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 17
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home was one most frequently resorted to by the early Methodist circuit riders, and it can be said of these good people that they earried their religious convictions into their practical everyday life. James Brundage voted the whig ticket in polities.
The late Capt. Ebenezer Brundage was eleven years of age when brought to Erie County. The major part of his activities were as a lake sailor. In 1829 he began his duties before the mast on a schooner under one of the early captains of Lake Erie, and soon proved his skill and proficiency as a boatman. Before he was thirty years of age he was master of the Vermillion, which subsequently was burned at her dock at Ifuron. Ile was also captain of the Columbus and the Empire and other boats, some of which were the swiftest and best known vessels in the passenger, mail and freight service on the lake. In 1854 he retired from his profession, and engaged in farming. Ile improved some first class farm lands along the lake shore, but about 1856 or 1857 moved to the Village of Berlin Heights, and a year or so later bought a farm from Rev. Mr. Demming just south of the village, but now ineluded within the corporation limits. This farm has been continuously in the Brundage name for more than half a century, and is now owned by James C. Brundage. It comprised forty-five aeres, and there in 1861 Captain Brundage built a large and comfortable nine-room brick house, which is still standing and in spite of its age one of the best homes in the community. The bricks were burned in Milan Township. Captain Brundage and his wife continued to live there and brought up their family. At one time Captain Brundage owned 130 aeres around the old homestead, and 158 acres two miles south. All of it was arable land, and under his management proved very profitable in its yearly production. Captain Brundage possessed a great deal of thrift and enterprise, prospered as a farmer and stock raiser as he had previously made his success as a lake captain. He was one of the ardent exponents of the republican party in his county, and both he and his wife led useful and honored lives. There were only two children born to Captain Brundage and wife. The daughter, Laura Estelle, was born September 27, 1851, and died April 20, 1901. She married Lonis Elson, who now lives in Oklahoma, and their daughter, Estella M., graduated from high school and subsequently studied at Chicago and Cleveland.
James C. Brundage's birthplace was on Delaware Avenue in the City of Buffalo, New York. His parents had their home there for several years, but he was still a small ehild when they returned to Erie County, and he has spent practically all his life and all of his associations are centered around the community at Berlin Heights. Ile grew up on the farm which he still owns, and received his education in the local schools. Ile has followed in the footsteps of his father as a farmer, and has one of the most attractive and valuable places near Berlin Heights.
At Norwalk in Huron County he married Miss Inez Hitsman, who was born in Henrietta Township of Lorain County in March, 1848, but was reared and educated in Erie County, and was a successful and popular teacher before her marriage. Her parents were Henry and Harriet (Darby ) Hitsman, both natives of Allegany County, New York, her father born in 1815 and her mother in 1819. Iler father was of Dutch and her mother of English lineage. They were brought to Lorain County by their respective parents, where the Hitsman and Darby families lived as farmers, and were married at Elyria. After some years as farmers in Lorain County they moved in 1850 to Berlin Town- ship, and subsequently lived within the village limits of Berlin Heights. Mr. Ilitsman died April 9, 1909. He was an active republican in pol- ities, possessed high ideals as to his eivie duties and his Christian rela-
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tions with the community. For some years he served as deputy sheriff in Erie County. His widow is now living with her danghter, Mrs. Brundage, and possesses the vigor of a woman much younger. She celebrated her eighty-fifth birthday on December 6, 1914. and still keeps up with enrrent news. She is a member of the Primitive Baptist Church.
Mr. and Mrs. Brundage have no children of their own. They reared a foster child, Ruth Tillinghast, whom they educated at Berlin Heights, and after graduating from the high school in 1907 she attended a busi- ness course in Oberlin College, and is now the wife of Eugene Tillotson, and they live in Cleveland. Mr. Brundage is a former trustee and assessor of Berlin Township and is a republiean who works consistently for good government both locally and nationally, and exercises con- siderable influence in his community. He has passed all the chairs and is past chancellor of Lake View Lodge No. 391 of the Knights of Pythias.
