USA > Ohio > Trumbull County > A twentieth century history of Trumbull County, Ohio; a narrative account of its historical progress, its people, and its principal interests, Vol. II > Part 26
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Mr. McMahan was married in 1870 to Sarah Thatcher, born in Milton, a daughter of Benjamin and Sarah (Winans) Thatcher. She died in July, 1905. He married the second time, in 1908, Emma Messersmith, of Hartford. By the first union one child was born, Maude, wife of W. O.
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Flick, and they have two children-James Clare and William Donald. Mr. and Mrs. McMahan are members of the Christian church, while Mr. McMahan holds fast to the principles of the Republican party, as did also his father.
Mr. McMahan served as a soldier in the Civil war, having been a member of Company E of the second Eighty-sixth Regiment of Ohio Volunteer Infantry. He was instrumental in capturing General Morgan, also in the taking of Cumberland Gap, Tennessee, where he was then stationed until the expiration of his enlistment.
WARREN GATES ALGER, who has spent virtually the entire sixty-five years of his life as a resident of Gustavus township, this county, is one of the veterans of the Civil war who has been an honor to himself and his state. He is a fine representative of the patriotic brawn of the country, which was so largely founded on the farming element of the states of the Ohio and Mississippi valleys. The patriotism which Mr. Alger showed in the field has since been sustained by his civil service at home, by which he has been a strong agent in the upholding and development of the stable and good local government.
Mr. Alger was born at Colebrook. Ashtabula county, Ohio, on the 14th of December, 1843, a son of Ira K. and Lucinda (Hall) Alger. His father, who was a native of Canada, was an early settler of Ashtabula county, while his mother was born in New York state; the former died March 16, 1856, at the age of thirty-seven years, and the latter May 4, 1861, aged forty-four years. They were the parents of six children, of whom Warren G. was the eldest. When a youth of fourteen years the son came to Gustavus township, where he completed his schooling and became henceforth self-supporting. After thus alternating between the farm and the school room for a number of years, he entered a notable experience of his life by enlisting in the Union army in response to the first presidential call for three months' troops. At the end of his short term he returned to Gustavus township, but on the 26th of August, 1861, joined Company C. Twenty-ninth Ohio Volunteer Infantry, and with the exception of a thirty days' furlough served actively and continuously until July 22, 1865, finally participating in the grand review at Washington. The first two and one- half years of his service were spent in the ranks of the Army of the Potomac, and during that period he participated in the battles of Winchester, Port Republic, Cedar Mountain, Chancellorsville, Antietam and Gettysburg. In the fall of 1863 his command was transferred to the Department of the Sonthwest, and he fought at Lookout Mountain and Missionary Ridge, re-enlisting December 15, 1863. He then spent a furlough of thirty days at home and returned with the regiment to Bridgeport, Alabama, February 8, 1864. The regiment left Bridgeport May 4, 1864, and was a part of Sherman's grand army throughout the series of battles and campaigns which marked its march to the Atlantic coast. During one hundred days of this period the command was under fire, his regiment being among the
Q.C. Root.
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first troops to enter both Atlanta and Savannah. Mr. Alger continued in the great military movement northward, through the Carolinas, and as stated had the honor of marching in the magnificent military review of the northern armies at Washington.
At the conclusion of the war and his long term of service, Mr. Alger resumed his farming in Gustavus township, and he has since resided con- tinuously in the county with the exception of the three summers which he spent at Buffalo and one summer in Chicago. In 1871 Mr. Alger married Miss Eva M. Cooper, and soon afterward engaged in various manufacturing enterprises. He first engaged in the manufacture 'of suction tubes for oil well pumps, and among his later ventures was the manufacture of felloes at Gustavus. In 1894 he abandoned this field and has since given his entire attention to agricultural pursuits and to his varied activities as a faithful citizen. Mr. Alger has long been an active promoter of the public schools of the county, and has served six years on the township board. He has been a trustee of the township for more than twelve years, and in every way stands for high citizenship. As a member of Kinsman Post, Grand Army of the Republic, he has also kept in touch with his old army comrades of the Civil war, who of late years have fallen from the ranks of the living with pathetic rapidity, covered with honors not represented by medals or other gaudy marks of their bravery and patriotic faithfulness.
