USA > Ohio > Lorain County > A Standard History of Lorain County, Ohio: An Authentic Narrative of the. > Part 69
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76
He to whom this sketch is dedicated was a lad of about six years at the time the family home was established on the pioneer farmstead in Pittsfield Township. There he was reared to maturity in a normal and benignant atmosphere of work and play, and his early educational advantages were those afforded in the schools of the township. As pre- viously stated, his entire career has been one of unwavering association with agricultural pursuits, and the concrete results of his long, faithful and well ordered labors are shown forth in his ownership of one of the valuable landed estates of the county. He still gives personal super- vision to his large and well improved farm, which is devoted to diversi- fied agriculture and to the raising of excellent grades of live stock. His political support has ever been given to the republican party and he has been influential in community affairs of a public order, as shown by the fact that he served for some time as township trustee. His religious faith is that of the Methodist Episcopal Church.
In 1871 Mr. Green married Mrs. Roana Probert, who was born at York, Sandusky County, Ohio, and she was called to the life eternal in 1876, her only child being Lou Emma, who is the wife of Frank S. Whitney, individually mentioned on other pages of this work. In 1878 Mr. Green wedded Miss Anna Jordan, who was born in Pittsfield Town- ship, this county, and who died in 1881, without issue. In 1884 he wedded Miss Kate Rogers, who likewise is a native of England, and
Digitized by
1008
HISTORY OF LORAIN COUNTY
they have one son, Walter H., who has the active management of the homestead farm.
STEWART MCCONNELL. This is a name bespeaking a large family relationship with pioneer settlers in Lorain County. The McConnells came here more than ninety years ago, had their share in pioneer things, with agriculture as their chief vocation, and an examination of the rec- ords shows them to have been stanch defenders of their country, upholders of morality and religion, and people of the finest qualities of neighborliness and usefulness.
The success of Stewart McConnell, who represents the third genera- tion in this county, has been due to hard work and an unusual degree of enterprise in managing his affairs. Born in Rochester Township February 2, 1852, a son of W. R. and Lovina (Carvey) McConnell. His paternal grandfather, James McConnell, was of Irish stock, and was born in Ireland or his father before him was a native of that country. About 1824 he brought his family out to Rochester Township, when only two families lived in the entire Township. He married Elizabeth Roorback and had five children, all of whom have passed away. Mr. McConnell's maternal grandfather, William Carvey, was also an early settler in Rochester Township. W. R. McConnell was born at Onondaga Lake in New York in 1816, and was eight years old when his parents brought him to the locality near New London, Ohio. His father acquired a tract of land from the Connecticut Land Company. W. R. McConnell was a very influential and successful man in Lorain County, and at the time of his death possessed an estate of 500 acres. He had begun housekeep- ing in a log house with only one room, and after three of his children were born he built a large frame house in 1861. As a republican he filled many offices of trust in his township and was well educated and well read. He died in December, 1914. His wife was born in Rochester Township in 1823, a date which indicates the early settlement of the Carvey family in this county, and she died in 1904. Of her six children the four living are: Stewart; Edward, a farmer in Rochester Township ; Ettie, wife of Jacob Motter, living near New London; and Nellie, wife of A. E. Sellers, a farmer on the old McConnell home farm in Rochester Township.
Stewart McConnell grew up on his father's farm. His education came from a small district school in the corner of Rochester Township, and most of his training was by practical experience on his father's farm. He went to work with a will, was thrifty and intelligent in the use of his resources, and had acquired 100 acres of land before his marriage.
In 1879 Mr. McConnell married Augusta Close of Sullivan, Ohio. She died in 1904, leaving one daughter, Letha Beattie, who is the widow of Frank Beattie, and is living at New London. She has three children, Frances, Mary and John. In 1905 Mr. McConnell married Ida (Mil- ler) Stevens of Catasauqua, Pennsylvania. Mrs. McConnell is a member of the Lutheran Church.
For thirty-six years Mr. McConnell has been one of the leading stock buyers and wool buyers of Lorain County. He has 100 acres of well improved land in his homestead and owns fifty-six acres in another place. He also has property in New London, and owns a considerable part of the stock in the Third National Bank of that city, in which he has been a director since its organization. He now rents most of his land, and in 1904 he built a comfortable residence and has all the improvements and conveniences which make country life enjoyable. Politically he is a republican.
