USA > Ohio > Portage County > A portrait and biographical record of Portage and Summit counties, Ohio > Part 33
USA > Ohio > Summit County > A portrait and biographical record of Portage and Summit counties, Ohio > Part 33
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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
Thuel Norton was born in New Hartford Oneida county, N. Y., March 10, 1801, 21: was the third son of Peter and Elthmna (Thompson) Norton, who came to Ohio whe ..
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James Cotton
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OF PORTAGE AND SUMMIT COUNTIES.
Theel was but six years of age, and for two years lived in Trumbull county, then for a short time in Tallmadge, Summit county, and finally settled in Springfield, at that time in Portage, but now in Summit county-the site of Akron being then a mere wilderness. Here Thuel grow to manhood, and became renowned for his great physical powers. August 4, 1822, he married, in Htrain, Harriet Rebecca Har- rington, who was born July 15, 1803, in Salis- bury, Litchfield county, Conn., a daughter of John and Asenath (Marvin) Harrington, the result of the union being the children already enumerated. Mr. Norton died in Hiram, April 2. 1880, from injuries received by being thrown from a buggy by a munaway horse, and on Au- gust 30, 1880, while on a visit to a son and daughter in Garrettsville, Mrs. Norton was called to everlasting rest.
James Norton, the subject of this memoir, passed his early life virtually on the home farin in Hiram township, but when about thirteen : cars of age was injured by being thrown from a horse, and for three years his health was so poor in consequence that he was not even able to attend school. At sixteen, however, al- though still in poor health, he resumed his studies, walking to and from the district school at Freedom with the aid of a crutch and cane. In the autumn of 1851 he entered the Western Reserve Eclectic institute, well advanced in the common branches. During this term, a physician, learning that young Norton was still suffering from a dangerous sore on his .Im, engaged with his father to heal it for a stipulated sum, and at the end of about six months the doctor's efforts were rewarded with . inplete success. After an attendance of .hree terms at the Eclectic institute, Mr. Nor- 'on engaged in teaching school, a vocation he Howed until the close of 1861 -- keeping up ."> own studies in the meanwhile, chiefly at Hiram college, although he attended one term 32
at the Shalersville academy. He next took a commercial course in Cleveland, and special lessons in penmanship under P. R. Spencer, Sr., at Geneva. In January, 1862, he entered the recorder's office at Ravenna, to which po- sition he had been elected in October by a handsome majority. His duties here actually began January 6, 1862, and were concluded six years later in Jannary, 1868-and during this period he was never absent a single busi- ness day. He declined to run for a third term, for the reason that disabled soldiers were at that time seeking the office. In the winter of 1868-69, Mr. Norton, with others, organized a banking institution in Garrettsville, of which he was for a time the cashier, but resigned -- an act afterward considered to have been a mistake. He was then engaged as superintend- ent of the Garrettsville public schools, to fill a vacancy, and filled the position four terms. Subsequently he was twice elected justice of the peace and served until 1895; twice as mayor of the incorporated village of Garretts- ville, seven times as a member of the board of education, serving twenty-one years, and also served as clerk of the board twenty years. He is now a notary public, and is engaged in the real estate, insurance and collection business, and has frequently been called upon to act as executor, administrator, assignee and guardian in the settlement or management of large estates.
The marriage of Mr. Norton took place December 17, 1859, to Miss Aun Eliza Taber, a native of Garrettsville. John Taber, father of Mrs. Norton, was born in Providence, R. I .. April 29, 1798, and was married, in Providence, October 19, 1819, to Mary Henrietta Greene, who was born in Barre, Mass., June 21, 1799, and was a relative of Gen. Nathaniel Greene. of Revolutionary fame. Mr Taber was cat - penter on board of ship, and made some very long sea voyages. His ship was at Callao
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PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD
when Bolivar entered Peru with his Columbian army. They took a ship load of royalists to Cadiz, Spain, with immense quantities of gold and silver. This was a six years' voyage, mostly in South American waters. The next was a three years' voyage, chiefly doing a coasting business in European seas. In early life Mr. and Mrs. Taber were members of the First Baptist church of Providence, which
was founded by Roger Williams. They moved to Ohio in 1829, and after a residence of four years in Mogadore, Summit county, they moved to Garrettsville. Mr. Taber spent about three and a half years among the gold mines of California, starting for that then far- away country in the spring of 1850. Mr. Taber died suddenly, while on his way to worship in Garrettsville, March 12, 1871, and June 2, 1884, Mrs. Taber passed away, dying in the house in Garrettsville in which she had lived over hilf a century. They were the parents of fom children, viz: Mary Henrietta (Mrs. Dr. A. M. Sherman), born November 15, 1829-died October 26, 1853; John Her- man, born August 10, 1832-died in Council Bluffs, lowa, November 8, 1856; James Hun- ter, born June 21, 1835-died in Adrain, Mich., December 5, 1866, and Ann Eliza (now Mrs. Norton), born September 23, 1837. To the felicitous union of Mr. and Mrs. Norton have been born thice children, of whom the first- born died in infancy; James Edgar, born in Ra- venna, March 18, 1866, and John Herman, born in Garrettsville, February 12, 1869. Of James E. and John H. further mention will shortly follow.
