Biographical history of northeastern Ohio : embracing the counties of Ashtabula, Geauga and Lake, Part 116

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 116
USA > Ohio > Geauga County > Biographical history of northeastern Ohio : embracing the counties of Ashtabula, Geauga and Lake > Part 116
USA > Ohio > Lake County > Biographical history of northeastern Ohio : embracing the counties of Ashtabula, Geauga and Lake > Part 116

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).

eighty-four years, leaving many friends to mourn her taking away.

The subject of this sketch received his education in the common schools and at the Painesville high school. In the latter city he began to learn the art of wood-turning and wood-carving, and has since devoted his energies to the manufacture of woodwork, possessing excellent taste in the decoration and arrangement of interiors, in which line he has built up a large business, as well as in the manufacture of printers' wood material, of which latter he makes a specialty. He inherits much of his father's activity and en- ergy as well as ability, and the refining in- fluence of home culture no doubt tended to cultivate a naturally correct and original taste.

March 7, 1850, Mr. Goodrich was married to Adelia Gaylord, a descendant of one of the oldest families of this part of the State. She was a daughter of D. Curtis and Sally (Dykeman) Gaylord, and granddaughter of Major Levi Gaylord, whose sketch is ap- pended hereto. Mr. and Mrs. Goodrich have one daughter, Sarah F., born September 14, 1851. She was educated in the common schools of Geneva and graduated in the first class of the Normal Institute under Prof. Lowe. She has devoted much time to the interesting study of botany and enjoys some reputation as a botanist and author.

Mr. Goodrich is a stanch supporter of the Republican party, and has been a Councilman and a member of the Board of Education of Geneva for several years, in both of which capacities he has served the best interests of the people. The family are active members of the Methodist Episcopal Church.

Maior Levi Gaylord, prominently identi- fied with the early history of northeastern Ohio, was born at New Cambridge (now

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Bristol), Hartford county, Connecticut, March 30, 1760. He was the eldest son of Captain Levi Gaylord and grandson of Ben- jamin Gaylord, whose ancestors emigrated from Normandy, France, to England about 1551 and thence to America in 1630. The first representative of the family in this country was Deacon William Gaylord, a sturdy Protestant, who settled at Dorchester, Massachusetts. He was a man of unusual intelligence and exerted a wide influence in the early affairs of the colonies. Levi Gay- lord, Sr., was an efficient soldier in the French war of 1756-'57, and was Captain in the war of the Revolution. His son, the Major, was a soldier in his company and re- enlisted several times. He finally became a member of the mechanics' department and assisted in forging the great chain that was stretched across the Hudson river to prevent the passage of the British ships.

At the close of the war he engaged in the occupation of tanning and afterward became a shoemaker. He was married shortly after his return from the struggle for indepen- dence, and continued to reside in the East until 1804, when he came to Ohio as an agent for the Connecticut Land Company. Two years later, in 1806, he removed his family to the Buckeye State. They at tirst took up their residence in the Harper settle- ment; but the Major soon afterward selected a farm on the South ridge in the present township of Geneva, on a portion of the At- water tract, of which he was the agent. He carried on for many years a tannery, the only one in this vicinity. His house was the headquarters of early Methodismn in this neighborhood. He took an active part in the early affairs of his vicinity and was one of the first Commissioners of Ashtabula county. Ile also represented his district in the State

Legislature two terms and served efficiently as County Auditor from 1821 to 1829. His undoubted integrity, active benevolence, am- iable disposition and gentle demeanor won the hearts of all who knew him. He died at the advanced age of eighty-seven years, retaining his mental vigor to the last.

G APTAIN ALBERT WARREN STILES .-- The lives of great and good men are incentives to the rising gen- eration and all who are to follow, as perpetu- ating the greatest virtues and firing the emu- lation of others to imitate their example, and thus leave behind them names of honor and renown. In the annals of Ohio, which bear many illustrious names, none is more worthy of mention than that of the subject of this sketch, who has proven himself, by a long life of private and public honor, to be pos- sessed of those qualities which create and ennoble great States.