Digitized by
1
I
1009
HISTORY OF LORAIN COUNTY
HENRY W. MANLEY. In speaking of the old time families of Lorain County that of Manley is one that frequently comes into the record both as substantial farmers and as citizens, beginning nearly a century ago and from that time down to the present. Lorain County had only a sprinkling of pioneer population when the first of the Manleys arrived, and they were practically the first to inhabit the wilderness of Welling- ton Township.
Now living retired from his business as a farmer, but still active in business affairs, Henry W. Manley, who was born at Wellingon, March 27, 1861, is a grandson of Josiah B. and Betsey ( Webster) Manley, who came from the State of Massachusetts to Ohio in 1821. Their journey made by primitive means of transportation occupied forty days and forty nights. They located in Wellington Township and opened up a brand new farm in the forest. Josiah B. Manley had only a brief period of activity in this new country, since his death occurred August 22, 1824. His was the first death in Wellington Township. After his death his widow showed herself a brave and self-reliant woman, and in order to support her family she taught school for three successive seasons in her log cabin, and also taught two terms in the regular district school. She died at the home of her son, Frederick B., at the advanced age of eighty-three. Frederick B. Manley, father of Henry W., was born in Berkshire County, Massachusetts, March 10, 1817, being the oldest son of his parents. He was four years of age when brought to Lorain County and was only seven when his father died. He received most of his early education from his mother, and grew up in the midst of privations that were common in this section of the West eighty or ninety years ago. For a time he attended a select school, but early took up the task of farming, to which he devoted the best years of his life. He also became well known as a stock man, buying and selling and raising much live- stock on his own place. By dint of hard labor and good management he brought his farm into an excellent state of cultivation, and constructed many useful buildings. One feature of the old home which helped to constitute it a landmark was a splendid elm tree in the dooryard known far and wide as Manley's famous elm.
On March 10, 1847, Frederick B. Manley married Mary L. Wads- worth, a daughter of Major Judson and Lucinda Wadsworth of Welling- ton. Frederick B. Manley lived a long and useful career, and was honored as one of the best of the old time citizens when he passed away April 9, 1900. In fact he was the oldest surviving early settler of Wellington Township for some years before he died. He cast his first presidential vote for the whig candidate, William Henry Harrison, and was after- wards a loyal republican. During the war he was enrolling officer. He served his home township as constable one term and as assessor eight consecutive years, and for seven years was president of the agricultural society.
Henry W. Manley is the only son and child of the late Frederick B. and Mary L. Wadsworth Manley. He grew up in his home town of Wellington, attended the public schools, and early adopted farming as his permanent vocation in life. In 1903 Mr. Manley removed from his farm to Wellington, but he still owns his beautiful homestead of 224 acres. For a number of years he has been in the fertilizer and silo business, has sold fertilizer to the farmers of Lorain and adjoining counties for the past twenty years, and has been agent for various silo manufacturers for the past fourteen years. Thus he has been instru- mental in carrying modern improvements to the farming district of this section. In politics he is a republican, Mrs. Manley belongs to the Con- gregational Society.
Digitized by
,
1010
HISTORY OF LORAIN COUNTY
In 1879 Mr. Manley married Adele Hawkes, a daughter of Frederick E. and Mary Jane (Broome) Hawkes. Her father was a native of New York State, moved to Huron County, Ohio, in an early day and was a tinsmith by trade. He died in 1911. He served during the Civil war with an Ohio regiment, was in many engagements, and was captured and was a prisoner in Libby and Andersonville. While in prison he applied his art as a tinsmith in making tin cups and other tin vessels, and exchanged these for beans, a much prized article of diet to these pris- oners. Frederick E. Hawkes was a son of B. F. Hawkes, who served with the rank of colonel in the Civil war. Mrs. Frederick E. Hawkes is still living.
Mr. and Mrs. Manley have one son, Floyd D., who is now engaged in the automobile business at Lorain. He married Elizabeth Matt of Cleve- land, Ohio.
