Biographical history of northeastern Ohio : embracing the counties of Ashtabula, Geauga and Lake, Part 105

Author: Lewis Publishing Company. cn
Publication date: 1893
Publisher: Chicago : Lewis Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 1094

USA > Ohio > Ashtabula County > Biographical history of northeastern Ohio : embracing the counties of Ashtabula, Geauga and Lake > Part 105
USA > Ohio > Geauga County > Biographical history of northeastern Ohio : embracing the counties of Ashtabula, Geauga and Lake > Part 105
USA > Ohio > Lake County > Biographical history of northeastern Ohio : embracing the counties of Ashtabula, Geauga and Lake > Part 105

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

In 1866 Captain Phelps entered the service of the Pacific Mail Steamship Company, as one of its agents to foreign ports. He first shipped by way of Cape Horn. When out some distance a severe storm came up which satisfied the passengers that the vessel was unseaworthy, and after holding a council they forced the captain to return to New York. He then, in December, sailed via the Isthmus to California, and from there to Hong Kong, where he remained a year. He was promoted and sent to Yokohama, transferred from there

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BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY

to Hioga and Kobi, where he suddenly died, of pulmonary apoplexy, March 8, 1869. His remains were embalmed and brought to Chardon to be interred with those of his father. The mortal remains arrived on Dec- oration day, the members of the bar went out to meet the reliquia, which, upon their arrival, were buried with military honors.

Captain Phelps was united in marriage at Chardon, October 17, 1854, to Jennie M., the accomplished daughter of Noah and Marcia S. (Jones) Pomeroy. They ranked among the best known people of the county, the former being a native of Massachusetts, where he was born October 9, 1802, the youngest child of Ichabod and Lucy Pomeroy of Southampton, Massachusetts. Ichabod Pomeroy served in the war of the Revolution, and was a pensioner by reason of injuries re- ceived in that conflict. Noah Pomeroy was highly educated and a gentleman of the old school. He was engaged in agricultural pur- suits and in stock dealing nearly all his life, shipping his cattle to eastern markets. He was public-spirited, a prominent man among the agriculturists and aided largely in bring- ing forward this branch of industry. He was a man of large charity and benevolence, a devoted husband and father and a worthy citizen. He died October 17, 1884. Marcia, his wife, was the daughter of the late Elisha Jones, formerly of Hinsdale, Massachusetts, She died April 4, 1856. She was a woman of strong character, warm in her friendships, kind and benevolent, and her death was la- mented by all who knew her. They were the parents of six children, four of whom were reared to maturity: Noah M., Jennie M., Daniel W. and Willis B. Jennie M., now the widow of Captain Phelps, is a woman of fine personal appearance, pleasing manners and high culture. She has achieved a repu-

tation as an artist, especially in portrait- painting. She is the mother of three chil- dren: Anna Marcia, Edmund H., and Mary A. Anna Marcia was united in marriage, February 5, 1883, to H. H. Crum, of Cleve- land, Ohio. Two children bless this union: Alfred Phelps and Ralph Pomeroy. Edmund H. died in infancy during the war. Mary A. was married June 27, 1890, to Franz S. Briggs, formerly of New Hampton, Iowa, but now resides in Cleveland. They are the parents of two children: Henry M. Mixer and Franz Sigel.

M ARY L. REEVE, widow of Flavius J. Reeve, and a woman of superior business ability and sterling worth of character, owns one of the best farms in New Lyme township, Ashtabula county, Ohio, which she has successfully managed since her husband's death, in 1872. Flavius J. Reeve was one of the most prominent farmers of New Lyme township, respected alike for his upright character and genial personality. He was born in Orwell, Ohio, in 1831, and was reared on a farm near that city, receiving his education in his birth- place and in Cincinnati. He taught school in Iowa during his younger days, but after marriage settled on fifty acres of land near Hart's Grove, Ohio, which he cultivated for two years, when he removed to the old home- stead of his father, in New Lyme township. This includes eighty-seven and a half acres of the best farming land in the county and was the home of Mr. Reeve until his death, April 8, 1872. He was careful and method- ical in his ways, thoroughly making up his mind as to his course and unwaveringly pur- suing it to the end. He was a man of ability