CLARENCE A. ROOT, superintendent of the County Infirmary, of Trum- bull county, Ohio, was born December 19, 1866, in Kinsman township, this county, a son of Nelson and Charity (Kinnie) Root. He attended the public schools and Western Reserve Seminary, at West Farmington; also attended the Northeastern Ohio Normal School, at Canfield. He then taught school seven terms, but did not desire it for a regular life occupa- tion and went to Warren, Ohio, entering the Tribune office, learning the printer's business. Later he worked as a printer at the case, at Andover and Cleveland, also in Dallas, Texas. In 1892 he became an assistant at the county infirmary, holding such position until 1899, when he was ap- pointed superintendent of the institution, which place he is now filling acceptably and well.
Politically, Mr. Root is a firm supporter of the general principles of the Republican party, having cast his first vote for President Benjamin Harrison in 1888. He is connected with Lodge No. 29, Independent Order of Odd Fellows; also a member of the Elks, Lodge No. 295.
In 1889, Mr. Root was happily married in Dallas, Texas, to Mary Wag- staff, a native of Mercer county, Pennsylvaina. Her father, John Wagstaff, was born near Skibbereen, county Cork, Ireland, and his father, Robert Wagstaff, was a native of Ireland, but of English ancestry. His forefathers were followers of Cromwell and left England after his reign and emigrated to Ireland. Robert Wagstaff came to America in 1873, settling at Mon- mouth, Illinois; he was a landscape gardner and spent the remainder of his life there. Before her marriage, his wife was Annie Good, of county
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Cork, Ireland. They were members of the Episcopal church. Mrs. Root's father was a blacksmith, who came to America in 1848, settling in Mercer county, Pennsylvania, where he remained and continued at his trade until 1899, when he and his wife went to live with their children, in different localities. He died in Dallas, Texas. The wife and mother, Mary (Sykes) Wagstaff, was born in Pennsylvania, a daughter of Joseph and Mary Ann (Mccullough) Sykes. Joseph Sykes was a native of Sheffield, England, and came to America when a young man and was married in Pennsylvania. By trade, he was a wagon-maker, following his trade in Mercer county, Pennsylvania, in which county he died. His wife was born on a farm one mile east from Mercer Courthouse, a daughter of John and Mary (Wright) McCollough. John McCollough was a native of Scotland and came to this country with his parents, who settled first in Westmoreland county and later located in Mercer county, Pennsylvania. He followed farming, hav- ing cut out a farm from out the great forests of that section of the state. His first buildings were of logs, but later he erected frame structures. He lived to an advanced age. Mary Wright was born in eastern Pennsylvania. Her father was George Wright, of eastern Pennsylvania, who moved to Mercer county, engaging in the mercantile business, he being one of the pioneer merchants there.
Mr. and Mrs. Root have one son : Neal W. Root, now a student in the Warren high school.
GEORGE H. STEVENS, a farmer in Mesopotamia township, Trumbull county, was born in Somersetshire, England, July 10, 1846, and was edu- cated in the schools of the mother country. His parents, George and Louisa (Headford) Stevens, spent their lives in England. The father died there in 1893, but the mother is yet living, at the advanced age of ninety-one Years.
Crossing the ocean to America. George H. Stevens in 1867 went to Barry Lake, Simcoe, Canada, but after eleven months there came to Wayne in Ashtabula county, Ohio, where he farmed for two and a half years. From there he went to Mecca in Trumbull county and worked on farms in that vicinity for ten years, and at the close of that period bought and for nine years operated a farm near Williamsfield in Ashtabula county. Com- ing then to Trumbull county he has since made his home in different town- ships of the county, but in the spring of 1903 he came to the R. A. Under- wood farm in Mesopotamia township and has since resided here, extensively engaged in farming and stock raising. He is one of the largest raisers of registered Holstein cattle of this vicinity.
Mr. Stevens married, January 1, 18:3, Rovilla A. Underwood, a native of Wayne, Ohio, and a daughter of Alfred B. and Sally ( Morse) Under- wood, natives respectively of Casenovia, New York, and Williamsfield, Ohio. Her grandparents, Ansel and Jale (Felps) Morse, were born respectively in Massachusetts and Connecticut. Ansel Morse was a soldier in the war of 1812, and about 1815 came with his wife and child on an ox sled to Ashta-
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bula county, Ohio, where he took up his abode among the county's earliest pioneers. Mrs. Underwood, his daughter, is now living in Youngstown, aged ninety-one years, but her husband died in March of 1906, aged eighty- nine years. The two children of Mr. and Mrs. Stevens are Bessie L. and James H. The son is the assistant paymaster in the sheet and tool works of Youngstown. Mr. George H. Stevens is a Republican politically, and was elected a township trustee in 1906. He is a member of the Mesopo- tamia Grange and of the Congregational church.
