Centennial History of the City of Newark and Licking County Ohio, Part 11

Author: E. M. P. Brister
Publication date: 1909
Publisher:
Number of Pages: 913

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In 1884 Dr. Thompson was married to Miss Grace D. Copeland, a native of Johnstown and a daughter of Peter Copeland. Unto this marriage were born two children, Maude L. and James D. Mrs. Thompson died in 1893. For his second wife Dr. Thompson chose Mrs. Martha (Wright) Jones, a daughter of Theodore F. Wright and the widow of Herbert L. Jones. By her former marriage she had two children-Arthur Wright Jones and Ethel Lyon Jones. Dr. Thompson gives his political allegiance to the republican party, but manifests only a citizen's interest in political work, although his desire is for clean politics and honest administration. His time is chiefly occupied with professional duties and his ability insures him a continued liberal patronage.

ISAAC SMUCKER.

From early manhood down to old age Isaac Smucker was a resident of Newark and his course of action and the rules which governed his life were ever such as won for him a high place in public regard. He believed in holding to high ideals in all those lines of activity which are essential to the world's progress and his labors for the benefit of Licking county were far-reaching. He was born in Shenandoah county, Virginia, on the 14th of December, 1807, of German-American parentage. His father was Rev. Peter Smucker, a Lutheran clergyman of that state, who devoted many years of his life to the active work of the ministry.

Reared in his father's home, Isaac Smucker acquired a liberal education under the instruction of private tutors and in academies of his native state. He after- ward engaged in teaching in a classical academy at Somerset, Pennsylvania. The family removed to Newark, Ohio, when he was still a young man, and he spent the remainder of his life in this city, continuing as one of its valued and represen- tative residents until called to the home beyond, January 31, 1897, after a long, useful and blamelcss life covering more than eighty-three years. All who knew him esteemed him for his genuine worth and fidelity to honorable, manly princi- ples. He never deviated from what his judgment sanctioned as right between his fellowmen and himself, and at all times he held strictly to high standards of conduct. He was also a writer of ability and wielded a facile and fearless pen on historical and other matters. He was temperate in all things and always mind-

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ful of the good of others, while in community affairs he was devoted to progress in material, intellectual, political and moral lines. On one occasion he was called to represent his county in the state legislature and the great aim of his work there was the passage of a free public school law. Although fifteen years have come and gone since he was called to his final rest, he is yet remembered by many who knew him here and his memory remains as an inspiration to those who were associated with him while he was yet an active factor in the world's work.

LAFAYETTE M. BEAVER.

Lafayette M. Beaver, a descendant of a pioneer family of the state of Virginia, and a former grain dealer of Jersey township, this county, where he is now largely identified with general agricultural and stock raising interests, is a native of Licking township, this county, where his birth occurred August 18, 1849. He is a son of Jacob and Rebecca (Moore) Beaver, his parents also having been natives of this county, their ancestors coming from Virginia at an early date. The father was an extensive landowner here and at the time of his death, which occurred in August of the year 1895, he possessed something over eight hundred acres of highly cultivated land. He was also known throughout the state as a breeder .of horses, cattle and sheep. A man of affairs, he was deeply interested in everything which pertained to the permanent advancement of the locality. His wife, who is still living, has attained a ripe old age.

On his father's farm Lafayette M. Beaver was reared, participating in the general routine of agricultural life, in the meantime spending a few months of each year in the district school, where he obtained his education. At the age of twenty- one years, in the fall of 1872, he went to Anderson county, Kansas, where he engaged in cattle raising until the fall of 1875, when he returned to this county and began farming with his father. At the same time he established himself in the grain business at Hebron, in which enterprise he met with more than ordinary success. After following that business for a number of years, he gave it up and again settled down to agriculture. His farm consists of one hundred and seventy- two acres of well improved property, which he keeps in a high state of cultivation, and in addition to producing hay and general grain crops he gives some attention to stock raising and keeps on hand a number of head of the finest horses, cattle, sheep and hogs.

