USA > Ohio > Portage County > A portrait and biographical record of Portage and Summit counties, Ohio > Part 11
USA > Ohio > Summit County > A portrait and biographical record of Portage and Summit counties, Ohio > Part 11
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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
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OF PORTAGE AND SUMMIT COUNTIES.
and won his prominence through his personal merits. He earned a competence through his industry, gave all his children a good educa- tion and left them the means to start well in the career of life.
Aaron Wagoner, the subject, was reared on his father's farm and also had the advantages of a good education both in public and private schools. At the age of seventeen years he took charge of a school in Steuben county, Ind., where he taught one term, and then re- turned to his native county, where he enlisted, October 10, 1862, for three years, in company B, Sixth Ohio cavalry, and was mustered into service at Cleveland, being then eighteen years of age, was assigned to the army of the Poto- mac, under Gen. Phil Sheridan, and served untilreceiving an honorable discharge at Wash- ington, D. C., July 1, 1865, as first lieutenant. The brilliant career of the Sixth Ohio cavalry, under Sheridan, in the Shenandoah valley and elsewhere, is so renowned as a matter of his- tory, that no repetition thereof is here neces- sary, and of his own heroic acts Mr. Wagoner is too inodest to permit a recountal. Suffice to say that he performed his duties bravely and well, as the terms of his discharge from the service amply prove.
On returning from the war, Mr. Wagoner was employed by Oberholser, Keller & Co., of Akron, with whom he remained five years, and then entered the City bank as teller, and held this position eight years. In 1880 he was elected county auditor by the republican party, served one term, and was re-elected to a sec- ond term, but, six months before the expira- tion of the latter, resigned, to become cashier of the City National bank, which position he resigned at the close of the year, when he as- sisted to organize the Akron Savings bank, with William Buchtel as president. Hon. C. K. Grant as vice-president, and himself as cashier, and with a capital stock of $200,000.
Mr. Wagoner was united in marriage April 30, 1868, with Miss Amanda S. Smith, who was born in Franklin township, June 30, 1843, a daughter of Daniel and Eliza (Diehl) Sinith, natives of Pennsylvania and of German ex- traction. This happy union has been blessed with two children, viz: Mabel B., who is the wife of J. V. Cleaver, M. D., of Akron, and is the mother of one child-Josephine; George Edward, the second child, is receiving teller in the Akron Savings bank. Fraternally, Mr. Wagoner is a member of Akron lodge, No. 547, I. O. O. F., of which he is past grand; also of encampment No. 18, and Canton No. 2, pa- triarchs militant, of which he is past chief pa- triach, and also past colonel of the Third regi- ment, patriarchs militant of Ohio; he is also a member of Buckley post, G. A. R., and of Ohio commandery, Loyal Legion. In politics he is a republican and as such has served in the city council of Akron, and in 1892 was chairman of the republican executive county committee, of which he is still a meinber. Outside of his banking business, Mr. Wagoner has an interest in the Diamond Pottery com- pany, and is also assistant treasurer of the Akron Street Railway & Illuminating com . pany. The accomplished wife of Mr. Wag- oner is a member of the board of lady visitors of the Girls' Industrial home at Delaware, Ohio, under appointment of Gov. Bushnell.
> PILLIAM WAGGONER, one of the oldest and most successful agricul- turists of Copley township, Summit county, Ohio, is a native of New York state, and was born in Schoharie county, November 13, 1829.
The father of our subject was also named William, was likewise born in the state of New York, and there married, in 1816, Cath- erine Spohr, also a native of the Empire state,
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PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD
born in October, 1800. To this union were born eight children, viz: Matthew, who died in infancy; John, who was a mason by occu- pation, married Miss Lora Walker, and died in Akron, Ohio; Christina, who was married to Delos Bosworth, she second white child born in Copley township, both now deceased; Anna, who was married to Dr. P. G. Somers, of Cleveland, but, with her husband, also de- ceased; William, the subject of this biography; Peter, who died at the age of sixteen years; Almira, wife of Oran Henry, a cooper and boatbuilder of Astoria, Ore .; Amanda; and Matilda, who died in infancy.