J. F. KEENE, M. D., a physician and surgeon of high standing at Gustavus, Trumbull county, is a native of Mercer county, Pennsylvania, born at Sugargrove, Pennsylvania, on the 28th of May, 1861, son of William and Emily E. (Davis) Keene. His father, a native of Crawford county, Pennsylvania, was engaged at Kennard in various mercantile pursuits from 1864 until his death in 1886, at the age of sixty-six years. His mother. who died in 1885, was fifty-six years of age. Their three children consisted of one who died in infancy, Dr. Keene, and Llewellyn J., who is a clergy- man of the United Evangelical church located at Maseot, Nebraska.
At the age of fourteen, after he had received a common-school educa- tion. Dr. Keene went west, spending some time in the state of Kansas. He returned to Gustavus in 1884, and in the fall of 1886 began teaching school. but three years of employment in this field decided him in favor of the study and practice of medicine. In the fall of 1889 he was matriculated at the Western Reserve Medical College, Cleveland, from which he gradu- ated in 1893, at once locating in Gustavus. From 1898 to 1900 he practiced at Fullerton, Geauga county, Ohio, but with the exception of this period of two years has been a resident of Gustavus and a physician and surgeon of growing reputation. As a Republican and a citizen of the proper Ameri- can spirit. the doctor has also been prominent in the affairs of local government, having served for the past eight years as town clerk. He is an active member of the county and state medieal societies, belongs to the Gustavus Grange and the K. O. T. M., and is a leader in the religious work of the Methodist church, having served for some time as superintendent of its Sunday school.
On September 24, 1891, Dr. Keene wedded Miss Frances E. Artman, daughter of Abraham and Almira Artman, of Jamestown, Pennsylvania, where she was born and reared. The daughter of this union is H. E. Mildred Keene.
C. K. SHIPMAN, who died July 10, 1908, was a pioneer citizen of Gustavus township, Trumbull county, and spent nearly all his life within its limits as a musician and a teacher of music. He was born on the farm which his father acquired from the government in 1835, and his widow still resides on the old homestead. Mr. Shipman also resided here during his entire life and was widely known for his talents and kindly nature
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throughout the entire extent of the Western Reserve. His father, who was a native of Connecticut, first came to Gustavus township in 1813, being one of the earliest of the many colonists who came from that state and settled within the limits of the present state of Ohio. He was a tradesman as well as a farmer, and before permanently locating in this region made eight journeys between Connecticut and Trumbull county. The mother was formerly Miss Lydia Kellogg, of Hartford, Connecticut, where she was reared and educated.
The marriage of C. K. Shipman to Miss Mary Christie, daughter of Alexander Christie, a native of New York state and a tanner by trade, occurred in 1871, and the young couple located on the old homestead, which Mrs. Shipman now occupies. It consists of a well improved farm of one hundred acres and is a valuable tract of property. Mrs. Shipman herself is now one of the oldest settlers of Gustavus township and is highly esteemed for her substantial qualities of head and heart.
F. P. ROOT, a well known proprietor of the feed mill and general feed business at Farmdale, Kinsman township, is a native of Gustavus township, this county, born September 9, 1872. He is a son of H. W. and Julia (Fobes) Root, both of whom are deceased, the father having died in Spokane, Washington, but was buried at Kinsman, and the mother died in Ashtabula, Ohio. Both the father and the grandfather (Joseph A. Root) were pioneers of Trumbull county, the former, in fact, being a native of Gustavus township. The four children of Mr. and Mrs. H. W. Root are all living, F. P., of this sketch, being the oldest in the family. He received a training in the business which he now conducts under his father's supervision, and continued associated with him until he established the mill and store which he now conducts. This was in April, 1904.
In 1897 Mr. Root was married to Miss Evaline Sharp, a daughter of Jolın R. and Isabella Sharp, of Gustavus township. Their three children are: Barbara, Joseph and Julius. Mr. Root is one of the young, energetic and progressive business men of the locality, and occupies a comfortable residence in a desirable section of the town.
