USA > Ohio > Richland County > A centennial biographical history of Richland county, Ohio > Part 44
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In 1857 Mr. Benedict was united in marriage to Miss Mary E. Stoner, a native of Blooming Grove township, Richland county, and to them have been born four children, all yet living, as follows: Norris, who is conducting the home farm; Sarah A., the wife of Shannon Weaver, of Blooming Grove township; Almira, the wife of Wilber Curtis, of Blooming Grove township; and Albert, who is a teacher in the public schools of Marshall county. Illi- nois. The mother passed away November 11, 1898. For fifteen years she had been an invalid and for eight years was entirely helpless. In politics Mr. Benedict is a stanch Republican, but has never been an aspirant for public office, the duties of the farm claiming his entire attention. A strong purpose and indefatigable energy have been the salient features of his career and have gained for him the prosperity which he now enjoys.
JOHN HENRY TODD.
The insurance interests represented at Mansfield, Richland county, Ohio, involve the investment of vast capital, which stands for the protection of property-owners and the security of families dependent upon life-insurance investments for their inheritance in case of the death of husbands and fathers unable to provide for them otherwise. One of the leading insurance men of this city is John Henry Todd, a native of Mansfield, who was born Jan- uary 9, 1850. His father, Dr. John J. Todd, located here in 1842 and practiced his profession with success until his death, which occurred in Jan- uary, 1856. He was a native of Ashland county, then a part of Richland county, where his father was a pioneer settler, and was graduated in medi- cine at the Cleveland Medical College in 1847 and was accounted a careful and skillful physician. He married Naomi Hedges, a daughter of Ellzey Hedges and a sister of Hon. Henry C. Hedges, a biographical sketch of whom appears in this work. It is worthy of note that Mrs. Todd was born at the old Hedges homestead on Diamond street, next to the Odd Fellows' hall, Mansfield ; her son, John Henry Todd, was born there, and the latter's eldest son was also born there, and died there, in infancy. Mr. Todd's brothers, Ellzey and William, died young. His sister, Addie T. Todd, mar- ried the late James J. Hedges, a son of W. C. Hedges, of Tiffin, Ohio, and
a grandson of the founder of that town. Another sister, Harriet Hedges Todd, married Hon. M. R. Dickey, a prominent lawyer of Cleveland, Ohio. formerly the judge of common pleas of Richland county.
John Henry Todd was educated in the schools of Mansfield and entered the employment of Sturges, Wood & Witter, with whom he remained seven
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years in the capacity of clerk. In 1876 he became associated with the Rich- land Insurance Company, with which he has been identified from that time to the present. He served two terms as a member of the board of educa- tion of the city of Mansfield. He is a prominent Odd Fellow and has passed all the chairs in all three branches of the order and has filled other important and responsible positions in that order. Mr. Todd married Miss Elza Pirritte, a daughter of the Rev. William Pirritte, of the Methodist Episcopal church, who came to Richland county, Ohio, from Canada and built the present Methodist church at Mansfield while stationed in that city. She died in 1884, leaving one child, Henry Hedges Todd, of Mansfield. Mr. Todd's present wife was Miss Catherine Bishop, a daughter of Coleman E. Bishop, of Jamestown, New York, whose father founded that city. They have six children,-Bryant B., John Henry, Coleman E., Lawrence Meredith, David Kenneth and Naomi Katherine. The family are attendants upon the services of the Methodist Episcopal church, of the varied interests of which Mr. Todd is a liberal supporter. Mr. Todd is widely known in insurance circles as a well informed underwriter, and his services in behalf of the com- pany with which he is connected have been valuable and are well appreciated. He is a man of much public spirit who takes a deep interest in everything affecting the growth and prosperity of Mansfield.
HENRY P. METZ.
Henry P. Metz, a farmer of section 18, Sharon township, Richland county, Ohio, whose postoffice is Shelby, was born in Perry county, Penn- sylvania, March 26, 1857, and is a son of Alexander Metz, born in the same county February 23. 1829, and died in Pennsylvania in 1897. The mother of our subject, Elizabeth Jane Shibeley, was born in Perry county in 1831, and was married in November, 1855. She and her husband lived forty-five years on their forty-acre farm in the valley, he working most of the time at his blacksmith forge. They were the parents of six children,-four sons and two daughters,-as follows: Henry P., the subject of this sketch; Oscar Jerome, a farmer of Cass township, Richland county, Ohio, who is married and has five children; Ida V., the wife of Stephen Worcester, of Beaver Falls, Pennsylvania, and who has a family of one son and one daugh- ter ; Allen I .; John, living on the old farm in Perry county, Pennsylvania, upon which the father settled forty-seven years ago, and has a family of four children; and Annie, living with her mother, who is still an active woman, in Perry county, Pennsylvania.
