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 20
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Elmer Cook was born June 15, 1851. He grew up in Ohio and Michi- gan and his education came from the schools of Berlin and the normal school at Milan. After his marriage he established himself on twenty-
Mors. Emma Drake.
J. O. Drake
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five acres of well-improved land in Berlin Township, and has lived there and made a success of agriculture. Ile has a group of good buildings and a prominent feature of his farm is an orchard of peach, apple and other fruit trees. A few years ago he built a substantial barn by his own labor.
In 1874, in Berlin Township, Mr. Cook married Hattie Cook, who was born in Cleveland, Ohio, May 9, 1850, and was a young girl when her parents came to Erie County in 1865. Her parents were John and Hannah (Reeson ) Cook. Her mother was a daughter of Rev. Thomas Reeson, an Englishman and a minister of the Methodist Episcopal Church, who spent his life in England. IIis Bible is now in the pos- session of Mrs. Cook, and she valnes it highly for its many associations, and she also has an old sickle handed down from the previous generation. John Cook, her father, was born in 1802 and died in Berlin Township in 1899, where his wife was born in 1812 and died at the home of her daughter, Mrs. Cook, in 1896. Mrs. Cook's parents were married in England in 1834, and after the birth of five children there they all came to the United States on a sailing vessel in 1848, spending six weeks in the voyage. From New York they went on to Cleveland, and arrived there without a cent of money. The entire family lived in one room for a time until the father was able to get a start in the New World, and in 1865 they came to Erie County, where John Cook followed farming and made a snecess of the business. Two other children were born to them after they came to this country. One son, Henry, served in an Ohio regiment through three years of the Civil war, was wounded in the side at Chickamauga, but returned and died some years after the war.
Mr. and Mrs. Elmer Cook have three children. Walter is unmarried and still at home. Elma is the wife of Clifford MeLaughlin, a merchant at Berlinville, and they have a son, Lewis (. Mary is the wife of Henry Benbower, who is connected with the Western Automatie Machine Com- pany at Elyria, Ohio. Mr. and Mrs. Cook are members of the Berlin- ville Friends Church, in which he formerly served as an elder. Long a resident of Berlin Township, he has commended himself to the confidence of the people and has held several local offices. He is one of the pioneer prohibitionists in Erie County, and has advocated that doctrine since the time of St. John.
JNY O. DRAKE. Taking the rural homes as they come in Berlin Township, there are few that present a more inviting exterior and show more evidence of thrifty prosperity than that of Jay O. Drake, along Rural Route No. 4 out of Norwalk.
Mr. Drake's family has been identified with this section of Northern Ohio For a great many years. On the subject of lineage it is of interest to note that he is directly descended from the famous families distin- guished by Sir Francis Drake, one of the greatest English sea captains in the days of Queen Elizabeth. A brother of Sir Francis was named John and established the family name and fortunes in America in the very early period of colonization. From him there follows a direct line of deseent down to Hiram D. Drake, the grandfather of the Berlin Town- ship citizen above named. Hiram Drake was born and lived on the Sus- quehanna River in Pennsylvania, was a farmer there, and among his sons were Francis, Asop, Lorenzo, Salmon and George, besides daugh- ters. Salmon and his brother Francis eame to Ohio and lived in Huron County. Asop died as a soldier in the Civil war.
Salmon Drake was born in Pennsylvania in 1827, and died in Ridge- field Township of Huron County in April, 1877. He had settled in this part of Ohio during the early '30s, was a farmer, and during the war, though past military age, was drafted for a hundred days' service. He Vol. II-9
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married Cynthia Diekey. She was two years of age when her parents established their home in Ridgefield Township of Huron County. She was born in 1826 and died in Ridgefield in 1899. Her father was Thomas Diekey, a native of New Hampshire, who was a soldier during the War of 1812. Later he moved to Ohio and was married in this state to Eliza- beth Meyers, a native of Ohio, but of German parentage. Thomas Dickey on going to Ridgefield Township secured land that cost him between four and six dollars an acre, and his first home was a log cabin. His most important service in the community was the establishment and operation of a sawmill, which he used to work up great quantities of the surround- ing timber into black walnut lumber. At the same time he improved his land and lived there until his death at the age of eighty-seven. Ile survived his wife by many years. Ilis later years were spent in the home of his daughter, Mrs. Salmon Drake. Ile left a son, Albert Diekey, who married and died in middle life, leaving one son. After Salmon Drake and wife were married they became farmers on the old Dickey estate. They were excellent people, good neighbors. members of the Christian Church, and in politics he was a republican. Their eight children were : Eliza Jane, who became the wife of George Klopfenstein, and is now liv- ing on a farm in Bowling Green, Ohio, and has four children ; Hiram D., who is a farmer in Ridgefield Township of Iluron County, owning and operating a part of his father's old place, and is the father of two sons by his marriage to Blanche Killey; Charles W., who lives in Norwalk Township of Huron County, is a farmer and married Mrs. Lina (Bishop) Fay; Imogene is the wife of George J. Rowe, a sawmill man and farmer near the old Dickey home in Huron County, and they have two sons and one daughter; Jay O. is the next in age; Georgianna is the wife of H. C. Roadannel of Ilaskins, Wood County, Ohio, a mail carrier there, and they have two sons; S. A. is employed by the Smith Monument Works at Norwalk, and by his marriage to Blanche Adriance has one daughter; Ira died at the age of six years.
