USA > Ohio > Lorain County > A Standard History of Lorain County, Ohio: An Authentic Narrative of the. > Part 9
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Dennis W. Seward after getting his education at Elyria was em- ployed in carrying special delivery letters for the Elyria postoffice. This was when he was sixteen years of age, and he was later engaged in transferring the mail to the trains. For the last twenty-two years of his subordinate service in the postoffice he was a city letter carrier, de- livering mail through the business district of Elyria. On April 1, 1915, his appointment as postmaster of Elyria by President Woodrow Wilson was confirmed by the Senate, and seldom does an appointive political honor come more justly to one who has already been long identified with and thoroughly familiar with the details of the service.
Mr. Seward is a democrat. He has taken a prominent part in the Knights of Columbus, has been through all the chairs of Elyria Lodge No. 774 of that order, and for three years was district deputy with juris- diction over the counties of Lorain, Huron, Erie and Cuyahoga. He is also affiliated with Elyria Lodge No. 465 of the Benevolent and Pro- tective Order of Elks and is a member of the Elyria Chamber of Com- merce. His church is St. Mary's Catholic, where he was married November 7, 1899, to Miss Helen Shafer, daughter of Mrs. Pauline Shafer of Elyria. Mrs. Seward was born in Chambersburg, Pennsyl- vania, and comes of a German family. She was educated in the Elyria parochial and high schools. To their marriage have been born four children, two sons and two daughters: Robert Arthur, Theodore Ed- ward, Winifred Pauline and Margaret Gertrude. Mr. Seward has all his life been a busy man and his forms of recreation have been largely in the direction of outdoor sports, both tennis and baseball being among his favorite diversions.
JOHN JOHNSON POLLOCK. Among the greatest benefactors of man- kind are those public officials who realize in full their duty to the people and do it faithfully and unflinchingly. To this class belongs John J. Pollock, a former mayor of the City of Lorain, who, after assuming the chair as presiding officer of the city government, did some most useful work greatly benefitting the community. Mr. Pollock was born in Stark County, Ohio, June 14, 1868, a son of John and Catherine (Maine) Pollock. The father, for some time a coal miner and merchant at North Lawrence, Ohio, is now living retired at Canton, this state.
John J. Pollock was educated in the public schools and in the high school at Canal Fulton, Ohio, then under the charge of Prof. I. M. Taggart, later taking the preparatory course at Mount Union College. He began industrial life as traveling salesman for a wholesale house, after which he entered the railroad service and was thus occupied until 1899, during this time residing at Alliance, Ohio. On December 3, 1890, Mr. Pollock married Rachel Fisher, of North Lawrence, Ohio, and for the next three years he and his brother-in-law, John Fisher, were engaged in operating coal mines in Ohio. In 1899 he came to Lorain and until 1908 was in the employ of the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad. In June of the latter year he went to work as yard master for the National Tube Company, remaining thus engaged until November, 1913, when he was elected mayor of Lorain, taking office in the following January. He had previously served an apprenticeship to politics, having been council- man for two years from the Third (now the Fourth) Ward, and his public and private record were such as to inspire confidence in his fellow citizens and create for him a strong following. After assuming office Mayor Pollock gave the people a progressive administration and effected some important reforms. The control of the public highway on Twenty-
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eighth Street has been taken from the street railway company and at the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad tracks a subway has been built costing $150,000. Also the Sixth Ward has been connected with the city by continuous pavements and a street railway, and the five former grade crossings, which were a great source of danger and cause of accidents, eliminated. It was also the policy of the administration to create parks and breathing places for children and other inhabitants, and in those existing various improvements were made. The streets were not for- gotten, but were kept in good condition and improved whenever feasible; and during the business depression of 1914 and 1915 the poor were aided by an appropriation of $5,000 for charitable purposes. These, and many other things, marked Mayor Pollock's administration-a record that more than justified the choice of the people in elevating him to the chief place in the city government. Mr. Pollock is affiliated with a number of social organizations, including that of Railway Conductors; the Knights of Pythias. in which he is past chancellor and representative of the grand lodge ; the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks; the Fraternal Order of Eagles, of which he is worthy president and was chosen delegate to the national conclave to be held at Spokane, Washington, in 1915, but did not attend, and the Loyal Order of Moose. He and his wife have had three children, one of whom, Bessie, died at the age of three and a half years. The two survivors are Adelbert Mckinley and Jennie.