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Henry P. Metz was given a good common-school education, left home when twenty years of age, locating in Sharon township, Richland county, Ohio, and working by the month for a farmer during the years 1878 and 1879. He was married, November 25, 1879, to Elnora Castor, who was born in 1853, in Plymouth township, and who is a daughter of Thompson and Rachel Castor, the former of Pennsylvania and the latter of Ohio, both of whom are now deceased.
Mr. and Mrs. Metz have one child, Charles Clarence, now in his twen- tieth year and living at home. Mr. Metz purchased his present eighty-acre farm in February, 1895. It is a fertile farm with much choice fruit upon it. He keeps two horses, and from twelve to seventeen head of cattle.
Mr. Metz is an Odd Fellow, is a Patron of Husbandry, and in politics a Republican. In every way he has been and is a model citizen of the republic, and is highly esteemed by all.
JERRY NEEDHAM.
The subject of this personal narrative is one of the most progressive and successful agriculturists, as well as one of the most prominent and influ- ential citizens of Troy township. Richland county, Ohio. He was born on the 30th of January, 1848, on the farm where he still resides, and belongs to one of the honored pioneer families of this state. His paternal grand- father, Jesse Needham, was one of the early settlers of Guernsey county, and from there removed to Morrow county, where his death occurred.
John W. Needham, our subject's father, was born in Guernsey county March 30, 1821, and was reared in much the usual manner of farmer boys in his day. In 1844 he came to Richland county and purchased one hun- dred and sixty acres of heavily timbered land in Troy township. After erecting a log cabin of one room, into which the family moved, he com- menced to clear and break his land. He now has a well improved and highly cultivated farm, upon which he is still living at the ripe old age of eighty years. He enjoys good health and his memory seems unimpaired. In past years he took quite an active and prominent part in the work of the Grange, and since the organization of the Republican party has been one of its stanch supporters. For twenty years he efficiently served as a trustee of Troy township, and has always been numbered among its most valued and useful citizens-one willing to give his support to any enterprise for the public good.
In early manhood John W. Needham wedded Miss Mary A. Shauck, who died April 1, 1891. By this union were born eight children, namely :
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Henry L. and Elah, both deceased; Jerry (correctly put, the name is Jeriel), our subject ; Joanna, the wife of John H. Buck, of Portland, Oregon; Albert and Frank P., deceased; John Oliver, a resident of Cripple Creek, Colorado; and Virginia, deceased.
During his boyhood and youth Jerry Needham attended the district. schools near his home, and for three years was also a student at Lexington Seminary. Having thus acquired a good education he returned home, and has since engaged in farming in connection with his father. He owns one hundred and sixty acres of fine farming land in Troy township, two miles southwest of Lexington, and is successfully engaged in its cultivation. He also gives considerable attention to the raising of stock.
On the 19th of December, 1876, Jerry Needham was united in mar- riage with Miss Edith E. Dwyer, of Morrow county, Ohio, a daughter of Captain William M. Dwyer, who commanded a company in the Ninety-sixth Ohio Volunteer Infantry during the Civil war. Two children bless this union,-Earl D. and Guy W. The elder is now in the United States railway mail service and the younger is in school.
His fellow citizens, recognizing his worth and ability, have called upon Mr. Needham to serve in several responsible positions, the duties of which he has ever faithfully discharged. He filled the office of township trustee four years, and for seven consecutive years served as the president of the Richland County Fair Association, of which he has also been a director for several years. In his political affiliations he is a Republican. He is a past master of his local Grange, and is now serving his second year as the master of the county Grange. He is also an active and prominent member of the United Brethren church, in which he is serving as a trustee and chorister, hav- ing had charge of the music in the church for the past twenty-five years. He possesses considerable talent in that line, and is engaged in teaching vocal music. Genial and pleasant in manner, he is one of the most popular citi- zens of his community.
