USA > Ohio > Portage County > A portrait and biographical record of Portage and Summit counties, Ohio > Part 49
USA > Ohio > Summit County > A portrait and biographical record of Portage and Summit counties, Ohio > Part 49
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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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PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD
25. 1863; LaVergne, September 1, 1864; Franklin, September 2, 1864; Cambellsville, September 5, 1864. Pulaski; September 27, 1864; Spring Hill, November 29, 1864; Frank- lin, November 30, 1864; and Nashville, De- cember 15 and 16, 1864. At Pittsburg Land- ing. he sustained a flesh wound in the neck, but did not go to the hospital; he was also in- jured by being thrown from his horse, the gun on its carriage being discharged without being unlimbered; at Stone River he received a slight bullet wound in his right knee, and at a review at Murfreesboro was thrown from his horse and knocked senseless, and for a short time was in hospital. At New Orleans he served as corporal of his company, and as such his name is inscribed on the soldiers' monuinent at Cleveland. He made a splendid military rec- ord, although his health was permanently wrecked by his exposure in the service. After the war, Mr. Straight returned to Portage county and rejoined his wife and five children. This number has now reached nine, viz: Mary E., Martha E., Earnest R., Carrie A., Charles H., Wills J., Lillian A., Estella May (who died at sixteen years), and Eva J.
In 1867, Mr. Straight moved to Streets- boro township, Portage county, where he located on fifty-seven and one-half acres of land, where he lived until 1892, when he came to Hudson, where he now lives in retirement. He and wife are members of the Congrega- tional church at Hudson and are consistent observers of its teachings. Mr. Straight was one of the original members of the republican party, and voted for its first nominee for the presidency of the United States --- John C. Fre- mont; he was a guard at the state penitentiary of Ohio three years, and for many years was a member of his board of school directors in : Streetsboro township. Portage county; he is an honored member of the Grand Army of the | to fife major, having taken part in all bir Republic and is past commander of William
T. Sherman post, No. 68, of Hudson. il comes from a martial family, reaching dowa from the days of the Revolution to the present time-Col. A. D. Straight, celebrated for hi- daring escape from Libby prison, being from the original stock with himself. He is an up- right, straightforward man, and he and family are among the most respected of the residents of Hudson township.
EORGE G. STRIKER, a highly re- spected citizen of Mantua Station. Portage county, Ohio, and an es- soldier of the Civil war, was born in Cleveland, March 23, 1840, a son of Corneliu- and Nancy (Eddy) Striker, who were of sturdy Mohawk-Dutch descent.
Cornelius Striker was born in Mohawk. county, N. Y., and was a son of a well-to-do farmer, who had three sons in the Mexican war, of whom one was killed and two died of yellow-fever in New Orleans. Cornelius was a shoemaker by trade, and married Nancy Eddy, who was born in Connecticut, the daugh- ter of a life-long sea-captain, and to this union were born four sons and two daughters- - George G., Edgar, Alfred D., Eugene L., El- eanor and Amelia. After marriage, Cornelius came to Ohio, and settled in Cleveland. . \! though past military age, he enlisted in com pany A, One Hundred and Twenty-fourth Ohio volunteer infantry, for three years. All the sons likewise became soldiers, Edgar en- listing in the One Hundred and Twenty-eighth Ohio infantry for ninety days and taking part in the chase after the raider John Morgan; hi- died after the close of the war from the : ffer! of army life. Eugene L. was a boy-fifer .. the One Hundred and Twenty-seventh O! . infantry, served thice years and was pronta ! iment's marches and engagements. Aline J 1.
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served three years in company G, Forty-sec- ond Ohio infantry. The army record of George G. will be given further on. Of the daugh- ters, Eleanor, is married to Benjamin Lilly, of Cleveland, and Amelia is the wife of John Perry, who was a soldier in the Forty-second Ohio infantry. The parents passed their re- maining days in Cleveland, Mr. Striker being respected as a hard-working and useful citizen, and Mrs. Striker as an active member of the Disciples' church.
