USA > Ohio > Richland County > A centennial biographical history of Richland county, Ohio > Part 51
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Returning to the north Nathaniel Guthrie remained at home until he had regained his health, and in the spring of 1865 went to the oil fields of Pennsylvania, where he spent the summer and fall. Owing to the death of his father he returned home to assist in the management of the farm. He was married the following year to Miss Almeda Parcher, a native of Richland county and a daughter of John and Nancy Parcher, both of whom are still living, in Butler township; the former is in his eighty-fourth year and the latter in her eighty-third year. They are both well preserved and have traveled life's journey together as man and wife through the long period of sixty-five years.
After his marriage Mr. Guthrie removed to Ashland, where he en- gaged in carpentering for two years, and then returned to the old home- stead to care for his mother and an invalid sister. There he remained for ยท four years, during which time he continued carpentering and then his brother James left the farm, going to a place of his own, and our subject assumed the work of cultivating the fields, being thus engaged up to the time of his mother's death. The year following he purchased the old homestead and has since made excellent improvements upon his place, which is now one of the most desirable farms of the community. The home of Mr. and Mrs. Guthrie has been blessed with ten children, of whom six are yet living, as follows: J. Luther, a farmer of Weller township, Richland county ; James H., a hardware merchant of Bloomdale, Wood county, Ohio; Myron Taylor, who manages the home farm; Eva, at home; Benton W., an em-
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ploye of the National Cycle Works, in Shelby,' Ohio; and Ella E., the wife of Marion Houston, a farmer of Blooming Grove township, Richland county.
Mr. Guthrie is a Democrat, well informed on the issues of the day, and gives to his party a stalwart support. For six years he served as a trustee of his township, proving himself a capable officer. He is prominent in civic societies, holding membership in Spiegel Post, No. 228, G. A. R., of Shiloh; Rome Lodge, No. 158, I. O. O. F., in which he has passed all the chairs; Shiloh Lodge, No. 374, R. A .; and Shiloh Lodge, F. & A. M.
Thoughout his entire life Mr. Guthrie has resided in Richland county and has made a creditable record, gaining for himself the respect and good will of his fellow men.
LATHROP J. TRACY.
The lineage of the Tracy family comes down in an unbroken line from Egbert I, king of England, to the present time. In Puella F. Mason's Lineage of the Tracy Family we find that the Tracys have been prominent in the past, as they are at the present time.
Judge Josiah Tracy, of the thirty-fifth generation, was born at Franklin, Connecticut, October 1, 1796, and married Diantha Lathrop August 18, 1824, at which time they removed to Painesville, Ohio, where he engaged in the mercantile business. In 1832 he removed to Vermillion and was the superintendent of the Huron Iron Works. In 1835 he moved to Huron and engaged in the commission business. At different periods he served as mayor, justice of the peace, colonel of militia, state senator and judge of Erie county. He moved to Mansfield in 1847 and died January II, 1857, and at his request was buried at Huron, beside his wife, who had died April 22, 1840.
Of the thirty-sixth generation we make note of the late Lathrop J. Tracy, the eldest son of Judge Josiah Tracy, who was born at Painesville, Ohio, May 26, 1825. His earlier years were spent with his parents in Ver- million, and later at Huron. At the age of eighteen he removed to Hones- dale, Pennsylvania, where he was employed as the secretary and bookkeeper in the office of the Delaware & Hudson Canal Company, and later was in the employ of the same company at Rondout, New York. On June 10, 1852, he was married to Eliza Kirtland, at Honesdale, Pennsylvania. She was the daughter of Daniel P. Kirtland. She survives him, with two sons, -Frederick K., of Scranton, Pennsylvania, and Rufus A.,-and one daugh-
L. J. Franty
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ter,-Mrs. Mary T. Roe, of Mansfield. Another son, Daniel Lathrop, died May 22, 1894, at Great Falls, Montana.