SALONAS A. WILLIAMS. In recent years Salonas A. Williams of Wellington has given his mature experience and ability to public serv- ice as state oil inspector. With the exception of a portion of his boy- hood, which he spent in the Union army during the Civil war, the career of Salonas A. Williams has been identified with Lorain County practically all his life. He has worked hard and done well every task assigned him by destiny. Oftentimes he has worked against the cur- rent rather than with it, and has made himself worthy of the success and esteem which belong to him in the later years.
He was born in Eaton Township of Lorain County May 2, 1849, a son of Alanson and Elizabeth (Jay) Williams. His mother, who was born in Broome County, New York, was a granddaughter of John Jay, one of the most conspicuous characters in early American national his- tory. Mr. Williams' paternal grandfather, Nathan Williams, came out of New York and bought a farm in LaGrange Township in the very early times. Later he moved to Iowa, where he died at the age of ninety-five. He acquired extensive holdings in the new lands of that then western state and was a man of considerable influence and was considered wealthy for his time. Alanson Williams was born in Bing- hamton, Broome County, New York, in 1818 and died in 1851. He did what many boys of spirit and adventure do, ran away from home, and at the age of eighteen came to Lorain County. He lived the life of a farmer, was a quiet and well esteemed citizen, and at the time of his death left a small farm in LaGrange Township. He married his wife in Lorain County. They were the parents of three children: Lorinda married Philander Nichols, who was a carpenter and died at Wellington, and she now lives with a daughter at Creston in Wayne County, Ohio; Caroline, the other sister of Mr. S. A. Williams, is now living in Kansas City, Missouri, the widow of Demetrius Johnson, who was a soldier and afterwards a stonemason, and died in Kansas.
Salonas A. Williams was twelve years old when the war broke out. Most of his education was received after the war and he attended the public schools only a few terms prior to his enlistment on August 17, 1864, in Company A of the Sixty-sixth Ohio Volunteer Infantry. He reached the front in time to participate in some of the most striking campaigns of the war, and was with Sherman on his march from Atlanta to the sea and up through the Carolinas, and was granted an honorable discharge at the close of hostilities. After the war he attended Oberlin College two terms, and has been a resident of Wellington almost con- tinuously since 1868. For a time he worked as clerk in the Bending Works for W. R. Santley, and after two years transferred his services to D. L. Wadsworth in the latter's planing mill, where he remained five
Digitized by Google
J.a. Williams
Digitized by
Digitized by
1011
HISTORY OF LORAIN COUNTY
years. He then assisted Mr. Wadsworth in constructing a planing mill and had charge of its machinery five years. Again he was in the employ of the Santley Works for Mrs. Santley. For ten years Mr. Williams was elected and served as marshal of Wellington.
On September 18, 1872, he married Frances Avery, daughter of Lewis B. Avery, who was an early settler in Pittsfield Township and also owned a farm in Wellington Township and a sawmill. He was killed while working in the sawmill. Mr. and Mrs. Williams had seven children. Myrna B. is the wife of Elmer Kissinger, a farmer at Creston, Ohio; Lewis Archie lives in the West; Gerald Avery conducts an auto- mobile line and has an establishment near Kent, Ohio; Maude is the wife of Jud Jackson, a farmer in Penfield Township; Beulah married Archie Davis, a railroad man at Columbus; Ward is a granite cutter living at Ashland, Ohio; Russell M. is in the railroad service and lives in Colum- bus. Recently Russell Williams was given an award by the commission who have charge of the Carnegie hero medal fund of $2,000 for having saved some boys from drowning, and he is at this writing preparing to spend this money wisely, or a portion of it at least, in taking up a technical course. The mother of these children died in June, 1909. She was a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church.
Mr. Williams has been very prominent in fraternal affairs and par- ticularly so in the Grand Army organization. He is now serving his third term as chairman of the Sailors' and Soldiers' Relief Commission. He has served as commander of the Grand Army Post. He is a member and was state organizer for the Knights of the Maccabees. He has been through all the chairs of the subordinate and encampment degrees of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and for six years served as district deputy grand master. He is also affiliated with the Masonic Order.
Politically Mr. Williams is a republican. He was appointed and on July 1, 1915, took charge of the office of oil inspector, having charge of the fifteenth district, including Lorain County and parts of Cuyahoga and Huron counties. He and his family occupy one of the pleasant homes of Wellington.
