USA > Ohio > Erie County > A standard history of Erie County, Ohio: an authentic narrative of the past, with particular attention to the modern era in the commercial, industrial, civic, and social development. A chronicle of the people, with family lineage and memoirs > Part 105
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In 1893 Mr. Coen married Miss Cora S. Lawless. She was born and reared at Vermilion, and is a daughter of Capt. James Lawless and Laura E. (Harris) Lawless. both now deceased. Mr. and Mrs. Coen are the parents of two sons. Edward M. is a member of the class of 1918 in Yale University at New Haven, Connecticut. Clarence L. died at the age of four and half years.
JOHN L. SHIEROD. In 1911 the Sherod family celebrated the centen- nial of its coming to Erie County. A year before the outbreak of the second war against Great Britain, and several years before Commodore Perry gained his triumph on Lake Erie against the British fleet, the Sherods pushed their way through the wilderness and established a rude home on the shores of the lake in Vermilion Township. Three successive generations have ocenpied and tilled the soil in that locality and John L. Sherod is now a prosperous farmer and fruit grower on land which was once his grandfather's.
The Sherods were Pennsylvania people and Mr. Sherod's grand- parents were both natives of that state. His grandfather was a mill- wright by trade, and on coming to Northern Ohio he established a mill on Sherod Creek. a little stream in Vermilion Township named in honor
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of his enterprise. Here he and his wife spent all their days on the farm which they had acquired from the Government. Their land had a frontage on the lake shore of eighty rods. Both lived here for abont forty years, and died during the decade of the '50s when quite old people. They were Presbyterians in religion, and the grandfather was first a federalist and later a whig. He was the pioneer miller in this section of Erie County, though there was no Erie County by name for a dozen years after he arrived. They had one of the first homes in this wilderness region. Their log cabin was surrounded by the great trees of the native forest, by the wild grasses, and on the north it looked ont upon the dancing waters of the lake. Wild game of all kinds abonnded. and venison was a regular part of their diet. Wild turkeys were also to be found everywhere in the woods, and it was necessary to protect the hogs by heavy log pens in order that the bears might not devour them. The Sherod family has many interesting distinctions in Erie County. The son John was the first white child born in Vermilion Township.
Jacob Sherod, father of John L., was about three years of age when the family came to Erie County. He was born in Pennsylvania, January 20, 1808, but his first eonscions recollections were of the wilderness which surrounded the Sherod home in Vermilion Township. He was reared to manhood, having little education so far as schools were concerned, but practiced himself in all the arts and accomplishments of the frontier. He succeeded to the ownership of the old homestead on which his father had constructed a stone house only a few yards from the lake shore. A great many years ago the site of that home was washed away by the waters of the lake, the lake shore being now five or six rods south of where it was originally. Jacob subsequently built a home of his own farther from the lake beach, and that honse is now occupied by his son. John L. It is a substantial old home, and is surrounded by a tract of very fine farming land. especially adapted for fruit growing.
Jacob Sherod died in this locality December 6, 1872. TIe was a staneh republican, and a man who took a commendable interest in local affairs. He was married in Vermilion Township to Miss Elizabeth Banmhart. She was born in Germany, May 7, 1823, and had come with her parents to the United States on a sailing vessel which required eight weeks to make the voyage. They arrived in Vermilion Township about 1829. Her father was Elias Baumhart, who died in Erie County when about eighty years of age, having followed farming all his practical career. Elizabeth Baumhart died at the home of her son John February 6, 1905. Both she and her husband were members of the Presbyterian Church, but later, with their children. they became Congregationalists, and died in that faith. Jacob Sherod was a deaeon in the church for many years. By his first marriage to a Miss Sherod, Jacob Sherod had three children. One of these, George, is still living and resides in Los Angeles, California. The children by the second marriage were William E., Henry M., Albert. John L., James F., Edward M., Ermina, Martha, Catherine and Hattie. William and Albert are now deceased, and the daughters Ermina and Martha are also dead.
