and now has heat and light for all his buildings while his residence includes such modern comforts and facilities as bathroom, running water, electric power system for pumping water and all his buildings are wired for electricity. He has also laid more than three carloads of tile on his land.
An important feature of his farm industry is dairying, and he has also been successful in raising grain. Mr. and Mrs. Jackson have two sons: Jay C., who was born in Eaton Township August 12, 1887, was given a good education, and is now living in Youngstown. Ohio. This son has been twice married. He first married in Lorain County
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MR. AND MRS. ANDREW J. JACKSON
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Miss Frances Prindle and by her has one son named Theodore. His second wife was Blanche Pickard of Youngstown. Mr. Jackson's second son is Ray, who had two years in high school and is a successful young farmer in Eaton Township. He married Miss Fern Sayles and they have two children, named Lawrence and Doris Lillian.
Mr. Jackson is a republican, having cast his first vote for Hayes in 1876. He has never sought any office and has done his duty most thoroughly by looking after his own interests. His wife is a member of the Disciples Church.
G. A. HART is one of the men who are carrying out the farm enter- prise of Wellington Township. He is now one of the prosperous and successful citizens of that locality, but gained his prosperity by hard work beginning in early boyhood, and has seldom failed to improve an opportunity.
He was born in Union City, Ohio, January 28, 1860, a son of John and Sarah (Stull) Hart. His paternal grandfather, Elijah Hart, with six brothers, served in the War of 1812. Not long after the close of that struggle and when Northern Ohio was still a wilderness he came to Mansfield when that now thriving city had only three houses. His permanent location was made at Petersburg near Mansfield, where for many years he was the principal shoemaker. He followed that trade when it was the custom for the shoemakers to travel about the country from house to house, stopping long enough at each place to make up all the footwear required by the family. He lived a long and useful life and passed away at the age of ninety-seven. John and Sarah Hart took up a farm where Union City now stands, but finally moved to Ashland County, Ohio, and from there to Mansfield, where John Hart died. He was a plumber by trade, and followed it for a number of years. He enjoyed a good deal of prosperity, but for some years before his death was an invalid and spent most of his means in an effort to recover his health. He was an active democrat in politics. His widow died in April, 1916, at Mansfield, at the age of ninety-one years three months and eleven days. She was a member of the United Brethren Church. There were seven children: Tillie, wife of Henry Brinkman, a well to do retired citizen at Sandusky; Samantha, widow of Charles Fiddler; G. A. Hart; Ida, wife of Charles Beaver of Mansfield; Anna, wife of Mr. O'Connor, a fur cutter at Detroit; Agnes, who is living at Detroit, a widow; and William, a blacksmith at Mansfield.
G. A. Hart received most of his education in the district schools of Ashland County. He lived five miles from the schoolhouse, and walked back and forth nearly every night and morning. While he was still a boy his father suffered an injury which made it necessary for the son to leave school and begin work for his own living. For some years he worked on a farm and took any job which would enable him to earn an honest two bits. For a time he drove a dray in Mansfield. By keeping everlastingly at it he was able to acquire a modest capital, and for a number of years has been on a solid plane of prosperity. In 1900 he bought his fine farm in Huntington Township, where he now owns fifty-two acres and also forty-two acres of land in another place. His chief business is general farming. For a number of years he has also conducted a contracting business in teaming in this county. He hauled a large quantity of the stone for the making of the improved roads in this county. At the same time he has invested much in improvements on his farm, and among other up to date features he has a fine silo.
On April 24, 1882, Mr. Hart married Martha Brouse, daughter of Henry and Anna (Collins) Brouse. Her mother was born in England.
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Her father was born near Doylestown, Ohio, was a carpenter and brick mason in early life, and is now retired and living at Spencer, Ohio. Mrs. Hart received her early education in Penfield Township of Lorain County. They have one son, William, who is now thirty-three years of age and is single and lives at home with his parents. Mrs. Hart is an active member of the Methodist Church, while he is affiliated with the Modern Woodmen of America and in politics is a republican.
