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 42
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John B. Shannon followed farming and stock raising, and kept a large flock of sheep on his farm. He also had a sheep ranch of several hundred acres in Norton county, Kansas, in which locality he was very successful as a sheep producer. In his political views Mr. Shannon was a Democrat, but was never an active man in political circles. He was a stockholder in the Girard National Bank, and withal a highly honored citizen. John B. Shannon and wife, Phebe (Crandon) Shannon, were the parents of one child, Clara B., who married Herbert L. Jones, and they have one son- Shannon Jones.
JOHN L. BARD, the enterprising saw mill, lumberman and farm oper- ator, residing in Liberty township, Trumbull county, was born March 2, 1853, in the township wherein he now resides. His father, James H. Bard, was born and reared in Liberty township. His grandfather, 'Squire William Bard, located in Trumbull county in 1817 and erected the first steam saw mill in the state. He also purchased more than a section of fine timber land in Liberty township, and there reared a family of fourteen children, ten of whom lived to raise families, all but two sons, James H. and Dr. Isaac D., moving with their families to Iowa in the late fifties, whither the old people followed them, selling out their interest here at the age of seventy-one and moving to lowa in 1863, dying there twelve years later. James H. Bard married Mary Moser, daughter of Daniel Moser, who came from Pennsylvania and settled on a farm on the old state road near Girard, where Mary Moser was reared and received her educational training in the public schools.
James H. Bard and wife were the parents of the following children : Theron W., deceased, of Chicago; Mina, who married C. S. Loomis, now residing in Los Angeles, California : John L., of this sketch ; Ella H., married David A. Flemming and is living in Los Angeles, California; Sylvanus M., now of Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania; Henrietta, died single ; James H., who lives in Chicago, a Socialist of considerable prominence ; and Sarah E., deceased.
In 1862 James H. Bard, Sr., and Captain Mason, of Girard, organized
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Company C, One Hundred and Fifth Ohio Volunteer Infantry, and were enlisted in the Union army to serve in the Civil war, then raging. Mr. Bard early contracted southern fever, was furloughed home, after being in the hospital about six months, and later was honorably discharged from the service. He never recovered his health, although he survived a number of years, during several of which he conducted an extensive lumber business in the state of Michigan. He was a Republican in politics, and was active in township and state political issues, and was especially active and prom- inent during the early years of the Civil war. He belonged to a number of Youngstown lodges, including the Odd Fellows and Masonic fraternities. He was connected with the Methodist Protestant church at Sodom, near his home, where he always took an active part in church life, and, in fact, was one of the founders of the church at that point. He was engaged in saw mill and lumbering, and had a planing mill at Youngstown, Ohio. He there did much business with contractors, and furnished timbers for coal mines and foundries, in Youngstown and vicinity.
John L. Bard was reared in Liberty township, and there obtained his education at the public schools. He also attended one term at Orwell Academy, under H. U. Johnson, who was a leader in the famous "under- ground railroad" of pro-war days. Mr. Bard gave up his school to return home and take the management of his father's milling interests. He has managed a saw mill since he was eighteen years of age, and is thoroughly successful at such industry. Being located in his many years of saw mill work in one of the best timbered sections of the state and drawing his trade for several miles around him, today his annual output is nearly three hundred thousand feet, on a mill site of over fifty years' standing in one spot.
In politics Mr. Bard is a Prohibitionist, but aside from voting he takes no special part in party politics, excepting in the recent local option election of October 27, 1908, he spared neither time nor means to help make the county dry. In church affairs he is identified with the Methodist Protestant denomination at Sodom, being a steward and trustee. Upon him has rested largely the responsibility of looking after the finances of the church organi- zation. In 1908 he was elected a member of the school board of Liberty township. He has a fine farm of two hundred acres which he superintends. He has wisely taken time to travel considerably, including a trip to the far away Pacific coast, visiting places of interest en route, such as the famous Yellowstone Park, etc.
Concerning his domestic relations, it may be said that he married April 14, 1887, Sarah E. Creed, daughter of John and Ann Creed, who came to this country from England in 1852. Her father died twenty-six years later, the mother living to see her family of eight children all married and rearing families of their own. Mr. and Mrs. Bard have two children : John L., Jr., born 1891, and Elsie M., born 1895. Both are children of bright promise. John, Jr., attending Rayen School in Youngstown and Elsie M. Church Hill high school.
