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 43
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Warren Dunlap commenced life on his father's farm, and received his education at the district schools, after which he attended college at Mt. Union (Ohio) College two terms, where most of his sisters and brothers received their education. After leaving school he spent three years in the far west, for the most part on his father's ranch in Arizona. On coming home he took a commercial course in the Business School of Warren.
Politically Mr. Dunlap is a Republican, but takes no active part in party work. Ile and his family belong to the Presbyterian church. He is engaged in farming extensively. His farm consists of one hundred and forty acres. He is interested in coal land in Hocking and Mahoning val- leys, besides looking after many interests in which the estate of his father is concerned.
He was married June 12, 1901, to Lida Jones, the accomplished daughter of William and Anna (White) Jones, of Mineral Ridge. Mrs. Dunlap was born and reared in that section and educated in Mineral Ridge schools, graduating from the high school. She is a public speaker of some note, and has taken part in several of the W. C. T. U. oratorical contests. She has captured the silver prize medal, the gold and the grand gold medals in contests at Warren and Mineral Ridge. One child was born to Mr. and Mrs. Dunlap, Harold John, born January 24, 1903.
WILLIAM E. HUGHES, of Mineral Ridge, in Weathersfield township, a retired farmer, was born at Lewistown, Mifflin county, Pennsylvania, Octo- ber 21, 1847. Samuel Hughes, his father, was born and reared near Dry
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Valley, close to Valley Forge, Pennsylvania. He was of Scotch and Penn- sylvania Dutch descent. He married Matilda Densel at Lewistown. She was of German parentage. This worthy couple had eight children: Nancy, wife of Bryson Wilson; Mary E., wife of James Taylor, of Pittsburg; Christina A., wife of George Newman, of Niles, Ohio; Susanna, wife of James Brood, of Pittsburg; Maria, wife of Samuel Lynch, of New Brighton, Pennsylvania : Albert C., who lives at Gallipolis, Ohio; William E., of this sketch; James P., of Newton Falls, Ohio.
Samuel Hughes, the father, came to Ohio in 1856, settling at Ohl- town, Trumbull county. He was connected with the Junior Order of American Mechanics; was a soldier in the Civil war, and served in the Twentieth Ohio Infantry Regiment and was in twenty-three hard-fought battles, among which engagements may be enumerated Vicksburg, Atlanta and Bolivar, Tennessee. He was a corporal in his company, and served under Division Commander Logan at Shiloh, Corinth, Mississippi and Fort Donelson. Politically he voted with the Republican party, and in church faith was a communicant of the Baptist church the greater part of his life. He held many church offices during his membership in this denomination. He was at one time a local preacher, and was noted for working hard during the entire week and then driving from five to ten miles on Sunday in order to preach.
William E. Hughes, the seventh child in his parents' family, began his career in lite as an iron worker in the rolling mills, when abont nineteen years of age. He received his education at Temperanceville, Pennsylvania, and at the district schools of Ohltown, Ohio. He commenced a course in the business college at Pittsburg, but left before he graduated. When six- teen years of age he enlisted in the Twentieth Ohio Regiment as a member of Company H. as a drummer boy, and was in twenty-three hard-fought engagements with his command. Grant and Sherman were the leading generals under whom he served his time in the great Civil war, as the Fifteenth, Sixteenth and Seventeenth Army Corps were what was styled "Sherman's Bummers," and he was associated with that gallant, rongh and always ready portion of the Union volunteer service. He was in the Seventeenth Corps and served three years, from 1861 to 1864. Since the war ended he has spent all of his active years as an iron worker, together with carpentering. On account of his age he is now retired, and lives on a small farm in Weathersfield township. Politically Mr. Hughes is a Repub- lican. In religious faith he is affiliated with the Spiritualist denomination.
He was married February 2, 1868. to Orvilla M. Baer, who was the daughter of Lafayette and Orvilla Baer, residents of Niles, Ohio. They moved from Pennsylvania in 1849, when she was two weeks old. Mrs. Hughes was educated at the common schools. The children born of this union are: William L., who married and lives at Youngstown, Ohio; Francis May, wife of Collingwood Brown, lives at Niles, Ohio ; Charles A., residing at Canton, Ohio: George W., who died in infancy; Otto A., an adopted son, who lives at the family home.