C. C. FINKEL. One of the best known families of Huntington Town- ship is represented by C. C. Finkel, a young business man of that section, actively associated with his father, Peter Finkel. Their operations as threshermen, machinists and farmers have long been thoroughly appre- ciated in that section.
C. C. Finkel was born in Huntington Township of Lorain County, June 7, 1885. His father, Peter Finkel, was born in Washington County, Ohio, February 19, 1852, a son of Peter and Lena Finkel. Both the grandparents were natives of Germany, and they lived in Marietta, Ohio, for a number of years. Peter Finkel, Sr., and wife were members of the Catholic Church, and in politics he was a democrat. He was a carpenter by trade and followed that for a number of years, but he also conducted a small farm in Washington Township. Peter Finkel, Sr., was born in 1801 and died in 1868. Before leaving the old country he served a time in the German army. His wife was born in 1827 and died in 1886. Their seven children were: Henry, who is connected with the timber industry in the State of Washington; Peter Finkel; Frank, a rancher in the State of Washington ; Charles, a farmer at Beverly, Ohio; Adam, a farmer and carpenter in Huntington Township; Joseph, a brick mason and builder at Marietta, Ohio; Tracy, wife of George Lawrence, a farmer.
Peter Finkel, Jr., who was born February 19, 1852, received his early education in the district schools of his native county and started out as a farmer. He removed to Huntington Township in 1883, and for a time was employed on a farm. For a number of years he has operated a hay press and threshing machine, and he also owns two houses and lots and a small tract of land in Huntington Township. He is a demo- crat, and a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church. In 1877 he married Clara Miller, daughter of George W. Miller. Mrs. Finkel was born in Washington County, Ohio. Her seven children are: Dudley, who was born July 28, 1878, and is a farmer in Huntington Township ; Lillian, born March 24, 1880, and the wife of E. A. Wheeler; Helena, born May 14, 1882, wife of J. B. Berry, who follows concrete construc- tion work; C. C. Finkel; Stella, who was born March 31, 1887, and is the wife of William Sharp, employed in the hoop mills at Columbus; Cora, born September 9, 1889, and the wife of Alfred Fuller, a farmer at Spencer, Ohio; and Edward R., born August 20, 1892.
C. C. Finkel received his early education in Huntington Township, where he was born, and for a number of years followed farming as a regular occupation. He is now associated with his father in the season when threshing and hay pressing are done, and he also owns a good farm. As a citizen he is now serving his second term as township trustee. He is an active democrat, a member of the Modern Woodmen of America, in which order he has filled the various chairs, and also belongs to the Grange.
In 1909 he married Ethel Bliss, who was born in Huntington Town- ship. Their two children are Eunice and Kenneth, the former six and the latter three years of age.
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Conrad Zilch
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CONRAD ZILCH. One of the younger business men of Amherst who has distinguished himself by a remarkable amount of progressiveness and enterprise is Conrad Zilch, who is an expert undertaker and em- balmer and is manager of the principal undertaking and furniture house of the city.
He has reached an independent position in business affairs when only a little more than thirty years of age. He was born in Brownhelm Township of Lorain County February 18, 1885, a son of Henry C. and Mary (Hilderbrand) Zilch. Both parents were natives of Germany and his grandparents all died in that country. His grandfather, George Zilch, reached the venerable age of ninety-two years. The maternal grandparents both died at the age of forty-nine from typhoid fever. Henry C. Zilch was born in 1850 and died January 29, 1899. His wife was born May 4, 1852, and is still living. They came to this country when young people and were married in Brownhelm Township. Henry C. Zilch was a very industrious man and for a number of years worked as a quarryman and died from stonecutter's consumption. By hard work he established a home, provided for his large family of children, and had a good thirty-acre farm all paid for before his death. He was a democrat and he and his wife members of the Methodist Episcopal Church. Of their nine children eight are still living: Werner, in the grocery business at Brownhelm; Anna, wife of E. C. Waugh, in the transfer business at Lorain; George J., a farmer in Brownhelm; Con- rad; Rose E., who was deaf and dumb and was graduated from the Deaf and Dumb Institute, and a few years ago was killed in an auto- mobile and street car accident; Marie is the wife of Elmer Fulmer, a farmer in Eaton Township; Benjamin, in the automobile business at Lorain; Katie, wife of William Grobe of Amherst; and Amelia, who has a clerical position in Elyria. Mrs. Henry Zilch married for her first husband John Miller, and their two sons, Carl and William J. Miller, are successful farmers in Brownhelm Township.