RANDALL L. BAILEY. In one of the commodious and comfortable homes that give special charaeter to the Village of Berlin Heights as a residence eenter resides Mrs. Randall L. Bailey, who has many interest- ing associations and relationship with the old families of Erie County. The Baileys have been identified with this section of Northern Ohio for the greater part of a century, while Mrs. Bailey's own family, the Hills, have been of equal prominence. Mrs. Bailey's grandfather, David L. IIill, was a soldier throughout the War of 1812, and displayed his patri- otism by service in several of the important campaigns in that great see- ond struggle with Great Britain.
The late Randall L. Bailey was born at Vermillion in Erie County. February 27. 1846, and died at his home in Berlin Township, October 30, 1904. His parents were Marvin and Susan A. ( Havalick ) Bailey. Marvin Bailey was born April 2, 1822, in Huron County, Ohio, and his wife was born at Clinton, Pennsylvania, June 13, 1818. Both died at Kipton in Lorain County, Ohio, the former on May 19, 1899, and the lat- ter in 1906. They were married in Erie County in 1844. Susan A. Havaliek's first husband was a brother of Marvin Bailey, and by that union she had several children. Henry, the first of these, was born in Vermillion, Ohio, September 26, 1837, and for many years has lived at New Hampton. lowa, where he is a prominent citizen and a former mem- her of the Iowa Legislature; he is now living with his second wife; he served throughout the Civil war as a private, was a brave and efficient soldier, and was once wounded in battle, having served with the Twelfth Ohio Regiment in many important battles, among them the mighty strug- gle at Gettysburg. The second child was Jefferson P. Bailey, who was horn October 8, 1839, and died in the State of Oregon, having been twice married and having left children by both wives. Susan J. Bailey, another child of that marriage, was born April 12, 1842, and died at Kipton, Ohio, as the wife of Darins Plumb, leaving two children, and her husband is now married a second time and is living in Perkins Township of Erie County. After Marvin and Susan Bailey were married they located in Vermillion Township and there improved a substantial farm, but later retired to Berlin Heights, and finally moved to Kipton in Lorain County. where they died. They were prominent members of the Primitive Bap- tist ('hureh, and their home was the center for local preachers and the members of that denomination, and all good people found a ready wel- come at their hospitable doors. Marvin Bailey served as a justice of the peace and for many years was familiarly known as Squire Bailey.
The late Randall L. Bailey was the only child born to his parents. He was edneated in Vermillion and Florence townships, and became a
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HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY
well-known business man of the county. He was a stockholder in many local enterprises, owned a large amount of improved farm lands, and maintained the fine home at Berlin Heights where Mrs. Bailey now resides. For a number of years up to the time of his death he owned a large carriage depository at Berlin Heights. He stood high in the public estimation and should be remembered as the first mayor of the Town of Berlin Heights, and was also active in the Knights of Pythias lodge at that place, filling the various chairs up to chancellor commander. Ile attended the Congregational Church.
Randall L. Bailey was first married January 12, 1870, to Miss EHla Phelps. She was born in Vermillion, Ohio, April 24, 1853, and her family was one of old settlement in this county. Her only child, Anna L., died at the age of two and a half years.
