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 40
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Leander W. Burnett was raised and educated in Hubbard township, and as stated has always followed the occupation either of a farmer or agriculturist, or both combined. He enjoyed a thorough training under his father in the carpentry trade, and for forty-six years has either followed it as a trade or as a builder and contractor. His son, Samuel S., is now his partner, and together they transact a very extensive business in this part of the county. The father not only owns his fine farm of forty-three acres in Hubbard township, but has invested in western lands, and has a good farm of one lmundred and sixty acres in Arkansas. Mr. Burnett has also had experience as a soldier in the Civil war, enlisting in the one hundred days' service in Company C. One Hundred and Seventy-first Ohio Volunteer Infantry. His services commenced in April, 1864, and during the following one hundred days he participated in the battle of Cynthiana, Kentucky, and was captured by the famous Morgan raiders. He was paroled, however, and finally discharged from the service, August, 1864. Mr. Burnett cast his first vote for Abraham Lincoln, and has since been a firm Republican. He has taken active interest in local affairs of the govern- ment, having held the office of township trustee and served as member of the school board. His family are all members of the Methodist church at Coalburg, where his son, Samuel S., is the superintendent of the Sunday school.
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On January 9, 1872, Mr. Burnett married Miss Jennie Stille, a daugh- ter of Samuel and Theressa Stille, of Elba, Washington county, Ohio, where she received her education and grew to womanhood. The six children of Mr. and Mrs. Leander Burnett are: Abbie, who died in infancy ; Linnie E. and Minnie L., who live at home; J. Garfield, who resides in Cleveland, Ohio; Bertha M., who became the wife of Fred C. Whiting and lives in New York City; and Samuel S., the son already mentioned, who is in business with his father.
LORENZO R. WORLEY, the enterprising farm implement dealer and proprietor of a blacksmithing business at Hubbard, Ohio, was born Novem- ber 15, 1858, in this township, just east of the town of Hubbard, a son of John A. Worley, who was born in Boardman, and his father came from Germany. John A. Worley was reared and educated in Boardman. He married Martha Mitcheltre, danghter of Thomas Mitcheltre, who lived east of Hubbard; the date of their marriage was 1844. They were the parents of eight children : Mary Jane, who died in infancy; Thomas F., now living near Youngstown, Ohio; William A., of Port Royal, Pennsyl- vania ; Tilley J., married Duncan McDonald and is now deceased ; Latiachie, deceased; John H., deceased; Lorenzo R., of this notice; Lewis, who now resides at Youngstown, Ohio.
John A. Worley was a Democrat in his politics, but cared not to meddle with them, save to cast his vote where he believed it would do the most good, and as he viewed it, this was usually with the party just mentioned. He was a devoted member of the Disciples church at Hubbard, and was quite an active worker. By trade he was both a wagon-maker and blacksmith. He lived to the ripe old age of eighty-three years and passed from the scenes of time and all earthly things in the month of April, 1907. His good wife died in March, 1880.
Lorenzo R. Worley obtained his education at Hubbard, Ohio, com- meneing to learn the blacksmith's trade when young. He first began this with Mr. Brownlee, at Youngstown. Later he learned the carriage black- smithing branch of the smithing trade at Greenfield, Pennsylvania. From that place he moved to Sharon, Pennsylvania, where he finished his trade. He then went to Coitsville, Ohio, there completing the finishing touches of the carriage-making part of his trade under direction of D. P. Cooper. He is now engaged in a general business, including that of high-grade blacksmithing, dealer in all kinds of farm machinery and vehicles, har- ness, gas engines, etc. He does an extensive business and has built up the same by his skill and own efforts.
Like all progressive American citizens, Mr. Worley has his own special views on the various political parties and chooses to cast his vote with the best party, being independent in this matter. He was elected on the Demo- cratic ticket as trustee of Hubbard township in 1906 and is still serving in such capacity. For six years he was member of the Hubbard town council and a member of the school board for several years. Under the present
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system he was elected the first president of the board of trustees. He, together with his family, are members of the Presbyterian church at Hub- bard. He is connected with the Knights of Pythias order, Hubbard Lodge No. 332.
In 1884 he married Caroline P. Ross, daughter of Harris and Mary (BisselI) Ross, who resided at New Vernon, Pennsylvania, where Mrs. Worley was reared and educated. Harris Ross was a soldier in the Civil war in a Pennsylvania regiment. Mrs. Worley is a member of the Daughters of the American Revolution. Mr. and Mrs. Worley are the parents of two children : Hazel A., who is a teacher in the Hubbard public schools, and Edna M., at present attending the Rayen High School at Youngstown, Ohio, having graduated from the schools at Hubbard.