George G. Striker was reared to farming when young, and at the age of twenty-one en- listed, October 22, 1861, at Cleveland, in company G, Forty-second Ohio volunteer in- fantry, to serve three years, if not sooner dis- charged on account of the war closing, but was honorably discharged October 15, 1863, at St. Louis, Mo., on account of wounds re- ceived in battle. He was an active partici- pant in many engagements and skirmishes, the more important of which were the following: Middle Creek, Ky., January 1, 1862; Chicka- saw Bluffs, Miss., December 9, 1862; Arkan- sas Post, Ark., January 11, 1863; Grand Gulf, Miss., April 29, 1863, and Port Gibson, Miss., May 1, 1863, and here his gallant career as a soldier met with a final check. A minie ball passed through the elbow of his left arm, and immediately afterward a one-and-one- quarter ounce ball, called a Memphis yeager, passed through the middle of the same mem- ber. For a time he was held in field hospital, his arm having been amputated in the field, but as soon as transportation became availa- ble he was taken to Grand Gulf, and thence to St. Louis, Mo., where he was placed in the improvised hospital at the new house of ref- uge, a Catholic reformatory building, where he was confined from July until October 15, 1863, his arm having been very badly shat- tered. Until wounded, he had taken part in all the engagements and skirmishes in which
his regiment had participated, with the excep- tion of the engagement at Cumberland Gap, when he was detailed on provost duty at Cin- cinnati, having charge of a company of men.
On returning to Cleveland, Mr. Striker entered a commercial college, learned book- keeping and telegraphy, and was then em- ployed in the general ticket office of the At- lantic & Great Western Railroad company at Cleveland, as clerk, and also traveled for the company as advertising agent. Later he be- came telegrapher for the same company (now the New York, Lake Erie & Western), at Newburg, Solon, Youngstown, Girard, Leay- ittsburg, and finally at Mantua Station, having been an operator for this company seventeen years and for more than twenty years in its employ-a fact that speaks well for his effi- cieney, capability and integrity.
Mr. Striker was united in marriage, in Mantua Station, April 14, 1870, with Miss Melissa A. Keyes, who was born here October 21. 1844, a daughter of B. F. and Nancy (Booth) Keyes -- both families of English ori- gin, but of American birth. B. F. Keyes was born in Mantua, of an old Ohio pioneer fam- ily, was a carpenter by trade, and married in Mantua; Nancy Booth was born in Vermont, a daughter of Israel Booth. Besides Mirs. Striker they were the parents of four other children, viz: Marcellus A., Alice M., Elva and Hettie R. Mr. Keyes lived to be sixty- seven years of age, and was a temperate, industrious and much respected citizen.
In politics Mr. Striker is a republican, and voted for Abraham Lincoln for president at each of his two nominations. He is a mein- ber of Bentley post, G. A. R., No. 294. in which he held the offices of commander. vicc- commander, Secretary, etc., and is a member of Mantua lodge, No. 752, I. O. O F., in which he has served as noble grand and filled the intermediate chairs. Mrs. Striker is a
39
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member of the Disciples' church, and both are highly esteemed in Mantua, which has been their permanent home ever since marriage.
CURTIS TAYLOR, one of the most prosperous native-born farmers of Deerfield township, Portage county, Ohio, and of the third generation of the family to occupy the present homestead, was born May 3, 1854, a son of Hiram and Jane (McConney) Taylor.