After his early education, acquired in the district and high schools of Brownhelm Township, Conrad Zilch found employment on a farm, and then laid the foundation of his business career by experience in the furniture business with the Wickens Company at Lorain. He also studied embalming at Cleveland under P. A. Hayden. After three, years of work in his profession and in the business at Lorain, he estab- lished the Amherst Furniture Company on May 1, 1913. He is secre- tary and manager of this concern, and has been the mainspring of its very prosperous career since establishment.
April 19, 1908, Mr. Zilch married Louisa Bouis. She was born at Lorain, a daughter of Charles Bouis, a carpenter. To their union has been born one daughter, Mildred, on November 23, 1911. The family attend the Methodist Episcopal Church at Amherst and Mr. Zilch is affiliated with the Modern Woodmen of America, the Tribe of Ben Hur, the Knights and Ladies of Security, the Fraternal Order of Eagles, in which he is a trustee, and the Knights of Pythias. Politically he is a republican.
EDWARD F. WEBSTER. For many years a successful business man of Lorain County, Edward F. Webster represents the pioneer Webster stock at Wellington, and there is hardly a family in Lorain County whose work and influence have been more valuable in the upbuilding of that section of the county during the past 100 years.
He is in the eighth generation in the direct line from Governor John Webster of Connecticut and Massachusetts. John and. Agnes Webster .came from Warwickshire, England, to Massachusetts Bay in 1633. He
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was made a freeman in 1634, and in 1636 moved with Rev. Mr. Hooker's party to Hartford, Connecticut, where he was among the first settlers. He was prominent in official affairs at Hartford, serving as magistrate or judge, as lieutenant governor and in 1656 as governor of the colony, being the fifth incumbent of that office. On account of a church controversy at Hartford, he and fifty-eight other members of the society withdrew, and in 1659 most of them settled at Hadley on the Connecticut River. John Webster in 1660 was appointed one of the judges or com- missioners of the courts, but died there April 5, 1661. One of his descendants was the great lexicographer, Noah Webster, who erected a monument to the memory of Governor Webster.
Thomas Webster, a son of Governor John, married Abigail Alex- ander, and their fourth child and second son was John, whose first wife was named Elizabeth and whose second wife was Grace Loomis. In 1699 he became one of the first settlers at Lebanon, Connecticut. His fourth child and third son by his first marriage was Thomas Webster of the fourth generation. Thomas married Lydia Lyman and moved to Bolton, Connecticut, in 1751. Their seventh child and fifth son was David of the fifth generation, who married Mary Wilcox. Their third child and first son was David of the sixth generation. David married Hannah Post. The second child and first son of David and Hannah was Russel Bidwell Webster, who represented the seventh generation and was the father of Edward F. Webster. He was born April 25, 1799, at Otis, Massachusetts, had an education in the common schools and the academy at Lennox, Massachusetts, and in 1820 started west for Ohio, carrying a fifty-pound pack on his back all the way from Otis to Wellington. He was a man of remarkable physical endurance. During the last days of his journey he walked forty miles in a snowstorm with snow nearly a foot deep at the close of day. Arriving in Wellington Township he bought 100 acres, cleared it and erected a log building. But before per- forming any other duties connected with the making of a pioneer home he interested himself in the establishment of regular or stated religious meetings in the neighborhood. Though not a church man himself, he was thoroughly imbued with the religious training of his youth and believed that one of the first essentials in the settlement of a new country was a religious organization and suitable observance of the Sabbath. While his instant zeal in behalf of religious institutions was perhaps somewhat unusual, he was on the whole only a type of that class of citizens who as pioneers laid the foundation for civilization in Lorain County. He had come to this country not only to make himself a home but also to blaze the way for his father and the family. The first to join him was his sister Betsey, the wife of Josiah B. Manley, and about 1822 they joined him in Wellington, and Mr. Manley's was the first death to occur in the neighborhood. In 1823 his parents, David and Hannah Webster, and their sons Oliver and William and their daughter Mary arrived in the Wellington neighborhood. David Webster was an active church member in Massachusetts, but it was not until the family came into the woods of Ohio that his wife and children joined the church. In 1824 Russel B. Webster returned to Massachusetts and married Orpha Hunter. She was born at Otis, Massachusetts, November 26, 1799. In the spring of 1825 the young bride accompanied her husband to Well- ington, their household goods being on a wagon drawn by oxen. E. F. Webster has in his possession two old mirrors brought by his father and grandfather from Massachusetts, and also the Webster bible which was printed in 1712. David Webster died at the age of ninety-six and his wife Hannah at the age of eighty-four.