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OF NORTHEASTERN OHIO.

and energy, a fluent speaker, prominent in all matters of local interest and very enthu- siastic in all he undertook. He was a Re- publican in politics in early life, but later espoused the cause of Prohibition, and spent money and energy in its behalf. He was an active member of the order of Good Tem- plars and a Free-will Baptist in religion. For twelve years prior to his death he had very poor health and died of lung disease, expiring suddenly, in the midst of friends with whom he had been conversing only a few moments before. His loss was greatly lamented by all who knew him.

Mrs. Reeve was born in Windsor, Ohio, May 5, 1834, and was a daughter of S. P. and Hannah (Bell) Alderman, her father be- ing a native of Ohio, and her mother of Ver- mont, the latter coming of a well-known and historical family of the Green Mountain State. Mrs. Reeve's father was a tanner and currier by trade, but in later life followed farming. He was a man of industry and en- ergy, a Republican in politics and for many years Justice of the Peace, making an able and honorable official. He was in his younger days an Episcopalian in religion, but later joined the Disciples' Church, of which he was a devoted member and in which faith he died. He was an enthusiastic temperance worker, doing much good for that cause. His worthy wife was also a devout adherent of the latter denomination. He died at the age. of sixty-seven on his farm near Hart's Grove, leaving his family and many friends to mourn his loss. His widow survived him a few years, expiring in the midst of friends at the age of seventy-two. They were the parents of thirteen children, seven sons and six daughters, four of whom died in infancy and early childhood. Of those who attained ma- turity, Olinthus G., resides in Des Moines,

Iowa; H. Jane, now Mrs. H. Fairchild, lives in Diller, Nebraska; Lucy A., who became Mrs. H. Scheverell, died aged twenty-two; Eurissa is unmarried; Anthony is a resident of Ottawa, Kansas; De Elbe, is now Mrs. Worthy Newcomb; and Emerson, resides in Hart's Grove.

Mrs. Reeve has had eight children, of whom Wendell P. died aged five months; Wendell P., the second, died aged seven years; Harrison J. died at the age of twenty- two, of inflammatory rheumatism, after an illness of five years. He was a young man of unusual promise and an active Republi- can; Mary Ann died aged five and a half years; one died in infancy; and Luella M., born January 31, 1867, is a young lady of education and talent. She is a graduate of the institution at New Lyme and a success- ful teacher, having taught her first term at the age of sixteen. She has much musical talent and is prominent in all social matters.

Mrs. Reeve has managed the farm for twenty-one years, never shrinking from the most arduous duties, feeding her own cattle and other stock and doing other manual la- bor. She sold her stock profitably May 13, 1893, and has otherwise been very successful in her efforts, which fact fully testifies to her energy and ability.

L HERON C. SMITH, proprietor of Springbrook farm, is one of the most enterprising and successful business men of Geauga county. He is a native son of the Buckeye State, born at Parkman, Geauga county, April 12, 1835, a son of Marsh and Eliza (Colton) Smith, whose names appear in connection with that of Judge Henry K. Smith. Theron C. received his

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education in the common and select schools of his day, and began teaching at the age of nineteen. He followed his vocation for some time, and then turned his attention to farming In 1862, he embarked in the cheese business in Geanga county, representing a New York firm. He was elected Treasurer of Geauga county in 1870, and served four years, trans- acting the business of the office with good judgment and great fidelity to the interests of the county. In 1873, he was chosen cashier of the Geauga Savings & Loan Asso-' ciation, filling the position for eight years, and giving to the institution the benefit of ripe experience. Since 1881 he has resided on his farm north of the pretty little court- house town of Chardon, devoting his time to various business enterprises.