James Norton, the subject, has for forty years been a newspaper correspondent. In politics he has always been a republican, and has always filled with credit to himself and satisfaction of the public every office he has held. In rel gion he and wife have been mem- bers of the Disciples' church for many years,
and he is at present clerk of the church board. He has made a success of life and is well pro- vided with this world's goods, having overcome by his energy all the impediments on the road to fortune, and is still an active business man. honored and respected by the entire commun- ity of which he is a member.
James Edgar Norton, son of James and Ann Eliza (Taber) Norton, began attendance at the Garrettsville schools in the fall of 1873. and graduated from the high school June 1. 1883. In the fall of the same year he entered the senior preparatory class for a classical course at Hiram college, and triumphantly passed through to the junior class, at the annu- al exhibition of which, April 5, 1887, he greatly distinguished himself. Although his height was six feet precisely, and his average weight between 154 and 160 pounds, his health was never rugged nor robust, and it was probably owing to this circumstance that he met with an untimely death. On the evening of April 29, 1887, young Norton had been assisting in the preparation of the decorations of the chap- el for a college entertainment, and, having answered to the supper bell, took a slight re- past, and hastened back to complete the un finished work of decoration; but the weather had been inclement, the college steps at the front were slippery, and, missing his footing. he was violently dashed against the corner of the step-stones, sustaining injuries which re- sulted in his death, shortly after six o'clock. Tuesday morning, May 3, 1887. The blow was a most distressing one to his parents, an :! was the most severe they had ever suffered (: have suffered since. The noble young ni .n was deeply beloved by the faculty and student : of Hiram college, and many were the letters of condolence forwarded to the desponde ::: parents from friends in various parts of t' country.
John Herman Norton, the youngest son of
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OF PORTACE AND SUMMIT COUNTIES.
James and Ann Eliza (Taber) Norton, now one of the editors and proprietors of the "Scientific Machinist" of Cleveland, was grad- uated from the high school at Garrettsville, and from Hiram college with the class of 1892. l'or some little time after graduation he trav- cled as a solicitor for advertisements for the Scientific Machinist, and in the fall of 1892 his father purchased one-quarter interest in the concern, and presented it to the son, who now is one the managers of the business and is treasurer of the company. Mr. Norton was married, in 1892, to Miss Carrie P. Patch, daughter of A. J. Patch, a wealthy farmer near Hiram, and to this union one child has been born-Harold P. Mrs. Norton also graduated from Hiram college with the class of 1891. Mr. Norton and wife are members of the Disciples' church, on Euclid avenue, Cleveland, and of this church Mr. Norton is clerk.
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EROME B. HINMAN, janitor of the new school-building at Mantua Station, Portage county, Ohio, and a faithful ex-soldier of the Civil war, was born in Oswego, N. Y., July 9, 1835, and is a son of James and Dorothy (Fox) Hinman, the Hin- man family being of German origin. In some- what early times, three of the brothers of this German family came to America in company with each other, but separated on arriving, one settling in New York state, one in Ohio, and one in Michigan. Of the brother who settled in the Empire state, Jerome B. is a descendant, and was but two years old when brought to Ohio by his mother, then a widow, who was accompanied by her parents. Dan- "! Fox, father of Mrs. Dorothy Hinman, set- '"] on a new farm in the woods at Auburn, Geanga county, but died one year later, and Dorothy came to Portage county, was mar-
ried to William Springer, of Streetsboro, and bore him two children --- John and Henry.