Mr. Tracy moved to this city in 1854 and for many years was engaged in the grain and wool business, succeeding the firm of Sturges, Tracy & Company. About 1885 he became associated with his brother, F. E. Tracy, in the wholesale grocery business, and later became the secretary of the Tracy & Avery Company. For many years, and at the time of his death, he was a director of the Sandusky, Mansfield & Newark Railroad Company. At the organization of the Merchants & Manufacturers' Insurance Com- pany, October 10, 1876, he was elected its president, which office he con- tinued to fill until his death. He was always greatly interested in the work of the Young Men's Christian Association, and during the earlier years of that body was actively identified with its interests, serving as the president of the Mansfield Association. Quoting from his annual report to that association (1870), he says :
"While we have not accomplished all that we would, and in the review may not realize as an actuality the full accomplishment of that we hoped for, and prayed for in the early morning of 1870, happy, blessed will it be for us if in this review we can, as an association and as individual members of this association, say 'we have done what we could.' The Master lays 110 greater, no less, a demand upon each one of us than this; and, as we each for himself and unto God shall make answer, we may gather new inspira- tion and zeal and consecration for that which lies before us in the com- ing year.
"And now, brethren beloved, in looking back over the past, while it can hardly be otherwise than that there will be regrets that we have come short in many things, may we not rejoice that the great Master has given us so much of His presence and blessing in the association work of the year? that so often we have known for a surety that we walked not in our own strength or wisdom, as we have gone out by twos and fours on the Sabbath afternoons of the year at the command of our devotional com- mittee, fulfilling the appointments made by them at the various churches and schoolhouses in our vicinity. Have we not felt our hearts burn within us as we have journeyed and talked by the way? and have we not known of a surety of His being 'in the midst' when we have endeavored to tell these congregations of 'Jesus and His love? Can we ever forget what our eyes saw and what our ears heard of the manifest presence of the Holy Spirit in our meetings at Spring Mills, at Lucas and at Carter's church, where for three weeks in succession meetings were held every night in the 31
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week, Saturdays excepted, and where as a fruitage forty-five souls confessed Christ ?
"No, my brethren. Let us count it all joy that the Master permitted us to enter into such blessedness of service for Him; and may we gather from these hallowed memories new consecration of life and increased zeal for His service in our association work for the year that lies before us."
Resuming the life narrative, we may add that Mr. Tracy was always an active member of the First Congregational church, serving at various times as a deason and a trustee. The death of Lathrop J. Tracy occurred on Friday, September 24, 1897, at Cambridge Springs, Pennsylvania, whither he had gone a month before for the benefit of his health. From among the tributes paid to his memory we quote the following from a Mansfield paper :
"It was with a feeling of sincere sorrow that the news of his death was received in this city, where for so many years he has been a good citi- zen, respected and beloved for his many admirable qualities of head and heart. That his familiar form and kindly face and voice shall be seen and heard no more in meeting and greeting, with the friends of his long and busy life, causes saddened hearts.
"Mr. Tracy was a man of quiet and unostentatious demeanor. His disposition was that which made him avoid rather than seek that prominence so sought after by many; but his sterling qualities of manhood were known and admired by those who came within the circle of his acquaintance. His life was pure and blameless. He was kind and charitable, a Christian gentleman,-as another has written of him, 'one of nature's noblemen.' Advancing age did not impair the genial sunshine of his nature. In all his relations with his fellow men he was courteous. He was the agreeable com- panion of his associates and men of his own years, and at the same time his heart was ever young; and in him the children had a friend. The memory of Lathrop J. Tracy will live long in the hearts of all who knew him."
Rufus Avery Tracy, of the thirty-seventh generation, the third son of Lathrop J. Tracy, was born at Mansfield, Ohio, September 8, 1865, attended Oberlin College during 1880-1, and January 16, 1882, entered the employ of the Citizens' National Bank, serving as a messenger boy, bookkeeper, teller and assistant cashier. On account of impaired health he severed his connection with the bank April 15, 1894, and took a position in the employ of the Mansfield Mutual Insurance Company, also establishing a local insur- ance agency in company with J. M. Cook, under the firm name of Cook &
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Tracy. In January, 1895, he was appointed general agent of the Mansfield Mutual Insurance Company.
October 17, 1888, he married Miss Harriet Edith Wagner, a daughter of John W. and Malinda C. Wagner. Their children are: John Wagner Tracy, born January 13, 1890, and died June 18, following ; Rachel Wagner Tracy, born October 28, 1892; and Sarah Lathrop Tracy, born August 22, 1895.
Mr. Tracy is a young man of fine business ability and exemplary character.
HIRAM E. KINGSBORO.