William Waggoner, the father, was a cooper and stonemason by trade, but began his busi- ness career with only a small capital. In 1835 he brought his family to Ohio and lo- cated on Pigeon creek, in Copley township, Summit county, where he remained about one year, working as a stonemason. He then re- moved to a farm about a mile south of the center and engaged in coopering and farming until his death. He and his wife were de- voted members of the Universalist church, and in politics he was a republican.
William Waggoner, the subject of this bi- ography, while assisting to clear his father's land, attended the district and high schools, and at the age of twenty years began teaching. At the same age, also, he went to Akron and commenced learning the bricklayer's trade with his brother, John, serving an apprentice- ship of three years, after which he worked at the trade to a considerable extent in the sum- mer season and taught school in the winter months.
In April, 1857. Mr. Waggoner was united in marriage with Miss Ann B. Stearns, who was born in Copley township in 1837, a daughter of John C: and Orpha (Clark) Stearns, who were then residents of the township, but later moved to Kansas, where they passed the
remainder of their lives. Immediately after mar- riage, Mr. Waggoner and wife went to Iowa, where he worked at his trade for about six years. On returning to Ohio, Mrs. Waggoner died November 15, 1863, and in December of the same year Mr. Waggoner enlisted, at Cleve- land, in the Sixth Ohio battery. He partici- pated in all the battles of the Atlanta campaign, and in those of Franklin and Nashville, as well as in many others of less note, and was honor- ably discharged September 1, 1865. He then came to Akron, Ohio, and worked at his trade until March 4, 1869, when he married Miss Lydia Randolph, and at once bonght and moved upon his present farm of ninety-six acres in Copley township.
The second Mrs. Waggoner was born in Colombiana county, Ohio, January 16, 1832, a daughter of William B. and Deborah (Car- roll) Randolph, by the second marriage of Mrs. Randolph. Her father, of English descent, was born in Virginia March 16, 1778, and died October 15, 1863. He was a son of Thomp- son Randolph, who was born May 30, 1746. Deborah (Carroll) Randolph, mother of Mrs. Waggoner, was born September 15, 1791, in county Antrim, Ireland, and became the mother of two children, viz: Thompson, a farmer of Columbiana county, and Lydia. Mrs. Lydia Waggoner was educated in the high school and at Salem seminary, taught school a number of years, and is at present a member of the school board of Copley township-being the first lady to be elected to this position in the township. The parents of this accom- plished lady ,were pioneers of Columbiana county, Ohio, and were married April 10, 1831. They were of ante-Revolutionary descent, and the grandmother of Mrs. Wag- goner met a tragic end at the hands of savages.
Mr. Waggoner is a strong republican and has been called to several positions of trust and honor by his party. His first presidential vote
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OF PORTAGE AND SUMMIT COUNTIES.
was cast for Winfield Scott, but at the birth of the republican party he espoused its prin- ciples. He is at present a justice of the peace, an office he has filled for three terms. He was also a member of the school board and has been connected with the schools in an official service for almost fifteen years; he has been a township trustee for a number of years, and is, indeed, one of the most prominent citizens of Copley township.
