Biographical history of northeastern Ohio : embracing the counties of Ashtabula, Geauga and Lake, Part 57

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 57
USA > Ohio > Geauga County > Biographical history of northeastern Ohio : embracing the counties of Ashtabula, Geauga and Lake > Part 57
USA > Ohio > Lake County > Biographical history of northeastern Ohio : embracing the counties of Ashtabula, Geauga and Lake > Part 57

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).

April 2, 1878, Mr. Mckinnon was married to Miss Jane Porter, a lady of domestic tastes,

daughter of John and Agnes (McGill) Porter. Her father, a merchant tailor, died in 1877, at barely fifty years of age, while her mother survived until 1887, dying at the age of fifty- two. They reared four children: William J., deceased; Jane; Agnes, wife of William Jeffrey; and J. A., in business at the Harbor. Mr. and Mrs. McKinnon have five children: Herbert Allen, born July 6, 1880; Harland Strong, born August, 1882; Mabel Agnes, born June 16, 1884; Willie, born December 13, 1885; and Leslie, born January 18, 1880.

Politically, Mr. MeKinnon is a Republican, and the only distinction he has enjoyed is that as a member of the City Council of Ash- tabula, and president of the Council, in which capacity he is now (1893) serving. He is al- so a counselor in the local organization of his party. Fraternally, he affiliates with the Masonic order, and he and his estimable wife are useful members of the Congregational Church. As a citizen and man he is highly respected for his uniform uprightness and general cordiality to all his fellow men.

H OMER H. HINE, of the firm of H. H. Hine & Son, proprietors of the Riverside Stock Farm, one mile north of Painesville, Ohio, is a notable law- yer and distinguished literary man; was born in Youngstown, Ohio, February 15, 1823. His ancestors were of Scotch-Irish descent, supposed to have removed from Scotland to Ireland about the time of Cromwell. The great-great-grandfather of the subject of this sketch, who was the originator of the family in America, emigrated from Ireland to Con- necticut in early Colonial times. His son, James Hine, great grandfather of the subject of this notice, was born in Milford, Connect-

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icut, in 1696, whence he removed to New Milford, the same State, being among the earliest settlers of the latter place. He mar- ried Margaret Noble, who accompanied her parents to New Milford when a child, being the first white female child to set foot in the place. James Hine was a prosperous farmer and died in 1774, at the age of seventy-eight. They had two sons: Austin, and Noble (grand- father of Mr. Hine of this notice) and several daughters. Noble Hine was also a progressive farmer and during the Revolutionary war was Colonel of a Connecticut company of militia. He died in 1795, leaving three sons, one of whom Hon. Homer Hine, was the father of the subject of this sketch, and was born in New Milford, Connecticut, July 25, 1776. After a preparatory course of study, he en- tered Yale College, at which he graduated in 1797, one of a class of thirty-seven. Among his class-mates were: Horatio Seymour, who subsequently served as United States Senator from Vermont for twelve years; Henry Bald- win, Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court; Rev. Dr. Lyman Brecher; and many other notable men. For a year after graduation, he was preceptor in an acad- emy at Stockbridge, Massachusetts, where he read law at the same time under Judge Sedg- wick, whose daughter, Catherine Sedgwick, the celebrated anthoress, was Mr. Hine's pupil in the academy. During the year 1800 Mr. Hine attended the law school at Litch- field, Connecticut, the first notable law school in the United States. In 1801 he was ad- mitted to the bar and in the same year started with Benjamin Tappan, afterward United States Senator from Ohio, for what was then called the Western Reserve, which was then comprised in one county, and had a popula- tion of less than 1,000. Mr. Hine rode over- land on horseback, going across the mountains

and through Pittsburg, carrying his wardrobe in his saddle-bags. His law books were brought in a wagon, drawn by oxen, with the household goods of Mr. Tappan, previously mentioned. Mr. Tappan settled in Ravenna, Ohio, and Mr. Hine, in Canfield, where he at once commenced the practice of law, subse- quently, in 1806, removing to Youngstown, which continued to be his home until his death. In the practice of law he was bril- liant, forcible and logical. Being a man of energy and much ability, he soon became a leader, and was four times elected to the State Legislature, in 1804, 1805, 1816 and 1824. He held the office of non-resident tax collec- tor for several years, or until it was abolished in 1812. He was an efficient soldier in the war of 1812 under Colonel William Royen. In 1805 he was appointed a commissioner by the Legislature, to lay out a road from Pitts- burg to Lake Erie, and probably did more than any one man to advance the interests of his vicinity. He was an eminently just and upright man and enjoyed the confidence and esteem of all who knew him. He was for years a regular attendant of the Presbyterian Church, which he later joined, and often, in the absence of the clergyman, the duty of reading a printed sermon devolved upon him. He was an early and zealous temperance worker, and was president of the Youngstown Temperance Society several years. He was most generous, especially to ministers, his house being known as the ministers' tavern. He married, October 5, 1807, Miss Mary Skinner, born in Glastonbury, Connecticut, Septem! er 20, 1889. Her father, Abraham Skinner, emigrated from Connecticut to Painesville, Ohio, in 1801 or 1802. She was a relative of Elizabeth Stuart Phelps, the noted authoress, and also of Emily Hunting- ton Miller. The worthy couple had eight