John L. Sherod was reared and edneated in Vermilion Township and attended the public schools which were maintained here during his early youth. After the death of his father he took over twenty-five aeres of the land which had belonged successively to his grandfather and father, and in this one locality he has spent all his years with the exception of six when he was a resident of Cleveland, and followed his trade as carpenter and also was a sailor on the lakes. He had learned his trade in Vermilion Township. During the winters he worked at carpentry in Cleveland, and during the summer seasons was on the Great Lakes. He
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first served before the mast and subsequently was first mate and finally master of one of the old lake boats. On leaving the vocation of sailor he returned to his farm, and has since conducted general agricultural operations and fruit growing, having all varieties of fruit which thrive along the lake shore. For six years he has kept open house to summer boarders from May to November.
On December 28, 1887, in Vermilion Township, Mr. Sherod married Miss Sarah Ann Risden. She was born in this township November 28, 1862, and was reared and edneated here. She is a sister of Almor G. Risden, to whom reference is made on other pages, inelnding a sketch of the well known Risden family. Mr. and Mrs. Sherod have the following children : Bessie A., who graduated from the Vermilion High School and is now a teacher in the primary schools of Vermilion Village and is living at home ; Charity May, who gradnated from the Vermilion Iligh School with the elass of 1908 and it at home; Lawrence D., who com- pleted his edneation in high school and is assisting his father on the farm. The family attend the Congregational Church and the daughters are active workers in church organizations. Mr. Sherod is a republican. and at the present time is filling the office of township assessor.
FREDERICK OHLEMACHER. It was due to the enterprise of Frederick Ohlemacher that the first lime kiln was established in Erie County. Mr. Ollemacher represents a sturdy German family that located in Erie County more than fifty years ago, but his own early life was spent to a large extent in Illinois, and he fought with an Thinois regiment in the Civil war. For the past fifty years his home has been in Sandusky and he was actively engaged in business here until a few years ago, and is now enjoying a well earned retirement.
Born September 16, 1840, in Germany, Mr. Ohlemacher is a son of Henry and Catherine Ohlemacher. The family emigrated to the United States when Frederick was a small boy, and in 1854 they located in Sandusky. Henry Ohlemacher spent the rest of his life in Sandusky and died there in 1873. He was the father of ten children, of whom Frederick was the eighth in order of birth.
Frederick Ohlemacher acquired his early education in the schools of Germany. He also attended grammar school in Sandusky for a time after coming to that city. He was about fifteen years of age when in 1855 he took his first regular employment working in a restaurant in Sandusky, but two years later he left here and went to Cincinnati and was employed in a wholesale book store a year. His next location was in Aurora, Illinois, where he was employed in the railroad shops and learned the trade of cabinet maker. He continued there until the spring of 1861. He then enlisted at the first call for troops to put down the rebellion, going out in the three months' service as a non-commissioned officer in the Seventh Illinois Infantry, Company F. At the expiration of the three months he was discharged as a non-commissioned officer. Returning home he soon re-enlisted as first hentenant in the First Arkansas Cavalry, Company E, and he remained in the Union army. participating in many campaigns, nntil the spring of 1863, and on account of disability resigned and returned to Aurora.
In Aurora he resumed his work as cabinet maker in the car shops, bnt in 1865 he bought a brick yard and lime kiln, which he conducted until the fall of 1866. lle then sold out his interests in Illinois and came to Sandusky, where he erected the first lime kiln ever put up in the city. This was the industry with which his name was most familiarly associated and which he conducted successfully from 1867 to 1899. Ile then sold the property, and since 1899 has been largely retired from
4. Oblemachen
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active responsibilities, though he is still a stockholder in various banks and has a number of business interests here.
Mr. Ohlemacher has also taken a prominent part as a citizen and from 1885 to 1889 was a member of the Ohio State Legislature, and while there was instrumental in securing the location of the Soldiers' Home at Sandusky. Fraternally he has been identified with the Masonie Order for fifty-four years, and is affiliated with the lodge, the Royal Arch Chapter and the Council. In polities he is a democrat.
On January 1, 1862, at Aurora, Illinois, he married Miss Clementine Groch. To their union were born seven children, namely: Lillian, born April 8, 1864: Albert, horn October 2, 1866; Cora, born Deeember 25, 1868: Fred, born October II, 1870: Emma, born in 1872 and died aged sixteen years; Eda, born June 19, 1877, and Norma, born Feb- ruary 5, 1879.
HIENRY CLAY STRONG. A native of Erie County, one who went out in the flower of young manhood and gave three years' of service to the U'nion during the Civil war, for half a century identified with business affairs, Ilenry Clay Strong in more recent years has helped to promote Sandusky's prosperity in the motor manufacturing field. He is now the executive head of the Ohio Motor Company of Sandusky.