In 1781 Thompson Randolph, grandfather of Mrs. Waggoner, with some of his neigh- bois and their families of Prince William county, Va., concluded to try pioneer life and removed to Kentucky, lured by the glowing descriptions of Daniel Boone and other pio- neers. They embarked at what is now Pitts- burg, and descended the Ohio river in flat- boats till they reached Kentucky, where they ascended one of the small rivers, and finding a location that suited them they built log cabins for homes and a fort for defense against the Indians and named it Kinslow station. They cleared out ground on which to raise corn and flax, having to depend on their own efforts for food and clothing. For a couple of years they were unmolested by the Indians, though other settlements occasionally had trouble with them. Some whites had been taken prisoners and carried into Ohio, and after being kept there a while the Indians called a council of war, at which they planned an attack on a fort some little distance from Kinslow. Permitting two of the prisoners to learn their plans, they allowed them to escape and return to their homes, where they gave the alarm. All the available help fromn neigh- boring stations was collected at the place to be attacked. When the summons for help reached Kinslow station all the men at home repaired at once to the threatened fort. Mrs. Waggoner's grandfather and three other men were out hunting when the alarm came and
were the only men left to defend the station. But as the Indians were not supposed to be near, no fear was felt. When the darkness of night had settled down on the little band and the women and children wrapped in peaceful sleep, they were suddenly aroused and appalled by the war-whoops of the re- lentless savages. They fully realized the fate awaiting. them if they fell into their hands, and bravely and untiringly they loaded the guns with which the four men were trying to defend them. The defenders succeeded in keeping the Indians at bay until the latter gathered flax and other combustibles and fired the roofs of the buildings, after which resist- ance was useless and the only thing they could do was to try to escape. Mrs. Waggoner's grandmother took her infant son in her arms, and going to a small door that opened on the outside of the fort, unfastened it to pass out. Two Indians were lying in wait, and as she appeared, shot her and her child. Maddened at the. deed, her husband shot the larger Indian, and in a hand to hand encounter sent the smaller one to join his companion. The burning buildings made everything about the fort as light as day, so that the escaping in- mates were nearly all captured or killed. After Mrs. Waggoner's grandfather had avenged his wife's death, he took her father, a boy of five years old, and succeeded in reaching a high brush fence inclosing a corral, in which the cattle were confined at night, and hid him under it, telling him to remain there till he camne for him. The shadows of the fence enabled him to escape into the dark- ness of the woods, and, concealing himself in some logs, he eluded the savages. At one time he was tempted to seek a tinkling bell, think- ing it was attached to a horse, but fearing it was an Indian decoy, he waited, and another man, hearing it and going to it, was killed. He remained concealed until the next day,
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PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD
and when he was sure the Indians had left, he took his little boy, and, with nothing to eat except a piece of dried venison he hap- pened to have in his pocket and that he had taken with him on his hunting excursion the previous day, he started afoot on his trip of several hundred miles across the wilderness back to Prince William county, Va. They subsisted on wild fruits and roots, excepting once, when they came across a deserted mis- sion founded by some Jesuits, where some turnips were growing. He kept his gun with him, but, as he had no ammunition, it was of no benefit to him. The gun is now in the possession of Mrs. Waggoner's brother, an heir-loom in the family. After many hard- ships they at length reached their old home in safety.
Two of the maternal uncles of Mrs. Wag- goner's father were officers under Gen. Lafayette during the war of the Revolution.
J SOHN WAITE, one of the early settlers of Ravenna, and a continuous resident from 1830 to 1867, was born at Oaks Corners, Ontario county, N. Y., May 24, 1810, and is a son of John and Abigail (Cranston) Waite, also natives of the Empire state.
John Waite received his education in his native county, and there followed various oc- cupations until eighteen years of age, when he learned the cooper's trade, which vocation he followed for about thirty years. About the year 1830, he removed to Ravenna and carried on the coopers' trade for many years, subse- quently conducting a marble shop and also contracting for the construction of railway water tanks.
In Ravenna he was married to Miss Mar- tha A. Clark, daughter of Ephraim and Ala
Amelia (Sperry) Clark, and was born in Tall- madge township, Summit county, Ohio, Feb- ruary 1, 1819. Her father was a native of Massachusetts; her mother of Connecticut. Her parents emigrated to Ohio in 1796, at a time when the state was very sparsely settled, following a trail which was marked by the blazing of trees.