CALVIN WILCOX. In the pioneer history of Lorain County, a name that stands forth prominently is that of Calvin Wilcox, who came here in 1825, was for a long period of years engaged in agricultural pursuits, had charge of the railroad station of LaGrange, a position in which he was subsequently succeeded by his sons, and was probably the first post- master at that place. His was the first frame house erected in the town- ship. and his marriage was the first to be performed here. Throughout his life he was known as a solid, substantial citizen, who encouraged progress and contributed materially to the public welfare.
Calvin Wilcox was born at Charleston, New York, October 4, 1796, a son of Gen. Silvanus and Sarah (Johnson) Wilcox, The family is of English extraction and of Welsh origin. The date of its first emigra- tion to America was 1636, when William and Margaret Wilcox and son came on the ship Planter and settled first at Windsor and later at Stratford. Connecticut. Seventen hundred and eight marked the birth of Ephraim Wilcox, a descendant of the above, who resided at Simsbury, Connecticut, and died in 1773. Silvanus Wilcox joined the Revolution- ary Army in 1776 and went to New Haven under General Wood in the same year. Enlisting for three months at Ninscaunee, in 1777 he went to Albany and joined the Continental Army for six months, serving under General Washington, and subsequently was present at the hang- ing of Major Andre below West Point on the Hudson River. He served under Colonel Willett in Tryon County and was at Canada Creek when Butler was killed, and, having come through the war safely, in 1831 was granted a pension of $55 per year, which he received until his death. Two tombstones mark the resting-place of Silvanus Wilcox and his wife, on the west bank of the Schoharie Creek, on the old homestead in Mont- gomery County, New York, each bearing an urn and willow. The in- scriptions follow : "In memory of Sarah, consort of Gen. Silvanus Wilcox and daughter of the late Robert Johnson of West Stockbridge, who departed this life July 1, 1830, aged sixty-five years, three months and twenty-four days." This would make her birthday March 6, 1765. "Gen. Silvanus Wilcox, died July 10, 1846, aged eighty-four years, one month and fourteen days." From the foregoing his birthday must have been May 26, 1762.
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In 1825 Calvin Wilcox, then a young man twenty-nine years of age, left his home at Charleston, Montgomery County, New York, and struck out across the almost unbroken forests for the West, walking the entire distance to the new country of the Western Reserve, his trav- els coming to an end at LaGrange, Lorain County, Ohio. There he took up a large tract of land and began the life of the hardy pioneer. There were but few people in the southern part of the county at that time and neighbors were far apart, but he had not been long here when he fell a victim to the black eyes and bewitching smiles of a charming young frontier maiden, Harriet Hubbard, and they were married March 8, 1827, this being the first marriage ceremony solemnized in LaGrange Township. They at once took up their abode in the typical backwoods log cabin, but soon became ambitious for a more pretentious and com- fortable home, and with much labor drew logs to a water-power sawmill with oxen, this being located on the Black River, near the present site of Grafton Village. With the lumber thus made was erected the old Wilcox homestead, the first frame house in LaGrange Township, which stood until about the year 1910 in the Village of LaGrange, and a cut of which will be found in this work. While Calvin Wilcox carried on farming as his chief vocation, he also engaged in other pursuits, being probably the first postmaster of LaGrange, and, like others of the early- day type, was accustomed to wear a shawl and to carry the letters around in his high hat and collect the postage and perform numerous other duties. His son, Hubbard A., who has separate mention in this work, carried the mail on horseback when a boy between LaGrange and Woos- ter. Calvin Wilcox was station agent of the old Bee Line, now the Big Four Railroad, from the day the station was opened at LaGrange, and was succeeded in that position by his son, George, and later by another son, Hubbard A. Calvin Wilcox died January 30, 1871, respected and esteemed by the entire community. He had lived a long and useful life and had taken an active and helpful part in the activities which formed the foundation for the present-day structure of prosperity. Mrs. Wil- cox, who was born at Champlain, New York, August 11, 1802, died at LaGrange, August 31, 1865. They were the parents of ten children, of whom three survive: William, of LaGrange; Mrs. Addie Gott, of Cali- fornia; and Mrs. Phoebe Taylor, of Indiana. Those dead are: Charles A .; George; Edward F .; Hubbard A .; Sylvanus; Sarah A., who was the wife of the late I. A. Paddock; and Maria L., who was the wife of the late William L. Gott. All were born at LaGrange with the exception of Charles A., who was born at Wellington, Ohio.