Among those men who were born in Erie County nearly three- quarters of a century ago few have been such efficient factors in varied lines as Henry Clay Strong. He was born October 4, 1841, a son of Lyman E. and Calista Lucinda (Nims) Strong, the former a native of New York State and the latter of Massachusetts. As a boy he had his home in different sections of Ohio, and attended the common schools of Plymouth, Richland and Huron counties. He was not twenty years of age when the Civil war broke out, and for a number of years had been earning his way as clerk in a store. He enlisted, May 28, 1862, in Company B of the Eighty-eighth Regiment of Ohio Volunteers for the three months' serviee. He became first corporal in the company. Immediately after his first term expired he re-enlisted as a member of Company D in Hoffman's Battalion, Ohio Volunteers, and was appointed second sergeant. In December, 1863, the Hoffman Battalion was en- larged to a regiment and was subsequently known as the One Hundred and Twenty-eighth Regiment. Ohio Volunteer Infantry. With this eom- mand he became commissary sergeant, and on May 9, 1864, was com- missioned first lieutenant and regimental quartermaster, and also aeted as commandant for a short period of Company G. In that capacity he remained with his regiment until the close of the war, and was finally mustered out at Camp Chase, Columbus, July 13, 1865. HIe belongs to both the Grand Army of the Republic and the Military Order of the Loyal Legion.
On returning from the war Mr. Strong located at Sandusky, and in December, 1865, was appointed paymaster for the Sandusky, Dayton & ('incinnati Railroad Company, with headquarters in the former city. From July, 1868, until January, 1874, he was a traveling salesman, representing a wholesale lumber house at Sandusky. On January 1, 1874, in partnership with John S. Fleek, he engaged in the wholesale grocery business at Newark, Ohio. For nearly twenty years he had his home in Newark, and helped to build up the business to one of large proportions and success. On January 1, 1893, the firm of Fleek, Strong & Company was dissolved, and because of ill health Mr. Strong was then out of active business for seven years.
In 1897 he returned to his former influential position in commercial affairs as one of the organizers of the Ohio Motor Company at Sandusky,
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of which he has since been president. This company manufactures an extensive line of gasoline engines, and its product is known as standard throughout the country. Mr. Strong has had his home in Sandusky since 1893. He is a director in the Coshocton National Bank of Coshocton. Ohio, of which he was also one of the organizers; is vice president of the Bay View Foundry Co., of Sandusky. Ohio, and is interested in a number of other manufacturing enterprises.
On September 21, 1865, he married Miss Mary Harper. They had one son, Harper Lyman Strong, who was born May 8, 1880, and died April 9, 1881. For many years Mr. and Mrs. Strong lived alone, but on June 2, 1909, they legally adopted William Ilenry Speneer, a son of Mr. Strong's sister. This adopted son has since borne the family name of Strong and is now one of Sandusky's able business men and is vice president and treasurer of the Ohio Motor Company. He married Miss Rena La Dow, of Plymouth, Ohio, and they have two children, Mary and George IIenry.
EDWARD D. GIBSON. A man of sterling character and distinctive business ability, Mr. Gibson marked the passing years with worthy achievement, and was one of the representative merchants and honored and influential citizens of the Village of Birmingham, Florence Town- ship, at the time of his death, which here occurred on the 31st of March. 1905, since which time his widow has successfully continued the business which he here established and developed.
Mr. Gibson was born in Rush Township, Lorain County, on the 6th of .Julv. 1854, and thus his death oeeurred about four months prior to his fifty-first birthday anniversary. Ile was a son of Dow and Mary (Johnson) Gibson, natives of Ohio and representatives of well known pioneer families of this state. The first wife of Dow Gibson bore the maiden name of Mary Seott, and she died in Lorain County. being survived by seven children. After his marriage to Miss Mary Johnson Dow Gibson was for some time a resident of the City of Cleveland, later removed with his family to the State of Michigan, where he remained several years, and finally he established his home in the little village of Ogontz, Florenee Township, Erie County, Ohio, where his wife died at the age of sixty-five years and where he lived to attain to the venerable age of seventy-six years, the subject of this memoir having been the eldest of their three children. Dow Gibson beeame well known in this section of the state as a breeder of and dealer in horses, and he was a citizen whose popularity was of unequivocal order, his political support having been given to the democratic party.