FRED A. DAUGHERTY. A resident of Wellington for forty years, Fred A. Daugherty has been known in that village and over a wide stretch of surrounding territory as a merchant. He is also known as a man who has been the architect of his own destiny. His start was in the humble capacity of a clerk and general utility boy around a Wellington store, and by making himself master of detail and showing himself fit for increased responsibility he finally acquired a partnership, and for a number of years has directed a very profitable and excellent business.
He was born at Spencer in Medina County, Ohio, September 21, 1863, and was brought to Wellington in 1875 at the age of twelve, by his parents, Z. H. and Hattie (Sawyer) Daugherty. His father was born in New York State, a son of Charles Daugherty. Z. H. Daugherty was only six months of age when his family moved to Medina County, where he grew up and received his education, and he died when still a young man. He was active in the Methodist Episcopal Church and a demo- crat in politics. He and his wife left four living children: Estella, now Mrs. Pittinger, a widow of Portland, Oregon; Fred A .; Bert, a traveling salesman at Cleveland; and Carl, a telegraph operator at North Olmsted, Ohio.
Fred A. Daugherty completed his education in the Wellington schools and after some experience as a farm hand became clerk in a store at the age of seventeen. Twelve years matured his abilities and made him com-
Digitized by
1012
HISTORY OF LORAIN COUNTY
petent for independent business, and he then bought an interest in the business conducted by Chapman & Robinson, and since then the firm name has been incorporated with a capital stock of $18,000 as the Daugh- erty-Robinson Company. This is the leading clothing house in the City of Wellington. Mr. Daugherty really has all the active responsibilities of the business.
In 1890 he married Ada Linder, who was born at Wellington, a daughter of Edward Linder, who for a number of years was a general mechanic at Wellington. Mr. and Mrs. Daugherty are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church and he is a republican in politics. Their three children are: Louise, a kindergarten teacher; Margaret, who is attending the Ohio State University at Columbus, Ohio; and Albert, now a senior in the Wellington High School.
HERBERT E. ARNOLD. One of Oberlin's substantial business men, proprietor of the chief laundry establishment of the town, Herbert E. Arnold has had a wide and extended business experience, having spent a number of years as a traveling salesman.
He comes of old New York State stock, and was born in Otsego County of that state June 4, 1863, a son of Alfred and Abigail (Bundy) Arnold. His grandfather, Elias Arnold, went from Connecticut into New York State about 1835 and took up his home in a sparsely settled district where he carved a home out of the wilderness. On the maternal side Mr. Arnold is descended from a still older family of New York State.
Alfred Arnold was born in Connecticut in 1820 and died in 1889. IIis wife was born in New York State in 1826 and died in 1910. They were married in Otsego County, where Alfred Arnold followed farming for a number of years. He was an active republican in politics, hold- ing several local offices, and was a member of the Presbyterian Church. Four children were born to their union, and the two now living are Darwin, a farmer in Otsego County, New York, and Herbert E., who was the third in age.
Herbert E. Arnold grew up on a farm in New York State, attended one of the little red schoolhouses and also a union school in the town. His early experiences were those of a farmer until nineteen years of age, and after that he taught school two years and for eight years was a traveling salesman. He first engaged in the laundry business at Cleveland, and remained there for fifteen years. In June, 1905, he bought the laundry at Oberlin, and has since completely remodeled and rearranged the service and has made it second to none in quality in Lorain County.
In 1891 he married Miss Emily Sessions, who was born in Otsego County, New York. They have three children: Fannie, who is now student in the Conservatory of Music in Oberlin College; Rossleene, a senior in Oberlin College, and Herbert S., now a student in the second grade of the public schools. Mr. Arnold is a member of the First Con- gregational Church, and is a member of the Masonic order. In politics he is a republican and since coming to Oberlin has been chosen to serve on the school board. In 1916 he was appointed on the Board of Trustees of the Lorain County Children's Home.
JOHN WESLEY HOUGHTON. While the Houghton family has been identified with Lorain County since early times, its associations with the American states and colonies go back to almost the first years of New England. Probably every one in that section of Lorain County tributary to the Village of Wellington knows and esteems the kindly and genial
Digitized by Google
:
J.W. Houghton.
Google Digitized by
.