In 1870 Russel B. Webster and wife removed from the farm to the
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Village of Wellington, and spent the rest of their days with their son Edward. Russel died January 31, 1881, and his wife Orpha on April 2, 1882. The first frame house in Wellington was constructed by Russel B. Webster. He was one of the most active citizens of that community in the early days, and was as strong in character as he was in physical ability and endurance. He and his wife had nine children. Samuel H., born September 15, 1825, afterwards became a very prominent merchant and influential citizen at Shelbyville, Illinois, and died July 10, 1905; he married, January 21, 1856, Lucy A. Jagger, who died September 12, 1898, the mother of five children. E. Bidwell Webster, born April 21, 1827, was a civil engineer and died at Wellington, September 7, 1856. He married, January 21, 1854, Lucy Billings, who died September 7, 1857. M. Leander Webster, born January 27, 1829, also moved to Shelbyville, Illinois, served three years as captain of a company in the Seventh Regiment of Illinois Cavalry, afterwards moved to Iowa, and died there May 4, 1900, a wound received during his military service having contributed to his death. He married, May 31, 1882, Emma J. Windell. David Philander Webster, born November 5, 1830, died May 9, 1832. Philander R. Webster, born February 10, 1833, also served as captain of an Illinois Company during the war, and died April 14, 1884, as a result of injuries received during his service; he married, April 15, 1862, Eleanor M. Bryant. William W. Webster, born November 26, 1835, went to Colorado in 1859, became president of the Upper House of the first Territorial Legislature and afterwards was chairman of the committee for statehood, and it was at his suggestion that Colorado was admitted in 1876 instead of January, 1877, and thus its electoral vote was given to R. B. Hayes. He spent his last years in Pasadena, Cali- fornia, and by his marriage, on February 4, 1873, to Mary I. Bryan, had three children. Elvira Loret, born January 4, 1838, died accidentally December 16, 1840. Edward F. Webster, the eighth child of his parents, was born April 24, 1840. Leveret F. Webster, the youngest of the chil- dren, was born December 3, 1842, and died as the result of an accident, January 29, 1861.
Edward F. Webster spent his early youth in Lorain County, and August 26, 1861, enlisted as a private in Company H of the Second Regiment of Ohio Cavalry. He was made a corporal, and a year later was transferred to the Twenty-fifth Independent Ohio Battery, made up of details of the Second Regiment, and became fifth corporal of the battery, subsequently first sergeant, first lieutenant, and during the last year of the war was on the staff of Maj. Gen. J. J. Reynolds as chief ordnance officer of the department of Arkansas. He veteranized at Little Rock, January 4, 1864, previous to his last promotion, and was discharged December 12, 1865, after having been at the front over four years. He served successively under the command of Generals Schofield, Blount, Herron, Davidson, Steele and Reynolds.