Edward D. Gibson was reared to manhood in Erie County and was afforded the advantages of the public schools of the Village of Berlin Heights. He was identified with agricultural pursuits and other lines of business enterprises at various periods of his earlier independent career, and in August, 1902, he established himself in the retail hardware and grocery business at Birmingham, his wife assisting him in the opera- tion and management of the store thereafter until his death, sinee which time she has continued the enterprise with unqualified success. Mrs. Gibson has developed admirable business acumen and executive ability, and gives her personal supervision to all details of the large and sub- stantial business of which she has the supervision, her well equipped establishment having a frontage of twenty-six feet and its stock in all departments being kept up to a high standard, so that the service always meets the requirements and demands of the substantial and appreciative patronage. She is a woman of gracious personality, considerate and kindly in all of the relations of life, and her cirele of friends is limited
Hillium. Co. Diela
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only by that of her acquaintances. She is prominent in the social life of the community and her attractive home is known for its generous hospitality.
In Monroe County, Michigan, in the year 1876, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Gibson to Miss Carrie Billmire, who was born in that eounty on the 16th of December, 1860. and who was there reared and educated. She is a daughter of John and Carrie Billmire, who were born and reared in the State of New York, where their marriage was solemnized, and who became pioneer settlers in Monroe County, Michigan, where Mr. Billmire improved a fine farm. This old homestead continued to be their place of residence until their death, the mother having been sixty-five years of age at the time of her demise and the father having attained to the venerable age of eighty-one years. They became the parents of five children, and of the three now living Mrs. Gibson is the only one residing in Ohio. Mr. Gibson was survived by one child, Matilda May, who was born in the year 1879, and the maximum bereave- ment in the lives of her devoted parents was when she was called to the life eternal, on the 29th of February, 1901. She was a young woman of fine intellectuality and of the most gentle and winning personality, so that she was loved by all who came within the sphere of her infinenee. She was afforded the advantages of a thorough course in the North- western Ohio Normal Sehool at Ada, Hardin County, and during the last five years of her life was a successful and popular teacher in the publie schools of the Village of Birmingham.
JAMES S. HANSON, M. D. For the past twenty-two years Dr. James S. Hanson has enjoyed rank with the most eapable physicians and surgeons of Erie County. His home during this time has been in Sandusky, and he eame to this city with a splendid equipment and. training for the profession to which he has given the best years of his life.
A native of Canada, Dr. James S. Hanson was born June 19, 1868, in London, a son of Dr. Ilenry Hanson, who was a very prominent physician and surgeon of London, Canada. Dr. James S. was educated in the Wesleyan College in London, Canada, and took his degree in medicine from the Detroit College of Medieine at Detroit, and pursued post-graduate studies in the St. Thomas Hospital in London, England.
His first two years in practice were spent in London, Canada, and from there, in 1903, he moved to Sandusky, where he has since built up a large and profitable practice. Doctor Ilanson is well known in social as well as in professional cireles, and belongs to many of the leading clubs and organizations. He is a member of the American Medical Association, of the Pediatric Society, and is a director in the Columbus Mutual Life Insurance Company. His church is the Episcopal, and in polities he is a republican. In 1906-08 Doctor Ilanson was interested in a cireuit of theaters known as the Hanson & Albaugh Cirenit. having nine located from Youngstown to Tiffin, Ohio.
In 1904, at Sandusky, Doctor Hanson married Miss Bessie Arnold. They have one son, James Stephen Hanson, born January 13, 1912.
WILLIAM DIELS. For many years a well known business man in Sandusky, William Diels is a native of Germany, and his success is to be eredited entirely to his own industry and persistence.
Born February 20, 1868, in Germany, he came to America when a young man, locating first in Huron County, Ohio. For three years he was employed as a common farm hand and then worked for a time in Salem, Ohio, and in Cleveland, and then became clerk with the Hartman
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Manufacturing Company of Sandusky. He remained in their employ for nine years, and then went with the wholesale liquor establishment of August Gunther, with whom he remained for years. He continued in the same line of business for Mr. Zimmerman, but in 1901 engaged in the wholesale and retail liquor business at Sandusky on his own aeconnt, and that is his present line.
lle is a democrat and is affiliated with the Fraternal Order of Eagles. Mr. Diels married Miss Martha Pfiel, born August 28, 1869. Their two children are Anna, born December 2, 1891, and Laura, born January 3, 1894.