Among the well known citizens of the town of Shelby. Ohio, who have made their birthplace known through the state and even beyond, is Hiram E. Kingsboro, the subject of this sketch. He was born at Shelby, in 1844, and is the son of John and Jane ( Wilson) Kingsboro, the latter a daughter of Eli and Mable (Barnes) Wilson, who came, in company with the Whitney family, to this county June 20, 1818. Eli Wilson was born in 1789 and was a soldier of the war of 1812, belonging to a Connecticut regiment, and be- came a general of militia, in this state, in 1830. He built the first cabin in the town of Shelby, in 1818, and was the pioneer in the mill business.
The father of our subject came to Shelby, Ohio, in 1835. although he was born near Carlisle, Pennsylvania, about 1814. His father was a native of Ireland, who loved the old country and became a member of the band of Emmett's United Irishmen, in 1796, this causing the necessity of emigra- tion, after the execution of Emmett. He was of military mold and joined the forces of the United States, accompanying General Scott to Canada, and engaging in the battles of Lundy's Lane, Chippewa, Niagara and Fort George.
When the Civil war broke out the father of our subject enlisted first in Company D, Fifteenth Regiment, in answer to the three-months call for troops, and re-enlisted in October, 1861, entering Sherman's brigade, Sixty- fourth Ohio, this being for three years. The army of the Cumberland, to which Mr. Kingsboro was attached, saw much hard service, but he es- caped injury and enlisted as a veteran at the close of his former term of service. During his connection with the Ohio regiment he held the posi- tion of sergant, but his veteran connection was with Sherman's army, and he was sent to Texas, being mustered out in 1865, returning to his home and family in 1866.
Our subject was reared in Shelby, where he received his education. His
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father was established here in the shoe business and he also became in- terested in that line. On May 2, 1864, he enlisted in the One Hundred and Sixty-third Ohio Regiment, as sergeant, and was attached to the First Brigade, Third Division, Tenth Corps, under General B. F. Butler, was in the James river expedition, was under fire in front of Petersburg, and was one of the number detailed to build the pontoon bridge, by means of which General Grant's army crossed the James river, in 1864, a large amount of dangerous service for enlistment of one hundred and twenty days. He was a member of the troops called out at the time of the incursion of General Kirby Smith, when they were so feelingly thanked by the lamented Governor Tod, of the state.
The marriage of our subject took place in 1864, to Miss Mary A. Gettle, a daughter of William and Mary (Hershiser) Gettle, who came here in 1820, from Pennsylvania. Four children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Kingsboro: Orpha Dell, who married Joseph C. Lewis, of Shelby, on No- vember 20, 1884; Hattie Laura, who married Benjamin J. Kuhn, of Mans- field, Ohio, January 15, 1884; John R., a druggist at Urbana, Ohio; and Charles E., who also is a druggist.
Mrs. Kingsboro has always taken an active interest in all public af- fairs and has been recognized as a capable and efficient citizen. He has served two terms as a member of the town council, has been a member and the president of the school board and chief of the Shelby fire department. During his administration of the latter office his hook and ladder company became the champion of the state of Ohio, and during 1873-4 it won every prize, contests then being a favorite sport. After their disbandment Mr. Kingsboro formed a military organization called the Shelby Light Guards, which continued in existence for seven years, during which time they visited through Ohio and other states, and the services of our subject in this con- nection were recognized by the presentation of a fine sword, bearing a very appropriate inscription, testifying to the esteem in which he was held.
While the Australian ballot system was under consideration in Ohio, Mr. Kingsboro was one of the Republican representatives of the election board of Richland county. For four years he served efficiently as a gauger for the government, during the administration of President Grant. He has been connected with the Masonic order since 1865, and is a member of Harker Post, G. A. R., of which he has been the commander, and also has been captain of the Sons of Veterans. He belongs to Shelby Lodge, No. 392, K. of P., and is also a member of the Uniformed Rank, Damon Com-
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pany, No. 104, of which he has been the captain for four years. He has had much influence in all of the public affairs of Shelby, is still a man young in years, and may be called a real representative public citizen.
EDWARD BERNO.
Edward Berno was born in Mansfield, July 24, 1861. His father, Peter Berno, was a native of Otterberg, Bavaria, born December 25, 1838. The ancestry of the family can be traced back in direct line to 910 A. D. In the fatherland Peter Berno spent the first fourteen years of his life and then accompanied his parents on their emigration to America. They did not tarry on the Atlantic coast but at once made their way westward, locating in Mansfield.