George Taylor, paternal grandfather of Curtis Taylor, was a native of Washington county, Pa., born October 19, 1764, came to Ohio in 1799, and bought the farm in the southeast part of Decrfield township, Portage county, which has ever since been occupied by his descendants. April 14, 1800, Mr. Tay- lor settled on the new homestead and at once began the task of clearing-the work of im- proving and cultivating being carried on by his children until the present day, and it being now the most productive farm in the district. The marriage of George Taylor took place in Pennsylvania to Miss Elizabeth McConney, who was born October 9, 1762, the union re- sulting in the birth of the following children : Nancy, January 3, 1793; Matilda, December 10, 1794; John, November 27, 1796; Nellie, November 24, 1798; George, January 26, 1801 (the last named being the first white male child to be born in Deerfield township); Leo- randa, May 9, 1803, and Hiram. September 18. 1805. George Taylor, the father of this family, attained considerable prominence in the township, was a justice of the peace for many years, and died on his farm, greatly re- spected.
David MeConney, maternal grandfather of Curtis Taylor, was also a native of Pennsyl- vania, of Irish parentage, came to Ohio in 1817. and settled in Deerfield township, where !
for many years he followed his vocation mit miller, but later became a farmer. He reared a family of five children, of whom John ie- sides in Alliance, Ohio; William, who was killed by a horse; Matilda, deceased; Elizabeth, deceased wife of Seth Tunkery, and Jane, de- ceased wife of Hiram Taylor and the mother of Curtis Taylor, the subject of this biography. Both grandparents were members of the Methodist church.
Hiram Taylor was born on the homestead in Deerfield township September 18, 180 ;. and was reared a pioneer farmer. To his mer- riage, in 1835, with Jane McConney, were born nine children, five of whom survive, viz : Solomon, who lives in Indiana; Mary, wife of Addison Ferney: Samantha J., unmarried; Curtis, and Laura, wife of George Bundy. Of the deceased children, two died in infancy. Newton died November 3, 1864, at the age of twenty-four years, and Eliza, who was mar- ried to William Dramer, died May 3, 1879. when twenty-nine years old. Hiram Taylor. the father of these children, was greatly relied upon by his fellow-citizens, whom he served in various township offices, including those of school director and supervisor, for many years He passed all his life on his native farin, and died September 18, 1883, aged seventy-seven years and seven months; his wife followed him to the grave May 4. 1891, in her seventy- seventh year, and both were consistent ment- bers of the Disciples' church.
Curtis Taylor, the present honored occu- pant of the old homestead, remains a bachelor his household being managed by his sister, Sa- mantha J. He is a thoroughly practical farn. er, and fully keeps up the reputation of the farm as being one of the best cultivated in tiv .. county; and here, in the enjoyment of the lid esteem of their neighbors, as well as of tl entire community, he and sister are peacclu ... passing the happy years away.
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OF PORTAGE AND SUMMIT COUNTIES.
JEFFERSON THOMAS. an ex-soldier of the Civil war, and an honored citi- zen of Streetsboro township, Portage county, Ohio, where he was born July 4, 1843, descends from a colonial New York family of Welsh extraction.
jeho Thomas, grandfather of Jefferson, was born in Adams, Jefferson county, N. Y., was a farmer, and a soldier of the war of 1812. and, among his other services in that struggle, hauled the cannons that were used in the de- fense of Sackett's Harbor. After this war he came by ox-team to Portage county, Ohio, and cleared up a farm in Streetsboro township from the wild forest, and later, with the as- sistance of his son, Osman, hewed a road through the forest from embryo Streetsboro to embryo Hudson, these now populous towns being then nonentities. He succeeded in wringing from the bosom of the dense forest a farm that afforded his family a good and com- fortable home, but in his old age went to Con- necticut to pass his declining years with his son, William, and there passed away at the advanced age of eighty-two years.
Osman Thomas, father of Jefferson Thomas, was also born in Adams, N. Y., and when twenty-one years old followed his father to Ohio, a year after the latter had settled here. He married, in Hiram township, Portage county, Lois J. Mathews, a school-teacher from Connecticut, and who came to Ohio with a foster brother. Osman Thomas, after mar- riage, settled on fifty acres of land in the Woods of his township, but by hard work and good management increased his possessions to 343 acres, and at his death gave to each of his sons a farm of no diminutive dimensions. He was a deacon in the Baptist church for forty-five years, and as a whig and republican Served twenty years as a justice of the peace, and filled, beside, other offices, such as mem- ber of the school board, township trustee,
etc., and died, at the venerable age of eighty- two years, in Streetsboro, honored by all who knew him.