Hiram Stiles, father of the subject of this sketch, was born in Plainfield Center, Otsego county, New York, in 1803, and died sud- denly of heart disease, in Rome, Ohio, May 29, 1865, after a long and useful life. His widow, Mandana Duty Stiles, was born in Ashtabula, Ohio, December 12, 1812, and is now (1893) enjoying good health at her home in Rome, this State. When young she taught school, and had for pupils a brother and sister of General Garfield, before the latter was born. Mrs. Stiles' grandfather, Moses Warren, Sr., was born in Northbor- ough, Massachusetts in 1760, and was a soldier in the Revolutionary war from 1776 to near its close, He was a descendant of General Joseph Warren, who fell at Bunker Hill, fighting for American liberty. Moses

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BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY

Warren, Sr., married Miss Priscilla Nurse, also a descendant of an old and prominent New England family of Revolutionary fame. The parents of the subject of this sketch had eight children, of whom the Captain is fifth in order of birth, four being now alive. The following brief record of the children is per- tinent: Asa D .; Persis E. Bishop; W. C., proprietor of the largest ship-timber mill in the United States, situated at Warren, Ohio; Amanda and Chloe, who died in infancy; Martha, who died aged twenty; and Elton H., who died in 1889. The latter was em- ployed in his brother's mill, just referred to, as bookkeeper, and while temporarily en- gaged at the works was caught in the ma- chinery, receiving injuries from the effect of which he died a few hours later. He left a widow, Carrie Crosby Stiles, and three chil- dren. He was a young man of ability and excellent standing, was active in church work and in all things tending to benefit his com- munity, and was greatly mourned by all who knew him.

Captain Stiles, of this notice, was born September 3, 1841, in Warrensville, Ohio, where his earlier years were passed. He at- tended the common schools of his vicinity until the fall of 1857, at which time he went to the academy at Twinsburg, Ohio, for one term. In the spring of 1858 he removed with his parents to Rome, Ohio, and from that time until 1861 he was engaged in teaching and attending school. It was in the winter of 1850-'51 that James A. Garfield, the martyred President, taught school in the dis- trict where Albert Stiles lived, the former making his home with Mr. Stiles' father. Thus an acquaintance was begun which ended only with the life of the noble President.

April 24, 1861, when twenty years of age, Albert Stiles enlisted in the Civil war for the

defense of the Union, having the distinction of being the first volunteer from Rome town- ship. He was mustered into Company D, of the Nineteenth Ohio Volunteer Militia, un- der the command of Captain Robert W. Crane, and was in a camp of instruction, Camp Taylor, in Cleveland, Ohio, for a short time. He was then transferred with his com- pany and regiment to Camp Goddard, at Zanesville, the same State, and from there went soon afterward to the field of operations in West Virginia, serving under General George B. McClellan, in General Rose- crans' brigade.

His first experience in battle occurred on July 11, 1861, at Rich Mountain, West Vir- ginia, and he was mustered out at Ashtabula, Ohio, August 29, of the same year. He soon afterward enlisted as a private in what was subsequently known as Company A, Sixth Ohio Volunteer Cavalry, after which his rise in rank was rapid and continuous. In the following November, he was promoted to fourth duty Sergeant; January 1, 1863, to first Sergeant of Company A; May 9, 1864, to Second Lieutenant Company D; Novem- ber 12, 1864, to First Lieutenant of Com- pany B; and January 25, 1865, to Captain of Company E, Sixth Ohio Volunteer Cav- alry. He served under Generals Fremont, Sigel, McClellan, Pope, Burnside, Stoneman, Pleasanton, Hooker, Meade, Sheridan and Grant, and was in more than forty battles and numerous skirmishes.

When volunteers were demanded for par- ticularly hazardous duty, he always offered his services, and on one occasion he volun- teered, with 150 others from his division, for a forlorn hope during the second battle of Bull Run, in 1862. The Sixth Ohio Volun- teer Cavalry found itself on the morning of April 9, 1865, across the pike and within a

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mile of Appomattox Court House, Virginia, having advanced the night before, about ten o'clock, and captured the works abandoned by General Custer just before dark of that day. They were in turn attacked by General Gordon's forces of Lee's army, and were pres- ent at the surrender of General Lee. April 10, the brigade to which the Sixth Ohio Vol- unteer Cavalry was attached, General C. H. Smith commanding, was detailed to escort General U. S. Grant to Burkeville Junction, Virginia. In January, 1865, Captain Stiles was detailed with a detachment of his regi- ment, to go to Ohio as recruiting officer for the regiment, and returned March 10 follow- ing. Like many others of his comrades in arms, he experienced the inhospitality of Libby Prison. He was wounded and taken prisoner in a mounted cavalry charge at Up- perville, Virginia, June 23, 1863, and was sent by way of Winchester and Staunton, that State, to Libby Prison, Richmond. He was soon afterward paroled and sent to camp at Annapolis, Maryland, via City Point and Fortress Monroe, Virginia. He resigned his commission at Petersburg, that State, and left the service June 29, 1865.

