USA > Ohio > Lorain County > A Standard History of Lorain County, Ohio: An Authentic Narrative of the. > Part 66
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In 1886 Mr. Ziegler married Caroline Langendorfer, who was also born in Germany. Their five children are: Christine, born in January, 1888; Emma, born in September, 1889; William, born in July, 1892; Louisa, born in September, 1894; and Berta, born December 10, 1898. Vol. 11-28
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All of them were born in Erie County, Ohio, except William, who was born in Tacoma, Washington.
After eight years of experience as a farm tenant Mr. Ziegler moved out to the State of Washington in 1890, but after several years returned to Ohio and in 1895 bought his first farm of sixty acres in Erie County, Ohio. With characteristic energy he improved and developed this place, and sold out at a considerable advance in 1898. He then bought a place of 166 acres in Huron County, and owned it five years. After selling his interests there he came to Brighton Township in 1904, and bought 354 acres of land. On his establishment in Lorain County Mr. Ziegler was over ten thousand dollars in debt. He paid it all in four years, and has made all his prosperity by his own labor and good management. He uses his land for general farming purposes and also runs a dairy and raises considerable livestock. He is a republican in politics and he and his wife are members of the Methodist Church.
CHARLES D. MURRAY. In the person of Charles D. Murray is found a sample of that material which has brought Lorain County to the fore- front in the field of agricultural enterprise. Endowed with more than average ability, backed with true business judgment, he has prospered in the affairs of life, and is now enjoying the comforts of one of the attrac- tive farm homes of Brighton Township.
Born in Lorain County February 28, 1877, he is a son of James and Isabelle (Monroe) Murray, both of whom were natives of Scotland. His grandfather James Murray was born in Scotland and came to the United States but afterwards returned to his native land before he died. The maternal grandfather, James Monroe, spent all his life on a farm in Scot- land. James Murray was born in 1822 and died in 1900, and his wife was born in 1846 and died in 1910. They were married in Scotland, and some years later, in 1871, came to Lorain County, buying a farm in Rochester Township. They sold that place and moved to another farm in Rochester Township, where they were renting, and then bought the farm on which they spent the rest of their years. Both were members of the Baptist Church, and James Murray was a republican and a man of considerable influence in his locality. There were eight children : James, a farmer in Rochester Township; Mary, wife of Ernest Butson of Brighton Township; William, a farmer in Rochester Township; Isabelle, wife of Walter Jewett, a farmer in Rochester Township; Jessie, twin sister of Isabelle and wife of Bert Rawson, a retired farmer in Elyria; Charles D .; John, a farmer in Rochester Township; and Nellie, wife of Dow Miller, a carpenter at Elyria.
Charles D. Murray acquired his early training in district schools of Lorain County and has been a farmer all his active life. His operations are distributed over a fine place of 250 acres, and in addition to general farming he has a small dairy of from ten to fifteen cows, and is also making a success in the raising of full blood Percheron horses. Mr. Mur- ray has for the past ten years served in the office of trustee of his home township, and has always given his aid to movements for progress and development. Politically he is a republican, is a member of the Maccabees, and he and his family attend the Congregational Church.
In May, 1903, he married Abbie Stocking. Their one child is Mil- dred, now attending school. Mrs. Murray is a daughter of the late C. D. Stocking, who was born in Brighton Township, November 17, 1840, a son of Jonathan S. Stocking, who was one of the first pioneers in this section of Northern Ohio. Jonathan S. Stocking was born in Massachu- setts in 1810 and was brought to Ohio by his parents when a child. His father had visited Northern Ohio in what is now Cuyahoga County
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during the years 1811-12. He came west with his family with ox teams and wagons and after six weeks arrived in Cuyahoga County in 1815. At that time there was only one frame building on the present site of Cleveland. His father was a man of prominence in his part of Ohio and it is an interesting fact of his political record that he cast his first vote for Thomas Jefferson and voted for every presidential candidate for seventy-six years, having voted for R. B. Hayes a short time before his death, on February 23, 1877. Jonathan Stocking married Sabrina Lilly and they had six children, among whom was Conant D., father of Mrs. C. D. Murray. In 1836 the Stocking family moved to Brighton Township. C. D. Stocking, father of Mrs. Murray, spent nearly all his active career on the old homestead, and acquired one of the largest farms in Brighton Township. On January 7, 1874, he married Ann Eliza Fish, who was born in Ashland County, Ohio, in 1838, a daughter of Daniel Fish. Mrs. Murray was one of their two daughters, the other being Jennie, who is the wife of Walter C. Day, and they have one child, Donald. Mrs. Stocking resides with her daughter, Mrs. Murray, in Brighton Township.