Mr. Smith was married in 1859, to Lavinia Hopkins of Troy township, Geauga county, and a daughter of Bradley and Rhoda (Lamp- son) Hopkins, natives of New York, who came with their parents to the West at an early day, and passed their lives in Troy township. The maternal grandfather of Mrs. Smith was Ebenezer Hopkins, who was a soldier in the war of the Revolution. The parents were consistent members of the Con- gregational Church. They died in Geauga county. Mrs. Smith is one of a family of ten children; she attended Hiram College during the time James A. Garfield was connected with the institution, and was at one time a student at the school in Seneca Falls, New York. Mr. and Mrs. Smith had born to them two children who died in infancy.

Always a stanch Republican in politics, in his younger days Mr. Smith took an active part in the counsels of that body. In 1891 he assisted in the organization of the Citizens' Bank of Chardon, and was cashier for more than a year. He owns a farm of 240 acres,

part of which is within the corporation limits of Chardon, and a fine tract of land near Muscatine, Iowa, besides other real estate in Chardon. He has been interested in high bre l horses, and has done much to raise the standard in this section. One of his animals, Prince M., has a record of 2:162, and some of his horses have sold for the sum of $3,000. As his capital increased he has taken a finan- cial interest in those enterprises which have been of great benefit to Chardon, and where opportunity offered has aided and encour- aged those movements tending to advance the common cause of humanity. Mrs. Smith is a member of the Congregational Church, to which they give liberal support. He be- longs to the Masonic fraternity, being a mein- ber of the blue lodge, chapter and com- mandery.

B ENJAMIN F. DOWNING, a leading agriculturist of Geauga county, is not a native of the United States al- though a loyal citizen of the Republic. He was born in Lower Canada, November 24, 1830, a son of A. S. and Sallie (Morey) Downing, and was an infant of three years when his parents came to Ohio in 1833; they settled on a farm in Munson township, Geauga county, where he grew to man's estate. He acquired an education in the primitive log schoolhouse, and enjoyed the sport of hunt- ing wild animals which were plentiful in those days. He remained under the parental roof until he was thirty years of age, and then in partnership with his father bought a farm, which is now occupied by George Moore. Afterward he purchased his father's interest, and his father and mother lived with him several years. It was in 1863 that he bought his present place.

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OF NORTHEASTERN OHIO.

He was married in 1861 to Mary E. Young, a native of Hiram, Portage county, Ohio, born April 21, 1836, and a daughter of John C. and Susan (Ford) Young, natives of Con- necticut and New York, respectively. Mr. and Mrs. Young came to Ohio in their young days, and were highly esteemed citizens of Geauga county ; he died in 1882, at the age of seventy-five years, and she died February 14, 1891. They reared a family of three, two sons and a daughter: Sirah I., Abner W., and Mary E. (Mrs. Downing). The last named was a student at Hiram College when James A. Garfield was there, and was well acquainted with him. She became proficient in music, and from the time she was sixteen taught for twenty years. Mr. Young was a prominent and successful farmer and died leaving quite a large estate. He was a man of strict integrity, large benevolence and charity, warm-hearted and generous and much devoted to his family. He died regretted by by all. Both he and his wife were Spiritual- ists.

Mr. and Mrs. Downing are the parents of four children: Charles V. died at the age of six months and seventeen days; Eugene E., was born May 4, 1863, is married and a resident of Manson township. Victor B. and Virginia B. are twins, born June 12, 1870; they have had excellent educational advan- tages. Virginia is an accomplished musician, and is now a student at Oberlin College; at the age of five years she began playing com- positions for the piano, and when thirteen she began teaching.

Politically, Mr. Downing supports Repub- licanism, and has held many Iccal offices. During the war he labored indefatigably to free Munson township from a draft, and paid next to the highest sum to the fund for this purpose. For sixteen years he dealt exten-

sively in live stock, and is considered one of the best judges of high grades in the north- west part of the State, where he is widely known. He has been more than ordinarily successful in the business affairs of life, and has an enviable reputation for strict integrity and correct dealing.