CAPTAIN CHRISTOPHER AU.
As a man travels on in the journey of life and passes the prime of manhood his strength and energy are somewhat lessened by age, which is an indication that it is intended that his last years should be at least to some extent a period of rest. Not all who pass the meridian of life are permitted to put aside business cares, for through the lack of business ability or mis- management they have not acquired capital sufficient to supply their needs in
Laura J Au.
Cant. Christopher, etc.
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their declining years. Captain Au, however, is enjoying a well earned rest. Long connected with mercantile interests, his capital management and the careful husbanding of his resources have brought to him a very desirable competence, which now supplies him with all the necessities and many of the luxuries that go to make life worth the living.
On the 12th of December, 1824, in Cumberland county, Pennsylvania, Captain Au was born. His father, Henry Au, was probably a native of Perry county, that state, and was born in 1784, but his last days were spent on his farm four miles west of Mansfield, in Richland county, where he died, in April, 1863. His wife, who bore the maiden name of Barbara Ann Stough, was also born in Cumberland county, where they were married in 1816. Their children were born in the same locality. Four of their family died in early childhood, but they reared five sons and four daughters. Of this number their sons and three of the daughters were married and had children. The five representatives of the family still living are: Henry, who is now in his eighty-fourth year and lives in Springfield township, adjoining the old homestead; Samuel, who, at the age of eighty years, lives in Madison township; Catherine, the wife of Philip Lutz, of Mifflin town- ship; Christopher; and Jane, the widow of William Bloor, of Mansfield. Jacob Au died in November, 1899, when about eighty-one years of age; John died in 1895, in his sixty-ninth year; Mary M. died about 1894, at the age of sixty-five; and Amanda, the wife of Obadiah Munnell, died in 1864, about thirty-three years of age. The mother of these children was called to her final rest in 1870, when she had reached the psalmist's span of three-score years and ten.
The Captain spent the first seventeen years of his life on the old farm homestead and acquired a knowledge of the branches of learning taught in the common schools. He then (1843) removed from Pennsylvania to Mansfield and began working at the carpenter's trade. Our subject worked in southern Ohio among some of his friends and later went to Iowa in the spring of 1846. From there he proceeded southward to Tennessee and Mis- sissippi, spending the winter in those states, and with broken health he returned to Iowa. During his residence in the Hawkeye state he formed the acquaintance of Miss Laura J. Greenfield and won her hand in marriage June 27, 1848. She was born in Locke township, Cayuga county, New York, November 16, 1829, a daughter of Thomas and Mary (Walters) Greenfield. He was formerly a minister of the Freewill Baptist church. Mrs. Au was the youngest of twelve children born to her parents. Her father was twice married and had eighteen children. Her mother, who was born January 27
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20, 1788, died in Livingston county, New York, June 12, 1835, and her remains were there interred. The father died in 1855, at a very advanced age. He was a man of large frame, of strong constitution, vigorous in both mind and body, and he had a high moral character. He served in the war of 1812, and prior to that struggle with England three of his children were born. Mr. and Mrs. Au were married in Fort Madison, Iowa, and for two years thereafter they resided in that city, but in 1850 Captain Au returned to Mansfield with his wife. Theirs has been a very harmonious and happy life, and in 1898 they celebrated their golden wedding, having for fifty years shared with each other their joys and sorrows, their adversity and pros- perity.
In the summer of 1862, during the Civil war, our subject organized Company I of the One Hundred and Twentieth Regiment of Ohio Volun- teers and as its captain went to the front, remaining in that service until December, 1864, when his regiment was consolidated with the Forty-second Ohio and he was assigned to Company A. The boys of his command, how- ever, were assigned to another company and this occasioned great dissat- isfaction to the Captain and his company, who were quick to make known their opposition. The Captain was then mustered out and he returned home. He was afterward tendered a colonelcy in a new organization, but he declined to accept the appointment. With the exception of one month's furlough, which he spent at home, he was never off duty for a single day while with his command.
In his political views the Captain is a stanch Republican and is a valued member of the Grand Army of the Republic. He served as the first com- mander of the Ontario Post, No. 485. His fellow townsmen, recognizing his ability, have frequently called him to public service. For six years he served as township trustee and for twenty years he has been the postmaster of Ontario. Thirty-one years ago he began merchandising in Ontario and continued in that business until in 1900, when he was succeeded by his son. He is now practically living retired in the home where he took up his abode thirty years ago. He owns twenty-five acres of land on the outskirts of the village and has a cottage at Lakeside, where he and his wife have spent the hot summer months through the past nineteen years. Both are mem- bers of the Methodist Episcopal church and he has been one of its most active workers and held all of its official positions at various times.