JOHN G. PARSONS. One of the oldest and best known family names in Lorain County is that of Parsons, one of whose representatives is John G., a highly successful farmer in the vicinity of Oberlin.
It was in the early '30s that the Parsons family was established in this section of Ohio. Lott Parsons, father of John G., was born in Eng- land in 1828 and was brought to America when four years of age, his parents locating in Lorain County, where Lott Parsons was reared and where in time he became a prosperous farmer of Russia Township. He died in 1892. He married Catherine Kendeigh, whose father, John Ken- deigh, established his home in Lorain County in the period of pioneer settlement. Catherine Kendeigh was born in Lorain County in 1833 and died in 1893. She was an active member of the Congregational Church, and Lott Parsons was a prominent republican. They were the parents of six children and the five now living are: Frank S., a re- tired farmer; William, who is also a Lorain County farmer but spends his winters in Florida; Viola, of Oberlin; Clayton, of Oberlin; John G.
John G. Parsons was born on the old homestead in Russia Township January 4, 1864. His early education came through the country schools and he gained a practical vocational training by assisting on his father's farm until the age of twenty-one. He and his brother, Frank, then bought a farm together and they were associated in its management . for five years. John G. Parsons then became conductor on an electric car line in Cleveland for three years, after which he returned to the old home place and continued its management for nine years. He then re- moved to his present farm, on which he lived 212 years, had his home in Oberlin for two years after that, but since 1904 has given all his time to farming and development of his 145-acre place, which is regarded as one of the best rural estates in the neighborhood of Oberlin. Under his management the buildings have all been improved or re- modeled, and he added a great deal of value to the land by laying ap- proximately 100,000 tile. One of his chief crops is hay, and during the year 1915 his meadows produced about 135 tons. He also raises the different staple grains, and keeps about fifteen head of live stock.
On December 1, 1884, Mr. Parsons married Miss Mary Collins, a daughter of Ransom and Christiana (Packard) Collins. Both parents were born in Ohio and the mother at one time lived in Cleveland in a house occupying the present site of the courthouse. Both the Collins and Packard families were early settlers in Northern Ohio.
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Mr. and Mrs. Parsons have two sons. Clarence, born March 18, 1886, married on April 26, 1912, Lottie May Horning and they have one child, Tharon Eugene, who was born November 30, 1915. Albert, born May 12, 1891, married Ada West on September 18, 1910. These sons conduct a prosperous automobile trucking business in Cleveland, and operate about twenty-seven motor trucks, employing a large force of men as well as having a big investment in the business.
Mr. Parsons is affiliated with the Masonic Order in Oberlin, and both he and his wife take a very prominent part in the Grange, which he has served as master for eight years and for two years was the state delegate. In politics he is republican. Mrs. Parsons is a member of the Daughters of the American Revolution, and her people were directly descended from John Alden, of the Massachusetts Bay Colony. While Mr. and Mrs. Parsons were comparatively poor people when they were married, they have prospered and at the same time have gained the esteem and good will of hundreds of loyal friends.
JAMES A. MURRAY has reason to be especially satisfied with his posi- tion and accomplishment, since his prosperity is the direct result of his individual work and carefully laid plans. He has one of the fine farm homes of Rochester Township and is one of the substantial citizens of that locality.
He has all the hardy qualities of the Scotch people and was born in Aberdeenshire, Scotland, September 25, 1867, a son of James and Isa- belle (Monroe) Murray. His father was born in Scotland in 1827 and died in 1899. This is a well known family in Lorain County, and James A. Murray is a brother of Charles D. Murray, whose career is sketched on other pages.
Brought to this country when a boy, James Murray received most of his education in the local schools of Rochester Township. He then started out to make his own way in the world, and for three years worked on the farm of C. F. Emery. He then went to Cleveland, and from 1896 to 1907 was an employee of the street railway system of that city. His next location was in Russia Township, and he was employed most of the time while there driving horses on the track. After 31/2 years he came to Rochester Township, and settled down to an independent career as a farmer. Mr. Murray now owns a fine place of 148 acres, and carries on general farming together with some dairying.