He then returned to his home in Rome, Ohio, and commenced life again on the farm, In the fall of 1869, he was elected Sheriff of Ashtabula county, and assumed the duties of that office in the following January, being re-elected in 1871 and serving until 1874. In 1878, he was again elected, and re-elected to succeed himself in 1880, serving until Jan- uary, 1883. His record as Sheriff during this long period was one of the best. In November, 1881, he followed up and arrested Holden, of England, and White, of New York, for prize-fighting in the county for the feather-weight championship of the world. Ile was also successful in assisting in quiet-

ing a riot of dock hands at Ashtabula harbor, in 1876. He is a man of great courage, and whether as soldier, Sheriff or citizen, has always acted with promptness and fortitude in the face of danger. To show this trait of character, the following two instances are cited: Once, while standing on the highway, he saw a horse running furiously, with two ladies and a boy in the buggy, and succeeded in stopping the horse without injury to him - self or to any one in the vehicle. Again, in Columbus, while walking along a street lead- ing to the principal thoroughfare, which is always crowded, he saw a span of horses, at- tached to an empty lumber wagon, running with terrific speed. Realizing instantly that if they were allowed to dash out into that. crowded street that great loss of life and prop- erty would follow, he made a rush for the runaways and succeeded in stopping them, with no damage other than a severe strain to his body.

He was elected Presidential Elector by ac- clamation for the historic nineteenth dis- trict, the first instance in that district in which an elector was selected by the unani- mous vote since the organization of the Re- publican party. In May, 1886, he was ap- pointed Steward of the Ohio Penitentiary, which position he resigned March 1, 1889, to assume charge, as Superintendent, of the Girls' Industrial Home, near Delaware. He was removed from the latter position by Gov- ernor Campbell, on May 1, 1890, for "offen- sive partisanship," but was appointed, in 1892, to the same position by Governor McKinley, and is the present incumbent of that place. This Home is beautifully situ- ated on the west bank of the Scioto river, and contains 330 girls at present, ranging from the age of nine to eighteen. Captain Stiles is peculiarly fitted for his duties by his great

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executive ability and kindliness of disposi- tion, while his worthy wife makes a most efficient matron, and is in all respects a valu- able assistant to her husband. As showing the large saving to the State accruing from his excellent management, it is only neces- sary to mention the expense of this institu- tion under his predecessors in his present position, and that during his incumbency. The per capita expense in 1891 was $123.33; in 1892, $120.49; while in 1893, under his management, it was $109.74-showing a con- siderable saving.

The Captain was from boyhood a very close friend of the late General James A. Garfield, and took an active part in all that great general's campaigns. He has many letters written by the hand of his distin- guished friend, acknowledging his obligations to the Captain. From one of these we quote a few sentences:

WASHINGTON, D. C., October 17, 1876.

MY DEAR CAPTAIN: Now that the fight of October is over, I want to say that I can boast of one thing that few men can say with as much truth. I have as noble a band of friends as any man can have, and none among them have done better or more wisely effective work than you. You have not only worked for the general cause, but you have done very great service to me .....

As ever your friend,

J. A. GARFIELD.

Captain Stiles is an aid-de-camp on the staff of General A. G. Weissert, Commander in Chief of the Grand Army of the Republic; and is a member of the Loyal Legion of Ohio, G. A. R. He also belongs to the F. & A. M., and is a member of the Presbyterian Church.

September 24, 1866, Captain Stiles was married to Miss Jane E. Crosby, born Octo- ber 10, 1843, who was the youngest daughter of Levi and Sarah (Leonard) Crosby, promi- nent residents of Rome, Ohio. Her father was born April 2, 1803, and died in Rome, January 30, 1883; while her mother, born in 1806, died in the same place in December, 1845. The remainder of the family com- prises her brothers, Giles Crosby, of Rome, Dwight, of Jefferson, Ohio; and a sister, Maria, wife of E. Douglass, of Rome. Cap- tain and Mrs. Stiles have had three children ; Jay, born March 6, 1869, died May 6, 1871; Maud, born December 3, 1876; and Charlotte, born November 1, 1878,-have developed into beautiful young women, modest, tal- ented and accomplished, receiving their fin- ishing course in the city schools of Delaware, Ohio.

Thus briefly is given an outline of an emni- nently useful career, whose efforts have all been those of progress for himself and benefit to his fellow-man.

W N. SMITH, who is engaged in the real-estate and insurance business in Conneaut, Ohio, was born in Hub- bard township, Trumbull county, this State, January 4, 1859.