R ICHARD W. HUBBARD .- Much of the proverbial prosperity of Ashtabu- la, Ohio, is traceable to her energetic and capable business men, of whom no one is more worthy of mention than the subject of this sketch.

Of New England ancestry, from whom he inherits c'ear judgment, an energetic disposi- tion, hardy manhood and uprightness of char- acter, it is not surprising that he should have gained foremost rank in the commercial cir- cles of his community, otherwise he would belie his Puritan ancestry, as history has never represented that race as laggards. His great grandfather, Nehemiah Hubbard, was a native of Middletown, Connecticut, and was a Revolutionary patriot. He was a man of great wealth and owned at one time most of the town site of Ashtabula besides large tracts of land in Ashtabula and adjoining counties. He was thrice married, his first wife being a Miss Sill, who had one child, now the mother of Mrs. Senator Wade and Henry Parsons. He next married a Miss Starr, and they had four children: Thomas Richard, Cornelia, Lucy and another daughter. His third wife was a widow by the name of Latimer, who had no children. Richard Hubbard, grand- father of the subject of this notice, was also born in Middletown, Connecticut. He married Mary Cone, of Colchester, Connecticut, who had four children: Lucy; Edward C., who

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died young; Edward C., father of the subject of this sketch; and Frances Cornelia. Ed- ward Cone Hubbard was also born in Middle- town, Connecticut, the birthplace of so many generations of his ancestors, his birth occur- ring September 21, 1824. He was reared and educated in his native city where he was married, and in which place he was engaged for a few years, in his younger days, in the drug business. He then settled in Ashtabula county, Ohio, near which place he was for a while engaged in fruit-farming, being at the same time proprietor of a brick and tile fac- tory, besides which he was for three years in the milling business at Conneaut. He was married June 20, 1849, to Sarah Maria Humphreys, of Derby, Ohio, daughter of an old and prominent resident of that city. They had six children: W. H., born April 13, 1850, now a leading attorney of Defiance, Ohio; R. W., the subject of this sketch; Mary C., born June 8, 1858; Lucy M., born March 10, 1861; Ellen C., February 28, 1867; and John P., November 21, 1870, now with the Ashtabula Banking Company.

R. W. Hubbard, of this biography, a resi- dent of Ashtabula, Ohio, a dealer in hard- ware at Conneaut and traveling salesman for the McIntosh Company of Cleveland, and an all-around hustling. business man, was born in the same city as his father, October 14, 1853. He secured his education principally at the boarding school of William H. Huh- bard, in Bunker Hill, Ashtabula county, an institution founded before the war but now extinct. On leaving school, Mr. Hubbard entered the hardware establishment of John C. Seldon, at Erie, Pennsylvania, as clerk, where he remained one year. He next en- tered the employ of McConkey & Shannon, of the same city, and after eighteen months' faithful and efficient service with them,

severed his connection to accept a position as traveling salesman for Messrs. Pratt & Com- pany, of Buffalo, for which latter firm he completed a service of fifteen years in 1889. This arrangement being concluded, Mr. Hub- bard secured a similar position with his pres- ent firm, the McIntosh Company, of Cleve- land. Besides this, he engaged in the hard- ware business in Conneaut in 1891, under the style of R. W. Hubbard & Company. He has been justly prospered and enjoys the best wishes of a largle circle of friends for his future success and happiness.

Politically, Mr. Hubbard advocates the principles of the Republican party; frater- nally, he belongs to the blue lodge of the Ma- sonic order; and socially is president of the Lenewawee Society of Ashtabula.

On June 30, 1886, Mr. Hubbard was mar- ried, by the Rev. Jabez Hall, to Miss Clara Gertrude Cadwell, a well known society lady, daughter of Judge Darius Cadwell, now a prominent attorney of Cleveland, this State. They have no children.