Here the son had the opportunity of attending school for three months each year, pursuing his studies during the winter season. He was, however, a man of studious nature, who devoted all his leisure time to reading. He was particularly fond of history and was well informed concerning the his- tories of the various countries of the world. He collected a library of six hundred volumes, valued at sixteen hundred dollars. By trade he was a shoemaker, but for twenty-two years he acted as traveling salesman for a boot and shoe house, and later engaged in business for himself in Mansfield along that line for eight years. Finally he became associated with his son Edward in the florist business, and the partnership was continued until the father's death, on the 4th of March, 1899. Of genial manner and court- eous disposition, he was very successful in his work as a traveling salesman, and in all his business relations he enjoyed the unqualified confidence of those with whom he was associated by reason of his strict integrity, his hon- esty in all business matters being proverbial. He married Christina Beam, who also represented an old German family that was established in Mans- field, and was also connected with the florist and nursery business. Mr. and Mrs. Berno became the parents of four sons and four daughters: Albert J., the eldest, is connected with the Umbrella Rib Works at Shelby, Ohio. He married Olive Hill, and they have two children,-Otto and Gilbretta. Edward is the next of the family. William J., of Mansfield, occupies the po- sition of foreman with the Novelty Sign Company. He married Serene Elliott and they have two children,-Karl and Rexford. . Charles, who is a molder of Mansfield, married Maggie Stacker, and they have three children,-Rob- ert, Nellie and Alma. Clara is the wife of William Grabler, a pattern-maker of Cleveland, Ohio, and their children are Jane, Harvey, John and Maggie.
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Louisa resides with her mother in Mansfield. Lillian married George Kirsch- baum, who owns and conducts a candy kitchen in Mansfield. Maggie, the youngest of the children, is the wife of Claude Cramer, who is the proprietor of a bicycle store at Garrett, Indiana.
Edward Berno pursued his education in the common schools of Mansfield and in early life learned the trade of pattern-making, which he followed un- til 1893. He then abandoned that occupation in order to engage in the cultivation of flowers, and is now one of the leading florists in this part of the county. He has ten thousand feet under glass and enjoys a large shipping as well as home trade. He raises plants of every variety and in large num- bers, his business constantly increasing. He has made a close study of floral culture and understands thoroughly the needs and habits of different plants, so that he is enabled to produce excellent results.
On the 22d of May, 1883, Mr. Berno was united in marriage to Hettie L. Baker, who was born in Ashland county. They have one child living, Lee Edward, who is a student in school. Mr. Berno is a member of Madi- son Lodge, No. 26, Knights of Pythias; is the first lieutenant of White Cross Company, No. 10, of the Uniformed Rank; a member of Mansfield Lodge, No. 19, I. O. O. F .; of Courtney Camp, No. 3505, Modern Wood- men; and of Purity Council, No. 98, J. O. U. A. M.
Steadily pursuing his way, undeterred by the obstacles and difficulties in his path, our subject has achieved creditable prosperity. Steady applica- tion, careful study of business methods and plans to be followed, close at- tention to details, combined with untiring energy,-these are the traits of character which have brought to him success.
MRS. MARY QUINN.
Mrs. Mary Quinn came to Mansfield, Ohio, in 1868, direct from Ireland, with her mother, her father having died three years before. After living in Mansfield ten years she was married to Bartholomew Flannery, a promi- nent and influential citizen of Mansfield. That he was also a popular citizen was attested by the fact of his being elected sheriff of the county in 1885 and again in 1887, serving two terms in that office. He was a life- long Democrat, and died in 1893. Mrs. Quinn was married to her present husband, Mr. R. C. Quinn, September 5, 1899, and has lived at her present home, No. 236 North Main street, for the past thirty-five years. Her mother, Mrs. Mary Hogan, died September 15, 1897, at the home of Mrs. Quinn, where she had been living for fifteen years.