On January 7, 1902, he married Nellie Currey, who was born in Rochester Township September 23, 1871, a daughter of John Currey, who for many years was a leading merchant at Rochester. Mr. and Mrs. Murray have four children: John Murray, born December 29, 1902; Russell, born August 4, 1904; Corrine, born March 8, 1906; and Donald, born April 22, 1911. Mr. Murray is an active member of the Baptist Church and politically is an independent republican. He has held some of the township offices and has also served on the village council at Rochester.
CHARLES S. JONES, whose home is at Wellington, has for a number of years conducted the elevator at Brighton, and is one of the leading dealers in grain and hay and other supplies in that section of Lorain County.
His father, Ezekiel Jones, is now living retired at Wellington, after a long and active career which included service in the Civil war and many years of activity as a farmer and business man. Ezekiel Jones was born in Crawford County, Pennsylvania, August 2, 1841, the only child of his parents. His widowed mother, Margaret Jones, married for
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her second husband Roswell Lewis and there were four children by that union : Lydia, widow of George Williams, living at Meadville, Penn- sylvania; Jerry of Meadville; Hattie, widow of Mr. Van Horn; and William, who is a farmer three miles from Meadville.
Educated at Meadville, Ezekiel Jones came to Brighton Township in October, 1859, and from early in the following year he was employed on the farm of William Battle, until he enlisted August 15, 1862, in Com- pany F of the 103rd Ohio Infantry. While in Kentucky with his command he was taken sick of typhoid, was sent to Lexington and after- wards to Franklin, and spent so much time in the hospital that he was finally sent to Columbus and discharged unfit for service. He suffered from the illness a long time after returning home, and on resuming employment was in the planing mill at Wellington. Then in 1864, hav- ing recovered his health, he again enlisted, this time in Company C of the 176th Regiment. He was in the great battle of Nashville, and in some other minor engagements, and was finally given an honorable discharge. On returning from the war he bought land in Brighton Township, comprising 150 acres, and besides farming he was also in the cheese and butter business for a number of years, conducting several factories. He left the cheese business in 1907 and has since lived prac- tically retired. On January 15, 1867, Ezekiel Jones married Agnes Whitney, who was born in Pittsfield Township of Lorain County in 1843, a daughter of Sever S. Whitney, who came to Pittsfield Township in 1832 and cleared up a farm out of the wilderness. He acquired large land holdings and was one of the influential men in that section of Lorain County. Ezekiel Jones was a member of the Grand Army Post at Wellington until its charter was surrendered. He and his good wife have lived at Wellington since October, 1915, and they reside with their son, Charles, and family.
Charles S. Jones, the only one living of his parents' two children, was born in Camden Township of Lorain County March 29, 1870, and received his education at Kipton and Oberlin. He left high school to go to work and for nine years was associated with his father in the creamery business at Fostoria, Ohio. He then moved to a farm in Brighton Township, was a progressive farmer fourteen years, and for the past eight years has been proprietor of the elevator at Brighton, conducting a general elevator business, handling grain, hay and coal. He also owns a farm of seventy-five acres. Mr. Jones is a republican in politics, and by strict attention to business has long been a useful factor in the community.
In 1891 he married Laura Button, who was born in Michigan. Their four children are: Tressie, wife of Carl Webber, a farmer in Brighton Township; Carl, on his father's farm; Artie, at home; and Hazel, wife of Harry Hall, a farmer in Brighton Township.
OTIS J. WHITNEY. It is now almost three score and ten years since Otis J. Whitney started out on the journey of life, and he first saw the light of day on the farm which is his present home in Pittsfield Township. He belongs to some of the substantial older stock, of sterling New England antecedents, which was most closely identified with the settlement and development of Lorain County in the early days. His own career has been consonant in its activities and influences with those of his ancestors. As a farmer and stock breeder Mr. Whitney's name is widely known not only in his home county but in many sections of Ohio.