On July 3, 1887, Randall L. Bailey was married to Miss Myra D. Ilill, of Florence Township. Mrs. Bailey was born in Florence Township of Erie County fifty-seven years ago and grew up and received her educa- tion in this locality. Her family was of old New York State stock. Her grandfather, David L. Hill, already mentioned, was born in Dutchess County, New York, December 2, 1789, and was in his vigorous young manhood at the time he served in the War of 1812. He died in Florence Township of Erie County when nearly ninety-nine years of age. He grew up in his native county and was married there January 19, 1820, to Miss Phoebe Brundage, who was born in Dutchess County in 1799 and died in Florence Township of Erie County in 1875. She was the mother of four sons and four daughters, all of whom were born in Dutchess County. Among these children was Leonard Hill, father of Mrs. Bailey. Leonard. the youngest but one of the family, was born in New York State, Septem- ber 29, 1826, and died March 6, 1887. When he was two years of age in 1828 the family came out to Ohio and settled in the wilds of Florence Township, where David L. Will pre-empted land. He cut down the heavy standing timber and manufactured from it the lumber which entered into his first home, a substantial building which was used for many years as a family habitation and is still in use. David L. Ilill secured more than 200 acres of land, and in improving this performed an important share of early pioneer work. David L. Hill and wife were active members of the Methodist Church, and in politics he was first a whig and later a republican. It was in the somewhat primitive environ- ment of the Erie County of eighty years ago that Leonard Hill grew to maturity. He was married May 26, 1849, at Amherst in Lorain County to Diantha Swartwood. She was born in Lorain County, and died in September, 1884. The Swartwoods were early settlers in Lorain County. After his marriage Leonard Hill and wife bought a portion of his father's estate, and developed a home where they spent the rest of their days. They were noble and excellent people, stanch Christians, and his own career was spent as a farmer and stock raiser. He was always a regular voter and supporter of the republican ticket. Leonard Hill and wife had a family of children who are briefly mentioned as follows: Roxanna M., who was born in 1850 and died April 2, 1890, and was a very devont member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, married Charles JJenkins of Berlin Heights, who is still living with three sons and one daughter. S. Melissa, who was born August 30, 1851, and died October 10. 1912. was married December 30, 1869, to James JJarrett, a native of England. and they lived on a farm in Florence Township, she being survived by a son, Albert E. Harlow L., who was born in Florence Township and reared there, is now a farmer, and by his marriage to Amanda Bingham. daughter of John Bingham, has two sons, Frank and Earl.
Mrs. Bailey, who was the youngest of the children in her father's family, was born on the old homestead in Florence Township, and lived
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there until her marriage, in the meantime securing a good education from the public schools. Since her marriage she has lived in the fine home of ten rooms at Berlin Heights. She has in many ways contributed her influence and useful service to the social life of the community, and is a great lover of nature and of all things beautiful and good. She sup- ports and attends the Congregational Church, and is an active worker in the Pythian Sisters organization at Berlin Heights.
GEORGE W. ILINE. For more than a quarter of a century Doctor Hine has quietly and efficiently performed his duties as a physician and sur- geon in the community of Berlin Heights. There is no profession which presents greater opportunities for usefulness to humanity than that of medicine, and Doctor Hine is recognized as one of the members of the fraternity who has accepted every opportunity for faithful performance of duty, and through his large practice has gained an esteem which is not less satisfying than the other material accompaniments of a successful career. Doctor Hine represents a family which has been identified with Erie County for almost a century, and during his early youth graduated from the Berlin High School and graduated M. D. from the Western Reserve Medical College at Cleveland with the class of 1888. Ile at once returned to his home village and has been in practice there for more than twenty-six years.
George W. Hine was born in Berlin Township of Erie County, May 6, 1858. ITis grandparents were Amos and Polly (Allen) Hine, both of whom were natives of Milford, Connecticut, and of old New England stock. Immediately after their marriage they came west and made the long journey overland with ox teams and wagons and finally arrived in Erie County. Two years previously, in 1816, Amos lline had come out to this section of Ohio and had located a traet of "fire land" in Berlin Township, abont a mile and a quarter from the present Village of Berlin Ileights and on what is now the Berlin and Huron Road. There he built a log cabin in the midst of the wilderness and made a clearing which would serve for his first erop. After these improvements he returned with his yoke of oxen to Connectieut and was married in 1818 and in the same year brought his bride to the pioneer home. Erie County was at that time, nearly a century ago, one vast game preserve. Amos Iline became known in the community as the Daniel Boone of the county because of his prowess as a hunter. Ile was a skilled marksman, and it is said that he killed more deer than all the other hunters in the county put together. One night his faithful dogs treed two bears at midnight, and he got up and killed them. At another time, without moving from a single spot he had chosen, he shot three deer. For a hunter of his skill it was not difficult to keep the family larder well supplied with all kinds of wild game. He was likewise vigorous in developing his land, and had about 326 acres under his ownership and most of it in cultivation. He also planted a large apple orchard, one of the first in that section, and his trees yielded fruit for many years. He was a man of varied enterprise and furnished an important service to the community through the mill which he built on the east branch of the Old Woman Creek, which empties into Lake Erie. This was a sawmill, and was the first in that section of Erie County. Besides sawing a great deal of lumber for the people in that section. he also made the lumber which went into the construction of his substantial brick home, erected nearly eighty years ago. The brick was burned on his own place. In that home Amos ard Polly Iline spent the rest of their active lives. Ile died in 1855 or 1856, when about three- score years of age. ITis widow subsequently lived in Milan Township and died there in 1883. She was born about 1800. Both were good Chris- tian people, and they helped build up the first Presbyterian and Baptist
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HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY
churches at Berlin Heights, and gave liberally to religions causes of all denominations, though their own faith was that of the Presbyterian Church. Amos Hine was a whig in politics.