GEORGE H. GRISWOLD, of Kinsman, Trumbull county, manager of the Ohio Milk Sugar Company, has made his substantial record as a business man, financier and manufacturer within the limits of the Western Reserve. His family is one of the oldest in this section of Trumbull county, his father, who is now ninety-four years of age, coming to Gustavus township as a boy and afterward attending the Western Reserve College, of which he is the oldest alumnus. George H. Griswold was born at Gustavus, this county, February 24, 1845, son of George A. and Mary (Sperry) Griswold. The grandparents were Abram and Cornelia (Humphrey) Griswold. George A., the father, was reared in Gustavus township, and after his marriage established an independent homestead in the neighborhood of the old farm. There his wife died at the age of sixty-six years. The surviving
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widower is a thoroughly educated and a well-read man, and despite his ninety-four years retains a lively recollection of the primitive days of the old Western Reserve College, when he was straining every nerve to "make" the course and support himself at the same time. There were three children in his family, of whom George H. is the eldest and only son. The daugh- ters are Mrs. Ellen M. Birrell and Mrs. George L. Peabody.
Mr. Griswold, of this sketch, was educated in the schools of Gustavus township and at Oberlin College, his course at the latter institution cover- ing three years, being only interrupted by his one hundred days' service during the Civil war as a member of the One Hundred and Seventy-first Ohio National Guard. After his marriage in 1866 to Laura E. Selby Mr. Griswold went to Toledo, Ohio, where he entered the employ of the United States Express Company. After four years of this service he established a tea and coffee business, which he conducted for fifteen years, when he became interested in the Standard Tobacco and Cigar Company, of Cleve- land, was with them some fourteen years, although still retaining his home in Toledo. In 1887 he removed to Kinsman, and in 1899 became prom- inently identified with its local interests by accepting the cashiership of The Kinsman Banking Company. This position he held until 1906, in the meantime assisting to organize and promote the Ohio Milk Sugar Com- pany. The business of the latter reached such proportions that in January, 1907, Mr. Griswold assumed the management of the sugar manufacturing enterprise.
Mr. Griswold has also been active in the public affairs of Kinsman, having for eight years been an active member of its special school board. In Masonry he has reached the thirty-second degree, is a member of the Cleveland Consistory and a Shriner. There are two children in his family -Edith A., who lives at home, and Selby Griswold, who is employed in the sugar factory.
D. S. LOTz, a well known resident of twenty-five years' standing in Kinsman township, Trumbull county, is a prosperous dairy farmer and citi- zen who has' been identified to considerable extent with local public affairs. He was horn in Carroll county, Ohio, August 13, 1846, son of Henry and Phoebe (Johnson) Lotz, both natives of Carroll county, Ohio. The Lotz family is of German origin, the grandfather, Henry Lotz, being a native of the fatherland. The maternal grandparents were natives of New Jersey.
D. S. Lotz is the youngest of five children, and was reared and edu- cated in Carroll county, Ohio. Ile remained a farmer, both in the employ of others and as a proprietor, until 1883, when he came to Kinsman town- ship and purchased his present farm of two hundred acres. Since that time, or for a quarter of a century, he has been engaged in general farming and in the conduct and development of dairying interests. He has been an active figure in the public affairs of Kinsman township, having served as justice of the peace, assessor and other offices, and was also Democratic candidate for representative of Trumbull county in 1908. He was one of
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the organizers of the K. O. T. M. in this locality, being a charter member of the local lodge. His religious faith is that of the Presbyterian church, and he has been active in the church work at Kinsman.
In 1873 Mr. Lotz married Miss Ella Hill, also a native of Carroll county, Ohio. Their family consists of two sons and two daughters, as follows : John H., Lewis Milo, Eva Mande and Anna Laura. .
RICHARD EVANS, a leading merchant and banker of Kinsman, Trum- bull county, has been manager of the Wallace-Davis Company for the past fourteen years. He is a native of Gustavus township, this county, where he was born on the 17th of January, 1850. His father, also Richard Evans by name, was born in England in 1812, and about 1840 came from the mother country direct to Gustavus township. Then eighteen years of age, he commenced to make chairs to supply the pioneers of the neighbor- hood, and his modest industry at length developed into a considerable furniture factory. Several years after settling here he married Miss Jennette Meikle, a Scotch girl, and they both died in Gustavus township- the husband at the age of eighty-two and the wife when only forty-nine years old. Their five children, who are still living, were all born in the township, Richard being the second son.