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R. TODD VAN ORSDEL, who is a well known dealer in livestock and meats of Liberty township, Trumbull county, was born February 27, 1869. His parents were Job R. and Jane (Justice) Van Orsdel, and he is the third of their four children. The family is of Dutch stock, the paternal great-grandfather, Cornelius Van Orsdel, being a native of the Nether- lands. The maternal grandmother, Margaret, was a descendant of the famous Virginia family of which John Randolph, of Roanoke, was the most famous. The paternal grandfather, Ralph Van Orsdel, spent his life principally in Lawrence county, Pennsylvania, where his death occurred in 1891. Job R. Van Orsdel, the father, was one of the most prominent farmers, stockmen and citizens of Liberty township, a native of Butler county, Pennsylvania, born on the 31st of December, 1837. He was the eldest of eleven children, and when a young man of twenty-four joined the Union forces for service in the Civil war. He enlisted August 1, 1862, in Company D, One Hundred and Thirty-fourth Pennsylvania Infantry, and, with the Army of the Potomac under Burnside, participated in the battles of Fredericksburg and Chancellorsville. He was mustered out of the service with honor on the 30th of June, 1863.
Job R. Van Orsdel returned from the front and resumed work of the farm at his home in Lawrence county, and on September 6th of that year married Miss Jane Justice, his first wife. For several years he con- tinned the business which he had begun before joining the service, that of operating a threshing machine, taking harvest contracts from neighbor- ing farmers. He next embarked in the livestock business, buying and selling to home dealers at first, but later extending his operations so as to include shipments of cattle to outside markets. In 1880 Mr. Van Orsdel located near Coalburg. Ohio, but afterward settled in Liberty township, in 1889 purchasing the farm of ninety-five acres, which he continued to improve until his death, July 1, 1906. His death was immediately caused by injuries sustained by being kicked by a horse. At the time of his decease he had also been engaged for years as a large dealer in livestock, slaughter- ing and shipping to the Youngstown market, and he also controlled more than 300 acres of land. The family homestead was located four miles north of Youngstown. Mr. Van Orsdel was also a citizen of public prom- inence, and was twice elected county commissioner-in 1902 and 1904. He was serving his second term at the time of his death, and upon the day of his funeral, which was largely attended, the flag on the courthouse at Warren was lowered to halfmast in his honor.
Job R. Van Orsdel was twice married, his first wife dying in 1875, the mother of four children-William C .; Minnie D., who became the wife of David T. Lowry, of Youngstown; Ralph Todd, of this sketch; Sanford N., of Nebraska. In 1876 Mr. Van Orsdel married Miss Mary Black, an Ohio lady, and their four children were as follows: Guy M. and Iva F., twins : John C. and Bessie Van Orsdel. Nearly all the members of both families have been members of the United Presbyterian church, and the deceased was an elder of Liberty congregation and one of the most active and honored workers.
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R. Todd Van Orsdel, of this review, was early taught the usefulness and honor of honest toil, and has long been one of the leading farmers and livestock dealers of Trumbull county. He leases one hundred and eighty acres of land, and now devotes his entire attention to the stock business : this includes slaughtering for the Youngstown market, and his slaughter houses are large and well conducted. Mr. Van Orsdel has never been a politician, but his vote has invariably been cast for the Republican party.
On February 24, 1898, Mr. Van Orsdel married Miss Carrie Strubble, daughter of George Struble and wife, of Brookfield township, where she herself was reared and educated. The children of Mr. and Mrs. Van Orsdel are as follows: William Tod, born February 11, 1899; George Claire, born May 29, 1901, and Erma Frances Van Orsdel, born December 25, 1903.
JONATHAN KEEFER, who died in Liberty township, Trumbull county, February 5, 1905, was a typical Ohio farmer, and when that is said he is classed among the leading agriculturists of the United States. At the time of his death he had occupied his homestead for nearly fifty years, or since he was a young man, and his worthy widow is still conducting the farm along the old and successful lines. The homestead consists of some three hundred and seventy acres of fine agricultural land. a good residence and other valuable improvements, and the farm is one of the best in Trumbull county. Mr. Keefer devoted much of his time to horses and cattle and took particular pride in a fine flock of Shropshire sheep, and his widow is now actively superintending this feature of the farm.