Mr. and Mrs. Waite have had three chil- dren, born in Ravenna: Amelia, who died when three years old; John L., now manager and editor of the Burlington (Iowa) Daily Hawk-Eye; and Mary Ella, who became the wife of John M. Eads, of Burlington, and after his death married Randall M. Hartzell, a fariner of Peru, Chautauqua county, Kan.
In 1867, John Waite removed to Burling- ton, Iowa, where he embarked in the retail grocery trade and subsequently in the commis- sion business, finally retiring to a farm near the city. He died at the age of eighty-four years while visiting his daughter at Peru, Kan., and where his widow still resides.
Mr. and Mrs. Waite were lifelong and consistent members of the Methodist Episco- pal church, devoted to every moral reform movement and enjoyed the esteem and friend- ship of their neighbors and acquaintances In politics Mr. Waite was an anti-slavery whig and a republican, and, as a citizen, progressive and public spirited.
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DWIN A. WALDO, of West Rich- field, Ohio, one of the old soldiers of the Civil war and a respected citizen, springs from old England ancestry, who came to America in the Puritan times. He was born September 11, 1844, at Hinck- ley, Medina county, Ohio, and was reared :. farmer, receiving a common-school education, and enlisted in the Civil war when but eight-
577
OF PORTAGE AND SUMMIT COUNTIES.
ven years old, running away from home for that purpose, as his parents objected. At Cleveland, Ohio, September 19, 1862, he en- tered the Twentieth Ohio light artillery, for three years or during the war, and served until honorably discharged at Cleveland, July 13, 1865. He was in the battles of Liberty Gap, Missionary Ridge, Chickamauga, Franklin, Tenn., on the Atlanta campaign, and in the fight at Peach Tree Creek, and in the battle of Dalton was taken prisoner, was kept four days, was then paroled, and kept right along with the regiment without being exchanged, and was in many skirmishes. He was sick in camp with bloody flux in 1864, but would not go to hospital, and held out, although unable to do duty for about one month.
Mr. Waldo was in all the battles, skir- mishes, campaigns and inarches in which his regiment took part, but was never wounded, although under fire in many battles. He had never had a furlough, as he never asked for one. After the war Mr. Waldo returned home, resumed farming and married, July 4, 1866, at Hinckley, Ohio, Alice A. Porter, who was born October 3, 1847, at Hinckley, a daugh- ter of Charles and Mary (Newman) Porter, both families coming originally from England. To Mr. and Mrs. Waldo one son was born -- Phillip, November 23, 1876. Mr. Waldo bought fifty acres of land at Hinckley, im- proved it, and erected a good house and barn. He then came to Richfield, bought property and retired from active life. He is much dis- abled from his sufferings as a soldier and is unable to work. He is a member of Goldwood post, G. A. R., No. 104, at Richfield, Ohio, and has held offices of adjutant and sergeant- major. In polities he is a republican, cast his first presidential vote for Lincoln, and is a man of well known integrity of character.
His great-grandfather, Thomas Waldo, was a soldier in the Revolutionary war; Jado-
than Waldo, grandfather of our subject, was from near Boston and well-to-do. He came to Hinckley, Ohio, as a pioneer, cleared up a good farin of 100 acres, and here passed his remaining days, a respected citizen, and died at about seventy years of age. His children were Edward and Seth, who lived to reach maturity. Edward, father of Edwin A., was born March 20, 1811, in New Hampshire, and married, in Ohio, Elizabeth Damon, who was born at Chesterfield, Mass., October 14, 1820, Mr. Waldo having come with his parents to Ohio when about twenty-one years old in about 1832. Edward Waldo and wife were the parents of Lucy A., Anson, Edwin A., Justice, Esther, Prentice, Silvia, Elida H. and Ira. Mr. Waldo was a republican in politics and held the office of constable. He was a substantial farmer, owning 300 acres at one time, was prominent in his church, holding the office of deacon, was a well-known citizen, and died on his farm at the age of eighty years, a member of the Free Will Baptist church. He had three sons in the Civil war-Anson, Edwin A. and Justice T. Anson was in the One Hundred and Seventy-seventh regiment, Ohio volunteer infantry, in the one-year serv- iee; Justice T. was in the One Hundred and Third regiment, Ohio volunteer infantry, in the ninety-day service, and after the close of the war was three years in the United States service. Mrs. Waldo's father-Charles Porter, was born in England, married there Mary Newman, came from Cambridgeshire to Amer- ica, and brought his family with him, in 1837, and located in Richfield. He later moved to Hinckley and bought a farm of 110 acres, sold it, and bought a small farm in Hinckley town- ship and there passed his remaining days, dy- ing at nearly eighty years of age, a member of the Free Will Baptist church. His children were Charles, Martha, Mary, John, Henry, Robert, Alice and Hattie.