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BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY

children, six of whom attained maturity, and five still surviving. Mary S. married Henry Wick, a banker of Cleveland, and is now eighty-three years of age; Henrietta M., now eighty-one years old, is the wife of W. Bald- win, a retired merchant of Cleveland; Samuel, a retired merchant, resides in Poland, Ohio; Augustus is a capitalist of Painesville; and Homer H. is the subject of this sketch. In July, 1856, the family were called upon to mourn the death of the beloved and revered husband and father, who, at the age of eighty years, passed to his reward, his loss being generally lamented as a public calamity. In 1872 the mother removed to Painesville, Ohio, where she died in 1884, in her ninety- fourth year, leaving many friends to mourn her loss. Her sister, Mrs. Perry, of Cleve- land, lived to be ninety-one years of age, and a cousin, Mrs. Goldsmith, survived to the advanced age of 101. Mrs. Hine was a life- long and devoted member of the Presbyterian Church.

Homer H. Hine, whose name heads this notice, attended the common schools of his native city and select schools in Vienna and Youngstown, after which he entered the Western Reserve College, at which he grad- uated, in the scientific course, at the age of seventeen. He then taught school in Harrods- burg, Kentucky, where he formed the acquaintance of the lady, who afterward be- came his wife. Subsequently returning to Ohio, he read law under Messrs. Payne, Wil- son & Wade, the firm later becoming Hitch- cock, Wilson & Wade, prominent lawyers of Cleveland. Mr. Hine was admitted to the bar in 1846 and began his practice in Youngs- town in 1847 in partnership with Milton Sutliff, under the name of Sutliff & Hine, the former subsequently becoming Supreme Judge of Ohio. In 1849 Mr. Hine removed

to Painesville, Ohio, and settled on the farm formerly owned by his maternal grandfather, Abraham Skinner, taking up his abode in the house built by that gentleman in 1805, in which Mr. Hine's parents were married in 1807. This house is still standing, in a good state of preservation. The first court of what was then all Geauga county, was held under a tree near this residence, and the next session was held in Mr. Skinner's barn, which is also now standing. After settling on the farm, which is a mile north of Painesville, Mr. Hine gave his attention largely to farm- ing and looking after the interests of two wealthy uncles, conducting cases in court only when he or they happened to be in- volved. He at first had 400 acres, but re- cently disposed of a portion. He still owns about 230 acres of the choicest land in the county. This is under a good state of cul- tivation, well improved with a handsome resi- dence and with substantial barns for his grain and stock, being altogether one of the show places of this vicinity. He has for several years been a successful breeder of Aberdeen and Polled Angus cattle, which brings him good returns. He has also been interested for several years in vessels on the lake, which itself is a profitable business, the carrying trade during the busy seasons being large and constantly increasing.

April 3, 1845, Mr. Hine married Miss Juliet Rue, of Harrodsburg, Kentucky, a lady of domestic and social accomplishments, whose parents were from New Brunswick, New Jersey. Mr. and Mrs. Hine have had eight children, seven of whom survive: Mary is the wife of Horace Bacon, a prosperous farmer of Lake county; Samuel N., deceased; Washington, married, conducts a large farm near Davilla, Milam county, Texas, and is County Commissioner; Cynthia is the wife of

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OF NORTHEASTERN OHIO.

William Doran, in the packing business in Dallas, Texas; Anna L. is married to Charles W. Field, a prominent merchant of Cleve- land, Ohio; Agnes is the wife of Minor G. Norton, senior member of the law firm of Norton & Pinney, Cleveland; Clarence A. is married and manages the old homestead; and Henrietta M. is at home.