Jacob Keefer. the grandfather of the deceased, was a native of Lorraine, France, where his son (also Jacob Keefer) was born, reared and educated. When Jacob Keefer. Jr., came to the United States he settled in Pennsylvania, and in Lehigh county was married to Miss Rebecca Nier. This couple afterward located in Canfield, Mahoning county, Ohio, and two years afterward in Liberty township, Trumbull county. The mother died in 1821 and the father in 1889, and of their ten children Jonathan Keefer was the eldest, born on the 21st of March, 1833.
At the age of twenty-three, on the 20th of November, 1855, Mr. Keefer wedded Miss Rebecca Herring, who died in 1882, the mother of one child, who died in infancy. On December 24. 1890, he married as his second wife Mary Baird, daughter of John and Eliza (Kitch) Baird, of Youngstown, Mahoning county. Mrs. Mary B. Keefer at once became her husband's faithful assistant and continued to lighten his burdens and further his interests as long as he lived. Together they managed and developed the affairs of the fine farm, which had been in Mr. Keefer's possession since 1857, and she now maintains a double station of honor, both by virtue of her own worth and as the widow of a stanch citizen who had been such a high credit to his calling and his family. Mrs. Keefer is an honored member of the Methodist church and a lady of intelligent and substantial
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moral character. Two children were born of the last marriage: J. Warren, born August 18, 1894, and Paul, born March 29, 1897.
GEORGE B. FRAZIER, one of the enterprising agriculturists of Liberty township, Trumbull county, was born October 23, 1843, on the farm where he now lives. His father, George Frazier, Sr., was born and reared in Hubbard, Ohio, and he was the son of William Frazier, of Scotch descent. George, Sr., was reared to farm work and educated at the district school at Hubbard. He commenced his active career as a tiller of the soil and always carried on general farming operations. Politically, he was first a Whig and later a Republican. In church relations he was a member of the Evangelical Association, in which church he was a faithful class leader and Sunday school superintendent. He married Melinda Hoffman, daugh- ter of Isaac Hoffman and wife Susanna, who lived in Lancaster county, Pennsylvania, where Melinda was born. When fourteen years of age she accompanied her parents to a point about fourteen miles west of Pittsburg, remained there two years and went to Trumbull county, locating in Liberty township, which was then a wilderness. Melinda ( Hoffman) Frazier had many thrilling experiences in those days. She had no brothers, and con- sequently it fell to her lot to help in the field. When sixteen years of age she would work all day in the field and then milk nine cows, and if there was churning to do would perform that ever-irksome task before bedtime. Late one evening she had finished her work at the springhouse and started to the house, which she found locked, her parents supposing her in bed. She opened a window and had hardly closed it when she heard the cry of a panther just outside. Luckily, she escaped an attack from this most dangerous of wild animals.
Mr. and Mrs. Frazier had seven children. They were as follows: Mary, who died in infancy; John H .; William H .; Isaac R., drowned while in the army; George B., of this notice; Elvira; Julia H., now residing with George B. All are dead but George B. and Julia H. The father died December 29, 1885.
George B. Frazier, the fourth child in order of birth, was educated at the public schools of Liberty township. He remained single and was for some time a member of the Ohio National Guard, later enlisting in the One Hundred and Seventy-first Regiment, Ohio Volunteer Infantry, being a member of Company D, where he served until the close of the war. He was at the battle of Kellars Ridge, Kentucky, against General Morgan, the famous cavalry raider. The Union troops, being outnumbered, were sur- rounded and captured. He now holds in sacred keeping his honorable discharge from both the National Guard and the Union army as a soldier of the great civil conflict, together with a letter, or rather certificate of thanks, from President Lincoln, of which he is justly proud. Politically, he is a stanch Republican, while in church faith he is of the Evangelical Association, in which church he has served as class leader, Sunday school
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superintendent, secretary of the Sunday school and a teacher in the same. Mr. Frazier carries on general farming, having sixty-five acres under cultivation.
His sister, Julia H. Frazier, was born February 19, 1849, and was reared and educated in her native township. She has lived with her brother, George B., making a home for him and caring for their mother, who is now in her ninety-sixth year and is the oldest woman in this part of the country, and is in feeble health at this writing-1908.
THOMAS HARRIS STEWART, M. D., physician and surgeon, of Churchill, Liberty township, Trumbull county, is a native of Murraysville, Pennsyl- vania, born October 5, 1838, a son of Dr. Zachariah Gemmill Stewart, who was the seventh child of Thomas Harris and wife Anne (Gemmill) Stewart, and was born in Alexandria, Pennsylvania, December 12, 1805, and was named for his mother's brother, an early resident of Alexandria. Thomas Harris Stewart, grandfather of Dr. Stewart, was the third son and the fifth child of Colonel George and Mary (Harris) Stewart, and was born February 5, 1767, at Harford, Maryland.