Richard Evans was educated in the public schools of Gustavus and at the Orwell (Ohio) Academy, his instruction at the latter covering only two terms. He then entered the general store of B. H. Peabody at East Gustavus, remaining in this service about three years, and then entered the employ of William Wallace, in the same line and of the same place. He has now been connected with his business and with that of the Wallace- Davis Company for about twenty-five years, a portion of the period as a partner in the business. He still has an interest in it, and is its active manager, its continued growth speaking well for his ability as a manager and a promoter. He is also one of the directors of the Kinsman Banking Company.
In 1872 Mr. Evans was married to Miss Wealthy Hart, daughter of Nelson and Jane Hart, of Gustavus township. The two children of this union are as follows: Merta, who married L. B. Lyon, of Gustavus, and Milo H., connected with the Fidelity and Casualty Company, of Cleveland, Ohio. Mr. Evans is identified with the Masonic order, and honors the craft with his useful and honorable citizenship. In politics he is a Republican.
FRED H. COLE is a leading farmer of Kinsman township who has made a specialty of dairying for many years, and represents a well known pioneer family of Trumbull county. He was born in the township August 13, 1838. and his father, Harman Cole, died on the farm which he now owns and occupies. The latter was a native of Connecticut who came to Trumbull county when a boy, in company with Joshua Yeomans, and
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located on the farm which is now the home of Fred D. Cole. Here the father worked by the month until he had saved sufficient to warrant him in venturing upon matrimony, when he married Miss Mary Blackburn, daughter of Leonard Blackburn. Mr. Blackburn was such an early pioneer of Trumbull county that he had the honor of teaching its first school. At first Mr. and Mrs. Harman Cole lived on a farm about two miles from the town of Kinsman, but afterward moved upon what is best known as the Davis farm, and still later Mr. Cole bought the property at the Ridge, upon which he spent the years which remained to him, dying there when fifty-two years old. His wife, who became the mother of four children, lived to be eighty-five years of age.
Fred H. Cole, who is the fourth child in the family, has been a life- long resident of Kinsman township, having passed his seventy years therein as schoolboy, farmer-assistant to his good father, independent and successful agriculturist and honorable citizen. In March, 1858, his host of friends celebrated the golden anniversary of his wedding to Miss Betsy Hulse, who was born in Johnston township and has herself spent all the years of her faithful and useful life within the bounds of Trumbull county. The com- fortable estate of one hundred and eighteen acres, which has been the family home these many years, is rich with associations of early struggles, the budding of childhood into honorable manhood and womanhood, the final successes of middle age and the reverence of offspring and kindred. The children born to the honored couple are as follows: Fanny, now the wife of Lee Baker, who resides in Vernon township, this county; George, who lived in Kinsman township until on the 28th of October, 1908, he met death by accident, falling from the roof of the barn; Lena. now Mrs. Ernest Leed, of Vernon township, and Clara, who married J. Thompson, of Kinsman township.
GEORGE B. EWART, whose summer home is in Kinsman township, Trumbull county, has been engaged since his youth in the care of his father's Pittsburg estate and in the superintendence and development of other large interests. He was born in the Pennsylvania city mentioned on the 24th of December, 1861, son of George and Margaret ( Robb) Ewart. The maternal ancestors were of Scotch origin, and the paternal family of English stock. The father and mother were also natives of Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, their family consisting of three sons and a daughter, as follows: Dr. Charles Robb, deceased; Samuel F., a manu- facturer, of Pittsburg; Ada, who died young, and George B. Paternal grandfather, Jacob Ewart, was one of Pittsburg's pioneers.
George B. Ewart, the youngest son and the third child, spent his boyhood days in his native city, attending the public schools of that place and the Western University, of Pittsburg. He early evinced a decided business ability, and took charge of the business of the family estate before he was seventeen years of age, and continued to manage it until his father's death, since which he has been not only conservator of the family
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property but engaged in large transactions of a private nature. In June, 1904, Mr. Ewart purchased what is known as the David Yeomans estate in Kinsman township. The lands comprise seventy-three and a half acres, which, with the entire property, have been improved and beautified until the place has become one of the most attractive and valuable country homes in Trumbull county. During the warm months of the year this is Mr. Ewart's home, and his presence is always esteemed a distinct addition to the sociability of the community.
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