Digitized by
1013
HISTORY OF LORAIN COUNTY
Dr. John W. Houghton, who has lived a long life, is now past four score, has practiced medicine and has been engaged in business at Wel- lington, and is one of the best known older citizens in the county. The interest and value of this publication will be increased by the presence of the following record concerning Doctor Houghton and the various branches of his ancestry.
Born in Batavia, New York, November 24, 1834, John Wesley Hough- ton is in the seventh generation from the original American settler. For nearly six centuries the family lived in England before one of its representatives crossed the ocean to the New England colonies. The earliest Houghton ancestor went with William the Conqueror from Normandy to England in 1066. His Norman name was "Herverus." In the distribution of the territory among his followers King William gave to Herverus large possessions in Norfolk, Suffolk and Lancashire, in which last place he settled. The land being somewhat more elevated and hilly than the surrounding country, the natives came to call the family "Hoctunes" (Hightown people), which name as the years went by was changed in spelling to Hocton, Hogton, Hoghton, Haughton and Houghton. In New England the name is pronounced as though spelled "Hoton," while in New York and many other places as though spelled Howton. From the original Herverus there were descendants in direct line down to the present owner of Houghton Tower in Lancashire, England. This tower is said by travelers to be the finest remaining ex- ample of Norman architecture in England.
The founder of the family in the United States was Ralph Houghton. He was born in 1623 in Lancaster, England, and came to America in 1645-47. After a temporary settlement in Watertown, Massachusetts, he removed to Lancaster in 1650-52. He was a farmer, surveyor, select- man, was a beautiful penman, and was the first clerk and served con- tinuously in that office at Lancaster for twenty-six years. After the massacre of inhabitants and burning of Lancaster by the Indians under King Philip he moved to Milton, which later became a suburb of Boston, and is now a part of that city. His farm was made into a park and cemetery where he and his family are buried. Ralph Houghton was a Puritan in religion and is said to have left England in order to obtain religious freedom. The records show that he joined a church in Milton June 18, 1682, and no doubt it was of the Congregational form. With nine others Ralph Houghton bought a tract of land from the Indians which was incorporated in 1652, but in which a settlement had been made a little previous to 1650, it having been a trading station as early as 1643. Ralph Houghton was well educated for his day, and was a strong character and leading man in the settlement. His wife was Jane Stowe, and the tradition is that she came from England with her husband. Nothing is known of her life or character, but as she reared a family of nine children, all of whom reached maturity and filled hon- orable places in society, it is proper to conclude that she filled a not unimportant place in the world.
In the second American generation the lineage is carried by James Houghton, who was born about 1650 and died in 1711. He married Mary Sawyer, who was born February 14, 1653. His home was in that part of Lancaster later set off and named Harvard. On land given him by his father he built what is known as a garrison house, the walls be- ing lined with brick and stone as protection against the Indians. This is still standing, having been handed from father to son through five generations. The last owner was Edward Warren Houghton, and he and an only child, an unmarried daughter, were for many years the sole occupants. This daughter, Anna, died in March, 1911, and Edward
Digitized by
1014
HISTORY OF LORAIN COUNTY
W. passed away March 13, 1912, since which time the premises have passed into other ownership.
Edward Houghton, of the third generation, was born in 1705 and died March 17, 1777. His wife, Abigail Coye, died February 6, 1822. Until after his marriage his home was at Lancaster, and he then lived at Pomfret and Uniontown, Connecticut. At Uniontown he built the first mill in that section.
Nehemiah, of the fourth generation, was born March 23, 1728, and married Eunice Curtice. After his marriage he settled in Winchester, New Hampshire, and lived there until his death, having reared a family of ten children. He was a farmer by occupation, held various local offices, and during the war of the Revolution was a lieutenant and captain in the Continental forces.
The fifth generation is represented by Nehemiah Houghton, Jr., who was born August 9, 1767, and died in 1854. He married Lydia Dodge, who was born August 30, 1764. In the southeast corner of the state of Vermont at Vernon he settled on a farm which remained his home the rest of his life. He was a man of great energy and thrift, and though his opportunities were limited he succeeded in acquiring a com- petence. He was a director of one of the earliest banks at Brattleboro, and held that post until late in life. It is remarkable that every one of his ten children developed strong and worthy characters and filled hon- orable places in society.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.