Jay O. Drake grew up in his native township in Huron County, where he was born March 6, 1861. Ile received his education in the local schools and also attended the Normal at Milan. His years were spent in the house where he was born until he came to Berlin Township in Erie County in 1886, and in 1887 occupied his present farm. Ilis home comprises 103 acres of well improved land devoted to general agricultural and fruit raising. Ile also has thirty-three acres in Milan Township. He has given the farm a great deal of value since he took possession nearly thirty years ago, and among other improvements that deserve mention is the large bank barn fifty feet square, with an "L" 28x55 feet. Ilis home is a good seven-room house and there are various other buildings which fur- nish shelter for stock, tools and equipment. Mr. Drake has more than two thousand peach trees in his orchard. He also grows all kinds of grain, and each year raises from 1,000 to 1,500 bushels of potatoes. He keeps good stock and by intelligent and elose management has made farming a profitable business.
It was in Erie County that Mr. Drake married his wife. Her maiden name was Emma M. Williams, and she was born in Milan Township of Erie County, April 7. 1866, and was reared and educated in that town- ship and lived there until her marriage. Her grandfather was John Wil- liams, who is still living in Milan at the extreme age of ninety-eight. Her parents were Peter and Sarah (Shaffer) Williams, the former of Ohio and the latter of New York State. They grew up in Milan Town- ship, where they were married and spent many years as farmers. They both died in Milan Township. he when about sixty years of age and she when fifty years old.
To the marriage of Mr. and Mrs. Drake have been born the follow-
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ing children : Hlazel, who was graduated from the Berlin Heights High School and is now the wife of llomer G. Rosekelly of Milan Township, and their two children are named George and Eleanor Florence : Elmora, also a graduate of the Berlin Heights High School, is the wife of Frank E. Rosekelly, a farmer of Milan Township, and their children are Esther and Edward J .; Homer attended the schools at Milan and is now em- ployed at Bedford, Ohio; George H., who lives at home, married Augusta Worth and they have an infant son, Harold Lee; John O. is still at home, a lad of six years ; Helen died when two and a half years of age. Mr. and Mrs. Drake are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church and in poli- ties he is a republican.
GEORGE SHERMAN, whose enterprise as a farmer and citizen in Berlin Township is well known to all the people of that locality, represents a family that have had a prominent part in the development of Northern Ohio sinee the early days. They are people of the old American stock, and the first ancestors gained some distinction in the New England colonies beginning in the early part of the seventeenth century. Mr. Sherman of Berlin Township is descended from the same colonial pioneers who were also the ancestors of such great Americans as Senator John Sherman and Gen. William T. Sherman.
In England the family name was well known in London, in Devon- shire and in Yoxley, County Suffolk. In the earlier generations the family was sufficiently distinguished to be the possessors of eoats of arms. Notable features of the arms are: A lion rampant sable, between three oak leaves vert ; on the shoulder an amulet. The crest shows a sea lion, and the crescent on the shoulder probably signifies service in the erusade. The motto is "Conquered Death by Virtue."