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ELMER E. FERRIS, of Weathersfield township, Trumbull county who is an enterprising farmer, residing on R. F. D. No. 2, and who also is an exten- sive dealer in both sand and gravel, was born near Ottawa, Canada, Septem- ber 28, 1843, a son of Thomas Ferris, who was reared and spent his entire life at and near Ottawa, Canada, where he followed farming. He died when the son, Elmer E., was a child. The wife and mother was Frances (Elward) Ferris, also of Canadian birth, where she spent her life. In the family were two sons and four daughters, as follows: Elizabeth, wife of Mathew Lonsdale, now deceased ; Sophia, wife of Hugh Gehan ; Mary Ann, wife of Alexander Cooper, now deceased; Catherine, wife of Elmer Gehan ; Robert B., who now lives at Ottawa, Canada; and Elmer E.
Elmer E. Ferris was educated in the schools near Ottawa, where he continued to reside until 1860, when he went to the States, making the trip via Prescott, by mail, thence by boat to Cleveland, Ohio. From that city he went to Mercer county, Pennsylvania, where he was employed by the Mercer Coal and Iron Company. Subsequently he embarked in the lumber business, contracting lumber for the Erie Canal Extension Company.
In 1864 he removed to Trumbull county, Ohio. Upon his arrival in Trumbull county he located at Warren, and there engaged in the lumber trade, associated with Kirk, Christy & Co. for four years, when he con- ducted the business for himself until recently. He engaged in farming on a place having one hundred and forty-eight acres, upon which he now resides, having lived there thirty-two years ago and drove to Warren to attend to his lumber business. Here he carries on a successful agricultural business. But recently he has engaged in a new industry, that of handling sand and gravel, he having a pit on his own farm, which is also a portion of the Salt Springs tract, and a part of the four thousand acre reserve.
In his political views Mr. Ferris is a stalwait defender of Democratic principles, and in church faith a life-long Episcopalian, in which faith his parents reared him.
September 8, 1815. he was married to Savilla Moser, daughter of Cor- nelius Moser and wife, whose maiden name was Adaline McKee, of Warren, whose father came to Trumbull county at an early day from Shippensburg, Pennsylvania. Mrs. Ferris received her education at the public schools of Warren, Ohio. One child has blessed this union, Elward Leon, born in 1898, now at home with his parents.
SAMUEL H. PARK, of Weathersfield township, Trumbull county. farmer and dairyman, was born March 19, 1866, in Weathersfield township, and has always resided there. He is the son of John H. Park, who was a native of Rutland county, Vermont, born in Wells township May 21, 1821. The grandfather emigrated with his family when John H. was five years of age, going to a point about seven miles west of Lake Champlain, near the eastern terminus of the Adirondacks, New York, where the father bought eighty acres of land. There he erected a saw mill and engaged in farming in a modest manner. The father built and operated a hotel of rather small
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dimensions, but where he did considerable business. It was at this point that John HI. Park and his brothers attended school about three months of the year, while the balance of the time was spent in hunting and trapping bear, wolves and other small game, as well as exploring the streams in that vicinity. AAlthough his parents were prosperous where they had settled, they joined the almost endless chain of emigrants, and in the year 1830 John H. Park and father set out for the vast, illimitable and ever-changing west, following the star of empire as far west as Ohio. At times they walked and at other times would ride in wagons, stage coach and canal boats. They finally arrived at Warren, Trumbull county, and, after a survey of the premises, purchased a tract of three hundred and sixty acres of land four miles below Warren, on the banks of the Mahoning river, paying for the same five dollars an acre. This was included in the Salt Springs four thousand acre tract, reserved for its timber. In the same year he moved his family to this county, driving through in wagons, locat- ing in a log house on the land purchased. It was here that John H. Park received most of his education, in the first school house in Weathersfield township, the same being constructed by his father. In that township John H. Park lived until claimed by death, August 2, 1904. He was well known and highly respected for his noble traits of manhood. He belonged to the Masonic fraternity. He held local offices, including trustee of Weath- ersfield township. He married Lucinda Weisell, who came to Trumbull county when a mere girl from Westmoreland county, Pennsylvania. She died in 1880. By this union six children were born : Edwin; Minerva J., wite of Leander Cole, both of whom are now deceased; Rachel A., wife of J. E. Fisher; Mary Rebecca, wife of F. R. Adams; John C., of Lordstown, Ohio, and Samuel H., who was the youngest in the family.
Samuel H. Park received his education at the public schools of Weath- ersfield township and attended two terms at Niles, Ohio. He began life on his own account on the farm which he now lives upon, at the age of twenty-one years, having remained at home with his parents up to that time. He is now engaged in general farming pursuits, and carries on dairying to quite an extent. He owns and cultivates his farm, consisting of one hundred and eighty-four acres.
