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 36
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JOHN J. LOUCKS. Throughout Erie County the name of Loncks sig- nifies exceptional success and prosperity in the agricultural and fruit raising fields. The family is of old New York Dutch stock, but planted in Northern Ohio a great many years ago, and one of the present repre- sentatives, John J. Loucks, is a native of Erie County and has employed his well trained judgment and industry in developing a fine farming property and has likewise attended to the duties of citizenship as they have come to him.
His home farm, noted equally for its general crops and its fruit. comprises eighty acres situated on the Ridge Road near the east line of Berlin Township. It is high grade land, and its improvements show the enterprise of the owner. He and his family reside in a sub- stantial house of nine rooms, while another improvement that calls for notice is a new hip-roof and basement barn on a ground founda- tion of 34x60 feet. As a fruit grower Mr. Loueks has 1,300 peach trees, with an apple orchard of two acres. He is not an experimenter in fruit growing, and long experience has brought him success in this typical Erie County industry. Mr. Loucks also owns 100 acres in Florence Township, nearly all of it under cultivation, except a wood lot of ten acres of native timber. On these two farms he grows all kinds of grain, and one of his sons is the practical manager of the Florence Township place. He bought his home farm eighteen years ago, and only recently acquired the land in Florence Township.
John J. Loucks was born in Vermilion Township of this county March 19, 1861, a son of Horace and Julia A. (Miller) Loucks, both of whom were natives of Erie County. The paternal grandparents were John and Betsey Loueks, natives of New York State and both of old Dutch stock. After their marriage they came to Ohio in the early days and made settlement in the wilderness of Vermilion Town- ship, and there their industry resulted in the improvement of a con- siderable traet of land. Grandmother Loueks died there, and John Loneks later married again and he and his second wife spent their last years in Michigan.
After his marriage Horace Loueks continned as an Erie County farmer until 1875, then went out to Missouri, but in the following year returned east as far as Allen County, Indiana, and there the wife and mother died in 1893 when past sixty years of age. Horace Loucks after- wards returned to Ohio and spent Iris last years in the State Soldiers' Home, where his death occurred on October 14, 1912, when past eighty- two years of age. He had enlisted as a soldier during the Civil war, being enrolled in Company F of the One Hundredth and Twenty-eighth Ohio Volunteer Infantry, under Captain Mead. He was assigned to duty as a guard for the rebel soldiers on Johnson's Island, near Sandusky. in Lake Erie, this island having been early secured by the Government as headquarters for Confederate prisoners. He was in the service until the close of the war, being mustered out at Camp Cleveland by Captain Douglas, the United States mastering offieer, on July 13, 1865.
The third in a family of nine children, all of whom are still living
John & Loucks Carrie. E. Loucks.
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and all married and with families, John JJ. Loucks grew up in his native township and while there attended the public schools. He lived in Ver- milion until moving to Berlin Township and purchasing his present farm. On April 9, 1885, a little more than thirty years ago, he was married in Vermilion Township to Miss Carrie Brundage. She was born in Binghamton, New York, January 16, 1865. Her father, Giles Brun- dage, was born in 1840, probably at Joppa in Vermilion Township of Erie County. He was married at Berlin Heights December 18, 1861, to Miss Ellen Mason, who was born in Massachusetts December 24, 1841. When Ellen Mason was fifteen years of age she came to Berlin Town- ship with her parents, Asa W. and Sallie ( Rhoads) Mason, who were natives of Massachusetts and of New England ancestry. It was in the year 1856 that the Mason family removed to Ohio. During the Civil war period they and Mr. and Mrs. Brundage returned to New York, locating at Binghamton. While there Giles Brundage enlisted in the Civil war from Broome County, and served as a private until taken ill, and was then discharged on aceount of disability. Later he and his wife and her family moved out to Indiana, locating at Auburn, and while there Giles Brundage died in 1867, when in the prime of life, only twenty-seven years of age, his death following the illness contracted while a soldier. Soon after his death his widow and her parents, Mr. and Mrs. Mason, returned to Ohio and located in Vermilion Township, where Asa W. Mason and his wife both died February 11, 1885. They had been stricken with their final illness on the same day, and they were laid to rest in the same grave in Maple Grove Cemetery near Vermilion. Asa W. Mason was seventy-four and his wife seventy-five years of age. They were members of the Christian Church, and in polities he was a democrat. The widow of Giles Brundage was subsequently twice mar- ried, her second husband being Wilson Phelps, who lived only a few years, and she afterwards married John II. Baker, who died April 1. 1910. Mrs. Brundage died at the home of her daughter, Mrs. Loncks, October 21, 1912, when seventy-two years of age. She had ehildren by all three husbands. Mrs. Loucks is the second of a family of two chil- dren. Her brother, Hiram E. Brundage, is a farmer and fruit grower in Vermilion Township, and has a son, Elwin, who is married and has one daughter. Her sister Mattie married William HIeslet of Sandusky and died in September, 1908, being survived by her husband and one son, Leon Arnold, who is a child by her first husband, Andrew Arnold. Mrs. Heslet was a half-sister of Mrs. Loucks, being the daughter of Wilson Phelps. Mrs. Loucks has a half-brother and half-sister by the marriage of her mother to John H. Baker. Henry S. Baker is married and lives at Ogontz in Berlin Township; and Anna married for her second hus- band Ray Gibson, now lives in Toledo, and has two children.
