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 34
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sion, and in 1837 he eame west and located at Sandusky, which was then a very small but flourishing town. He opened a general store at the western limits of the then city, and in a short time was prospering. He dealt extensively in general merchandise and produce, and a feature of the business was the buying of wool from the farmers in this territory. He subsequently sold a portion of the business to his brother, Samuel Moss, retaining the hardware store until 1850. In that year he engaged in the banking business. The old letterheads he used at the time read, "A. H. Moss, Banker," and subsequently the institution was known as Moss Bros., Bankers. Soon after the National Banking Act was passed in 1863, A. H. Moss was one of the very first to apply for a charter, and the First National Bank of Sandusky was in reality the third bank chartered under that act, though its official number was sixteen. Mr. Moss became president of the First National Bank, and his personality was one of the chief assets of the institution until the expira- tion of its charter at the end of twenty years. Then in 1883 he organ- ized the Moss National Bank of Sandusky, and was its president until his death. Augustus H. Moss married Mary Esther Moss, a daughter of Rev. Joseph and Mary Moss, of the same family, Reverend Joseph having been a son of Joseph and Mary (Alling) Moss, already mentioned in the Moss genealogy. Augustus H. Moss was one of the strong characters in the early life of Sandusky. Ile was reared in the Presbyterian faith, but because of the fact that he wore straps over his boots he was expelled from that church, which at that time insisted strongly upon simplicity, and joined Grace Episcopal Church, in which he was a vestryman and senior warden for many years. In politics he acted and worked with the whig party until its dissolution, and became a republican in the '50s. and continued with that party the rest of his life. Of his political career it should be recalled that he was a member of the convention which nominated William Henry Harrison for the presidency in 1840, the noble old whig who sat in the President's chair only a few months. He was also one of the trustees of Kenyon College, and occupied a similar position in the blind asylum at Columbus.
Jay I. O. Moss, father of Augustus L., was born in Sandusky Novem- her 10, 1838, and finished his education at Kenyon College. At the begin- ning of the Civil war he enlisted, but was rejected by the examining surgeon, though he was none the less of great service to the Union canse, sending two substitutes into the army and also serving as pay- master at Johnson's Island until the close of the war. For this service he would accept no remuneration. After the war he was in the banking business with his father, subsequently becoming president of the Moss National Bank, and continuing with it until the business was liquidated. He is also remembered as one of the promoters and vice presidents of the S. M. N. Railway. J. O. Moss continued a resident of Sandusky until his death, June 27, 1911. Ile was a member of the Union Leagne ('lub, the Metropolitan Club and the Lawyers' Club of New York City, and had an extensive business and personal relationship with prominent men in various parts of the country.
Jay O. Moss married Frances Lane Griswold Boalt. She was born in Norwalk, Ohio, October 9. 1838. Her father was HIon. Charles Leicester Boalt, who was born in Norwalk, Connecticut, of early colonial ancestry. He was well educated, took up the profession of law, and coming west, located at Norwalk, Ohio, as an early settler. He was a prominent member of the early bar, and after being elected eireuit judge followed the custom of early judges, traveling about the country attend-
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ing eourt in the different eounty seats, and in these trips, usually made on horseback, was accompanied by the members of the bar who likewise practiced in all portions of the district. Judge Boalt was also one of the promoters of the S. M. N. Railroad, and was its president until his death. Judge Boalt dealt extensively in lands. bought land warrants from old soldiers, and was in many ways one of the leading characters in Northern Ohio. Judge Boalt married Eliza Woodbridge Griswold, born in Black Hall, Connectient, who likewise represented a prominent family. She was the daughter of Governor Roger and Fannie (Rogers) Griswold, and the granddaughter of Governor Mathew and Ursula ( Wol- rott ) Griswold. Mrs. Jay O. Moss died at New York, N. Y., March 24, 1907. She was a leader in social eireles in Sandusky, and president of the Sandusky Library Association, and through her personal acquaintance with Mr. Carnegie, made an appeal to that finaneier for the donation of fifty thousand dollars, which Mr. Carnegie gave to Sandusky on unusu- ally favorable terms. Mrs. Moss reared two children. The only daughter, Cornelia Emily, married G. Hunter Brown, and their one daughter is named Ursula Woleott Brown.