In 1634 Hon. Sammel Sherman, Rey. John, his brother. and Capt. John, his first cousin, came to America from Dedham, Essex County, England. Samuel settled in Stockford, Connecticut, and the other two in Watertown, Massachusetts. The direct line of descent to George Sher- man of Berlin Township is as follows: Judge Daniel Sherman, who was a grandson of the HIon. Samuel just mentioned, was born in C'on- neetient in 1721, and in 1744 married Mindwell Taylor. He died July 2, 1799, and his wife passed away May 18, 1798. In their large family was Daniel Sherman, Jr., who was born in Connecticut, April 20, 1756, and was married there December 31, 1782, to Elizabeth Mitchell. Of their children, Peter Sherman, who was born September 12, 1794, was the grandfather of George Sherman of Berlin Township, and a collateral line which should be mentioned was that of Taylor Sherman, a son of Judge Daniel Sherman and a brother of Daniel Sherman, Jr., above men- tioned. Taylor Sherman was the father of Hon. Charles Sherman, who in turn was the father of Senator John Sherman and General Sherman.
Grandfather Peter Sherman grew up in Connecticut, was married there, and a few years after the birth of their son Lampson, in 1829 came by river, canal and lake transportation to Cleveland, Ohio. There they took teams and wagons which carried them to Vermilion River in Iluron County. They set up their habitation in the midst of the wil- derness, secured land which they improved in a farm, and that old pioneer place is still in the family name, being owned by Mrs. Barns of Wakeman, a daughter of Peter Sherman. Peter Sherman died there February 22, 1878, at the age of eighty-four, and had survived his wife many years, she having passed away on the same farm at the age of fifty. They had only two children, the daughter being Mrs. Elizabeth Barns, widow of George Barns, and now past eighty years of age. She was born in Huron County, Ohio, about 1828 and has a large number of descendants.
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Lampson Sherman, father of George, was born in Connecticut, March 18, 1826, and was three years old when the family came out to Huron County. Ile grew up at the old farm along the Vermilion River, and was married there to Miss Fannie P. Smith, who was born in Wakeman Township of Huron County, December 10, 1825, and died January 27, 1908, and is buried by the side of her husband at Milan. Her mother was a French, daughter of Joseph French, the ancestor of all the descend- ants of that name in Huron County. After his marriage Lampson Sher- man moved to Berlin Township, in the southeastern part, and bought a farm on which he and his wife lived several years, later removing to Norwalk Township, Huron Comty, where they spent their last days. They were active members of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and he was one of the leaders in local church affairs in Milan and Berlin town- ships. He should also be remembered for his excellent qualities of citi- zenship, was a republican in polities, and for some years served as town- ship trustee. The children of Lampson Sherman and wife were: Clara, who is unmarried and lives in San Diego, California; John, who is in the real estate business at Spokane, Washington, and has two children ; and a son Roy, who died at the age of twenty-four, was married but left no children. These children were well educated, and all of them excepting George Sherman were teachers.
Mr. George Sherman was born in Berlin Township, April 12, 1869, attended the common and high schools, and has always been fond of books and study, though unlike other members of the family did not take up educational work. Farming has been his essential vocation, and for the past five years he has owned 122 acres on the Shinrock Road in Berlin Township near Berlinville. The farm has many features worthy of note. General farming and stock raising are his principel industries, and he keeps good grades of sheep, hogs and cattle, and also has 500 peach trees. His home is one of comfort and convenience and contains eight rooms, and is surrounded by well-built outbuildings.
In Hartland Township of Huron County, on March 21, 1899, Mr. Sherman married Myrtle Silcox. She was born in Hartland Township, July 17, 1872, and was reared and educated there, being daughter of Henry and Eunice ( Draper) Sileox, both of whom were natives of Huron County, their parents having come from New York State. Henry Silcox was a son of Amos H. and Lydia W. (De Witt) Silcox, who were early settlers in Huron County and died there when about eighty years of age. They were members of the United Brethren Church and in politics he was a republican. After their marriage Henry Silcox and wife became farmers, and are still living in Huron Township, being now retired at the age of about seventy and making their home at Hartland. They were reared in the United Brethren Church. In their family were six children, all of whom are married except one.
Mr. and Mrs. Sherman have two children : Fannie M., who died at the age of seven months; and Rosebud Marian, who was born September 26, 1903, and is now a seventh grade pupil in the public schools. Mr. Sherman is an independent democrat, and is a man who has always had a peculiar fondness for his home and finds his greatest pleasures in the companionship of his family and immediate friends.
WILLIAM CLARK. When a man has lived a life of usefulness and honor in one community for many years, his fellow citizens recognize in him a man deserving of respect and his name and some narrative of his activi- ties have an appropriate place in the local annals of his township and county. Such has been the role of William Clark in Erie County, who at the age of sixty finds himself prosperously situated as a farmer and fruit grower in Berlin Township. Hle has been otherwise an influence for good
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in that community and stands high in the Society of Friends or Quakers, near whose church on the west line of the township is located his farm.