His parents, Aaron and Rosanna (Simp- kins) Smith, were both born in Ohio, and now reside in Pierpont, this county, Mr. Smith being a retired farmer. Both he and his son, W. N., were born in the same house in Trumbull county, the former's birth occurring in 1818. Grandfather Sinith died about the age of fifty-five years, and grandmother Smith lived to be nearly a hundred years old. Aaron and his two sisters are all that are

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now left of a family of twelve children, he . being the youngest of the twelve. Of these two sisters we record that Anna is the widow of Daniel Randall and is now living with her son in Indiana; and that Polly, widow of a Mr. Simpkins, is a resident of Brookfield, Trumbull county, Ohio. Aaron Smith was twice married, each time to a Miss Simpkins. By his first wife he had five children, as fol- lows: Cynthia A., wife of C. B. Hibler, Pierpont; Amos, who married Nannie Down- ing, lives in Pittsburg; Lovica, wife of William Stuble, Pierpont; Mary, wife of Joseph Giles, Pierpont; and Judson who is married and living in Pittsburg. By his present wife Mr. Smith has five children: Louisa, wife of C. G. Van Winkle, Pitts- burg; Florence, wife of Dr. H. C. Hol- comb, Pierpont: W. N., the subject of this article; Charles, who married Miss Tuttle, resides in Painesville, Lake county, Ohio; and Clara, wife of G. Warren, resides in Richmond, this county. Mrs. Rosanna Smith was born in 1827 and is one of a fam- ily of eight children, four of whom are liv- ing. Her father, William Simpkins, is still living in Orangeville, Trumbull county, and is now more than ninety years of age. Her mother died in 1885. Both Mr. and Mrs. Smith are members of the Christian Church, in which he has been Deacon for many years.

W. N. Smith was educated in the schools of Detroit. Upon reaching mature years, he engaged in merchandising in Youngs- town, Ohio, where he clerked three years, and from there came to Asthabula and clerked two years for L. W. Smith. In 1881 he came to Conneaut and entered the dry- goods store of S. J. Smith, in which he re- mained as clerk three years. At the end of that time he went into the dry-goods busi- ness for himself, continning the same for

seven years. Then he sold out and turned his attention to the real-estate and insurance business, in which he has been engaged since 1892, with good success.

Mr. Smith was married in 1882, to Miss Sylvia Booth, daughter of Thomas N. Booth, of Ashtabula. They have one child, Theo- dore. Both he and his wife are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church. He is a member of the Uniform Rank, K. of P., and also of the Royal Arcanum, being Treas- urer of the latter organization. He is an earnest temperance worker and affiliates with the Prohibition party. Mr. Smith is emi- nently a self-made man. He never received a dollar that he did not earn, and that he has succeeded in life is not due to blind luck but. to honest industry, economy and good judg- ment.

H EZEKIAH COLE, the oldest living settler of Painesville, Ohio, of which he is a prominent, wealthy and highly esteemed citizen, was born in Ovid, Seneca county, New York, April 11, 1813. He is of New England ancestry, his grand- father, Moses Cole, having come originally, it is thought, from Connecticut. He settled in Saratoga county, New York, at an early day, where he died aged about seventy-five years. Hezekiah S. Cole, father of the sub- ject of this sketch, was born in Ballston, Saratoga county, New York, in 1783, and in 1794, when about eleven years of age, went to Ovid, Seneca county, the same State, where he resided for several years. He be- came a farmer, which occupation he followed all his life. He was an efficient soldier in the war of 1812 and a sterling American pa- triot. He married Mary Graham, a native of

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BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY

New Hampshire but reared in New York. In 1823, they emigrated to Painesville, Ohio, being eleven days in crossing the lake from Buffalo. They settled on new land about two miles east of the city in what is now Painesville township, where, in their efforts to reclaim a farm from the native wilderness, they underwent all the hardships incidental to pioneer life. The country was then but slightly settled, some Indians abounding and much wild game. By their united and in- dustrious efforts, the parents accumulated a comfortable income and made themselves and family a good home. In 1861, the devoted wife and mother died, aged seventy-eight years, while the worthy father survived un- til 1880, expiring in his ninety-eighth year, universally lamented. Both parents were de- voted members of the Methodist Episcopal Church, of which the father was a member for the last fifty years of his life. Of their nine children, three died young, six attaining maturity. Of these, Samantha married Sal- mon Fuller; she died in Troy, New York, leaving one son, now deceased; Hannah mar- ried Clark N. Jennings and had six children, four now living; the mother died several years ago. Charlotte married John VanDesart and they had three children, all living. The parents went to Salem, Nebraska, where they both died. The only brother of the subject of this sketch who attained maturity is Charles Cole, who resides near Humboldt, Nebraska, where he is a successful farmer. He has been a member of the State Legisla- ture of Nebraska for several years and is a well-to-do citizen. He is now about seventy- one years of age. All of these commenced life by teaching school for various lengths of time, thus learning those lessons of patience, care and methodical procedure which con- tributed to their future success in life.