Amos Iline had three children. Their names were Lorenzo, Allen and Mary, all of whom married and all had children except Allen.
Lorenzo Iline, the father of Doctor Iline, was the first child of the family, born in the new home in Berlin Township. His birth occurred in 1819, and he grew up with the environment of a new county. After his marriage he seenred 126 acres of the old homestead, and lived there and improved a fine farm. Ilis life was spent in general farming, and he died there June 22, 1872. He was a republican in politics, and made himself a factor in the improvement of the locality, particularly roads, and his fellow citizens kept him in the office of road supervisor for many years. Ile succeeded to the ownership of the sawmill originally estab- lished by his father, and kept it running for many years.
Lorenzo Hine was married in Berlin Township to Nancy Williams, who was born in the same township February 29, 1828, and died in Jan- uary, 1912. Lorenzo and his wife were people of the highest eharaeter and most excellent neighbors, but were not members of any church and held to no erced. Two of their children died young, while four grew up and two are still living. Doctor Hine was the third of the four that reached mature years. Norman died at the age of fifty, leaving two chil- dren. Sarah died after her marriage to John Engleby, who is also deceased. Doctor Iline has a sister, Mary, who is living in Berlin Heights and has five children.
Doctor Hine was married in Berlin Township to Miss Gertrude Clark. She was born on the shore of Lake Erie forty-seven years ago, and was educated in local publie schools. Her parents were Peltiah T. and Helen ( Henderson) Clark, both of whom are still living and have their home in Berlin Heights. They own a fine farm, and have spent practically all their lives in Berlin Township and are still active in spite of advanced years, her father being seventy-seven and her mother seventy-three. They support and attend church and have been active in building up the com- munity. Mrs. Iline's father owns two good farms, both of which repre- sent his own thrifty enterprise. For a man who was orphaned when twelve years of age he has accomplished a great deal, his parents, John and Azena Clark, having died in Berlin Township.
Doctor and Mrs. Iline have one son, Lorenzo Clark Hine, who was horn September 10, 1890, the anniversary of Perry's victory on Lake Erie. Lorenzo (. graduated from the Berlin High School, and since the age of fifteen and a half years has been pursuing a career as a hanker. Ile has held the offices of cashier and teller in the banks at Berlin Heights and Lodi, and at the present time is connected with the bank at the latter town. Lorenzo married Mabel Rummell of Berlin Heights, where she was reared and educated, and they have a daughter, Elizabeth Helen, born July 3, 1914.
Doctor Iline was first married in 1883 to Miss Edith M. Ruggles of Vermillion Township, a well-educated lady and of a prominent family of that township, where she was born on the old Ruggles homestead in 1863, daughter of Richard Ruggles, an early settler and the owner of an extensive landed property situated along the lake shore. Doctor Iline enjoyed the companionship of his first wife only about two years, and she died December 26, 1885, without children.
Doctor Hine is one of the older Masons of Erie County. He has been a member of the Blue Lodge since 1880, and is also affiliated with the Knights Templar Commandery at Norwalk. He is a member of Berlin Ileights Lodge No. 391 of the Knights of Pythias, in which he is past chancellor, and Mrs. Iline is past chief of Berlin Temple No. 298 of the Vol. II- 8
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Pythian Sisters. Both the doctor and his wife are people who are always ready to work for the good of their community, and their home on South Street, a comfortable nine-room residence, is one of the eenters of social activities in the village.