GEORGE C. MINGLIN, a young and prosperous farmer of Hubbard township, represents one of the pioneer families of Trumbull county. He was horn October 28, 1821, on the farm where he now resides. His father, Richard Minglin, emigrated from Elktown, Cecil county, Maryland, when he was a lad of only six years. He made the journey in 1825 as a member of the family which was driven through the wilderness in an ox cart. The family then located at what is now known as Doughton Yards, in Hubbard township. The head of this family (grandfather of George C.) was a plow and wagon maker, and after locating in the new country northwest of the Ohio he profitably followed his trade for many years. His wife, for- merly Elizabeth Wilcox, was also a native of Maryland.
Richard Minglin, the father of George C., was reared in this locality and received the education which the pioneers of that date obtained. In due time he married Miss Jerusha Cushman, a daughter of Levi Cushman, a resident of Hamden, Ohio, where the wife was reared and educated. Their family of four children consists of the following: Harmon, who now lives near Warren, Ohio; Calvin S., a resident of Hubbard township; Emily, who makes her home with her brother, Harmon ; and George C., of this sketch. Richard, like his father, was a mechanic by trade, his special field being that of carpentry. After locating at Youngstown, Ohio, he erected many of the well known buildings of that place, including the old Erie depot, the first railroad station erected there. He also did a large amount of work for Governor Tod, the chief executive of Ohio at that time ; he also built the Old Hotel at Girard, near where the street railway station is now located. Soon afterward he retired to his farm of one hundred and thirty acres in Hubbard township, where he resided until his death, in February, 1892. The deceased was an old time Democrat, and during the entire period of his mature years he was identified with the Disciple church, at what is now called the Corner House. In his later years he was a life elder of that faith, and always took an active part in church work.
George C. Minglin received his education in the public schools of Hub- bard township, and in his youth and early manhood engaged in railroad work, being connected for a time with the street railway. Six years ago
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he abandoned this line of work, removing to the farm which he now culti- vates and improves. His property consists of fifty acres of land, and his operations are along the line of general farming. Mr. Minglin was married November 3, 1892, to Miss Lydia Struble, a daughter of George and Mar- garet (Williams) Struble, of Brookfield township, where she was reared and educated. Their three children are: Hazel, Howard and Marguerite. The members of the family are connected with the Disciple church at Hubbard.
EDWIN T. DIFFORD, a veteran of the Civil war and a farmer who also carries on the dairy business to quite an extent in Mesopotamia township, Trumbull county, is a native of this township, born March 25, 1844, a son of Thomas and Eliza (Wilcox) Difford, natives of Somersetshire, England. The parents were united in marriage in England and went to Ohio about 1835, locating in Mesopotamia, and there lived the remainder of their lives. The mother died in 1867 and the father died in 1875. They owned a farm consisting of about one hundred acres.
Edwin T. Difford, of whom this narrative more particularly relates, was the sixth child in a family of four sons and five daughters. He had the advantages of the public schools and continued at home until February 13, 1865, when he enlisted in the Nineteenth Ohio Volunteer Infantry Regi- ment, serving as a soldier of the Union cause until December 5, 1865. He spent the following winter at home and spent the year 1866 in Park- man, employed at dairying, after which he remained at home until March, 1868, when he went to Monona county, Iowa, where he worked at farming until autumn, then returning home. The following spring he, with his brother, A. S. Difford, conducted a cheese factory northwest of Mesopo- tamia. Five years later he sold out and removed to a farm he had previously bought, and resided there until 1880, then purchased one hundred acres which was improved. There he has carried on dairy business, having some fine Jersey stock. He is assisted by his son, Verna E.
Politically, Mr. Difford is a supporter of the Republican party. He has served as township trustee and road supervisor several years each; also, having taken interest in educational matters, was elected school director of his district. He is a member of the Grand Army post at Farm- ington, known as Post No. 426.
March 16, 1870, he was married to Nettie White, born in Southington township, Trumbull county, a daughter of Curtis and Caroline (Hewitt) White. Her father was born in Connecticut and her mother in England. The children born to Mr. and Mrs. Difford were: Verna E., and Pearl A., now Mrs. E. H. Brigdon, of Middlefield, Geauga county, Ohio.