Jefferson Thomas, with whose name this biographical notice is opened, is a son of Os- man and Lois J. (Mathews) Thomas, of whom mention has already been made. He received a good common-school education, was reared a farmer, and at the early age of eighteen years enlisted, at Streetsboro, November I, 1861, in company K, Capt. C. R. Bow, Sixth Ohio cavalry, to serve throughout the war, or, at most, three years, but was honorably dis- charged, at Windmill Point, Va., February 6, 1863, on annount of disability. He was a brave and unflinching soldier and fought at New Franklin, Tenn., at Strawberry Plains, and with Sheridan in his raid through the Shenandoah valley in Virginia; was also at Cross Keys and at Stoughton Mountain and Centerville, Va., and in the second battle of Bull Run. He has suffered much from diar- rhea, which seized hin at Camp Chase, Ohio, and afterward with typhoid fever, which con- fined him in regimental hospital near Fall's church, in Virginia, whence he was sent to Windmill Point, where he received his final discharge, weighing, at the time, but seventy- four pounds, having been reduced by chronic diarrhea from 194 pounds at the time of his enlistment, and it was a full year after his re- turn to his father's house in Streetsboro town- ship before he was able to perform any manual labor.
The marriage of Mr. Thomas took place November 4, 1866, at Warren, Olio, to Miss Martha E. Joy, daughter of Eben and Mary H. (Green) Joy, and a native of Southington, Trumbull county, Ohio, born February 8, 1864. Eben Joy is a native of Vermont, and is a farmer by calling, and owns a good farmi of 120 acres in Trumbull county, of which he was an early settler. To his marriage with
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Mary Green were born Martha E., Daniel and Mary E., and he and family are among the most respected residents of Trumbull county. To Osman Thomas and wife were born Will- ard, Juliette, Jefferson, Millicent M. and Delos -the last named being now deceased. Daniel Joy, brother of Mrs. Maitha E. Thomas, is a fariner at Southington, Ohio, and is married; Mary E. Joy, sister. was the wife of David Blackburn, and died at about thirty-eight years of age.
Jefferson Thomas and wife, on marrying, settled on their present farm, then consisting of forty acres, which was given to him by his father, but which, by industry, thrift and saga- cious management, he has increased to ninety- three acres, all nicely improved and in an ex- cellent state of cultivation. Their marriage has been blessed with three children, born in the following order: Garrison, Mary J. (a grad- uate of the high school at Hudson), and Joy J. The parents are members of the Presby- terian church, and in politics Mr. Thomas is a republican and cast his first presidental vote in the ranks for Lincoln. He is a member of A. H. Day post, G. A. R., at Kent, and is an honorable, straightforward, industrious citizen.
SILLIAM THOMAS, of Palmyra township, Portage county, Ohio, was born November 1, 1851, in the house still occupied by him. His father, David Thomas, was born November 12, 1802, in Chester county, Pa., a son of David Thomas, who moved back to Wales, whence he came when he was but a small child, and lived in a place called Llandyssul, until in the early 'thirties he came to America, and worked at bis trade of carpenter in Pennsylvania, and later near and at Youngstown, Ohio. David, father of subject, was married at Ravenna, Ohio, by 'Squire David John, to Miss Margaret
Jones, a native of Tregaron, Wales, and lived for a short time at Newport, now Wayland. Ohio, then moved to the farm now occupied by the subject of this sketch, where they reared a family of four children: Hannah (Mrs. Lloyd); Elizabeth (Mirs. J. E. Griffith, de- ceased); Sarah (Mrs. William D. Williams) and William Thomas. David Thomas, the father, traced his ancestry back to a landowner of Wales.
