Biographical history of northeastern Ohio : embracing the counties of Ashtabula, Geauga and Lake, Part 41

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 41
USA > Ohio > Geauga County > Biographical history of northeastern Ohio : embracing the counties of Ashtabula, Geauga and Lake > Part 41
USA > Ohio > Lake County > Biographical history of northeastern Ohio : embracing the counties of Ashtabula, Geauga and Lake > Part 41

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).

J A. RASEY, proprietor of a leading livery stable in Ashtabula, Ohio, a good business man and esteemed citizen, was born on a farm near this city, January 12, 1843. His parents were Alonzo and Sophia (Rounds) Rasey, the former born in New Haven, Connecticut, in 1812, and the latter in Lowell, Massachusetts, in 1823. The latter was a daughter of Renben Rounds, also a native of the Bay State, and of hardy Scotch ancestry. He served efficiently as a soldier in the American Revolution and the war of 1812, and later emigrated to Michi- gan, at that time a new and slightly settled country, where he resided until his death, at the venerable age of 109 years. Until he

attained the age of ninety-nine years he had never worn eye-glasses, and was so active at that age that he could easily mount a horse from the ground! The parents of the sub- ject of this sketch were married in Ashta- bula, and lived in the county of the same name until the outbreak of the Civil war, when they removed to Pennsylvania, where the father died in 1891, the mother still re- siding in Pottstown, that State. They had eight children.

The subject of this sketch was reared on a farm in Ashtabula county, and attained a fair education in the common schools of his vicinity. On the outbreak of the war, being then eighteen years of age, he enlisted April 2, 1861, as a private in Company I, of the Nineteenth Ohio Regiment, in which he served three months. He then enlisted in Battery C, First Ohio Regiment, in which he immediately became Quartermaster, serving in that capacity three years, having charge of the train of transportation all through the war. On the close of hostilities he returned to Ashtabula, where for fourteen years he worked for Mr. Harvey Nettleton, a prom- inent farmer of this vicinity. He then entered the employ of the Snyder Manufacturing Company, engaged in making carriage bows and shafts, remaining with that company for fifteen years. At the end of this time, in 1886, he started in the livery business on his own account in Ashtabula, in which he has ever since continued, his industry and per- severance being justly rewarded by a full meed of prosperity.

In 1872 Mr. Rasey married Miss Par- melia Arnold, an estimable lady, who was a helpmate in every sense of the word. In 1888 this union was dissolved by death, the devoted wife and mother passing away, leav- ing three children to the care of the afflicted

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husband. In 1891 Mr. Rasey was remarried, his second wife being Mrs. Belle Wolsen, a lady of many sterling traits of character and greatly esteemed in her community.

Mr. Rasey is a stanch Republican and af- filiates with the G. A. R., being a comrade in Paulis Post, at Ashtabula. His success is due to his honest, hard-working and per- severing efforts, by which he has incidentally advanced the interests of his favorite city, of which he is a worthy representative.

S AMUEL WIRE, one of the prominent men of Lake county, Ohio, now en- gaged in the sawmill business in Perry, has long been identified with the interests of this county, and it is eminently fitting that some personal mention of him should be made in this work; indeed, without a sketch of his life a history of Lake county would be in- complete.

Samuel Wire was born in Yates county, New York, September 11, 1818. His father, Samuel Wire, born in Connecticut, Decem- ber 13, 1786, was a son of Thomas Wire, a native of Ireland. Thomas Wire went to England, and there, at the age of fourteen years, was pressed into the English army. Subsequently coming to America, he deserted and settled in Connecticut. His son Samuel grew up and was married in Connecticut, and after his marriage went to New York, first settling in Auburn and afterward living in various parts of that State. In 1835 he came from Ontario county, New York, to Lake county, Ohio, and took up his abode in Mad- ison township. In the fall of 1839 he moved to Perry, this county, and in 1841 went back to New York and located in Canadaigua. His next move was to Walled Lake in Oakland

county, Michigan, where he passed the clos- ing years of his life and died at the age of eighty two years. He was a clergyman of the Free-will Baptist Church; was engaged in the ministry at the various places where he was located, and was in active service until within a year of his death. He was an earn- est and efficient worker for the Master and was the means of accomplishing a vast amount of good. His wife, whose maiden name was Abigail Sherman, was born in Connecticut April 17, 1789, and died at the age of sixty years. She, too, was a member of the Baptist Church, and was in full sym- pathy with her husband's noble work. They had eleven children, all of whom reached adult years, or nearly so, the first of the num- ber to die being sixteen years old:

Samuel, the subject of our sketch, was the sixth born in this large family. He was still in his 'teens when his father moved out to Ohio, and went to school some after coming here, his education being obtained in the log schoolhouses of that period. When he was twenty-one he started out in life on his own responsibility, working at whatever he could get to do, chopping wood, ditching, etc. When he was a mere boy his father hired him out to work in a mill, and since then a sawmill has always had a fascination for him, and much of his life has been devoted to mill- ing business. From 1839 until 1851 he was engaged in grafting trees, traveling through Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Mary- land, Virginia, New Jersey, Mississippi and Arkansas, and during that time made and saved money enough to buy a farm. The land he bought and settled on after his mar- riage is now occupied by the Western Reserve Nursery, just north of Perry. In 1851 Mr. Wire bought a tract of timber land and erected the first steam sawmill in Perry town-

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BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY

ship. He operated this mill until 1862, when he sold out. The following year he bought a mill in Perry. In 1869 he was elected Sheriff of Lake county, was re-elected at the end of his first term, and served a second term. As an officer he faithfully discharged the duties devolving upon him. In 1880 he built his present large sawmill, in which he has since done an extensive business. His residence in Perry he built in 1868.

Mr. Wire was married in 1849, to Miss Mary A. Sinclair, a native of Vermont, who came with her father, Milton Sinclair, to Lake county, Ohio, in 1837. Their only child, Dorr, died at the age of ten years.

Mr. Wire is a good example of the self- made man. His father, a pioneer minister with a large family, had little with which to start his children in a business life; and that Samuel Wire has risen to a position of wealth and prominence is due to his own industry and good management rather than to any financial aid he ever received. During his long residence in the county he has witnessed nearly all the improvements that have been made here, and few men in Lake county are better known than he. Politically, he is a Republican. He voted for William Henry Harrison in 1840.

H ALSEY HULBERT MOSES, a resi- dent of Rock Creek, Ashtabula county, Ohio, was born here July 12, 1830. His parents, Jonathan and Abigail (Plumby) Moses, were born in Norfolk, Litchfield county, Connecticut, where they lived for several years after their marriage. In June, 1814, they moved to Morgan town- ship, Ashtabula county, Ohio, and settled upon a tract of land, 200 acres in extent, all

a dense forest except a half acre. Upon that farm they spent the rest of their lives and there died, the father passing away in 1841, and the mother in 1853. The Moses family originated in England and were among the early settlers of the State of Connecticut.

The subject of our sketch remained at the old home with his mother for three years after the death of his father, at the end of which time, being then fourteen years of age, he started out to take care of himself. He hired out the first year to work on a farm, his compensation to be board, washing, mending, three months at the district school, and $45 in money. At the end of this year's service he attended a three months' term of select school at Rome, at the close of which term he applied for and secured a certificate to teach. Soon afterward he was employed to teach in what was then called the Clark District. H. L. Clark, expecting to be away from home that winter, offered to board the teacher providing he would do his chores. This proposition was accepted; and during the winter young Moses taught the school, num- bering about twenty-five scholars, and took care of twenty head of cattle, thirty sheep, and eight or ten hogs, besides building the fires at both the home and school-house-not a bad winter's work for a lad of fifteen. The next summer he worked on a farm at $8 a month. The four succeeding winters he taught district schools, attended school the spring and fall terms, and between times worked on a farm or at the carpenter's trade.

At the age of nineteen Mr. Moses com- menced the study of law in the office of A. L. Tinker, than living in Unionville, but afterward a resident of Painesville. He re- mained in Mr. Tinker's office seven months, when, learning that there was an opening for business in the province of Justice of the

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Peace at Rock Creek, he returned to that place, hired a room, bought a few law books, and launched out as an attorney. In connec- tion with his practice he continued a system- atic study of law, going to Mr. Tinker's office to recite. It was not long before he was engaged on one side or the other of nearly every magistrate case in Morgan and the surrounding townships, besides doing considerable office business. He continued at this business for a year and a half, at the end of which time he made application for admission to the bar. This was in August, 1851, the committee appointed to examine the candidates being Hon. J. R. Giddings, Hon. B. F. Wade, Hon. Horace Wilder, Hon. L. S. Sherman and Hon. Darius Cadwell. In the case of young Moses, the committee re- ported favorably. It was now seven years since the subject of this sketch had started out for himself; he had attained a fair aca- demical education, and had taken a thorough course of legal studies, and every dollar of the expenses had been earned by himself. It is needless to say that he had been exceedingly economical in his living and had made every day's time produce as much as possible.