While Mr. Clark is not the owner of an extensive landed estate, he has employed intensive methods of cultivation and has a valuable and com- fortable rural home. Part of his land is set in fruit, and he and his good wife reside in an attractive six-room house, and other improvements indicate the thrift and industry of the occupants. Mr. Clark has lived on this farm since 1891. lle was born near the Seven-Mile House out from Sandusky, January 5, 1854, acquired an education in the local schools, and on reaching manhood found himself quite well qualified for his chosen vocation, that of farming. Ile worked industriously and finally accumulated enough to purchase his present place.
llis parents were Willard and Catherine ( Mack) Clark, both of them natives of Ohio and coming to Erie County many years ago. They estab- lished their home about seven miles from Sandusky and there Willard ('lark died in 1854 at the age of thirty-three, when his son William was only four weeks old. Besides this son there was a daughter, Emily, who died in 1909, the wife of Albert Rice, and left a child, Anna, who is now married and has children.
When William Clark was two years of age his widowed mother mar- ried, in Erie County, Andrew J. Pulver, who was a Mason and general mechanic by trade and a well informed and highly respected eitizen. They spent the rest of their lives near Milan in Erie County, where he died in 1904 at the age of sixty-eight, and she passed away in 1905, aged sixty-six. She was an active member of the Methodist Episcopal Church at Milan, and in polities he was a republican. To their marriage were born the following children, who are half-brothers and half-sisters of Wil- liam Clark : Catherine, widow of Daniel Bemis, and now living with her son in Erie County : Lucy, who is the wife of Pinson Ewell of Milan; Rosa, who married William Bailey, an engineer living at Cleveland, and their sons and daughters are all married except one; Jessie is the widow of Theodore Taylor, and now lives in Norwalk, two of her three children being married.
William Clark was married in Milan to Anna Mason. Mrs. Clark was born in Huron Township, December 27. 1859, and grew up and received her education in Milan Township. Her parents were William and Catherine (Stamp) Mason, both of whom were born in Yorkshire, England, and were married near Liverpool. Immediately after their wedding they set out for the United States in April, 1857. the sailing ves- sel on which they took passage landing them at New York after a voyage of five weeks, two days. They came on to Erie County, where Mr. Mason bought a small farm in Huron Township, but five years later established his permanent home in Milan Township. He died there May 16, 1890, at. the age of sixty-three, and his wife passed away JJuly 17, 1874, aged forty- nine. They were members of the Methodist Church and she died in that faith, though he subsequently became affiliated with the Society of Friends.
Mr. and Mrs. Clark are both active members of the Friends Church in Berlin Township near their home. Mr. Clark has been a trustee for many years, and helped to build the first and second churches of the society, and was one of its organizing members. In politics he was reared a republican, but is now active in the prohibition eause. While Mr. and Mrs. Clark have no children of their own, they have an adopted daugh- ter, Clara Mae Wright, who was born March 29, 1909, and they are pro- viding carefully for her training and she is one of the promising young pupils of the local schools.
CHARLES SIPP. Two of the best-known people in the fine agricultural community in the western part of Berlin Township are Mr. and Mrs.
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('harles Sipp, who have spent practically all their lives in Erie County, and are now the happy possessors of a farm which is a portion of the old Hoak Estate, a place that was entered by the Hoak family from the Government more than a century ago, and which in produetiveness and capable management is probably not excelled by any tract in Erie County.