Jerome B. Hinman was reared to farming in Streetsboro township, and August 13, 1862, enlisted, at Shalersville, in company D, One Hundred and Fourth Ohio volunteer infantry, and served until honorably discharged, June 17, 1865, at Greensboro, N. C., the war hav- ing been brought to a close. He took part in the following battles, among others, these men- tioned being the hardest fought: Covington, Ky., September 10, 1862; Danville, Ky., March 24, 1863; Knoxville, Tenn., November to December 4, 1863; Dallas, May 25 to June 4, 1864; Kenesaw Mountan, Ga., June 9; Pine Mountain, Ga., June 13; Lost Moun- tain, June 16, and again at Kenesaw Moun- tain, June 27 to 30, 1864; Atlanta, July 28; Eutaw Creek, Angust 6; Columbia, Tenn., November 24 to 29; Atlanta Ga., September 2; Franklin, Tenn., November 30; Nashville, December 15 and 16; Fort Anderson, N. C., February 18, 1865; Town Creek, February 20, 1865. At Dallas, Ga., he was shot slightly through the left breast by a Confederate cav- alryman, and for a few days was confined in field hospital. Mr. Hinman was a brave and faithful soldier, was never absent from his post with the exception just mentioned, caused by his wound; was on every march and in every battle in which his reg ment was en- gaged, and in every skirmish, excepting what may have taken place when, for a few weeks, he was on detailed duty as guard at a railroad station at Knoxville, Tenn., and for meritorious conduct was promoted to be wagon master, a position he held for two years. The commander of the One Hundred and Fourth Ohio infantry was Col. James Reilly. It cap- tured cleven Confederate flags-more than half the number captured by the entire bri- gade, which was twenty.
After the war, Mr. Hinman returned to
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PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD
Portage county and settled in Shalersville, and December 10, 1865, was married, at Freedom, Ohio, to Miss Mary II. Chalker, who was born in that town July 5, 1835, "a daughter of Enos and Eunice (Austin) Chalker. After marriage Mr. Hinman lived in Shalers- ville one year, then bought a home in Free- dom, where he lived twenty-seven years, and then came to Mantua Station in 1893, since when he has been janitor of the new school building. To his marriage there has been born one son, Clayton J., who was married to Miss Clara Gary and has one daughter, Mary D.
Enos Chalker, father of Mrs. Mary H. Hin- inan, was born in Susquehanna county, Pa., was of Scotch-Irish parentage, and was reared a farmer He married, at Turin, Lewis county, N. Y., Miss Eunice Haskins, a dangh- ter of Thomas Haskins, who was a soldier of the war of 1812, and who died in Portage county, Ohio, in 1844, at about seventy years of age, his remains lying in an unmarked grave in the cemetery of Freedom. Enos Chalker came to Ohio in 1832, and located on a farm, but later removed to the Thomas Haskins farm at Freedom, on which he passed his re- maining years, dying in February, 1897, at the age of eighty-six, the present age of his widow, who still resides on the old homestead. The children born to Mr. and Mrs. Chalker were five in number, and were named Mary H., Eunice A., Edna V., James W. and Martha A.
John Springer, half-brother of Jerome B. Hinman, was a private in company K, Twenty- third Ohio volunteer infantry, in the three- year service; re-enlisted as a veteran in the same organization, and went through the en- tire war, participating in all the campaigns in which his regiment had any part.
Mr. and Mrs. Ilinman are consistent and conscientious members of the Disciples' church,
and freely contribute toward its support. Mi Hinman is a charter member of Bentley post, No. 294, G. A. R., at Mantua Station, in which he has served as quartermaster and as junior and senior vice-commander. As a cit- izen he' is highly esteemed for his strictly moral character, and is equally respected for his excellent record as a soldier.
RS. MARY R. HAYMAKER, widow of James D. Haymaker, is a daugh- ter of Arvin Olin (boro at Shatts- bury, Vi., July 13, 1797), son of Ezra Olin, a son of John Olin, third, and born in Rhode Island, March 23, 1772. Ezra Olin Was three and one-half years old when his parent - removed to Vermont and settled in the town o! Shaftsbury. He was five and one-half years old when the battle of Bennington was fought on August 16, 1777, and well remember hear- ing the booming of the cannon on that mendo- rable day, his home being near the battle ground.
Ezra Olin had but a limited education and and was reared a farmer; he was early taught the lessons of industry, thrift and economy In March, 1791, he married Ruth Green, a daughter of Samuel and Ruth Green, native- of Rhode Island. Ruth Green was born in Rhode Island and moved with her parents to Vermont when she was quite young, and re- sided there until she was married, and soos after they moved to the old place, some tu . miles northeast of the center of Shaftsbury which afterward became the homestead where the children were all born, with one exception Ezra Olin and wife (Ruth Green Olin) were the parents of fourteen children, all born in V: mont. They were John, Samuel, Betsy, Ary!" Asa, Philip, Ezra, Ruth, Maria, Paris, HAR !. Truman, Mary A. and Almira. Ezra Ol: was a farmer of Vermont and had a comfort-
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OF PORTAGE AND SUMMIT COUNTIES.