William Thomas, the subject of this sketch, received his early education in the district school until fourteen years of age, when he attended a select school taught by Dr. Cyrus Turnbull, of Edinburg, and later attended Mount Union College, the winter he was six- teen. At seventeen he taught school at Edin- burg, two miles north of Center, attending Alliance college in the intervals of teaching, and when that institution closed, prepared to attend and take a course at Michigan university at Ann Arbor, Mich., which he entered in Sep- tember, 1871, graduating June 23, 1875. with the degree of B. S. The year following, 1875- 6, he taught as principal of the high school at Bucyrus, Ohio. The following year, after a short period at the university, he accepted the position of superintendent of schools at Holly, Mich., and remained there until the summer after his father died in 1878. The next posi- tion secured was that of principal of the high school at Kent, Ohio, which position he held for two years. The winter of 1881-2 he taught at Randolph, and the following winter was spent at home, where he devoted some time to vocal music. The next two years he taught at Mantua station.
Mr. Thomas married, in July, 1884, Mis- Ada E. Farnsworth, of Oakdale, Wis., the youngest daughter of Henry Holden an ! Enai; (Cooley; Farnsworth. He was elected towr ship trustee in Palmyra in the early 'eightie also held the office of school director under th
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OF PORTAGE AND SUMMIT COUNTIES.
first term of Workinan law, acting as president of the school board during his term of office. In 1896 he was elected to the office of justice of the peace, which office he still holds. In the spring of 1885 Mr. and Mrs. Thomas moved to Center of Palmyra, where they lived until March 1, 1893, when they moved to the farm now occupied by him. While living at Palmyra two sons were born to them: Vin- cent Cooley, August 4, 1886, and Carl Farns- worth, August 1, 1890. Mrs. Thomas's birth- day was July 4, 1859, and his own birthday was November 1, making a coincidence with the birthdays of the children. The first year after moving to Palmyra, Mr. Thomas taught as principal of schools of the special district --- this being the last school work done by him. He was quite extensively engaged in buying and shipping wheat, and later potatoes, etc. While at Palmyra Center, in the spring of 1892, their house was entered on the night of May 30, entrance being gained through the pantry window, one slat being broken in the shutter, and the thieves came into the bed- room where they were sleeping, taking the purse out of the pocket of his pantaloons, which were on a chair at the foot of the bed, a light being left on the stand in the room, as was customary when the children were small. On the night of December 17, 1893, about two o'clock Sunday morning, eight masked men, having walked all the way from Leavitts- burg, Ohio, a distance of twelve miles, broke in the door with a bar post, and at the point of drawn revolvers demanded their money. After ransacking the house for an hour or more and securing all the money (about $18) and his clothing-one whole suit-boots and shoes, razor and watch, they left, leaving a guard until they returned from the other houses in the vicinity, which was about five o'clock in the morning. Mr. and Mrs. Thom- as and Vincent were boand hand and foot, and
left in that condition, but they soon extricated themselves, Mrs. Thomas being the first to get loose and Vincent the next. Neighbors were soon aroused and a party started in pur- suit, but the trail was lost at Leavittsburg. This affected Mrs. Thomas' health, and within a month she became seriously prostrated and was in feeble health all summer.
In the fall of 1894 the bain took fire, and all adjoining buildings were burned on Octo- ber 19. This, adding to the shock already received, unbalanced Mrs. Thomas' mind, and the following January 22, 1895, she started west to visit her father, taking with her the youngest son, Carl While there, about the latter part of February, she became violently insane and was taken to Mendota. In the course of a week or ten days she rallied and was brought home by her husband, who had sought her side on first hearing of her condi- tion. She had not been home a month before her condition became serious again, and she was taken to the state hospital at Cleveland, where she died August 26, 1895, and was buried August 28, at Palmyra, Ohio. The November following, his sister, Mrs. Lloyd, having lost her husband the 6th of August previons, came to keep house for him. The past two winters he has been teaching vocal music in the schools and lays claim to the honor of being the first to secure the adoption of the study of vocal music in the country schools in his immediate section, having se- cured its adoption in Newton, the first town- ship in Trumbull county, in June, 1897, and in Paris township, Portage county, in Janu- ary, 1898, the second township in Portage county.