Angustus L. Moss had the advantages of being reared in a home of eulture and wealth. As a boy he attended school at Gratz, Austria, two and one-half years and also St. Paul's Preparatory School at Con- cord, New Hampshire. He was a student in Yale University until ill health compelled him to abandon his studies. After a year of rest and recuperation abroad, he went into the bank with his father, and was assistant cashier of the Moss National Bank. At the present time Mr. Moss lives retired, looking after his private interests.
Ile was married January 27, 1891, to Caroline Babeoek Curtis. She was born at Westerly, Rhode Island, a daughter of Myron Bradley Curtis. Mr. and Mrs. Moss had one son, named Wolcott Griswold Moss, who died at Lyme, Connecticut, August 3, 1915.
Mr. Moss is affiliated with Seienee Lodge No. 50, A. F. & A. M .; Sandusky Chapter No. 72, R. A. M .; Sandusky City Council No. 36, R. & S. M .; Erie Commandery No. 23, K. T .; the Ohio Consistory of Seottish Rite at Cincinnati and Al Koran Temple, Mystie Shrine, of Cleveland, Ohio. He is a member of the Metropolitan Club of New York City. Ile and his family worship in the Episcopal Church, and are residents of old Lyme, Connecticut.
WILLIAM ILAMILTON JEFFERSON, who died on the ancestral farmstead which was the place of his nativity, was a scion of one of the staunchest pioneer families of Erie County, within whose gracious borders he passed the major portion of his long and useful life-a man of fine intellectual- ity, of inviolable rectitude and integrity and of the faith and exalted ideals that make for faithfulness and usefulness in the varied relations of life. Both the Jefferson and Hamilton families, of which he was a scion, have been long established in America, both have stood exponent of superior mentality and sterling integrity as one generation has fol- lowed another on to the stage of life, and three generations of the Jeffer- son family have been prominent and honored factors in connection with the social and industrial affairs of Erie County, Ohio, and the name has been one of much prominence in connection with civic and material development and progress in this favored seetion of the Buckeye State.
In the pioneer log eabin home of his parents, on the old homestead farm that had been purchased by his father in 1834, in the southeast
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porte Jefferson
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corner of Berlin Township, Erie County, Ohio, William Ilamilton Jef- ferson was born on the 10th of August, 1836, and his death occurred on the 17th of November, 1910, on the same estate. David C. JJefferson, one of the first owners of this farm, was born in Rochester, Windsor County, Vermont, on the 26th of June, 1905, and died at Norwalk, Huron County, Ohio, on the 26th of May, 1890.
David C. Jefferson was a son of Jacob Jefferson, who was born in Vermont, between the years 1770 and 1775, and who passed his entire life in the old Green Mountain State, his vocation having been that of farming and his death having occurred when he was in the prime of life. Ile and his wife became the parents of a large family of children, and David C. was not yet of adult age at the time of his parents' death. A comparatively well authenticated family tradition is that two Jefferson brothers came from England to America in the early colonial period of our national history, one of them settling in New England and the other in the South. From this New England progenitor the subject of this memoir is descended, and tradition goes farther to put forth the state- ment that from the brother who settled in the South was deseended Thomas Jefferson, the distinguished Virginian who was the second Presi- dent of the United States.
In the schools of his native state David C. Jefferson acquired his early education, and as a youth he was bound out or indentured to learn the trade of blacksmith. His dislike for this vocation or for his instruetor and virtual master was such that he ran away from his native town and proceeded to Middlebury, Addison County, Vermont, where he not only found employment but also an opportunity to attend a well ordered select school. Ile made good use of the educational advantages thus afforded him, as is shown by the fact that he later became specially suc- cessful as a teacher. At Middlebury he met and wedded Miss Mary Hamilton, who was born at that place in 1812, a member of a family whose name had been one of prominence in that locality for generations, as shown today by many duly marked graves in which repose the mortal remains of her ancestors. Her father was a local magistrate and promi- nent and influential citizen, and her mother, whose maiden or family name was Walker, was a representative of another old and honored family of that section of the Green Mountain State.