EARNEST L. REYNOLDS, deceased, a farmer of Mesopotamia township, who died August 1, 1897, was a native of this township, born December 29,
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1859, and had the advantages of a common school education. He was the son of Henry and Catherine (Bower) Reynolds, both born in the same township in which their son was. Job and Elizabeth (Arnold) Reynolds, the grandparents, were natives of New York and went to Trumbull county at an early day. Ilenry Reynolds and Catherine Bower were united in marriage in Mesopotamia township and ever after remained there. They had but one son-Earnest L., of this notice. For his second wife the father married Melissa Freeman, by whom there was no issue. After her death Mr. Reynolds married Amoret Smith, who had a daughter, Melissa, who married William Webb, living in Mesopotamia township.
After the mother's death Earnest L. resided with an aunt, Betsy Reynolds, but when thirteen years of age went again to live with his father, remaining until his marriage, August 31, 1880, to Lottie McLean, who was born in Bloomfield township, November 5, 1861, a daughter of David and Jane ( Fee) McLean. The father was born in New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and the mother was a native of Drumreiley, Ireland. The grand- parents were Joseph and Jane MeLean, of New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and John and Jane (Parks) Fee, natives of Ireland. After his marriage Mr. Reynolds remained on rented land for one year, then purchased fifty- nine acres of land two and a half miles south of Mesopotamia Center. That farm he continued to work until his death. Since his death the widow and family have resided on the farm, to which Mrs. Reynolds has added almost twenty acres, the same adjoining on the south and is situated in Farmington township. Mrs. Reynolds has the aid of her sons in operating this farm.
Mr. Reynolds was a Republican, was a member of the school board, and took much interest in the general welfare of his county and state. The children born to Earnest L. and Lottie (McLean) Reynolds were: Cath- erine, now Mrs. Lyle Kingdom ; Ralph Job, Howard Henry, Mabel Clara, and Dio David, all at home.
DENNIS T. SMITH, an ex-county commissioner and successful farmer residing in Mesopotamia township, in which township he was born Septem- ber 22, 1833, is a son of Edmund and Pollie (Lee) Smith. The father was born in Oneida county, New York, April 30, 1800, while the mother was born December 5, 1805, in Montgomery county, the same state. The paternal grandparents were Gager and Asneth (Tracey) Smith, natives of Connecticut, and on the maternal side they were Abijah and Lois (Swift) Lee. The former was born in Connecticut and the latter in New York. The grandparents Smith went to Mesopotamia township in 1805, settling on a tract of timber land where Dennis T. now resides. This tract con- tains one hundred and sixty-five acres, has all been cleared up and is a valuable place. It constitutes the homestead on which Mr. Smith now lives. The grandfather died, aged seventy-four years of age, in 1839 during the month of February, while the grandmother died when eighty-seven
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years of age, in 1853. The grandfather Lee went to East Farmington township, settled and made a farm there, with good improvements thereon. He died in 1858, aged eighty-five years, and the wife at the same age, in 1860.
Mr. Smith's parents were united in marriage in 1825. The father died March 12, 1887, and his wife June 10, 1896. Of this union four children were born: Almira, Mrs. Seba Ensign, who died in December, 1906; Amoret, Mrs. Henry Reynolds, who died in September, 1898; Dennis T .; Henry, born 1844, died in the Union army, in February, 1864.
Dennis T. Smith attended the common schools and gained a good education, which included a three months' term in the high school. He resided at home until February, 1859, when he went to New York with his wife and there took boat to Panama, which isthmus they crossed on the railroad and thence on to San Francisco, in which section he went to mining for gold. He remained there two years. May 1, 1861, accompanied by his wife, he went back to Ohio, returning by the same route as they went. After returning from California, he bought forty-one acres of land adjoining the home farm and there continued to live twenty-one years. In 1886 he sold his own place and returned to the old homestead, which he had secured possession of, and has resided there ever since, with the excep- tion of the time he was serving as county commissioner. This position he held when the old courthouse was burned and when the new one was being constructed. His father had also served as a county commissioner several years before him.
Mr. Smith was married January 1, 1855, to Artalissa M. Ensign, born August 9, 1833, in Mesopotamia township. She is the daughter of Albert and Emily (Ensign) Ensign, natives of the last named township. The grandfather, Seba Ensign, was a native of New York, while Seth and Elizabeth (Cox) Ensign were born in New York and Bristol township, Trumbull county, Ohio, respectively.