Mr. and Mrs. Loucks are the parents of three sons. Decourcy, twenty- eight years of age, is a farmer at home. Hiram, aged twenty-two, was educated in the township schools, and in May, 1915. married Alice Har- ris, and they now manage his father's farm in Florence Township. Karl, the youngest, is now sixteen, and is still attending school. Mr. Loucks and his two oldest sons are republicans in politics.
JAMES NOLAN. Probably no one citizen has had a more influential part in local affairs in Margaretta Township than James Nolan, a former trustee of the township and the proprietor of a fine fruit farm and rural home at Main and Lowell streets near Castalia. This has been his place of residence since 1910, but he has spent most of his life in Margaretta Township.
Born in that township, November 19, 1852, James Nolan is a son of John and Mary (Barrigan) Nolan, both of whom were natives of
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Ireland, and came to Erie County and located in the vicinity of Castalia at a date early enough to permit them to be mentioned among the pioneers. John Nolan settled in Margaretta Township about 1847, and followed farming with a great deal of success. His first home in that community was a log house, and a number of years later he built a better and more modern frame residence. He died there in 1878. He and his family were members of the Holy Angels Catholic Church in Sandusky. Of the children born to him and wife three now survive. James, Mary, of ('lyde, Ohio, and Michael J., of Castalia.
James Nolan spent all his early life in Margaretta Township, at- tended the public schools, and much of his education came from prac- tical experience. From early youth to the present time he has been engaged in agriculture, and his efforts have more and more been directed to fruit growing, of which branch of business he is a past master. On October 15, 1878, Mr. Nolan married Lottie S. Chamberlin, who was born at Townsend Township, Sandusky County, Ohio, Febru- ary 25, 1851. She was a daughter of Levi and Melissa (Button) C'hami- berlin. Her father was a native of New Jersey and her mother was horn near Mentor. Ohio, but spent most of her early years at Castalia. Mrs. Nolan's mother was of Scotch ancestry, while the Chamberlins were an old New Jersey family. Her father on leaving New Jersey first located at Tiffin, Ohio, and later moved to Townsend Township in Sandusky County, where for many years he operated the well known Rockwell Springs Mill, a pioneer grist mill in that section of Ohio. He subsequently brought his family to Castalia, Ohio, and died there in 1876. Levi Chamberlin was three times married, and his surviving children are: Levi E., of Piqua, Ohio; Lottie S., wife of James Nolan ; and Carrie J., widow of the late Charles Bardshar of Sedgwick County, Kansas, where his widow now resides.
To the' marriage of Mr. and Mrs. Nolan were born two children: Flossie C., of Castalia; and Myrtle C., deceased. Mr. Nolan has given a large share of his time and attention to public affairs in Margaretta Township. For six years he was township trustee, and part of that time was president of the board of trustees of Margaretta Township. For ten years he served as treasurer of the township and held the office of clerk for eight years. For a number of years he was a mem- ber of the board of education of Margaretta township, and through these offices as well as through his influence as a private citizen has done everything in his power to promote progress and social and civic uplift in his community. In a business way he is now giving his attention to fruit growing and particularly to the raising of peaches, though he has several other varieties of fruit on his farm. Mr. Nolan is a director in the Castalia Banking Company of Castalia. and his achievements and his personal character have entitled him to the full confidence of his fellow townsmen and a substantial position in the community.