Judge Darius Cadwell has been so inti- mately connected with the progress and de- velopment of this country for so many years, that it is but fitting that some extended men- tion should be made of him in this connec- tion. He was born in Richmond, Ashtabula county, Ohio, April 13, 1821, and was a student of Alleghany College, in Meadville, Pennsyl- vania. He read law with Ramey & Wade, of Jefferson, Ohio, in which firm he later be- came a partner. In 1856, he was elected a member of the Lower House of the Legisla- ture, and in 1858 and 1859 represented his district in the Senate of Ohio. On the organi- zation of the Provost-Marshal General's de- partment at the time of the internecine strug- gle, he was appointed Provost- Marshal for the nineteenth district, which he held until the

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OF NORTHEASTERN OHIO.

close of the war, being stationed at Warren, this State. He was then transferred to other departments and closed out the business of the eighteenth, nineteenth and twentieth dis- tricts, being himself mustered out of service December 20, 1865. In the fall of 1871, Judge Cadwell opened a law office in Cleve- land, and in 1873 was elected Common Pleas Judge of Cuyahoga county, in which capacity he served two terms, his incumbency being distinguished by a prompt and efficient dis- charge of duty. He has since devoted his attention to the practice of his profession, in partnership with his son.

The Judge was married April 13, 1847, to Miss Ann Elizabeth Watrous, daughter of John B. Watrous, widely and favorably known and a descendant of an old and dis- tinguished Connecticut family. They had four children: Florence, deceased at three years: James, died aged eleven; Mrs. Hub- bard, born November 5, 1855, who was edu- cated in the common schools and at Guilford Academy; and Frank, unmarried.

E NOS MORGAN, a thrifty farmer and esteemed citizen of Plymouth town- ship, Ashtabula county, Ohio, was born in Vermont near Lake Champlain, January 22, 1828. His father, Hiram O. Morgan, was a pioneer of Ashtabula county, and a native of the same State in which her son was born, while the mother of the sub- ject of this sketch, whose maiden name was Narcissa Brewster, was also a typical New Englander, possessing all the best traits of that truly admirable people. The father was an industrious and intelligent farmer and was contented and prosperous until he lost his little farm because of a defective title, after

which he was reduced to the necessity of working by the month, his employer being ex-Governor Meach, a wealthy farmer of Ver- mont. Money accumulated slowly in the old State and Mr. Morgan decided to try his for- tune in the West, where land was cheap and fertile and afforded many inducements to those of energy and perseverance. He ac- cordingly removed with his family to Ohio, their first home being in a small hnt near Harvey Nettleton's farm in Plymouth town- ship, Ashtabula county, but their permanent settlement was made on land four and a half miles north of Jefferson. After many years they removed to the center of Jefferson, where the father died, July 14, 1877, greatly lamented by all who knew him. He was a great worker, possessed the highest sense of honor and was of a generous, kindly disposi- tion. He carefully advised and trained his sons, who have greatly profited thereby. He was the father of eight children: an infant, deceased in Vermont; Cornelius; Enos, whose name heads this sketch; Mary, wife of J. H. Whelpley ; Josiah H .; Hiram; Seymour; and Narcissa, who married Sylvester Strickland.

The subject of this sketch attended the pioneer schools of Ohio, and remained on the home farm with his parents until he was eighteen years of age. He then, in company with his brother, began to clear a tract of school land, for which his brother and him - self had contracted to pay in four years. By cutting and burning the timber, making sugar and block salts, the proceeds of their labor was ample to meet their first obliga- tion. For three years the brothers kept bachelors' hall and when the subject of this sketch married, he owned his own home. On dividing the property, the share of Mr. Enos Morgan was 117 acres, to which he has since added until he now owns 185. This has all

BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY

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been accumulated by hard labor and strict economy, and he is most worthy of his suc- cess.