able pioneer home in the inidst of the Green mountains, and by their sturdy thrift and in- dustry lived in frugal comfort. Mr. Olin was a whig in politics and a man of sterling worth and integrity and reared his family in the paths of honesty and virtue. In 1824 he sold his farm in Shaftsbury and moved by team to Genesee county, New York state, where six of his sons had preceded him and were busy in clearing up the farm. His wife and four of the children were left to follow the next June. They went from Albany to Rochester, N. Y., by canal boat. He settled on a farm partly cleared by his son Arvin. He finally cleared up a farm at Perry, consisting of about 100 acres, and made a good honie, and here passed his remaining days and died November 5. 1858, aged eighty-six years
The Olins descended from sterling Welsh ancestry. John Olin, the first of the name in America settled in East Greenwich, R. 1. He had been pressed on board a British man-of- war on the coast of Wales, but deserted at Boston, Mass. Tradition states that the name was originally Llewellyn, and that the original John changed it to Olin. John Olin was a Welshinan and had red hair. He was a farmer and made his home near the head waters of the Narragansett bay and here reared his family. He was married in East Green- wich, R. I., to Susannah Spencer, October 4, 1708, by Thomas Fry. justice. She was a daughter of John and Susannah Spencer, who emigrated from Wales. The genealogy of two of their four children, John and Henry, comes down to us with unerring accuracy. John Olin, the first, died at Newport, R. I., June 10, 1725, aged sixty-one years. Of the other children, there is no record. John Olin, cond, son of above, was born in Rhode Is- land in 1714, was an overseer of the poor and pound keeper, and a freeman of the town of East Greenwich. He married in East Green-
wich, December 8, 1734, Susannah Pierce, daughter of Jeremiah Pierce, of Rhode Island. They lived in Rhode Island, where they reared their family, but in later life they returned to Shaftsbury, Vt., where they had four sons liv- ing. The following children were born of this marriage. : Pliebe, Jonathan, Anna, John, John (second,, Gideon, Giles and Barbara. During the struggle for independence this fam- ily took an active part, and some of them were raised to the rank of officers in the colonial army. John Olin died in January, 1797, aged cighty-three years, and Susan his wife, died in February, 1802, aged eighty-seven years. John Olin, third generation, and the third son of John, was born September 17, 1741, and married Sarah Card in Rhode Island about 1764, and moved to Vermont to escape the lawlessness of the British soldiers on the coast, and in 1775 settled in the Green moun- tains. His children were Paris, Hannah, Ezra, Phebe, Henry, Nancy, and Joseph. John Olin, third; died September 24, 1821, aged eighty years, and Sarah, his wife died June 12, ISI9.
Arvin Olin, son of Ezra and Ruth (Green) Olin, was born July 13, 1797, and at the age of thirteen years was bound out to a farmer for seven months of the summer season, until nineteen years old. During a part of each winter he was allowed to attend school, and at nineteen his father gave him his freedom. The first summer he worked for a farmer for $16 per month and taught school during the winter in a district school. Here he won his wife, who was Miss Betsy Bennett ---- one of his pupils --- and they were married March 9. 1817. On the 18th of March, not finding em- ployment in his neighborhood, he shouldered his knapsack and started in pursuit of employ- ment and a home. After a journey of 300 miles on foot, he arrived in Perry -- then Gene- I see county, N. Y., where his elder brother
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PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD
had settled the year previous, and with his assistance he bargained for fifty acres of land, of which six acres had been cleared, and on which a sinall house had already been built. The price was $1, 300, all on credit. He re- mained here through the season and worked part of the time on his land and part of the time for wages, and having made some prepar- ation for living, in September he walked back to Vermont for his wife. About October Ist of the same year they packed their few effects in a two-horse wagon, which he hired, and with a teamster started for their new home in the west, as that part of New York state was called, and they arrived at his sinall log cabin in the woods about the 20th of October, and he, by working for others and the help of his brother John, and making potash, was quite enabled to get through the winter. He was joined by his brother Samuel, who came out the second year, to whom he sold a part of these fifty aeres, and they worked together for three and one-half years. Mr. Olin then sold Samuel the place and bought another partly- improved farm near by, to which he added during the succeeding eight years, until he owned 210 acres, and here lived until Novem- ber 22, 1834; having sold his farm. he located in Portage county, Ohio, where he lived for a few weeks in Mantua, and in 1834, late in De- cember, settled on the farm in Franklin town- ship, where he passed the remainder of his days, and died June 7, 1870, aged seventy-two years. His wife, Betsy Bennett, was born February 6, 1801, at Bennington, Vt. Her parents were Francis and Cynthia Bennett. She attended the district school in Bennington at the time it was taught by Arvin Olin. She was married in Bennington, and while her husband was away west, she was busily en- gaged in spinning, weaving and making articles of use for her western home.