Mr. and Mrs. Smith were the parents of one child-Emily, Mrs. Har- mon E. Gates, whose husband conducts the farm. Mrs. Smith died Novem- ber 5, 1904. In his political views Mr. Smith affiliates with the Republican party and has filled the offices of assessor, trustee, and was county com- missioner from January 1, 1891, until September 20, 1897. He belongs to Erie Lodge No. 3 of the Masonic fraternity; Mahoning Chapter No. 66; and Warren Commandery No. 39, all of Warren, Ohio.
GEORGE A. HOUSEL, one of the representatives of the more enterprising class of farmers who are cultivating the fertile soil of Farmington township, Trumbull connty, was born May 13, 1843. He is the son of Jared and Lucinda (Miller) Housel. The former was born in Jackson township, Mahoning county, Ohio, and the latter in Farmington township, Trumbull county, of the same state. The paternal grandparents were Peter and Sarah (Myers) Honsel, of Vermont. The maternal grandparents were Isaac and
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Sophia ( Dabney) Miller, of New Jersey. The grandparents on both sides were among the early settlers in Trumbull county and located in the big woods, which forests they helped to clear up, and there reared families worthy the names they bear. There, as pioneer characters, they lived, labored and died.
Jared and Lucinda ( Miller) Housel were the parents of six children, four of whom were sons, George A. being the third in order of their birth. All are still living except one brother, Servenus, who died in the Union army at the time of the Civil war.
George A. Housel received a common school education and remained at home with his parents until his marriage, June 15, 1862, to Julia Dilley, a native of Bristol township, Trumbull county, Ohio, a daughter of Samuel and Lydia (Patton) Dilley, natives of Orangeville, Pennsylvania. One child was born of this union, Julia, now Mrs. M. M. Joy, of Southington township. The wife and mother died September 8, 1863, after which Mr. Housel returned to his parents' home and remained there until his mar- riage to his second wife, Elizabeth Maffitt, April 15, 1866. She is a native of Farmington township, Trumbull county, born July 24, 1842, a daughter of Edward and Hannah (Palm) Maffitt. Her paternal grandparents, Thomas and Jane ( Drake) Maffitt, were of Virginia, while her maternal grandparents were John and Hannah (Flick) Palm, of Pennsylvania. Mrs. Housel's parents were among the pioneer settlers in the forest lands of Farmington township, where they spent the remainder of their days. Mrs. Housel is the only survivor of a family of two sons and two daughters, as follows: Lucy A., Mrs. Norton L. Gates, died June, 1903; Absalom, died March, 1891 ; George W., of Company H, One Hundred and Seventy- first Ohio Volunteer Infantry, killed at Kelley's Bridge, Kentucky, June 11, 1864, aged twenty-six years ; and Mrs. Housel.
After his second marriage Mr. Housel purchased a farm adjoining his father's place and there he farmed for six years, then bought his present farm of one hundred and fifty acres. He has rebuilt the farm buildings and otherwise improved his farm, placing it in an excellent condition, and has one hundred and twenty-five acres of his place under a good state of cultivation. He has always paid special attention to dairy work, which has been a profitable adjunct to his general farming business.
In his religious faith Mr. Housel is in accord with that of the Method- ist Episcopal denomination; has been a member and one of the trustees of this church many years. Politically, he is a Republican and has held the office of township trustee four terms. He was elected member of the board of education in 1888 and served nearly twenty years. The largest part of this period he was president of the board, showing the interest taken in school matters, as well as the capability with which he filled such position. He was master of the Farmington Grange and is now its treas- urer, being on his fourth term.
By Mr. Housel's second marriage the following children were born : 1. Lovern E., born May 2, 1868; married Nathan Asper, of Farmington
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township; she died February 9, 1897, leaving three children-Coryl L. (Mrs. Glenn Newell, of Garretsville, Ohio), born June 4, 1889; George McK., born April 30, 1891, resides with Mr. Housel; Marie Lovern, born July 10, 1894. These children have been reared by Mr. and Mrs. Housel since their mother's death. 2. George Franklin, born November 3, 1869, and owns a one hundred acre farm formerly owned by his father in Farm- ington township. His children are : Lucy Mabel, born September 3, 1889, died May 12, 1893; George Henry, born April 2, 1892; Clare Franklin, born September 6, 1894, died October 16, 1895; Edna Lovern, born November 25, 1896, died April 15, 1897; Ertell Laverne, born September 16, 1898.
