USA > Ohio > Portage County > A portrait and biographical record of Portage and Summit counties, Ohio > Part 23
USA > Ohio > Summit County > A portrait and biographical record of Portage and Summit counties, Ohio > Part 23
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ENRY T. PORTER, of West Rich- field, Summit county, Ohio, and one of the old soldiers of the Civil war and a respected farmer, springs from ster- ling English ancestry and was born in Rich- field township, January 9, 1843, a son of Charles and Mary (Neuman) Porter. He re- ceived his education in the district schools, was reared to farming, and enlisted at Cleve- land, Ohio, in November, 1862, in company 1, Forty-second Ohio volunteer infantry, to serve nine months, but was discharged while sick in hospital at Cleveland, Ohio, with quinsy -- having served four months on guard duty at that city. He was sick in hospital one month, when he hired a substitute and returned home. He then re-enlisted at Wooster, Ohio, in com- pany I, One Hundred and Third regiment, Ohio volunteer infantry, in March, 1865, for one year, or during the war, and was placed on guard duty at Raleigh, N. C., where he served until honorably discharged at Salisbury, N. C., in July, 1865. He was sick in hospital with measles at Goldsboro, N. C., but out- side of this he was prompt and cheer-
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PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD
ful in the discharge of every duty. He was transferred at Raleigh to company E, One Hundred and Eighty-third regiment Ohio vol- unteer infantry, and was with this regiment when discharged. After the war, Mr. Porter returned to Ohio and married, April 8, 1868, at Hinckley, Lydia Smith, who was born in Medina county, at Granger, a daughter of Will- iam J. and Lydia (Ingram) Smith. Mr. and Mrs. Porter first located in the north part of Hinck- ley township, where Mr. Porter bought a farm of seventy-five acres; he bought his present farm in 1876, and has a well-stocked farm of 138 acres-advantageously adapted to stock- raising. The children born to Mr. and Mrs. Porter are Minott E. and Pearl. In politics Mr. Porter has been a republican since Lin- coln's second term.
Mr. Porter has always been an industrious, hard-working man, and is an honored citizen. He has held the office of township trustee, and has been a member of the school board three years. Ilis son Minott is a graduate of the university of Michigan, at Ann Arbor, and is now in the government employ in the naval observatory, Washington, D. C., being an cx- cellent mathematician.
Charles Porter, father of subject, was born at Hadham, Cambridgeshire, Eng., was a farmer, and to his marriage with Mary Neu- man there were born the following children: Martha, Charles, John B., Mary, Henry T., Robert, Alice and Harriet. Mr. Porter came to America in March, 1837, coming from Liv- erpool to New York, and being six weeks on the voyage. He settled in Richfield township, Summit county, Ohio, and finally bought land in Hinckley township. Medina county, Ohio, consisting of seventy-five acres, and improved it, building a good dwelling and making a good home. He is a member of the Meth- odist church and in politics is a republican. He had two sons in the Civil war -- Robert,
who was in the One Hundred and Third regiment Ohio volunteer infantry, com- pany I. one year, and Henry T. William J. Smith, father of Mrs. Porter, was born in Lincolnshire, Eng., in 1810 or 1811, came to America when a young man and married Lydia Ingram at Granger, Ohio. Mr. Smith was a farmer, owning 156 acres of land in Hinckley township. His children by a first wife are Harriet, Mary, Sarah, Lydia and Rose. After her death he married Emma Damon, and their children are Jasper, George, Frank, Fred, Al- bert and Lucy. Mr. Smith is yet living, aged eighty-seven years. He has always been an industrious, respected citizen.