HUBBARD AVERY WILCOX. In the death of Hubbard Avery Wilcox, there passed away one of the best known figures in railroad circles in Northern Ohio. He had started to work for the old Bee Line in 1853, when LaGrange was little more than a siding, grew up with the road, saw all its changes, and after fifty-one years of continuous service, re- signed from the Big Four Railroad when aging years had sapped his energy and strength. Few men have had a longer service; none have given to that service more conscientious or able effort; certainly none bore better reputations or held in greater measure the confidence of their employers and the regard and affection of their fellow-employes. When he died, February 23, 1906, the entire community mourned.
Hubbard Avery Wilcox was born at LaGrange, Lorain County, Ohio, March 29, 1834, a son of Calvin and Harriet (Hubbard) Wilcox, old pioneers of this county, a sketch of whose long and useful careers will be found elsewhere in this work. The lad had the benefits of a home training that early instilled in him a love for honesty and fidelity, and his industry was demonstrated when he was still a lad, when he en-
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gaged in carrying the mail horseback from LaGrange to Wooster. He succeeded his brother, George Wilcox, who in turn had succeeded their father, Calvin Wilcox, in the agency of the railroad at LaGrange, the father having been the incumbent from the opening of the office. It was a local tradition that the position would always remain in the family, but subsequent developments have allowed it to go to other hands. From the start of the railroad here Mr. Wilcox watched with interest and the eye of a proprietor its history, remaining stanchly with it during its various changes of organization, through the days of the old Cleve- land, Columbus, Cincinnati & Indianapolis, to its present style of Cleve- land, Cincinnati, Chicago & St. Louis, or, as it is probably more famil- iarly known, the Big Four. The savings from his salary were judiciously invested in farm land in the vicinity of the village, and around the division office at Cleveland Mr. Wilcox was a familiar and welcome figure. Mr. Wilcox was about seventy years of age at the time of his retirement, in 1904, when the road lost one of its most faithful servants. Popular with all, efficient and prompt in his duties, courteous in their discharge, he had won hosts of friends and well-wishers. During the hours of his funeral business was suspended at LaGrange, the business men attending in a body, while the cortege to the cemetery was very long and included many friends from a long distance. Three sons and three grandsons, E. F., A. H., H. C., George, Carl and Albert Wilcox, were the pall-bearers. At the funeral services "Refuge" and "Lead, Kindly Light," which had been chosen by Mr. Wilcox, were sung.
On July 3, 1856, Mr. Wilcox was married to Miss Elizabeth Powers, who was born at Ashland, Ohio, May 3, 1837, and died at the family home at LaGrange, November 24, 1907. For almost a half a century, or until the death of the husband, February 23, 1906, they were the principals in one of the most ideal homes of the community. The beauty of Mrs. Wilcox's life was in its simplicity. She was utterly devoid of ostentation, and rather retired to the privacy of her home, where she found her greatest pleasure, and even after her husband's death, when left alone and broken in health, she refused to leave its shelter, pre- ferring that it might not be broken up. She was a Christian woman who lived her Christianity every day of her life, and from her girlhood was a devout and active member of the Methodist Episcopal Church. Of the children born to Mr. and Mrs. Wilcox, two are living: Avery H., of Pittsfield, Ohio, and Hon. Harvey Clyde, of Elyria, judge of probate of Lorain County, the latter of whom has separate mention in another part of this work. A son, Calvin P. Wilcox, and a daughter, Mrs. Eliza- beth ("Birdie") Van-Benschoten, have been deceased for several years, and another son, Edward F., died at LaGrange, in March, 1915.
HON. HARVEY CLYDE WILCOX. Among the members of the Lorain County bench, none are more highly esteemed than Hon. Harvey Clyde Wilcox, judge of the Probate and Juvenile Courts of Lorain County. Endorsed by civic and professional bodies when he appeared as a candi- date for this office, since taking his seat upon the bench he has vindicated the faith and trust reposed in him, and is proving a most dignified, impartial and capable jurist.