On December 3, 1884, Mr. Beaver wedded Miss Mary E. White, a daughter of Samuel and Ellen (Smith) White, and a native of Union township. Their chil- dren are: Jacob J., who assists his father in the management of the farm, and Hannah, who was a well known teacher in the district schools. Mr. Beaver's political views are on the side of the democratic party and he takes an active interest in political matters and on several occasions has been chosen as a delegate to repre- sent his party at national and state conventions. He is now serving his ninth consecutive year as township trustee and for many years has officiated efficiently as a member of the school board. Mr. Beaver is popular in fraternal organizations and belongs to Johnstown lodge, A. F. & A. M .; Alexandria lodge, K. P .; Jersey

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lodge, I. O. O. F .; the Royal Neighbors, meeting at Alexandria; the Central Grange and Patrons of Husbandry, in all of which he has taken an active interest. He has filled the chairs of the Masonic order and also in the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. He has always advocated good roads and a first class school system, and being in every sense a progressive citizen, and at the same time an honorable and upright man, he is acknowledged to be one of the most substantial residents of the township.

ALFRED K. FOLLETT, M. D.

No history of Granville would be complete without mention of Dr. Alfred K. Follett and his honored father, Dr. Alfred Follett. A native of Enosburg, Ver- mont, Dr. Alfred Follett was born September 1, 1822, and his life record covered the intervening years to the 11th of January, 1897, when he passed away in Gran- ville, Ohio. His parents were John Fassett and Sallie (Woodworth) Follett, who were also natives of the Green Mountain state. John Fassett Follett's parents were Martin Dewey and Persis (Fassett) Follett, the former serving as captain in the Revolutionary army. John Fassett Follett, the father, followed the occupation of farming as a life work and in the spring of 1836 started westward with his wife and nine children, arriving in Licking county in September of the same year. The forests stood in their primeval strength and the land was largely uncultivated, but the state was rich in its natural resources and was drawing to it a class of progressive, enterprising men who were soon to produce a marked transformation in its appearance. John F. Follett settled on a farm and with characteristic energy gave his attention to its improvement. In 1851 he removed to a farm between Granville and Newark and there carried on general agricultural pursuits until his death in 1863. He served his country as a soldier of the war of 1812 and was always ready to aid in any movement calculated to promote public progress, reform or improvement. He held membership with the Masonic fraternity and was long a devoted member of the Presbyterian church, in which he served as both deacon and elder. His wife also died in the year 1863.

Dr. Follett, the second son in a family of six sons and three daughters, spent the first fourteen years of his life in the state of his nativity and then accompanied his parents to Ohio in 1836. Here he became familiar with the conditions and in- cidents of frontier life and assisted his father in the arduous task of developing a new farm. His early education was supplemented by study in the Granville academy and later he began preparation for his profession in the Starling Medical college. He entered upon active practice in 1848 and throughout the years of his life remained an able and prominent representative of the profession, continuously broadening his knowledge and promoting his efficiency by study, research, investiga- tion and experience. He was made a censor of Starling college and so continued until his death. Locating for practice at Sandusky, Ohio, he there remained until 1850, when he removed to Johnstown, where he practiced until 1863. In the latter year he came to Granville, where he resided until his death, thirty-four years later. ITis professional ability was manifest in the liberal patronage accorded him and in the confidence entertained for him by the entire county. He was a charter

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member of the Ohio State Medical society, belonged also to the Zanesville Academy of Medicine, of which he was vice president and was also a member of the American Medical association in 1877.