Unto the Captain and his wife were born the following children : George Washington, born May 31, 1849, and died in infancy; Adessa J., born in 1851 and died at the age of five months; John Henry, born May 2, 1852;
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Mary Ella, who was born March 27, 1854, and is the wife of P. M. Ringer, a grocery dealer of Mansfield; Martha Ann, born April 8, 1856, and is the wife of W. H. Roasberry, a practicing physician at Olivesburg: Sherman G., who was born in 1858 and is a grocer of Mansfield; Abraham H., born in 1860 and is engaged in the same line of business in Mansfield; Laura F., born in November, 1862, and became the wife of W. N. Coats, but died in 1892, at the age of thirty, leaving a daughter; and Christopher S. was born in 1866 and killed in a railroad accident at the age of twenty years. Mr. and Mrs. Au have fourteen grandchildren living and have lost three.
It was long before Captain Au applied for a pension, but he is now receiving a small one. The bravery and loyalty which his wife displayed during the Civil war was no less pronounced than that of many a veteran on the field. While her husband was at the front she cared for her family and instilled into their minds the spirit of patriotic devotion to their country. She made for them a flag which was unfurled in their yard. A man of the community threatened to tear it down, but when he found her ready to defend it even with her life he retreated. Surely the heroic citizens were not all at the front in that terrible struggle. In all life's relations Captain Au has followed a course at once honorable and upright and his life demon- strates the worth of integrity and enterprise in the busy affairs of the world. As a citizen his course has ever been commendable. As a public official he has ever been true to the public trust, and as a husband and father he has been loyal and devoted to the best interests of home,
JOSEPH W. SHARP.
Joseph Walton Sharp, who has won a position of distinction in educa- tional circles, is now conducting the Ohio Business College at Mansfield. Realizing fully not only the need of education but also of systematic and thorough preparation for life's duties, he has made it his aim to fully pre- pare those who leave his school for the work which they will undertake in the larger school of experience. Professor Sharp is a native of York county, Pennsylvania, his birth having occurred there in 1838.
His great-grandfather, James Sharp, was born in Ireland, of English parentage, and he and his brother came to America prior to 1753, locating in York county, Pennsylvania, upon a farm in Fawn township. He was married in that state, and on the old homestead his son John was born in 1753. The latter spent his last days at Frederickstown, in Knox county, Ohio, where he died in 1840, having come to Ohio about 1839. He was a
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surveyor and astronomer and made the calculations for the Philadelphia and Baltimore almanacs as early as 1797. The religious faith of the family was that of the Society of Friends. John Sharp married Mrs. Elizabeth Walton, nee Kinnard, and on the old family homestead their son John, the father of our subject, was born in 1801. He married Hannah Benson, of Harford. Maryland, a daughter of Levi Benson, and they remained on the old home place in Pennsylvania until 1840, when they removed to Marion county, Ohio, where they lived upon a farm. That section of the county afterward became a part of Morrow county. John Sharp had a brother Thomas, who for many years was county surveyor of Morrow county. The father of our subject died at Cardington, Ohio, in 1865, and his wife passed away in 1854. They were the parents of five children: Elizabeth, who became the wife of Isaac C. Hall, of Guernsey county, this state, and died in 1858; Levi, a retired farmer, now living in Marshalltown, Iowa; Joseph W .; Oliver, a retired merchant of Ashley, Ohio; and Mary E., the wife of James R. Jeffreys, a farmer of Eureka, Michigan.