In the spring of 1856, Mr. Morgan was married to Betsy Davis, a lady of domestic tastes, daughter of Benjamin Davis, former- ly of New York and a tanner by trade, who now resides with Mr. Morgan, at the age of ninety-one years. Mr. and Mrs. Morgan have had six children, of whom three are living: Those surviving are, G. Vernon, H. W. and an adopted daughter.

Religiously, Mr. Morgan is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, in which he is a Steward and an active laborer. He is an enterprising and successful farmer and pro- gressive, liberal-minded citizen, and is justly numbered among the representative men of his county.

C ASSIUS M. LATIMER, one of New Lyme's most successful farmers, was born on the farm he now occupies, January 25, 1847. His father, Elbert R. Latimer, born at Montville, Connecticut, July 29, 1808, came to Ohio in 1836. Here he purchased the 200 acres of land he now occu- pies and at once began the work of improve- ment. His work, supplemented by that of his son Cassius M., has made the Latimer farm one of the best in New Lyme. The educational advantages of the senior Mr Latimer were restricted to the district school, but so zealously did he avail himself of its privileges that he was enabled to secure a license to teach, and was engaged in that oc- cupation for fifteen terms. In 1837 he was united in marriage to a daughter of Jasper Latham, a prominent pioneer of Lenox. They had four children, of whom the two youngest

survive. The first died in infancy, and the second, Albert Ransom, died at the age of twenty-three. Cassius M. was the third born. The youngest, Eliza, married Charles Norris of Windsor. She is now a widow and resides at the home of her brother and father. Mrs. Norris has a local reputation as a mu- sician. She was at one time an instructor in the musical department of the New Lyme Institute. Her education was received in the Boston Conservatory of Music, of which in- stitution she was a graduate.

The older Mr. Latimer resides at home with his son, upon whose shoulders he has shifted the care of the farm. Now eighty-five years of age, he is remarkably well preserved both physically and mentally. He is a Republi- can and a member of the Disciple Church.

Cassius M. completed his education in the graded school, which afterward merged into the New Lyme Institute. He has since de- voted himself to the management of the large farm on which he resides, giving considerable attention to stock-raising. He has been the owner of some very fine horses and still keeps some good ones on the farm.

Politically, he is a Republican, and, frater- nally, a Mason. He is unmarried.

SELDEN WILCOX, one of the sub stantial farmers of Madison township, Lake county, Ohio, and a native of this place, was born December 24, 1833, son of Richard Selden Wilcox and grandson of Elijah Wilcox, natives of Connecticut and of English descent.

His grandfather, Wilcox, a farmer by oc- cupation, died in middle life, and his grand- mother, Wilcox, lived to be over eighty years old. The latter was related to the famous

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OF NORTHEASTERN OHIO.

Field family, of. which Cyrus Field was a member. They reared a family of eleven children.

Richard Wilcox, like his father, was en- gaged in agricultural pursuits. He taught school for a number of years in early life, and after his father's death helped his mother support the family. In 1828, before his marriage, he came from Connecticut to Ohio, making the journey by stage to Cleveland, and from there coming on foot to Lake county. He bought a farm on the Middle Ridge in Madison township, which, as the years rolled by, he developed into a fine property. He also taught school some after coming here. At the time of his death he lacked six weeks of being ninety years old. Of his life com- panion we record that her maiden name was Elizabeth Boynton, that she was a native of Vermont, and that she came to Lake county - to live with her sister in 1827. They had five children, as follows: J. S., the subject of this article; Mary E .; Alfred G .; Amanda, who died when a year and a half old; and William F. The mother died at the age of seventy-six. Both parents were members of the Central Congregational Church and took an active interest in the same, the father be- ing a Deacon for many years. He was a Republican and a strong Abolitionist.

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Biographical history of northeastern Ohio : embracing the counties of Ashtabula, Geauga and Lake, Part 105

Author: Lewis Publishing Company. cn Publication date: 1893 Publisher: Chicago : Lewis Pub. Co. Number of Pages: 1094

Author: Lewis Publishing Company. cn
Publication date: 1893
Publisher: Chicago : Lewis Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 1094