LAWRENCE T. MILLER. Among the progressive and enterprising agriculturists of Erie County who have spent their entire lives in this seetion of the state, Lawrence T. Miller is worthy of more than passing mention. Ile was born on the farm where he now resides in Groton Township and from early youth has been an exceedingly busy man. with increasing interests as a farmer and is particularly well known to the community through his activities as a thresherman and in the operation of hay baling outfit.
It was on the farm that he now owns that he first saw the light of day, June 16, 1875, a son of William and Jane (Gross) Miller. ITis
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father was born in Baden, Germany, and his mother in Pennsylvania, and both are now deceased. William Miller, who died in 1902 came from Germany in early youth, spent a great many years in Erie County, and though poor at the start gained a commendable place in the rank of local citizenship and in addition to his material prosperity was honored by such offices as trustee and treasurer of Groton Township. He was a democrat in politics. Ilis first trade was that of carpenter. and after coming to Erie County be was employed in that oceupation at Sandusky, where in order to supplement his early advantages he attended night school for a number of months. He finally removed to Groton Township, and settled on the farm where his son now resides. Ife was twice married, and his eight surviving children by his second marriage are: Mrs. Jacob Stricker, Mrs. Christian Stricker, Lawrence T., Clara, Flora, Lydia, Frank and Chancy. The three children by his first marriage are: William, Jr., Henry and Charles.
William Miller's home in Groton Township was a frame house, in which he spent his last years, and it has since been remodeled in 1913 and extensively improved and refurnished by Lawrence T. Miller, who has made of it one of the fine country homes of the township. Sur- rounding it is a fine farm of 194 acres, situated partly in Groton and partly in Oxford Township. Lawrence Miller has shown a great deal of enterprise since leaving school, and for a number of years has oper- ated a threshing outfit and also performs an important service as a hay baler. His father likewise supplemented his farming activities by outside business, and not only was a thresherman in this community but also for a number of years carried on a considerable industry in pre- paring corn husks for use in the making of mattresses. Lawrence T. Miller received the ordinary advantages of the public schools and also attended for a time the Sandusky Business College.
In September, 1911, he married Miss Amanda Russell who was born in Groton Township, daughter of Philip Russell of that locality. To their marriage have been born two children: Lauretta A. JJ. and Del- bert W. Mr. Miller is a member of the Evangelieal Association with which faith his father was also identified. Lawrence T. Miller stands high among the young men of enterprise in Erie County and has earned the complete confidenee and good will of his fellow townsmen.
ALVIN T. COWELL. Eighty or ninety years ago Erie County was still largely wilderness. The settlers during the '20s and 30s found a few village communities, numerous clearings and tilled fields and some roads, but still had to confront the vast difficulties involved in clearing the forests, uprooting the stumps and brush, and starting cultivation where never before had been the civilized activities of white men. Such was the portion of the Cowell family when it first became identified with this county, and while the earlier generations performed their share of pioneer toil, so the later members of the family, including Alvin T. Cowell, have carried forward the same thrift and independence which have always characterized the name. Alvin T. Cowell has for many years lived in the Castalia community, is an honored veteran of the Civil war, and now that he has passed the age of three score and ten is in a position to take life somewhat at case and enjoy the fruits of earlier years.
lle was born at Castalia, Ohio, March 21, 1844, a son of Philip S. and Annie M. (Duneani Cowell. His father was a native of Bradford County, Pennsylvania, and his mother of Burlington, Vermont. The Cowells are of Scotch origin, and one or more of the ancestral lines extend back in America to the time of the Mayflower. Annie Duncan
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Cowell was about six years of age when she came to Ohio with the family of Burdette Wood, who subsequently became a banker at Bellevue, Ohio, where he died. She grew to womanhood in the home of an uncle at Bloomingville in Erie County, and was here at a time when the Indians were still numerous and occasionally hostile, and with other settlers she several times had to take refuge in a local fort as a matter of protection from the roving hands of red men. When she was about seventeen years of age she married Derastus P. Snow, who had lost his wife and child as a result of Indian attack at Castalia. After the death of Mr. Snow she was married in 1826 to Philip S. Cowell, who died in 1869. After that she lived in widowhood until her death in 1890, when in her ninety-fifth year. At that time she was probably the oldest of the pioneer women of Erie County, and was the last survivor of that group of early settlers who had to experience all the dangers and difficulties of the frontier. Philip S. Cowell, who was born in 1800, eame from Pennsylvania to Castalia in 1818, when little more than a boy. He grew up a farmer, and spent many years in the ardu- ous labor of elearing np a portion of the wilderness. He was a fine type of the early settler in Margaretta Township and was a man of more than ordinary influence in the life of that community.