Mrs. Thomas was born at Black Creek, Allegany county, N. Y., July 4, 1859. Her father, llenry H., and his father, Holden, served in the war of 1812, and were of En- glish descent, tracing back to Sir Holden
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PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD
Farnsworth. Her mother was Elmina Cooley, a sister of Judge Thomas M. Cooley, of Michi- gan. Her mother was named Rachel, and she was the daughter of Major Hubbard of Revo- lutionary fame. She married, at eighteen, Thomas Cooley, a widower with two children, and became the mother of thirteen children, among whom are the two above named.
The grandinother of David Thomas was the daughter of a landowner named Jones and was disinherited for marrying contrary to her father's will. Her name was Mary, and she lived to be 105 years old.
i
B OBERT W. THOMPSON, one of the substantial and reliable citizens of Hudson, Ohio, descends from the pioneers of the Western Reserve and from the old colonial Massachusetts family of that name.
Isaac Thompson, grandfather of our sub- ject, was born in Berkshire county, Massachu- setts, December 10, 1774. He was a farmer and married in Berkshire county, Mass., Polly Campbell, of Scotch ancestry. She was a sis- ter of Ely Campbell, a pioneer banker of Ra- venna. Another brother was Gen. Campbell, of Campbellsport, Portage county, Ohio-the founder of that town; a sister, Sarah Camp- bell, married Col. Frazier of Ravenna. The Thompsons were of sterling English ancestry and descended from the old Puritan family of colonial times in Massachusetts. In pioneer times murders were almost unknown on the Western Reserve. The first murder at Ra- venna was that of a peddler by a man named Unks, who fled. The citizens were horror- struck and a meeting was immediately called, and as a result Gen. Campbell and another citizen of Ravenna, started horseback after the murderer in hot haste. Unks had a good start, but they followed him patiently and i
crossed the Alleghany mountains, where they caught the murderer, tied him to a horse and brought him back to Ravenna. They were gone so long that their friends believed them to have been killed. Upon reaching Ravenna Unks made his escape, but being tied to his horse and handcuffed, he could not weil guide the animal, and was stopped by Isaac Thomp- son and finally executed. This was the first white man ever executed in Portage county.
Isaac Thompson and wife were the par- ents of the following children, viz: Eliza, who married Dr. Swift, of Ravenna, a prom- inent pioneer physician; Harry C .; and Rev. Oren C., who married Alice Thompson of Hudson. Rev. Thompson was a graduate of the Western Reserve college-a missionary to Detroit at au early day, where he preached many years, and the church in which he preached in Detroit, bears his name. The daughter, Mary, married Dr. Sabine, of Mich- igan; Richard and Robert were twins; then there were Charles, and Charlotte who mar- ried Timothy Carnahan, of Ravenna.
Isaac Thompson was a farmer of Berk- shire township, Berkshire county, Mass., and in the spring of 1808 he moved with his fam- ily to Ohio, making the journey with an ox- team with a horse in the lead, which was rid- den by Harry C. Thompson, then a boy of seven years of age. When the pioneer family neared the town of Campbellsport, Ohio, they met Gen. Campbell, the founder of the town. Mr. Thompson had just taken his son, Harry C., into the bushies for some boyish misde- meanor, and applied a hickory sprout in the vigorous manner of the olden days, and was much abashed that Gen. Campbell should witness the loud effects. Mr. Thompson bought 200 acres of land on which a little had been cleared and a large two-story fr .. o . house had been built, and in which was held the first court in Portage county, which house
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