Judge Wilcox was born at LaGrange, Lorain County, Ohio, Sep- tember 27, 1872, and belongs to an old and honored pioneer family of the county, being a son of the late Hubbard A. and Elizabeth (Powers) Wilcox, a complete sketch of whose career appears elsewhere in this work. There were four sons and one daughter in the family, all of whom lived to maturity, although Judge Wilcox and a brother, A. H. Wilcox, of Pittsfield, Ohio, are the only survivors. The early education of Judge Wilcox was secured in the public schools of LaGrange, where he gradu-
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ated from the high school, and this was supplemented by attendance at the Ohio State University and Baldwin University. From the latter institution he received first the degree of B. Ph. and later the degree of A. M., and received the degree of LL. B. at the Cleveland Law School. Thus ably equipped he began the practice of his profession, and followed it until elected county clerk of Lorain County in 1902 for a three-year term. While serving thus he took a post-graduate course at Baldwin University, but that he did not allow his studies to interfere with the per- formance of his duties is shown in that he was re-elected to succeed him- self in the elections of 1905 and made a record in that office for integrity and efficiency that has been excelled by none. Judge Wilcox had been admitted to the bar by examination, and when he retired from the county clerk's office he resumed the practice of his profession at Elyria. In the fall elections of 1912 he appeared as candidate for the office of judge of probate of Lorain' County, on the republican ticket, and was immediately endorsed by the attorneys of the county as a man who had had ample experience in matters of law as well as in court cases to justify his request at the hands of the people. By reason of his ability, character and experience, he is splendidly equipped for judi- cial position. He was also recommended for nomination and election in the report of the Oberlin College Civic Club, in its pamphlet issued in the fall of 1912. Securing the election, Judge Wilcox took his seat upon the bench February 9, 1913, for a term of four years, and has continued to distinguish himself in the performance of his duties in a wise and eminently fair manner. He is also judge of the Lorain County Juvenile Court, which court was established in 1913, he becoming judge of the court at that time.
Judge Wilcox is an ardent republican and for several years was sec- retary of the Republican County Committee, but since assuming his judicial duties has retired somewhat from political life. He is a mem- ber of the Elyria Chamber of Commerce. His fraternal connection is with Lodge No. 465, of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, of which he was exalted ruler for two terms, and Premier Lodge No. 500 of the Knights of Pythias. With his family, he attends the Methodist Episcopal Church of Elyria, Ohio, in which he is superintendent of the Sunday school. He has always been a close devotee of out-of-door sports and athletics.
Judge Wilcox was married at LaGrange, Ohio, to Miss Grace L. Freeman, daughter of D. C. and Harriet (Turner) Freeman, of that city, where the former still resides, the latter being deceased. Four children have been born to Judge and Mrs. Wilcox: Elizabeth, Jose- phine, Hubbard and Evangeline.
EDWARD J. STANKARD. A record for physical efficiency and courage, united with capable judgment, were the basis for the promotion of Edward J. Stankard from a long career in the interurban railway serv- ice to the office of chief of the police department at Elyria. Prior to his election as chief Mr. Stankard had no experience as a guardian of the peace, but the capable manner in which he has handled the office, the effective discipline which has been maintained among his subordinates, have so completely justified his original appointment that he has now served under three different mayors of the city.