Politically Mr. Park is a life-long Republican, and was a member of the board of education from 1904 to 1907. He belongs to Falcon Lodge No. 436, Independent Order of Odd Fellows; also to the Senior Order of American Mechanics, Garfield Lodge No. 2.
Mr. Park was happily united in marriage September 24, 1906, to Miss Agnes M. Johns, of Niles, Ohio, a daughter of William and Margaret Johns, who went to Youngstown, Ohio, from South Wales in 1880, moving to Niles in 1891. Mrs. Park was educated in the public schools of the city of Youngstown, Ohio, and at Niles.
FRANK WALKLEY, of Bristolville, Trumbull county, Ohio, is a native of that city and a son of Aaron and Mary (Smith) Walkley, the father
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born February 14, 1821, in Bristol, and the mother in Osnaburg, Stark county, Ohio, January 23, 1834. The grandparents were Jonathan and Nancy (Niles) Walkley, natives of Connecticut, and Jeremiah and Nancy Smith, of Pennsylvania.
Jonathan Walkley was born at Haddam, November 16, 1783, and died at Bristolville, October 10, 1828. He came to Trumbull county, Ohio, in 1806, by means of an ox team, settling in the big timber district, having had to fell and burn the trees in order to get tillable land to produce crops sufficient to subsist upon. At that early day the Indians were frequently in sight and sometimes troublesome, while game, including deer, was very plentiful. November 22, 1808, he married Nancy Niles, who was born at Chatam, Connecticut, February 24, 1784, and who died in Bristolville, October 29, 1893. It was about the year of 1809 when he settled on the farm now owned by Frank Walkley, and locating on the main road between the lakes and Pittsburg, he there conducted an inn or tavern for the travel- ing public, who went in those days by stage coach and on horseback gener- ally to and from the eastern cities. At the time there was an Indian village on the farm, and the Indians were frequent visitors. He had the dis- tinction of building, about the year 1814, the first frame residence within the township, which building is still standing in a good state of preservation and in use. On this one hundred acre farm Aaron Walkley always resided, dying there in 1876. The wife of Aaron Walkley died in 1903. The children born of this union were as follows: George, Frank, and Belle, the daughter, now Mrs. L. A. Hine, of Mantua, Portage county, Ohio.
Frank Walkley attended the common schools and during one year the Western Reserve Seminary of West Farmington. He is in politics a Democrat and has served three terms as state deputy supervisor of elections from Trumbull county. He was the Democratic candidate for presidential elector from the Nineteenth district in 1908, and has served on the Demo- cratic central and executive committees a great many times, also serving many times as a delegate to county, district and state conventions. He has been a candidate for town and county offices, and is a prominent and active worker in his party cause. He has fraternal membership with the Knights of the Maccabees, Bristolville Lodge No. 181, and with the Knights of the Golden Eagle of the same place. He has always resided on the farm, which became his possession by right of sole title, and there he carried on general farming pursuits.
It should be further mentioned in connection with this prominent Walkley family that both the paternal and maternal great-grandfathers of Frank Walkley were soldiers in the Revolutionary war, the latter, Elisha Niles, having been with Washington at Valley Forge and at Yorktown. Asa Walkley was at the battle of Bunker Hill, and although he served all through the Revolutionary war and the last war with Great Britain, that of 1812, without injury, he was killed by lightning while lying in bed. Jonathan Walkley was in the War of 1812.
Another historical representative of this family was Harry Rockwell,
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whose romantic matrimonial experience is recorded in the history of Middlesex county, Connecticut. It is a happier version of Enoch Arden, and its reproduction is as follows: "Harry Rockwell was born in Ware- house Point, Connecticut, January 18, 1296, and on the 19th of January, 1817, married Esther, daughter of Elisha Niles. In 1819 he went to Savannah, Georgia, in the employ of a New York man as a carpenter. There he spent the winter, and, returning to New York, shipped on board a vessel bound on a whaling expedition to the South Sea islands. On account of cruel and inhuman treatment by the officers, Mr. Rockwell and some of his comrades deserted, and after almost incredible suffering they reached a place where an English man-of-war was lying, on board of which they shipped. England and Spain were then at war, and in a short time a Spanish vessel captured the Englishman, and the crew were intro- dueed to all the horrors of a Spanish prison. At length Mr. Rockwell was released and enlisted in the American naval service, where he remained a number of years, and afterward entered the merchant service as a sailor and visited many foreign countries. In about six years after leaving home he came to New York, and learning that his wife, supposing him to be dead, had married again, he returned to his seafaring life. Mrs. Rockwell married George Evans, who died in 1831, leaving her with three children. In 1835 Mr. Rockwell, moved by a desire to learn what fortune had befallen his home during his sixteen years of absence, returned to East Hampton, where he was unrecognized. and by cautious inquiry learned the particu- lars. On the afternoon of July 4, 1835, he knocked at the door of his home and asked permission for brief shelter from an impending thunderstorm, and was cheerfully bidden to enter. In a few moments he was recognized, and five days later they were reunited in marriage. Three sons were born of this union, and the couple thus reunited lived together nearly forty- eight years, until Mr. Rockwell's death, April 8, 1883." Esther (Niles) Rockwell was a great-aunt of Frank Walkley, and she died on the 17th of October, 1886, aged eighty-nine years.