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PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD
ETER L. ALLEN, an enterprising and prosperous saddlery and harness merchant at Richfield, Ohio, was born in New York city September 8, 1826. He is a son of Peter and Naomi (Morrell) Allen, both natives of New York state. In 1836 they moved from New York to Hinckley township, Medina county, Ohio, where they resided for several years, afterward moving to Cleveland, where our subject's father died. To Peter Allen and wife were born the follow- ing children: John F .; James; William: Mary, wife of J. Darrow, of Kent, Ohio: Charles; Peter L., our subject; Ann, wife of L. Bur- dict, of Kent, Ohio; Isaac and Hamilton. Peter Allen was a soldier in the war of IS12, and his wife was a member of the Methodist Episcopal church.
At the age of seventeen years our subject came to Richfield, entering in the employ of Jonathan Page, under whom he acquired a mastery of the harness and saddlery trade. After serving a competent apprenticeship in this line he opened a store and factory of his own and has continued in business at that place until at present he has a very large and grow- ing trade in this line, the excellence of his manufactured goods commanding for them a large sale, his harness being shipped to all parts of the country, and his name is widely known as a manufacturer.
On the 4th of October, 1848, our subject was united in marriage to Miss Marrietta Seeley, daughter of Amasa and Mary (Baldwin) Seeley. A word concerning Mrs. Allen's an- cestry: Her father was born December 19, 1792, a son of Eli Seeley, who came of stern and hardy old Puritan stock, his parents, David and Mary Seeley, being decendants of historic pioneers; Eli married Sally Lewis and had the following children: Julia, born January 16, 1786; Eli L., born July 27, 1790; Amasa, De- cember 19, 1792; Nabbie, April 8, 1796, and
Walter, Maich 10, 1798. The maternal grand- parents of Mrs. Allen were David and Cath- erine (Tod) Baldwin, who had the following children: David B., Rubie, Lucy, Stephen. Esther, Catherine, Daniel, Joseph and Mary. (Mrs. Allen's mother). Her parents were among the early settlers of Bath township, coming here before the "twenties." Her mother taught the first school in the township. receiving the munificent wages of fifty cents per week. In those days the only products which could be converted into cash equivalents were tallow and hides. Her parents were married in 1825, and upon an acre of ground which her father bought for $to their home was erected. Amasa Seeley also built a black- smith shop and manufactured all the hardware for his house He also erected the first frame barn in Richfield. The lives of these pioneers were lives of constant usefulness. They raised the following children: Edward, born in 1816 -- died in 1840; William, born in 1818: Abi- gail, born November 26, 1821; William H., died in infancy; Lucy Ann, born February 4. 1826; Marietta (Mrs. Allen), born March &. 1830; Julietta K., died in infancy. To Mr. and Mrs. Allen have been born the following children: Francis, August 14, 1849; Virgil. October 28, 1852; Ervin, October 9, 1854: Lucy M., August 30, 1856, wife of William Whitney; Elmer E., February 13, 1864: Emma G., May 31, 1866.