In politics Mr. Hine was originally an old Henry Clay Whig, casting his first presi- dential vote for that distinguished statesman. He subsequently joined the Free Soil party and since the inauguration of the Republican organization has been identified with that party. He has never aspired to political prominence, the only official position he has held being that of a delegate to the Farmers' Congress, to which he was appointed by Governor Foraker, and which met in Chicago in 1887. He has been actively identified with the Grange since its earliest inception, and has frequently been a delegate to the State Grange conventions.

He is not a member of any church, although a liberal contributor to religious and chari- table purposes; Mrs. Hine belongs to the Congregational Church. Enterprising and public-spirited, Mr. Hine has aided largely in the advancement of his vicinity, and is justly numbered among its representative citizens.

P ATRICK H. TOWELL, proprietor of fine farm on "Johnny-cake Ridge," Concord township, Lake county, Ohio, an old railroad contractor and highly esteemed citizen, was born in county Water- ford, Ireland, March 16, 1826. His par- ents, Michael and Annastascia Towell, were both natives of the Emerald Isle. The for-

iner was a civil engineer and surveyor in the employ of the Government and a man of high ability. His brother, John, was master of one of Her Majesty's war ships and was killed at the storming of Sebastopol. Another brother, Bartlett, was customhouse officer in London. Both parents were devout Catho- lies and active in all good works. They had three children, one of whom died young; a brother of the subject of this sketch died in Illinois in 1863; and Patrick H., whose name heads this notice. The father died in 1856, in his native country, and the mother also died there, in 1875.

Mr. Towell of this sketch received a common-school education in his native country and enjoyed the refining influences of a cul- tured home. When quite a. young boy, he was given charge of several employes on a farm in his native county, and continued in his own country until October, 1852, when he sailed for the United States, this Mecca of all ambitious spirits. He remained in New York city for some time with a brother who was inspector of masonry on the Eastern Division of the Erie Railroad. He learned masonry under his brother in the course of a few years, and followed this occupation for a number of years, some of the time in company with his brother. In 1855, he made his first visit to Painesville, Ohio, where he was mar- ried the following year. He afterward made his home for several years in Pennsylvania, principally in Warren. He followed con- tracting, mostly for railroad buildings and bridges, and superintended masonry gener- ally. In 1879, he took the contract for double-tracking the Erie railroad from Horn- ellsville to Portage Bridge, New York, a distance of twenty-five miles. IIe has super- intended hundreds of workmen for large con- tractors, and he was associated for some time

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BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY

with the celebrated railroad contractor, Col- onel J. Conditt Smith, whose confidence Mr. Towell enjoyed to an unusual degree. Dur- ing the war, Mr. Towell was in the employ of the United States Government in superin- tending railroad bridges in the vicinity of Baltimore, and keeping them in repair. He has traveled and worked in twenty-eight dif- ferent States of the Union and in Upper and Lower Canada. He is a man of wide and varied experience and unusual capacity for work, energetic, persevering and capable. He purchased his present farm in 1879, by way of making a valuable investment of his super- fluous means, the land having formerly be- longed to George H. Clark, whose grand- father settled on it in 1804, when it was covered with woods. In 1884, Mr. Towell took up his abode on it and has since made it his home. He has 1283 acres of land, well cultivated and improved with a good resi- dence and barns and other valuable appliances for successfully conducting the farm, which, by the way, is one of the finest in the county.

Mr. Towell was married in 1856 to Miss Ruth E. Chaffee, a most worthy lady of Geauga county, Ohio. Her father, Reuben B. Chaffee, was a native of New York and served faithfully in the war of 1812, for which he drew a pension. In 1817, he emi- grated to the Western Reserve, and in his earlier pioneer days was engaged in the man- ufacture of potash, for which he found a ready market in Pittsburg and other Eastern cities. He later became a farmer and followed that occupation until his death. He was twice married, his second wife being Hannah Kibbee, who still survives, at the age of eighty-one. He was the father of thirteen children, seven of whom are living. He died at the venerable age of eighty-two, univers- ally lamented for his many estimable quali-

ties. Mr. and Mrs. Towell have had six children: Anna S., H. Elizabeth, deceased, Mary J., Kittie, John and Harry. A bright little grandson, Clyde Henry Towell, lives with them. Mr. Towell commenced at the bottom of the ladder and has worked his way by industry and perseverance to prosperity, not forgetting in the meantime those princi- ples of integrity which so many lose sight of in the race for wealth, and he is now justly enjoying the fruitage of a busy life.