On the 22d of April, 1849, Dr. Follett was married to Miss Lucinda Maria Jones of Sandusky, who died at Granville, Ohio, February 11, 1909. They were the parents of two sons and a daughter, but the oldest, George P., died in 1881, having contracted typhoid fever while taking a post-graduate course at Bellevue Hospital Medical College in New York city. He had previously graduated from Marietta (Ohio) College, with the degree of A. B., and was a student at the Ohio Medical College at Cincinnati, and graduated from the Columbus Medical College at Columbus. For five years he was a physician at the Central Hospital for the Insane at Columbus. He married Mary Converse and they had two children : George Alfred, and Mary Pelton, now the wife of Dr. Samuel Orton, Jr. The daughter, Sarah F., is the wife of John Sutphin Jones, of the Jones & Adams Coal Company, now of Chicago. Alfred Kane, the youngest, born in Johnstown, Ohio, October 5, 1857, was but a little lad of five years when his parents removed to Granville in 1863. Here he has since made his home, and passing through the con- secutive grades of the public schools he was at length graduated from the high school, while in Denison University he won the bachelor of arts degree in 1879. Fol- lowing in the professional footsteps of his father he entered the Starling Medical College, from which he was graduated in 1882. He has since practiced in Granville and is a member of the Licking County Medical Society, the State Medical Society, and the American Medical Association. His fraternal relations are with the Masons and the Knights of Pythias, and in his life he exemplified the beneficent spirit of those orders. His religious faith is indicated in his membership in the Presbyterian church and to its teachings he is loyal and devoted.

On the 20th of June, 1883, Dr. Alfred K. Follett was married to Miss Ora A. Stein, a native of this county and a daughter of A. P. Stein. They have one child, Clara M., who was born March 19, 1884, and is now the wife of John A. Owens, of Granville. They are the parents of two little sons, Alfred William and John Follett. In addition to his home in Granville Dr. Follett owns a tract of land in this county and gives some attention to farming. The practice of medicine, however, is his chief life work and he gives to his patients a service of great dili- gence, unwearied industry and of broad learning.

WILLIAM PIGG.

A well developed and highly improved farm of eighty-eight and a half acres in Madison township is the property of William Pigg, who has spent his entire life in this section of Licking county. He was born in a log cabin on the home farm February 22, 1839, being the second in order of birth in a family of four sons, whose parents were George and Jane (Knox) Pigg, both of whom were natives of Cumberland county, England. They were married in their native land and subsequently emigrated to the United States, making a location in Franklin county, where the father conducted a saw-mill from 1834 until 1839, the latter

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year witnessing their arrival in Licking county. The father first operated rented land in Madison township, but later purchased a farm and at the time of his death had accumulated two hundred acres of fine farming property. He and his wife were members of the Methodist Episcopal church and the father died September 16, 1862, when he was sixty-three years of age, while his wife, surviving for a long period, passed away in 1882, at the age of seventy-three years. Their family numbered four sons: Charles A., who resides in Madison township; William, of this review ; George T., who also resides in Madison township; and David H., who makes his home in Newark.

William Pigg was reared to general agricultural pursuits and remained under the parental roof until he had attained mature years. He was a young man of twenty-three years at the time of his father's death, after which, in connection with his two brothers, Charles and George, he continued the operation of the home farm in Madison township and they also became very extensive dealers in sheep and wool. Through their combined efforts they accumulated one hundred and forty acres of land and upon the dissolution of partnership in 1875 eighty-eight and a half acres constituted the share of William Pigg of this review.

Mr. Pigg established a home of his own in 1882 by his marriage to Miss Dora Holtz, a daughter of John Holtz, now deceased. After his marriage Mr. Pigg located on his farm, which has since been his home. He is engaged in general farming and still raises sheep on quite a large scale, in which connection he is widely known throughout Licking county. In more recent years he pur- chased a tract of forty-seven and a half acres, but has since disposed of this and now retains possession only of the farm on which he resides.

Mr. Pigg is a democrat in his political views and affiliations, but has never been active as an office seeker. He holds to high ideals in his social and business relations and his life has always been exemplary in all respects and could be made the text of a lesson from which the young men of today could study success. Both he and his estimable wife have many friends, among whom they are highly esteemed.

WALTER C. METZ.

Walter C. Metz is secretary and treasurer of the Newark Trust Company, in which connection he ranks with the leading and representative business men of the city. It is true that he entered upon a business already established, but many a man of less resolute spirit or of more limited ability would have failed in carrying the enterprise forward to success. Careful control, close application and indefati- gable energy, however, have characterized his labors in this connection and have made his work an element in the conduct of what is today the leading banking institution of Licking county and this part of the state.