Dr. Z. G. Stewart was united in marriage to Jane Laird, and to them were born the following children: Francis Laird, who married Margaret Harris Stewart, May 13, 1856; Dr. Thomas H., of this notice; Robert Laird, who married Sadie Ewing, April 28, 1870; Anna Mary, who married William MeJunkin, October 16, 1879; Jane Eliza, married John Mateer, December 23, 1819.
Dr. Thomas H. Stewart passed his youthful days in his native village, Murraysville, Pennsylvania. From 1853 to 1857 he was employed on the Argus at Greensburg, with his uncle, John M. Laird, Esq., and there mas- tered the printer's trade. Ife then returned to his native place and pursued a classical course, with mathematics, under the Presbyterian pastor of that place, the Rev. William Edgar, and adding to these studies, as a recreation, botany, zoology and kindred branches of natural history, and collecting a large cabinet of geological and zoological specimens, thus acquiring a great love of nature. He also kept a meteorological record for the Smithsonian Institute at Washington, D. C.
April 1, 1859, he moved with his father's family to Cannonsburg, Pennsylvania, and entered college, from which he graduated in 1863. After spending one year in his cousin's drug store, he commenced the study of medicine with Dr. Barnett. Varying this study with more service in the drug store (1867) and at teaching (1868) and spending two winters at the University of Michigan (1866-67 and 1868-69), he graduated in medicine, with his M. D. title well earned, in March, 1869. In 1866 he also took the degree of A. M. from his alma mater. For a few months he practiced his profession with Dr. II. B. Piper at Harrison City, Penn- sylvania, but in February, 1870, he located at Churchill, Trumbull county, Ohio, where he has since successfully practiced medicine. In 1901 the
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doctor retired from active practice and spent the winter of 1901-02 in Southern California and the following winter in Florida, where he has since spent his winters. During the summer months he resides at his comfortable home at Churchill, Ohio.
Politically, Dr. Stewart is a Republican and was elected to the Ohio legislature from Trumbull county and spent four winters (1886-1889, in- clusive) at Columbus, Ohio, attending to his duties as a state representative. He was a member of the Trumbull County Medical Society for a number of years, serving as president one year; the Ohio State Medical Society and the American Medical Association. He belongs to the Masonic order, being advanced to the degree of a Knight Templar. belonging at Youngs- town, Ohio. In his church faith he is in accord with the Methodist Episcopal church. January 6, 1870, he was married to Sarah Gustine Snowden, daughter of Dr. Isaac W. and Margery (Loudon) Snowden. By this union one child was born, Maude, born at Churchill, Ohio, November 23, 1870. She was married September 18, 1895, to Louis Herbert Brush. Mr. and Mrs. Brush reside at Salem, Ohio, and they have one son, Thomas Stewart Brush, born July 12, 1896.
Concerning the ancestry of Mrs. Dr. Stewart, let it be here recorded that John Snowden, the first known of this name, emigrated from Great Britain to Chester county, Pennsylvania, some time previous to 1678. In 1685 he moved to Philadelphia, and in 1704 was an elder in the First Presbyterian church there. He was the first elder ordained in Pennsyl- vania. His son, Isaac, born 1732, was prominent in both church and state. Four sons were graduated from Princeton and adorned the ministry. One of these was Nathaniel Randolph Snowden, born at Philadelphia 1770, graduated at Princeton College 1287; was licensed to preach at Carlisle. October 22, 1793; was pastor at Paxton and Derry until 1796 and of Harrisburg until June 25, 1805. Rev. N. R. Snowden married a daughter of Dr. Lemuel Gustine and had six children-five sons aud one daughter. One son was James Ross Snowden, LL.D., a distinguished Philadelphian. He had four sons, who became doctors of medicine, the eldest of whom was Isaac W. Snowden. He was a surgeon in the army from 1816 to 1823. but upon resigning practiced at Hogestown, near Harrisburg, and died June 4, 1850. He married Margery B. London, daughter of Archibald Loudon. They had two sons and three daughters. One son is Col. A. Loudon Snowden, late director of the United States mint at Philadelphia, and one daughter Sarah Gustine, the wife of Dr. Stewart.