F RED H. DEVOE, son of Henry A. and Jane B. Devoe, was born in Or- well, Ohio, April 12, 1865. He was educated in Orwell, and afterward took a business course in the Cleveland College. Since completing his education he has been identified with the mercantile interests of Orwell, being now a member of the firm of Devoe Bros. & Co. of this place.

Politically, he is an ardent Republican; fraternally, he is a member of the I. O. U. A. M., and religiously he is a Presbyterian. In church work he takes a prominent and active part. Last year, 1892, he was delegate from the Christian Endeavor Society to the Na- tional Endeavor convention held in New York city.

Mr. Devoe was married July 21, 1892, to Rosemond Jarvis, daughter of James M. and Sarah Jarvis, of Branchville, New Jersey. Her father was born at Deckertown, that State, and is a wheelwright by occupation. His parents, George Jarvis and wife, were both natives of London, England. They had nine children, one of whom died in infancy. The names of those living are as follows: Jane; Sallie, wife of a Mr. Henry; Nancy, now Mrs. Kirby; James M .; Kate, now Mrs.

Mut Sherwood

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OF NORTHEASTERN OHIO.

Pellet; Willis; Joseph, and Mrs. Hattie Watterman. Mrs. Devoe's mother was be- fore her marriage Miss Sarah Crigar, she being a daughter of William Crigar and a descendant of German and English ancestry. James M. and Sarah Jarvis have two chil- dren, Susie and Rosemond. The latter was born November 21, 1868.

W ILLIAM H. SHERWOOD, M. D., is acknowledged to be one of the most skillful surgeons in northeast- ern Ohio. He is President of the Paines- ville Hospital Association of Painesville, Lake county, whose province embraces general sur- gery and the Rapid Carbon Cure for alcohol- ism and the opium habit.

The Doctor was born in Unionville, Lake county, January 8, 1833, and is a son of Dr. M. P. Sherwood, who was born in Fairfield, Franklin county, Vermont, in 1800. The latter removed to this county when seven- teen years of age and studied medicine with Dr. Johnson and at the Willoughby Medical College, from which institution he graduated. For thirty-seven years he practiced in Union- ville, was a skillful surgeon and enjoyed a reputation as a successful practitioner. He was called to his final rest at the age of fifty- six years. He married Melvina Harper, who was born in Unionville. Her parents were among the first settlers of that village. She became the mother of four children, three of whom survive. Both herself and husband were members of the Episcopal Church.

Our subject is the youngest of his father's family. He attended and graduated from the Madison Seminary and began reading medi- cine when only sixteen years old. In 1854 he graduated from the medical college at Cleve-

land, and for nine years thereafter engaged in practice with his father at Unionville. He was located in Unionville until 1884, when he came to Painesville. His speciality is surgery. In 1890 he grafted nine seg- ments of bone from a rabbit's thigh into a man's arm that had been fractured. This operation was successful, the fracture healing in the proper manner. This had once before been done in Charing Cross Hospital, Lon- don.

May 10, 1866, Dr. Sherwood married Miss Martha J. Chadwick, a native of Lockport, New York. Two children graced this un- ion: Clara R., who died at the age of ten years, and Melvina H. The parents are mem- bers of the Episcopal church. In 1883, Dr. Sherwood spent seven months in England and Scotland, visiting all the leading hos- pitals and studying the best methods of con- ducting the same. He organized the Paines- ville Hospital Association in November, 1892, and has already successfully treated about fifty cases where the patients were afflicted with either the alcohol or opium habit. He is a member of the Cleveland and Ashtabula Medical Societies. He holds membership with the Masonic order, and in politics is a Democrat.

W ILLIAM G. STORRS, vice-president and general manager of the nursery firm of The Storrs & Harrison Co., Painesville, Ohio, was born in Courtland county, New York, January 19, 1840.

Jesse Storrs, his father, the founder of this large nursery, was a native of New Hamp- shire, born in 1808. When a boy he went with his father to Courtland county, New York, and there, after reaching his majority,

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BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY

started a small nursery, working at it in sum- mer and spending his winters in teaching school. Thus he continued for twenty years. In 1853 he sold his farm and nursery, and the following year came to Lake county, Ohio. Here he bought seventy-five acres of land, and on a portion of it started in a small way the nursery which is now the largest horticultural and floricultural nursery farm in the United States. He was a man of un- tiring energy, and to his early efforts in con- nection with this establishment is largely due its wonderful success. His active and useful career was terminated by his death at Paines- ville, in March, 1881. His worthy compan- ion, whose maiden name was Harriet Gates, and who was a native of Connecticut, sur- vived him several years, her death occurring at the age of eighty-five years. Both were prominent members of the Congregational Church, and were active workers also in the Sabbath-school. Mr. Storrs was a Deacon in the church for many years. Of their nine children two survive. One son, Horatio, died in the late war. Those living are Willis P. and William G., twins. These two broth- ers are both connected with the nursery.