Mr. Metz is numbered among Newark's native sons, his birth having occurred here February 1, 1879. His parents are Charles C. and Christa A. (Smith) Metz, the former a merchant of Newark and the vice president of the Newark Trust Company. In the public schools Walter C. Metz continued his education through

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consecutive grades until he completed the high-school course, while later he was graduated from the Ohio State University in 1905 with the degree of Bachelor of Arts. After leaving college he entered the Newark Trust Company in the capacity of bookkeeper and filled various positions until September, 1907, when he was elected secretary and treasurer of this banking institution, which is the largest in the county. He is a young man of fine business qualities and has a bright future before him in the financial world. He is a stockholder in the Arcade Realty Company as well as in the Newark Trust Company, and his friends have every reason to believe that he will continue in a business career of growing usefulness and importance.

On the 17th of September, 1908, Mr. Metz was married to Miss Helen M. Weiant, of Newark, a daughter of Warren S. Weiant, the manager of the National Biscuit Company. Socially Mr. Metz is connected with the Kappa Sigma, a college fraternity. Both he and his wife are widely known in Newark, where their circle of friends is almost coextensive with the circle of their acquaintance, and the hospitality of the best homes of the city is freely accorded them.

A. A. STASEL.

For twenty-three years A. A. Stasel has been a practitioner at the Licking county bar and has long maintained a prominent place in the ranks of the legal fraternity, for he has comprehensive knowledge of the principles of jurisprudence and so presents his cases in court that he never fails to make a deep impress on judge, jury and auditors. He is numbered among the representative residents of this city and his social qualities as well as his professional ability have gained him prominence and high regard.

A native son of Newark, Mr. Stasel was born October 22, 1862, his parents being Nicholas and Emily (Trivoli) Stasel, the former a native of Saxony, Germany, and the latter of Ohio. The maternal grandfather came from Italy in early life and settled in the state of New York, but afterward removed westward to Lieking county, Ohio, taking up his abode on a farm south of Newark where his remaining days were passed.

Nicholas Stasel came to the United States in the year 1837 and located in Fairfield county, Ohio. He was a carpenter and contractor and there engaged in building operations until the early '40s, when he removed to Licking county and for a long period was closely and prominently associated with the building interests of Newark, his skill and ability gaining for him a liberal patronage, while in the course of years he acquired a competence that has enabled him during the last fifteen years to enjoy well earned rest.

A. A. Stasel was educated in the schools of Newark and in Wooster University, where he spent two years. He then engaged in teaching German in the public schools of this city for two years, having learned the language in his own home. After two years devoted to educational work Mr. Stasel took up the study of law, in the office of the Hon. Charles H. Kibler, and was admitted to the bar in 1886, since which time he has practiced in his native city. His ability has

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constituted the foundation upon which he has built his success. He has paid strict attention to his professional duties, preparing his cases with great precision and care and marshalling the points in evidence before the court with thoroughness and system. For fourteen years he has been attorney for the Home Building Asso- ciation and his name figures in connection with many of the important cases tried in the courts of this county for two decades. He is a member of the Lieking County Bar Association.

On the 10th of September, 1892, Mr. Stasel was married to Miss Mary W. Wood, of Hanover, Ohio, and they have two daughters, Sarah and Mary. The family are members of the Second Presbyterian church and are prominent in the social circles of the city, while their own home is most attractive by reason of its cordial hospitality. Mr. Stasel belongs to the Beta Theta Pi, a college fraternity, and also holds membership relations with the Elks' Club, the Masonic fraternity and the Masonic Club. His friends find him a genial gentleman, never neglectful of the courtesies of life and never too busy to be cordial or too cordial to be busy. Ile is classed with the valued and representative residents of his native city.

WATSON LAWRENCE KING, M. D.