In 1834 David C. Jefferson set out to establish a home in the semi- wilderness of Ohio, the current of immigration to the West being then at full tide. Proceeding to Buffalo, New York, he thenee came by stage and other conveyanees to the home of Mrs. Jefferson's uncle, Harry Walker, who had established his residence in Erie County, Ohio, at a point east of the present Berlin Heights and west of Florence, in Ber- lin Township. Immediately impressed with the advantages and pos- sibilities of this section, Mr. Jefferson decided to establish his perma- nent home, and after an interval of about six months he sent for his wife and infant son George, who joined him. His original purchase of land was a tract of somewhat more than ninety acres, in the southeast eorner of Berlin Township, but little improvement having been made on the place other than the ercetion of the diminutive log house in which he and his wife established their modest home. Later he erected on the place a more commodious and pretentious farm dwelling, and in 1852 he built a substantial stone and mortar house which was one of the largest and most imposing homesteads of the locality and which still stands in a state of admirable preservation, time's disintegrating effeets having left it practically untouched. The house has ten large rooms, it has been kept up to advancing standards in modern improvements and still remains one of the model and attractive rural homes of Erie County, this place, endeared to him by many hallowed memories and associations Vol. II- 15
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of the past, having been that in which the honored subject of this memoir passed the closing years of his life. David C. Jefferson, putting forth admirable energy and mature judgment, ultimately improved and devel- oped one of the fine farms of this sections of the state, and he became specially well known as a successful stock-grower. Ile introduced the Merino sheep in Erie County and had become one of the leading breed- ers of the same in Northern Ohio prior to the Civil war. Ile was essen- tially a man of energy and progressiveness and his sterling traits of character, as combined with his strong mentality and civic liberality, well equipped him for leadership in popular thought and action, the while he commanded the unqualified esteem of all who knew him. For several years after he had established his home on his pioneer farm he devoted his attention to teaching in local schools during the winter months, and among his pupils-his loyal friends in later years-were such distinguished officers of the Union in the Civil war as Col. Seth Barber and Col. Nathan G. Sherman, both of whom were from Huron County. Mr. Jefferson was a staunch supporter of the activities of the Sons of Temperance, was an ardent abolitionist during the climacteric period leading up to the Civil war, and his home was a "station" on the historie "Underground Railroad," through the medium of which so many slaves were assisted in gaining their freedom. In politics he was originally a whig, but he united with the republican party at the time of its organization and ever afterward continued a staunch supporter of its cause. ITis devoted wife passed to the life eternal in November. 1880. and he died in the City of Norwalk, Huron County, not far distant from his old homestead, on the 26th of May, 1890, as noted in a preceding paragraph. Both he and his wife were reared in the faith of the Metho- dist Episcopal Church, but eventually they became members of the Ad- ventist Church, with which they continued to be actively identified dur- ing the residue of their lives. Concerning their children brief record is given in the following paragraph :
George, the only one of the number born prior to the immigration to Ohio, was an infant at the time of the removal from Vermont to Erie County, and here he died in childhood. William Hamilton, to whom this memoir is dedicated, was the next in order of birth. Wilbur Fiske was born and reared on the old homestead farm in Berlin Township, was afforded good educational advantages and became a successful teacher in the public schools, and he was an honored citizen of Norwalk, Huron County, at the time of his death, in 1905. He married Miss Ann Arnet, who survived him about three years. One son and one daughter survive. David Everton, who is now living retired in the City of Toledo, was a gallant soldier of the Union in the Civil war, in which he served as a member of Company C. Fifty-fifth Ohio Volunteer Infantry. Ile par- ticipated in many important engagements, including the first Battle of Bull Run and the Battle of Chancellorsville, in which latter engagement he received a severe wound. After recuperation he took part in the ever memorable Battle of Gettysburg and at the expiration of his term of enlistment he re-enlisted as a veteran, his service in the ranks thus continuing until the elose of the great conflict through which the integ- rity of the nation was preserved. Ile and his wife have no children except an adopted daughter. George, the second of the name, likewise enlisted as a soldier of the I'nion and died of illness while with his regi- ment at Grafton, Virginia, in 1862, when about twenty years of age. Ida, who was never married, maintains her home in the City of Norwalk. Huron County.