He was born June 26, 1846, a son of Mark and Cordelia K. (Gifford) Whitney. His grandfather, Joseph Whitney, was a native of Rutland,
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Vermont, and was one of the early settlers in Lorain County, coming to this section about 1836 and taking up a tract of government land in Pittsfield Township. The maternal grandparents were Cornelius and Hannah (Nye) Gifford. Cornelius Gifford was born at Lee, Massa- chusetts, and died at a great old age November 13, 1900. His wife was born November 17, 1782, at Columbus, New York. Cornelius Gifford settled in Pittsfield Township in 1833, and built himself a home in the midst of the woods, and a number of years were devoted to clearing up the land as a farmer. The Nye family was among the early settlers in the New England states, and some of that name became prominent in politics and church affairs.
Mark Whitney was born in Rutland, Vermont, in 1818, and died in 1882. His wife was born in Lee, Massachusetts, April 5, 1825, and made her home with her son, Otis, and though ninety years of age at the time of her death was in splendid health and in full possession of her mental faculties. She died March 10, 1916. Mark and Cordelia Whitney were married in Pittsfield Township April 27, 1848. He had come to the county at the age of eighteen and afterwards became known as a man above the average in education and reading and as one of the banner farmers of the township. He was a republican and filled all the township offices. Having little to start with in the way of capital he built up a good estate, and on the old homestead he con- structed a two-story brick residence which was one of the best in Pitts- field Township. He also put up a good home at Oberlin and lived there until his death. He left an estate of about 240 acres. Mrs. Mark Whitney had for years been an esteemed member of the Second Con- gregational Church at Oberlin. They were the parents of six children, and the four now living are: Otis J .; Mark A., in the grain elevator business at Oberlin ; Frank S., a Pittsfield Township farmer; and Flora, wife of A. M. Hall, a retired resident of Cleveland.
Otis J. Whitney received most of his early education in the com- mon schools of Pittsfield Township and spent three terms at Oberlin public schools. Reared on a farm, he has always been a farmer, and to that vocation he has brought unusual energy, thrift and business man- agement. His specialty is the breeding and raising of registered Hol- stein-Friesian cattle, and at the present time he has about fifty head of this fine stock. He has shipped a great many of these cattle and takes his stock to public sales all over Ohio. His farm comprises 150 acres, and it is thoroughly improved, and he and his family still reside in the comfortable two-story brick house erected by his father many years ago.
On February 14, 1883, he married Miss Ann Rogers. Mrs. Whitney was born March 25, 1860, a daughter of John and Fannie Ann (Bur- rows) Rogers. Her parents came to this country from England, where they were born, and they located in Pittsfield Township in 1870, where Mr. Rogers died. To the marriage of Mr. and Mrs. Whitney have been born four children. Clara is the wife of Levi Worcester, who is con- nected with the Electric Light Company at Oberlin. Alice is the wife of Arthur Mills, and they live on her father's farm. Charles is also a farmer on his father's estate. Jessie is still at home.
Mrs. Whitney is an active member of the Congregational Church. Fraternally he is affiliated with the Knights of the Maccabees and in politics a republican. He has filled all the township offices with credit, and the quality of his public spirit has been on a par with his individual business management.
C. J. DIMICK. Rochester Township has no more progressive and public spirited citizen than C. J. Dimick. He got his start working in
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Cleveland at the carpenter's trade, but for many years has operated one of the well equipped and well managed farms of Rochester Township. His influence has extended beyond his own place, and he has aided in every constructive movement for the benefit of the community.