DAM RUBBINS, a farmer of Hudson township, Summit county, Ohio, and an ex-soldier of the Civil war, was born in Cambridgeshire, England, August 31, 1830, a son of John H. and Sarah (Foster) Rabbins. He was reared to farming when young, and came to America when about twenty years oid. with the family, sailed from! Liverpool, England, in the good ship Universe, of the Black Star line, in October, 1850, and was six weeks on the passage to New York city, all the family coming except Mr. Rubbins, the father, who had come two years previously. Adam at once went to Little Falls, Herkimer county, N. Y., where his father had settled, and worked at farm work until he enlisted, in April, 1861-the Tuesday after the fall of Fort Sumter-in company G, Thirty-fourth regi- ment New York volunteer infantry -- Capt. Brown, of Oneida, who was afterward killed at Malvern Hill. Our subject enlisted for two years or during the war and served until hon- orably discharged at Albany, N. Y., July 3, 1863, having served faithfully for twenty-one months. He was in the battles of Edward's Ferry, Harper's Ferry, Fredericksburg, White
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OF PORTAGE AND SUMMIT COUNTIES.
House Landing, Cold Harbor, Spottsylvania Court House, Fair Oaks, Seven Pines, York- town, White Oak Swamp, Malvern Hill, Bull's Run, Fredericksburg (second battle), Saint Mary's Heights, Sugar Loaf Mountain, Sandy Hook, and many other battles not remem- bered and many skirmishes. Mr. Rubbins was wounded in the nose, sustained several slight wounds, and several balls passed through his clothing. He was sick in field hospital six weeks after the battle of Antietam, with trou- ble in his head, falling to the ground on the march from Alexandria to the battle of Antie- tam, and was also troubled with rheumatisn. Mr. Rubbins was always an active soldier, was always prompt and cheerful in the discharge of his duty, and was a good, efficient soldier.
After an honorable discharge, Mr. Rubbins returned to New York state and was employed at farm work. He married, July 4, 1867, at Little Falls, N. Y., Mary Esther Kent, who was born in Herkimer county, N. Y., a daugh- ter of Jacob Kent, of Scotch parentage. He was a farmer and married Mary Widrick, and his children were named David, Sylvano, Charles, Alden, Mary E., John, Isemar, Alice and Isaac. Mr. Kent died in New York state, an aged man, respected by all. He was a soldier in the Civil war, One Hundred and Twenty-first regiment, New York volunteer infantry, in the three years' service, was in many battles and wounded at the second battle of Fredericksburg, but served out his time. He also had two sons in the Civil war -- Charles and David-Charles in the navy and David in the One Hundred and Twenty- first New York infantry. Mr. Rubbins lived in Herkimer county until about 1868, when he came to Hudson, Chio, and worked at farm labor until he bought his present farm in part- nership with his father, in 1869, and has since lived bere. He has improved his property and built a good residence. His children are
Jennie M., John W. and Charles Foster. Mr. Rubbins is a member of the Disciples' church, and in politics is a republican. He is a mem- ber of W. T. Sherman post, No. 68, G. A. R., at. Hudson, Ohio, and has always been an industrious, hard-working man and straight- forward in all his deals.
John H. Rubbins, father of subject, was born in Cambridgeshire, England, was a farmer, married Sarah Foster and reared a large family. He came to America about 1848, and sent for his family about 1850, set- tled at Little Falls, N. Y., and moved to Hud- son, Ohio, in 1863, and bought a place in the village in conjunction with his son, Adam, as has already been mentioned. He reached the great age of ninety-five years and seven days, having always been a hard-working and re- spected man. He had four sons in the Civil war, John, Adam, William and Foster, all four in company G. Thirty-fourth New York volunteer infantry, in the two years' service. William was killed in the battle of Antietam, Foster was killed in the battle of Fredericks- burg, John re-enlisted in the Sixteenth New York heavy artillery and was wounded in front of Petersburg, but he served to the close of the war. This family has a splendid military record --- having fought many battles for the preservation of the Union.
LEXANDER C. RUPLE, a well- known contracting carpenter of Rich- field, Summit county, Ohio, and a veteran of the late Civil war, descends from colonial New Jersey ancestors of German extraction and of patriotic instinct and im- pulse. His great-grandfather, Baltus Ruple, was a soldier in the Revolutionary war; John Ruple, his grandfather, was a soldier in the war of 1812, and his grand-uncle, James, was a colonel in the same war, when, for the
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PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD
second time, imperious, arrogant and perfidi- ous Albion was compelled to lay down her arms before the conquering Americans.