CHARLES L. ADGATE, well known in Trumbull county as a florist and market gardener, represents a family which has long resided within the borders of this county, and from the early days to the present the name has been associated with its business interests. John H. Adgate, his paternal grandfather, came to the United States from Germany and, drifting west- ward, he with other men of his time purchased the land upon which a
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portion of the present city of Warren now stands. His name is also recorded among those who fought against the Indians at Salt Springs.
Hover Adgate, a son of this Trumbull county pioneer, was born in its township of Howland and there received his educational training. During the active years of his business life he was both a market gardener and a brick maker, and to him belongs the credit of manufacturing the brick from which many of the buildings of Warren and vicinity were made, prominent among which was the Austin house. He was a life-long sup- porter of Republican principles, although never an active party worker, and his death occurred in the year of 1896. He married on the 28th of October, 1838, Matilda Baldwin, also born, reared and educated in the vicinity of Warren, a daughter of Jacob H. Baldwin, another of the honored early pioneers of Trumbull county. They became the parents of the following children : Harry, deceased; Carrie, the widow of Elisha Robbins; John H., residing in Warren; Flora, who became the wife of George Van Wye, and is living in Florence, Colorado; Charles L., mentioned below, one who died in infancy.
Charles L. Adgate was born in Howland township, Trumbull county, January 13, 1858, the youngest son of Hover and Matilda Adgate, and he obtained his educational training in the district schools of Warren township and in the city schools of Warren. From his school days until the age of twenty-five he worked with his father at market gardening, beginning life on his own responsibilities at that age, and he is now a successful florist and market gardener. At his large and well stocked greenhouse he makes a specialty of the raising of carnations and lilies, also supplying all kinds of budded stock, and at his flower store, located at No. 26 Park avenue, Niles, Ohio, he supplies all varieties of flowers and sells florists' supplies, but makes a specialty of cut flowers for use at weddings, funerals and other occasions. In his truck garden he produces all kinds of vegetables in their season, and sells his commodities to the wholesale trade.
In politics Mr. Adgate upholds the principles of the Republican party, and he has membership relations with the Masonic order, belonging to Mahoning Lodge No. 394, F. & A. M., and with Falcon Lodge No. 436, I. O. O. F., both of Niles. His church connection is with the Baptist denomination, where for eight years he has served as a church clerk. He married, September 28. 1883, Mary Miller, a daughter of Jonathan and Fianna (Heinzelman) Miller, both of German descent. Mrs. Adgate was educated in the schools of Warren. Three children have blessed their mar- riage union : Ross E., Mabel L. and Mary C., all of whom reside with their parents.
WARREN DUNLAP, one of the successful farmers of Mineral Ridge, Weathersfield township, Trumbull county was born in the house in which he now lives November 16, 1875. John Dunlap, his father, came from Scotland, and was of Scotch-Irish descent. Upon coming to the United States in 1837 he located first near the Canadian line, on the St. Lawrence
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river, but soon came to Trumbull county, Ohio. He married Caroline Rumsey, of Ohltown, Ohio, where she was reared and obtained her educa- tion. Eleven children were born of this union: Mrs. Lichty, of Cleveland, Ohio; Howard, of Pittsburg, Pennsylvania; Horace, of Arizona, a banker ; Bert, of Arizona; Mrs. J. W. Jones, of Long Beach; Miss Alice; Miss Grace and Warren Dunlap, of this narrative, Grant died in infancy; May died at age of eighteen years ; Blanch died at age of twenty-eight years.
John Dunlap, the father of this family, was a prominent worker in the Republican party. He was entrusted with numerous local offices, having been elected county commissioner, and served in such capacity during the building of the present court house at Warren. He affiliated with the Masonic order, and had advanced to the degree of Knights Templar. At the time of his death he was counted among the wealthiest men of Trum- bull county. In his church relations he was of the Methodist Episcopal faith, giving liberally of his wealth to the cause of the church and to the needy poor about him. He was modest, and never displayed his donations to be seen of or praised by men. He was a stockholder in the Union National Bank of Warren, the City National Bank of Niles, and up to the time of his death attended to his valuable interests in Hocking Valley Coal Lands; also in similar holdings in Mahoning Valley. He was one of the promoters of the Western Reserve Stock Company of Arizona. Beloved by all who knew him, his memory is still cherished, and long will be.
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