IIARLEY B. GIBBS. Prominent in business and financial eireles at Cleveland for many years, Harley B. Gibbs, whose home is in the Village of Milan, is related to many of the names that have borne a useful and influential share in the development of Northern Ohio for nearly a century.
Ile is a descendant of Giles Gibbs, who came to America from England as early as 1645, landing at Dorchester Bay, Massachusetts, and later becoming an early settler at Windsor, Connecticut. Many of his descend- ants were identified with Norwalk, Connecticut, and later with Norwalk, Ohio. The line of descent, beginning with Giles, is continued through Samuel I, Samuel II, Samuel III, Samuel R. IV, Edward II. and Harley B. Samuel R. Gibbs married Deborah Hanford, who was also of a New England family for generations resident in Connecticut. The marriage of Samuel R. and wife took place in Norwalk, Conneetient, and their son, Edward H., was born there in 1812. Only a few years later, about 1818, the family came out to Ohio. Sanmel was accompanied by his brother David and family, and they made the journey with ox and horse teams, the entire distance overland. The Erie Canal had not yet been opened and the rough roads and trails furnished the only practicable means of coming to the West at that time. The families camped by the wayside as night overtook them, and after many days of journeying settled at Norwalk, Ohio, where a great many people from the Connecti- eut locality of the same name established pioneer homes. Samuel and David took up a section of land in that vicinity, and part of that ground is now oceupied by the Woodland Cemetery and the waterworks of Norwalk. As pioneers they opened homes in the wilderness and gradu- ally extended their farming operations. Samuel had conducted a mer- cantile business back in Norwalk, Connecticut. He and his wife in time acquired a beautiful home at Norwalk, and he died there in the '50s, and she passed away in 1863, when eighty years of age. She was a Methodist and very striet and devout. In politics he was a whig. Samuel R. and Deborah Gibbs had three sons and eight daughters. It should also be mentioned that another ancestor of Harley B. Gibbs was a Major Gibbs, who served on the staff of General Washington during the Revolution, and later became private secretary to President Washington.
Edward H. Gibbs, who was six years old when the family made their journey to Ohio in 1818, grew up on the pioneer farm and gained such eclueation as local means in instruction could then supply. About 1844 he established his home at Milan, and, associated with Mr. Comstock. started a general store there. The firm prospered and was subsequently reorganized as Gibbs & Graham. During the financial depression which occurred in 1857 the firm liquidated, and Mr. Graham afterwards went south and became a colonel in the Confederate army. Edward H. Gibbs subsequently transferred his business affairs to Norwalk, and died there in the spring of 1872. Ile was a man of affairs, and well known in the adjoining counties.
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Ile was married in Norwalk to Maria Louise Brownell. She was born in Ovid, New York, in 1815. She was related to the well known Connecticut family of Brownell, including Bishop Brownell of the Diocese of Connecticut. Another relative was Corporal Brownell, who was with Colonel Ellsworth's command in the capture of Alexandria, across the Potomae from Washington, at the beginning of the Civil war. and is distinguished in history as the man who killed the hotel proprietor Jackson who had shot Colonel Ellsworth. Maria Louise Gibbs died in 1869 while in Chicago. Her parents were Pardon and Nancy Purdy Brownell, both natives of Ovid, New York, where they spent their lives. Mrs. Edward H. Gibbs was active in the Presbyterian Church at Milan. and her husband attended the same congregation. In polities he was a republican. In their family were five children : Elizabeth, who died in 1912, married William Lewis, also now deceased, and her son, Fred C .. is now married and lives in Chicago, and her daughter, Mary Elizabeth. is the wife of Fred W. Harlow of Louisville, Kentucky. The second child, Edward II., Jr., died in infancy, and the third was also named Edward H., Jr. Ile died in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in 1907; he married Helen Stuart of Milan, and she and her only son, Ralph, now live in Pittsburgh. The next in age is Harley B. Platt P., the youngest, is a musie publisher in Chicago, and his wife, whose maiden name was Mary Reid, died in 1915, leaving a son, Herbert P., who is now married and has three children.
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