A representative of the honest, thrifty and substantial people who eame from Germany and its provinces, Charles Sipp was born in Milan Township. Erie County, January 9, 1869. His father, Michael Sipp, was born in the Province of Alsace, then French territory, but now a part of the German Empire, at the City of Strassburg, in 1835. He was the son of a wagonmaker, and his parents spent their lives in Alsace. Michael Sipp, with the education given to Alsatian boys of that period and at the age of eighteen, started ont for himself to find a home and fortune in the New World. lle traveled through Paris to Ilavre, and there em- barked on a sailing vessel which four weeks later arrived in New York City in the year 1851. The vessel was for three days beset by a severe storm. Michael Sipp soon afterwards located in Milan Township, where he secured employment at $8 per month on the farm. In a few years he was on the fair way to independence and finally became the owner of two good farms. One of these had originally been a cranberry marsh, and under his ownership it was drained and became some of the most pro- ductive land in that locality. He improved it with a good house and lived on that estate until his death. Hle also owned another farm on the higher land in Berlin Township, and that likewise was improved. He spent many years in Erie County and prospered by raising stock, in truck farming, and as a fruit grower, and had a large orehard and also raised considerable small fruit. Ile died at the home of his son Edward in the Town of ITuron in Townsend Township of Huron County, April 24. 1906. In polities he was a republican, and was a member of the Friends Church. Michael Sipp was married in Milan Township to Han- nah Brandal, who was born in Thompson Township of Seneca County, Ohio, March 26, 1840. She was of an old Pennsylvania Ontch family, a daughter of John and Catherine Brandal, who were natives of Pennsyl- vania, moved out to Seneca. Ohio, and when their daughter, Mrs. Sipp, was nine years of age, to Hillsdale County, Michigan, where they died. Their daughter afterwards returned to Milan Township of Erie County, where on September 6, 1859, she was united in marriage with Michael Sipp. She died in that township August 26, 1903. For thirty years she was a member of the church at East Norwalk, but in 1900 united with the Friends Church in Berlin Township and died in that faith. For the last two years of her life she was an invalid and was confined to an invalid's chair, but in spite of all her sufferings she showed great patience and constant cheerfulness. Of this union there were ten children: John, Laura, Julia, Emma, Charles, Ida. Edward, Ella, Mary and Irene. All these children grew up and married, and all are still living except John. Five of them have children of their own.
On October 17. 1894. Mr. Charles Sipp married Miss Caroline F. Hoak. She was born on the farm where she now lives November 19, 1868. She belongs to one of the oldest and best families of Berlin Township and the story of the early settlement and principal facts in the lives of the different generations are told elsewhere in this publication in the sketeh of Nathan Hoak, her brother. Mrs. Sipp was edueated in the publie schools in the vicinity of her birthplace and has never known any other home but the one where she now lives. Mr. and Mrs. Sipp have sixty- eight acres, a portion of the old lloak homestead, and it is maintained at the high standard of eultivation which has for so many years prevailed on this land. It is a fruit and grain farm, has a large white residence, a
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big barn the main portion of which is 30x50 feet, and all the improve- ments and cultivation suggests the most progressive spirit of Erie County farming. Mr. Sipp is a republican in politics and is a member of the Knights of Pythias Lodge No. 345 at Berlin Heights. Mrs. Sipp is a member of the Spiritualist Church.
LESTER T. CHASE. The Weeping Willow Farm is the attractive name of the homestead occupied by Mr. and Mrs. Lester T. Chase in Berlin Township, on Rural Route No. 2 out of Berlin Heights. Mr. Chase is a farmer to the manner born, has spent most of his life in Erie County, and a brief review of what he has accomplished indicates that his reputation as an expert agriculturist is well founded.
The Chase family was established in this section of Ohio a great many years ago. Lester T. Chase was born near Castalia in Erie County February 20, 1859, and is a son of Frank and Sarah (Tomp- kins) Chase. ITis mother was born in New York State January 9, 1841, and when about ten years of age was brought to Erie County in the family of her unele, Gilbert Knapp, who lived for many years on a farm in Margaretta Township. Mrs. Chase grew up in that community. Frank Chase was born in New York State December 26, 1826, and was still a boy when he came with his parents to Erie County, and after his marriage he and his young wife started ont on a farm in Margaretta Township. They prospered in proportion to their industry, and while their children were growing up they lived upon and owned five different farms in the vicinity of Castalia. About eighteen years ago Frank Chase and his wife left Erie County and bought 225 aeres in the State of Maryland, two years later sold that and bought a farm of 200 aeres in the State of Delaware and after two years moved to Old Virginia, and acquired 200 aeres near the historic City of Petersburg, where Frank Chase spent the rest of his days and died December 18, 1909. IIe possessed an unusually keen judgment and always profited in his real estate dealings, and every traet of land upon which he lived was the better for his occupation. He was a republican in polities and a man of standing and influence in every community that elaimed him as a citizen. ITis widow is still living on the homestead near Petersburg with her bachelor son, Grant. Lester T. Chase is the oldest of their four children. One son, Arthur, died at the age of twenty-five, leaving two children by his marriage to Sadie Golden, who is now living at Fremont, Ohio, and her first child is married. The son Grant, as already mentioned, is the practical manager of the Virginia farm, which is regarded as one of the best farming properties in that section of the Old Dominion State. Burton B. is now a successful farmer in the State of Delaware, and he married a Delaware girl and they have a son and daughter.
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