Upon his admission to the bar, Mr. Moses had no means except fourteen acres of land left him by his father, and this was of little value. As he had no money to go elsewhere, and as he had already built up a small busi- ness sufficient for an economical support, he continued the practice of his profession at Rock Creek, waiting for more favorable cir- cumstances to justify a change of location. In 1862 he took up his residence in Warren, Trumbull county, and became a partner of Hon. Matthew Birchard in the practice of law, with whom he remained five years. He was afterward, for three years, a partner of Judge Ira L. Fuller. During the year 1865 and

1866 he wrote a work on mandamus, which was the first work on that subject ever written and published in the United States. It met a ready sale both in this country and in Canada, and is yet a standard text book in the courts of both.

In 1864 Mr. Moses was nominated by the Democracy of the nineteenth Congressional district as their candidate for Congress. The Republicans, for the second time, nominated James A. Garfield. This district then had the largest Republican majority of any dis- trict in the State, and perhaps the United States; consequently Garfied was elected by a large majority; but Mr. Moses had the satis- faction of receiving the entire vote of his party. In 1872 he moved to Youngstown, Ohio, where he immediately stepped into a large and lucrative practice. He was the attorney of the New York, Pennsylvania & Ohio Railroad Company there, and was also attorney for three of the five banks in the city, and for more than half of the manufacturing establishments in the vicinity, besides being frequently called to assist other attorneys. During the ten years preceding his retire- ment from practice, he was engaged almost daily in the trial of cases. As he was in partnership with General R. W. Ratliff, in Warren, he attended the courts of both Ma- honing and Trumbull counties. While prac- ticing law in Mahoning county, he was nomi- nated by the Democrats in Mahoning, Trum- bull and Portage counties as a candidate for the office of Judge of the Court of Common Pleas, and again, although he ran ahead of his ticket, he was defeated by his Republican opponent.

After practicing law in Mahoning county for fourteen years, he found that his health was giving way, which reason, together with his passion for stock raising, induced him to

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retire from the practice of his profession and devote his time to his stock ranch in Wayne county, Nebraska. He and his son are now operating there a farm of 800 acres, stocked with thoroughbred cattle. About a year ago he purchased of another brother the farm upon which he was born and upon which he has made extensive improvements. Being of the opinion that Northeastern Ohio is particularly adapted to the dairy business, he has com- menced a Jersey herd, his cattle being of the best families of the breed.

Mr. Moses was married in 1852 to Mary Jane Murdock. a native of Mesopotamia, Trumbull county, Ohio, her parents having moved from Genesee county, New York, to that place. His older son, Franzi E., resides upon the farm above referred to, in Wayne county, Nebraska. His younger son, Hosmer C., is engaged in business in Omaha, Ne- braska; and his daughter, who married W. E. Hawley, and who resided in Omaha for some time, died in 1889, leaving a little son, Melvin M.

Mr. Moses has indeed had a successful career. In addition to the labors of an exten- sive law practice, and the management of his own estate, he has from time to time con - tributed articles for newspapers, law journals, and agricultural and stock publications, the most extensive of which was a series of arti- cles on improved breeds of cattle, their history, and proper handling. Besides accumulating a competency for himself and family, he has contributed liberally for public improvements in every place where he has resided. The chief element of his success has been prompt attention to business. During the thirty-five years he practiced law, there was not a single judgment, order, or dismissal entered against him by reason of his not being on time. If he agreed to be in a remote township on a

certain day, he was there on time, whatever might be the condition of the weather or roads. No client ever lost a dollar by his neglect to attend to business at the proper time.

Mr. Moses has been an ardent Democrat all his life and in his early days did a large amount of work for the party. The only public office he ever held was that of Post- master at Rock Creek for a year and a half. The appointment was made by James Buch- anan, and without any solicitation on the part of Mr. Moses and without his knowledge.