William G. received his education in the high school at Painesville, Ohio. When he was fourteen he and his brother Horatio drove through from New York to Lake county, Ohio, coming three months in ad- vance of the rest of the family, and bringing with them two bushels of apple-seeds with which to start the nursery. (Extended men- tion of this establishment is made in the sketch of J. J. Harrison.) Here William G. spent his youth, assisting his father and help- ing to develop their new enterprise, and was just merging into manhood when the great Civil war burst upon the country. He has been identified with the nursery from its be-

giuning up to the present time, now having the general management of all outside de- partments.

August 22, 1861, his youthful ambition glowing with a spirit of patriotism, he en- listed in Company G, Second Ohio Cavalry, and served until September 17, 1865, when he was honorably discharged. The early part of his service was in the Western army at Fort Scott and through the Indian Territory. He returned to Ohio in December, 1862, and recruited through the winter at Columbus, Ohio. Leaving Camp Chase April 6, 1863, he went to Kentucky and joined the Army of the Cumberland, operating through that State until fall, when he went with Burnside to east Tennessee, being among those first to occupy Knoxville. Later, they were engaged with Longstreet's forces in Virginia, during which time, from lack of supplies, they suf- fered many hardships. These brave soldiers slept on the ground when the thermometer marked zero. In January, 1864, his regi- ment veteranized, and he came home on a thirty days' furlough. In April he joined the Army of the Potomac, and in May was with Grant's army in the battles of the Wil- derness, Spottsylvania and Cold Harbor, crossing the James river June 17. Until June 17 the brave men slept at night with their clothes on, and never unsaddled their horses. In August Mr. Storrs became blind from the effects of erysipelas and was taken from the field hospital to New York city, from whence he was transferred to Willit's Point, Long Island. He requested that he might be brought to Cleveland, but the local authorities refused to comply with his re- quest, and it was not until after he had writ- ten a personal letter to Secretary Stanton that he was moved to Cleveland. After his recovery he joined his regiment in Decem-

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ber, 1864, and continued in the service until the close of the war. He was present at Lee's surrender, after which he went to Washington, and from there to St. Louis, Missouri. He remained at St. Louis and at Springfield, Missouri, until the date of his discharge.

Mr. Storrs was married September 2, 1868, to Mary E. Post, of Painesville, and has four children: Mary, Henrietta, Sarah and Eu- genia. Mrs. Storrs is a member of the Con- gregational Church.

D ALLAS A. WARD, who is a repre- sentative farmer and stock-raiser well known and highly respected through- out Ashtabula county, Ohio, and who resides in Jefferson, was born in Mantua, this State, February 2, 1844. His parents, Ephriam and Hannah (Harder) Ward, were reared in New York State and were there married, im- mediately after which, about 1838, they re- moved to Ohio, then a new and slightly settled country. They settled first in Geauga county, whence they removed about 1845 to Lenox township, Ashtabula county, where they have since resided, the father having followed farming all his life. They had eight children, six sons and two daughters. The subject of this sketch was reared on a farm and received a common-school educa- tion, and since attaining to manhood's estate has followed farming and stock-raising and dealing in live-stock. In 1870, after his marriage, he settled in Lenox township, this county, but a year later removed to Dorset, where he continued to reside until 1886, at which time he came to Jefferson, in which city he has since lived. Mr. Ward began farming twenty-three years ago, without any

capital except strong hands, a willing heart, natural intelligence and a desire to succeed. This combination has, however, proved most powerful, overcoming difficulties and gaining for himself and family a comfortable com- petence. He now owns two farms well stocked and with good improvements, and also a fine dwelling-house in Jefferson, where he resides.

March 16, 1870, Mr. Ward was married to Susan Goudy, an intelligent lady, who was a native of Pennsylvania, and they have one daughter, May Belle, who is a very bright and accomplished young lady and highly respected throughout her circle of acquaint- ances.

In politics Mr. Ward has always advo- cated the principles of the Republican party, in which he takes an active interest.

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Biographical history of northeastern Ohio : embracing the counties of Ashtabula, Geauga and Lake, Part 57

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