Alvin T. Cowell was reared in Castalia, attended the public schools there, and was about seventeen years of age when the country was thrown into the confusion resulting from the outbreak of the Civil war. A few years later he responded to the call of his patriotism and enlisted on May 2, 1864, in Company I of the One Hundred and Forty-fifth Volunteer Infantry of Ohio. He was out about four months, and spent most of the time with his regiment in guard duty at Arlington Heights, just across the Potomac River from Washington. On receiving his honorable discharge he returned to Erie County, and subsequently had the advantage of a brief attendance at the Notre Dame University in South Bend, Indiana. With this preparation for practical life he became a farmer, and for many years conducted a large farm of more than 200 acres in the vicinity of Castalia. While a man who has been known for his strict attention to his business, he has at different times consented to serve in the public interest and for six years was a trustee of Margaretta Township. At the present time he is living in Castalia, and has all the conveniences and comforts he needs for the evening of life.
On February 28, 1910, Mr. Cowell was called upon to mourn the loss of his faithful companion who had shared with him in the joys and sorrows of existence for nearly forty years. On December 26, 1871, he married Catherine Cooper, who was born in Mount Vernon, Ohio, a daughter of Cyrus and Sarah ( Mitehell) Cooper. Her father was for many years a resident of Knox County, Ohio, and came from there to Margaretta Township where he was a prosperous farmer, but finally sold his land and spent his declining years at Clyde, Ohio, but his body now rests in the cemetery at Castalia. Mr. and Mrs. Cowell became the parents of two children. Fannie A. is the wife of Rev. Charles J. Dole, who is pastor of the Congregational Church at Chelsea, Michigan. The only son. Philip C., is now deceased. Rev. Mr. Dole and wife have five children named Marie L., Catherine Irene, Alberta A., Edward C. and Charles R.
Mr. Cowell is an active member of Thomas Neill Post No. 423. G. A. R. at Castalia, has served as post commander several years and is now officer of the day. He is a charter member of Lodge No. 669 of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows at Sandusky. His wife was a mem- her of the Congregational Church at Castalia, while his own church membership is with the Methodist denomination at ('astalia.
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JOHN H. PARKER. A successful business man and public spirited citizen, Mr. Parker has been identified by residence with Erie County most of his life. He began his career as a worker, and there has been no abatement in his industry and well directed efforts since he reached manhood. The foundation of his property was laid as a farmer in Margaretta Township, and in this way he reached that enviable posi- tion where he is practically master of his circumstances. At the present time Mr. Parker is performing a valned service to the business com- munity of Castalia as a dealer in grain, coal, flour, feed, lime, salt and farm fertilizers, and also has a mill for the manufacturing of chopped feed and cracked corn.
By the accident of birth Mr. Parker is a native of Sandusky County, where he was born October 14, 1859, a son of Jackson and Catherine (Schoch ) Parker. Ilis father was born in Union County, Pennsylvama. and the mother was a native of the same state. The Parker family is of English ancestry, and Grandfather Isaac Parker, who was born in Pennsylvania, was the son of a native Englishman. Isaac Parker came from Pennsylvania to Sandusky County, Ohio, when his son Jack son was fifteen years of age. They made the journey with wagons, and as they proceeded along the route they eamped out by the roadside wherever night overtook them. Isaac Parker acquired a farm in San dusky County and lived there until within a short time of his death. He died near Holt, Michigan. Jackson Parker, who died in Erie County in 1913, grew to manhood in Sandusky County, married there, and subsequently removed in March, 1860, when his son, John II., was six months old, to Margaretta Township. Of his children three are still living: Jolm H .; George F., in Margaretta Township; and Ellen (" .. wife of William Neuman, of Sandusky.
While John H. Parker was growing up to manhood in Margaretta Township he attended the public schools and also the high school at ('astalia. He chose for his first occupation the calling to which he had been trained from boyhood and contimied to be active as a farmer until 1913. In that year he came to Castalia and engaged in the business above mentioned.