Professor J. W. Sharp, whose name introduces this review, also claims the old family homestead in Pennsylvania as the place of his birth, but when he was two years of age his parents removed to Ohio and he was reared upon the farm in this state. He attended the common schools and in 1864 entered Oberlin College, and some twenty years later took a course in the Chicago University, in which he won the degrees of Bachelor of Science, Master of Science and Doctor of Philosophy. In 1866 he established a business college in Delaware, Ohio, in partnership with R. R. Hinds, a con- nection which continued for three years, when Mr. Sharp purchased Mr. Hind's interest and conducted the school, with excellent success, for twenty years, during which time he instructed and graduated two thousand, four hundred and seventy-nine students, who are now widely scattered over the Union, many of them occupying leading positions in the business world. In 1884 the Ohio Wesleyan University of Delaware established a commer- cial department, and Professor Sharp then removed to Mansfield, where he opened the Ohio Business College, now an incorporated institution of learn- ing, which he has since successfully conducted. Here he has instructed and graduated over fourteen hundred students in all departments of commercial training. His school has made steady advancement along progressive lines, for Professor Sharp realizes fully the need of business training as a prepara- tion for business life, and that the young men and women of the day should be well trained so that they may be competent to fill any position in their special department of labor. It has ever been the purpose of the Ohio Busi-
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ness College to impress upon the minds of the students the fact that success depends upon thoroughness of preparation ; and hence those who go out from that school are well qualified. The institution has a reputation second to no school of the kind in this part of the country and Professor Sharp has done an important work for those who have come under his care. He is the chairman of the auditing committee of the Richland Savings Bank of Mans- field, and in that capacity twice each year he examines and reports upon all assets, liabilities and condition of the bank. He also does much work as an expert accountant for local concerns. In 1872 he won the first prize for penmanship at the Ohio State Fair, held in Mansfield.
As a temperance worker Professor Sharp is widely known, and for three years, from 1873 until 1876, he was on the editorial staff of the Delaware Signal, the state Prohibition organ. He has twice been a candidate for lieutenant-governor of Ohio on the Prohibition ticket, and between 1870 and 1896 he was very active in the ranks of the party, attending all of its national conventions, with two exceptions, and also twenty-six state con- ventions. He was the chairman of the state executive committee for about ten years, and his labors were most effective in promoting the cause of the party, increasing its support to thirty thousand votes in the state. He was known as a vigorous writer and his editorials were copied largely in other temperance papers. He is a personal friend of St. John, Neal Dow, James Black, John Russell and other leading Prohibitionists.
In 1862 Professor Sharp married Miss Elizabeth A. Kelly, a daughter of Samuel and Lodemia (Pearson) Kelly, of Morrow county, Ohio. She died in 1898, at the age of fifty-six years, and her loss was deeply mourned by her large circle of friends, for her many excellencies of character endeared her to all who made her acquaintance. The children of Professor and Mrs. Sharp were: Hervey Elmer, who died at the age of sixteen months; W. Way; and Louella May, the latter dying in 1873, at the age of six and a half years. W. Way Sharp married Miss Anna Ballard, of Magnetic Springs, Union county, Ohio, and they have three children : Hazel, Eugene Walton and Forest Holt, who are attending school. Since the death of Mrs. Sharp the son and his family reside with the subject of this review.
Professor Sharp is a member of the Methodist church, is serving on the board of stewards and for many years was the treasurer of the church. Socially he is connected with the Masonic fraternity and the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and has filled all of the chairs in the lodge and encampment of the latter fraternity. In 1899 Professor Sharp made a trip to the Pacific ocean, traveling nearly seven thousand miles. He visited the
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many points of interest in the western section of the country and along the coast, including Omaha, Denver, Manitou, Pike's Peak, Pueblo, Salt Lake City and the leading places of interest in California,-Santa Catalina island and the Yosemite valley. He is a man of high scholarly attainments, of marked individuality and strong character, with broad humanitarian prin- ciples. His life, ever honorable and upright, has commanded the respect and confidence of students, friends and business associates, and his influence for good is immeasurable.
JOHN F. GERHART.
This gentleman, whose home is in section 34, Washington township, has throughout his active business life been actively identified with the agri- cultural interests of Richland county. A native of Cumberland county, Penn- sylvania, he was born near Carlisle, on the 3d of October, 1835, and is a son of David and Jane ( Parkinson) Gerhart, in whose family were eight children, -four sons and four daughters. It was in 1837 that they came to Ohio, making the journey by team and taking up their residence in Troy town- ship, Richland county, where the father purchased a farm, and to its culti- vation and improvement he devoted his time and energies for some years. In 1853 he bought the farm in Washington township on which our subject now resides, and continued to make that place his home until his removal to Bellville in 1865. There he died, at the age of seventy-seven years, honored and respected by all who knew him.
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