D R. LABAN PATCH, one of the prominent and influential men of Troy township, Geauga county, Ohio, was born in Warren township, Grafton county, New Hampshire, September 14, 1820. Of his life and ancestry we present the following review:

Joseph Patch, his father, was born in New Hampshire, January 15, 1780, and his grand- father, also named Joseph Patch, was a na- tive of that same State. The senior Joseph Patch was the first permanent settler in War- ren township, Grafton county. The Patch family are descended from English ancestry. Three brothers came from England to Amer- ica and settled at Hollis, Massachusetts. Grandfather Patch lived to a ripe old age and died on his farm in Grafton county, leaving a family of seven sons and one daughter, the Doctor's father being the second born in this family. He, too, was a farmer. He acted as Sheriff of Grafton county, and served in the Legislature of New Hampshire. He also served in the Legislature of Vermont, to which State he moved in 1821, locating at Hardwick, Caledonia county, where he lived

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about eleven years. Subsequently he settled in Calais, Washington county, that State, af- terward moved to Ontario county, New York, and a year later went to Cohocton town- ship, Steuben county, New York, where he lived four years. In the winter of 1838-'39 he emigrated to Ohio, and for a short time lived in Auburn, Geauga county. Then he purchased a farm in Troy township, half a mile north of Pope's Corners, where he spent the residue of his life, dying near the close of the year 1867. Few men in this vicinity were better known than he. He was at one time Captain of a company of militia, and distin- guished himself as a fine drill master. The Doctor's great-grandfather was in the Pick- wacket battle, where thirty-nine out of fifty men lost their lives, he being shot in the head but not fatally wounded. Of the mother of our subject, we record that her maiden name was Nancy Hall, and that she was born in Rumney, New Hampshire. Her ances- tors have long been residents of America. She was a woman of many estimable traits of character, was a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and lived to be nearly eighty-six years old. They had fourteen chil- dren, twelve of whom lived to maturity, and four of whom are still living. Laban was the ninth born.

Up to the time he was eighteen years old, the only schooling Dr. Patch received was eighteen months in a district school. When he was twenty his father gave him his time, and after that he worked and educated him- self. For a few terms he attended a select school taught by B. F. Abels. He worked on a farm one summer, at $11 a month, and after that worked two summers at the car- penter's trade, receiving $8 per month. With the money thus earned he paid his expenses at school during the winters. He afterward

worked two years at the carpenter's trade. In 1845 he went to New England, and while there began the study of dentistry, spending some time in New Hampshire, Vermont and Massachussetts. He also read medicine for a time. Returning to Geauga county, Ohio, a year later, he resumed work at the carpenter's trade, in connection with which he also practiced dentistry until the close of the year 1849. He then spent one winter with Dr. M. L. Wright, an experienced den- tist of Cleveland, after which he practiced his profession at various points in northeastern Ohio for several years. During the latter part of the sixties he went to Chicago and in- vested in real estate. Since then he has made his home at his present location in Troy township, practically retired from the active duties of his profession. He owns about 640 acres of land in this county, among the im- provements on which are a commodious resi- dence, large barns, etc. His career as a pro- fessional man and a financier has been a most successful one.

Dr. Patch votes with the Republican party, but takes little interest in political matters. For many years he has been a Mason. He is unmarried.

R EV. H. P. HAMILTON is the able and popular pastor of the Presby- terian Church at Orwell, Ashtabula county, Ohio. He was born in Penn- sylvania on the 5th day of August, 1847. He is of Scotch descent, and his father, Thomas Hamilton, was a man of fine educa- tion and scientific culture. He was a success- ful school-teacher and a politician of note in the locality of his home. Ile adhered to the principles of the Democratic party, and

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was elected to many official positions of trust and honor. In addition to this, he was a practical surveyor and civil engineer. A native of Venango county, Pennsylvania, he was born, August 16, 1799, and was called from this life, June 27, 1887. In the cause of Christianity he was an earnest and zealous worker and a life-long member of the Pres- byterian Church.

The mother of our subject was formerly Miss Sarah Prather, and came from an old and aristocratic family of Pennsylvania. After fifty-two years of happy married life, her husband was deprived of her loving compan- ionship, September 30, 1879. She, too, was a consistent member of the Presbyterian Church. Her birth occurred in Venango, Pennsylvania, in the year 1864, and by her marriage she became the mother of two sons, our subject, and James R., who died April 28, 1884. Like his venerable father, he followed the vocation of a surveyor and civil engineer, and his death was directly traceable to exposure in severe weather while performing his duties as a surveyor.

The early life of our subject was passed on his father's farm. His time was divided between working on the farm and attending the schools of the neighborhood. He became convinced, while still in early youth, that his tastes were not in the direction of agricul- tural pursuits to any extent, and he there- fore determined to so educate himself that he might enter some useful profession which he might make his life work. After leav- ing the district school he entered the high school at Cooperstown, Pennsylvania, later entering the Cherry Tree Academy, and after finishing his studies there, he took a thorough commercial course in the Iron City College, of Pittsburg. For several years, subsequently, he was a successful teacher in

the Cherry Tree Academy, and during the later part of his labor in that field he com- menced studying for the ministry, and in 1868 was ordained.