Alexander C. Ruple was born in East Cleveland, Ohio, August 12, 1832, a son of Seth and Jane (Beers) Ruple, received a good com- mon-school education, and was there taught the carpenter's trade. February 20, 1856, he married, at Richfield, Ohio, Miss Caroline E. Bailey, who was born in Goshen, Conn., Janu- ary II, 1834, a daughter of Asahel and Mary (Humphrey) Bailey, and on his marriage settled in East Cleveland, where he worked until his enlistment, July 18, 1862, at Cleveland, in company K, Second Ohio volunteer cavalry, under Capt. John Clapp, who was accident- ally killed by being thrown from his horse be- fore reaching the front, his place being sup- plied by Capt., afterward Gen., Nettleton. Private Ruple was soon promoted to be second sergeant, and in September, 1862, was trans- ferred to the Twenty-fifth Ohio independent battery, with the rank of second lieutenant; was again promoted, for meritorious conduct, to a first lientenancy, and resigned his com- mission March 20, 1865, having fought at the battles of Newtonia, Mo., September 30 and October 4, 1862; Kane Hill, November 29, 1862; Prairie Grove, Ark., December 7, 1862; Van Buren, December 28; Brownsville, August 25, 1863; Bayou Metse, August 27, and Little Rock, September 10, all in Arkansas, and in all the other battles of which record is made in the sketch of John Mott.
Lieut. Ruple was always promptly at his post of duty, took part in all the campaigns of his regiment, but escaped all injury, except- ing a slight fiesh wound in his left hand. He made an excellent military record, having left his wife and three small boys at home when he enlisted, and rising from the ranks to be a commissioned officer. On his return from the army he resumed his trade in East Cleveland,
where he owned a nice little residence and three acres of land, and lived there until 1868. when he came to Richfield, continued to work at his trade, and in 1878 purchased his present home, which is one of the most pleasant in Richfield.
To the marriage of Mr. and Mrs. Ruple were born eight children, viz: Will, Dudley, Orian, Alvah, Asahel, May, Glen and Mark, who are settled in different parts of the United States. The mother of these children was called from earth October 4, 1895, a member of the Congregational church and a woman of many christian virtues.
John Ruple, grandfather of Alexander C. Ruple, was born in Trenton, N. J., where his father had lived in the days of the Revolution. John married Betsey Craft, and had born to him the following-named children: Baltus, Cyrus, Lawrence, Samuel, Abraham, James, Seth, Sarah, Anna, Nancy and Mary. He came to Ohio in 1805 and settled in Euclid township, Cuyahoga county, where he had purchased 320 acres of land in 1803, all in the woods, but which he cleared up and con- verted into a comfortable home. He served in the war of 1812, held many township offices and died at the age of ninety-three years, a deacon in the Presbyterian church and a highly respected citizen.
Seth Ruple, father of Alexander C., was born in Euclid township, Cuyahoga county, Ohio, in 1807, was reared a farmer, married Jane Beers, and to this marriage were born John, Alexander C., Dudley and Jane. Two of these sons served in the Civil war -- Dudley being a private in the One Hundred and Sev- enty-second Ohio infantry, and serving three years. Seth Ruple died on his farm in :885, a substantial and greatly esteemed citizen, and in politics a democrat.
Alexander C. Ruple was one of the found- ers of the republican party, cast his first pres-
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OF PORTAGE AND SUMMIT COUNTIES.
idential vote for John C. Fremont, and has voted for every republican nominee for the presidency ever since. He is a member of the A. N. Goldwood post, No. 104, G. A. R., of West Richfield, of which he has been com- mander, as well as filled all the other offices, and stands deservedly high in she estimation of all the good citizens of Richfield township.