A native of Erie County, Ohio, Edward J. Stankard was born ten miles south of Sandusky on a farm, June 22, 1876. His parents were John and Jane ( McQue)' Stankard. His father was a native of France and his mother of Ireland. The latter, after the death of her parents in the old country, came to America with her two sisters, and located in New York State, where she met and married John Stankard. The latter,
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whose father was a Frenchman and his mother an Irish woman, was taken in early childhood from France to England, where Grandfather Stankard died when his son John was about three years of age. Grand- father Stankard was a shepherd by occupation and had the responsibility of looking after the sheep of a large estate. When John Stankard had reached the age of thirteen he and his mother started across the ocean for the United States. She died while the vessel was in mid-ocean and was buried at sea, and the son soon afterwards landed alone in New York City. Though a boy of but thirteen he had that same independence of purpose and energy which have been the characteristics of Chief Stankard, and was soon working on a farm just outside the City of New York. From there he went to St. Louis, Missouri, and found em- ployment as a cabin boy on a Mississippi River cotton packet. The vessel was engaged in transporting cotton up and down the Mississippi and across the gulf, and this was during the war with Mexico, and at one time the boat came so close to a Mexican battery that it was fired upon and shells set fire to the cargo. The crew managed to throw over- board a large part of the burning cotton and finally got the vessel to shore. Later John Stankard found similar employment on another boat which was hauling steel for railroad construction. One day he was a witness to the tragic death of the captain of the vessel. The captain in tipping his chair back on the upper deck fell to the lower deck, and striking against a part of the cargo of steel rails was killed. The cabin boy was so much affected by this tragic incident that he immediately gave up his employment. After this boating experience he returned to New York State, where some brothers were working at the time on farms. While living there he met and married Miss McQue, and from there they moved out to Ohio, locating in Bellevue. There he found employment in a distillery, and remained about two years. His employ- ment was terminated by the bursting of a big vat and while two other men were scalded to death, John Stankard received injuries which laid him up for about eighteen months, and he carried to his grave the scars from his burns on the side and right arm. This occurred during the Civil war period, and while he was recuperating from his injuries he was drafted for service in the army, but his condition was such that he was unable to respond. After the war he moved to Erie County, bought a small tract of thirty-five acres of land, cleared it up, and continued in agricultural lines the rest of his life. He added fifteen acres to the homestead, making fifty acres in all, and subsequently bought 100 acres half a mile from the first home, and this place of 100 acres is still owned by his estate, being the joint property of Chief Stankard and his brothers and sisters. The old homestead of fifty acres was willed to a crippled son, John C., before the death of the mother. John Stankard died at the old home July 16, 1913, and his wife passed away there June 9, 1898. In the family were ten children, five sons and five daughters, and two of the sons are now deceased. John C., the oldest, and the occupant of the old homestead, for more than twenty-five years served as assessor of Oxford Township in Erie County. The daughter Margaret is now Mrs. George E. Homan, living near Canton, Ohio. The third in order of age was Michael, who was an engineer on the Baltimore & Ohio Railway and died in 1890 at the age of thirty-six. Mary is the wife of J. A. Chay, a railroad man living at Youngstown, Ohio. James is a resident of Newark, Ohio, and is a stationary engineer in the Newark Glass Works. The daughters Jane and Lillian both reside at home, and following them in age is Edward J. Robert H., the youngest, was drowned near Huron, Ohio, while fishing, on June 20, 1897, at the age of eighteen. All these children were born at the old home in Erie County, were educated in that locality, and the daughter Mary also
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attended the normal school at Milan, a village otherwise noted as the birthplace of Thomas Edison, and for several years she taught school in the district around her old home in Erie County.
The early associations of Chief Stankard were with the farm and the locality of his birth in Erie County. He attended the local schools and for one winter was in the Milan Normal. He engaged in farming until the age of twenty-one and then began his career in railroad service at Sandusky. For about two years he was with the old Sandusky & Interurban, now a part of the Lake Shore Electric Railroad. He was first employed in construction work, and when the road was taken over by the Lake Shore he was put on as a motorman on the Sandusky, Milan & Norwalk branch. He continued in faithful and efficient service as a motorman for fifteen months, making the run between Sandusky and Norwalk, and was then transferred to the Cleveland & Toledo Division, being a motorman for about two years between Cleveland and Sandusky. Leaving the Lake Shore he came to the Cleveland & Southwestern Elec- tric Railway, and was in its service about seven years, operating a construction train for four years, and the rest of the time as motorman on a run between Cleveland and Wellington.
It was on January 1, 1910, that Mr. Stankard came to Elyria to take the post of chief of police. At that time, as already stated, he knew nothing about police work, but his capabilities and qualifications in other ways made up for his lack of experience in this particular line. Mr. Stankard succeeded in the office of chief of police, William Whitney, who, in 1914, was elected sheriff of Lorain County and mention of whom will be found on other pages. Mr. Stankard took the office under Mayor Thomas A. Conway, and has since been continued in the office by Mayor David S. Troxel and now under Mayor Tucker.
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