Mr. Cole of this notice was ten years of age when his parents came to the wilds of Ohio, with which State he has grown up and where he has resided ever since. He was reared in the woods on a new farm, where there was everything to do and but little to do with. Under these circumstances and with a large family, it is not surprising that all the children, especially the boys, should have been early inured to labor. Mr. Cole and his five brothers and sisters secured their education in the log schoolhouses of Lake county, which were conducted on the sub- scription plan. The subject of this notice helped to build the only schoolhouse in his vicinity which he ever attended, he having erected one corner of the structure. Mr. Cole was quite a sturdy lad, inheriting the vigor of his New England ancestry, and he wielded the ax with telling blows when but fifteen years of age. At nineteen he began teaching school at Fairport Harbor, in Lake county, in which occupation he was engaged three terms. By continued industry in various capacities and careful economy, he had sufficiently pro- gressed by the age of twenty-one to buy his first tract of land, for which he paid $1,000. This he industriously cleared and kept add- ing to his original purchase, until he pos- sessed a valuable tract, which he sold for $30,000. He cleared large quantities of land, for others and for himself. The first work he did for himself was a contract for making 30,000 bushels of charcoal, at the same time taking another contract of clearing sixteen acres of land, and he made the coal out of the timber, which operation was indeed kill- ing two birds with one stone, a feat often heard of but seldom accomplished. With such ability, it is not surprising that he should have gone on successfully through life, until now he has no necessity for killing birds

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at all. He has always followed farming, al- though he has not lived continuously on his land. In 1840, he came to Painesville, where he remained a year or so, eventually, in 1853, coming to the city to reside. In 1860, how- ever, he once more returned to his farm and after nine years came back, in 1869, to the city, where he has ever since resided. He owns several farms in Lake county, aggregat- ing 449 acres, also owns 1,000 acres in Wis- consin and has considerable property in Painesville. He erected the first steam mill in Painesville and was for a number of years in the mercantile business in that city. He is the oldest living settler of Painesville, but one other person surviving, who was born when he came here in 1823, and is thus justly entitled to be called the father of the city.

In 1842, he was married to Phobe Turney, an estimable lady, a native of Lake county, Ohio, who died in 1854, greatly lamented by all who knew her. In 1866, Mr. Cole mar- ried Matilda Cole, of New York State, who died in 1874, leaving three children to the care of her bereaved husband: Mary M., a senior in Lake Erie Female Seminary; Ger- trude, now in her second year at the same in- stitute; and Hezekiah S. In 1876, Mr. Cole married Mrs. Gilkinson, nee Mavesette Wol- cott, a native of Farmington, Ohio, and daugh- ter of John and Fannie (Goff) Wolcott, both natives of Connecticut, the former at one time a prosperous farmer of Trumbull county, but both parents now deceased. Mrs. Cole had excellent school advantages and taught during the winter just preceding her fif- teenth birthday. She afterward taught in the Farmington Academy for several years, and later at IIiram College, when Mr. Gar- field, the late martyred president, was a stu- dent and teacher in that school, and she event-

ually taught at Warren, Ohio, her entire service as an instructor covering thirteen terms. She subsequently married Dr. Boyd N. Gilkinson, of Mecca, Ohio, a graduate of Ann Arbor, Michigan, who died in Orwell, Ashtabula county, Ohio, in 1865, where he had resided for several years. Dr. Gilkin- son's father died November 6, 1880, aged seventy-five years; his mother still survives in her eighty-fourth year and makes her home with Mr. and Mrs. Cole.

Politically, Mr. Cole was originally a Whig and later a Republican, since the organiza- tion of that party in 1856, and cast his first presidental vote for General William Henry Harrison. From 1840 for several succeed- ing years Mr. Cole served as Constable, Mar- shal and Sheriff, discharging his duties with that efficiency and dispatch which have ever characterized his actions through life.

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Biographical history of northeastern Ohio : embracing the counties of Ashtabula, Geauga and Lake, Part 116

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