EYLON F. RUSH, of Hudson town- ship, Summit county, Ohio, springs from an old New York state family of German ancestry. He was born April 7, 1846, at Titusville, Crawford county, Pa., a son of Isaac W. and Mary M. (Drown) Rush.
. Ceylon F. Rush received a limited common- school education. He enlisted January 10, 1862, at the age of about fifteen years, and was the youngest soldier in his regiment. He was assigned as a drummer to company F, Fifty-eighth regiment, Pennsylvania volunteer infantry, to serve three years or during the war. His services as a drummer were for but three or four weeks, and the remainder of the time he carried the musket as a private. He was honorably discharged, by reason of re- enlistment, as a veteran of the same organiza- tion, January 1, 1864, at Little Washington, N. C., and served until honorably discharged from the general hospital, Philadelphia, Pa., August 25, 1865, by reason of wounds received in battle. He took part in the battles of Portsmouth and Newton; Gosport Navy Yard, May, 1862; Zuni, October 24, 1862; Black Water, 1862; skirmish at Cove Creek, March, 1863; Gum Swamp, May 22, 1863; Batchelor's Creek, May 23, 1863; Arrowfield Church, May 9-10, 1864; Dewey's Bluff, May 14, 1864; Bermuda Hundred, May 18 to 26, 1864; Cold Harbor, June 1 to 12, 1864: assault on Petersburg, June 15 to 19, 1864; before
Petersburg, June 15, 1864, to April 2, 1865; Chapin's Farm, September 29 to 30, 1864; Fair Oaks, October 27 to 28, 1864; Fall of Petersburg and Richmond, April 2, 1865, and in many smaller battles and skirmishes- twenty-two general engagements in all. He was thrice wounded September 29, 1864, at the battle of Chapin's farm, and once at Fort Harrison -- shot through the left shoulder -- and was in hospital at Fort Monroe, Washington and Philadelphia. He rejoined his regiment before he had fully recovered, and was at the fall of Petersburg and was sent back to hos- pital. His left shoulder was struck twice and he was also shot in the foot-this ball being from the rear, the first ball turning him com- pletely around. Of his company of forty-two men at Chapin's farm, but four men escaped alive. The order for this charge was counter- manded, but the company did not hear the countermand and charged in a desperate place. Mr. Rush was always an active soldier, and was in all the marches, battles, campaigns and skirmishes in which his regiment took part. He was but nineteen years old when he was discharged. After the war he returned to Pennsylvania and sold the first history of the rebellion (that was published), for one year, in Clarion and Armstrong counties, Pa., and did a good business. He was in Pennsylvania during the early oil excitement, and was per- sonally acquainted with Col. Drake, who drilled the first oil well.
Mr. Rush came to Ohio in 1867 and worked at carriage work at Wood, Portage county, one year. He married, in Lake county, Ohio, October 13, 1868, Marie A. Tyler, who was born May 29, 1843, at Char- don, Geauga county, Ohio, a daughter of Miles and Sallie (Tyler) Tyler. Miles Tyler was the son of Jacob and Fannie Tyler. Jacob Tyler was born in Broome, Scoharie county, N. Y., was of Scotch descent, and was a
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PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD
soldier in the war of the Revolution. He was a farmer and moved to Geauga county, Ohio, at an early day, cleared up a good farm and became a substantial citizen and lived to be an aged man. Of his children, Hiram, Polly and Miles are the only ones who are remem- ' bcred.
Miles Tyler was born in Boome, N. Y., was a farmer and was married in New York, and came to Geauga county, Ohio, among the pio- neers. His children were David. Franklin, Elisha, Wheeler, Tammy, George, Adaline and Maria. Mr. Tyler died in Concord, Lake county, Ohio, aged about eighty years, a member of the Methodist church, and in poli- tics a republican. He was a strong Union man and a captain, when a young man, in the old New York state militia. He had two sons in the Civil war-Franklin and George -- the former a private in a Massachusetts regiment, and George was in an Ohio regiment and lost his left arm in battle.