Educated in some of the best schools of Great Britain and America, Dr. King is successfully devoting his attention to the practice of medicine and surgery and has gained more than local distinction by reason of his pronounced ability. He was born in Batley Carr, Yorkshire, England, September 18, 1847, his father being vicar at this place, and was three years of age at the time of the removal of his parents to Maidstone, county Kent. His father, the Rev. Watson King, was born in Wateringbury, county Kent, April 8, 1811, and was educated in St. John's College. Cambridge, where he obtained the Master of Arts degree in 1839. For many years he served as chaplain to Maidstone prison and about 1859 retired with a pension. He was afterward rector at Plaxtol, county Kent, which he exchanged for that of Croxton, in county Lincoln. Subsequently he retired and established his home at Tunbridge Wells, where he died February 8, 1893. He married Anne, a daughter of Thomas Lawrence, of Biggen Hall, Thurlston, near Rugby in county Warwick. They were married in All Saints church in Maidstone, February 20, 1843, and traveled life's journey happily together until September, 1891. when they were separated by the death of the wife. Their children were: Frances Augusta, who is now the widow of Rev. Thomas Howard Dalton and resides at Hastings, Sussex county, England; Watson L .; and William Walter, an attorney, who died in England, October 20, 1880.

Dr. W. L. King pursued his early education in Queen Elizabeth's grammar school at Wakefield and later attended Corpus Christi Hall. He passed a preliminary examination for entrance into the Royal College of Surgeons in London, July 9, 1866. but after a time was obliged to give up the study of medicine owing to ill health and came to America with the intention of following farming. This was in 1820 and he located at Ypsilanti, Michigan. Ilis health improving, in 1871-2 he attended a course of lectures in the Michigan University at Ann Arbor and in

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1873-4 was a student in the Cincinnati Medical College, from which he was grad- uated in the latter year. Owing to ill health he returned to England and later matriculated in the University of Glasgow, from which he was graduated in the spring of 1876 on the completion of the medical course. He then became surgeon on the ship Loch Vennachar, bound for Melbourne, Australia. He spent two months in Australia, after which he returned on the same ship and became assistant to Dr. Burman at Wath, Yorkshire. In the fall of 1877, however, he returned to the United States and located at Fredonia, Ohio, where he practiced until his removal to Granville about twelve years ago. He has since been identified with the profession in this city and his ability has carried him into important professional relations, his patronage now being very extensive. Throughout his professional career he has kept in touch with the progress of the medical fraternity through his extensive reading and research, while his experience has also greatly promoted his efficiency.

On the 24th of December, 1877, Dr. King was married in Brandon, Knox county, Ohio, to Miss Margaretta Knowles, of Homer, Ohio, a daughter of William Knowles, a native of Kent county, England. The children of that marriage were : Watson Knowles, who died in infancy; and Louisa Elizabeth, who was born in September, 1887, at Fredonia, Ohio, and is now the wife of Louis Pine, of Newark. Having lost his first wife, Dr. King afterward wedded Emma Viola Barber, a native of Liberty township, Licking county, and a daughter of James Riley Barber.

Dr. King is a member of the Masonic fraternity and of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. He is also a prominent and active worker in the Episcopal church, of which he is serving as senior warden and treasurer. He has circumnavigated the globe and in his extensive travels has gained that knowledge and culture which only travel can bring. He is a genial, courteous gentleman, interested in all that pertains to general progress and his influence is a potent factor for good in his adopted city.

CARY F. LEGGE, M. D.

Dr. Cary F. Legge, holding to high ideals in his practice, has gained recog- nition as one of the prominent physicians and surgeons of Newark. Licking county numbers him among her native sons, his birth having occurred here on the 24th of September, 1867. He represents one of the old families of this portion of the state. His father, James Legge, was here born while his grandfather, Harrison Legge, arrived in pioneer days, coming from Virginia. He settled in Fallsbury township and took up the work of tilling the soil, transforming the wild land into richly cultivated fields. There on the old homestead his son, James Legge, was born and reared, and, at an early age, became familiar with the work of tilling the soil and caring for the crops; but at the time of the Civil war he put aside all business considerations that he might aid his country in the defense of the Union. He therefore joined the One Hundred and Thirty-fifth Ohio Volunteer Infantry and, being captured, was confined for eleven months in Andersonville when he was released. He passed away in 1895 at the age of fifty-two years. In early manhood

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Centennial History of the City of Newark and Licking County Ohio, Part 11

Author: E. M. P. Brister Publication date: 1909 Publisher: Number of Pages: 913

Author: E. M. P. Brister
Publication date: 1909
Publisher:
Number of Pages: 913