On March 23, 1887, he married Etta L. Graves, who was born in Margaretta Township, a daughter of the late Lucius Graves. To their marriage were born five children: Emily C., wife of Franz Arend, living in Toledo, Ohio: Clinton J .. of Groton Township; Lucius G., Norma and John L., all of whom reside in Castalia.
Mr. Parker has never neglected his responsibilities as a citizen of the community, and for seven years served as trustee of Margaretta Township, part of the time being president of the board. A few years ago he was candidate for county commissioner. IIe is now member of the school board of the township and serving as its president, and was chairman of the Soldiers' Monument Commission which erected the monument to the memory of the soldiers who enlisted from Margaretta Township in the Union army. This memorial shaft stands in the Castalia Cemetery. Mr. Parker is a republican in politics, and his activities and influence have made him well known. He is a member of the Lutheran Church, is affiliated with Lodge No. 285 of the Benevo- lent and Protective Order of Elks at Sandusky and is a charter member of the tent at Castalia of the Knights of the Maccabees. His material accumulations are measured by the possession of a well improved Farm of 160 acres in Margaretta Township and for several years he has been a director in the Castalia Banking Company. That he enjoys the good will and confidence of his fellow townsmen goes without saying.
Vol. II-16
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EDDIE M. COBB. It is a fine testimonial to the steadfast qualities of a family which for generation after generation continue to own and occupy one homestead and to live in one community. The Cobb family in Berlin Township have for almost a century owned one tract of land close to Berlin Heights and the history of that community would not be complete without some extended reference to the members of the differ- ent generations. Eddie M. Cobb, who belongs to the third generation in Erie County, is a general farmer and fruit grower, has an interest in the old homestead and also owns and occupies land within the cor porate limits of Berlin Heights.
Ilis grandparents were Ralph and Hannah Cobb, both natives of Connecticut, in which state they grew up. About 1818 or 1819 they rame to Ohio, traveling by the usual method of that day, ox teams and wagons. For a considerable portion of the distance they had to be guided by blazed trails through the woods. They finally reached Eldridge Township, as Berlin Township was then known, and at the end of a long and wearisome journey finally became established on a tract of seventy or ninety acres covered by the densest and heaviest of timber. There Ralph Cobb put up a log cabin, and cut out his first plat for farming purposes. In that clearing he set out some fruit trees which he had brought along, and one of those old apple trees is still standing. There he and his wife gradually surrounded themselves with increased comforts, and the old log cabin gave way to a frame house. They lived there and reared their family, and the farm is now just outside the Village of Berlin Heights. In 1850, while making a trip to a mill, the nearest institution of that kind then being nine miles distant at Wakeman, and while driving through the Wakeman Woods. his team became frightened and ran away and Ralph Cobb was thrown out and killed. He was found lying against a log. He was born before the elose of the eighteenth century, and was already past middle age at the time of his death. His widow survived him and attained the remarkable age of nearly a century, having been about ninety-eight when she passed away. They were members of the Baptist Church, and in politics he supported the whig party during the greater part of his life. Of their large family nearly all grew up and married and had families of their own, but all the children are now deceased. The old homestead has been kept in the family name, and is now owned by Ralph Cobb's grandchildren, Eddie M. Cobb and his two sisters.
Henry Sanford Cobb, one of the children of Ralph Cobb, and the youngest in order of birth, was born in the original log house on the old farm, and that was also the birthplace of the other children. After the death of his father in 1850 he bought out the interests of the other heirs in the farm, and continued to care for his widowed mother until a few years before her death, after which she lived in the home of a daughter, Mrs. Phillips, at Berlin Heights. Henry S. Cobb made his home on the old farm, at that time containing seventy-two acres, until his death in January, 1914. He was then eighty years of age. Ile had constructed the first frame house on the old place, and when that was burned about fifty years ago, he replaced it with another substantial dwelling of nine rooms, and that is still standing and occupied by his grandson, a son of Eddie M. Cobb. Henry S. Cobb was a republican in polities ; during the war, owing to his responsibilities as the father of several young children, he hired a substitute for the army. He was a member of the Baptist Church, and for a number of years before his death was regarded as the chief supporter of this church in this com- munity. He is buried at the old Baptist Church Cemetery, and at the same locality are buried his wife and two of the children, Edwin, who
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