Thomas Walkley, a brother of Jonathan, a great-uncle of Frank Walkley, was a graduate of Yale and a professor of that college at the time of his death. Another brother, Simeon, was captain of an Ameri- can privateer vessel and was shipwrecked. He, with four others, escaped on a raft, but he died on the fifth day of exposure and starvation and was buried at sea. The others were rescued on the seventh day out, but they were compelled to chew and eat the leather in their shoes, as they had no provisions of any kind.
JOHN EDGAR, who is engaged in farming pursuits within that goodly, portion of Trumbull county known as Bristol township, is a native of the north of England, born November 11, 1833, a son of George and Margaret (Bird) Edgar. The grandparents were David Edgar, a native of Scotland, and John and Mary Bird, of England.
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John Edgar, of this biographical notice, worked on the farms of England until 1863, when he saw better things in store for him in free America. He came to our shores on a steamer called Sidon. This was the boat's first trip over the ocean and upon her return she was fitted out for Australia, but was wrecked on the Irish coast and sank. After his arrival in this country Mr. Edgar went to Mercer county, Pennsylvania, and there enlisted in the Seventy-sixth Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry, being a member of Company B. The date of his enlistment was October, 1863. He was assigned to the Army of the James, under Gen. Benjamin F. Butler. Mr. Edgar was with his command until the regiment was finally discharged, on July 4, 1865, at Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. He then returned to Mercer county, and from there came to Mecca township, Trumbull county, Ohio, and has followed farming from that time to the present. In 1893 he purchased fifteen acres in Bristol township, where he now resides.
Mr. Edgar was happily united in marriage in November, 1867, to Isabella McQuillen, born in Ireland, and who came to this county in 1863. She died February 16, 1908. The children of this union were: Mary Elizabeth, at home; Sarah E., Mrs. Andrew Marshall, of Ashtabula, Ohio; and William D., of Champion, Ohio. Mr. Edgar is a member of the Episcopal church. He is independent in politics and belongs to Clayton Post of the G. A. R. of West Mecca.
JOHN THOMPSON, deceased, who in his lifetime was a large land- holder in Trumbull county, Ohio, was a native of Ireland, born April 19, 1840, a son of John and Ellen (Dobson) Thompson, also natives of Ireland. They came to the United States bringing with them the three eldest chil- dren and leaving the three youngest in Ireland. Among the number was John, of this memoir, he being the eldest of the three left across the sea.
In 1856, when John Thompson was sixteen years of age, he being the last one of the family left, worked and secured funds with which to pay his transportation to this country. He came to Bristol township, Trumbull county, Ohio, where his parents then lived, and where he worked on a farm by the month until his marriage to Marietta Hyde, August 27, 1868. She was born in Bristol township, November 10, 1841, a daughter of Nelson and Adelia Ann (Green) Hyde. The father was born in Farm- ington township and the mother in New York state. The grandparents, Eli and Hannah (Porter) Hyde, were natives of Connecticut and of English descent; and Waite P. and Dolly (Peck) Green were natives of New York. In 1818 the grandparents Hyde went to Farmington township, settled on timber land, which they purchased, clearing up and finely improving it. They remained there until the death of grandfather Hyde. Mrs. Thomp- son's parents were married in Farmington township and moved to Bristol township, bought a timber farm, cleared the same up, and sold out, after which they bought another place within the same township. The father
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died there in May, 1904, aged eighty-six years. His faithful wife died in 1825.