JOHN CORYDON HUTCHINS .- Samuel Hutchins, grandfather of John Corydon Hutchins, came to Vienna, Trumbull county, in 1798 from Con- necticut with a surveying party, walking all the way, and his marriage was the first white marriage celebrated in Trumbull county. John Hutchins, the father of John C., was born in Trumbull county in 1812 and married Rhoda M. Andrews. As a young man he went to Warren from Vienna, studying law with Governor Tod, and, subsequently, became a member of the law firm of Tod, Hoffman and Hutchins, and for many years practiced law throughout the Western Reserve, attained high rank in his profession, and at one time was a member of the Ohio Legislature and a member of Congress from Trumbull-Ashtabula district, just before and some years after the opening of the war of the rebellion.
John C. Hutchins was born at Warren in 1840, attended the public schools at Warren, Oberlin College and, subsequently, the Albany Law School. He became a member of the Second Ohio Cavalry in the summer of 1861, and became second lieutenant, first lieutenant and acting captain. In 1863 he met with a severe accident and was compelled to resign. Soon thereafter, upon the restoration of his health, he commenced the study of law in his father's law office at Warren. In 1865 he entered as a student the law school at Albany, in New York, took his degree there in 1866, and was immediately admitted to practice in New York by the New York Court of Appeals. Upon his graduation from Albany he returned to Ohio and was admitted to the bar at Canfield, commencing the practice of his pro- fession at Youngstown, in partnership with General Sanderson. He moved to Cleveland in 1868, and formed a partnership with his father, who had become a resident of Cleveland, and Judge Ingersoll, under the firm name of Hutchins & Ingersoll, subsequently becoming a member of the firm of John & J. C. Hutchins.
In 1877 he was elected prosecuting attorney of Cuyahoga county, serving one term of two years, and in 1879 he again took up the general practice under the firm name of Hutchins, Campbell & Johnson. In 1883 he was elected judge of the Municipal Court, serving four years. At the end of his official term there he again resumed general practice, but this time alone. In 1892 he was elected judge of the Court of Common Pleas
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of Cuyahoga county, but resigned in 1895 to accept the position of post- master of Cleveland, by appointment of President Cleveland. He reured from the postmastership in the fall of 1899, and again resumed general practice of law in Cleveland, where he has been ever since.
He early became very much interested in all matters concerning the prosperity and growth of Cleveland, was a member of the board of education at one time, and a member of the public library board for thirteen years, seven of which he served as president of the board. His practice of his profession has been of a general nature, and at various times he was inter- ested as an attorney in the trial of many important and leading cases, both civil and criminal.
Judge Hutchins is a most companionable man, a great student of general literature and history. He has a very retentive memory, and possesses the happy faculty of applying his knowledge at the proper time and place. He has a host of friends and admirers, and has always been faithful in the discharge of his every duty, in whatever position of trust he has been called. He is a man of fine presence, a fluent speaker who is much sought on public occasions where an address is required. He is a member of the Loyal Legion, and was in 1897 junior vice commander of the Ohio Commandery. He is well remembered and much admired by the friends of his boyhood in Trumbull county.
Judge Hutchins was married in 1862 to Jennie M. Campbell, of Scotch ancestry and a native of New York. Five children were born of said marriage, two girls and three boys. Mrs. Hutchins died in Cleveland in 1904.
HENRY ALBERT WILLIAMS, one of the prosperous farmers of Bloom- field township, is a native of Devonshire, England, born October 26, 1856, a son of John Williams. The mother died when Henry A., the son, was three years of age. In 1875 the father and son went to Bloomfield town- ship, where the father bought land. His death occurred August 22, 1906.
Henry A. was the youngest of four sons and two daughters in his parents' family. After going to Trumbull county he was employed on a farm by the month for four years, and in 1879 he, with his brother Richard, purchased one hundred and sixty-two acres of land in partnership, the same being in the northern portion of Bloomfield township. This farm the two brothers worked jointly until the marriage of Henry A., when he sold it to his father. In 1889 IIenry A. bought sixty acres on the pike a mile and a half south of Bloomfield ('enter. On this farm the improvements consisted of a few dilapidated old buildings, but in 1896 he built a com- modious frame house of eight rooms, the building being two full stories high. He has also rebuilt the barn and made many valuable improve- ments upon his farm. He carries on diversified farming, together with the dairy business, paying special attention to horses, cattle and hogs.
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