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R. C. Quinn is a prominent farmer of Richland county and is an ex- soldier of the Civil war, having served in the Union army from 1862 to 1865. Mrs. Quinn has had the care of fourteen children, several of them being the children of her brother. Her nephew, Bartholomew Flannery, is living in Mansfield. He is thirty-one years of age and is a well educated young man, having attended college after getting through with his common- school course. Mrs. Quinn, like all the rest of her family, is a devout Cath- olic, and well remembers the burning of old St. Peter's church during the second term of Mr. Flannery as sheriff. Mrs. Quinn has two sisters and two brothers. Mrs. Catherine Agan, one of the sisters, is a widow, living on East Sixth street. She had eleven boys, seven of whom are still living. Mrs. Annie Burk, the other sister, is living on Diamond street, Mansfield. She also is a widow, and has one boy, eighteen years of age, and one daugh- ter, twelve years of age. The brothers, Patrick and Cornelius Hogan, also live in Mansfield. Mrs. Quinn is enjoying the best of health and is one of the most useful communicants of St. Peter's church. She is an excellent woman in every way and has a host of friends.
JOHN WISE.
John Wise, a retired merchant of Butler, was born in what is now Ashland county, but was then a part of Wayne county, Ohio, on the 26th of April, 1827. His father, George F. Wise, was a native of Wittenberg, Germany, and came to America in 1804, when about twenty years of age, crossing the Atlantic in a sailing vessel, which dropped anchor in the har- bor of Philadelphia after a voyage of three months. He was a tailor by trade, completing his apprenticeship in London, England. He worked in a sugar refinery in order to secure money for his emigration, and on board the ship was employed as a half sailor, thus meeting the expenses of the voyage. He had only seventy-five cents when he landed in Philadelphia, and he gave that to a beggar.
For a time he was employed at the tailor's trade in Philadelphia, the city of Brotherly Love, and later engaged in the same line of business in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, but subsequently secured a position as a farm hand. After aiding in the labors of the field through the day time he would de- vote liis evenings to his trade. After his marriage he engaged in chopping wood and worked on a farm. In 1815 he came to what is now Ashland county, Ohio, a distance of three hundred miles from his old Pennsylvania home. Three times he made the trip on foot in order to make payments
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upon his farm, which he entered from the government, and to which he removed in 1820. It was covered with a tract of heavy timber, and in the midst of the forest he erected a log cabin. He then began clearing the land, transforming it into highly cultivated fields. Upon that place he spent his remaining days, dying at the advanced age of eighty-eight years. During the war of 1812 he enlisted in the service and started for the front, but peace was declared ere he reached the scene of hostilities. In politics he was an active Democrat and in religious belief a Lutheran. His wife, who bore the maiden name of Christiana Weaver, was a native of Lancaster, Pennsyl- vania, but her parents were of German birth. She, too, was a member of the Lutheran church, and she lived to be ninety-one years of age. Unto Mr. and Mrs. Wise were born fourteen children, thirteen of whom reached years of maturity.
In a typical pioneer home on the western frontier John Wise was reared. Much of the land in that section of the state was in its primitive condition and the work of civilization and progress seemed scarcely begun. He as- sisted in the task of developing the home farm and in the public school acquired his education, being there a schoolmate of Senator Allison, of Iowa. At the age of twenty he went to Ashland to learn the trade of wagon and carriage making, serving an apprenticeship of two years, during which time he received fifteen dollars per year in compensation for his services. On the expiration of that period he went to North Liberty, and there, forming a partnership, engaged in business on his own account. After nine years the partnership was dissolved and Mr. Wise removed to Iowa, where he re- mained for three years, working at his trade. In 1862 he came to Butler and established a wagon and carriage repair shop, which he conducted until 1868, when he opened a hardware store and tin shop. A few years after- ward he sold the latter, but continued to conduct the hardware store until 1896, when he disposed of that business and has since practically lived re- tired. He owns seventy acres of land, a part of which is within the corpora- tion limits of Butler, and two store buildings.
On the 21st of August, 1851, Mr. Wise was united in marriage to Miss Amity Armentrout, who was born in Newville, Richland county, Jan- uary 19, 1833, a daughter of Jacob and Mary (Hammond) Armentrout, both of whom were natives of the Shenandoah valley of Virginia, in which locality they were married. The father was born in 1800 and became a farmer and cabinetmaker. He brought his family to Richland county, but in 1854 removed to Iowa, locating near Tipton, where he died, at the age of seventy-seven years. In politics he was an active Democrat. His wife
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