The first ministerial work of Mr. Hamil- ton was with the Presbyterian Church, of Spring Creek, Pennsylvania, and he has proven a faithful servant in the Master's vine- yard during the years that have passed. As an evangelist, he has been specially blessed, and as the result of his eloquence and earn- estness, large numbers have given themselves and their services to the Master.

In Wayne, Ashtabula county, Ohio, on the 14th day of May, 1871, Mr. Hamilton was united in marriage to Miss Sarah A. Camp, daughter of Cyrus T. and Delilah Camp. Mrs. Hamilton was born, June 13, 1850, and is a lady of talent and culture. She is zeal- ous in Christian work, and possesses the rare tact that is so necessary in the wife of a minister. She is devoted to her home and family, and by her amiable qualities makes friends of one and all. Two sons and one daughter have come to bless the union of Mr. and Mrs. Hamilton. The oldest, John W., was born March 2, 1873; George W. was born June 1, 1875, and Ella G., June 14, 1877. These young people are receiving a fine education, and have decided musical talent. The youngest son is quite an artist as well, and is particularly fond of pen draw- ing.

Cyrus T. Camp, the father of Mrs. Hamil- ton, was born May 15, 1795, while his wife, whose maiden name was Delilah Forbes, was born July 8, 1809. The former departed this life December 11, 1876, and the latter December 15, 1865. Their children are as follows: Amarette, born March 1, 1840; William E., August 24, 1843, lives in East Wayne, Ohio; Charles D., a physician and

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surgeon, of Chicago, March 25, 1845; Rachel L., December 5, 1846; George R., April 7, 1848; Mrs. Hamilton is next; and Laura A., who was born January 24, 1852, died Octo- ber 10, 1854. By a former marriage, Mr. Camp had four children: Mary, born May 4, 1826; Cyrus T., Jr., whose birth occurred September 16, 1828, and who, it is supposed, died in the late Civil war; Elizabeth, born in June, 1832, died in Tennessee, March, 1891; and Isaac W., born September 5, 1838, and now a resident of Illinois.

Reverend Hamilton took charge of the pas- torate in Orwell on the 1st of March, 1893, and was installed June 6, 1893, by the Presbytery of Cleveland, and is giving uni- versal satisfaction. He owns a valuable fruit farm, called the Diamond Fruit Farm, near Jefferson, Ohio, which is a great source of pleasure to him, and which is kept in a fine state of cultivation.

C L. BEALES, a representative of one of the pioneer families of Troy township, Geauga county, Ohio, is one of the most worthy and prominent citizens of the town- ship. He was born here December 29, 1840. His father, Osman Beales, was born in Cov- ington, Massachusetts, February 20, 1802, son of John Beales, also a native of Massa- chusetts. The Beales family were among the early settlers of New England. John Beales emigrated from Massachusetts to Ohio in 1812, being one of the first to locate in Troy township, Geauga county. Here he bought land, built a cabin, and in pioneer style began to clear and improve a farm. His first shanty was built of bark. He made the journey here with ox teams, before there were any roads in this part of the country. The woods

were full of wild game, the settlers were few and far apart, and to get provisions Mr. Beales had to go to Painesville. Although he endured many hardships and privations in his frontier home, he was prosperous and happy and lived to the ripe old age of ninety- eight years, passing away in 1864. The first sawmill in that section was built by him and his sons. At the time of the Perry fight on Lake Erie he volunteered his services and went to Cleveland. He and his wife had a family of seven children, six of whom reached adult years, Osman Beales, the father of our subject, being the third born. Osman was ten years old when he came with his parents to Ohio. His education was received chiefly in the school of experience, as he never at- tended school more than six months. He assisted his father in clearing the farm, and continued to live on the old homestead until the time of his death, February 15, 1884. His wife, whose maiden name was Marcia Evaretts, was a native of Ontario county, New York. She came to Ohio with her par- ents when she was three years old. She died here December 1, 1890, at the age of seventy- seven. Both she and her husband were among the charter members of the Congre- gational Church at this place.

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Biographical history of northeastern Ohio : embracing the counties of Ashtabula, Geauga and Lake, Part 41

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