SAMUEL PATTERSON. Berlin Township had few men who more justly deserve the kindly memory of the present generation than the late Samuel Patterson. He was a distinctive factor in business affairs of Berlin Heights, and had a reputation far beyond loeal limits as a scholar and a man of conspienous judgment and of broad humanitarian principles. It is the main purpose of this article to give some account of his family, his individual career and his more important activities and attainments.
Samuel Patterson was born in Maryland, March 20, 1828, a son of Robert and Anna (Stahl) Patterson. Ilis father was born in Ireland but of Seoteh ancestry, and came to this country early in the last century on a sailing vessel. Hle located in Maryland, where he married Miss Stahl, and while living there some of their children were born, including the late Samuel Patterson. In 1833, when the latter was five years of age, the family made the long journey across the country with teams and wagons, since there were of course no railroads, and finally came to a pause in the wilderness of Darke County, Ohio, within a few miles of the present City of Greenville, which was then hardly deserving the name of village. Robert Patterson secured an entire section of land in that part of Western Ohio, and the deed to it was signed by Andrew Jackson, then President of the United States. Its first improvement was a log cabin, and almost immediately he became recognized as a force in the com- munity. Near his first home he constructed a house which was devoted to school purposes. He was a man of high ideals, and was always ready to sacrifice and work for community welfare. Robert Patterson improved his large farm, and gave each of the four children who came to maturity sufficient land to make a farm. These children were: John, Esther, Mary Jane and Samuel, while another son, Michael, died in childhood. The four children mentioned grew up and married, but all are now deceased. Robert Patterson and his wife both died in Darke County, Ohio, he when not yet sixty years of age and she a little past fifty. Both were faithful and active members of the Presbyterian Church, in which faith they had been reared.
The late John Patterson, though his early life was spent in a com- munity which on the whole was quite devoid of those opportunities for culture which can now be found in almost any locality of Ohio, was reared in a home of distinctively high ideals and ripened and matured his intellectual endowments by long courses of self study. For a time he attended an academy at Dayton, but found most of his education through his own library and his wide and intimate knowledge of men and affairs. It is said there was no better read man in the State of Ohio. His knowl- edge and study of philosophical literature was thorough, and his writings on a wide variety of subjects attracted such attention that he became known in the field of authorship beyond the limits of his home state. IIis library was a house full of well-read books, and there was probably no better private collection in Northern Ohio. ITis scholarship brought him many friends among the learned class, and among them was the librarian of the Congressional Library at Washington, who at one time pronounced Mr. Patterson to be the ripest scholar in Northern Ohio, and who frequently spent much time in the Patterson home.
The late Samuel Patterson likewise grew up in Western Ohio and possessed many of the scholarly traits of his brother. He was first mar- ried in Darke County to Miss Martha Frampton, who was born in that eounty in 1834, of German and English parents, who were early settlers
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in Darke County and spent the rest of their lives there, where they -xer- rised a prominent influence in all local matters, particularly schools and education. In Darke County two sons were born to Samuel Patterson and wife, Michael and James. About the beginning of the Civil war Samuel Patterson brought his family to Berlin Heights in Erie County, and bought land near that village. In 1865 he organized a co-operative com- pany for manufacturing purposes. Ile conducted this on a co-operative plan, and the results were very successful, but it was finally organized as a stock company, which developed a valuable plant. This business is still in existence and is known as the Berlin Fruit Box Company, and for the last few years has been ably managed by Lucius D. Van Ben- schoten and Guy E. Sturtevant, the former a grandson and the latter the husband of a granddaughter of the late Samuel Patterson. Mr. Sam- uel Patterson, Job Stahl, Andrew Moore, Zachariah Snook and others were among the pioneers in the fruit growing industry, which has he- rome one of the principal industries of the eastern section of Erie County, Ohio.
Samuel Patterson died at his home in Berlin Heights, March 21. 1899, at the age of seventy-one. Samuel Patterson was notable for the independence of his character and a vigorous determination to carry out those plans which originated from his mature and well-considered ideas. Ile was also independent in religious matters,, likewise in politics. lle was a forceful writer, and many articles came from his pen that at- tracted the attention of scholars.
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