William Hamilton Jefferson early began to aid in the work of the home farm which was the place of his birth, and under this sturdy dis- cipline he learned the lessons of practical industry, the while he waxed
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strong in mind and physique, his preliminary education having been acquired in the pioneer schools of the locality and this having been sup- plemented by an effective course of study in Oberlin College. He was engaged in teaching in the public schools of the State of Missouri at the inception of the Civil war, and both he and his brother Wilber, who was likewise teaching there, became unwelcome residents of Missouri when the animosities of sectional order heightened in that State, so that they were compelled to make their escape to Ohio. For several years after his return to Ohio, William HI. Jefferson continued his services as a successful and popular teacher in the public schools, and he then pur- chased a tract of land near the City of Toledo, where he gave his atten- tion to agricultural pursuits about two years. He then sold his farm and purchased another, in Townsend Township, Iluron County, where he remained five years and was successful in his endeavors. At the ex- piration of this period he sold his property in Hnron County and pur- chased the old homestead farm on which he was born, this fine place having continued his abiding place during the major part of his life thereafter, though he was for eight years a resident of Norwalk, Ohio, where he was engaged in the lumber business. Upon his return to the old homestead he directed his attention to its supervision, and here he continued to reside, seenre in the confidence and high regard of all who knew him, until his death, at the venerable age of seventy-six years. Mr. Jefferson made his life eount for good in its every relation, was a progressive and successful business man, a progressive agriculturist and stock-grower and a liberal and public-spirited citizen. Though he was a stalwart, and effective advocate of the cause of the republican party he had no desire for political office, though his civic loyalty and continued interest in educational affairs caused him to consent to serve as a member of the school board of his district, a position in which he did much to further the advancing of local standards of school work.
At the home of the bride's parents, in Berlin Township, this county, on the 6th of November, 1861, was solemnized the marriage of William II. Jefferson to Miss Adelia Spore, who was born in Albany County, New York, on the 8th of January, 1837, and who was fifteen years of age at the time of the family removal to Berlin Township, Erie County, Ohio, she having been afforded the advantages of Oberlin College and having been a successful teacher prior to her marriage, several of her sisters also having been popular representatives of the pedagogie profession in this seetion of the Buckeye State. Mrs. Jefferson is a daughter of David and Lucy (Pratt ) Spore, both of whom were born in the Hudson River Valley of New York, William Spore, father of David, having been a native of Holland and having been a resident of Albany County, New York, at the time of his death. David Spore was born in Albany County. about the year 1800, and there was solemnized his marriage to Miss Lucy Pratt, their removal to Erie County, Ohio, having occurred in 1852. in which year they settled in Berlin Township. Mr. Spore was a stone- entter by trade and aided in the construction of the fine old Jefferson homestead which has already been described in this context. He died about the close of the Civil war, and his noble wife survived him by many years, she having been summoned to eternal rest about the year 1897. Mrs. Spore was a devout Christian worker, especially in the Sunday School and in behalf of the cause of temperance, and at the time of the Civil war she did effective service as one of the devoted women who aided the soldiers and their families in every possible way. She was revered by all who came within the sphere of her gentle and gracious influence. and in the later years of her life was widely and familiarly known as "Aunt Lucy."
William Il. and Adelia (Spore) Jefferson became the parents of the
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children concerning whom brief mention is made in the following para- graph. the devoted mother, who receives from all of the children the deepest filial solicitude, still remaining on the old homestead place in Berlin Township.