Mr. and Mrs. Rush settled in Lake county, Ohio, after marriage, and later moved to Wood county, and afterward to Portage county, Ohio, and afterward moved to Penn- sylvania. Mr. Rush followed carpentering and the oil business in Pennsylvania, and came to Ohio in the spring of 1872 and settled in Lake county. In 1875 they came to Summit county, settling in Akron. In 1882 he bought his present residence property in Hudson. Mr. Rush now follows his business of a car- penter and is a skillful and reliable workman. To Mr. and Mrs. Rush two sons have been
born: Adelbert Bruce, June 14, 1872, in Concord, Lake county, Ohio, and Raymond Clare, August 8, 1875, at Chardon, Geauga county, Ohio. Mr. Rush in politics is a re- publican; fraternally he is a Mason and a mem- ber of the lodge at Hudson, Ohio.
Isaac W. Rush, father of subject, was born in Genesee county, N. Y., and married. in
Michigan. Mary M. Drown, of Owasso, Shia- wassee county, a daughter of John and Lydia (Calhoun) Drown. Mr. Rush was a shoe- maker and farmer, at one time owning a farm in Clarion county, Pa. His children by his first wife were Polly, Irena, Laura A., Ira W., Ceylon F., Manley B., Mary, Charlotte, Fanny, and Zelina. Mrs. Rush died, and Mr. Rush next married Mrs. Catherine Russell (a widow), and their children were Freelove and one who died an infant. Mrs. Catherine Rush also died, and the third marriage of Mr. Rush was to Clarissa Hine, and their children were Lina L., Ella, James, Jennie, Isaac, John, Flora. Almeda, Hattie, and one died an infant. Thus Mr. Rush was the father of twenty-two chil- dren. Two sons-Ceylon and Manley -- were soldiers in the Civil war -- both in same com- pany and regiment. Manley enlisted later than Ceylon, and when he also was but fifteen years old. Thus these two patriotic boys were among the youngest soldiers of the Civil war.
REDERICK W. WOODBRIDGE, one of the oldest and one of the best-known business men of Ra- venna, Ohio, was born in Manches- ter, Con., in 1824, and is a son of Frederick and Clarissa C. (Pitkin) Woodbridge, the former of whom was also a native of Manches- ter, Hartford county, Conn., was there mar- ried, and to his union with Miss Pitkin were born three children, viz: Frederick W., Eliza- beth P. (now the widow of James W. Cone, of Kent, Ohio) and Charles D., of Cleveland --- both families being of English descent.
Diodate Woodbridge, the paternal great- grandfather of Frederick, was a patriot of the Revolutionary war and fought in the memora- ble battle of Breed's Hill, better known as Bunker's Hill. Dudley Woodbridge, paternal grandfather of subject, was a native of Con-
F. W. WOODBRIDGE.
Mary A. Woodbridge
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OF PORTAGE AND SUMMIT COUNTIES.
necticut, married Betsey Pitkin, became the father of twelve children, and died in his na- tive state at about the age of sixty years. Joseph Pitkin, the maternal grandfather of subject, also was a native of Connecticut, was one of the first cotton manufacturers of that state and died at an advanced age in New York.
Frederick Woodbridge, father of Frederick W., was at one time a wealthy merchant in the east, but lost his all in the panic of 1837, and in 1839 brought his family to Ohio, and died in Cleveland at the age of seventy-two years, having some years previously lost his wife, who died in Wisconsin, but whose re- mains were interred at Kent, Ohio.
Frederick Wells Woodbridge. the subject proper of this memoir, received a very fair academical education in his youth, and in 1841 began clerking for Clapp & Spellman, at Akron, Ohio, and later was employed by Zenas Kent, of Ravenna. He, with filial affection, presented to his father all his early earnings to aid in buying a farm, but was able, in 1846, to enter into business on his own account, in which he continued in Ravenna until 1853- a part of the time with his father-in-law, Capt. Isaac Brayton, and then removed to Cleve- land, where, with others, he built the Cleve- land Powder mills, which he operated with success for several years and then re-entered mercantile life, in connection with the Cleve- land Rolling Mill company, in which he con- tinued until 1873, when he returned to Ra- venna and resumed mercantile business.