In the spring of 1835, he made brick and i
built a two-story brick house, which is still standing in a good state of preservation, and by his steady industry he greatly improved the farnı. He had a farm of 240 acres, and was an excellent citizen and served as township trustee several years, and justice of the peace many years. He was a member of the board of cducation and of the Universalist church He was a man of strong character and reared an excellent family. His wife Betsy died January 5, 1872, aged seventy years; they were the parents of thirteen children, viz: Cynthia, Mary R., Franklyn, Ransom, Ilen- rietta, Nelson, Merilla, Sarah A., Laura, Al- mira, Anson, Diantha, and one died an infant, nine days old.
Mary R. Olin received the usual limited school education and married at fifteen years of age. November 29, 1835, in Franklin town- ship, James D. Haymaker, the son of Freder- ick and Rachael (Davis) Haymaker.
John Haymaker, son of Jacob and the father of Frederick, came to Portage county with his wife, Sallie, and children, Jacob. George and Catherine, and settled in Kent, on the Cuyahoga river, coming from Warren, Ohio, where they had located a year previously, having come from Pittsburg. They were of German descent and members of a large con- nection of that name in central and norther !! Pennsylvania. The father, Jacob, had pre -- pected through this section of the country dur ing the spring of 1805, and, being pleased with the country, now Franklin township, pur chased of Olmstead's agent a tract of latt consisting of the present site of the Kent mills Arriving at the Cuyahoga, John and his family took possession of a rude cabin lelt by the surveyors, in 1803, which stood just west of where the upper bridge now is. This huth. i been used for several years indiscriminately : ; the Indians and a shelter for deer and ottet wild animals, and was about a foot deep wi ...
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OF PORTAGE AND SUMMIT COUNTIES.
excrement, which had to be shoveled oui before occupation. During the time they occupied this hovel, the Indians came around in great numbers, as the headquarters of the red-skins were at the falls of the Cuyahoga and on a small stream in Streetsboro township. One day, while the Haymakers were occupying this cabin, a few Indians came there and the squaw, as usual, took her papoose from her back and stood the board to which it had been strapped up against the logs of the cabin, as they never took their children into the houses of whites, except in very cold weather. After the squaw had gone in, a wild hog came through the brush, and grasping the Indian baby ran off with it; the mother, hearing the noise, ran out and rescued her babe, but not until she had badly beaten the hog. In the spring of 1806, George Haymaker, brother of John, and their father, Jacob, came in. Jacob built a house on the west side of the river where the Kent mills now stand. During the fall of 1806 Frederick Haymaker came in. He was another son of Jacob. He purchased a tract of land including most of the upper village. He was a man of fine educational and natural abilities, and served as private secretary to the famous Aaron Burr on the well known expedition for which Burr was tried for treason. Frederick was the father of twenty children by three wives. The Hay- maker family owned about 600 acres on the present site of Kent. The older Haymakers were Indian traders. During 1807 the Hay- maker's built a small mill. The stones for grind- ing were those known as hard heads and were prepared by Bradford Kellogg, of Hudson. The mill was a very crude affair and was used before it was entirely finished. Crotched poles were planted, upon which other poles were placed. A coarse cloth was used as a bolting-cloth-the work being done by hand. This primitive affair was of great convenience
to the settlers and was used with but little im- provement for several years. The first white child born in Kent was John F. Haymaker, son of John and Sallie Haymaker, born Sep- tember 11, 1807. The first death was that of Eve Haymaker, wife of Jacob, father of the first settler, John. Jacob died in 1819, John in 1827, George in 1838 and Frederick died in Trumbull county Ohio, at Leavittsburg, in 1850. Sallie died on June 15, 1869, at the great age of ninety-four years, having lived in this township seventy years. The old bury- ing ground in which Eve Haymaker was buried in 1810 was donated by one of the Haymakers for burial purposes and consisted of two acres of land. In 1831-2 Federick Haymaker sold his property, consisting of 100 acres of land and a fine water power in the upper village of Kent. Frederick was born at Little York, Pa., November 7, 1772. He married Elea- nor Robertson, who was born in Pittsburg, Pa., March 9, 777, of Scotch-Irish an- cestry, and died at Pittsburg, Pa., November 19, 1807. By his first marriage to Eleanor Robertson he was the father of the following children, John, Sarah, Mary, Andrew, Mar- garet, Sarah, and Susannah .:
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