After John Thompson had married he purchased one hundred and seven acres of land in the eastern part of Bristol township. He made further improvements on this farm, in 1880 erecting a frame house, having lived in the old frame house up to that date. He made many valuable farm improvements and as he could afford it kept adding to his landed estate, until he owned, free of incumbrance, three hunrded and fifty acres of choice farming land, all within Bristol township. He carried on general farming and raised much stock. He was killed by accident-a tree falling upon his body-January 29, 1902. He was an excellent man and one who believed in good citizenship and who never failed to provide for his family. Politically, he voted the Republican ticket. The children born to Mr. and Mrs. Thompson were: Frank N., of Bristol township; Robert Clinton, of the same township; and Elmer M., of Warren, Ohio.
JOSEPH SYLVANUS BARB, a farmer and bee keeper of considerable note, and whose pleasant home is situated within the fertile township of Bristol, along the Spokane rural free delivery route No. 1, is a native of Bristol township, Trumbull county, Ohio, born March 5, 1850, a son of Isaac and Elizabeth (Norton) Barb. The father was born on the farm where now resides Joseph Sylvanus, December 18, 1822, while the mother was born in Bristol township October 22, 1825.
The grandparents, Gabriel and Elizabeth (Kagy) Barb, were natives of Shenandoah county, Virginia, and on the maternal side the grand- parents were Zachariah and Lydia (Hammon) Norton, of the same county in Virginia. William Barb, the great-grandfather, was also of Shenandoah county, Virginia. He moved with ox teams, following the old Indian trail, through the dense forests and wilderness to Bristol, Ohio, where in the month of June, 1805, he settled in the big timber district. He cleared and handsomely improved his lands, and died after well performing his labors as a hardy pioneer.
Abraham Kagy, a brother of Elizabeth (Kagy) Barb, moved from Shenandoah county, Virginia, to Bristol township in the summer of 1818, locating on the farm where Michael Kagy now lives, and in the spring of 1819 Elizabeth Kagy, accompanied by one of her brothers and a cousin, John Kagy, came from Shenandoah county to visit their relatives herc. She had bought a horse for one hundred dollars, and they made the journey on horseback. She continued her visit until towards fall, when she returned to her southern home, selling her horse at the close of her journey for the same amount she had paid for it. But during her sojourn north she had become acquainted with Gabriel Barb, their friendship gradually broaden- ing into true love, and in 1819 he went to Shenandoah county, Virginia, where on the 5th of September, 1820, he claimed her as his own. But it was not long until trouble crossed the path of this happy young couple,
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for early one morning in the month of February, 1821, the husband Gabriel went from his father's home to the farm he had bought, about two miles distant, to begin clearing a space for their log cabin. He cut first a good sized poplar that stood within a few feet of the site of the present home, intending to fell the trees toward the east, and as the tree fell he ran back to seek safety behind a clump of basswoods. However, as the poplar fell it struck a beech tree, which sprang back and threw a limb from the poplar against Mr. Barb, putting his hip out of place, inflicting a wound in his head and breaking one of his arms between the elbow and shoulder. There he was alone, two miles from home, the nearest neighbor on the south a mile away and to the northeast about a mile and a half distant, a dense woods separating these places. Many and many a time he called for help until finally an old lady living about a mile and a half to the northeast, on the farm where Allen Cadwallader now lives, heard his call and finally succeeded in starting the men from the place to the rescue. They came to within a short distance of where he lay and were about to turn back, thinking their search in vain, when they again heard his call. They found him in this pitiable condition and after returning to his home for help carried him back over the rough paths of the woods to his home, arriving late in the afternoon. Although he never fully recov- ered from these injuries, he became able to continue his work, and finally, with the help of his neighbors, erected his little cabin, where he moved with his young wife in September of 1821, and there he lived until his life's labors were ended in death on the 11th of July, 1838, his widow, Elizabeth, surviving him until the 4th of July, 1881, and they were laid to rest in the East Bristol cemetery, where on the stone which marks their last resting place is recorded their ages as forty-four years and five months and eighty-eight years and ten months, respectively. Such were the privations and hardships of the early pioneers that their children and grandchildren might enjoy the fruit of their toil, such the lives of these hardy settlers who built their rude domiciles, grappled with the giants of the forest and from the wilds evolved the fertile and productive fields which have these many years been furrowed by the plowshare. But the establishment of a home amid such surroundings, the coping with many privations and hard- ships, the inevitable concomitants, were characteristics of these pioneers, and their names and deeds should be held in perpetual reverence by those who enjoy the fruits of their labors.
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