The marriage of Frederick W. Woodbridge took place in Ravenna, in 1847, to Miss Mary A. Brayton, then about seventeen years of age, and a daughter of Capt. Isaac Brayton. She was a native of the island of Nantucket, and in after years became famous as a leader in the cause of the Women's Christian Tem- i perance union. To the marriage of Frederick W. and Mary A. Woodbridge were born four 28
children, viz: Mary Alice, who became the wife of Dr. M. L. Brooks, physician and sur- geon of Cleveland, whose father is also a physician and is the oldest practitioner of that city; to Mr. and Mrs. Brooks were born two children, Thomas H. and Martin Luther, who died in childhood. The father, Dr. Brooks, met with an untimely death by an accident in 1895. Martha Mitchell, the second child born to Mr. and Mrs. Woodbridge, was married to W. E. Way, who for twenty-seven years was bookkeeper and paymaster of the Cleveland Rolling Mill company and died in 1891; to this marriage were born three children, of whom two are still living -- Edith and Anna. Frederick W., the third child of subject and wife, died at the age of one year, and George Brayton Woodbridge, the youngest, married Miss May Sharp; they have one child, Fred- erick Wells, and reside in Cleveland, where his father is bookkeeper for a manufacturing company.
The late lamented mother and grandmother of the above children, Mrs. Mary Ann (Bray- ton) Woodbridge, was called from her philan- throphic cares and toil of benevolence October 25. 1894. She was born April 21, 1830, the daughter of Capt. Isaac and Love (Mitchell) Brayton, who were married, by the Quaker ceremony, July 25, 1825. Mary A. was of the sixth generation born in America, and her ancestry can be traced back in England for a period of 800 years. Her father, Isaac Bray- ton, was born in Nantucket, in 1801, and early in life became captain of a whaling vessel, and April 28, 1833, landed the largest cargo of oil (2,824 barrels) ever before brought to the island of Nantucket. He also landed probably the first missionary that ever visited the Sandwich Islands, and was always a friend of that devoted band of evangelists, mention of which fact is made in the history of the Sandwich group by Rev. Hirain Bingham, who
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PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD
was himself a missionary there for twenty-five years under the auspices of the American board. Even in those early days Capt. Bray- ton was a strictly temperate man, never using even tobacco, and was one of the few sea- captains who daily led the crew in religious worship. He was gifted with a high order of eloquence and a tact for the management of public affairs, was recognized by his fellow- citizens as a leader among men, and by them was sent to the Massachusetts legislature in the days when Edward Everett was governor. On coming to Ohio, he served the common- wealth as associate justice with Ben Wade, later was a member of the Ohio legislature, and was the father of the law by which the charitable institutions of this state are still governed. He lived to the great age of eighty- six years, and his memory is still cherished with respect in his native as well as hisadopted state. His talented wife Love Mitchell, was a sister of William Mitchell, who as an astrono- mer and geographer, with his daughter Maria, won a world-wide reputation. Mrs. Wood- bridge was the mother of three children be- fore she was twenty-one years of age; the fourth was born thirteen years later. Not- withstanding her maternal cares she never lost her enthusiasm for her religious convictions and her philanthopic efforts to redeem the world from the curse of rum, nor her love for books, nor the study of botany and love of flowers, with which her home was always decorated with the rarest growths; and so gracious was personality and her hospitality so spontaneous, that her home was constantly filled with admiring friends.
The great work that Mrs. Woodbridge ac- complished as a member of the Women's Chris- tian Temperance Union must be confined to a brief excerpt from a memento written by the famous Frances E. Willard, contining it, as it was written, to the present tense: "She has
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