On returning to Lorain County after the war, Captain Webster, in the spring of 1868, became associated with Starr & Horr, cheese manu- facturers. One year later the firm was reorganized as Horr, Warner & Company and Captain Webster was made a partner in the business. For many years this was the largest cheese manufacturing concern in the West, operating as many as twenty-five factories. The firm also acquired a number of vegetable farms, the farm department being conducted by Wean, Horr, Warner & Company and the cheese department under the title of Horr, Warner & Company. In 1897 both departments were consolidated as Horr-Warner Company, with Mr. Webster as president of the corporation:
As a resident of Wellington Mr. Webster has been one of the most
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influential citizens, served twenty-four years continuously as a member of its board of education, and president of the board for fifteen years, and has been a trustee of the Wellington Public Library since 1896, and much of the time as president. He joined the First Congregational Church in 1868. He is also a member of the Ohio Commandery of the Loyal Legion.
On December 3, 1870, Captain Webster married Flora Ladd, who was born at Danville, Vermont, May 18, 1846, a daughter of Edward and Sophia (Gooking) Ladd. Of their three children, Florence, who was born April 24, 1873, died February 10, 1887. The son Leveret F. was born January 8, 1875. Edward F., Jr., born January 1, 1877, died September 16, 1906, a few months after his marriage to Ora Mae Foote.
A. E. STIWALD. For half a century A. E. Stiwald has been one of the sterling and useful citizens of Lorain County, and his activities and service have covered a varied field. When a boy his public spirit was manifested by his service in the Union army during the Civil war, and more or less ever since he has shared his time with the public welfare.
At the present time Mr. Stiwald gives all his time and energies to the administration of the Amherst postoffice. He was appointed post- master October 21, 1915, and has filled the office with credit to himself and to the entire satisfaction of the patronage of the local office.
He was born in Cleveland, Ohio, August 15, 1842. His parents, Michael George and Marie (Fox) Stiwald, were both born in Bavaria, Germany. His father died in 1846. His mother, who was born in 1798, died in 1883. They were married in Germany, but in 1836 emigrated to America and settled in Cleveland. The father, a miller by trade, fol- lowed that line in Cleveland until his death. He came to the United States with nothing, and made excellent use of his opportunities and provided well for his family before he died. He was the son of a prom- `inent German land owner, miller and hotel proprietor, who also served as mayor or burgomaster of his home town. Though he accumulated considerable wealth, he lost it all by the dishonesty of a son-in-law, and thus it was that his son, Michael George, had to come to America to build up his individual fortune without any capital to start with. The family were members of the Catholic Church. A. E. Stiwald was one of six children and the only other one still living is his brother Con- rad, who lives on a farm in Lorain County.
Owing to the fact that his father died when A. E. Stiwald was four years of age, he had limited advantages in the way of schooling and early contributed his labors to the support of his widowed mother and the household. He was just twenty years of age when, on August 15, 1862, he enlisted in Company G of the One Hundred and Seventh Ohio Volunteer Infantry and later with the Fourteenth Regiment Veteran Reserve Corps. He was with that regiment in all its campaigns, marches and engagements, until honorably discharged at Washington, D. C., July, 1865, with the rank of first duty sergeant. Most of his service was in the East in the army of the Potomac, and a complete record of his military service would include many of the notable engagements of that army. He was slightly wounded in the battle of Chancellorsville, and he also participated in the great and decisive three days' battle at Gettysburg. Mr. Stiwald has always been a popular member of the Grand Army of the Republic, and served as commander of his local post for six years.
After the war he returned to Ohio and went on a little farm with his mother near Avon for four years. He then moved to Amherst, and in January, 1870, with his brother, Conrad, engaged in the cigar and
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tobacco business both as retailers and as cigar manufacturers. He con- tinued in that line until 1880, when desiring a business less confining he sold his interests and took a more active outdoor life. Mr. Stiwald now owns some land within the city corporation of Amherst.
Few men in that part of the county have been more frequently honored with public offices of trust and responsibility. He served as township trustee fourteen years, was assessor three years, was village clerk fourteen years, justice of the peace ten years, clerk of the school board and for almost nineteen years filled the post of mayor in Amherst. He has held chairs in the lodges of Knights of Pythias and Independent Order of Odd Fellows. He is a democrat in politics and he and his family attend the local churches, though they are not regular members.
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