He was born in Berlinville, Erie County, Ohio, July 1, 1870, a son of Edwin and Mary E. (Eddy) Dimick. His father died soon after- wards, and C, J. Dimick grew up in the home of his mother and his stepfather Cephas Myers. Mr. Myers, who was a very liberal and kind hearted man and a successful farmer, moved to Rochester Township in 1878 and died in 1902. Mrs. Mary (Eddy) Dimick Myers was an active worker in the Free Will Baptist Church, and she represented one of the very old and prominent families of Northern Ohio. Her great-grand- father, Caleb Eddy, was born in 1754 and about 1790 moved to Wash- ington County, Pennsylvania. In 1807 he moved from Pennsylvania to Euclid Township in Cuyahoga County, Ohio, and was one of the earliest pioneers in that section, where he died in 1819. He was a blacksmith by trade. David Eddy, grandfather of Mrs. Mary Dimick, went from . Pennsylvania to Northern Ohio about 1806 and erected a log house for his father, Caleb. On March 4, 1814, David Eddy married Elizabeth Sherdine of Pennsylvania, and in 1815 they moved to Columbia Town- ship in Lorain County, where he lived until his death on October 21, 1853. His wife passed away October 6, 1854. Their four children were : Jesse; Enos, born December 1, 1816; Susanna, born March 24, 1820; and Eunice, born February 22, 1822. Jesse Eddy, father of Mary E. Eddy, was born December 15, 1814, and on January 30, 1837, married Caroline Chamberlain. For two years after his marriage he rented a farm and his father then gave him twenty acres of land, which he increased by the purchase of ten acres. This he traded for sixty acres of woodland, where he built a log cabin, and after clearing up his tract he lived on it until 1870, when he moved to Rochester Township. His wife died February 5, 1855. Jesse Eddy held various positions of trust, having served 41/2 years as postmaster of Rochester, and during that time he registered 900 letters, the smallest amount being for fifty cents and the largest $7,000 in bonds which were sent to Fort Collins,- Colorado. Jesse Eddy, in 1843, joined the Wesleyan Methodist Church, and in politics was a whig and afterwards a republican.
C. J. Dimick grew up in Lorain County, learned the carpenter's trade, and worked at it for eighteen years. Since then he has given his business energies to the management of his fine farm of 100 acres, and has made improvements which classify it among the best places in Rochester Town- ship. He has constructed a number of buildings and a fine two-story residence. A profitable enterprise which Mr. Dimick conducts on his farm is the raising of ferrets, and at this writing he has about 175 of these animals. which are shipped to all parts of the United States.
In 1900 he . married Sadie Biddinger, who was born in Ashland County, Ohio. They have one son, now sixteen years of age, and attend- ing the Wellington schools.
Mr. Dimick is a republican, though inclined to independence in local affairs. He served as township clerk nine years, as president of the school board, and a member of the village board. He was trustee of the township two years, declining a second term. One of the accomplish- ments of his official work which brought him a high degree of credit was the improvement of the local cemetery, one of the best now in the county. He has taken infinite pains in making this burial place of the dead a place of beauty, and he now has a complete record of every grave in the cemetery, recorded on blue print. This record extends back to 1840.
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LEWIS BARNES is one of the substantial farmer citizens of Rochester Township. He has lived in that locality all his life, and has discharged the responsibilities of the individual worker, the home maker and the citizen with credit and usefulness.
He was born in Rochester Township September 11, 1849, a son of Moses and Eliza (Stone) Barnes, both of whom were natives of Berk- shire County, Massachusetts. His father was born in 1803 and died in 1889 and his mother in 1813 and died in 1889. They were married in Massachusetts and afterwards came to Lorain County, settling in the woods of Rochester Township. Both were charter members of the Meth- odist Episcopal Church in that township, and the father was a republican and a successful farmer. On coming to Lorain County they established their home in a log cabin, and lived to prosper and enjoy many of the good things of life. Of their twelve children Lewis Barnes is the only survivor.
Lewis Barnes is a grandson of Nelson Barnes, who spent his life on a farm in Massachusetts. One of the sons of Nelson was Almon Barnes, who became quite a prominent man in Massachusetts and served as a member of the Legislature. Mr. Barnes' maternal grandfather, Lewis Stone, spent his life in Massachusetts.
Educated in the old red schoolhouse of Rochester Township, Lewis Barnes took up farming at an early age, and he now has the old home- stead of sixty acres. He has lived there for many years, has made many improvements, and still carries on the farm in connection with some dairying and the raising of good livestock.
In 1888 he married Elizabeth Colgrove of Pike County, Illinois. Mr. and Mrs. Barnes have no children. She is an active member of the Methodist Episcopal Church. Politically he is a republican, but rather independent in local affairs and has served as a member of the town council.
FRED C. BRANDT. In his native county Mr. Brandt has found the best of opportunities for the achieving of definite success in connec- tion with the basic industries of agriculture and stock growing, under the influence of which he was reared, and on his admirably improved farm, in Pittsfield Township, he now gives special attention to the dairy. business. . He is one of the vital, progressive and popular citizens of the county and is well entitled to specific recognition in this publication.
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