Both Mr. and Mrs. Allen are members of the Methodist Episcopal church, and are fervent in their faith and earnest in the work of the church. He has several times been the super- intendent of the Sunday-school, and is now one of the stewards of the church. Politically he is a strong republican, but has never been tempted by a desire for office. He is a nwert- ber of Richfield lodge, No. 266, F. & A. M .. with which he has been connected since 1855. and through which he has passed all the chairs.
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OF PORTAGE AND SUMMIT COUNTIES.
e DWARD S. BLACKMAN, one of the soldiers of the Civil war and a re- spectable citizen of Hudson town- ship, Summit county, Ohio, is the capable and careful superintendent and man- ager of Evamere Hall, the country home of Jaunes W. Ellsworth, of Chicago. Mr. Black- man was born April 28, 1842, in Mount Ver- non, Knox county, Ohio, and is a son of Joseph: and Ann (Phillips) Blackman. He was brought by his parents to Hudson when about three years old, and when a young lad | dlerked in Hudson for D. D. Beebe for seven ! years; next worked at the carpenter's trade for three years, and was then clerk for R. P. Willams for fifteen years. He then enlisted at Hudson, Ohio, in company B, Eighty-fifth Ohio volunteer infantry, for ninety days, and served until honorably discharged on account of disability at Camp Chase, Ohio, having nearly served out his time, chiefly at Camp Chase, on guard duty. He was sick, but not in hospital, and attended to his duties promptly and cheerfully. In 1890 he became superin- tendent for Mr. Ellsworth, and has entire charge of his beautiful country home, and of all the improvements of the grounds, which he maintains in a high state of cultivation and tasteful ornamentation. Mr. Blackman is very tudustrious in the performance of his duties, and possesses great skill and ability.
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Mr. Blackman married, August 18, 1869, in Hudson, Ohio, Martha J. DeGraw, born in New York state, and daughter of John and Hannah (Burgess) DeGraw. Mr. and Mrs. Blackman are the parents of Frederick, Grace Mand, Charles E. and Heber. Mr. Blackman is a Freemason, is a member of the G. A. R., Gen. W. T. Sherman post, No. 68. at Hud- son, and in politics is a republican. He has ":rved as a member of the town council, has Uren city marshal and has also been a member .! the board of education. Both Mr. and
Mrs. Blackman are members of the Episcopal church and are highly respected throughout Hudson township.
MOS BARR, of Northfield township, Summit county. Ohio, was born May 16, 1845, in Lancaster county, Pa., son of John and Martha (Groft) Barr, of German descent. He received a common district-school education and was reared to farming. He enlisted, June 29, 1863, in Lan- caster county, Pa., in Lieut. Samuel Boyd's company G, First battalion, Pennsylvania volunteer infantry, and was honorably dis- charged January 9, 1864, at Harrisburg, Pa., by reason of expiration of service. He then re-enlisted at Lancaster, Pa., in Lieut. Frank B. Groff's company C, Ninety-ninth Pennsyl- vania veteran volunteer infantry, February 27, 1864, to serve three years or during the war, and was honorably discharged at Philadelphia, Pa., June 1, 1865, the war having closed. He was in the battles of the Wilderness, Cold Harbor, Spottsylvania, Appottomax, Peters- burg, and in many skirmishes. He was wounded at the battle of Petersburg March 25, 1865, being shot near the joint of the left hip, and still carries the ball. He was taken to the hospital at City Point, Va., near Waslı- ington, D. C., and remained six weeks, re- ceived a furlough of thirty days and was dis- charged before it expired. Mr. Barr discharged all his duties faithfully, promptly and cheer- fully, and was in all the battles, skirmishes, campaigns and marches in which his regiment took part. After the war Mr. Barr worked in Lancaster county, Pa., in the iron-ore mines, , and at farming. He married, August 18. 1868, in West Hempfield township, Lancaster county, Susan C. Varnes, who was born No- vember 15, 1851, a daughter of Albert N. and Leah ( Wade) Varnes. Albert N. Varnes was
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