Miss Mary L. Jefferson, who maintains her residenee at Norwalk, Huron County, has well maintained the ancestral prestige of the name through her effective services as an able and popular representative of the pedagogic profession. She was born and reared on the old home- stead and after her graduation in the Norwalk High School she ampli- fied her education, as she became a student in the great University of Michigan, at Ann Arbor, and later was a student in the equally eele- brated University of Chicago. For the past twenty years she has been one of the honored and valued teachers in the publie schools of Norwalk, where she has served as principal of the grade schools and where she is now a successful teacher in the high school. She is an enthusiast in her work, is actively identified with the Northwestern Ohio Teachers' Asso- ciation, and is a popular figure in educational and social circles in her home city. George Jefferson is president of the Jefferson Hardware Company, at Norwalk, and is one of the representative business men and influential eitizens of this city. IIe wedded Miss Isabel Bonar and they have two children-Graee E., who is a student (1915) in Dennison Uni- versity, and Howard, who is attending the Norwalk High School. David Spore Jefferson, who is a bachelor, is secretary of the Jefferson Hard- ware Company, at Norwalk. William L., who remains with his widowed mother on the old homestead farm, is upholding the honors of the family in the domain of successful agriculture and stock-growing, and his name is still enrolled on the list of eligible bachelors in his native county. Ethel Jefferson was graduated in the Norwalk High School and in Buchtel Col- lege, an institution now known as the University of Akron, and she was a popular teacher in the public schools for some time prior to her mar- riage to Ilarry Rowell. their home being now in the City of Toronto, Canada, and their two children being Marian Lois and William.
CHARLES H. ROCKWELL. The late Charles H. Roekwell passed the major part of his long and useful life in Erie County, his parents having here established their residence when he was a lad of about seven years, and here he was summoned to the life eternal on the 25th of January. 1915-a man whose career had been one of large and worthy achieve- ment along normal lines of industrial and business enterprise, whose "strength was as the number of his days," whose character was the posi- tive expression of a strong, loyal and noble nature, and who left the world better for his having lived, though his was not a life of self-exploita- tion or marked by ambition for prominence or fame, he having pursued the even tenor of his way, working for success that was worthy of its name, generous and considerate in his association with his fellow-men, loyal and liberal as a citizen, and true and steadfast in all the relations and associations of life. Such a man ever merits and receives public confidence and approbation, and Erie County lost an honored and valued citizen when Charles H. Rockwell was summoned from the stage of life's mortal endeavors, after having passed the psalmist's allotted span of threescore years and ten.
Mr. Rockwell was born in Chautauqua County, New York, on the 15th of June, 1842, and was a son of John and Sarah ( Wilcox) Roek- well, the former a native of the State of New York and the latter of Connecticut. As previously stated, the subject of this memoir was a boy at the time of the family immigration from the old Empire State to Erie County, Ohio, where settlement was made in Milan Township, about the year 1849, when this section of the state was still definitely
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marked by the pioneer conditions and influences. After several years had elapsed the family removed to Swanton, Henry County, but within a short time they returned to Erie County and settled on a farm in Oxford Township, where the father was identified with agricultural pur- suits for a long term of years and where the devoted wife and mother passed the closing period of her life. After the death of his wife. John Rockwell removed to Milan Township, where he continued to reside until his death.
The greater part of the early youth of Charles HI. Rockwell was passed on the old homestead farm in Oxford Township, and there he was reared to years of maturity, in the meanwhile having contributed materially to the work of the farm and having availed himself of the advantages of the local schools, his self-discipline and varied experiences in later years having made him a man of broad information and mature judgment. The major part of his active career was one of close and successful identifieation with the basic industries of agriculture and stock-growing, and he developed also a specially extensive and prosper- ous business as a buyer and shipper of live stock, in which connection he became well and favorably known throughout Erie and adjoining counties.
When the Civil war was precipitated on the nation Mr. Rockwell subordinated all other interests and tendered his aid in the defense of the Union, his service having covered a period of about three years. Ile enlisted in the One Hundred and Twenty-eighth Ohio Volunteer Infantry, in which he received promotion from the position of private to that of sergeant. During the greater part of his service he was as- signed or detailed to special duty, prineipally in connection with the affairs of the federal war prison on Johnson's Island. in Lake Erie. where his ability as a penman and accountant made his services specially valuable at the official headquarters.
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